Zzzzttzzz

I had a blast this weekend. I went to a party over my friend John’s. John is a great guy. He does not play Poker mostly because he has started a fledgling company. He knows he cannot dedicate the time needed to become a good player. So John invited me to the annual Halloween party. The wife had a migraine, so I got to play the “I am single and never got married and had a few kids” game. It was excellent.

Last years party found me with some personal problems that caused me to drink half of the TUB of Sangria and get violently ill all the way home and half way into the next afternoon. Not fun. Almost missed the Pat's game! So my one goal of the night was to not puke. Needless to say I stayed away from the tub of Sangria. John makes a mean batch! Last year he said it contained 1 gallon of Vodka, 1 Bottle of rum, 4 bottles of wine, and some fruit. He said he toned it down this year but I am not sure. I stuck to the Sam’s Wicked!

The house was decked out to the nines. My favorite decoration was the Yankee fan with the meat hook in his head. John was a Gay Vampire! I do not think that he started off being gay, but the fangs gave him a “special” lisp. His girlfriend was a dominatrix! Gotta love that! Sweet cleavage! Most costumes there were very creative. There was a Rainbow Bright. Cute skirt. She made the whole costume herself. She made her boyfriends hulk costume also! It was very good! She got really friendly as she got more and more loaded. I like friendly! At least until she passed out at the table and knocked a dozen drinks over. I got invited to her Thanksgiving party too.. can’t wait.. will have to give the wife another migraine!

The best part of the night was a game called Lightning Reaction! I would love to play this with Al! Basically there are 4 controllers, about 18 volts, and a whole lot of fun! You watch the red light flash and when it turns green the last person to press the button gets a shock! If you press the button too early you get shocked! If you don't press the button.. you guessed it, you get shocked! Sounds easy, right? The strategy aspect revolves around trying to make other people jump too early. Loud sounds are particularly effective. I played this well into the night to the point where my arm was numb all the way to the elbow. The funniest round was when three of us were playing against a skeletal doll and the doll won three in a row! If you have not tried it you should! It reminded me of that episode of the Simpson’s when the whole family was in therapy. One thing you MUST do is force the players to switch hands after getting shocked 2-3 times in one hand. It just starts to lose its effectiveness.

I stayed over John’s for the night and actually got to sleep in for the first time since I had kids! Added Bonus! Overall good times all around. Thanks for the invite John!

Kudo’s to Sean – The Patriots finally lost! *sniff*. Oh well. We are still poised for some post season action if all goes well. It would have been nice to go the whole season without a loss though.

Played a little poker tonight too.. Was up a lot and lost two hands to bring me down to a modest night. Up 140+. I am shooting for +150 every night playing two tables. We will see how it works out.

Tells

I have noticed lately a tell that almost always seems to be true in Internet Poker. It is a weird one. Perhaps I am overly sensitive. Maybe I would be a great B&M player picking up on unseen things in people's body language. The tell goes as follows. You are in a pot and the guy raises pre-flop. The board is small and he cannot wait to get his money into the pot. Sort of splashing the pot with his chips. You can feel the anxiety dripping off of him. He must convince you that he has a pair. The feeling I get when people do this is that they are so concerned I will not believe them that they need to force me to listen. I always call these people down to the river even if I have a small pair. If the A or K appears then I will stop, or maybe pay them off at the river just to confirm my suspicions. I do not think I have been off on this. Am I crazy? Do I have psychic powers? Am I psycho? Anyone else notice this?

Mixed Night

Had a nice mixed night. I doubled up on one table, and busted down to 30 on another. So I took the 30 and tried a 22/2 tourney. I came in third for whopping $28 profit. Ended up around $49 up for the night. I will take it! I had two hands on the bustout table that screwed me up. I flopped 4 to a sf! Nice pot! Lost my shirt when the flush and/or sf did not appear! The really nice thing is it was on 27o! Where's my love hammer? lol. On the second table I seemed to be chasing for some reason. Once I settled down on the first table I sat around for like an hour and then got the cards to double up. It was nice! I am going to try some play on PokerStars. See what I can do with my $75 over there.

***** UPDATE: Won another $64 playing 7-Card Stud! Fun game. I doubled up on one table, and am up a little on the second. It seems at the 1/2 level if you are patient you will get TONS of callers and win LOTS of money! I have been having fun learning a new game. I only know the basics but that is enough for the 1/2 and probably the 2/4 levels on Empire.

Expanded Thought

Now that I have come down from my rush I want to expand on a thought. I mentioned that I quit last night while I was on a HUGE card rush. I was up almost $400 and killing the table I was at. So why would I quit? It is simple. Your style of play can change when your doing poorly. We all recognize this. You try and get back in the game, push things you should not, basically tilt out. I think the same thing can happen when you are on a HUGE rush. It should be monitored equally as dillegently as a down turn. You start to feel like ANYTHING is a winner. Your play again alters and you end up giving back a portion if not all of your winnings. It sounds funny coming out of my mouth, but I think there are times when your on a winning streak you should leave. Just keep tabs on your play. If you find yourself saying things like "Sorry Dude, I usually do not chase those runner-runner flushes" or "Man what a great flop for 47o!" then at least take a break for a little and come back later. Just my thoughts.

Oh 3/6 how I love thou!

Wow! What a freaking crazy ass night. I am not sure how but I doubled and almost trippled up at a 3/6 table. Won like $100 at another one and played a 3 table MTT and came in 2nd for a nice $75 profit. For the night I am up $380 for the night which is BY FAR the best night I have EVER had! Holy crap! To make the night even sweeter I got to play with Wired Aces and Blu Moon (see blogs on right). These guys saw I was on a run and for the most part stayed out of my way. The each played well and were up a little when I left. Towards the end of my run I blew a little money. I started getting the euphoric high you get when you cannot lose. At least you do not think you can lose. I rivered some poor stiff with a Q8 flush against his KK. Runner runner of course. I was not proud of it. I was just on a high! I beat up on a few more guys and then I went totally crazy and put about 20-30 bucks in a pot where I had a straight and a runner-runner flush draw. I missed it all. *sigh*. It would have really sent me over the edge. Since I was not playing my normal way and it was late I decided that I would quit for the night. Overall I like 3/6 so far. 22 BB/100 and 14.50 per hour! Above McDonalds rates! Of course this cannot continue forever and 236 hands do not make a statistical pattern. However while I am running good I am going to enjoy it and share it with my loyal readers!

First Impressions

I figure I would give my first impression of 3/6 after playing one game. I know this is nowhere near enough hands but you guys listen to my hot air all the time anyways. I figure half of you are just waiting for me to bust out again! Sort of the reason most people watch Nascar (sorry Chris).

Is it tougher? I think you could say it is. However I like it! When I raise pre-flop with AA I want 47o to fold. I found it AMAZING that a pre-flop raise causes EVERYONE to fold a hand! People actually respected my betting. I do like that. I can see where some of the people I have asked would say 3/6 is a lot tougher and you make less money. I think these are the people who play any two s000ted, and A5o like it is the NUTS. I may eat my words in a few weeks but this is my impression.

People *seem* to slow play a little more, and trap you with monster hands. I do not know if this is good or not, but I need to evaluate my position. I am of the mindset of never slow playing a hand. However this is just plain stupid. An example of this is when I had QQ, the hand was raised pre-flop. I called because 3/6 was new and I was being stupid. I should have raised. –1BB. The flop was Q55. Perfect! I bet and the one other guy in (put him on AA) raises. I re-raise him. This was my second mistake. He put me on AQ or something along those lines. I should have cold called him and raised him at the turn when it was more expensive. Right? –1BB at least there. He called me to the river at least. He never showed and I won. I think I misplayed this hand. I would not mind some feedback. I tally this hand at –2BB at least.

I noticed that fishy people get KILLED at 3/6. So if you’re fishy go away. I saw one guy who was basically the chum for the entire table. I took a few good pots off of the better players, and gave some back. The fishy players got reamed by all of us.

Making the jump from 2/4 to 3/6 is not as scary as ½ to 2/4. Something about going into 2 figures (lol) spooked me when going to 2/4, but the extra 50 does not seem a lot in 3/6. Who knows.

Those are my initial impressions. Probably somewhat true but I have not played near enough. The scary thing is that 4/8 is next. Only $600 more. Playing 3/6 that is a good week tops. I do not think I should keep going up when I hit the 300xBB bankroll. It probably does not make sense. I am not sure what to judge the ability to go to higher levels though. The Bankroll has always been the guide stick. I do not think my game has improved much between ½ and 3/6. Perhaps somewhat. Do you just keep rising until someone knocks you down? Should I choose (x) number of hands and if I am keeping the BB/100 around 2-5 then why not? Do I just not worry about it until the jump before 5/10 where it gets A LOT harder from what everyone tells me? Thoughts? Comments? Scorn?

1918

The Moon went dark. Lions laid down with sheep. The heavens opened and .. Oh wait, that's another day. This is the day the words 1918 lost there sting. Congrats to the Red Sox! It feels so good!

On another note: If you can't beat them join them. Enjoy Al.
http://www.stripordie.com/. I affectionatly call the guy "Big Al", right before I go for the ultimate 6BET -EV odds. Have fun on vacation! Do not show the misses unless she is into naked cartoons!

