4th Place and Could have done better...

Well.. I think I was abandoned by all the Bloggers. I finished 4th place in the 5K guarenteed tourney. Pay day: $450. Minus Glyphs cut. I was 4th place with 50K left. I had a flush draw and decided to go all in. I did this mostly because I was tired and was not thinking. I really needed someone there to keep me focused. However all of you were too busy celebrating or something! That sucks. Once it gets around 1AM and I am down to the final table I need someone sweating me. My mind goes to pot. I could have probably folded into 2nd or 3rd. I dunno. However instead I tried to make my flush draw and win. Oh well. It worked a couple of times in this tourney and got me to 4th place. Overall I am happy.

Day 5: The Horror

Day five finds me with out supplies. My Ramen soup has been depleted. Milk Gone. I have been forced to forage at the sink for water. Perhaps I was too hasty sending the wife away. I am hungry and thirsty. What can I do? I must venture forth into the wilderness and restock my supplies. Now where did I leave my underwear? It might not be good for me to work at home.

I have successfully returned from my adventure. The Fruit Loops are replenished. I even tried to get a sticker for my car. However the “Check Engine” light was on and it is a reason for failure? Why do they not tell me these things?

Showered, full of Coke, and ready to hit the tables again! It has been a decent day. Picked up $200 in two different sessions. Lost an SNG. I went almost all in with 22244 and got beat by the rivered 44422. If I can borrow a saying: Oh the humanity! I have been checking out my stats for SNGs and I have an ROI of 170.14%. Not bad. It breaks down as 32 tourneys, 11 1st, 10 2nd, 6 3rd. Not too shabby. I should try these things some more. I especially enjoy the O8 ones.

I will see you all at the tables tonight! I am going to get some dinner and maybe do a little C# work.. maybe..

DAY 4: Got rid of the family

It is day four and my wife took the kids away without me! Nice break. So here is how I am making out with it. I also have some Elance work to do but I am not yet motivated.

I won my first O8 tourney today! Woo hoo! It seems a lot easier than the ring games. I came in 2nd place which I consider a win. I played tight. Took a couple of risks and ended up with the chip lead at the end. It was up to $600 blinds and I decided to try for it with a straight draw. I missed and he had an A for two pair. Oh well.

Lost a 20/2 NL Tourney. AK Slow played and the flop was A-10-10. I decided to go for it and ended up being out kicked. Had $290 left and went all in with A9. There were 5 other people in! Nobody had an Ace, but I could not pair up. Oh well. I tried.

I had an extremely nice welcome to a 5/10 table. Dealt KK and made Straight flush over straight flush K high! I then took down the next few pots to go up $122 in 3 minutes. I really like that. I should leave while I am winning! Heh. I am going to stop gap at 200, and try and win a bunch more. UPDATE: I was up 300 bucks at one point! I played a hand really badly. Pre-flop raise. 66. The flop held two diamonds and a draw to the straight. I call the raisers bet. I am actually ahead at this point. A diamond falls. I call down 3 more bets to the river. I sort of thought I was beat but the pot had all five people in! I ended up losing to the AK flush. I decided to call it a session. A 3x profit is not too shabby. The bankroll is back around 2K. It was slightly over for a while.

The Cards Speak had a nice article that addresses the 5-10 Short table phenomenon and why it CAN be sweet. If you play tight against everyone else playing loose AND they never believe there K9 is beat you can make a lot of money quickly. It seems to be working for me for now at least. Here is to hoping the run continues. In the past week I have gotten my 5/10 short stats into positive BB/100 as well as getting my 25/NL stats there for a short period of time. While we are at BB/100 here are my stats for every level. If I had not flipped out and been a naughty boy when I started losing I could be well over 4-5K by now.

10-20 6-MAX -2.64
10-20 -15.92 (Sounds worse than it is)
3-6 2.09
2-4 .68
1-2 6-MAX 4.39
1-2 2.22
NL ($1) 56.45 (Not as good as it sounds)
.50/1 1.87
NL ($.50) -1.23
5-10 -.95
5-10 6-MAX .43

So basically it appears if you can eek out 1 to 2 BB HR you can make some money. I should probably stick to 1-2 6 MAX! heh. My 2-4 stats were much better before my downturn too. I have no desire to get them back up again. They can stay there. I am going to play 3/6 and 5/10 6-MAX. I have been making out well with the SNGs too. I want to try a few more O8 and NL ones.

Another Day Another Dollar

Had an interesting day today. Played a bunch. Trippled up at 25/NL and got my BB/100 briefly on the positive side! However a couple of bad calls on another table later that night got it just back under.

Lost a buyin at 5/10 short. Won back another 40+ playing 5/10 short a while later. Played two NL $20/2 SNGs and placed first in both.

The games were polar opposites. The first one was so tight. I just waited for my chance, and let the best player at the table take everyone out. We were then HU. I went into killer mode and took him out on a lucky runner-runner straight. He had 4-5x advantage over me. I had played tight-passive all game. I attack him hard until he figured out I was no longer tight-passive. By that time I was almost even stack with him and could pick him apart.

The second SNG was a 5/1 look alike. 6 people out by the 2nd round! I have never seen this in 20/2. Usually I play limit but still. The last four players were hard ass fighters and we knocked each other around for the next four rounds. I then took out two blinds and was heads up with “I gotta feeds my mommas children and pay her doctahs bills”. I asked why I cared. I then amended that and said I did care but I was not going to let him win. He should be happy I got him into 2nd place. We fought back and forth for a while and eventually I took him out. It was a good game.

So I ended up in the positive arena for the day. About a hundred bucks. Perhaps a little more. The winning continues and that is all I can ask for. It feels good. I am not mature in my game enough to not equate losing to something in my play. In some ways this is good as I try and change. However I need to not just assume I stink.

I also played a .50/1 Limit table. Ha! BigChief was there and it took me ten minutes and eight bucks to figure out I could not raise all in and drive people out. Sigh. I ended up winning fifteen bucks there. Almost forgot! A guy was at the table with 10K! Lol! I keep saying "Go All In", Until I figured out it was limit. I got pictures if you want.

I played with many bloggers today. It is always fun. G-Rob, BigChief, Duggle, some others. I took money from some and donated to others. Duggle ended up winning a ton at my second table. I ended up busting out after being up almost three buyins. Oh well. Such is NL. Especially when you refuse to lay down TPTK!

Day 2: How Sir Found His Groove

Well so far so good playing $100 buyin’s at the 5/10 6-Max crack factory. I am up over $400 today alone. The players at these tables just refuse to fold. It works out for me most of the time. It is nice to put together a small winning streak at least.

I think I put Iggy into hysterics last night when I told him he had a tell. I hope he has caught his breath by now. Hey, just relaying my personal experience man! See why I suck a poker. I make illogical leaps of logic basic on small things that come together on occasion. Oh well.. it works for me in pictionary. Either that or maybe he does have a tell.. bahahahaha! Of course if he know’s that I know..

I have taken a page out of double A’s book and decided to focus on one table. I know there is not a lot of money in it long term, but I want to play the players and figure out the game a little more. Not sure DA’s playing one table but he wrote something that stuck with me about the point of this game. Do you want to make money or improve your game? I think right now improving my game would be good. So that is what I am doing.

I also decided that I would focus on some tables where I could be aggressive and have it work out. So instead of doing what you’re supposed to do and targeting the high average pot tables, I figure I will hang out with my peeps – the passive guys, and try and bully them around first. So far so good.

