Pathetic Poker Play

Go Cocks!!

2006-11-25T16:45:00.000-05:00

It's all worth it.

Mid-season form

2006-10-17T14:04:00.000-04:00

Poker blog huh? Guess that's debatable. The truth isn't I haven't been playing at all the last month or so. It's not even that I'm scared of my new association with terrorists, it's that I have been swamped under with school and a completely unhealthy obsession with college football. I have a problem, I can admit it, I just don't want to do anything about it.

I expect I will be able to play some online after midterms are over next week, and I would like to play some live games. But the G-Vegas home game scene seems to be drying up, and I don't know of too many games in my neck of the woods.

So I'm stuck with college football, and the season is finally getting good. I debated for about 10 minutes on whether or not to write this next part, but I am a Gamecock fan and by definition my optimism runs rampant. Mid-season report for my beloved team is 4-2, with the likelihood of at least 5-1 if we had realized our weakness at O-line earlier and replaced QB's. Still, and this is where you can make fun of me, the USC essentially holds it's own destiny in winning the SEC East. All we must do is run the SEC table through Vandy, UT, Arkansas, and UF. Piece of cake. . . I remain extremely cautiously optimistic.

As for the best teams in the country, the SEC is a bitch, ain't it? UF and Auburn both look like title contenders, but you just can't really go undefeated in this league. Ohio State looks nasty, and the UM-OSU game should be one of the best in history. ND looks vastly overrated for the most part, as I suspected before the season began. So Cal is going to finally lose one of these close calls one day, and they will drop from their lofty position in a hurry. The defending champs are a very good team, but not among tier one this year. Just too many people to replace. As for the ACC, well, that conference is a joke. Wish we had Clemson's schedule this year. The most intriguing team for me is WVU. I didn't really ever believe in this group until the Sugar Bowl last year, but I'm pretty high on this year's version. They have incredible speed and if their defense improves, they could have a chance to go to the MNC this year. They won't have any challenge this season, though, except maybe Louisville. So they should cruise through their schedule without much adversity. I don't watch too much CFB. . .really.

So my predictions for the rest of the year:
SEC champ - Florida
ACC champ - GT(who cares?)
Big 10 - OSU
Big 12 - UT
Big East - WVU
Pac 10 - Cal (not that good, but neither is the Pac 10)

National Championship - OSU vs. UF. That will be one helluva game, OSU wins.

Poker content - Try not to get arrested.

Goal oriented

2006-09-13T20:57:00.000-04:00

I don't know why but I haven't enjoyed ESPN's coverage of the ME nearly as much as in previous years, it just isn't as good to me. And I really hate that so many asshats get so much coverage simply because they are asshats.

I've also decided to take up Blood's challenge. I haven't been playing much because of school, and when I do it's not with purpose or direction, more of just screwing around. But I've decided on a challenge after reading Blood's post. I'm going to make enough money to finance a 2-3 week trip to Europe next summer. If I do it it will come through a tourney or three, so I can only play when I really have time. Won't play much, but it will be quality time. Hopefully I can make some money out of it.

Congrats to the Big Pirate for an outstanding win. I'd love to play any time, sir, let me know.

Go Steelers!

2006-09-07T11:47:00.000-04:00

I don't expect my new affinity for the Black and Gold to go beyond tonight, but circumstances have led me to pull very hard for defending champs, as I expect much of the online gambling world will be doing.

Sports betting is a risky proposition for me, with the NCAA tourney being the only decent money I've made through this particular style of gambling. The handicappers always seem to beat me by a point, which is what makes them good at their job and makes me an amateur. But I've got the Steelers in a pick 'em and in this bet, I really can't lose.

As for the Cocks this weekend, the line is somewhere around +3 for the Cocks. I wish I could say take the points, and the game will certainly be close. . .but I am not remotely sure of the outcome. I'll be there Saturday in my garnet cheering like hell, though.

I am. . .

2006-09-03T18:35:00.000-04:00

A terrible poker player. I make stupid plays and get way too lucky. I apologize to Random101 for a horrendous beat I put on him, truly sick.

I would, however, like to thank Blood and MrsBlood for allowing me to come into their home and have some fun playing live poker.

Tip of the day for poker - get very lucky.

It starts

2006-08-31T12:48:00.000-04:00

It's overcast and rainy today, and not likely to get better until Saturday or Sunday. Doesn't matter at all, today is a glorious day.

College football begins today, thank all deities responsible for that possibility.

Tonight we beat MSU in Starkville, and next week we play at home against UGA. This is so much better than Christmas.

GO COCKS!

Edit - Here's some advice for the rare gambler that stumbles on this blog. Take the Gamecocks and give the points, it's moving now but take anything better than -9.5 for the Cocks.

H.O.R.S.E. Anatomy

2006-07-31T13:23:00.000-04:00

As I said, I'm sick of HE all the time. I am, however, enjoying playing it 1/5th of the time. I've been playing these SNG's at the $22-$55 level, and I would like to break down a few observations I've had.

First off, the players are bad, really bad. In almost every SNG I've played there are at least 4 players who are complete dead money without a gigantic smack in the face from variance. These players have allowed me an incredible ROI that I can't imagine can be sustained over the long term. If so, then I have found a gold mine.

Starting the SNG I am incredibly tight. I don't raise pre-flop in early rounds unless I have an absolute monster, because I will get called in multiple places. The key is to value bet the hell out of your good hands and hope you don't get outdrawn, as well as getting away from hands that started well but aren't the nuts. In the end, they won't win over the other players in the hand. You think they couldn't be bad enough to hold the cards that would make their hand, but they most certainly are.

Another key I've found is mostly stay away from Hold 'Em, throughout the SNG. This is an odd adjustment for me, because HE is easily my best game. Thing is, it's everyone's best game. Like I said, I'm not expert at all of the other games, but I'm decent at them. That puts me way ahead of the field. My advantage in the other games is much greater than the slim advantage I have in HE. So I exploit them 80% of the time and pick my battles the other 20%. Especially razz, for some reason there are always at least 2 or 3 players who think their Q is good enough to go to 6th before folding. I try not to let them know that Q77 isn't that great of a starter in razz.

My final observation just carries over from most every tournament and SNG I've ever played. Be aggressive at the bubble. People love to get in the money, and they don't mind if they are short to do it. Raise every reasonably high card up in Stud, pound the button in the early rounds, play a J9 4 like it's the nuts in razz. Unless they catch well, they will fold and you will pick up much needed blinds/antes and bring-ins. More often than not I go into the final 3 as the big stack, or one of two big stacks, and it always come from bubble play.

So jump into some HORSE SNG's, I'm quite sure you are better than me at most of the games. I can't imagine they'll be this good forever, but I've been saying that for years. . .

May-laise

2006-07-24T16:40:00.000-04:00

In 5th grade I was addicted to trading cards. Not even the regular baseball brands either, those were the allowance-sink of earlier years. These were X-Men trading cards, and they were incredibly pointless.

I shudder to think at how much money I put into those things, every dime I could get my grubby little hands on. I convinced myself at the time that it was an investment, and yes I was so concerned with money in the 5th grade as to consider the resale value of X-Men cards. But I got over them, and now they sit in a box somewhere in my parents' house along with tons of other useless junk that is valueless.

I've picked up countless hobbies like that over the years, wasting money while deluding myself I will keep up with it and actually somehow gain from it. Poker certainly qualified as one of those hobbies, although with the added benefit that I actually made money in the process. Not enough to ever be the poker millionaire I occasionally dreamed of, but enough to buy a few trinkets and a trip or two. But like most hobbies I've ever had I burned out on it earlier this year, or at least I thought I did. Nothing could hold my attention for very long, the stakes I was playing often seemed irrelevant, and I was just getting frustrated with my game.

I realized the problem at a game in May at the Outer Banks, on rain delay from hanging out at the beach. Trying to get a mixed game going I was met with resistance, and downright refusal. I was told we should stick to "real poker," not all this "crazy shit." Omaha, razz, and stud were apparently not real poker. I was so damned sick of Hold 'Em, the game I hadn't started out playing but dominated all of my poker play for several years. I couldn't stand it, I couldn't concentrate, I couldn't play only Hold 'Em any more.

So I don't. I've been playing other games. I've been playing HORSE SNG's on FT and doing shockingly well there. I haven't been playing with the frequency I did, but I'm enjoying it a lot more.

As for this blog, I thank the people that asked me to keep blogging. I was told by a couple to keep doing it even if it's not all poker related, which I think I will. I don't know how much I have to contribute to the poker community that hasn't already been said, I guess we'll see about that. But I do have plenty of topics that I won't mind blogging on, if you can stand to read my terrible writing. College football season is coming up, and JHTFC am I ready for that. So thanks for those who think I'm worth the occasional read, I absolutely promise to start it back up this time, now with less poker content.

Coming out of hibernation soon, but for now PS does it again. . .

2006-05-23T13:55:00.000-04:00

I have registered to play in the PokerStars World Blogger Championship of Online Poker!

This Online Poker Tournament is a No Limit Texas Holdem event exclusive to Bloggers.

Registration code: 7330476

They call it a favorite, not a lock

2006-03-15T13:16:00.000-05:00

I've done it before, so I'm not claiming to be immune by any means. The fact is, it happens to everyone. You are cruising along in a tournament, get your money in as a huge favorite, and all of your work comes to nothing when the inevitable suck-out comes. Deal with it.

I've heard many people say they can't win in tournaments because they are always bad beat. The truth is that no one wins every tournament, no one can even cash in every tournament, there is just too much of a luck factor involved. Especially in an online tournament when you've got to play fast and hope your hands hold up, you have to remember that many times they won't. So does that mean it's impossible to do well in tournaments without tremendous luck? Absolutely not, you just have to work harder.

Everyone is going to take some bad beats, the fewer you take the more likely you are to make serious money. Conversely, you will give some bad beats. Some people claim that they never do, and if you are playing online and never giving bad beats you are playing too damn tight. Bad beats early will almost certainly knock you out of a tournament, and there is no defense against that because you have to play hard with your big hands, but what about bad beats late?

Let's look at how you can get suckout on. Say you are a small stack who is just waiting for a big hand to play hard. In late position you get A's and a big stack in front of you raises to 3x the BB. Since you only have 6x the BB you obviously push for the rest of your stack, the big stack obviously calls the minimal raise with his 7's, hoping to be racing but able to afford the hit even if he's behind. You are delighted to see his hand, until the other two 7's hit the flop and crush your dreams of first place. Just another bad beat, nothing you could do about it right? Not exactly.

Getting crushed with a suckout certainly hurts, but have you ever noticed it doesn't hurt as much when you are the big stack and aren't even close to getting knocked out? Every single time I've done well in an online tournament one of two things has happened. I've hung around as a short stack until the money and got very lucky, or I've built a big stack early by contending every orphan pot and playing all my big hands extremely hard and bludgeoned my way to a top spot. It's not hard to figure out which way relies on skill more than luck. Don't be so tight early that you limit how big your stack can get, if you do you are just hoping you can get a hand to hold up late.

The key to surviving bad beats and having enough chips to be able to gamble and administer some of your own is to build a big stack early. In the higher buy-ins I have started to see some more solid play early. So unless my table is filled with the loosest maniacs in the world (in which case I should get paid off anyway), I've made it a point to try to build my stack as soon as possible. I may have to give a bad beat or two to do it, and I certainly don't cash every time, but when I can get a pile of chips the bad beats just don't sting as much. So quit bitching about your bad beat and make it a moot point, you're a better player than them so why not prove it?

On Conviction

2006-03-03T13:36:00.000-05:00

I have to admit I have a begrudging admiration for the guy. On any given day he is out in the elements for hours at a time, determined to make a difference and to help his cause. Don't get me wrong, I don't agree with what he's fighting for, but how he goes about it is remarkable to me. I have to wonder about his thought process, how he thinks he is helping. I've never thought to myself, I'd like to change the world today, what can I do? I know, I'm going to go stand on a street corner in Columbia, SC by myself and wave frantically at the people passing by. Maybe I'm a pessimist but I hardly believe one person can change the world, without extraordinary circumstances. The odds are even slimmer when all you have is the epitome of a grass-roots effort. And yet, he's out there every day trying to do just that.

I've been wondering aimlessly through my life the last year. I planned to take a year off, get some direction and get moving with a definitive plan for the future. Turns out that's not as easy as it should be. Nothing and no one has struck me over the head showing me the path to enlightenment, or at least to becoming a real adult. But seeing the guy on the street corner one day it did hit me, really hit me that it doesn't matter what I do with my life as long as I feel it has some purpose. I don't intend to rush into some soul-sucking job because it offers me good money. I won't go further into school in something I hate, just to create the possibility of an easier life. I came to the rather simple (but for me, bold) conclusion that I won't force life goals or create artificial objectives. Yes, life is short but what the hell good is it if you don't enjoy it?

In poker I've become the same way. (this is theoretically a poker blog) So now I don't play unless I really want to. Before I was playing just to keep playing, not enjoying my game or playing well. That stopped, and now I only play if I really want to and have the time to commit. I'm playing better for it, even if my results have not shown it in the short run.

So screw complacency I am now open to all possibilities, I'm really looking at life as an adventure right now. I'm essentially without responsibilities or anything to tie me down, and I intend to take full advantage of that fact. I plan to fill my life with things I want to do and not concern myself with how far I've advanced in comparison to everyone else I know. Right now, getting my Masters is really and truly what I want to do, so I'm going to. After that who knows?

Driving by the guy this morning, I was again freaked out and a little repulsed, he is truly a scary looking dude. I switched lanes to avoid his little speech at the light, and I'm quite sure he'll never get me to see his point of view. The baby-carrier with a plastic baby strapped to him and the giant red sign just serve to make him appear that much more insane. You see he's an anti-abortion zealot, and while I'm certainly no fan of the practice, banning it is just not an option. So he has no effect on me, just as he has very little chance of changing the world's opinion from his stump in SC. But that doesn't matter, he has conviction, he thinks he is helping his cause and that is what's important to him. I honestly hope that in my life I feel half as passionately about what I do as he does every fucking day of his life, even if he is a complete and total nut.

Edit - Oh, and if for some reason I still have any readers left, I plan to post a lot more coming up. I don't see why you should be spared my moronic ideas on poker and life.

Playing the 180's

2006-01-06T13:43:00.000-05:00

I am without a doubt a tournament donkey. I'm not very good at them, but I'm better at tournaments than anything else. With that in mind, I've decided to write up some generic advice on probably the softest tourneys (which are also immensely profitable) out there. The $20+2 180's on Stars. I haven't played many lately, because the low buy-in hasn't really kept my attention as well as I'd like, but I have somehow managed to donk my way into a lot of money in these things. I paid for Christmas, Vegas, and a lot of car repairs with these things. Nevertheless, use this guide at your own risk, I have been berated for my tournament play on numerous occasions..

The fact of the matter is that these SNG's are filled with the worst players I've ever seen. There are all manner of calling stations and maniacs that are complete dead money without a miraculous run of luck. This guide is designed for when you run into this type, which will be the majority of the time. If you somehow hit a very tight tournament, just apply this guide but loosen up and steal the blinds at every stage.

Because these tourneys are so maniacal, I am tighter early on than I would be in a regular tournament. Observe your table, unless you are sure someone is a tight player DO NOT TRY TO BLUFF THEM EARLY, they will call you down with incomprehensible hands. Play a very solid strategy. Conversely though, push your big hands hard. Do not be so afraid to go broke in these that you can't build a big stack. You will go broke more often than you cash, but your objective should be to cash big and make up for your losses and more. With that in mind it is not necessary to make huge strides through the first 130 people or so, as long as you can maintain an average stack you should be fine.