I doubled up again at 2/4 tonight. I am now moving up to 3/6 since my bankroll can support it. I have some trepidation since I have heard mixed stories. Some people say it is HARDER and other say it is the same. I shall see. I think on this level I really need to take a deep look at my game because the consensus for the next level is that it is ALOT harder. It would be nice to have a Poker Daddy who would help me find my leaks and talk strategy with me. *sigh*. I actually am not sure it would do me any good at this point. I need to look into myself and find the energy and drive to reach the next level of play.

It is somewhat hard to do this when you keep doing well at each level. I have far too few months of experience playing and too much short term success for my own good. I do take the game seriously and desire to always make the right moves. I need to improve on the work aspect of my game. Hand review. Really calculating pot odds instead of saying "Looks about right". Things like that. I hate to think how much money I am leaving on the tables with my average play.

Anyway I am moving up. I seem to have settled on 4.5+ BB/100 hands for my win rate. I have heard this is a good rate. I have 4.89 in 2700+ hands of 2/4 and 1000 hand of 1/2 short. My rate for 1/2 is only 2.22. The .50/1 rate capped out at 1.42! In the beginning I had some very inflated rates. I was making something like 15 BB/100. Wish it could stay like that! I am also making welfare like mad money now! I take in a whole 3 bucks an hour! I hope that improves! I have 265 hours of play under my belt so far (actually a little more since I only bought PT last month), and a nice 56% winning session rate! Barely breaking even! In 2/4 I have had 68% winning sessions which is a little better. We will see what improvements I make to swim with the 3/6 fishies.

**** UPDATE: Just finished my first 3/6 session. I like it. People fold more to pre-flop raises which is fine with me. I won $72 and my BB/100 was 18! I love going up to a new level! That BB/100 looks sweet for a few weeks!

Rigged!

The Red Sox are awesome! I could not be happier. I am almost ready to get the broom out of the closet! Unfortunately this is a –EV proposition for me. The wife and I have been watching the games together so no Poker! I wonder what odds Vegas was giving for a Red Sox comeback in the Yankees series. I think that could have been some serious +EV!

Since I am not playing Poker I figure I would contemplate on a serious issue. I have been at several tables and the conversation goes like this:

Fish1: Damn! My AA were beaten by a flush again! Party Poker is rigged! They just
put close hands together so the rake will be higher!
Fish2: yeah! I know what you mean! Damn rigged sites!
Fish1: I know man! I do not know why I play!
BB: Yeah, my friend has the secret code to let you automatically win hands!
Fish2: Can I have it!
Fish1: Me too man! Send it to my account!

I have long tried to figure out what would give people this impression. Since I have never played at a B&M I cannot compare the two but the following things come to mind.

The easiest thing is to totally dismiss these claims. The people making them are obviously losing and looking for some rhyme or reason. Instead of looking internally and asking themselves why they did not slow down when their opponent suddenly came alive when the flush appeared they blame the software. It is a common problem in IT and I think in the Online Poker world. I do think computer generated shuffling algorithms are going to be slightly different than B&M card machines however I do not think that you can say they are purposefully rigged.

The second reason that comes to mind for me is the fishiness of the sites in question. I think this has a lot more to do with the appearance of the games being rigged. If you take the average AA and put in a raise at a good table most people are going to fold and now you are up again KQ, AJs lets say. If you do the exact same thing at a “bad” table then you have 6-8 people in on the flop! DISCLAIMER: When I say bad table I refer to the skill of the players, not the amount of money I am going to make! END DISCLAIMER. When people are seeing the flop with everything under the sun I think the odds are that you will see more flushes and boats with crap cards that never would have been played if the person really wanted to make money. The more people in on a pot the more chance that something will pair up huge.

The final thing that effects people’s perception I think is the enormous number of hands you see online. I am going off of what other people have told me here, but in an average 3-5 hours of play online I probably see 500-600 hands a night! I would be willing to bet in three hours of B&M play you might see 100? One table. One slow dealer. Less hands. Less chance to see monster hands. It just makes sense if you are seeing 5X the number of hands you are going to see things like Boats and Flushes at an accelerated rate. In your mind it will appear as if the site is rigged and throwing out all kinds of weird stuff. Our minds like to link common events together and would naturally jump to the conclusion the site is rigged.

I almost forgot the other possibility: It is rigged! If so keep it going. I am winning, playing well, and feeling good and that is all that matters to me!

Sir Stud

Tonight was an exceptional night, more so because it started so badly. I lost my tourney REAL bad. Like 8th place. Ug! I also was down on two 2/4 tables by fifty dollars each. I then went on the most incredible run ever and made my first goal: $1700.

I doubled up my first table. I have yet to double up in 2/4, so it felt really good. I then got one pot on my second table that was probably the largest single pot I have ever had. I feel ashamed of it a little because I probably should have folded. I started with 89h .. I go in for a BB. I get raised afterwards and there are like 5-6 people in. So I say “What the hell” and call hoping for a flush. I get a single heart, a pair of two’s and the nine. So I have Top Pair Shitty Kicker and three to a flush. For a single bet I say what the hell. I had to have had pot odds with that much money in. The next card is and 8. Here is where I made a mistake in judgment. I said to myself “I got two pair, so if he has AA then I win”.. err dummy, there was already a pair on the board! Doh! So anyhow it was still only one bet. I believe I still had pot odds. Either way I am in until the end. The final card is a god loving 9! It give someone else 9’s over 2’s. It gives me 9’s over 8’s biatch! I rake in the sweet $78 pot. I felt like I sucked the guy(s) out but with 3-4 people in to the end and the 5-6 in on the flop I figure I had the odds to make the call. Anyway the guy with the Aces (I think) types in the chat 15 minutes later: wtf! Indeed. WTF!

So now on to goal two: Becoming a stud! The Poker gods must appreciate me trying to learn something new. The first ten hands give me two full boats! I have no idea if this is common in 7-Stud but I highly doubt it. So I go up to about +15BB. Not bad. I got sucked out once. The person made the flush on the river. Chased three to a flush all the way down and made it on the last card. At least I was smart enough to check my last bet since I *thought* I was doomed anyway. I got Rolled up 8’s and even knew what that meant! That won me an 9BB pot or something. I think I played well. Not great but well. I decided to cap the experience at 12AM when I normally go to bed. Ended up around 28BB+. I will take it for my first attempt. I like the game a lot. It seems like 2 pair can win a lot, and even a pair gets a fair share of pots. Very fun game.

Slow Times at Poker High

I have been going off on a sports tangent these past few weeks because I am excited about my team(s) and because I have not been playing a lot of Poker. The wife has wanted to watch the Red Sox games and has forbid me from watching them downstairs while playing. It has been a nice break however and I do not think I have forgotten everything I know.. Although I do not know much so I may have.

Couple of interesting things to talk about. I always get excited hearing people talk about going professional. I am not crazy and will not jump off the safety of my day job until I am ready. However – in preparation for this I thought I would take a peek at the high rollers.. the 30/60 guys on Empire. I took at look at table selection and was a little disappointed. There were only two tables open and there were something like 120 people waiting to play! Hello! Empire! Wake up! There is money to be made! I have no idea why they would not open as many 30/60’s as they could since the rake must be the highest of any game. Stupid!

So I set my Poker Tracker to catch some stats on these big boys at both tables. On a funny side note I noticed SuperDave playing with 24K on the table! WOW! Nice! Since you only need 18K online to play I think he was trying to intimidate people.
The nice thing about 30/60 was the pot size. Drool. Every hand I saw was at least half what I make in a day! One hand! I saw several pots get as large as my entire days salary and then some! A nice $750 pot was one example. I could live off that, right? Hell, that is half of everything I have made playing poker to date! I really do not see how people could not make a living at this with those kinds of pots. I suppose the variance is probably a bit larger.

I came back a few hours later with several players’ statistics. It was interesting. In watching these people play I did notice there seemed to be less calling to the river. It is impossible for me to judge the play of these people though because it is probably so far beyond me that I cannot understand what I do not know. On the good side most of the players I profiles seemed to be sLAPs like me! I did notice on Gamb000ler and a bomb in my poker stats. I believe the bomb is a maniac! Wow! I bet the table was drooling. So in summary I probably learned nothing of any importance but had a good time doing it.

As far as my own professional development I am planning on doing the following two things tonight. Bring my bankroll up to 1700+ and branch out. In the vein of my Felicia inspired play I am going to try another new game. I do not get my ass kicked enough playing Hold Em so I need to branch out. I have done this already with Omaha Hi with mixed results. I really need to learn a little more about playing post-flop in Omaha and then I would agree it seems like minting your own money. My next foray is going to be in a harder game, which is totally different from Hold Em: 7 Card Stud! I have studied my winning Poker book and think I have an idea of how to play at a basic level. I am going to start at the ½ level and see how I do. One thing that is appealing to me is the many levels of betting. A lot more cash to put into the pot or hopefully take out! I will keep you posted on how I do tonight. I expect to at least have a fun night.

"They have to lose sometime!"