I think I have lost my desire to do this fulltime. Besides needing to grow emotionally to handle the swings, which I hope will happen, I keep getting disturbed by the kids. Which is nice in a way but not +EV. Also around 11ish it actually got kind of hard to focus. I never thought I would willing fold a poker game but alas I have fallen far.

DAY 1: Professional Poker

It started out alright. The snow was buzzing. The wind howling. The foot of snow was covering the world. I was ready to play some Poker. The evil one then came unto my office. She said "Poker is not work", "Tis I doth protest!", "Nah Foul Fiend! Begone and play with your son! Sledding abounds and yea will goeth!". So I packed it up. Down a dollar. Feeling pretty good.

I sled for a while with the kid, and then come back to hit the tables. Unfortionatly whatever good play I had went out the door. I was down almost two buyins by five. So I took my last sixty bucks and limped off to a 5/10-Short table. I owned it! I was up 5x my buyin by the time six rolled around. I was bluffing and taking down pots because I spent alot of time showing down good hands and only good hands. Every time someone showed down with me I beat them too! Bahahaha! I rock. So I won back my two buyins and am now a little ahead for the day. I think I might take a small buyin to the 5/10's every once in a while to see what I can do. When you get on a good table in those short games you can make ALOT of money QUICK. As long as I do not invest more than a 2/4 buyin I do not see a problem with it. We shall see. I swear those tables are like crack! Really appeal to the gabooler in us all!

I am going to hit Elance and see if I can get a real job for a few days. I have been doing well with the side projects. Up like 1K in the past few weeks. Not too bad for side work. I think I might hit the O8 tables tonight too. Been away for a bit, and want to try my luck again. So far I have been almost dead even when playing those tables. Where is the money? We shall see.

The wife has said she is going to drag the family down to Ocean City, New Jersey for the week starting Wednesday, so my Poker Career is going to be cut short. She did say I could fly down over the weekend if I want. Hmm. Foxwoods Pauly!!!! Anyone wanna hook up in AC? Let me know.

A Christmas Story

'Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house
Sir was moving, not as quiet as a mouse;
The stockings were hung by the chimney with care,
As I looked at the Game Table with Fear and Despair!;

Yes. Yes. Another thing I cannot do well. Handyman stuff. I know. You think you all would be used to me being a fucktard. So around 12AM when the kiddies finally go to bed I start tackling the 12-1 Super Duper all Inclusive Game set. It has Foosball! It has Billiards! It has Air Hocker! It rocks! Table Tennis too! Here I am with my tool set trying to figure out which end of the hammer to use. Thanks to Pauly for the word Fucktard BTW. It is so economical and elegant that I have fallen in love with it. Instead of saying “What are you a fucking retard!” you can get it all in with one word. Sweet!

When out of the basement there arose such a clatter..

"Oh , Fuck it! now, CRAP! now, Shit and Ass Wipe!
On, Dammit! on Jesus! on, Fucktard and Screw it!

Yeah, about 3AM this was the only roar that was going on. I finally got the stupid thing together. I was looking at it and it was perfect. Now the next day when we went to play with it was another story. I still have not had time to take that damn foosball box apart again! Who knew there was not supposed to be 12 yellow guys on one side! I swear it looked good at three. At least I got to blame Santa for it!

Anyway.. pleased with my accomplishments and getting ready to tackle the Football set I deicide to hop on Empire and give myself a little gift. So can you guess who the only other degenerates playing at 3AM on Christmas were? Give a big hand to: Studio Glyphic and Chief Tokem! Woot! I enjoyed seeing the boys and we soon were all on the same table. I went on a nice card rush of sorts. I played tight. Every hand I went in on I won however. The flops just kept hitting me in the face. I played for ½ hour and made $50+ profit and decided to get back to the Basketball hoop. I had one table where I had “too much” respect, however, it worked well for me. I had QQ and the flop is Axx. I bet it out. Everyone folds. I “think” I might have made A2 fold. Not sure. The Big Chief took a few bucks out of my pocket when he bluffed me out of second pair, and 3rd pair won the pot! I was going to kick his ass when he turned over 94o for the 9 high, and a pair of sevens won the pot! I gave him a tip: When you bluff like that and fail, and it looks like someone is going to see it to the end, fold the river. It totally messes with your table image. Unless you wanted everyone to think you were bluffing and then tighten up and smack them around. Hope it worked!

He spoke not a word, but went straight to his work,

Ok. So I never got the Football set finished. The thing was a pain in the ass! It has all of the lock nuts and my arm was already numb from the Foosball table. I got through most of it and will finish it later. I am at work BTW. We had our whole database rack go down on Friday, so I had to come in and finish rebooting a couple of systems. I might end up having to be in tomorrow too. We shall see. At least I am going to bill a whole day for pulling me out of bed! Next week I start my professional poker career. No I have not quit my job. I have next week off un-paid because my employer shuts down for the last week of the year. So I am either going to be cranking on Elance work or playing poker for the whole week. I have two jobs that might come in from Elance but besides that I am living off my poker money. Actually I will probably only take 1/4th out like I said. I will have to eat the other four days. The downside of consulting. Of course if I go on a massive card run and make 6K next week then I will be in good shape!

Since I am rambling so much one thing that Pauly said recently: “I stopped playing the 2/4 at Foxwood’s because the variance was too high”. It really hit me. Yeah. That makes sense. It is why I am having trouble getting on a run again. When EVERYONE calls EVERYTHING to the river you HAVE to be the best hand to win. If 3-4 people are in the chances of your hand staying the best diminish unless you have the stone cold NUTS. Your straights and flushes and boats will tend to stand up but your TPTK will tend to get beaten. What hand do you have the most? TPTK! It is your bread and butter winner. So I guess I will have to get used to variance. I skipped it on my first ascent. It is probably good I am becoming resigned to it this time. It is almost like you have to give up to win. Once Poker sucks the soul out of you and your ok with losing (as long as you play correctly) then you can become the winner you want to be. Wow that was profound or something. Anyway.. have fun! I will see you tonight! You know I want that Christmas money!

Here Comes Santa Claus

Shhh.. It's Christmas Eve. Santa is bringing the presents down the chimney as we speak. Man that fat bastard has it easy. He takes all the credit and I take all the Credit -- Card Bills that is! What moron invented this Santa guy? Jesus! Oh yeah, it was him wasn't it?

In our house we use my wife's tradition. All the presents that are wrapped come from us, and the unwrapped one's are from Santa. The kids make out like bandits every year. We really need to start subtracting toys from the house so we can have room for things like the fridge.

I gotta go and put together the 12-in-1 Play table. Foosball. Hockey. Bowling. Nice! He is going to love it! Soon this Christmas stuff will be over and it will be time for the Adults holiday! New Years! Booze! Babes! And Resolutions! I am considering what my resolutions should be for the next year but some things I really want to do:

1. Play cards in AC or Foxwoods with Pauly
2. Drink a Shot of SoCo and eat Sushi with Al
3. Meet more Bloggers! Ok, Meet one Blogger at least!
4. Reverse the Curse of Cards I have been in.
5. Learn to play O8 better!

BTW Al - One shot will be more than enough to knock me on my ass. For such a fat bastard I am a lightweight! Merry Christmas to you all!