Where I find I have the most advantage is with around 45 people remaining. You have to feel it out based on your table, but somewhere around this area players start getting ridiculously tight. Look for big stacks looking to insure their place in the money, playing very few hands. When this stage arrives, your objective is to be as aggressive as possible. Whenever in position with a remotely playable hand, you must raise. When you think you can steal a pot from a weak raiser in the blinds, do it. Do not be afraid to go broke here. This style of play does not work for everyone, but if you can pull it off you will have a good stack for ITM play.

The money comes at 18 players, be very aggressive in the last few bustouts up to this point. When you get into the money, however, you will have to tighten up a bit at first. Do not try to push around small stacks in the blinds with weak hands, they will be willing to gamble. You should remain aggressive, but with much more selectivity. The final table bubble, starting at generally ~11 players is the next great opportunity to get extremely aggressive. Once again players are looking for the prize money jump, and you should not be afraid to exploit that.

Once you've reached the final table, you have to play based on your stack size. If you are a big stack, steal the blinds from players you know to be tight and looking to move up, but don't gamble too much early. There is no need to as the blinds will usually not be absurdly high. Medium stacks should play a very tight game early and try to let the gamblers knock themselves out. Short stacks should be willing to push with any position and decent hand. Bumping up the first few places isn't really worth it, you need to try to build your stack back up to make a push for the final 3. Once down to 5 or 6, aggression is key, no matter your stack size. Don't play truly bad hands, but always try to put the decision to the other players. Don't play a hand you aren't willing to completely commit to unless you have a huge chip lead. You don't want to give away half your stack only to have to fold.

The final 3 is almost always relegated to push or fold poker. Obviously in this situation, position, stack size, and relative idiocy of your opponents is key. Don't be too tight here, you will likely have to gamble a bit to win the damn thing. Remain aggressive and try not to call all-ins if you can. Play hard, play fast, play solid, don't bluff into calling stations, and make sure you always put the hard decisions to your opponent.

Phruck me

2005-12-30T19:53:00.000-05:00

This post will be interesting to approximately 2.4 people that may read this blog, but I've got to vent.

Blake Mitchell, for the love of God you have got to get better or we need a new QB. Your picks killed us, KILLED US. Your bad decision making flat out lost us the game. You have possibly the best WR in the country, but you don't have to throw to him EVERY time. He was open in the 1st half, but they started doubling and tripling him, find another receiver if he isn't open. I hope one of the froshes this year, or Chris Smelley gives you a run for your money. . . if nothing else at least it should make you play better.

Sidney Rice, you are a beast, please remain that way.

Mike Davis - great game, please keep it up.

Tyrone Nix, the prevent defense DOES NOT WORK. For the love of God, I realize we were up but the pressure was crushing Mizzou, why give that up? Equally responsible for the loss, and I'm not so sure you should be the coordinator after the last 2 games.

Ko and J Jo - maybe not the NFL, play another year? Either way Ko, you've been a helluva player and no one could begrudge you anything. But you guys did not have your best performance of the year.

Brad Smith - I hate you.

Steve - Please work some kind of magic and prevent our recruits from running away. At this point I wish we had stayed home. . .

I'm done worrying with it until Sep. . .July. Except for the recruiting dates in January and February. . .uggh.
Go Cocks!

Decent night's work

2005-12-30T03:09:00.000-05:00

Not quite my biggest win ever, but not bad. I had the chip lead at 18, then got felted at 13 to go. During that time I was remarkably card dead, but played some of the best poker of my life, outlasting some much larger stacks. In fact, I went out on a massive river suckout. I won't complain though, I put a nasty beat on someone in the middle of the tourney, the whole damn thing was a freeroll from there. It's 3 AM and I need sleep.

Merry Christmas to all

2005-12-25T00:16:00.000-05:00

I may actually get around to posting something a little deeper than my typical drivel in a couple of days, but until then Merry Christmas to all. And oh yeah, Happy Holidays to those of you who hate Jesus.

"Oh yeah, like that degree is useful. What the hell are you going to do with that?"

2005-12-14T14:46:00.000-05:00

I'm getting nothing done at work today, which is exactly as it should be with the tide of trip reports rolling in. Reading over events I saw happen or received firsthand accounts of quickly brings back the little moments of happiness and hilarity that were constant on the trip. Last night while playing in the $11 re-buy on Stars (21st place of 820, had a huge stack and should have made the final table), the incident of Blood slapping a dealer in the face popped into my mind, and I laughed for a solid minute. Normally, abuse of pregnant women isn't funny, but in the case of Badblood and his 'roid induced beating of women, there is certainly an exception. Blood, I haven't known you for all that long, and seen you around women even less yet there have already been 2 incidents? Get some help, man. Anyway, back to the Las Vegas trip as I remember it.

I woke up before my alarm on Friday, amazingly, and felt shockingly energized after a shower and lunch. Heading over to the Aladdin for the noon tourney, I was gently hit from behind and briefly feared a mugging, before happily realizing that it was only Otis and Dr. Jeff, heading the same way. After buying in and seeing everyone, I was summarily eliminated when I got too frisky with my big stack, pair, and open-ended straight draw. My bustout freed up plenty of time for one of the many fun blogger tables I would sit at while in Vegas. A number of infamous bloggers sat at that table along with a rotating cast of donkeys, donators, and people that found our antics either hilarious or incredibly annoying. I'd like to take this moment to say G-Rob was playing some awfully good poker on this trip, I saw him brutally sucked out twice at this table for large sums of money. Once by Mr. Luckbox, who in fairness told G-Rob he would defend his limp with a suckout, and once by a man who was determined to call him down with anything and hit his runner runner perfect cards to put Gordon on mega-tilt. The fact that he was so far up on the trip is nothing short of better than mediocre.

I also managed my own suckout at the table, and one that I am none too proud of. Otis has told it better already, and I won't try to defend myself other than to say that I'm an idiot. My intended last hand I raised with J's UTG, re-raised by Otis in late position. I guess I can justify that call with putting Otis on AK, but as I said, I'm a donkey. The flop came out Q x x. I checked like the little bitch I am, Otis bet out maybe half to 3/4 of the pot and I inexplicably called, choosing to maintain an AK posture. The turn card was a J, and we got all the money in. Otis' request for a 2-outer with his K's was not answered, but just to rub it in the dealer added an additional J for me to hit the high hand jackpot of quad J's for $80. I felt bad, but at the same moment the old man goading Otis into pushing was pretty damn hilarious. I should have tipped that dude. . .

After cashing out we made our way to the MGM, walk notable only because G-Rob is a deviant and has probably scarred some kid(s) for life. Enough said on that matter. I knew Friday night would be good when I walked into the room and saw Moneymaker playing a $2/$5 NL game, the omen just seemed there. My night followed the mold of all my poker play, play limit poker with bloggers and lose money but have incredible amounts of fun, play NL poker with donkeys, often silently, and make lots of money. I sat down at a NL game and noticed a HORSE game on the big board. Even knowing I was dead money I still had to sit down, you just don't pass up an opportunity like that. The HORSEP game was my second favorite rotation being only surpassed by Vegas HE, a game that I think I could play forever and not get tired of. Probably my favorite moment of the game was when some random woman sat down in the 3's or the 4's and could not for the life of her figure out our random-ass rotation of games. To say the game was fast and loose would be a bit of an understatement. At one point I made the mistake of folding my rough J in razz on seventh to a nice looking board for Performify. He turned over a full house, and I applauded him on his balls. Nice play, sir.

After leaving that game I joined an absurd $1/$2 NL table that had about $5500 sitting on it. That game was extremely profitable, including my raking a $430 pot with A high and April scooping a giant pot with quad A's. Both pots won from the same guy. The real entertainment of the evening came from watching Phil Gordon's table, and Mrs. Head's masterful defeat of him in roshambo. That was one of the most enjoyable matchups I have ever seen, and the backers of Mrs. Head really knew what they were doing there, Gordon left tilted.

Exhausted, but happy, I followed April to the MGM sports book bar before heading to bed, where I heard hilarious rants by Iggy, and Iggy-as-Grubby, and other random conversations that are just too perfectly cemented in my brain to give proper homage to here. It's been said before a million times, but the people on this trip are what really make it. Everyone is larger than life, and no one is boring. I'd never been to Vegas before. I didn't know proper Vegas ettiquette, I had only met some of the people going, I was younger than most, and I don't have the most sparkling of social skills, yet I was constantly at ease and felt welcomed as a member of the group. April said it before, but I'm the one that really should say it, thank you all for a great trip.

"First time in Vegas? You're going to have a blast"

2005-12-13T16:37:00.000-05:00

With that quote from Otis in my head, I set out on my cross-country flight. The unattractive middle-aged woman behind me had made her intentions of getting laid on the trip quite evident to everyone around her, repeating the Vegas mantra ad nauseum. I had been placed in the 5's of the plane, or the middle seat on a 6-handed flight. I would usually have been upset by this, but the fact that I was surrounded by two extremely attractive New York runway models somehow made the position more bearable. The young ladies weren't rich yet, so they had to fly cheaply as did I, but they were bubbling over with excitement at their first trip to Vegas. They were both trying to convince themselves they would not cheat on their boyfriends, I politely nodded while MY head kept repeating the Vegas mantra over and over again. . .alas, no action. Pauly certainly would have closed the deal.

I arrived at the Excalibur about an hour after I landed, and swiftly proceeded to donk off chips to every blogger in the vicinity. That would certainly be a theme of my trip, if playing with bloggers I lost money, otherwise I was Doyle Brunson. Thursday night I saw many of the faces I had the fortune of meeting at Bradoween, and met a couple more that I had of course known from their blog. I sat there with a smile plastered across my face, unable to do anything but marvel at how pleased I was to be there.

Around 4 AM my delusional brain decided it was time to go to bed, and I was planning on making my way there. I was convinced, however, by some bad influences to play Pai Gow, the game of kings. The game is certainly as fun as advertised, but I suck at it, badly. I don't know how it's possible to suck so badly at a game with basic strategy, but here I am. The greyhounds, beer, screwdrivers, and amazingly enough, "salty dogs" were flowing in abundance and everyone was having a good time, so losing a bit didn't seem so bad. After everyone but Otis went broke in the game it was time to go back to the hotel and get a little sleep. A short cab ride later and it was 6 AM local time, meaning I had been awake for 30 hours with 1 meal in all that time, and after three and a half hours of sleep I would eat some breakfast and play in the Aladdin tourney, which is where I started my Friday. . .

Time to go

2005-12-08T15:04:00.000-05:00

Bag is packed, good meal in my stomach to fortify against the coming onslaught, I'm soooo ready to go.

All I need is the weather in DC to hold up for a few more hours. . .time to go.

A life less ordinary

2005-12-06T15:26:00.000-05:00

So it just occurred to me that on Thursday I will be traveling by myself to a town I've never been to with no plan of action or important reason to be there. I have very little experience in that area. I probably should be feeling some trepidation or uneasiness, but no, all I feel is pure unadulterated giddiness. I'm having trouble sleeping at night in anticipation, I'm having trouble concentrating at work, but to be fair that's nothing new. I can't freaking wait.

Happily, I've done well in building the bankroll since I got the monkey off my back and made enough to go. I probably won't have to donk around at the lowest of games, rather going a level up. I've got a hotel room, I shall not be a homeless bum, and an absolutely free schedule. I certainly want to play in a tourney or two at some point, since I got to the trip too late to enter the WPBT, but other than that I am up for just about any damn thing. Wheels down at 9:55pm Thurs as G-Rob pointed out, see you all there.

Why I do it. . .

2005-12-01T01:24:00.000-05:00

I was reading TeamScottSmith's new blog (great guy, I can't believe no one told me he had a blog now) today and it caused me to think, something I do on rare occasion. He mentioned why he started his blog, and aside from being able to comment on other blogs, a task he performs with amazing ability, his main goal was to improve as a player.

As I said I started to think, on why I began a blog. Improvement was certainly on my list, and I have improved. Not so much as blogging, God knows no one learns anything through this drivel, but certainly by all of the other blogs I read and bloggers I interact with. If you don't improve your game in that case, you aren't trying. Or profoundly retarded, I'm not sure of which.

Improvement wasn't my main goal, though, oddly enough. You see I started reading poker blogs in the summer of last year, somewhere around July. There weren't the prolific numbers there are now, and some of the greats hadn't emerged yet, but many were already there pounding out brilliance into the ether. I read these blogs casually until December, when something happened that got me out of the casual category and into a devoted reader and eventually a blogger. The December '04 Vegas gathering.

I read all of the trip reports of that event, I was amazed by them. How could a group of people that hardly knew each other get together in Vegas and have what was by all accounts an amazing time? I knew then I wanted to be a blogger, and for one major reason. . .I wanted to know these people. I started my blog in January with the hopes of contributing to the 'sphere. Lord knows I've done a miserable job at that, but I have managed to meet a lot of amazing people on the way. I started playing in the infamous G-Vegas homegame on occasion, getting fleeced by people much better than I. I vowed to make the June trip to Vegas, but alas, I was too cavalier with the money I made playing poker, and I failed to make it. I remember sitting in a home game with Blood and G-Rob listening to their giddiness about the impending trip and wishing so badly that I could go, promising I'd make the next one.

The event that hooked me hardest though was Bradoween, actually meeting many of the bloggers I read every day was amazing, I said then in that situation I was bound for disappointment, yet none came. I swore to myself I'd make the trip at that point. Somehow, though, I just couldn't break through and justify the money, I had to EARN it playing poker, and I ended up scrapping the idea altogether. Believe me when I say I was not happy making that one.

So when my little tournament win came through, and my more recent success playing with less of a burden on my shoulders has increased my bankroll, it feels a little like fate. I set out with a few goals with this blog, but they haven't all worked. I'm not much of a writer, I've accepted that. My theories on poker, philosophy, life, etc. are much like my prose, they sound good in my head but just don't seem to translate. But my main goal, meeting and spending time with the people who have united as a group and could have a good time just about anywhere, that one will be accomplished in 7 days. . .one year from when I made it. I'm satisfied with that.

Every little bit. . .

2005-11-29T17:09:00.000-05:00

This helps for Vegas. . .and to think, I was going to to go to work today.

Hello GameC,

Congratulations on your finish in tournament #15798253!
You agreed to a deal at the final table to adjust the payouts as follows:

Official New
Player Payout Payout
========= ======== ======
OPE11 #1 $ 1080.00 $ 742.80
Plip-it #2 $ 720.00 $ 742.80
GameC #3 $ 428.40 $ 742.80

I got very down early due to some horrendous play, $380 of my original $1500 stack. A couple of idiots doubled me up, and I gambled a lot. From there I played great poker, getting to the final table rather short. I got extremely aggressive there, and eventually doubled up with J's vs. AK to get a commanding chip lead.

As usual though, I donked it off. I was fortunate though, other players cared about their stacks even less than me and we were quickly down to 3. Still a massive underdog, I raced and chipped my way up to about even in chips with the other 2. Not wanting to gamble some easy money this close to Vegas, I chopped. And now, not quite as strapped as I was.

9 days.

How I'll screw up

2005-11-28T17:05:00.000-05:00

I can't believe I'm going to Vegas. I can't believe I get to post an "I can't wait to go to Vegas" post, I've read many, and frankly they all make me jealous. Just a bit of administrative duty here, I'm still looking for a roomate if anyone is interested.

This is, as may be apparent, going to be my first time in Vegas. I've only be old enough to do the stuff that makes Vegas worth coming to for under 2 years now. So I have no idea the proper etiquette. I will screw up, probably many times. I hope some Vegas veteran will take me under their wing and keep me from embarassing myself.

Many of the things I don't know how to do well. Tipping in Vegas, how does it work and how much is standard for situations? I've never actually been to a casino, so hell, I'll probably screw up getting to a damn table. Pornslappers, what's proper ettiquette in dealing with them? So much to learn, so much to do. I was nervous at first, doubting if I should have done it. Then it hit me, I'm fucking going to Vegas. I can't. freaking. wait.

Giddy up.