Bah! Go Pats! Historic moment in football. The Patriots have just made the offical NFL consecutive game win record! If that is not a good team then I do not know what is! I am not sure if they covered the spread? I beleive it was the Pats by 6.5. The Jets could not have been favored, could they? At least if they missed the spread Sean is getting closer to the day he can run it in.

All kidding aside I keep giving Sean a hard time about the Patriots. It is kind of fun to have a little rivalry where I can win .. unlike the one with Al! Doh! I think something funny has finally happened to a Boston sports team: We have become so good that we are HATED! It is kind of like the few years that St. Louis was really good. You had never really heard of them and then all of a sudden you hated them! Like the Yankees. So many people hate that team just because they are a GREAT team. I can say that now without gritting my teeth. It is amazing what one win will do for you. So here is to the continued streak. We play at Pittsberg next week. In the past I would have called this a fluff game. We always have had there number. Every major event in Patriots history pretty much has had a Steelers defeat in it. However I think the team this year is a little different. We might have some problems. I am still going to go with a Patriots win however.. how can you not?

Frustration and Success

What is it about Holdem that makes it seem sooooooo hard to ever get ahead fast? I had a VERY mixed night. It started out with one table doing average and the other one going down. I busted out on the first one, then took a break on the second table thing. I played a safe 5/1 NL and came in second. I then played a 22/2 and took the prize! A hundred bucks! At the same time I went on a run in the tourney the first table I was at had a major card rush and I almost doubled up. So I ended up peeking over $1600 for the first time and making a few more bucks at Poker Stars! Go Figure? Why is it that you can NEVER have everything click at the same time?

I was wondering something tonight. Seeing how I am working at going pro, and Iggy has jumped into the cold, dark waters of freedom, I was wondering how he does it? Do you play ring game? 200 NL? Only tourneys? What level of ring/tourney is your bread and butter? So fess up and let us all know what level of game we need to be in to change careers! Feel free to comment if your a professional too.. I am not ONLY seeking Iggys feedback.

I Hate NL!

I finished 45th Place out of 133. Not bad. Not Great. I hate NL! Todd the Commish made it to the FINAL TABLE! Nice! I guess I am in good company. I finished before:

The Vegan
Chris
Film Geek
Al (Hey, I finally beat Al in something!)
Helixx
DoubleAs (I thought you played NL dude! Lol!)
The Venerable Iggy
Wil maybe?
HDouble
Pauly and Paulies Bro
Grubette (I finally figured out your relationship to Grubby!)
Maudie (How did I do that, you were WAYYYY ahead of me!)

And Several Others.. the list goes on! Maybe I am too hard on myself? Perhaps I have a future in NL? Nahhhhh...

The hand I went out on. I am down to 1900. The blinds are 200+Ante and it is getting scary to fold everything. So I get KJ (S000ted?) in the Blind. The Venetian raises in a little. I decide to call him all in. He freaking flips over KK! Slow playing bastard! lol. He really kicked my ass! I was totally dominated. Once the turn came nothing could save me. It was very sad. I probably should have waited a few more orbits before trying to make a move but it is what it is! At least I am up to $67 on PokerStars (Fifty buy in - Blog Tourney + 1/2) and up $40 tonight at Empire. Not too bad. PokerStars seems alot easier to play at than Empire. Just my take. I may actually try and build a Bankroll there.

Still We Beleive

I am stunned. After 35 years of waiting what an incredible way to get into the World Series. There are so many memories this team has made. The extreme courage of Kurt Shilling playing an excellent game with Franken Foot. David, big Poppi, pop goes the weasel, Oritz. Derek Lowe rising from the ashes of a disastrous season to pitch two of the most perfect games he ever has. High fives to my little one every time the Sox hit one out of the park. History has been made today. It feels good.

I almost thought we were going to give it back in Bill Buckner esque fashion. Ask yourself how can you get 55 thousand Yankees fans back into a game they are losing by 7 runs? Take out the guy pitching a one hitter and put in “Who’s your Daddy” Martinez! I was glad my son was asleep by this time because I did not want him to go around saying “F*ing Francona! What the F is he doing!”. I guess the Red Sox did not think I had enough vomit in my throat and had to help me out. It all worked out though. Perhaps this will help get Pauly out in the Blogger tourney? A little Red Sox induced tilt? Hmm.

The Red Sox winning in this way reminds me of jumping out of an airplane. I did this stunt years ago. I feel exactly the same way. No, not how you might think, Exhilarated, Adrenalin rush! I think most people who have taken the plunge would say it is surreal. You are plummeting towards earth at an ungodly speed and all you can think is how much it feels like a dream. Complete with toy cars and little buildings out of some little boys fantasy. There is no fear or exhilaration just an acceptance that this must be real even though it has a hazy dream like quality to it. The exuberation and partying will come today once that feeling wears off. As we walk around our offices and give each other high fives. Talking about the next steps. Reality will set in and it will be incredible.

Every dynasty must eventually end. Hopefully this is the fall of the Yankees. They have been incredible for the last decade but it is time to move over. The signs of the end of Rome are there. Blowing a four game lead. Settling for whiny, lipstick wearing, girl slapping player. Having the best closer in baseball lose not one but two save opportunities. The huns are at the gate. We will have to wait to see what happens but at least for a few days all is well in Red Sox nation. All is well!

YES!

- NUFF Said

Until tomorrow.

Flamming Madness

The ember has fanned into a burning flame of hope. I am a sick man, but I cannot help but cheer and scream and yell for MY Red Sox to win the division. Here is to hope burning eternal.

We always talk about how much heart the Yankees have. When Jeeter runs into the stands full steam. All the clutch hitting. It is true. The Yankees are a great team. However you HAVE to give Kurt Shilling the prize for courage and guts! He played his heart out with his leg bleeding and his tendon grinding on his bone. What a competitor!

On another good front Sean clarified his position on my comments on the Pats:

My argument just isn't "they haven't lost yet" but rather they haven't been particularly impressive in this "streak". A lot of their wins have been due to blind luck and very close games. Eventually, the variance will catch up with the Pats, and they'll return to the 10-6 team that they really are.

Seriously, enjoy it while you can, because eventually (very very soon) it will all crash down. They're not as good as advertised.

I plan on enjoying every moment of it. I do think the Pats are an extremely good team not so much in the parts that go into the team, but how the whole functions and works together for the goal of winning a Super Bowl. The coach is a huge part of it. You could say that the team is lucky, and I would agree. I also would say they make some of their own luck. If you have a bunch of guys swarming on the QB and he fumbles is it luck, yeah, but also you have those guys in the area so you are likely to pickup the fumble and also hit the QB blindside. Anyway it has been a long time since I have had a good team to enjoy and I am loving it!

On the Poker front. Damn. This is a Poker Blog right? I am excited about the tourney. It is ALWAYS fun to play Bloggers. I hate taking your money but I like bragging about it! I hear rumor Aqualad is going to be playing in the tourney. Lol. I never knew who did the voice even though I have seen every Teen Titans to date. Some people get around! The show is a little cheezy buy very enjoyable.

I am almost at decision time. I will be at a stack size to support 3/6 in a week if things hold up and evil variance does not come by and kick my ass. I am leaning towards waiting to go up to 3/6 because I am just getting used to 2/4. Anyone have any advice? Should I get (x) hands in at 2/4 before I try a higher level? Is it basically the same with maybe a few less fish?

On the profound side I find that as you move up levels and the money in the previous level seems like pennies, you tend to play a better game. Your less timid. The money seems trivial. I mean an average ½ pot is 12-20 bucks where a 2/4 is 25-40. I think psychologically this looking down at smaller levels gives you an edge. Your more likely to play your good cards hard and have a good time. I have doubled up in ½ 80% of the times I have played since I moved up to 2/4. I do not think my game has changed that much but it must have in some ways I do not understand yet. Perhaps a revelation is coming. Oh well, that’s all I have. Seacrest Out!

Poker Stars

I am official a Poker Stars guy. Make sure you get credit for SirFWALGMan Iggy! I wish Poker Stars gave me a signup bonus! Bastards! I have to say after playing Empire for so long I do not like the Interface of Poker Stars. It seems washed out. It confuses me somehow. Lucky I only have 25 bucks in my account to play ½ with. The minimum deposit was $50. I know I am throwing money away by playing under Bankrolled but I am just trying out the interface. I lost my first hand if that means anything. It sums up my playing style. I had the winning hand with a pair of tens. I checked to the river and lost to trips. Can you say PAAAAASSSSIIIIVVVEEEE. Play the freaking players moron!

I registered for the Tourney. Nice Pot. I hope more people signup before tomorrow night.
I also had a nice night at 2/4. Up over $100. Not bad. Playing two tables. Just shy of 1500 now. I won my first hand at Poker Stars! 10-10. I raised and wtf! Everyone folds! Not a very Empire like site! People actually only call raised with good stuff? Damn! Ok, so they call to the river when they have 2nd best hand but so what. I actually can win some hands without playing. I showed. I wanted people to know I raise hands they would consider marginal.