Merry F'ing Christmas and a Happy F'ing New Year

Well.. the dismal nights keep coming. No luck. I had a real fun time with overplaying AA and KK. Lost a BUNCH in a very short time. I guess aggression and stupidity are two different things. Not sure what I was thinking. It’s always great when four people come in when you have AA and 35 is the winnah! Oh well. I was pissed. I defiantly overplayed my hand though.

I am wondering if my super-passive ways were better. I would raise when I was passive, but against any kind of resistance I would call if I thought I had a good hand, or just fold. Now if I think I have a good hand I re-raise. A lot of the time it seems like this does not work out. Sometimes it does. I dunno. Aggression is not natural to me. I am the more laid back type.

I had a few good moments. I raise pre-flop with AKo, have a few guys in, the flop is a lousy 998. One guy raises. Now I want to know if he has a 9, doubt it, or an 8.. more probably. So I re-raise him. He pauses. Calls. The turn is an Ace. He checks and I know I have him. He pays me off to the river anyways. I made a nice K there too. Then he complains about me pulling cards out of my ass. Yeah, 77 works out all the time against AK with 1 other caller. It’s a coin toss dude and you lost! I defiantly would have folded the turn as it was getting too expensive.

I played decent in O8 last night. Al and Studio were there to donate. I tried to tell Studio how to play, but every time his nice “high” hand would have hit, he got more and more tempted to play the marginal hands. At least my read on it. He did go bust. Al was just drunk.

I promised Al I would post my super simple basic O8 pre-flop rules from the book so here they are. Believe me they are not exciting.

A2 Always play
A3 when the A is S00ted Play
A3 with 2 10+ cards Play
A with any 2 other Prime Cards Play
Any 4 cards totaling 40+ points Play
Any 4 prime cards play

Now some of these combinations are better than others, and you always want some kind of play between the other cards if you can get it. If not your going to fold a lot. Actually, your going to fold the flop a lot anyways.

The part I need to get better at is when to raise. I ended up down like .30 after a few hours. I am thinking of giving O8 a real shot to make some money and try some 3-4 tabling. Not sure how crazy that would drive me, but since I am sitting around waiting for cards most of the time anyway, it might work out.. and if I can get to like 2 BB/100 on 4 tables consistently then that would not be so bad. It seems like O8 has less action that Omaha Hi. People ram and jam every level in Omaha Hi, but O8 seems like a lot more calling and checking the low down to the river.

I did do one tool move last night I think. I raised my low on the river. I *though* I *might* have the scoop possibly, but it turns out I didn’t have the high and I quartered the low. Oh well. I am sure I did some more tool moves I am not able to see yet. Oh yeah, Merry freaking Christmas to you all.

I figured it out

I finally figured out what Poker Blogging is about. You share the big-wide-world view and do not give anyone a clue as to how to REALLY win at Poker! heh. So here is a challenge to you all: How do I get a smiley face? All the good questions are there: How do you become aggresive? When do you back off? All the other stuff. I am a little tired of being passive and it is time to kick some ass! On a good note: One winning session I had showed a 7.5 aggression rating! The highest I have ever had! Woot!

No Poker

I did not play last night! No I am not on Hiatis again. I fell asleep on the couch. Damn -EV Bloggers! Staying up until 4AM two nights in a row playing with you tools just destroyed me. Sorry I missed out on Foxwoods Pauly! Next time I am there. I am trying to work on my attitude towards HE now. Getting my zen back and taking things slowly. It is what got me up to 3K, and it will decide if I get back there or bust out.

Anyway tonight I am going to try some more O8. Felicia if you are around 9PM EST on Empire/Party look for me. Send me your handle so I can recognize you. Or Just say "Hi Sir, You are sooooooo cute!" and I will know it is you. heh. If anyone else wants to come by feel free. I am not sure how good/bad I am at O8, but it is fun trying to figure it out. Having a book on the subject helps alot. I need to add that book to my listing on the side! It is a really good beginner book! I am playing .50/1 or 2/4 for now. I really do not see any increase in good play between the two levels. However I probably am not a good one to judge. yet.

I am going to start making money playing Poker. I am going to take out 1/4th of my earnings each month. Instead of building my bankroll to epic heights, I am going to take some money out and deposit it into my savings account. My account will thank me for it. It will also give me a sense that I am getting somewhere. I am starting my counting at 1K this month, so I am up like 80 bucks. Which means I have a twenty buck payday! Wahoo! lol. I actually have a few more days to crank that up. If it happens then sweet. If not then so be it. Ommmm. Zen.

Extra Extra! New Blog!

I decided to open a new Blog. It is called Online Programming Thoughts and is all about different languages and things I find initeresting. Code snippets, etc.. So if your interested take a look and let me know how you like it. I started out with a MicroSerf Haters Friendly post. heh.

That's helpful

Played a quick session this morning. It was fun. Made a few bucks. I am so focused on the short term. Oh well. I officially am classifying myself as a fish. Just like when I get low on my NL table it's all or nothing. Either I am TAA or I am a fish. Period. The stats on people I respect are TAA. Especially the Blog Father. It seems to me every time I am aggressive pre-flop I get wacked. However it is probably because I do not know or look for the signs that I am beaten. How can I know that my two pair is already beaten by a higher two pair or trips? Am I supposed to just call this hand or raise it and extract my pound of flesh? If the board is 88K and I have AK, and someone is re-raising my raise, does that immediatly say he has a boat or at the very least trips? Who knew?

The other hard thing with aggression is when it backfires on you. Flop is 2A7 giving you two pair since you played the hammer. You bet, he raises with his AK, you re-raise, he caps. The turn is a nice 9. Capped again. The river is a 9 pairing the board and killing any chance your kids have for an X-Box this year (Just kidding kids, your mother did that). Hard to handle? Sometimes. Especially when it happens a few times in a row.

On another topic I took an online survey on depression for a job I am doing. I scored really high. Like severly depressed. That was depressing.

Ohhhh Sucky Sucky

Got so sucked out on tonight my eyeballs are in the back of my head! It sucked. I am down about $150 which is not too bad for 2/4. I played a little 4-table 2/4 also. I did well. It goes so fast that you really can not play funny. You just bet or raise depending on what you have and where you think you might be. Not sure I like it but we will see. Lost a few buyins at the Blogger tables too. One while I was fuming from some bad beats, and the other when I was trying to steal this jerks blinds with KQ S00ted. I raise all in. It just happens that the two people ahead of me have AA and 99 respectively and I do not improve. Oh well. It was funny anyways. The funniest epitome of my Poker lately was when I has HU with a guy. The table broke around us and I decide to go ahead and play. I have A2s and call his raise. In HU I am not sure this was a bad call. Who knows? I really have no desire to play HU. The flop was 2Kx. He checks. I bet. He calls. The turn was a Q, and the river was a 2! I have trips HU with someone! I rock! Until he turns over KK for the K’s over 2’s! Great!

Played some more O8 tonight. Won like two bucks. I think I am missing something, because for all the time I play I really do not win much. I need to figure out what I am doing wrong. I am waiting for premium hands. I might be going to far with some but I do not think so. I did miss a couple of flush draws which would have given me high and maybe low. It will take some time before I am comfortable with this game. If Felicia ever gets around to it she should watch some of us Bloggers play, or join us at a table! The best thing about O8 is it seems like I lose money slower, the worse part is it is really slow sometimes, and I really am not sure about some hands and play.