An early Chr. . .Thanksgiving miracle

2005-11-24T01:39:00.000-05:00

My last post was rather dismal wasn't it? Let's see if I can get a bit more cheery with this one.

Several days ago I was emailed about a pre-Thanksgiving tourney in G-Vegas, which many local celebrities would be attending. Given the fact I am spending T-giving with my family, I of course accepted the invitation to play. Before the game started, Blood asked me why I wasn't going to Vegas. I gave him the simple reason, money. He then asked me how short I was. I told him I had enough to justify everything but the plane ticket. He commented that winning first in this 16 man (and woman) tournament would just about cover it. He was right of course, and I jokingly said, "well if I win I'll have to go then."

I played some damn good poker. I had no suckouts and built a big lead through good play, it honestly wasn't luck this time.

Oh yeah, and I won. I still don't have plans for a hotel room, what to do in Vegas, the tournament (which I assume it's too late to enter), or pretty much anything. That being said, I'll see you guys Thursday night:

Thank you for booking your travel through Travelocity!
Your reservation is complete

My hiatus

2005-11-21T23:10:00.000-05:00

There have been a lot of reasons why I haven't been posting lately, most are lame but true. I've been busy, I haven't had the time to play or post as much as I would like to lately. I haven't had any breakthroughs, I don't feel like I could contribute very much to the 'sphere at this point, but I'm certainly working on that. And I've been caught up in what is the busiest sports time of the year for me, didn't work out as well as I would have liked but we won't get into that.

The most important reason for my avoidance is also my most embarassing. I've been trying to avoid it, I've been trying furiously to make it untrue, and I've been trying to find ways around it, but I can't. I just don't have the money to go to Vegas right now. I have tried and tried but failed to breakthrough to the point where I can justify my trip. I desperately want to go, meet new people, and visit with ones I've met once or twice and feel like I know so well. I want to experience all of the amazing sights, sounds, and debauchery that I am positive can only be found in Vegas. Fact is, I can't. Life sucks and I can't get around it right now. Once I finally decide what to do with my life and start at it there will be more stability, but for now there is simply flux and vacillation. I still want to be part of the amazing group, I still want to be a blogger, but I just can't live up to this expectation this time. And it sucks.

But I'll keep trying, there's always next time. (Hopefully)

Rules for playing (seriously)

2005-10-25T13:13:00.000-04:00

This post is as much to keep me in check as anything else, feel free to add on or tell me I'm an idiot.

Rules

1.) Don't play tired.
2.) Don't play if you don't have the time.
3.) Don't play angry.
4.) Stop playing until you cool down after a brutal beat.
5.) Don't "take shots" because you are having a bad day.
6.) Don't play if you are anxious.
7.) Don't get so focused in that you feel like you "have to make moves," let the damn game come to you.
8.) Don't play unfamiliar games at your typical limit.
9.) Don't play stupid.
10.) Don't ever play with G-Rob, he will rob you blind.

Uggh

2005-10-24T01:53:00.000-04:00

PokerStars Tournament #14183577, No Limit Hold'em
Buy-In: $20.00/$2.00
180 players
Total Prize Pool: $3600.00
Tournament started - 2005/10/23 - 21:55:08 (ET)

Dear GameC,

You finished the tournament in 2nd place.
A $720.00 award has been credited to your Real Money account.

2nd sucks.

I do like those tourneys though, Otis. And thanks to April and Heather for getting me there. Tourney report, DON'T DO WHAT I DO, YOU WILL ONLY GET SECOND!

Vegas

2005-10-20T23:30:00.000-04:00

Ok, so say I was pondering a trip to Vegas in early December. Anyone possibly need a roomate/couch crasher? Just gauging possibilities since I think I'll really regret it if I miss another one of these.

More Adventurous

2005-10-20T11:52:00.000-04:00

Rilo Kiley is amazing, you should all listen to them.

Poker is boring me. A simple statement I never thought I'd say, but there is a very specific reason for it. I am still playing sit and gos, tournaments, and ring games below what I am capable of, below what my bankroll can withstand. I don't know why. I'm playing a lot, I'm playing bored, and I'm playing poorly. I've been just grinding through these games playing on auto-pilot, and that is certainly no way to play.

I have a comfort zone, and it's a level I have no trouble playing half-assed at, distracted and doing 4 other things. When I started playing poker years ago I got a rush from playing miniscule limits, any bluff would get my heart absolutely pounding. And to be honest, I play better that way. I am more observant, I am tighter and more aggressive, I never play bored. My comfort zone leads to boredom, boredom leads to poker death.

The solution, therefore, is pretty obvious, shake things up. I am cutting back how much I play and making it exciting again. I am going to play some tournaments I know I have the skill set for, but don't feel entirely comfortable ponying up the buy-in for, I am going to completely leave my comfort zone.

So what will the result be? The dream scenario would obviously be me hitting a huge score, (huge being a relative term) and allowing me to feel comfortable here and build up the roll to move up further. I hope that this experiment makes me a better player, a smarter player. And I'm pretty certain moving up will re-invigorate my willingness to play, and get the heart pounding again. There is a better than decent chance that I'll fail miserably and end up back at the lower limits, but to be honest much of what I play for is the rush, and I'm always willing to gamble.

Thanks to G-Rob for giving me a kick in the ass.

Stuck

2005-10-06T13:02:00.000-04:00

I've been remiss in blogging, not because I don't want to, just because I'm stuck. I haven't played much poker lately, too busy and I'm just not a hit and run type player. I will get back into it soon, that's a promise, but until then this will be the most random post I've ever made with very little poker content.

I really need to make the money in some tournaments soon, my confidence is seriously waning. I used to consider this the strength of my game, but when I have been playing lately I haven't been playing well. I am still doing ok in cash games and S&G's, but my favorite poker is tournament style. Time to re-evaluate my game and try to figure out what I'm doing wrong. I think I'm too damn aggressive.
_____________

I finally got glasses this week, I've needed them for about 5 years. I realized it was a bad situation when completely random strangers were telling me that I needed glasses, I tend to squint a lot. The optometrist couldn't believe I hadn't ever had an eye exam, and also couldn't believe I made it this long without getting any. I'm a beast, what can I say?
_____________

Fast cars are fun, and I really enjoy driving, I've said this before. What I don't enjoy are buying oddly sized Z rated tires, they tend to be a bit expensive.
_____________

Am I the only person who loves fall above all other seasons? Sure, everything dies but it is finally getting cool outside. I absolutely love a good 60 degree day. When I was younger I used to go camping and backpacking all the time but I haven't done much of it in years. I recently read Bill Bryson's A Walk in the Woods chronicling his trip on the AT, and I am really psyched to start doing it again. Going on a warm-up hike, a 40 miler next weekend on the Foothills Trail, an absolutely lovely hike through the SC/NC mountain border. I hope to build up to tackle some of the hardest hikes on the Smokies, known for its beauty and difficulty.
_____________

Serenity rules. But you already knew that because you went to see it, didn't you? DIDN'T YOU? Yes, I am sad.

Blogger Championship, w00t!

2005-09-30T01:22:00.000-04:00

I have registered to play in the
Online Poker Blogger Championship!

This event is powered by PokerStars.

Registration code: 3290429

Pictures to astound

2005-09-28T23:55:00.000-04:00

I haven't played poker in a while, involuntary break. I'll be back after the weekend to donate to Drizz and others at the blogger table, but until then the top 10 science pictures of the year. Yeah, they are amazing.

Enjoy

Involuntary Break

2005-09-21T14:37:00.000-04:00

A mix-up at the cable company. . .which I work at meant that I had no cable all weekend. No internet meant no poker, which wasn't an entirely bad thing. I was outraged, of course, but I found time to do all of the nagging errands and little tasks that I needed to do. I feel refreshed, ready to play, and largely unburdened from many of life's little tasks.

This also meant I had a TON of poker blogs to read yesterday. Man, that takes a while if it backs up. I also missed, apparently, a WPBT tourney. How was it? Oh, and Wes, sorry for not calling you back last night. I was helping a friend with his Econ test and my cell phone died (my only phone), give me a call next time if you would. See you all at the tables.

Classy

2005-09-15T18:22:00.000-04:00

Gotta love to get busted in a tourney by a player named "KingPoop," playing 7h 2d 4h Jh in O8. Yep, internet poker players rool.

Am I the only one?

2005-09-15T13:21:00.000-04:00

Is anyone else angry at the moron La state senator who pulled 10,000 likely dead out of his ass and caused the media to run with it? When he initially said it, I wondered where he got that number and if he was remotely qualified to make it, but I figured maybe he had inside info I didn't. Nope, seems to have been wild speculation and sensationalism to further stir the public up. Numbers are looking dramatically lower, although still certainly a catastrophe. What the hell is the point of that? Seriously pisses me off. And why do we listen to these idiots making stuff up? Uggh.

G-Rob inspired me. . .

2005-09-13T14:06:00.000-04:00

The man with the most underrated poker mind on the interwebs has a great post up about Blink and its application to poker. I read the book and enjoyed it, but disagree with its application to poker on a couple of points.

The people I always play online, and hell, the vast majority of people that play online poker are morons. Against these people I trust my "blink" instinct, I've played plenty of hands against these idiots and my thin-slicing comes from tons of experience and quickly-gathered info. My mind processes what I've seen these people do countless other times and extrapolates the most likely result.

On the rare occasion (at my levels) that I run into a good opponent, however, I like to think every decision through. These people try to get you to use that blink instinct to your detriment. I'm not very good at it, but I too try to lull my opponents into the simple level thinking that comes from the expectation that I am just as bad as all of the other morons.

I'm not saying that the blink instinct is wrong in this situation, but it's effected by experience as well as any deep-thinking on the issue. Gladwell talks about a fireman who led his crew into a room with no visible and clear danger, only to tell them to get the hell out because it doesn't feel right. The thin-slicing here was accurate and clearly helpful, but he almost certainly sub-consciously drew on all of his previous experience fighting fires to make this snap decision. A civilian off the street may not have been so lucky.

I would say the reverse is also true. Consider a high-stakes player playing only with poker elite a majority of the time. When he/she joins the plebes in a tournament or cash game, the blink instinct would likely be better engineered to a more successful player, and make many of their decisions incorrect in this game. Conversely, if the elite player expects the players to be horrible, the blink instinct can compensate too much. Thin-slicing can be dangerous as well.

Against the players I know, the games I'm familiar with, I trust my instinct completely, confident in the fact that my "blink" response is right. I am always careful though to avoid just blinking my way though important decisions. I find that against a good and tricky player I am much more successful if I move through hand ranges and recreate the hand and my history with the particular opponent. Gladwell's smart, but there is definitely a reason why we collect and analyze so much information, it's not always harmful.

2005-09-08T12:24:00.000-04:00

I'm rather proud of my little state, we aren't just talking for once. The midlands, which I currently live in, have taken in about 500 evacuees so far, with the offer of taking in thousands more. We are setting up long term accomadations and currently have most in actual hotels. The local churches have secured 800 rooms for 6 whole months. Say what you will about organized religion, and I have to admit to not being a huge fan, but no one can say they don't help out. We aren't up to Texas standards, they are doing amazing work, but we are doing what we can on scale.

I volunteered, and contributed a bit, but I was actually unable to do much because there were too many volunteers, wow. Greenville has also started to take evacuees, my hometown proving it's not only there for the world's greatest homegames. And Charleston, well Charleston means well. . .

Congrats

2005-09-06T01:27:00.000-04:00

One of my friends, Terril, just won a $3 2300 person tourney on Stars for $1,400. It's refreshing to see him win and his unbridled enthusiasm take it down. He made lots of mistakes but played really well. I've been jaded by so much play, and I loved to see how happy he was to make his first FT and win it. Congrats, man.

Excuse me, I have to rant. . .

2005-09-02T15:37:00.000-04:00

It's painful to me, watching and doing nothing. I'm sad and I'm angry and feeling useless. I'm a very sympathetic person, I can't help but feel for those in trouble. Personally, I couldn't care less for the city of NOLA, a poorly placed city that was always in danger of being destroyed. I've never been there, and I'm sure it was a great town, but who cares really? Who gives a damn if a hotel or a casino was destroyed? They are insured, they will be fine. I'm sure people have great memories of the city, but who is so selfish to think of themselves and their inability to party at Mardi Gras right now? The city will probably be rebuilt, even if that is ill-advised. The people though, the people are screwed.

These people have nothing now, less than nothing really. Most of those who are homeless don't get that way abruptly. Almost none have to endure a trial so horrendous most people can't fathom it. Most don't lose friends and family at the exact same time.

I saw the tragedy of 9/11, I saw the immediate reaction of the US and the world, and I recognized the cause of the tragedy. A bunch of malicious bastards that decided killing innocent people was an excellent way to get their distorted point across. I saw the tsunami, I felt for the utter destruction and devastation, and I saw the world jump into action and help the people there. This is different, this is my country and there was no damn reason for this to happen, not even a psychotically twisted one. It's hard to help these people because the city is so isolated and we've been slow to do so anyway. There are those who have jumped to action, but it hardly seems enough. And you know what, I've done nothing.

Sure, I've donated what meager amounts I can, I've watched the stupid ass TV impotently hoping and sometimes praying for the people there, but there's nothing I can really do. I want to go and help people, but I can't, I have no training and I'd only get in the way. I want to house and clothe thousands but I'm poor, and selfishly do it for myself first. I can't do anything and it kills me, not because I worry for NOLA, screw the city, the people are in pain.

I'm angry. I realize the people in the city are tired, hungry, thirsty, and desperate, and I couldn't care less if they steal water and food, that's a good idea. But looting for the sake of looting is painfully retarded. Shooting at rescue workers? Anyone who does that doesn't deserve to live. Fighting other survivors, raping people? Same goes for you. Some times I can't believe what humans are capable of.

So I'll remain here, living life rather normally, doing very little to help. I won't try to console myself because I don't deserve it and hell, nothing bad has happened to me. I'll watch as the best of humanity tries to save the desperate, and root for them all the way. All I can really hope is that one day I'll be in a position to do something substantial, and when that day comes I hope I'll have the balls to take advantage of it.

Moment of Silence

2005-08-28T15:06:00.000-04:00

Sweet Jesus, everyone pray for the deep South and send good wishes to CJ. New Orleans looks doomed. . .

From the NWS:

HURRICANE KATRINA
A MOST POWERFUL HURRICANE WITH UNPRECEDENTED
STRENGTH...RIVALING THE INTENSITY OF HURRICANE CAMILLE OF 1969.

MOST OF THE AREA WILL BE UNINHABITABLE FOR WEEKS...PERHAPS LONGER. AT
LEAST ONE HALF OF WELL CONSTRUCTED HOMES WILL HAVE ROOF AND WALL
FAILURE. ALL GABLED ROOFS WILL FAIL...LEAVING THOSE HOMES SEVERELY
DAMAGED OR DESTROYED.

THE MAJORITY OF INDUSTRIAL BUILDINGS WILL BECOME NON FUNCTIONAL.
PARTIAL TO COMPLETE WALL AND ROOF FAILURE IS EXPECTED. ALL WOOD
FRAMED LOW RISING APARTMENT BUILDINGS WILL BE DESTROYED. CONCRETE
BLOCK LOW RISE APARTMENTS WILL SUSTAIN MAJOR DAMAGE...INCLUDING SOME
WALL AND ROOF FAILURE.

HIGH RISE OFFICE AND APARTMENT BUILDINGS WILL SWAY DANGEROUSLY...A
FEW TO THE POINT OF TOTAL COLLAPSE. ALL WINDOWS WILL BLOW OUT.

AIRBORNE DEBRIS WILL BE WIDESPREAD...AND MAY INCLUDE HEAVY ITEMS SUCH
AS HOUSEHOLD APPLIANCES AND EVEN LIGHT VEHICLES. SPORT UTILITY
VEHICLES AND LIGHT TRUCKS WILL BE MOVED. THE BLOWN DEBRIS WILL CREATE
ADDITIONAL DESTRUCTION. PERSONS...PETS...AND LIVESTOCK EXPOSED TO THE
WINDS WILL FACE CERTAIN DEATH IF STRUCK.