I need a Poker tutor to point out where I suck. I know I suck. I just need to figure out where. Ok. So I am being lazy. Here is what I am planning though. I am going to write an Access report off Poker Tracker. It will compute the odds/pot odds and tell me if I played the hand correctly from a purely mathematical standpoint. Maybe even tell me at what street I started playing against the pot odds. I can then review the bad hands and figure out where I need to fold more, and where I need to ram-and-jam more.

I think I LOVE Poker stars. Playing against good players means people fold to pre-flop raises. People fold on the river with a huge pot even if you have nada. I mean it rocks! Only one day but I doubled my buy-in easily. The people seem friendlier. One complaint: Why did I not get Whore money when I signed up to Poker Stars? WTF! I want WHORE BONUS DOLLARS!

To Pro or not to Pro .. that is the question

You MUST go over to Riding the F Train and read his article on turning Pro. It is dedicated to Iggy the latest lucky dog to jump off the employment bandwagon and do something he loves. I have posted a few times about my desire to go Pro. I definitely have the dream. Here is how I think I measure up in his assessment of a professional player:

Skill: You must consistently be able to beat the 2/4 game. At this point in my career I have just started playing the 2/4 game so the jury is still out. I have won at 2/4 and I have lost. I think my skill level needs some (alot?) improvement before I feel like I am really beating the 2/4 games. Once I have 10-20K hands under my belt at this level I should have a better feel for where I am.

Bankroll: I think you need more bankroll than asphnxma mentions. He probably just assumes you are going to take into account your daily bills. Since I have a family and everything affects four people now, my minimum bankroll requirements are very high. I want a year’s salary to live off of before I even start. I then want a large bankroll to ride out the variance. Possibly another years salary or at the very least a half year. I figure this more than cushions me from any financial repercussions from failing at this endeavor. It gives me a solid year to really assess the merits of the lifestyle and decide if I can continue. Having said this it might take me many years to save this up. Playing 2/4 part time I suppose I could make 24K a year towards this which puts my goal a good 5-10 years off. Heh. I am willing to wait though. I assume if I continue to progress and can beat 5/10+ online then the goal will come quicker.

Discipline: The jury is still out on this one. I am MUCH more disciplined than I used to be. I do not go up higher levels and try to bankrupt myself. I do find myself wanting to end on a winning note. I also am sure I put extra BBs in the pot and all those amateur things. I hope once I have more time playing and have improved my game I will get more and more discipline. I think I can be disciplined. It does take some effort on my part.

Understanding: I do not think you can truly understand until you have tried it. However I do have some advantages in this area. Is the game going to become just another job? I think it would have to eventually. The choice for me is between “just another job” in IT where I am at the mercy of a company’s decision, and one where I am the boss. I generate all the income for the company. If the company does bad it is my fault, if it does good I get a bonus. I like this idea. It is really much more appealing than being replaced by someone from Bangladesh.

The benefits issue is moot. I do not get benefits as an IT contractor. I understand the financial impact. It can be quantified at somewhere between $700 and $1000 a month for a family of four.

Not contributing anything of social worth to the world. This one is a no-brainer also. Cmon! I do freaking business applications that read data and make pretty things for CEOs, or help someone sell something purely for profit. I do not feel I am making any social impact as is. Hell, maybe I will have more time to do something worthwhile for the world.

The days when you lose how will you feel? I think I touched on this under discipline, but again, the jury is out and I have a lot of growing to do before I can tackle this one. I also think it takes on an added dimension when you don’t eat if you don’t win. Having a large bankroll and backup money should alleviate this somewhat. Growing up in my Poker game will also.

Reducing day-to-day contact with HUUUMAAANS! YES! It is my dream come true! I am the Borg! I will assimilate you! Heh. Ok. I am not that bad. However a computer nerd connects with humans on a totally different level. It is a very solitary life for the most part and I am willing to continue that way. If I want some human contact I will take some classes, meet some people, play at Foxwoods or AC. Meet some Bloggers even. I think it will work out. I do think I am uniquely qualified for this part as a computer nerd. I am also hoping that I can make my hours different. For instance play 9-3 while the kids are in school, play with the kids and socialize with the wife from 3-8, and then hit the tables again 9-12. That would give me a nine hour day if need be. I would spend a lot more time with the kids during the weekdays and probably be more social than I am now.

I liked the way asphnxma laid out the criteria and presented the content. It was fun taking the test. Although I am not ready yet in most categories I think I have some potential. Everyone has to have dreams and who knows maybe I can get laid off like him! Heh. Just kidding dude. Best luck to him and Iggy and anyone else who has taken a serious look at being a Pro and decided to take the leap.

Grasping at Straws

At least I can beat Al in something..

As the Knife Turns

The Knife twists deeper. A spark of hope flares in my heart. It is just a lonely ember in the middle of the fireplace. Not enough to really get me hooked yet. It is for this reason that the Red Sox will win tonight. A complete game for Shilling shutting out the Yankees. The ember will be fanned into a flame and hope will burn bright until they plunge the knife in the final quarter inch in game seven. I should have stuck with my original plan of not watching.

My FFL team had a lousy week and almost won. I barely cracked 100. I knew I was in trouble when the teams I was up against were the Steelers, the Eagles.. you get the idea. My offence basically got dominated and my only good running back was on a bye. I did pick up Denver’s new Phnom Droughns and he came through with some points. So putting him and the Edge up next week will be good. In addition Tory Holt seems like he is finally going to kick it up. Possibly Todd Heap will come back and do some good too. Who knows? I am predicting a better week against teams like the Bungles. The Drunk bastards still remain undefeated! I moved down to 3rd place. Drat! At least I am playing against the last place team in the league.

The Pats are doing awesome. I heard a description of the New England Teams that went something like this:

The Patriots are like a new Girlfriend. She is so good you can hardly believe she is true. You are kind of expecting her to let you down but she never does. Perhaps she is
A keeper!

The Bruins are like a long distance romance. She is still around.. somewhere.. but you don’t really care. It is all over but nobody has the guts to say so.

The Celtics are like an old girlfriend. The spark has not yet died. You remember those wild old times on the kitchen counter and the floor and don’t forget the library! However lately it’s just not the same.

The Red Sox are like the most abusive relationship you have ever had. They beat the shit out of you every night and you keep coming back for more. You just know it is going to be different this time..

Shawn of Anisotropy and I have a little disagreement going on. He keeps picking against the Patriots and I keep laughing in his face. Heh! His reasoning: They have to lose sometime, don’t they? Hmm? I will say they have not played anyone incredible yet. I did not understand all the hype about the Hawks though. They had not beaten a winning team this year. They beat up on weak teams, which is all good but proves nothing. The same could be said for the Patriots except for the Colts. However we just have a special place for the Colts so that does not really count. This week we go up against the Jets and I have to say it is again two teams who have not really played anyone good. Who have the Jets really beaten? I think the Pats will be able to shut down Curtis Martin as they have in the past and take the game from the Jets. It will be a close one but I am pulling for them. Maybe Sean will join me this week? Nahhhh. The real test of the season will be the Steelers. We have ALWAYS had their number, but they look REALLY good this year. They do have one loss to the only really good team they have played but watch out.

The Planets Align

What the hell was up with last night? I have read no fewer than 6 Bloggers losing big last night, yours truly included! I guess the Planets align in a configuration favorable to the great suckout. Perhapse this is why the Red Sox won? I know I said I would not watch but I could not help myself!

Up and Down all Around

The hand of the night was excellent. I finally started doing what your supposed to do aggression wise. I am dealt a A2c. Nice. I limp in. It is raised after me. Several people in so I call. The flop is a very pretty x49c. I am now four to my flush. Nice! Two guys before me to act. The first guy bets, I raise, he raises me again which scares everyone else out. I call. The turn is a K of clubs! Zang! I have the nuts baby! I bet, he raises, we end up capping it. How sweet it is!

The Red Sox looked so promising this year. I was really excited about them. I thought they would do well in the playoffs especially how they readily handled the Angels. Alas it was not to be. Once again the home team breaks my heart. I will not even watch the final game. I do not care if they win the next three. I am out. I am dejected. Depressed. Angry. I will hate the Red Sox.. at least until next year.

The river is a K of diamonds. The lead bets. I raise. He raises me. He has to see the flush? Right? He did not just make a boat did he? Pocket 4’s. Runner-Runner Kings to beat the nut flush. What a maroon. I am dejected. A really nice 60-dollar pot slides over his way. I am Angry. I am pissed. What is the point of aggression? I will never play a hand hard again.. at least until the next session.

Running Smooth

I have been running well. I went up $50 in 2/4, made another $40 in 1/2, and won a few tourneys. I lost a couple of tourneys also so I ended up about $118. It seems like my average night is $100+. I am very happy with that. Anyway.. just thought I would let everyone know how well I was running! I am going to start two tabling 2/4 soon. The money looks less scary now, and I have had 4 winning and 1 losing session. I really feel like 2/4 is not any harder than 1/2. The money amounts are larger and that is all. Hope to see some of my old 1/2 pals soon!

We are Family

The Blogscape is a living, breathing organism and it is sad when parts of it change. I really miss reading some of the regular Bloggers.

ITC was one of my favorites. Always something good to say. The jury is out as to his return to the tables but we wish him the best. I really liked the few times we played together.