Felicia, if you need to make your site private I can try and help. I need to figure out what will work. I think possibly a little java or something. Not sure. I think we can do something though. Hell, maybe I can sell it afterwards to other people who want there Blogs more private.

Hopefully someday soon Poker will feel “right” again. I am not sure why I am running so badly, but hopefully this funk will end.

*** UPDATE:I have an idea Felicia. It came to me while I was in the shower. If you want just say so and I will try it out. I will create a small java program that encrypts your entire post. I will also create a Javascript tag that goes into your Blogger page. When the site first loads, a box will come up and ask for a password, and then decrypt the page based on the password. So if you do not have the password you will see junk, otherwise you will see the add.

Welcome Back Jack!

SloeJack is back! The funny thing is I probably have the same Bankroll I had when he left. Ha! He has a REALLY good post on his site. You should go read it. The part I liked the most was the motivation for playing Poker. I think that my motivation breaks down as follows:

A. (33%) Make money. I want to be good enough to crush 20/60 on a consistent basis. Even 5/10 would be good!

B. (33%) Be the Best I can be. I really enjoy the challenge of making the right play, the discipline it takes, etc.. I have a ways to grow here and hope to do so. The down’s really crush me now, and the up’s are too intoxicating. I need Felicia’s attitude of “So you cracked my AA with your K3o, I will take that any day”. Over the long run this is the only way to be. A lot easier said than done.

C. (20%) Enjoyment of Bloggers. I love playing the NL Blogger tables. So much shit flying. So much fun. The Comradery and Hammer Flying is Awesome! You guys rock!

D. (14%) Relaxation. It really helps me forget all my problems for a few hours. I totally immerse myself in the game and that is a great release.

So go run Sloe’s hit count up. He writes much more meaningful stuff than I do. Except when he goes off on that Star Wars: Jedi War Game testing rants. I personally like them but I want POKER!

Up a buck.. and some O8 profit too..

Well.. Had fun again last night. The Blogger table decided to switch to O8 after I doubled up on someone with a read. Please feel free to berate me on this one too, but I think I made the right move. I am dealt QQ. Nice hand. Love them Hilton's. I come out shooting with a $3 raise. Sounds like my hand with Felicia! I get raised to $5 by a guy who I had very little read on. The flop is a scary ass 8K3. The K is normally a mucking hand. I decide to bet into it to see if he has the K. I bet three bucks and he pauses and then calls. Now one of two things has just happened here. Either I am way behind and he is slow playing something like AK or I am WAY ahead. Next card is a 3. I check and he decides to bet three bucks into me. I have decided he probably does not have the K. As you have noticed my NL skills are sometimes lacking, but once I latch onto an idea it is hard to change my mind. The river is another three. I check. He bet's nine dollars! Now I have a decision to make. I ask him politely:

SirFWALGMan: hmm
SirFWALGMan: got AA?

No response. I let the timer run down to about three seconds left and make the decision to call him. This read is as founded in fact as Felicia's read, however from his betting pattern (no strength until I showed a little weakness) I did not put him on AA or AK. He could have been slow playing me. We both turn over and it is The Hilton Sisters One - 99 Zero! Nice $39.20 profit. Bad play? I am not sure. It was very exciting though.

The Bloggers (I.E. Mostly Pauly) shortly after decide to break the table and play some .50/1 O8. I happily agree. I played alright. I noticed several hands where I should have mucked and did not. I also had several good hands beaten on the river or ruined on the flop. I was playing with -EV, Studio Glyphic, Pauly, and the Canadian from Bullets in the Hole (See Blogroll for his site. He needs to update more often! His Sister too!). I have not had much success playing O8 yet but it has been fun and an learning experience. I made about .94 cents last night which was good enough for me. I ended the night up +1 dollar. I tried to find Felicia to watch us play but she was not around. Hopefully I can have some success at the O8 table. I am enjoying the new game, but it definatly has been anything but +EV. The suckouts abound too! It is fun to watch people drawing to the 3rd best low on the river and have to fold however. Pauly and -EV did really well! Jack bailed on us after winning a few bucks! Where did you go Pauly! There better have been a chick, hot fudge, and whip cream involved, probably two chicks.

I would have done better however in an earlier 25/NL with Bloggers I mistakenly thought I had a straight K-10-10-J-Q. I saw the flop. Got to call the turn cheap. I was thinking an Ace or 10 gave me a straight. However I was wrong. The guy called my all in bet and one buyin down REAL fast. I blame my headache as I think I played better when I came back from a nap.

One other thing: Sean, Please keep picking agaist the Pats! They do better when you do! There goes all hope of Home Field Advantage! Damn it! What were they thinking. Oh well, we will have to see how the season works out. I for one am dissapointed that they lost twice. How dare they! I REALLY want an Eagles / Pats Superbowl for Christmas but it is looking a little bleak on both fronts. How the heck did you hurt yourself TO! Damn it man!

Some actual thoughts..

I wanted to review Felicia’s hand last night again. It really goes to the heart of one of my problems with HE. I always want to be right. Yeah, big surprise, right? I hate getting bluffed out. It is always a great thrill to see someone bluffing me and have my 2nd pair stand up or something like that. Case in point: The pot was smallish. Felicia did what your supposed to do with top pair. She made a pot limit bet. Unfortunately I totally misread it as her missing her hand. Not one to be bluffed by someone I go all in with my TP HORRIBLE kicker. I mean that play was the worst! K3! Jesus! Somehow the evil poker gods decide to allow my stupid play to stand and I spike a 3 on the river to beat Felicia’s AA.

So here is a question to all of you: When do you stand up to bluffing? I mean everyone is out there trying to steal your blinds and scare you off pots. How the hell do you ever get a good read? Do you just wait until you have close to the NUTS and then make them pay? I think that might be too weak. Do you always hold the All-In stick over there head? I have no answer for this. I am trying to be aggressive in my game yet not stupid. Oh well. I probably will not have to worry about it for too much longer if I keep losing. No way am I buying in for $200 again and building my stack in the .50/1 game. I just would not be able to play that level correctly anymore. The O8 book had a good quote “When people raise you they usually have something”. I find this to be true. The few time’s I am correct that they do not have a hand are far fewer than the times I am wrong and it costs me money.

One reason my Bankroll is in this stupid predicament is because I wanted to get back to 3K too quickly. The lure of the 5/6 short games is strong! Hopefully I have purged this out of my system. Someday I might purge it for good. Until then I need to keep it in check. Losing drives me crazy though. Especially when it is over extended periods of time.

On the good side I have plenty to work on in my Poker life. Gives me some goals to shoot for. If I make it then perhaps I will have become a decent Poker player. If not maybe it was not meant for me. We shall see.

Sorry Felicia..

Well not much to report today. Poker is still downhill for me. Not looking like it is going to turn around anytime soon. Had a couple of nice hands in the Blogger NL. AA twice in a row brought me up to $60, and losing to a JJQQQ boat when I had trip Q's brought me back down to $30. Ended up busting out once, and then doubling up off of a bad read. I was playing Felicia. She made the correct move of betting the pot with her AA. All in. I thought she was bluffing. Good read, eh? So my K3 was up against AA and I get extremely lucky and spike a 3 on the river. Sorry again Felicia. Seems like I am applogizing to a different Female blogger every night. April?