POWER OUTAGES WILL LAST FOR WEEKS...AS MOST POWER POLES WILL BE DOWN
AND TRANSFORMERS DESTROYED. WATER SHORTAGES WILL MAKE HUMAN SUFFERING
INCREDIBLE BY MODERN STANDARDS.

THE VAST MAJORITY OF NATIVE TREES WILL BE SNAPPED OR UPROOTED. ONLY
THE HEARTIEST WILL REMAIN STANDING...BUT BE TOTALLY DEFOLIATED. FEW
CROPS WILL REMAIN. LIVESTOCK LEFT EXPOSED TO THE WINDS WILL BE
KILLED.

AN INLAND HURRICANE WIND WARNING IS ISSUED WHEN SUSTAINED WINDS NEAR
HURRICANE FORCE...OR FREQUENT GUSTS AT OR ABOVE HURRICANE FORCE...ARE
CERTAIN WITHIN THE NEXT 12 TO 24 HOURS.

ONCE TROPICAL STORM AND HURRICANE FORCE WINDS ONSET...DO NOT VENTURE
OUTSIDE!

Live at the Bike

2005-08-24T14:20:00.000-04:00

I don't know if anyone besides me watches Live at the Bike on occasion, but this announcement is pretty cool to me. Hell, even cableless losers can watch poker there:

BELL GARDENS, Calif., Aug. 24 /PRNewswire/ -- PokerBlue.com announced
today, the live, world premiere Internet broadcast of its all new, "Whale
Game," a weekly high-limit event that will feature high-stakes players from
the worlds of poker, sports and entertainment.
"Until now, games of this level -- in which hundreds of thousand of
dollars are on the line -- have been shrouded in secrecy ... played behind
closed doors of guarded private estates," enthuses Yosh Nakano, a high-limit
poker legend, and now an Ambassador for PokerBlue.com.
The "Whale Game" premier event will seat eight, big name, high-profile
players including: Dr. Jerry Buss (Owner of the Los Angeles Lakers), actor
Gabe Kaplan, 2005 World Poker Tour Champion Tuan Le, Shawn Sheikhan (the #11
finisher in the 2005 WSOP Main Event), Tim Phan (the #24 finisher in the 2005
WSOP Main Event), Yosh Nakano (ranked by NBC-TV among the world's top 64
players), and Frank Hong (a high-stakes ambassador to PokerBlue.com). Identity
of the game's eighth player will remain a mystery until show time.
According to Nakano, this world premiere "Whale Game" will be a $10,000
buy-in, High-Limit (400-800) Hold'em game in which pots may soar to as much as
$25,000. "Players better bring there 'huevos' to this brawl," exclaims Nakano.

_____

One thing that makes no sense is the $400-$800 with a $10,000 buy-in. Uhh, that's 12.5 BB's. Ahh well, I've always wanted to watch some high stakes ring games.

A hand up, not a hand out

2005-08-23T11:48:00.000-04:00

I can't compete with the amazing write ups from the Bradoween tourney. Go to those links and the additional ones on my right for all of the great tales of the weekend. The true reward for me was meeting everyone, and I would link everyone in this post if I wasn't lazy, but they are all on the blogroll anyway. So instead of regaling you with the incredible tales I'll instead ask you a question.

There was a lot of poker played this weekend, but one hand stood out for me among all the others. I've thought about this hand a lot and I'm not sure if I played it well or like a complete lemur. We were down to 4 in the pre-Bradoween "G-Vegas is doomed" tourney, and I had a sizable stack of about 650 or so. Otis, the best party-thrower in the world and man renowned for his poker playing ability, had me slightly outchipped on my left. Maudie and Pauly were a bit behind us in stack size and in the blinds. I open raise for T60 with JTo UTG with blinds at 10/20. Otis flat calls directly to my left and Maudie and Pauly fold. At this point I put Otis on Ax (fairly raggy) or a low pocket pair. The flop comes 9 7 x rainbow and I consider my options. I had raised several pots previously with Otis calling. I had checked the flop resulting in his making a fairly sizable bet. With my read of A rag I figure him for either completely missing the flop or possibly having a pair. No overpair, straight draw or flush draw. A set was possible but I thought I could get a better read on that after his bet. If the pair was low enough I thought I had the chips behind to blow him off his hand, and if not I'd have 10 outs in an emergency.

Otis, as I expected, bet and the bet was quite strong. His bet told me (I could have been wrong here) that he didn't have a set, just didn't think he wanted a call that bad. After his bet of 200 I immediately moved all in for about 360 more. This is where I think I made my mistake. I thought I had more chips behind and could make the price wrong for him to call. I had shown down only strong hands including several high pocket pairs, and if he had a low pair he would be almost forced to lay it down, obviously an A rag bluff would be out as well. The problem came because he had K9 and I had probably priced him in with the pot laying him about 1.6 to 1 to call. He made the good call and I didn't hit my outs, meaning I was out.

This play had me re-evaluating much of my tournament play. In situations like this I'm often extremely aggressive in an attempt to accumulate chips for the win. I probably could have folded my way into top 2, but I generally don't play that way. I like to put the decisions to my opponent and dictate the action with a big stack. Going out on a bluff always hurts, and not knowing if it was at all sound makes it hurt more. So I would certainly be interested in any and all opinions on this hand.

Faith Restored

2005-08-21T11:22:00.000-04:00

Living up to expectations is virtually impossible. When meeting a new group of people, for instance, there is always a jackass that spoils the perfect idea you have in your head. The problem with a pedestal is the fall that comes when someone (or everyone)you meet inevitably disappoints. Never in my life has such a lofty opinion been re-affirmed and added on to. Until this weekend.

I know it's been said before by writers much more talented than myself, but a blogging contingent is just a great group of people. I haven't half the talent in writing or poker as all of the fine people I met, yet they treated me just as kindly as if I had known them for years. My fear of being exiled as the idiot in the corner never came to pass, and I was accepted as a member of the group. The fact that I'm a bit younger than the rest didn't cause any obvious lack of respect, sure there were moments of fear that I was 12, but I'm certainly used to that. I am in fact 22, there was never any cause for alarm.

I went into it figuring someone, anyone in the group would have had an abrasive personality, no sense of humor, or just a general poor disposition. I was so wrong. I met a majority of my blogging heroes this weekend, and honest to the baby Jeebus I read every single one of them regularly for almost a year before the trip, so I felt I knew them already even if they didn't know me. I got the feeling that I could spend every weekend with them and be more entertained each time, and believe me that is rare. The hook is in me, and I've forced myself to make the resolution of getting to the next major gathering, however I can. Hanging out with you people is quite addicting. So basically I wanted to thank everyone I met this weekend, especially Otis for hosting the event. You will all go down as some of the coolest people I've ever met, even G-Rob.

As for the events themselves, what can I say about playing with bloggers? Only that I was outclassed in every respect. Congratulations to Otis for winning the "G-Vegas is doomed tournament" and to Pauly and Wes for getting 1st and 2nd in the Open. Great poker was played all around, and I believe a good time was had by all.

Looking forward

2005-08-17T12:54:00.000-04:00

I'm quite excited about a weekend of poker debauchery, beginning Thursday and continuing FOREVER. I'm over the bad beats, I'm embarrassed about my whining, and I'm ready to move on. Fact is I had a bad run, horrendous though it was, it happens and I've just got to learn to deal with it. I expect this weekend will remind me again what I love about poker, and the people who play it.

_______________

Part of my ability to change attitude is the fact that I'm a little less dependent on making money at poker now than I was even a month ago. A business venture I've made is working out, and I am no longer in dire-college-kid-poor-as-hell-must-not-lose-money mode. I'm not pulling in BadBlood type money, but for a single male with few expenses I'm doing much better.

The fact that I'm now more tilt-resistant has got me thinking about the apparent paradox of poker. Much like getting a loan, if you can play well within your means and afford to lose the money if necessary, it's much easier. I find I am significantly better at using my chips as weapons, attacking my players, and not obsessing over suckouts when I do have money. Hell, I'm pretty sure your hands DO hold up more when I'm in this situation. The trouble often arises when I'm strapped, and I need every pot and every hand to hold up. The solutions to this are theoretically obvious, but hard to enact. Stay within your bankroll and choose only good games. After tasting bigger games and bigger wins it's often very difficult to slip back down because of a depleted bankroll. So my new plan is obvious, never lose any money at all, always increase the bankroll. Simple, right? Winning the Bradoween tournament will certainly help to boost the bankroll. Unfortunately ridiculous claims, undeserved cockiness, and a goon squad sent out to take the money back and break my knees due to all of the rampant cheating I'll need to win will take it back.

Alright, I just wanted to let my 1-2 readers know I have not killed myself (thanks for checking on me April) and am indeed doing well in poker and outside of it. Let the fun begin! God, I'm so cliche.

Edit - Spell checker recommended replacing "BadBlood" with "bodybuilder," that thing is clairvoyant.

Fun from the felt

2005-08-07T00:38:00.000-04:00

Re-entered the online poker arena today to the same old horrible result, there were suckouts a plenty, but that's boring.

What's not boring is the conversation I start with some of my tablemates while I'm getting crushed in sit-and-gos. One such event saw me raising on the button with KJ and being called in 2 spots, the BB a gigantic station. The board was well-coordinated with straight and flush possiblities and an A. I *knew* my opponent had a low pair and was trying to push him off with a huge bluff on the turn. He called me down with bottom pair, 10 kicker to take the pot and knock me out. When I asked him, politely I might add, how he knew to call he had this response:

nocrying: i figured im up 300 today i can cal
GameC: lol
nocrying: im foreal
GameC: That's what makes it funny.

Ahh online poker, how I ~~loathe~~ love thee.

If you can't stand the heat, put out the damn fire

2005-07-26T15:24:00.000-04:00

The temperature in my car read 109F. Of course, this was just residual heat from my black car sitting in the parking lot, once it cooled down to its rightful temperature it was only 106. People in the West claim temperatures above the 110 barrier, and that's fine, but it's not real heat. Until you've experienced 432% humidity in Columbia, SC (the hottest place on Earth, I'd contend) you haven't felt a real heat wave. The whole country is just catching up to us the last few days, we're used to it. It's days like today I like to remain in the confines of places blessed with the holy invention of air conditioning. If forced to go outside I enjoy the relaxation that comes from a cold shower and laying around trying not to die.

Today was the hottest day of the year so far, so of course I'm volunteered for a box moving project at work. Outside. I'm kind of the do-everything guy. When it comes time to create financial models I'm the only one that knows how. I'll do them quickly and then spend hours upon hours explaining how they work to my bosses. They'll then take the credit in the corporate meetings and look like the genius who saved the company $eleventy billion. No one said life was fair. I'm also assigned to the bitch work, the blindingly boring bitch work. Every now and then that means manual labor.

I wasn't told beforehand today would be all-crucial-box-moving-around-day. That means I wore my standard work attire, khaki pants and a collared shirt. After half an hour of working outside the collared shirt came off, and I cared little for my appearance. After 2 hours, I was hot. Sweat dripping down my face in buckets, clothes sticking to my body, damn near stroking out steaming. The odd thing was, it all felt familiar.

I'm on an online poker hiatus, self-imposed until after my final vacation of the summer, coming next week. Overall I've enjoyed the time off with only a few withdrawal symptoms. I won't lie, I desperately want to get back into games at times, but I've managed to hold it off so far. During this time I've had a chance to evaluate my play, and I've found my major flaw. I've found it before but I didn't realize how to fix it until today. When I find myself steaming, get out of the damn heat. It's simple sounding but so hard to do. I have got to learn to walk away when the going is rough. Like anyone, I can handle just about anything when I'm running well, but when those inevitable downturns come my temperature rises to 106, and I'm sweating like a madman.

I used to think playing good poker was limited to reading your cards and opponents, bluffing and making great value bets, but it's so much more. Playing great poker is choosing games wisely, learning how to cope with steam, and always exercising caution with your bankroll. Poker is a game of mental toughness, and forgetting that for a minute can destroy you.

So when I start back it doesn't really matter if the heat wave is over, quite unlikely in August in SC. I know that I have to keep cool no matter what. Cold showers this time of year are a welcome proposition; I've just got to remember to take one when it gets unseasonably warm in my house as well.

Lineup of the century

2005-07-21T14:24:00.000-04:00

So I was reading Dutch Boyd's blog (Yes I'm a masochist), and I came across this post:

"I am competing in a poker gameshow called Poker Royale on GSN (formerly the Gameshow Network). They are doing a battle of the ages special with two teams of six... one young and one old. The young team consists of me, Michael Gracz and Kasey Thompson... and then Evelyn Ng, Erin Ness, and Jennicide. The older team is Maureen Feduniak, Wendeen Eolis (pretty sharp cookie), and Barbara Enright... with the guys being Gabe Kaplan (Kotter from Welcome Back Kotter), TJ Cloutier and Dan Harrington. That's right people... we're probably going to get our asses kicked."

I think there is a serious discrepancy in the abilities of the age groups here, but we shall see if youth can win out over experience.

Tilt and Tiltability

2005-07-13T12:02:00.000-04:00

My name is Gamecock and I have a problem.

I tilt. Badly. I have found that I am capable of making a considerable amount of money playing this little game known as poker. The problem is that throughout my history as a poker player I've had trouble maintaining the peaks of my bankroll.

I think it's a psychological problem stemming from years of expecting money to come in a linear stream proportional to labor input. Of course I never minded the occasional exponential increase, the problem comes with losing. My biggest obstacle in playing poker is accepting losses, I don't really know how. As long as my bankroll remains the same or increases, I'm happy and play well. When I get outplayed, bad beat, or get caught doing something stupid I enter tilting territory ranging from subtle to absurd.

I tend to play beyond my means, ultra-aggressive, and often quite badly. Testosterone and a stubborn ego force me back into games I am not equipped to play on tilt, and as a result I suffer, as does my bankroll. Strangely enough, I hardly ever steam in live play, accepting beats and bad plays with good humor and a cool-head. The calming influence of others probably helps that. The problem exists online, where an internal battle has been raging ever since I started to play, and I still struggle with it today.

So what do I do to prevent tilt? Hitting things is fun, and objects around my room suffer from it. Reading or watching anything by Phil Hellmuth immediately eliminates any feelings of disgust, replacing them instead with mirth and merriment at his very existence. The key to not tilting for me is one of the hardest things to do, taking a break. Simply going for a walk, watching a movie, going out for a drink with friends, all serve to relax me and get me back to playing well. My competitive nature and desire to succeed urge me to get right back into the game, even when I really shouldn't.

After diagnosing and recognizing the need for change I still have not managed to eliminate the problem entirely, I regularly enter subtle tilt. If I ever want to become a serious player and leave the lower limit events, I will have to do better at controlling this problem. Any additional suggestions for combating tilt would be much appreciated, damn my non-Vulcan psyche.

Until I can eliminate emotion I have this slightly altered but equally accurate quote from Forrest Gump above my monitor, got to adapt the policy:

"You just ran through a big pile of [variance]."
"It happens."
"What, [variance]?"
"Sometimes."

Edit - Not surprisingly this post stemmed from a very bad run at S&G's. Decided to mix it up and play tournaments today. Played 5, got my money in AT LEAST 2 to 1 each time of the eliminating hands, often early on. The kicker came when I was sucked out on as a 5.6 to 1 favorite over a WSoP winner well into a big buy-in tourney. So yeah, time for me to take a break. Lost half of my bankroll over the last week and just can't afford that kind of swing right now. This game is hard.

Can't wait for 2005? Relive 2004 today!