Sloe has changed his priorities a little. With the wee one becoming more interesting there is just not as much time for Poker. Although he still writes a Poker post here and there it is not with the same frequency.

Where has Poker in the Weeds gone? Is little bro’s interest in writing waning as his older sibling’s never has? Is there just not much Poker going on? Has life reasserted itself for the time being? Who know’s.

Through the ashes more new faces are born. Perhaps a fast growing tumor would be a better description. Every day dozens of Blogs start up all trying to fit into the community. Some fall by the wayside as Bankrolls are destroyed or new content becomes hard to find. Others become widely popular and join our little family. It is always fun to catch them on the tables. Forcing the NL players to come down to my world! Or running into Bloggers playing the same levels and working on the same issues as I am. It is all very special and helpful.

A Blogger recently told me he never thought I would last. I had to chuckle. If nothing else I am stubborn! The jury is still out about my long-term success. I know I would not have survived my tilting without the support of everyone out there. I look back on the one-day I blew my entire Bankroll now and laugh. It was the single best thing that every happened to my Poker "career". It taught me a real lesson on what I was reading on other Blogs: Discipline, Money Management, etc.. One of these days I might get the aggression part too. I am still young though. It seems sometimes that I have been Blogging and playing poker for my entire life. It has really only been a little over two months. In that time I have played over 18,000 hands! I know the traditional B&M players would never get that kind of time in. It has been great.

I look forward to beating Iggy on Poker Stars. I already have a picture of Verne Troyer and a big red X stamp waiting next to my PC. Now all I have to do is setup my Poker Stars account, fund it, and win. Piece of cake! Lol. Just so you all know what kind of donation I am giving here: $25 NL Holdem, 81 Hands, -$150. My nights with NL Hold em go something like this: Flop Trip 6’s, Turn is a rag, River is 6’s over 2’s, Sir Bets out. Sir gets beat by Quad twos! Although my ROI in tournament NL is not as bad.

Enough with the Blog Family sniffle fest! It is time to get back to the tables and beat someone out of their last SS check! Screw that, last SS DISABILITY check! Ohhh yeaaahh baby!

I knew I would like it..

I knew I was going to like 2/4. I had a fun night. I was chatting with Crocodile and Wired Aces tonight. Crocodile started a new Blog. Give him a look. He is a security expert by day and good player by night. PokerHack is the link on the side for his site. He has done the ellusive thing that I never can: Cracked the last A in the ellusive TAA! Bastard! I really think that at 2/4 you need to be sLAA to make money. I am still wimping out at sLAP. Oh well.

Wired Aces has a great blog I am sure some of you have read. It is Wired Aces on the side there. We were discussing PT and what the stats mean. I ended up ten bucks while these excellent players were there.

The second they left I went on a mad run and ended up 85 bucks. I was up 100 for a while! I was waiting for 3 hours to get the cards to go on a run like that! Why do they never come early? I also placed numero uno in a 20/2 limit. My ROI on 20/2 so far is 218%! Not sure if PT is getting the tourney info from my drive or not.. hmm. All my ROI's in Tourneys are 200% actually. I guess I am a decent tourney player. It is only through 15 tourneys but that is not a bad start. Apparently not so those number are probably skewed.

I have a question for tourney players, especially ring. How are the 30/3 and 50/5 games? I seem to crush the 20/2 games. I do get out on the button, but for the most part I am top 4 always with a BUNCH of first place finishes. Since I am playing 2/4 and my bankroll is going up extremely fast, I wonder if I should try more of these tourneys? I am going to try to play a 20/2 every session now. I think they are worth playing. I want to try the higher ones at certain bankroll key points like 1600 for a 30/3 maybe. Any advice would be great.

Techie Babble

Working on the BOT is a pain in the ass. I decided to go with C# because I love the language, however it is not great for subclassing. I have gotten a few subclassing algorithms to work but nothing seems stable. I am forced now to reconsider the method I use. I have two choices:

A) Send a GetWindowsText Message every few seconds and figure out where I am. I would need to read the entire string stored in the CHAT window and figure out the hands, etc.. It may turn out that this is the best option.
B) Read the files off the Hard Drive. It should work, and it also will give me a marker to the last thing I read. It has its limitations too. I am leaning towards this for two reason: 1. No API 2. All Managed Code (Which is good in C#). The other nice thing is I can grab a textfile or two from my machine and work on this anywhere. I do not need to be really playing.

Next step after figuring out that part is to again use Windows APIs to effect the BUTTONS in party. I will need to have a wait loop that figures out when the buttons appear, and then does a final read of the textfile and makes its move. Since the computer is much faster at doing this stuff I do not think there will be much delay.

So the boring stuff will be done and I can work on the interesting portion of the project. The AI. Since I am a sucky player and even worse AI designer v1 is going to use the KISS method of development: Keep it Simple Stupid! It is going to play the way I would play if I had percentage and pot odd information in my head. I have yet to master figuring out my odds so in this aspect the BOT will actually be superior to me. I am not going to go into details of exactly how the BOT will work, but since I am not extremely aggressive it will probably be a conservative BOT.

Once I have tested v1 of the BOT I will then work at making it a better player than me. The only real way to do this is to have it analyze other people’s play and use it against them. Unlike me it can remember every move that every player has made. It can figure out who the bluffers are and what people are likely to play. It probably will not be able to sense when it is beaten. However sometimes I think these hunches are overrated. I think at least in low limit games it has to be more playing the percentages perfectly. No deviation. Perfect for a computer. I guess this theory will be put to the test.

Two.. Four.. Six.. Eight..

Played some 2/4 again. Held my own for a few hours while watching the Sox get beat. It was a decent game though. I ended up thirty bucks on the 2/4 table. Nice confidence building win. The table was less aggresive tonight and I was able to play and feel like I belonged. I also doubled up on my 1/2 table which was nice. I entered a 1/2 tourney. I was the chip leader for a while. It got down to four. I was the second small blind. Took some pokes at the pot and lost a little. Decided to go all in on an A-9. I got called by the Big Stack. The flop was Axx. The Big Stack is showing A-3. I am dominating him and have won my way into the money! The turn was a 3. #*#&*#*((#! I bubble out of yet another 2/4 tourney. I think I played well and caught good cards. The problem with these tourneys is it becomes 200/400 really early, and 2K is not enough to play even one hand. So I ended up a tad under 1200. Not bad. Feeling good about my play.

2/4 Stage One

I played 2/4 and I lost and I won. I lost first. Going down my entire $100 buyin. Yikes! It appeared to be a monster disaster. It appeared this way because I am so not used to 2/4. A hundred bucks is doubling on two tables at 1/2. In 2/4 it seems like 2-3 hands usually. Crazy! I find so far that 2/4 is MUCH more aggresive.. or it seems that way. It is possible that the monitory amounts make it seem that way. I am not sure yet. The numbers are the same though. 1/2: 25BB = 50$, 2/4: 25BB=100. Same thing. So why does it seem like you can blow your buyin quicker? Not sure. Perhaps I started on a table that was too aggresive for my style. Perhapse I need more adjustment time.

So after that I went off and played some 1/2 and NL to lose a little slower. I busted out of the NL with QQ when the board flopped 887 and the other guy had 88! Yikes! I keep having to remind myself WHY I HATE NL! 80 hand, -$150, not good.

I then decided I could not end the night without some success at 2/4. So I fired up another table and ended up $50. So the net lose for the night was $75. The successful session was good for the ego. I am going to hit it again tomorrow night to. Eventually I will either figure it out or go back to 1/2. I think 2/4 will not be as scary once I increase the bankroll. I am also thinking of waiting longer before going up to 3/6. Need to think it over. However my thinking is when you are THAT close to going back down a level it puts a little pressure on you.

So that is my experience with 2/4. I really think I am going to like it ALOT! Only time will tell.

Nuggets of Wisdom?

It has been over a month since I tilted out. It feels like years. It probably is in Poker terms. I figure in honor of going up a level 6000 hands after my major meltdown I would actually write some profound Poker content. It has been a while. So here are two things I have noticed in my quest to go up a level.

The first point is one I think I have made before. It is really bad to push towards the next level. I need to learn this lesson. We make these goals of hitting 1200 and when we get close the natural response is to become excited. The natural result of this is to try and push over the barrier, which can lead to playing a different game. Anything that takes you off of your game is deadly. So keep in mind your next goal, but do not make that the end all. If you keep doing what you did to get this close you will make it.

The next thing I want to comment on is the 300xBB level guideline. I follow this to the dollar when going up a level. You might ask yourself “Why not go up at 1177”. Technically am I risking my bankroll by doing this? No. Is the fact that I am three bucks over 300BB going to save my bankroll? Not at all. If I fall back under 1200 am I going back to the 1 / 2 tables? Not at all. I would need to drop down to 1K to consider going back down. So why was it so important for me to reach over this imaginary barrier? Discipline. It was the one thing that killed me before and I am trying to concentrate on this area of my game. I do not want the emotion and excitement of being close to moving up a level derail the importance of being a disciplined player. Going down that path leads to folly. I was very tempted to move up to 2/4 once I was a little over 1100. Giving in to that temptation could lead to other lapses in discipline. I have many areas of discipline to work on still. I am no master in that regard. However this small victory will become the foundation for the day where I am a disciplined A.K.A Professional player. When that day comes watch out Poker World because I will be unstoppable.