I tried out O8 today and lost a buyin. I enjoyed it. The basic strategy in the book I bought was have an Ace or don't bother playing. It was a little more involved than that, but that was the gist. I highly reccomend the book as it touches on other subjects we all know but always need reminding. Like discipline and the long run.

I did actually recover it playing 2/4 Hold Em, however that did not last long. I ended the day down about $100. I do not know if I will ever feel like I am winning again. *sigh*. Oh well. I never wanted to make money playing Poker anyways. *sigh*. I can see how this "hobby" could be a frustrating living.

Bad Day!

Ug! I screwed up today. I am down like 1K! I am pissed. I think I have been on tilt since I played 5/10, so I am going to go back to 2/4 for a while. I might stay there until I get a sL-A-A rating or T-A-A. I really want to work on that aggression thing. It is hard when everyone sucks you out on the river every single time.

Some examples: I was in the Porsche contest doing alright. I have AK and I bet it to the river. All small cards. I get called to the river. At the river 9-10 spikes her 10 and beats me. How the hell do you play that?

I did well in NL tonight. Kicked some ass. Last hand of the night. KJ and I flop TPTK with the J. I got all in. I get called and Scooby catches his god damn straight on the river! Jesus! No wonder HE drives me crazy.

Anyway this is just a sample of the 100's of rivered hands that have beaten me today. It at least seems like 100's. It is probably good for me anyways.

I want to also appologize to Maudie if I was being a Jerk. Which I probably was. I called her bet with my QQ and busted her out. It was a hard call. It worked out. She then seemed to be upset and was going to leave. I said something like "Sorry to crush your spirit". I dont know what got into me. Anyway's I am sorry. I did mean it however when I said you game seemed like it had improved. You seemed much more aggresive than the other times I had played you. You played your good hands hard. I really think your a much better player even if it did not work out tonight. Anyway.. hope you forgive me.

My O8 book has also come so I am going to be playing some 2/4 O8 once I have read it. Hopefully this will help me get my stack up again. We shall see.

Tight or Loose

I have heard alot of people talking about pre-flop play. I am guilty of it myself. When I get my AK sucked out on with 36o it really sucks. However I think it is ok to play 36o against a raise. Ok, maybe not that example. I really, really think pre-flop play is WAY overrated. It is a way to keep the people who are not so good post-flop out of trouble. I think I fall into this category. So playing tight is probably good for me. The one thing I think my game needs is a sensor to tell when I am in trouble. Alot of people have this. I am getting it a little but need alot more experience.

I think my game is way too weak sometimes. Here is a good example. I limp in SB with 34 diamonds. The flop is AKx with two diamonds. Three people in. One fold. Next guy who I consider a good player (LA-A) raises me. Now I know I had been showing weakness against raises, so I decide to re-raise him and try and take the pot right there. He folded and I did not have to make my flush. I think if I played this way more often I would do well. Playing tight made the L-AA guy put me on AK or something along those lines. He played his hand hard, and when I shot back he folded. I think that is a good side effect of tightness and aggression combined.

Wish me luck tonight! I expect some railbirds! I beleive the contest is 8PM Eastern. I have a good feeling about this. With over 500 people in I think I have a good shot at 190th place! However with some good luck and some aggression I could take it all! At least it is a freeroll!

Welcome Back

I love Poker! I am back! I even got my first suckout when 3-6o beat my AQ when the flop was 367. I overplayed it a little but it was fun. I started on one table and played tight. Tried to be a little aggresive too. Stats:

VP$IP: 13%
Aggression: 1.15
Winnings: $72

and

Hands Played before wife caught me: 87

Not a bad welcome back.

Final Day of Exile

Tomorrow my self-imposed exile ends. Woo Hoo! The Vegas trip sound’s like it was AEWSOME! I suggest that everyone setup a portion of their winnings to go into a side bankroll for the next trip! I am going to start doing that. Perhaps the next one can be in Foxwoods! It would be a three-hour tour for me.

Pros: Nothing else to do in freaking Connecticut, so plenty of time to meet and greet with the Bloggers.

Cons: Nothing else to do in freaking Connecticut.

The biggest questions to come out of the Bloggers write-ups:

1. How much was lost on Roulette?
2. Do we start calling Bad Blood, Back-Door Blood? (What did you start Felicia!)
3. How big are Bad Bloods Pythons and what the hell did his mother feed him growing up?
4. How much can Bad Blood bench?
5. How many non-blackout hours did Al and Iggy spend combined in Vegas?
6. How much hearing did Maudie lose in the Limo?
7. How much did Grubby lose on the slots?
8. How many days in jail did the husband who punched the wiseass get? And Why the hell didn’t you raise!
9. How many Hammers were dropped, and how many non-Bloggers started folding AA when a flop like 2-7 appeared.
10. And of course the biggest question of all: How tall is the Blogfather?

My O8 Book has been shipped according to Amazon. I should get it by Tuesday. I was kind of hoping to have it the Saturday, but what are ya gonna do? I watched a little O8 this week. It is sad that there are only three tables or so.. but I think it is going to be a lot of fun. I still am not sure what level I want to play at. I will probably start off at 2/4 or 3/6, single table of course.

The Porsche was looking really good until Empire screwed it up for me. The jerks did a popup that said, “Only fifty people are signed up for the tourney.” And guess what, it worked; now there are almost five hundred! Jesus! I am not sure how many are going to show up so I might get lucky and be able to get a whole table of people who are not there. I did that once before and was able to parlay that into a 10K head start that propelled me into 3rd. I believe only first pays off here but we shall see. Come by and sweat me if you want. It is Saturday night, 9:00 I believe. Empire Poker. The tourney is listed as Porsche and Reserved. Hopefully you can see it. If anyone has any suggestions for such a huge limit HE tourney please send them. I would think you would have to play more hands early to get a chip lead? Do you play super tight early and wait until the blinds become high to make your moves? I mostly have experience with 10-person tourneys. I usually wait until the blinds get higher and then get super aggro with good hands or good draws and try and get a monster chip lead. Obviously I will have more time because these tourneys are timed at 10-15 mins before the blinds increase. So maybe play conservative early? Not sure. Felicia where are you!

Apparently my Blogroll is down. I do not have a great amount of bandwidth for it. I am a cheap bastard. Oh well. I will probably move it somewhere else.

One good thing about not playing poker is I have been able to get more side projects. I probably made $700 during my hiatus and I am in line for a $2500 project that would be nice! The project involves C# which is a sweeeet language. It is sort of a rip-off of Java but I like it a lot. As an offshoot my Java skills have been getting better also. I just got a new IDE called Eclipse and I really like it. I was using NetBeans, but since I do not play with Java enough I have trouble setting up the classpaths and stuff like that with NetBeans. It is not very easy. Eclipse you just point at your project and it does the rest. So call me a lazy MicroSerf but I like it!

Man this is an Uber post with a lot of disjointed material! I never even drank a Guiness either. Oh well.. I will be back to my “Damn, I hate HE, and I lost a boat load of money” by tomorrow night. If you have been really good maybe I will even throw in a “Damn! I got sucked out in O8!”

Day 5: Yikes! Lucky you left!

Lucky you bloggers left Vegas:

Vegas News

You heard it here first. Breaking news!