2005-07-12T13:27:00.000-04:00

ESPN Original Entertainment’s 2004 World Series of Poker Now Available on DVD
NEW YORK (June 28, 2005) — The poker phenomenon is still raging and so is its highest stakes game, No-Limit Texas Hold’Em. To the delight of poker fans nationwide, ESPN Original Entertainment and DVD Marketing Inc. have compiled the complete 2004 World Series of Poker’s Main Event, a six-day shoot-out between the crème de la crème of the poker world and wildcard amateurs to capture the multi-million dollar cash prize, onto an ultimate must-have three-disc DVD set.
The DVD set, packed with bonus features and more than 11 hours of poker action, will be available for online purchase as of today at www.espnshop.com and www.championshipdvd.com with a suggested retail price of $19.95. Availability in retail outlets will follow.
“Our fans will really enjoy the 2004 WSOP DVD collection because we’ve loaded it with four hours of bonus content,” said Victoria Stevens, vice president, ESPN. “It’s great for people who enjoy poker and dream of someday making it to the final table at the game’s biggest stage.”
A record-breaking 2,576 players, more than triple the number from last year, came to Las Vegas for the 2004 World Series of Poker. Once again, it was a virtual unknown in the poker world that would beat the poker masters and garner the top prize. Greg “Fossilman” Raymer, a patent attorney from Connecticut, parlayed a $160 online entry fee into $5 million in winnings and the coveted WSOP title.
This DVD set contains ESPN Original Entertainment’s final 10 programs from the telecast of the 2004 World Series of Poker, which earned a 1.7 rating for more than 1.5 million viewing households. Hosted by ESPN commentators and poker aficionados, Lon McEachern and Norman Chad, the DVD is presented in fullscreen (1.33:1) digital video without commercial interruption, and includes revealing interviews of star players, basic rules of No-Limit Texas Hold’Em and four hours of bonus features. Chapter points set at the key rounds allow the viewer to jump directly to the action putting them in control of every frame of video as ESPN captures the emotion, strategy and luck in route to crowning the champion of the World Series of Poker.
The unprecedented four hours of bonus features include:
* Top-10 moments from the 2004 tournament
* A Greg Raymer commentary
* A Greg Raymer All Access
* Greg Raymer’s Bio
* A Stu Unger feature
* Beyond the Felt: Poker Talk segment
* Coverage of the $1,000 Buy-In No-Limit Texas Hold’Em
* Coverage of the $2,000 Buy-In Pot Limit Omaha
* Tournament of Champions feature
* Coverage of the Kansas City Lowball event, exclusive only to the DVD

The Bad Blood Invitational

2005-07-04T14:37:00.000-04:00

I had a great time this weekend playing in a series of tournaments known as the Bad Blood Invitational. Unlike most home game tournaments Blood designed his tournament with a slow structure that allowed for playing poker rather than pushing and praying. The funniest thing about the tournament, besides G-Rob dropping in every 10 minutes despite "work" preventing him from playing, was the comments of several donkeys who complained that the structure was TOO slow. The theme of the weekend for me would be 2nd place, not exactly a great theme.

The tournament was structured after Fox Sport's Invitational, meaning you accumulated points in order to make the final table. I came in 2nd in my first 2 tournaments, blowing chip leads when a combination of 2nd best hands and donkey plays busted me out. The third tournament I tried to play back at a maniac and got broke early, but still managed to find my way to the final table.

Going into the final table I expected everyone to play very tight, solid poker, allowing me to be the aggressor. I played that role, but unfortunately for me the only other extremely aggressive player at the table more than doubled up early, when his TJ hit a straight against a set of K's and a set of Q's, leaving him the big bully at the table. Almost every time I came in for a raise he'd call me down or come over the top of me, forcing me to lay down many hands I would have loved to play. The other players at the table were playing a little too tightly, and their stacks were dwindling because of it. Fortunately the big stack made a bit of a mistake, thinking my re-raise of him meant I was on a draw, pushing me in, and talking so much that he made me positive my 2 pair was the best hand, allowing me to double up. The Mark is a very good player, but he's a bit too honest about his hands.

When it got down to 3, (2 places paying), the blinds were pretty high and I was about even with the Rocket, the Mark still holding a commanding chip lead. I did manage to use his aggression and a couple of ballsy (read: stupid) plays to push my stack slightly above the Rocket's, finally busting him with A high and avoiding his massive draw. Heads-up saw me at about a 6 to 1 chip deficit, and in serious trouble. I did, however, manage to chip up to about a 4 to 1 deficit, finally getting in with 10's vs. The Mark's 8's. He asked me how much I had and I told him, "Don't worry, an 8 will come." I was wrong, very wrong. Bad Blood was dealing and turned over the flop with the door card showing a 4. The door card is what always kills me, so I felt pretty good at that moment. I felt a bit worse when the 2nd and 3rd cards brought both of his 2 outs, leaving me with the spectacular chance of catching runner-runner perfect. Shockingly, my suckout didn't come and I was busted in 2nd. The odd thing was I really felt like I would be outdrawn in that hand, and was about to offer a deal where I'd get a bit more cash before we saw the board, but I figured intuition is stupid, I'm a 4 to 1 favorite here. Got to learn to trust my instincts.

The post-tournament cash game was good too, although I had to leave early. Last hand of the day was my most profitable, where I re-raised big with the hammer, and took down a sizable pot with a large bet on the flop, knowing my matching deuce was good.

Much fun was had by all, I think, and I certainly appreciated the invite. Hope to do it again sometime.

Podcasts

2005-06-29T12:52:00.000-04:00

Phil Gordon's podcasts r00000000000000l. That is all.

Laser reads are fun

2005-06-23T18:34:00.000-04:00

I don't post hand histories, but this is one of my favorite hands ever. I know it's a bit speculative, but first off I KNEW he had nothing. He should have still been obligated to call with just about anything, but I also felt he would be embarassed and lay it down. Without further ado:

PokerStars Game #1958513949: Tournament #9293080, Hold'em No Limit - Level II (15/30) - 2005/06/23 - 18:29:55 (ET)
Table '9293080 1' Seat #5 is the button
Seat 1: sanpepe (1450 in chips)
Seat 2: kapkid (1640 in chips)
Seat 4: Zorin Inc (2470 in chips)
Seat 5: masteroffun (1260 in chips)
Seat 6: MaKaVeLi 15 (2550 in chips)
Seat 7: GameC (1570 in chips)
Seat 8: brennanjones (1370 in chips)
Seat 9: Taker1 (1190 in chips)
MaKaVeLi 15: posts small blind 15
GameC: posts big blind 30
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to GameC [7d 3d]
brennanjones: folds
Taker1: folds
sanpepe: folds
kapkid: folds
Zorin Inc: raises 60 to 90
masteroffun: folds
MaKaVeLi 15: folds
GameC: calls 60
*** FLOP *** [Th Td 2h]
GameC: checks
Zorin Inc: bets 120
GameC: raises 230 to 350
Zorin Inc: raises 670 to 1020
GameC: raises 460 to 1480 and is all-in
Zorin Inc: folds
Zorin Inc said, "i got caught"
GameC collected 2235 from pot
GameC: shows [7d 3d] (a pair of Tens)
masteroffun said, "lol"
GameC said, "Yeah"
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 2235 | Rake 0
Board [Th Td 2h]
Seat 1: sanpepe folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 2: kapkid folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 4: Zorin Inc folded on the Flop
Seat 5: masteroffun (button) folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 6: MaKaVeLi 15 (small blind) folded before Flop
Seat 7: GameC (big blind) collected (2235)
Seat 8: brennanjones folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 9: Taker1 folded before Flop (didn't bet)

Phil Hellmuth

2005-06-11T01:35:00.000-04:00

He is just incredibly Hilarious

Tournament Fun?

2005-06-10T21:18:00.000-04:00

I've been listenting to Phil Gordon's excellent podcasts from the WSoP and in that spirit I think I will blog during the breaks of a weak ass $10 NLHE tourney I'm playing in. 1149 poker professionals entered the tourney providing a good payout to whomever can wade through the horrific play and get a win.

At the break I am in 84th of 495 remaining. It boggles the mind at how many people can go all-in with 8th flush and undercards, but that's what makes these tournaments so profitable. If Mike Matusow were describing the lineup of my starting table, it may go something like this:

1's - Internet Donkey
2's - Internet Donkey
3's - Internet Donkey
4's - Internet Donkey
5's - Internet Donkey
6's - Internet Donkey
7's - Internet Donkey Hero (Me)
8's - Internet Donkey
9's - Internet Donkey

The 6's served to double up my K's with his spectacular top pair, 6 kicker on a J42 board and from there I was off. My A's got called down by 45s which made a flush draw on the flop, but no actual flush. Other than that I've stolen a couple of times and generally been the least bad donkey at whatever table I'm on, while reading blogs and iming people. I fully anticipate a first place finish and anything else will be unacceptable, luck be damned. Breaks over now, time to get back to it.

1st hand post break - Nearly doubled up with a steal-raise in LP with QJ, flop was J45, bet-call, turn Q, bet-call, river 3, all-in fold. In quite good shape now in 29th.

Big stacks on my left, one a giant station, very annoying for stealing. Playing tight trying to establish my image.

Big stack, giant station on my left kept calling my bets with 5's from the BB, with A9, hitting an A on the river. 40% gone, down 139 of 370.

All-in bluff move after being raised, only have K high. . .don't call. . .don't call. . .don't call, damn he's taking a lot of time. He folded! Got most of my money back from an over aggressive defender in the BB. So much for my tight image. 78th of 364.

Back to the point I was before the big bluff, once again semi-bluffed a scary board with pocket 6's, only to be called down by 3rd pair. I've got to stop trying to bluff stations.

K's on the button. . .we'll see what happens. I raise 3X. All-in from the BB with J's, looking good, and he caught a J on the river, I'm crippled.

Pushed my 3X the BB with A6, gone now in 308th. . sigh.

Hiatus

2005-06-05T01:52:00.000-04:00

A combination of soul-sucking 1 outers (4 today), jealousy of those in Vegas (hope you all had a great time), and just general dreary outlook have put me on hiatus. It will do me good to take a week or 2 off from poker, read the outstanding trip reports I imagine will be coming in, and not worrying about playing.

I am waiting with fevered anticipation for the damn trip reports.

Hard to type, anger rising

2005-05-31T17:53:00.000-04:00

Probably shouldn't make this post while I'm so angry with my self, but screw it, why not. I've been running bad lately. To elaborate I have lost 12 HE races in a row where I'm 50/50 or better in tournament or S&G play, but that's not what this post is about. The run has only contributed to me being angry at myself.

15 minutes into a PLO8 tourney, 115 participants at $20 a piece, I'm down to T-180 of my starting 1500 due to the fact I couldn't push a station off his hand, I knew his hand, I just didn't know the extent of his ability to call. I wasn't so mad about that, but I was so sure of my imminent bust out I joined a S&G to pass the time. I ended up playing multiple tournaments. I went on a serious rush, not of cards but of reads. First couple of double ups were just pushing and scooping, getting lucky once. After clawing and scratching I got back to average and began to play perfect poker.

My S&G done and won I could fully concentrate on the tournament, and I was playing well. By the time we were down to 22 I had just run a huge bluff in 2nd on the player in 1st to take a giant chip lead, and I was feeling good. Whittled down to 2 tables, I was still the massive chip leader. Down to 16 and I see a flop in the BB along with one limper, holding Q677. The flop came 89Q rainbow and I put in a pot-sized bet, to be called by the limper. The turn came a 7 also putting 2 diamonds on the board, not my best card, but I was still open ended with many, many full house opportunities. I wasn't making a low but I was ok with that. I put the limper all-in for a total investment of T12,000 of my 30K chips. He calls with A3K7, 3 diamonds. His outs included a diamond that didn't make me a full house and a 2, 4, 5, or 6 for a split pot. When the 2 of diamonds fell I was angry, I had been sucked out on by this guy 4 times in the tourney, and while this isn't the worst beat in the world it really got to me that he chased it.

I should have composed myself, I was still in 3rd place, and to my partial credit I did. With 11 left I raised the pot with AA 45 single suited. The BB, another station, was the only player to call my raise. A flop of 345 seemed fairly innocuous, especially when the BB checked. But instead of properly checking behind I went all-in, eager to get back my stolen chips, to be called by his all too obvious A267. No help came, and I was out in 11th, for a paltry goddamn payday. The tournament was mine to lose, and I did. That cold-hearted bitch Tilt did it to me again, I lost it. Some days I feel like I don't understand this game at all.

Edit - Oddly enough this continues my tournament streak of final table bubbling or winning the damn thing. If I get there, you better watch out, but in all likelihood the other players are golden.

Preparing for the future

2005-05-25T11:30:00.000-04:00

Man, I don't know what to do with my life. I hope my 4 readers will pardon me, but this isn't poker related and I still need to get it off my chest. I no longer know if I want to go to grad school, at the very least I'm thinking about taking a year off. The thing is my current job will hardly sustain me forever and I just don't have enough faith in myself to go the purely gambling route. Meaning one thing, I'd have to get a real job.

I have been dreading this moment for a long, long time. I refuse to get into a serious job that I hate, I will not be that guy. That leaves me with a limited field of career opportunities. Professional athlete, television tester, or something slightly more feasible, an employee in the booming poker industry. I'm thinking about trying to get a job with an online poker site. I am actually qualified for a business role, at least theoretically, as I have spent several years of my life in a business school and working in various roles in the corporate world. Eh, I don't know. I may still want to go to grad school, I'll figure something out this summer.

I apologize to anyone foolish enough to read that, being 22 is confusing sometimes.

Broken

2005-05-23T14:12:00.000-04:00

My Hold 'Em game is broken and I"m not sure why. . . I blame the cards. Finished an entirely unspectacular 5th in Big Pirate's home game tourney, a good time, but it certainly revealed just how badly I'm playing.

Yeah, so I'm desperately jealous. All of the posts I read now are fervently anxious for Vegas, and I can understand why. I've been reading poker blogs for about a year now, and I read all of the original trip reports. Devoured them may be a more accurate description. Some of the stories sounded so enjoyable I had to question if they were all true. But everyone said the same thing, backing each other up.

The poker bloggers are the reason I started this horrible little blog, an attempt to join in on the community. And from the people I've met, the SC blogging crew sans Otis, my assesment of bloggers was dead on. That's why it pains me so to be unable to make this trip. And as Badblood told me yesterday, I will certainly start saving for the next tourney, I believe him when he says it's well worth it. So to all the bloggers I know and those I'd like to meet, I hope you enjoy yourself. To the bloggers in the WSoP, I hope to see you all at the final table, that would just be amazing. Have a good time, I certainly hate you all.

Rounding out

2005-05-18T10:55:00.000-04:00

When I was young I was obsessed with cars. The only stat I'd care about was top speed, how fast could the car go? This was of course before I started driving, when I thought that maximum velocity was all-important. As I started driving I realized a surprisingly small percentage of my time was spent exploring the maximum output of my engine. Realizing how foolish I was in my younger years, I found a new obsession, acceleration. Much like the Fast and the Furious street racers, I reasoned that beating another car from a stop to 60 mph was the ultimate in driving. Clearly, I was an idiot. Over my college years I'd like to think I've matured, grown as a person. And accordingly I have learned how to properly drive. A car isn't just top speed, nor is it dependent purely on acceleration, a car should be able to do all things well, including the seemingly foreign concept of going around turns because shockingly enough, not all roads are straight. I had to go to the M school to properly learn that lesson.

So what's the point, does this in anyway relate to poker? I'd say yes, but use your own judgment. When I started playing poker seriously, it was all about Hold 'Em. I had played Stud and 5-card draw and Hold 'Em for years, but the good games online were in HE when I started, so that's all I played. I had a very straightforward strategy, always going for top speed. My results were mixed, high variance but I rarely reached the top speed I was aiming for. About April of 2004 I decided to take poker more seriously, using a more crafty game. I'd sit and wait, playing NL HE of course, and always try to trap my opponents, coming out of nowhere to suddenly accelerate as fast as possible. This would work at first, until my opponents realized what was coming, and once again I met mixed results.