All is Good in SirTown

All is good. My FFL team actually had one more player. A certain D. Bennett, who besides being a WR is also a QB.. nice TD buddy! The Red Sox are playing the Yankees. The Patriots are beating the point spread! AND .. Last but not least .. You are now reading the Blog of an official 2/4 player.

I finally cracked 1200, ending with a whopping 1203! I had 1207 but got sucked out with a straight draw. Ouch. It was my fault for giving infinate odds on the last card. Gotta get rid of that P in my TAP, sLAP rating. Not sure how yet. I have not yet fired up a 2/4 table. The plan is to open a single 2/4 table and play only a single table. I just want to get my feet wet and walk away with some sort of win. I will need to see what happens. Once I get a nice win at 2/4, I might go back and do some 1/2 two tabling for the rest of the night or call it a night. Not sure yet. Once I have a few sessions of 2/4 and feel comfortable I will start two tabling with 2/4 and 1/2. Once the bankroll is safely over the 1200 mark -- like $1400 or so I will exclusively play 2/4. Wish me luck.

I feel good about my game over the past week. I know this is because I am a results oriented bastard, but I think I have played well also. I took a nice $119 win tonight from 1/2. I seem to be able to double up alot more often on 1/2 lately. Perhapse this is a sign I am ready to move up. Who knows. Maybe I am just getting lucky. I really need to get better at analyzing my play. It probably will not kill me until I get to higher levels like 5/10 or 10/20, but if I stay a lazy bastard I am never going to get better. Actually this is not fair. I am not being lazy, it is just hard to figure out where to start and how to really find those leaks. I guess I will figure it out eventually.

Watch it Big Al

I am gunning for Big Al in the FFL league, and I think I see weakness. I smell blood in the waters. My team cracked 141 for a nice win this week. I would have done better if Patten and Grahm did not get drop-ball-itis yesterday! It was a great game to be at though! Not really exciting but fun. I got two guys with zero and 2.5 (Patten) points and still pulled out one of my best scores ever. Finally had a few of my late season pickups come through. If Brett Farve is REALLY off his game tonight, or if the "Probably" becomes "Brett misses his first game in 12 Gazillion games" then Al will have his first loss of the season. Ok. I am hoping for a miracle, but at best Al will have a good week instead of his usual monster weeks! He only needs Brett to score 4 points so I admit I need him to miss the game or throw 10 interceptions. I am clinging to any hope now though! Someone has to bring Big Al's Drunken Bastards down and I want to be the one!!!

Sigh

Well. I stayed in this NL tourney for about 100 people. Out around 291. Too embarrassed to check the actual place. I started out doing really well and then not so good. The hand that did me in was QQ. I bet it up 4xBB and was called by K2d. Now normally this would be a bad call. Except she hit her K and I did not get any help. I was now down to 800 and went on tilt. Three hands later I was out. Nice. I think it would have been better to get up, take a walk for 10 mins, and then sit back down. If you get a bad beat that way you need a break even if you do not think you do. Oh well. My finish embarrasses me, but I did well in the limit tourney to get here. I think my limit game has a future even if my NL is in question. Oh well. You have to have dreams. The 12K would have been nice. However if I am not going to finish in the money, I might as well go down early. I will say I think Empires policy of having a limit tourney to get into a NL tourney is dumb. I want to play in a 50K limit tourney! Ok. I got over it and checked. Sir was 290 of 397. *Sigh*. Bubbled out of my 20/2 tourney too. *Sigh*. At least I am approaching the 2/4 level. Soon I shall be playing at this higher level. I have been waiting for 2 months to get here. Hope it pays off!

Bring it On!

It is October again and the Yankess and Red Sox are squaring off for the rematch of the century. The Red Sox are still steaming about last years loss. A few outs away from victory. Somehow they figured out how to lose.

The Yankees are a great Post Season team. Give them credit. It does not mean they always win though. The cards eventually should fall on the side of the Red Sox. Variance has been in effect for too long. Hopefully this is the year!

I have heard some people say that they wanted to play the Twins for the playoffs. HA! It would not be the same. Yeah, I would love to play the weaker team, but we NEED to beat the Yankees! It just will not count if it is not the Yankees!

So Bring it on Boys! The stage is set. The players are ready. The October showdown has begun!!!!

Exceeeeelllllent

Had one of those nights that you cannot do any wrong. Got four of a kind 2 hands in a row. That sums up the night on one of my tables. Up $108 and smiling all the way.

I had a pair of 9’s, raised pre-flop. A king appeared on the flop. I always pop a bet in when this happens. It scares a lot of people off the pot. I got called by two. I then checked the turn and would have folded. Nobody bet. Sooo.. I took infinite odds and pulled a 9 out of my butt. I got accused of sucking someone out on that one. If you give me infinite odds you cannot say anything!

I did get a nice suckout after that. I was dealt 88. It was not raised pre-flop. The betting was hard and heavy on the flop, and turn. I had flopped 4 to a straight. I knew I should not be calling these 2-4 cap bets HOWEVER there was a lot of money, and I was feeling lucky. I know –EV in the long run probably, but my straight held up when I made it on the river and people were pissed! I said “Now that was a suckout!”.

I wish tonight’s table was tomorrow nights 50K. *sigh*. I hope to do as well. It is NL and that is not my specialty.. so my strategy is to play conservative early.. not even get into a hand where I am raised a bunch of money unless I have the NUTS. I am going to play pre-flop aggressive. 4xBB for premium cards. I am going to play tight strategy too. None of this loose stuff since I need to survive and get pots on those 2-3 awesome hands you always get. The wife has already said she is taking a cut of the winnings. She wants a fifth if I win first place. I should get her to pray to the saint of gambling. Is there one? St. Iggy? Oh the humanity!

Qualifier! Zang!

I have qualified for the Limit Holdem 50K Sunday night parrrrrtaaayyy. I played it conservative at the start. There were 50 people, so 5 people got to advance to the 50K trial. I stayed mid of the pack for most of the game. It then got down to 7 people. I had 7K and there were two short stacks. I played one hand and a large stack clobbered me.. down to 4K. I was scared that I had made that one mistake that would put me out on the bubble. However I was able to catch a few hands and cruise into fifth position and a qualifier. It was then down to the five of us. I say "Does first place win anything but bragging rights? "Nope.", "Then Bragging Rights it is!". So it gets down to the last two. I am short stacked. I fight back and almost knock him out. We fought for nothing except bragging rights for over an hour! How is that for dedication? Unfortionatly I ended up in second place. I would be glad to take either first or second in the 50K guarenteed, but I would have LOVED to beat him. Oh well. I will have another shot Sunday Night! October 10th 2004 21:00 EST. Wish me well! I expect some rail birds to chide me when I go out 1055 of 1057.

Getting to 2/4

Are you ever sleepy at work and walk by a nice sexy chick and image yourself with a big tongue. I do not mean big, I mean CARTOOON big! HUGE! You take your huge tongue and lick your sexy co-worker either in the front, or a wrap around from the back or something, lifting her off her feet, and I guess rocking her world. Now in real life this would probably suck unless she had a shower before hand but in toon world it is pretty cool. At least your having fun. Anybody? Just remember ladies... all of us men are pigs, even the nice ones!

Go Red Sox! I mean 3 straight. Nice. Now we at the very least get to face a tired Yankee staff. If the Twinkies can pull another one out then we get alot of rest and can face a really tired Yankee team!

My FFL Team is 3-1 and only second to Al's Drunken Bastards! Man does his team rock! I will need a VERY good Sunday to beat him.

Had a nice night again. Won a 20/2 limit tourney. That made my night. I was up a little on my other tables. Mostly on this suckout I did. I am within $150 of 2/4. Yay! I am not getting too anxious though since this usually kills me:

***** Hand History for Game 1037781030 *****
$1/$2 Hold'em - Friday, October 08, 22:57:28 EDT 2004
Table Table 11385 (Real Money)
Seat 3 is the button
Total number of players : 10
Seat 1: Sweetie_Mae ( $48.5 )
Seat 2: spoon73 ( $55.5 )
Seat 3: SirFWALGMan ( $56.37 )
Seat 7: Supanich ( $55 )
Seat 4: wegan ( $46.25 )
Seat 10: julius22 ( $8.13 )
Seat 6: cousinsucla ( $57.25 )
Seat 8: Cagegirl759 ( $15.5 )
Seat 5: randude ( $19.5 )
Seat 9: SmoothS ( $14 )
wegan posts small blind [$0.5].
randude posts big blind [$1].
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to SirFWALGMan [ Qc Qd ]
cousinsucla: yeah, hes the man
cousinsucla calls [$1].
Supanich folds.
Cagegirl759 calls [$1].
SmoothS folds.
julius22 calls [$1].
SmoothS: he???????/
cousinsucla: and so is bush
Sweetie_Mae folds.
SirFWALGMan: debates are aewsome. I always like to argue.
spoon73 calls [$1].
SirFWALGMan raises [$2].
wegan folds.
randude folds.
cousinsucla calls [$1].
Cagegirl759 calls [$1].
julius22 calls [$1].
spoon73 calls [$1].
** Dealing Flop ** [ 8c, Qs, Ts ]
SmoothS: dude i ain't down with no guy that has a BUSH
cousinsucla bets [$1].
Cagegirl759 folds.
julius22 folds.
spoon73 calls [$1].
SirFWALGMan raises [$2].
cousinsucla raises [$2].
spoon73 calls [$2].
SirFWALGMan raises [$2].
St_Glyphic: heh
cousinsucla calls [$1].
spoon73 calls [$1].
** Dealing Turn ** [ Qh ]
cousinsucla bets [$2].
spoon73 folds.
SirFWALGMan raises [$4].
cousinsucla raises [$4].
SirFWALGMan raises [$4].
cousinsucla calls [$2].
** Dealing River ** [ 7h ]
St_Glyphic: keep raising
cousinsucla bets [$2].
SirFWALGMan raises [$4].
cousinsucla raises [$4].
SirFWALGMan raises [$4].
cousinsucla calls [$2].
SirFWALGMan shows [ Qc, Qd ] four of a kind, queens.
cousinsucla shows [ Jd, 9d ] a straight, eight to queen.
SirFWALGMan wins $54.50 from the main pot with four of a kind, queens.
heh
wow, you just made my night

Another Nice Night

Not as good as last night, but made a nice $60 profit. I was way up for a while, making it back over 1K for the first time in two weeks until I lost to two 4 of a Kinds with Boats and trips to a Boat. I played 6 sided and made a bunch of money there. I played 10 sided and made some more there. So it was nice. I am still experimenting with 6 sided. I think I like it although it is tough and people try to be more aggresive to steal more pots. If you can target the guys like that you can make ALOT of money!?!?!?!!!!

Nobody wanted to play tonight so I did not open a table. I had a good post for it too. No need to waste that so here it is:

I did a google search on Cate Edwards to see if I could find out why Cheney would check her ass out. I really do not get it? She is not that attractive. hmm. So to confirm my suspicions I did the following search:

sexy cate edwards

Your search - sexy cate edwards - did not match any documents

Just what I figured. So in Honor of the vice presidential debates the table password for tonight is cateedwardsnotsexy. I will be at the .50/1 table waiting to take your money. Probably work on my Bot a little before the game.

I thought it was a good entry but maybe I am biased. lol. I did start my Bot. I decided to use C# since I love the language. It is a little tough to find information on subclassing or hooking in C# that works. I am going to hit it again tomorrow. Once I have cloned the functionality of No-Limit Holdem (the hand odd calculator for Empire/Party) I will move on to the AI. I will then see how it works against Iggy and Al type play. You can never put these guys on a hand, and when you think you have them, they hand your ass to you. The bot might be in trouble. heh.

The Bad Side of Aggresion - LAA!

Let me setup the night for you. I am down around $80. I am pissed. I move to a VERY fun table. Six sided. MDTERPS23, NYGHTCRAWLER and the most maniac fishie guy I have ever met zzzGolfer. The rest of my night pretty much goes like, wait for a hand, get called down by zzzGolfer, make my NUT whatever or even high pair, get capped by zzGolfer on every street. Find out he had a K2. I mean this guy went against me 20 times. Each pot was at least $50. According to Poker Tracker here are some hands:

$57.50 pot on a flopped flush
zzzgolfer shows [ 3h, 3c ] a pair of threes.
SirFWALGMan shows [ Kc, 7c ] a flush, king high.

$37.50 pot on 77 with a lot of high cards out there against his 22.
zzzgolfer shows [ 2c, 2h ] two pairs, nines and twos.
SirFWALGMan shows [ 7d, 7s ] two pairs, nines and sevens.

$37.00
zzzgolfer shows [ Qh, Tc ] two pairs, queens and tens.
SirFWALGMan shows [ 9d, Ks ] a straight, ten to ace.

$36.50
zzzgolfer shows [ 9h, 9c ] two pairs, kings and nines.
SirFWALGMan shows [ Qc, Qh ] a full house, Queens full of kings.

You get the idea. Sir Ended up $100+. I have barely ever seen pots this large in ½ especially 6 sided. It got to the point where I knew zzGolfers maniac style so well that I just had to call him to the river, and raise even when I did not have the NUTS. I was EXTREMELY aggressive for me against this guy because he paid off so well. Once he ran out of money he left the table. I believe he is used to people rolling over for him. It is why he plays this way. When he runs into someone who will not be run down he loses A LOT!

MDTERPS23 and NYGHTCRAWLER did not do as well. I was catching the right cards also. They were a lot of fun. We were chatting it up and having a GREAT time. Maximus Poker in my Blog Links suggests you only play 6 sided. Smaller pots but less suck outs and variance. I might try some more 6. The PT stats are 130.90 for ½ ten sided in 7500 hands. 149.01 for 6 sided in 624 hands. Obviously the data is skewed but hmmm.

Please leave me a note if you want to play tonight (Thursday) 9:00EST. Empire or Party Poker. SirFWALGman Private table. I will leave the password tomorrow if I get 8-10 responses.

Trailer Trash of the Internet

You know, I am usually an even keeled person .. slow to anger.. but the incredible bullshit I read on 2+2 makes me really angry. It is the thread about Lord Geznikor at Rymes with Poker. Reading the 2+2 idiots really makes me appreciate the support provided by the Blogging community.

Link: http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/showthreaded.php?Cat=&Number=1062679&page=&view=&sb=5&o=

The first thing that bothers me about most of the posts is the incredible arrogance and stupidity of each and every one of the responses. It starts out pathetic and gets worse.

“Decided to post this link with the recent influx of "should I become pro" posts. A lesson perhaps that for every Dynasty or ZeeJustin there may be dozens of these guys.
Not to mention its good for a laugh, and a cry. Start with the older posts at the bottom and work up for a better narrative.”

- AcesOver8s

What a freaking moron. First off why would you ever laugh at someone’s misfortune. LG took a tumble and I am sure he is hurting about it. What the hell gives anyone the right to laugh at something like that? Why don’t you just go out and kill a few kitties while your at it asshole?

It then proceeds into ramblings about how everyone one of these guys are such good players and making so much money. A real my dick is bigger than your dick session. First off I am SURE there are plenty of people out there with bigger dicks than all of you put together. However, it would be hard to find anyone who is as big a dick as any one of you. How the hell can you read about someone’s misfortune and take it as a license to brag about how good you are? Some people are so insecure it makes ME sick and DISGUSTED.

The thing that pissed me off the most though was everyone thinking that they knew LG so well. I know nothing about LG. Only what he has written in his Blog. For all I know he could be a great player on a bad streak, or a horrible player waking up to reality. People who skimmed some of his posts all of a sudden think they know everything about him. He is the fish. He works at Grossmans for minimum wage. He is on welfare. He’s lazy. He's stupid. There is no way you can know that much about someone from a Blog alone. You can get an idea of where they are but all of the arrogant comments and assumptions were just pathetic. It is like saying “I am such a good player that I gleamed everything about this guys life by reading some postings and can classify him in some stupid pigeon hole”. I have never read so many jackass comments in my entire life.

The only sensible comment on the entire thread came from LinusKS:

“I thought his posts were interesting, well-written, and honest.
That's something you see too little of, here. Because, of course, everybody at 2+2 is a winner.”

Yeah, you’re all real winners in my book.

What do you do.. What do you do..

First off I had a nice night. I busted out on a 1/2 table. Basically not my fault. I might have hung in too long, but I had 4 hands that I played: AA,KK,QQ,KK. Seems like good hands, right? Did not win a single one. I chased the QQ and KK's when an Ace showed up. Is this the right move? Not sure. Do you automatically fold to a bet? Probably not. I got trip J's on the river putting my opponent on AK, but he had KK and it made his boat. Ouch.

I then started a nice roll. I went down to a .50/1 to fool around, and kept playing my second 1/2 table. I almost trippled up on the .50/1 and I doubled on the 1/2, for a nice nights profit of $30. With my Empire VIP bonus I will be up to $930 after tonight. Not bad.

Here is my question. You have AA. You raise. You get several callers. The flop is 77x. You bet. Everyone folds except one guy who raises. I called him down to the river and beat his 22. Was it a mistake not to raise his calls to the river? Do you assume he has you beat with the 7 and fold, call to the river for as little money as possible, or bet it out all the way down? I am back to my TAP rating and want to work on the last P. Not sure what the right way to do this is though. What PT stats point to passive post-flop play? I assume I am leaving ALOT of money on the tables. Not acceptable. What do I do though?