Day 4: Staying Strong

Here is something I posted on another site. I thought it caught the frustration I have been feeling lately very well:

I am just saying that the ebb and flow of the game is frustrating. I had my bankroll up at 3K, and lost some, and got back up to a tad under 3K, and lost some.. it just seems so not worth it some days. You spend a week building the bankroll and bring it back down in a day or two of bad sessions. I enjoy the game, but I also (wrongly) judge my success by my bankroll and it seems like I am only moderatly successful sometimes. I guess as a relative newbie (6 months) I am at a point where I am questioning the game, and how good I REALLY am at it. How much is suckouts and how much is bad play? How do you really gain confidance in your game if HE is so volatile? Where do you really look to plug holes? It is such a complex and facinating game, however that makes it really hard to know what the right move might be.

I.E. I am facing a Maniac and a Calling Station Player. Different hands. I have TPTK on the flop, no flush draw, no straight draw. The Maniac and CS in our respective hands both raise my flop bet. Well, doing the exact same move against both players is wrong. The Calling station will not raise unless he has a good hand. As a matter of fact he probably will not raise unless he has a DAMN good hand. He would rather call his two pair to the river and flip. You might consider folding here. The maniac on the other hands is raising 3rd pair and trying to scare you off your hand. You might re-raise him here. Same cards, different strategy.

So anyway.. just venting on my recent frustration. Thanks for all the comments. I appreciate them.

Day 4: Soon and Very Soon

Thanks a lot to Drizz for the O8 book! I ordered it today and it should be here by the time I am ready to.. err.. able to hit the tables again. I am interested in trying out O8. The thing that has hurt me in the past is not really knowing what to do post flop. I think this will help. I look forward to playing some Omaha again. I tried Omaha High and like it then got pulled off track with HE. O8 will be my 4th Poker game online: HE, Omaha High, O8, 7-Card Stud High. I have mastered none of them but it is fun trying new things. I am probably going to play my level (3/6) or one level below when I start. I do not know if this is too high? I sort of do not think the talent gets any better from .50/1 to 2/4. Anyone else have a suggestion? I am thinking I might try and win my first buy in playing some HE and then go from there. That way it is really just play money.

Nah Nah Nah Nah! Studio loses the bet. Anyone else? I think I am going to make it. I want to play Poker but do not feel the need to do so. I have been picking up some side contracts while on hiatus and making a little bit of money.

My comeback to Poker will be fantastic! The first night is going to be the Porsche contest on Saturday! Woo Hoo! Wish me luck. I could soon be driving a nice, hot, babe magnet, car! April has agreed to go parking with me! Or did she slap my face? I forget. oh well. Guess what: Only 50 people in the contest so far! Nice! Tell Empire to shut up about the contest. Idiots! I want less people!!!!!

Sorry for waking you up Al! Keep up the good work!

Day Three: One Hell of a Party

Day three. It should be easy to stay away today. I have the added incentive of making Studio lose $5. Sweet! I think my Blog is becoming Studio obsessive. Oh well. I need something to obsess over.

Thank for all the helpfull comments about O8 and Stud. I think I may give O8 another shot. However.. if your going to say things like "Get that Book" or "Read that Article".. at least give me a clue as to what book or where the article is. I am a lazy, fat, middle aged man, just ask Sebas! I can not be expected to search for this information. What are you people thinking!

I would hate to know what people said in Felicia's Blog to have her turn off comments, but it is her Blog, and while I will miss commenting, I respect her decision. I will say that there are people reading your Blog (besides "The One") that take the game seriously, and are willing to commit time and energy to learning how to beat it. I have always appreciated the thoughtful answears to my questions. If I knew you were giving free lessons I would have signed up too! heh. Keep up the Blogging for yourself. That is all that matters really. It is cathargic and it does help you think things through.

Vegas must have been one hell of a party. Since the Bloggers have been back I have seen 7 Blogs with no Update, A Great Writer unable to spell or make a paragraph, and sparse siteings of Iggy! You guys should not be allowed to get together! I will consider coming next time except I would probably die of alcohol poisoning! Wake up Al, it's Tuesday!

Day Two: Trains, Planes or Automobiles

Like a man dieing in the desert of drought I seek to quench my thirst in the sweeeeet pool that is Online Poker. Still I hold on. Still I persevere. Ok, So it is not that bad. What did I do tonight instead of Poker? I had an interview with a recruiting company. My current company renews my contract on a quarterly basis pretty much the day before it is up. It is kind of annoying. So I thought I would open up some more contacts in case they decided not to renew.

I had a really hard decision to make tonight. How to get to Sesame Street, Boston MA. There were a few options none of which were very appealing.

Car: I hate driving. In Boston. Especially at night. Especially when it is raining. I am not a particularly good driver and driving make’s me insane. Especially in Boston where cars are flying at you from all directions. Throw in a bunch of traffic and it really sucks. You might think a city like Boston would have more than one road going through it. Bah! Idiots! Do not even getting me started on the suicidal pedestrians. Duh, cars are flying at me, maybe I will step out into the street. Thank God for the Darwin awards!

Taxi: Now this could be a good solution. It would cost me a lot of money, but what the hell, now that I am not losing at poker I have plenty. I then got to thinking. What about those gypsy taxi drivers. You know who I mean. The guys who are too chicken to get illegal police lights and stop motorists, so they get fake taxi cab signs and pretend to be real cabs. As your asking them why Haymarket Square looks like a park in the middle of nowhere, they ass-rape you until you bleed, and instead of giving you twenty bucks and telling you what a good time they had, they steal your wallet if your lucky, and your identity if your not. Really not a pleasant idea. Sounds kind of like Poker though.

Train: Ahh yes, the sweet smell of piss in the afternoon. Nothing like it. The train might be the least of all evils but it still sucks. Most of the time it is crowded with people you do not want to be around. It is also surrounded by people you would not be around. I am talking about the bums, gangstahs, hookers, and assorted weirdo’s. Not to mention the piss, poop, birds, rats, and other assorted things you need to step through. On the plus side if your lucky you might be crowded into a train and forced to grind up against a cutie. Ahh the sweet smell of her hair. Mmm. However your more likely to be lip locking with some retard on his way to the funny farm. All this talk about the train gave me a great idea for a new kids toy: Drunken Santa! Complete with Real Puking Action!

I think I should just stay home.

Poker - I Didn’t even Know Her

Wahhhhh! I miss Poker. What a sadist I must be. Dominate me baby! Bring out those whips and chains. Beat me some more. I still miss her. StudioGlyphic why are you torturing me about 25/NL Blogger games!

I think a break is a good thing. If for nothing else just to prove I can go a week without playing. It has been a while since I have skipped a day. So now all I can do is surf around to other blogs and sniff the proverbial undies. *sigh*.

So while I am not playing I have some good questions. Anyone play O8 or Stud enough to know if variance hits those games as much. I would ASSUME that O8 is a variance nightmare! In that game you can get sucked out on 2x worse than Hold Em. Possibly 4x? I never was good at math. I would think stud might be more stable if you play your cards right. Anyone?

Crazy Ass Poker

Poker is making me mad lately. It needs to get a grip. So do I. It is soooo frustrating to work hard for a few nights, make some money, and then lose it all when you get sucked out on over and over. It has been so long since Poker has felt right. Not sure why.

So in order to get back to having fun with Poker I am going to take a break for a little bit. Perhaps I can get some jogging going or something. Whatever I do I think maybe a week off is good. So cya when I get back!

I probably will post something here just to keep in practice. I guess I would have to do it Iggy style, pointing to all things Poker around me. Probably will not give it the respect it deserves like Igs does, but we shall see.