Finally, in January of this year I started to breakthrough. A couple of months before I began varying my games, playing Omaha, Stud, HE, and even a bit of Razz or Low-Ball. I learned H/L games, I learned proper starting hands and basic strategy for these games and I played them, played them all. I've been mixing up my game, accelerating, braking, and taking my opponents around some hairpin turns. The results? The last few months have been the best poker months of my life, I am playing well. I've won some fairly significant tournaments, I'm making enough money to support my meager rent and needs, and I'm enjoying playing. I will jump in any game with almost equal confidence, don't feel like HE? There's a good PLO game available. S H/L looks juicy? I'll jump in. I'll play just about any tourney within my bankroll, I can sit at just about any game offered and you know what? It feels good. Some people say to focus on one game and become great at it, I believe that poker is poker, learn to play them all and it will make you a better player in general.

So this is a long post (for me) and I will bury this little tidbit at the bottom of it. I've noticed in several blogs the revelation of a "secret shame." Before I reveal it I will defend myself by saying I am a sports fanatic, I watch everything. I'm actually a self-proclaimed Sci-Fi geek as well (I'll be seeing Star Wars at 12 AM tonight although I'll probably be dissapointed yet again) I'm actually proud of these facts, and will gladly tell people about those obsessions showing me to be a red-blooded male. What I am not proud of is my love for "girly" tv shows. These aren't numerous, they are limited, but I am infatuated with any show by Joss Whedon. I think his shows are defensible, they are cleverly written and also have a considerable amount of action. What's less defensible is the fact that I watch Dawson's Creek. I know the good Doctor would find nothing wrong with that, but I can't defend my watching it. Everyday at work, the 10 AM and 11 AM DC's on TBS draw me in, and I am powerless against them. The kids at Capeside have some kind of psychic hold on me. Finally, I like the show *cough* Everwood. You can't see me, but I hang my head in shame.

Looking for a game

2005-05-16T16:19:00.000-04:00

I made my deposit in Noble in order to play in the sat and I've been working off my bonus since then. They have a game which I think is unique to Noble but I'm not sure, and if anyone has found it anywhere else I'd appreciate the information. I don't love the site, but I do love the PLO 6-max game. In general I'm better in a shorter table, as I am often times too aggressive, and it works well with less people. There are fish at Noble, just as anywhere else, but there aren't enough of them. The game is rarely running and I usually have to slug through some heads-up play to get a table going, with the rake eating at my profit all the way. I really love Omaha these days, and if anyone who stumbles upon this site can suggest some good places to play it, I'd appreciate it, particularly shorthanded.

The House of Blood

2005-05-13T02:43:00.000-04:00

I should be going to bed but I had way too much Coke on the ride home to sleep for a bit, I'll probably end up playing poker. Went to BadBlood's homegame to check out the notrious Upstate crowd. First time I'd ever got to play with bloggers live and I had a great time. Blood was certainly cool and G-Rob seems to be a good guy too, although I half believe I'm going to be in an investigative expose for some Canadian news organization on the vicious rise of degenerate gambling and gamblers. Fortunately it was all for play chips.

Tried to avoid looking like an ass, have fun, and not lose too much money. I accomplished 2 of the 3. The game was beautifully run, best homegame I've ever been to. G-Rob absolutely crushed the table, and I managed to win a couple of decent pots off his monster stack to end up a bit on the night. I had one fun play with a broadway straight on the board and no flush possibilites. I went all-in into a tiny pot and a checker in front of me, which got a laugh from the crowd and briefly confused the player to my right, just a little messing around. One thing that was fortunate for us all was the early bedtime of Mini-blood, I'm fairly certain he would have taken all my money. He certainly knew not to go all-in with K4. Good time, good people, I appreciated the invite and hope to do it again sometime.

I'm done

2005-05-11T11:08:00.000-04:00

Finally done with everything. I've graduated and I'm enjoying a slack summer of traveling, hanging out with my friends, and of course playing lots of poker. I've decided to work a very, very light schedule to insure some income (I don't have enough gamb000l in me to play poker full-time yet.) I've been using the 16 hours a week I'm starting to work to sift through all the amazing poker content I've been missing in the last few hectic weeks.

Can't wait to play the next WSoP sat tonight, certainly hope to make a better showing than my last few pathetic, distracted attempts. Iggy's whoring of himself for Noble Poker, which I fully endorse and contributed to by signing up with his link because he contributes so much to the poker community, has actually been very good to me. I jumped on Noble figuring I'd play a few hands to familiarize myself with the interface and make my $33 buy-in back. Decided to play a little 6-max $.50/$1 PLO and found the most amazing game. Bought in for $70 with a bunch of loose/passive players that I could get to fold on the river when I wanted and call my huge bet when I had the nuts. In approximately 30 minutes I had an amazing 5 times my by-in sitting at the table. I love 6-max Omaha, allows for some aggression in a game where there are always so many passive players. Wow, do I ever love the summer.

The well timed break

2005-04-22T16:30:00.000-04:00

As the 4 of you who check in on me may have noticed, I haven't posted lately. The reason for this is simple, I'm in a crunch period regarding school, having to finish up my thesis and everything else on my plate before I graduate in a couple of weeks. I won't bore you with the details, but needless to say I've been swamped.

The most important thing to go has been poker, I haven't played in quite a while. The fact that I was playing poorly right before my break wasn't the reason I took the break, but it was the case nonetheless. Today I got online for a couple of sit and gos, and potentially a MTT to warm-up for the blogger satellite. I still have a lot of work today so today is an exception to the rule, but I felt really good playing poker. I was making great moves, excellent laydowns, and well-timed plays. I was reading my opponents very well and my hands were holding up, finishing my session well up.

I definitely think a good break in the action is refreshing. Sometimes too much poker just grinds down on you, making playing more of a chore than fun. I don't give any validity to the idea that taking a break makes you rusty, I've never found that to be the case at least. A good break seems to re-focus me, and I always come back ot the tables with a more cerebral outlook. Really makes me wish I could jump back into the tables full-force for a while, but alas, 2 more weeks of work and I'll be done.

So if you find yourself making bad decisions and getting worn down by the tables, take a break. A couple days to a couple weeks, I always find it helps. See you at the WSOP satellite, I'm looking for the same result as the last WPBT gathering.

Wed's are GOOT!

2005-04-06T18:39:00.000-04:00

It's not that much, just $540, but it's my 2nd Omaha tourney ever. Honestly, this win reflects very poorly on everyone else in the tourney. I'm not good at Omaha. I hit some nice hands early, went card dead until the final table, and caught a couple of good hands there. Sucked out once and didn't make any huge mistakes. There was one entirely crazy hand that I should recount:

Four handed I get Ah As Js Qd on the button and raise it pot. The blinds were 600/1200. The Small Blind has 12,406 total (I had a nice little chip lead at 77k.) and he goes all-in. I call and he turns over Qc Ad 7h Ac, and I'm looking at a split pot. The flop came 4 J 7, turn J, river 3, no flushes possible. The other guy took it well, I would have been pissed. From there I bullied the table, taking a 6 to 1 chip lead into Heads Up play. I pushed 2nd place a bit, and took it down when my pair and OESD beat his top pair after the flop.

It's weird, every time I've made the final table of a MTT tourney this year (4 times), I've won. I don't go out in the middle of the pack there. A lot of it's luck (most of it's luck), but I think more important has been how tight my opponents are. I go in with the mentality of getting enough chips to win, and my opponents seem to want to sneak up into better money. Maybe that's also why I've busted at the final 2 tables many, many times lately, don't know. But if I catch some cards at the final table, I generally don't suck too bad.

My biggest regret here was losing track of the $20 NLHE tourney I was playing at the same time, we were down to 120 out of 650 or so, and I completely got sidetracked, busting out on a stupid play. I would have damn well loved 2 final tables in one day.

Capitalizing on opportunities

2005-04-01T12:31:00.000-05:00

Wow, my site hits in the last two days are approximately equivalent to all of the visitors to my site prior to this week. Being that I'm the best young player out there, second only Bill Fillmaff in ability, it's all well deserved. How's that for a bit of bragging, Joe?

Since so many of you have been duped into visiting, I thought I'd write a post on my favorite topic, playing big stack tourney poker. Early on in a tourney I'll take some chances to get a big stack. I do this in a couple of ways. The first is slowplaying big hands risking getting sucked out in order to trap my opponents. The second is limping a lot of "junky" hands from late position and trying to hit it big, because when you do make a flush or a straight, your hand is extremely well-disguised and hard to recognize. Examples of hands I'm talking about are obviously connectors, suited two-gappers, and other hands that are hard to hit but play pretty well multi-way.

A lot of people would argue that this is a good way to bleed your chips away, but that's not the way I play. The blinds in early stages are low enough to see a flop and get away if you don't hit a hand, or possibly pull off a nice bluff if the opportunity presents itself. Keeping in mind that I'm always trying to build a big stack, I will play a lot of good draws if the implied odds are such that I'm going to get paid off if I hit. This isn't to say that I will call off all my chips on a low flush draw with 5 times the blinds in the pot, but I will go slightly beyond what the pot odds are laying me sometimes.

So this policy usually leaves me in one of two situations, with a big stack or out of the tourney. Busting out early doesn't really bother me, if I'm not in a position to do very well, hanging on to sneak into the money and wasting hours of time seems stupid and -EV. So if I'm in, I've probably got a lot of chips. And once again, since my objective is to win the tournament, I'm going to use these chips to gain more. I definitely tighten up when the blinds start getting high, but I also stop limping, ever. (Exception to every rule-If my stack is good and I have a decent read on players behind me, I'll limp a small pocket pair from EP looking to make a set.) My objective is to win the blinds and barring that I want a hand that has a shot at winning or a flop that allows me to push my opponent off a hand. One thing I hate doing in the middle stages of tournaments is the all-in fest that often occurs. There are tables that just don't know how to play post-flop, and feel obligated to push their chips in on every hand. If my table is like this, I blind steal less and make sure I have a premium hand in any pot.

Finally, I use a counter-intuitive strategy at bubble time, particularly with a big stack. This is my time to get extremely aggressive, stealing as much as possible from late position and accummulating setting up for the final run. An amazing number of people just want to sneak into the money, and their blinds and antes are there for the taking, they really don't deserve them. This is when the big stack will scare the hell out of many tight players who can taste getting their buy-ins back. So that's when I do everything I can to prevent them from getting there. I'm unmerciful in my raises during this time from late position, if I have the stack and the player is too tight. Making your opponent make hard decisions is the best way to win a tournament, more often than not they'll make mistakes (Another note-I'm obviously not playing huge tournaments with Pro players, just in case anyone needed that distinction made.)

That's it for today, if you read that I feel sorry for you. I'll ramble on about big stack poker from bubble to final table in my next post, go read a real blogger for God's sake.

Good week for Gamecocks

2005-03-31T22:41:00.000-05:00

My Gamecocks just won the NIT, and before you say, "it's just the NIT," I'll pre-empt you with a shut the hell up. Quite a great game with St. Joe's, who some may recall went undefeated in the regular season last year. At least we didn't have to face our arch-nemesis Memphis who has knocked us out of post-season play 2 of the last 3 years.

One thing I wanted to clear up, while I guess it is technically true a blogger won again, it isn't the case that a GOOD blogger won. So for Joe, who told me to be arrogant I will make a concession. I suck at blogging, but am decent at poker. Oh yeah, feel that gloating wash over you, that's as good as it gets.

The WPBT tourney. . .as I remember it.

2005-03-31T15:35:00.000-05:00

Wow, just got back from the whirlwind of talk shows, interviews, etc. that come the day after a big WPBT win. I'm pretty sure my life is changed forever.

Boy am I lucky. The tournament was rather mundane for me until there were about 30 left. The only 2 significant hands I played were A's early, doubling up against AQ, and busting CJ with set over set, something I'd never had done if I knew he'd take it so personally. Only kidding, CJ. Getting down to bubble time, with about 30 left, I made a few steal moves that didn't work out, and bled most of my chips away. Desperately short-stacked I doubled up when A6 sucked out on K's, and from then on out I could do no wrong. I really didn't catch any hands during this period except for A's once, which once again doubled me up. Other than that, I resigned to stealing and bluffing, I wasn't playing just to get in the money.

Down to 18 I noticed the tables were a virtual who's who of poker blogging. Obviously, I felt I had no chance. So I just kept out of the way for the most part, playing no significant pots, just stealing and surviving, and made the final table with my stack. Going into the final table the counts were very even, and I believe I was in 4th place, once again finding no cards and just watching as a couple of serious gambooolers played for large amounts of chips. I remember Seth making a great comeback at the table, and Iggy doubling up to a scary chip leader position. At one point I found T's in late position and decided to make a move. My raise was re-raised and I called for all my chips, somehow avoiding AQ with a board full of paint. Pretty soon it was down to 4 and I decided I'd get aggressive. I again found T's and forced Iggy all-in from the BB, busting his AT and leaving him in 4th.

At this point I was shocked, but I had a big chip lead. Even an idiot like myself knows what to do at that point, so I bullied. Raising from the button with Q9, I got a call from Seth in the BB. The flop was A9x, and Seth checked. Using the advantage of my stack, I decided not to believe he had an A, as I thought he would have pushed pre-flop with one. I bet enough to put him all-in, and after some careful introspection Seth decided to call with T9, my hand held up and I had a huge chip lead.

At this point I was absolutely terrified I'd double pumpkin up 3 times and completely screw myself. But the first or 2nd pot (I can't remember what I had), I raised pre-flop and was called by Pumpkin. The board was a scary Axx, with me getting none of it. Pumpkin bet out which I felt was thoroughly inappropriate for a person in his position, so I raised. One of only a few bluffs I ran in the tourney. He folded and with the lead I had, I'm pretty sure my dog could have won the tourney. A couple of hands later I caught a J, and it was over, with the fool topping 108 others to take home the money.

I played a very, very tight tournament. Not counting the hands that were folded to my pre-flop raises, I played 11% of hands, and had them hold up. I sucked out once and I caught good cards when I needed to. I somehow managed to knock out some legendary bloggers, which April informs me means that I'm going to hell. All in all, a very fun and absurdly lucky event for me. Thanks to all involved.

Just in case

2005-03-31T00:27:00.000-05:00

Just in case anyone links me up, I'll put an obligatory post up about the WPBT tourney. I lucked into it. I'm not very good, got lucky, got some cards at the right time and pushed hard. I think the term used was "lucksack" and that one was accurate. I'll write it up tommorow, but I'm tired and I still have to write a paper. Thanks Iggy for setting it up, first one I actually got to play in. And thank you April for being my lone fan, heh.

Final Table Blues

2005-03-28T21:48:00.000-05:00

12th place sucks. Playing in a maniac rebuy where I was 30 from last after the first break is draining. So I make a run, with the aid of the best railbird in the world and got into the final 2 tables. Every damn tourney I've been in recently sees me at the final 2 tables. I had a decent position, hovering around 5th to 7th out of the remaining players. The blinds were monstrous, as online blinds tend to get to, but I was playing pretty well and "feeling it."

That is until at T10,000/T20,000 blinds I get 23 in the SB. It's folded around to me and I have about T210,000 with T10,000 invested in the pot. In the BB is the short-stack with about T50,000 left in his stack after he had posted. Being the greedy bastard that I am, I decided to steal. The player was pretty tight and I thought I had a decent shot and taking it down. The raise to T60,000 was met with a long pause and finally a raise of his last couple of chips, which I was obligated to call. Keep in mind I was playing extremely tight, that's why it surprised me when he turned over QTs. No help came for me and I was in bad shape. Next orbit the blinds were raised to T15K/T30K. I find KQ in the BB and am raised from the button by a very aggressive player with a big stack, my raise puts me all-in and he makes the crying call showing A3s. No help for me, and once again my final table hopes are dashed.