My Friend

The hand of the night ROCKED! Let me set it up for you first. Bad Blood was on my table for this one. I am playing and doing well. I am up about twenty on a table. I have 6-2 in the BB and the flop is 6-2. I bet it up to 4BB. I then get suspicious that the other guy was raising it up. I call to the river and loose to 66. This sets me off a little. The next hand I have K-10 s000ted and bet it hard. I get beat by someone I will call “The Friend”. You will see why in a minute. I get A7c s000ted and play it. I get a few callers. The flop is an awesome 5c6c8d. I cannot have a better flop except by making a boat or something. I have four to a straight and flush and straight flush. The Friend bets it, it gets raised, and I raise it again. I am screaming at the screen “I am going to get you this time MFA!”, “Your ass is mine”! The next card is a sweet club. I bet. I am raised by “The Friend”, I raise him. He calls. I start typing in the window “Who’s your daddy!”. The final card is the 5 of diamonds. Now this jackass is capable of playing 8-5 to the river and hitting his boat. So I hold off sending the message. I am going to guess he did not though. So I bet, he raises, we cap it, and I win with the Ace High Flush to his 9 high flush. Lol! I send the message. I send a few whoop whoops. I also tell “My Friend” I forgive him for the 10-2 he sucked me out on. Going from twenty down to twenty up will do that for you. I love $53 pots. Sweeeeeet.

FFL Win #3?

I *MIGHT* pull off a win this week. My opponent the Borats have to make up 40 points. He has the QB for KC tonight. Baltimore defence is aewsome, so I hope he has an 11 point game instead of a 30 point one. In addition his RB seems like a scratch so that could give me the easy win. Two teams in my league had embaressing weeks! They had a combined 98 points! I thought my 120 points was bad! heh. The best players this week for me would be the Patriots Defence. They outscored every player on my team. I had a lousy week with my QBs and everyone else. The one week I decide to sit Patten he has a respectable 15 point game! Doh! Same with Cadwell. Delhomme would have been good if he did not throw two interceptions! looser! I still seem to always have some <5 point players. If I could rid myself of the trash I would be doing well. Torry Holt had a bad week. Duce Staley still continues to be a dud. I thought with a defence minded team that should run alot -- I.E. The Steelers, that Duce would be good. Bah! He actually made some yards, but he never scores. He had two turnovers to keep himself in the under 5 point group. Way to go Duce! Al and his Drunk Bastards seem poised for another win. I really want to be the team to knock him off! Unfortionatly I cannot find the right combination of loosers to make a decent score. I really need to score in the 140-160 range to beat Al! His worst week was a 140!!!! My best week was a 142! See my problem here? Oh Well.. sorry for boring some of you with the FFL news. You are stuck with it for another 12 weeks though.

Same Ole

Not too much going on. Playing Poker. Brought myself back up to $850. It seems like I will never get to 2/4, of course the variance is more so that might not be bad. Variance IS a bitch. I have been trying to have a few successful sessions and build on it. I doubled up on one table tonight. It was nice. All my flops were good. It got to the point where people needed a GREAT hand to call me. Hand of the night was KK standing up for a $30 pot with 4-5 people in. Not bad. It got scary. I thought I was dead because a straight was on the board. Nobody had it though.

I lost half my buyin on the other table. Oh well. I was down to 5 bucks. I brought it back up to twenty. I will take it.

I am going to have a table game at Empire / Party every Thursday 9:00EST. Only going to do it if I have 10 people promise to showup. I will post the password. I am going to stick with .50/1 because it makes it fun. Not much to lose.

Eating with George

Not much to say about Poker except that I played with Chris and Maudie. I will get to that in a second. I first need to get my suckout aggression by ranting about food services.

I hate freaking people who cannot do their jobs. I go to a Friendly's Ice Cream shop. There are two people in front of me. The cashier takes their orders. He sounds stupid. He is stupid. He rings up the first guy. Two cups. One with nuts. Not too hard. Goes and makes the first one. Comes back with one Ice Cream. Helllloooooo, you couldn't carry both of the heavy ice creams widdle baby? He says "So you wanted nuts with this one?". NO! Idiot! He wanted nuts with the other one! Goes back and makes the second ice cream. "Just Nuts?". Driving me freaking NUTS! "Nope, Nuts and Whip Cream you moron!". The next person orders. Two double scoop ice creams. Watermellon and vanilla. Goes and makes the first one. Hey! Bozo got it right! Goes to make the second one. Brings back purple something or other. "No Dummy! He said Watermellon!" Jesus! My turn. I say "Chocolate and Vanilla Twirl". That one is for my son who has been waiting in the card for 15 minutes up to this point. "Ok, Thats 2.38". Whoooahhhh Jerkoff! How about asking me if I want anything else, because if I do not come back with ice cream for the wife I am dead. "Umm.. Can I have two Sundays also". I pay. He brings back my Son's Ice Cream. I give it to him. He disapears for like 10 minutes and then tells me that they are out of Fudge and he has to heat some. "Fine.". He finally comes back. Amazingly enough he brough both ice creams in one trip this time. No bag for the ice cream, but I am not pushing my luck. I came home and I said to my wife "I had a freaking retard for a server at Friendly's today". "Oh Yeah, Was he a young black guy?". "Yeah?". "I think he is really retarded". "Yeah, thats what I said". "NO! I MEAN REALLY!". "ohhhhhhhh, No Way he is just stupid!". "Retarded". "STUPID!". Either way he should not be working the ice cream window. I have nothing against mentally challenged individuals, or people who cannot speak English, or anyone else, but if you cannot deal with people then you should be sweeping the floors or cooking the food.

Cards have been sucking. Dropped under 800 for a little. Won a little back tonight. I love playing with Bloggers! I think I bring Maudie bad luck though. I sucked her out on the river with a straight. She had trips. I had a draw to a runner-runner flush and straight. heh. Made the straight on the river. lol. Played pretty tight though. I tried to warn Maudie by saying "Do I look like I bluff?". Paybacks a bitch. Got a nice little suckout myself on the river by Moshy the Fish Boy. Capped Pre-Flop, I had QQ. Like six people in this pot. Goes down to the river and K5o gives Moshy the Fish Boy the win on the river with a straight! I became a total jerk to Moshy after that which was probably not a good move. oh well. I had some nice weird wins. K High twice in a row for $30 bucks each win! It brought me up to $59 at my 1/2 table and I decided to call it a day there since I need some positive experiences lately.

Happy Annaversary to Chris also. He has been married somewhere over 2 years and under 50 I would say. The misses and he got a bit tipsy, she went to bed, he hit the tables. Nice night too. If they were married under two years then he would not be playing Poker! lol. I bet about 5 years myself. Wish him the best!

Just had a thought. Chris has a nice wifey that plays Poker. If I was to ever get married again I wonder if I would play against my potential wife at a table to see if she was worthy! hmmm.

Rise of the Bots

First off I have to say thanks a lot for all the Bloggers who showed up to the game last night. I had a blast! The only bad part to last night is my rating was downgraded from TAP to sLAP! I do not know if I was heading in that direction anyway, or if the number of hands I was able to play in a short game just totally skewed all of my PT stats. I actually think sLAP’s might make a little more money on Party or Empire than TAP’s. The reason I say this is that when everyone at your table is playing A2 like it is AKs, and CALLING to the river if an A flops you need to be more inclined to go in with you’re A-10o in EP, etc.. It requires you know when your beat but the money you are giving up by not playing is too much to ignore.

I have been thinking about my game a lot lately. It really is tricky to figure out where your game is. You are not supposed to use your bankroll because winning is not necessarily an outcome of good play. Other factors cloud this such as getting good cards, playing against sub-par players, getting sucked out, etc.. etc..

So the only factor you can use is your hand history. Chris was saying how he regularly, after a good session or a bad one, goes through his hand history and checks to see how well he is doing from a playing perspective. I agree with that however how do you figure out what the best move for the game you were playing was. It also is hard to figure out what your hand was from PT stats. You then need to take your cards at every turn and the amount in the pot, implied odds, etc.. and calculate what the best probable move was. Very time consuming. The table replay helps a little. I think that it would be nice if PT did this for you. I am thinking of programming a calculator that reads Empire Hands and for each hand it breaks it down for you, giving you a turn by turn assessment of your play. What % chance your hand had at each play, Pot odds suggested move, etc.. If I could do that it would be good. Is there anything out there that does this? Does PT have some hidden feature that helps me analyze my hands?

I am also going to work on the BOT. As an intellectual experiment it seems like a real fun idea. Once it is completed and tested I will have the first annual Bot Wars! I will try him out on a .50/1 table with only other Bloggers who know they are playing against a BOT. We will see who is better the Bloggers or the Bot! My money is on the Bot. Heh!

As far as design concepts go I am going to program the fellow to be totally scriptable. His personality, the hands he plays, how aggressive he is, will all be controlled by data tables. Initially I am going to code him to be like me sLAP or TAP. I think somewhat passive post-flop is necessary since it will be very hard for him to determine when he is beaten. If I can get a nice AI going that knows based on the opponent when he is beaten, then I could change him to be more aggressive post flop.

Basically if the BOT was successful it would prove that playing statistical numbers to the decimal point will cause you to win. I think I will program him with a set of taunts too. If he is doing well and wins a lot of pots then he will talk trash, maybe a few “Your momma” jokes in there. Perhaps he can whine about bad beats, ehh? I..E. “You were only a 4.123987 percent favorite pre-flop, why did you call my 4BB raise? You do not know how to play Poker!”. I will keep you posted on the progress of the Bot. If he is any good it would be interesting to be able to have him run all night long making me money.. or working 4-8 tables all night long. Wow! Think of the possibilities!