On a last note, I think I named the Blog pretty well. Online Poker Thoughts. My Thoughts. My Feelings. My Emotions. As I try to become a better player. Some day variance will be the norm, and I will figure out when to leave the tables. Until then bear with my thoughts as they take a dark turn. Hope your running better than me!

5/10 6-MAX

I have been toying with the 5/10 6-MAX since the 3/6 full has not been very nice to me. These games are AEWSOME. The players are SO bad and SO loose! I mean if they hit an Ace with a weak kicker they assume nobody has an Ace with a better kicker and ALWAYS pay you off. It is because there is so much BLUFFING it is crazy. Here is the secret to these tables. Do not play looser. Do not worry about being bluffed. Let your blinds get stolen. Give the idiots the few bucks until you have a hand and then let them play the same game, and nail the hell out of them! Beleive me tonight I let someone steal like $50-$60 of pots from me when I was pretty sure he had nothing. He paid me back over $200 when I had nice hands.

Now here is another tip. Variance is a bitch at this level because everyone has bought into playing weaker cards, like A3o. When you AK gets beat by A3o it sucks. So what. It is going to happen alot. Wait. Be patient. Get those panzies when it is YOUR time. I am not saying you need the NUTS, but when you have what looks like the best hand on the board you will most often get paid off.

Tonight I lost $150, and then brought my first $250 buyin up to $500 and the second to $350. I then decided to call it a night. I have had sessions where I have brough a stack up to close to $700! These tables are very beatable if you have the bankroll.

Aewsome Support

The gentleman from Poker Tracker Rocks! www.PokerTracker.com if you have not already purchased this tool. I posted a comment in the forum last night and already have a response. So I finished my report on who I have won/lost the most from. On the 3/6 front I have not been playing for that long so the results are small, the most I have won from a single person is $145, and the most I have lost is the $75. Interesting!

This list is misleading in some ways. It says the 2nd person I have won the most against is a sLA-A! No way I want to go up against one of those. Except maybe I do well because they fold to my raises and do not chase. hmm. Can you guess the third? Blu! From once in a Blu Moon. Also someone with a rating I do not want to go up against! As much as Poker Quest says he loses money from me, I have only won $16 from him. I guess he loses it to other people. Here are some other well know Bloggers I have played all levels (NL,Ring):

Iggy: +11.74. Thanks for the donation man!
AlCantHand: -2.00. Drunken Bastard! Beats me in everything!
Pauly: +8.37 Write about that man!
AntMaudie: +13.25 I hate taking money from you auntie!
Casino Gosain: 41.75 One session too many!
Up for Poker: (3.75) It seems like alot more!
NegativeEV: 7.25 I thought you kicked my ass? Now I remember
the one pot you gave me!
Otis: (4.50) I knew it! Curses!
The Film Geek: 1.75 Film at 11!
Studio Glyphic: (6.25) You Bastard!


Anyway none of these stats mean anything since we have not played together very often. I guess I cannot be that bad if I have a few bucks on the Blogfather himself! Now he is going to hunt me down and beat on me so his stats improve. It might be fun to have a Blogger vs Sir list as a regular feature.. hmmm..

The Hunt Begins

I said I was going to use PT to the best of it's ability and I meant it. I started out by creating a new database in Access 2000 and importing all of the Access 97 PT tables by making an link. A link creates a virtual table in my new database and the data will keep refreshed.

I created three querries: fish_list, calling_station_list and maniac_list. I filtered by Icon ID to get the guys I needed. Your database is probably different, but in mine a fish is #2, calling station 12 and a maniac is #8. It varies depending on what auto_import rules you use. I also joined to the player session table to get only the 3/6 level guys. Run the query! Bang! I have a list. I copy the column into UltraEdit, do a quick global replace and I have a comma dellimented listing that paste's right into the search window. I also had to limit it to (x) number per line, because Empire only allows like 255 charectors in a search. I fire up Empire Poker and do my search. Find some fishies. They are down as can be expected. Sweet! Do a search for maniacs! My eyes tear up here because most of my maniacs have had to move down to the 2/4 level. *sigh*. I guess losing as a fish is slower than losing as a maniac. I found a couple though and as to be expected they had tables where they were way up, and tables where they were almost out. I like these results so far.

Next up I need to figure out how much I have won from a player. Create a list with the players I have won the most from.

Same old Crap

Well.. not a fun night last night but this is not called Oneline Poker Thoughts when I am doing well. I did go ahead and hit the Blogger tables late last night. Casino and Studio were the only ones left. Casino was going all in against me with bluffs and ended up quadrupling me up. It was a lot of fun! It really helped get those BB/100 stats down. I however had a miserable night at 3/6, and decided to play some 5/10 6-Max. I had a modest night there. I almost tripled up against a really STUPID table! 5/10 6-Max is a hard game but those guys really suck. I could have had a really good night if I avoided some runner-runner flushes and AQ vs Q8 with trip Q's and an 8 on the river! Doh! It happened twice with the same guy!!!! I however proceeded to have a bunch of it sucked back out to end up around even. Around 6AM I decide to go to sleep. Not good sir! Thanks to Studio for sweating me all night.

So I still hate swings. I hate losing. I really do not deal well with it. I still have discipline problems. I think it gets especially bad when I am near some milestone, like hitting 3K again. I tend to try and push my way over and that never works. So it’s back to $2400, down about $400 for the night. Not all that bad of a loss in 3/6. A little more than you want to do in a night. Around $180 is the standard suggestion in case anyone wants to know. I just have trouble dealing with nights like this. Oh well.

I need to get more discipline in my game big time. I am going to play again tonight. I am going to cap my loses around the $180 suggested number. I am going to stop playing at 11:30. I really need to get a good nights sleep. I also need to realize someone check-raising me usually can beat TPTK. Easier said than done.

Almost forgot. One thing I have noticed and been too lazy to do: LISTS! I am removing EVERYONE from my Buddy list. The fish are not my buddies, they are my prey. I am then going to go through my hand histories and find everyone I have made a crap load of money off and put them into a comma seperated list. I will then proceed to find these people every single night. Why should I play people who are decent? Screw that. I am going to play the people who are worse than me. I will write an Access Report to generate lists of: Fish & Calling Stations and a seperate list of Maniacs. I can then target people every night.

Bloggers Rule.. me.

I hate NL! I decided to play with the Bloggers again until all hours of the night. I gotta stop this. –SLEEP is bad for me. At least this time I made money, a whole 3 bucks. Whoop!

The game started off good as usual. Here is my normal night at NL. Win a bunch. Play tight. Go all in with a decent hand and get creamed, lose everything, and get pissed. Tonight was not much different. I was up and down a lot. Finally I decided I would become the table maniac. Whenever I went below 10 bucks I just went all in with any decent cards. Ace high anything. Pairs. Of course “The Hammer”. I was able to pull out wins on ALL of my ALL-IN’s. Every single one! Put a few beats on Pauly with crap. The most memorable was when he had 44, and was sick of me going all in pre-flop. So he calls me. I end up making a straight with 7-9h. Sorry Pauly!

A guy named DC was at our table. He doubled me up early too. He was a retired guy from my neck of the woods, and was very pleasant even though everyone wanted him to leave and make room for Bloggers. Ok, not everyone, he lost 5-6 buyins to the Bloggers so we lift a glass of Guiness to him! Be well DC!