I made a decent amount of money, enough to justify me playing the 5 hours, but it is still frustrating. I could "smell" the $5,400 first place paid, and that payday would have made my summer dreams of playing poker so much easier. I've been playing good poker lately but I feel like I've been treading water a bit. I really need a breakthrough, just hope it comes in the next few weeks.

Breaking my rule

2005-03-20T14:28:00.000-05:00

I know I said, no bad beat stories, but I don't care, this day is breaking my spirit. In Sit and Go's I have gotten all-in as a 90% favorite OR BETTER 5 times in sit and go's on the flop or later, and have lost everyone of them. AA's losing to J's with J's being the only out on the river, J's losing to 5's, same deal, and the list just keeps going. My bankroll has taken a huge hit and I cringe every time I go all-in, even if I have the best hand, I expect the suckout and am provided. This sucks balls.

Edit-Just got all-in on the river and a 1 outer hit against me. This is amazing.

2005-03-12T00:59:00.000-05:00

First, and most importantly for April:

Secondly, playing razz with bloggers is fun. . .a horrible game, but fun nonetheless. As for my poker play, I've been spinning my wheels lately, not losing, but certainly not winning. I need a decent push to break through to the big bankrolls, but I can't seem to do it yet. . .I'll get there eventually.

Finally, under the most annoying player ever category, I got slow-rolled the other night!! Never on online poker have I been slow-rolled. I had warned the guy earlier because he was continually pushing all-in whenever I raised, I didn't feel like gambling but I warned him I would if I had to. The end result was me raising him with AK, K of hearts, and a flop of 825 all hearts. He bet out, as he had done most every time, and I figured I had plenty of outs, and may even be ahead. So I pushed. He appeared to go into the tank, requesting time and allowing his time bank to run down, I figured I had him beat. He finally called and flipped over AT (of hearts) and typed "da nutz biatch!!!!!!" A month or two ago this would have sent me on raging tilt, that and the fact that it was my 5th consecutive bubble finish. I actually think it's a serious progression in my game that I turned the computer off and went to bed rather than tilting, the lure of the poker lifestyle seems to be enough to prevent me from going out of control, and I hope I can keep that up.

Most embarrassing poker moment.

2005-03-06T16:50:00.000-05:00

I'm so slack. My excuse is that it's not so much being slack as being swamped, but I've finally got a bit of time for the tables. A Couple of weeks ago I had to withdrawal my entire roll, an emergency required the money. So I have to build back up, way back up to hit my necessary amount to play poker for the summer. My current objective is to get back up to 4 digits, it's taken me most of a week, but I've turned $50 into $500 and I think I'm well on my way. On to the story.

I've been reading Super/System 2 the last couple of days and recently read the O8 section. 08 is one of my weakest games, so I was happy to get some pointers and jumped on to Stars to get a bit of proficiency. I was playing .25/.5 PLO8 and doing fairly well when a player jumps on, buys-in for the max, and posts a dead blind UTG. Oh boy. There are some fish in this game, but this guy took the absolute cake. I've never seen someone play a 4-way hand to the river in Omaha with K fucking high. . . amazing. After some idiots berated him for that play, he decided to leave, but a quick search revealed him playing on another table. I quickly decided 2-tabling was worthwhile here. So I jump into the game and buy-in for the max. I win a nice number of hands and triple up and was about to close the table when I look at the header. It read "Pot Limit Omaha." I thought certainly the Hi/Lo was just missing from the header, but no, it was solely PLO. I thought back on the game and realized I had relied on a low for a scoop once, and was quite surprised when I didn't get credit for it. Other than that I didn't really rely on any Lows.

This little happening showed me 2 things: 1.) When I'm making money I don't pay nearly enough attention, I can't believe I missed a complete lack of low hands. 2.) I can't believe how fishy Omaha players are, I tripled up without knowing the game. I may just have to play some more Omaha and O8.

Efforts to get my groove back

2005-02-24T20:51:00.000-05:00

For a long while I was hitting the money in tourneys and especially S&G's with no chips, and therefore no ammunition to fire for first place. I would bubble out or hit 3rd or 2nd, not able to push the table around as I like to do. When I first started playing S&G's I had a bit of a looser, more aggressive game. It didn't work extremely well so I tightened up, and began to do better.

But lately I've been hitting some absurdly tight tables that don't give me a chance to pick up a lot of chips unless my amazing hand is slightly better than their amazing hand, and I haven't been doing extremely well. So I decided it was time to get some of the looseness back. When I'm encountering one of these brain-numbing fold fests, I've begun to inject a bit of wildness. Lots of steals, lots of bluffs, and I'm getting a lot more action. I noticed I wasn't pushing position enough, wasn't taking enough shots at orphan pots, and I sure as hell wasn't pushing my stack around enough.

Sure, I have busted out early a couple more times, but I don't mind that for two reasons. 1.) I bust out early, I move on, no big deal. 2.) I'm not busting out early that often, and when I don't, I enter the last 3 with a BIG stack, and just push the other 2 around mercilessly. I'm not taking anymore 3rd's, and rarely a 2nd, I am using considerably more aggression and taking down 1st more times than not. This game is specifically designed for extremely tight tables, so I still play a tight-aggressive game otherwise.

But every now and then, I'll encounter a table of wannabe tight-aggressives who think that I am one of them. . . which I am, usually at least.

Life's a bitch

2005-02-18T22:24:00.000-05:00

My last post was positive and upbeat, which of course means that life had to give me a huge kick in the ass and put me down for a bit. Haven't been playing much if any poker lately, and feeling the withdrawl symptoms. I also haven't been posting, which I'm sure devastated my 2 readers. I'm back now, ready to jump in the fray, so on to the poker.

I've read a lot of content lately about tilt, subtle or raging, and the depletion of bank rolls. This is certainly a subject I knew all too well. I was not an instant success in the poker world, I lost my first 3 buy-ins, albeit small ones. The key for me was sit and gos, one or two at the time. I thought that I was the only blogger who used this method, to control risk and attempt to avoid tilt. But I've seen CJ grinding this way lately. I've also see suggestions at Ship It Poker, which is a great site that I really like (not only because one of the contributors goes to my school), to build up a roll.

It just makes sense to me. There are plenty of fish in these games that are complete dead money. The risk is set, so you can't lose too substantial a chunk of your bankroll. And it's much easier, for me at least, to shrug off the bad beats when you don't have to sit at the table with the guy saying, "haha."

The fact that I play these primarily may just be an indication that I am still a developing player, not good enough to play cash games yet. And that's fine. But the truth is I enjoy these games more, they suit my tight-aggressive style, and damn a win feels good.

It also feels good to post again after a week and a half from hell. Thanks for reading, and may your bad beats be only mildly disconcerting.

Turning it around

2005-02-08T23:07:00.000-05:00

Weekend is a horrible time to be violently ill, hell, anytime is a horrible time to be violently ill really. But to compound my lovely weekend, the tables have been even worse. The one and only good thing about being on a downswing is coming out of it.

I had the feeling that my poker play would get better about the time I had the feeling that I was getting better. During a down swing, none of my drawing hands will hit, my good hands hold up, the normal bad cycle. So when I caught a flush draw and a straight draw, I was feeling like continuing to play the hand would prove futile. When the turn brought my straight. . .flush, I knew my luck was improving. I raked a nice pot and felt a miraculous recovery coming on in body and in the ephemeral world of online poker.

Today has been me making hands, actually getting to slow play rather than chase, and re-learning the exquisite nature of solid foods. I got the good news that my father was going through a bit of a mid-life crisis involving a new car, and that I could get his M3 for cheap, something I've wanted for a long time. And the best news is that the fish didn't dry up during my dry spell, they are there to replenish my losses as ever before. God bless days like today.

Best. Move. Ever.

2005-02-04T13:20:00.000-05:00

Everyone's seen the good Doctor's amazing hammer take down in the most recent installment of the WPBT. It was, truly, one of the greatest moves I've ever seen, and I've only seen the hand history of it. I'd just like to point out that I predicted such an occurrence, only I thought I would have been on the receiving end. If I had got the chance to play, I'm sure I would have. And I'd have loved every minute of it.

Edit - My inability to spell "occurrence" right the first time is highly disturbing.

Going Full Tilt

2005-02-04T01:29:00.000-05:00

I was railbirding the final table of the WPBT last night (made it back in time for that), when I saw Hank chatting a bit about his new and wonderful job. He mentioned the 100% deposit bonus and I remembered that I enjoyed easy money. So I deposited a few dollars into FullTilt and gave it a whirl.

I defninitely like the interface. I block the avatars because they annoy me, frankly, but the rest of it is very smooth and so different from the annoying busy-ness of Party. The blind structures are better too, not causing the push fest you see at Party. Now the fish were my main concern, and the possible lack therof. My worries were completely unfounded. The draw of famous people playing apparently is plenty to pull the salmon upstream, and boy do they flounder.

I played some $2/$4 with 58% of players seeing the flop. I played $.50/$1 NL on the site (without the annoying $50 table limit) and had several occassions where my good hands got called down with A high. I will admit it's not up to Party's standards of schooling, but frankly, that's only because of the considerably lower numbers. I will get in some tourneys soon as well. The one downside I found was the bonus is going to take forever to work off, but I don't really mind, I like FT. So Hank, I hope my rake gets you a shiny new car, and I hope the fish get me one too.

A balancing effect

2005-02-01T19:26:00.000-05:00

My uncle died yesterday, not an entirely unexpected or impactful event in my life, but it did bring me to an important realization. My first thought upon realizing I am obligated to spend some time with family on Wednesday, was to immediately consider whether the hotel I'll be staying at has Wifi, so I could play in the WPBT tourney. I called, and it in fact does, but I'll still probably have to miss it.

My first thought was anger and sadness that I would miss the event I've wanted to play in for so long. My second thought was that anger and sadness about a poker tournament were almost certainly not the feelings I should immediately feel. I was never close to the man, I'm not heartbroken, but I did come to the realization that I need some damn balance. And so, although I am still regretful I won't be able to play, I don't think the brief hiatus of one day will do me any harm. In fact, it will probably be good for me, but Jesus Christ I better not have anything come up for the next event or I'm going to be pissed.

The art of the bluff

2005-01-31T20:40:00.000-05:00

First off, I'd like to thank Iggy for linking me, and seeing my traffic increase by approximately eleventy bajillion percent. Thanks for stopping by, and feel free to stick around if you like the place. Now on to the poker.

Anyone with a couple of eyes and a brain larger than a walnut will notice that if I'm thrown in the pool I'm going straight to the bottom. . .I'm as big a rock as they come. But when I get in a pot, I apply foot-to-the-neck pressure, and I rarely let up, even without cards. This is especially true early on in a game. See, I don't want people to think I'm a rock, bad for action. I want to see a player call my all-in with 3rd pair, expecting to have my 8-high dominated. So I try to give the persona that I do that, a lot. This is actually not all that hard to accomplish.

Most good poker players can tell if you're a rock, station, or a maniac, and they make that analysis quickly. But very few players, at least those I play, seem able to change their analysis when you switch gears. Therefore I have the tendency to carry out a rather spectacular bluff upon the first orbit or two I sit down at a table. (Quick side note- first orbit at a $50 PL game and I just pulled down a $41 pot with 5 high.) This is a high-variance play, to be sure. But it either wins you money, which I find is true a large percentage of the time, or establishes you as a maniac if you are forced to show it down. And most players are seemingly BLINDED by that first play, unable to adapt to your basic style and willing to call you down to "keep you honest". God I love that line, I will have to post my favorite poker chat-box sayings sometime in the near future, that is certainly an idea for a later date. Any way, moral of the story is the guy I just bluffed is likely to give me some action when I get A's in the third orbit. . . if only because "he didn't believe I had it."

I also extend this idea when I get a really tight table image. In rapid succession I'll fire at orphan post, generally taking them down uncontested. Eventually someone will stick up to me and force me to play it down, once again establishing my maniac status. The toughest part of this gambit for me is risking the pot for the long-term investment, and I think it's at least a fair measure of my recent growth in poker that I'm now able to do that.

Blogology explored

2005-01-29T01:45:00.000-05:00

John Paul Sartre once said, "Acting is a question of absorbing other people's personalities and adding some of your own experience." Tonight reminded me of that quote for a couple of reasons. I was playing at the Blogger's Table, probably incognito as few people know about this blog, which I understand and expect and have no problems with. I was treading water at this table, up a few bucks when I decide to push the hammer hard against the guy on my right playing any two. Didn't work out and I dropped $35, but that was fine. The thing was that I felt like an outsider doing it. I undertand the hammer as a phenomena and enjoy it for that reason, but I didn't feel like I belonged with the legends who had been doing it for so long, and in doing so created the nationwide craze/cotroversy.

I played some more, making back my money and plenty, plenty more (I've been to the ocean many times, and never seen the fish Party has). While doing so I read BG's post about the growth of the community, and the strangeness of the new bloggers. It slowly got through my thick skull that he was talking about me, and you know what? I completely agree with him. A large part of why I started this blog was to try to meet this great figures I had been reading for a year, and see if they were as cool as they came off in their blogs. I didn't know if I would succeed, I still don't, but I created the site anyway. And I'm still trying to find my voice, what it will all be about.

BG drove home the idea that trying to force yourself into a community isn't a good idea, and I can completely relate to that. Honestly, I've never tried to do that because I have always felt that way about being an outsider on a group of people. It's understandable that the original bloggers are close knit, and enjoy each other's company, that's why I never asked for a link, never a favor, and I never will. I am just thankful that I get to read their insight into the game, and have a faint hope that maybe one day I'll be accepted, maybe one day I'll have something to contribute. Until then I will try to find my voice, adding my "own experience" to what I have learned. If I rip someone off -- let me know and I'll chastise myself. I don't think anyone would notice though.

There was one thing I did try to contribute, but I really got to learn to get those ideas to the high traffic sites to have an effect.

All hail the blogfather. . .

2005-01-27T01:40:00.000-05:00

I've been putting off this post, but it has to come as it seems everyone eventually comes around to doing. I've always hated Party, I don't know what it is about the site, I just can't stand it. But I've deposited there for various reasons without ever playing. Mainly to play at the blogger table, and test my skills against some of the best. (Even if they are just screwing around) I haven't been able to find the blogger table lately, so I've been playing a Party NL $25 table in the background while playing a S&G on Stars. The reason is to try to build my bankroll for the inevitable hits I will take at the blogger table.

The thing about it is, I can't lose. I play ABC, simple, stupid, patient poker and make a killing. Every session I've played lately I've won. Tonight I've been playing for 40 minutes, while playing a $30 S&G and reading blogs, and have run my starting $25 up to $95. It's just absurd, the fish school by the 1,000's. I apologize Iggy, you are a genius and I doubted you. Ring games are now the sole property of Party.

Updated homage - Decided to play some 2/4 BBJ tables because I heard how soft they are. Keeping in mind I'm at best a passable limit player, I was up 9BB in 25 minutes playing before bed. The increased rake doesn't even nearly account for the stupidity I see there.

The other side of poker

2005-01-25T15:17:00.000-05:00

When I was a kid, maybe 11 or 12, I started a lawn service with my friend and neighbor. During the late spring, summer, and early fall we would head out on available mornings to several local families who would pay us to cut grass, trim the yard, remove leaves, and any other tasks which needed doing. It was hot, sweaty work done under the brutal southern sun, but it was a way to make money. Afterward we'd be offered cool drinks or occassionally be allowed to take a swim in their backyard pool. I'd leave these jobs with maybe $15, but it was a $15 I'd earned and felt good about. The ability to look over what I had worked on and see that I had accomplished something was important to me and I always took that with me.

I haven't felt that way since those days, not for a paying job. Every form of employment I've had leaves me feeling somewhat dull and dazed, like I was merely a cog in an unfeeling machine, and hadn't really done anything worthwile. One of my main goals in life is to find a career I will enjoy, and avoid having my soul sucked from me as I've seen far too many people do.

Poker doesn't provide me with this feeling of accomplishment. Don't get me wrong, I love playing it. I love matching wits against opponents, I like that I always learn something new in poker, I am still stoked when making a correct read, the money certainly doesn't hurt, and hell, I even love the gamble. But it doesn't leave me feeling as if I accomplished anything. Poker is an abstraction, the chips represent money but they aren't really money, at least not if you want to play well. I've always been very good at making this distinction, using the chips as tools. I'm also able to see players as only my opponents, but they aren't, not really. Poker has to have losers, it's the nature of the game. We try not to think about what losing does to people, but it can ruin lives. Once again, don't get me wrong, I think if you put more money on the table than you are willing to lose, you are a fool and deserve what you get. But what if the fool's kids don't deserve what he gets? Sometimes that's hard for me to ignore.

I guess what I'm trying to find is some redeeming qualities of poker. Why is it ok to play this game? How does society view the darker side of poker? Tough questions, I don't really have an answer for them. Sure, the friendly, social $10 games aren't going to hurt anyone, but we all know there is much more destruction than that. I don't see myself quitting anytime soon, but sometimes I have to take a step back and look at the poker world in which we all play. It certainly ain't a pretty picture.

My hairbrained scheme

2005-01-22T22:35:00.000-05:00

To be sure I am prone to going off half-cocked, grabbing hold of an idea and running like hell with it. That's why I'm waiting awhile on this one. See I've got this plan, more than likely created and bouyed only by a run of incredible luck, nonetheless it's too appealling to ignore completely.

These days I go to school, finishing my undergraduate degree in Economics with no semblance of an idea what I will do in the future. I don't mind school, in fact I rather enjoy it by itself. The problem is ever since last summer I've been working a part-time job, that while easy, is so mind-numbingly boring it almost ruins my weekends to have to go in on Monday. I'm not the 8 to 5 type. In the fall I will be going to grad school for a Master's, and then probably a doctorate in Econ, but this summer I have to figure out a way to support myself. My plan was to extend the part-time job into a full-time one, but an insidious thought has been trying to get me to scrap that plan.

I want to play poker for the summer. It's probably just been an incredible run of luck, but playing sit and go's (not including my tourney win) has provided me with an hourly wage about 5 and a half times what I make at my job. It makes working there feel even more useless than it once did. I'm going to keep plugging along at work for at least a month or two more, to make sure this isn't just a random fluke. I'm also not planning to make this a permanent career, I have backup plans and my fixed expenses are absurdly low. I live a very austere lifestyle, excluding spending splurges that sometimes come with a radically great technological innovation that I must have, eg. the Ipod and ALL accessories. I'm not going to rush into this, I'm going to make sure it's sustainable for a while, but I think I'm going to try it. For one I don't think the current amount of super fish with ridiculous amounts of money can last, and two the Iggyesque lifesyle is just too damn appealing to pass up, if only for a while. Hell, I'll probably fall flat on my face, but I'm young with no responsibilities, so I think I have that right.

I'll update the blog with my progress, for your daily dosage of laughter and pleasure at someone else's expense.

Not a bad beat story. . .

2005-01-22T03:11:00.000-05:00

Ok, so this isn't whining about bad beats, this is truly in the interest of statistics. I had a huge stack and the player to my right was terribly short stacked, so I was pushing him around. He won 5 consecutive hands where I had one of his cards dead, and a better kicker, for example the hand he barely had me covered on at the end was AK vs A6. And 5 consecutive times he hit his kicker where I did not. Five consecutive times. . .just wondering if any math wizards out there could give me the statistics on that, they have to be pretty seriously in my favor. For the record I was suited twice, without him being suited, he was suited twice when I was not, and we were both suited once.

EZ money

2005-01-21T13:28:00.000-05:00

I like rap music. To clarify, not the shamelessly popularized version of a once great art form now only concerned with partyin' in the club, beating women, or chroming out your ride, but the late 80's, early 90's gangster rap that told stories of a difficult life spent getting out from under crushing poverty and agitating against oppressive authority. I started listening to rap in 5th grade, seriously. That simple statement has shocked and appalled more people than I can count because I am appallingly white. I don't endorse the actions documented in rap music, but I don't endorse nuking Russia either, doesn't mean I can't enjoy the art using that subject matter. The point of this precursor to a precursor to a point about poker is this, rap is not good anymore. Ice T, writer of the highly controversial and thought-provoking Cop Killer now plays a cop on Law and Order. Sell out. One of my favorite rappers of all time, Snoop Dogg, is now a complete and total shill. His ubiquitous appearances on every form of disgusting mindless media have turned me against him. I can't blame him for making money, but I can blame him for going on the show Celebrity Blackjack (I refuse to link it). You may ask, why would you ever watch that show? Good question. The obvious answer is, I hate myself. Snoop was unsurprisingly horrible at blackjack, unsurprising because 99% of celebrities are horrible at everything other than what they are famous for. And even then, some people are famous for reasons only the baby Jesus knows. To the poker!

I was watching WPT: Hollywood Home Game on the DVR, which is one of God's top 3 inventions along with microwave popcorn and the Ferrari 360 Modena. Why were you watching that, you may ask? I thought we had established that I hate myself, don't ask again. It turns out that Captain Kirk and some other B to C grade actors were on this episode. Now I realize that celebrities are bad at everything, hence their celebrity status, but Captain Kirk is surely good at cards. Bill Shatner is almost in the same category as Clint Eastwood, men's men, who must see the logic in folding K3o pre-flop. I mean he MAY have killed his wife at some point, but who hasn't really? It turns out that even the Captain of the Starship Enterprise cannot play cards for shit.

I'm not a good poker player, I'm at best average with the possibility of improvement. But oh, how I'd love to get to play at a table of celebrities. One of the detriments of having more money than brains, is the inability to manage that money. I would gladly put my entire bankroll, plus the money I could get from selling my car, clothes, and tv on the table against the poker lineup I watched last night. I don't desire fame at all, but I would love to take the money of those who are famous, and then laugh at them repeatedly.

I don't really know what this post is about, probably my disillusionment with what we value in our "celebrities." The complete obsession society has with these people is absurd, their inability to play poker somehow drove that home to me yet again. Why televise that? Hell, I could put 6 monkeys at a table and watch them push chips around, probably would be a helluva lot more entertaining. I don't even hate myself enough to watch that crap again.

Sorry for this post, if you've managed to find this site and read that, I apologize.

And yeah, I'm pretty sure I included the rap knowledge just to offset the Star Trek geekiness.

Deconstructive criticism

2005-01-19T10:58:00.000-05:00

In my circle of friends I'm considered a hero, possibly even a God. And if my friends ever find this blog I'll probably be forced to downgrade that to mildly retarded savant that is socially inept, but manages to win some small amounts of money playing poker.

The poker craze hit these people just as hard as it hit me, only it hit them later. I had a leg up on them, already having months of serious experience and learning before they started buckling down. While we had all played for years, I got serious before they did. I was the only one who managed to win consistently, and I was looked to for advice. In our home games and tournaments I would almost always come away with a sizeable profit. They looked to me when wondering how to play a hand, or whether their bust-out was justified, because hell I had the book lurnin'. The edge I had, yeah that's all changed.

I hadn't played a home game since early December. We got a friendly game together when everyone got back to school, a $10 tournament with 15 people, first 3 places paid. Playing my typical game, I was doing well with 6 left waiting for hands and running over my opponents as much as they would allow. These people were passive, I just had to play ABC poker and roll to easy victory. I get Q's on the button in about 2nd chip position. One limper in front of me, I raised the bet to three times the big blind, expecting to take down the pot right there. Small blind and big blind fold, I scoop the pot. . .wait, the limper re-raised me. The limper re-raised me? What the hell, he's never re-raised me before? He's been playing tight tonight, but this guy's notorious for playing Q9, K6, any A. . .surely I have him beat. The limp, re-raise is a classic move for premium pocket pairs, hell I even read about recent problems Bad Blood had encountered with the limp, re-raise. But this guy, no way he's capable of pulling the move on me. I put him all-in. He called in a flash and I knew I was beat, not even needing to see the A's he flipped over. No help came, I was crippled and busted out soon afterward.

I underestimated him, plain and simple. He had drastically improved his game and I hadn't adapted. (On a side note, 3 days ago he took down 5th in a 1400 person tourney on 'Stars, sure it was only a $1 buy-in, but still an accomplishment to last that long.) My point is that last week I was on top of the world, really feeling like I had come over the poker mountain. I won my first big tourney, and placed in like a billion sit and gos in a row. These last few days brought me back down. While I still posted a significant gain on the week, the last couple of days have shown me I have a long way to go. It always seems my opponents are better than me. I am continually underestimating their play, not believing them and getting shown the better hand time after time. It doesn't help that I'm getting cold-decked, but that's not an excuse to play as poorly as I have. I've got to be more cerebral in my play. I need to make sure that I consider all possibilities before instantly acting. It's all too easy to swing that cursor right and move all-in, taking my time to make a decision will force me to slow down my play and make the right decision.

I've got to be more regimented in my play. Playing tired, playing angry, playing out of my bankroll all contribute to the evil, nasty tilt monster that all too often rears his ugly head. I've been fighting that cold-hearted bastard for so long I don't know that I'll ever slay it, but I think that when I finally manage to tame him, I'll be a decent player.

Oh, and if you've somehow managed to find this Phil, one bust-out doesn't mean you are good, so don't get a swollen head.

I'll out myself

2005-01-19T01:19:00.000-05:00

I'm a big geek, and proponent of the break-up of both of the evil empires. I read Wil and slashdot religiously. Which makes these pictures the funniest thing I've ever seen. I'd expect these on one of Iggy's posts rather than as a magazine spread of one of the richest men in the world. Beyond hilarious.

The hammer!!

2005-01-18T22:56:00.000-05:00

A bit of fun from the big blind. Unfortunately, the upswing has swung brutally down, and I feel like I need to take a break for a day. Sometimes the 2-outers get to me, and I feel a tilt coming on if I don't take a step back for a minutes. Can't stay away from the blogger table now that I found it though, and the problem is I play scared. I didn't want to play anymore tonight but the table's like the holy grail, been searching for awhile, albeit not a great amount of effort to it, and now I've finally found it. I've been playing weak-tight poker there for fear of embarassing myself. Bounced by the bigstack after he made a lot of plays at me, decided to play back with a pair of K's Q kicker and got eaten alive by his 2 pair, the way it's gone for me the last couple of days. Ahh well, at least it's the cheap buy-ins. Got to get some more confidence, and the only way I can see to do that is to keep playing and win a big pot or two.

Edit-I'll add a "blogroll" tommorow, just figured out how. . .in case anyone was angry at not being on this extremely prestigious site. . . .

Blogger table

2005-01-18T01:14:00.000-05:00

I dropped in and dropped most of a buy-in this evening at the blogger table, not to a blogger but to a fish calling everything who hit his 2-outer after going all-in on the turn. And if that was actually a blogger, shame on you for playing Q5. I was playing incognito and I didn't out myself as a fledgling blogger, although I tried. I got the hammer once UTG and raised it up, but wasn't willing to drop my entire stack when faced with a giant re-raise. . . I'm such a wimp. I also dropped an "Oh the humanity," when faced with the suckout, but none of the bloggers there would know who I was even if I told them so it didn't cause any recognition. All in all a good time, and I hope to do it on a more regular basis.

Jesus is a blogger

2005-01-16T16:00:00.000-05:00

Just noticed this today, and it may be old news, but the Full Tilt commercial at the beginning of this show should be the theme clip of those purveyors of the hammer.

By the way, I learned today that the true meaning of fun is being bet into after getting head's up in a $50 S&G, and having quad Kings. . .I've only had Quads twice in my life and I love watching someone impale themselves on them. Paradoxically, the players at $50 may be worse than the $30 players.

Fear and Trembling online

2005-01-16T14:49:00.000-05:00

So I plan to play in the next installment of the WPBT, hoping to establish a bit of a blog by then but more likely still considering myself a reader. I've wanted to play in the previous tourneys, but I've always had something prevent me from doing so. And of course I read many great trip reports about the recent blogger trips with a mixture of jealousy, mirth, and horror. Needless to say I'm looking forward to the event.

Taking place on my home turf of Pokerstars, and considering I've played very well in tourneys recently, I feel I should be somewhat confident. Nothing could be further from the truth. I'm absolutely positive I'm going to get knocked out the first hand when my A's are put all-in by the hammer. The magic of that holiest of hands will prevail and I will be sent to the rail amongst a stream of hysterical laughter over the foolishness of challenging 72. Ahh well, it will be a lesson well worth it. I just hope I can sit at Al's table for any length of time, as I'm sure that in itself would be worth the price of admission.

I've been given a tip on how to find the blogger's table, so I'll probably try to drop in tonight and lurk, maybe drop a couple of buy-ins if I get up the nerve. Just so anyone who may have stumbled on this blog knows, I play as GameC on Stars (because "Gamecock" is apparently too offensive for poker players' virgin eyes), LatetoWork on Empire, feel free to laugh at my play.

In honor of Tilt

2005-01-13T21:07:00.000-05:00

In honor of the new ESPN show, which I'm sure will be trite and overdone, I'm posting the reason I don't play many ring games. Raging tilt. It is my biggest problem in poker, and the reason I've bled away money many times. For the most part I've corrected it, but keeping an even keel gets to me sometimes and I play horrific poker. . . one of the many things I need to work on. That's the main reason I play S&G's and tourneys, I am forced to play controlled poker or I know I'll bust. Even if I do bust the evil tilt monster can't take more of my money because I've invested a finite amount. I know I have to overcome this to be a good player, and I'm working on it, just relapse on occassion.

I've been playing tourneys, bubbled out of a couple, placed 23rd (medium money) in a huge rebuy when my A's were cracked. But I've been killing S&G's, placing in the money in the last 8 I've played, winning 4. Considering moving up to the $50 S&G's, but that jump is scary from $30. If this keeps up though I'll have no excuse not to.

Ahh well, back to the old "grind."

P.S.-I'd love to get to the blogger table one night to see what all the fuss is about, but I haven't been able to locate it yet. May be due to my retardation, but if anyone could help sometime, I'd appreciate it.

In the beginning. . .

2005-01-12T11:14:00.000-05:00

I guess I'm here now, stumbling my way into the etheral world of poker blogging after 7 months of reading and attempting to improve my game from the great bloggers out there. I promised myself I wouldn't start a blog and attempt to break into the close-knit group until I had posted a big win (big being the relative term that it is). Well, after much angst and many suck-outs, it finally happened. Monday I accepted a chop for first place money in a $20 PL Hold 'Em tourney for a $1,044 profit. I came into the final 3 with a commanding chip lead, and could hardly refuse the deal. And so I have created this blog as an attempt to stop sucking and become a legitimate player.

Due to the fact that no one will ever read this, I'll excite the internet with a bit about myself. I've played poker for about 4 years, and seriously for about 8 months. I play primarily S&G's on Stars, mixing in mult-table tournaments. I know I may be "profoundly retarded" for playing on Stars, but to placate those wiser players among us, I play my very few ring games on Empire. I just like Stars better, leave me alone. Anyway, I love poker theory and loathe limit poker, unless I'm playing beyond my means in a B&M setting. I also love stud, and try to play it regularly. But to be frank, I'm far better at HE and that is where all the fish lie. Finally, I'm thoroughly addicted to poker blogs, if you have one, I've probably read it. . .and enjoyed it. So thank you for the entertainment and knowledge that I have gained for you, don't expect to get any here. . .you will be sorely dissapointed.