I got screwed by Studio! He killed me early on. Three way pot. I have KK. Studio makes a big bet on a scary board and I fold. He shows his AQ for a pair of Queens! Why do I never make the right choices in NL? I got my revenge later when I flopped a straight and he went all in against me. Sorry Glyph!

Then the last hand of the night comes. I have 22 and limp in. The flop is Qxx. It is a few bucks to see a card, since this is my last hand I go for it. A magic two hits the turn! Damn! I am betting. Casino is raising. Rocking. Rolling. Bam! When the smoke clears I am down twenty bucks to the Hilton Sisters! Bitches!

So the pattern continues. Win a bit, lose it before I leave. Oh well. What is a limit guy to do? I guess I should be happy I got paid three bucks to have A LOT of fun! Thanks Bloggers! You Rock! Hell, I even got my BB/100 down to –22! Woo hoo!

Dooce.com

Hey I just had to post a link to this site. The writing is funny and amazing. I really think it is a great site. Go look up what Dooce means too. The author is GREAT! It is interesting to see a Blog that has lasted several years across many phases of someones life too. No, I do not think there is any Poker content. Here is an example paragraph:

"As for those of you who think I was stupid to post things on my website about my job and about co-workers: I refuse to live in fear. I refuse to be censored. I’ve lived my life far too long in fear of disrupting expectations. I made a conscious decision when I conceived dooce.com that I would never bow to the intimidation of others, including employers or pussy-ass cocksmacks who think I should just stop complaining and be a good worker bee already. For those of you who think it wrong to speak up about matters that fundamentally bother you, go and join the fucking Mormon Church. Attend BYU. Take it up the ass and bleed. Whatever you do, don’t read dooce.com, and certainly don’t think for yourself. Scandalous!"

It gets better too. Just thought I would share. Thanks to Found in Translation (http://scottsterling.journalspace.com/) for the link.

Vroom Vroom

This tournament will take place on Saturday, December 18th, 2004 and the game will be Limit Hold'em with the first prize a brand new Porsche*.

Ok! I am in baby! 2000 VIP Points! Damn I wanted that shirt! But they made the deal too sweet. For the price of a hat I get to enter a limit hold’em tourney and try and win a 40K Porsche! It used to be 8000 points. Guess not enough takers. I am going to sign up tonight.

I assumed this would be an NL tourney. All of the good ones are. I would have to get my coach to help me if that was the case. Instead I get to try my wits at LHE! All I have to do is play smart, keep my head in the game, and get some cards! It gets really hard after the 2 hour mark to keep your head in the game. So hopefully I can handle it. Perhaps I do need someone on the IM keeping me awake!

What am I going to do with my Porsche? Sell it dummy! Jesus! Why the hell would I need a Porsche? I would just kill myself in the icy New England weather. Screw that. I am taking the 40K in cash and paying down some bills, putting it in the bank, and maybe saving 10K to join the WSOP! It would be throwing my money away I think but who the hell knows.

Another day another dollar

A small profit tonight. I actually gave back a little the night before. I hit a gutshot straight again, with a Q. I think whenever I need a Q I am betting. At least this time I had 11-1 to make the 1-BET call.

I met up with a Maniac table tonight! Every round was raised. Never was there not a pre-flop raise. The reason this happened was because on guy was raising and re-raising everything! I got mad at first. I then decided to bet back into him with decent hands. He bets to the river with A-10 vs my A-Q to give me my first good pot. I then flop a pair of Aces with a BAD kicker, like a 3! He bets me down to the river. I am raising him whenever I can because I know he bets any hand. I was expecting to lose. I win and type into the chat “I love you man!”. So basically he won me about $100 in 20 minutes and I folded the table to play with the Bloggers.

I had my usual poor performance tonight at the Blogger table. Picked up a nice pot off Studio early on, and bluffed my way to a win on a second pot. Folded two sets of cards that would have turned out making Boats! Damn! I then decide to go all in with KQ diamonds with two diamonds on the flop. Figure it’s a 33% chance I win and double up. Trip 9’s beats me and I am out. Oh well. –28 BB/100 is not that bad, right? At least it is statistically insignificant! Would not mind having the $200 back though. *sigh*. It is always awesome playing with Bloggers though! –EV +FUN –SLEEP! I have a job you guys!

I have decided I need to start taking money out of Empire. So at the end of this month whatever amount I am over 3K I am going to split in half and throw into the savings account. It will be nice to finally make a profit (I hope). We shall see how we can do this month!

Sir Fishy

I put this Bad Beat on today. I am not proud of it. Anyone think I should have folded the flop? I agree. Capped it pre-flop? lol. I really only had 15BB in by the turn and had to call a capped round. I think KQ and myself should have folded. However I was having a slightly down session and decided to see the turn, and the river if the turn gave me 4 to a flush. I would have won if I made the flush also. So I have a gutshot straight draw and a backdoor flush draw. Otherwise I am drawing dead. I was at least 5BB short of having pot odds for the call. Chances are if I make either of my hands I win. If the board pairs I was thinking I was beaten by a boat (which turned out to be true). It’s nice to be on the other side of a Bad Beat for a change! heh.

***** Hand History for Game 1265133202 *****
$3/$6 Hold'em - Monday, December 06, 00:00:00 EDT 2004
Table Table 12280 (Real Money)
Seat 4 is the button
Total number of players : 10
Seat 3: JackLoser ( $227.84 )
Seat 4: Biggy ( $126.5 )
Seat 5: potsy ( $260.5 )
Seat 7: kissy ( $160.08 )
Seat 8: smally ( $236 )
Seat 9: raw ( $42.75 )
Seat 10: SirFWALGMan ( $86 )
Seat 2: noway ( $92 )
Seat 1: ISU ( $90.5 )
Seat 6: roundy ( $278 )
potsy posts small blind [$1].
roundy posts big blind [$3].
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to SirFWALGMan [ Kh Th ]
kissy folds.
smally folds.
raw calls [$3].
SirFWALGMan calls [$3].
ISU raises [$6].
noway calls [$6].
$7,500 Guaranteed Monday Tournament at 9 PM ET today! $25 + $2 Buy-in. Register NOW and WIN!!
JackLoser calls [$6].
Biggy folds.
potsy folds.
roundy folds.
raw calls [$3].
SirFWALGMan calls [$3].

Ok. Two bets to play. K high flush draw. Some potential for the K-10 to work out. Like I said I was tired, this was my last hand of the night no matter what, and so I decide to see the flop for 2 bets. Notice that JackLoser makes his first mistake here, not 3-betting his pocket pair!

** Dealing Flop ** [ 9s, 4h, Jc ]
raw checks.
SirFWALGMan checks.
ISU bets [$3].
noway calls [$3].
JackLoser calls [$3].
raw raises [$6].
SirFWALGMan calls [$6].
ISU calls [$3].
noway calls [$3].
JackLoser raises [$6].
raw raises [$6].
SirFWALGMan calls [$6].
ISU calls [$6].
noway calls [$6].
JackLoser calls [$3].

Here is where I go really crazy. I figure if I see the Q or a heart I am ok, if not I just fold and call it a night. I know it was capped. So I am being a fish for a change. Sue me. Or maybe I always play this way! Yikes!

** Dealing Turn ** [ Qh ]
raw checks.
SirFWALGMan checks.
ISU checks.
noway checks.
JackLoser bets [$6].
raw calls [$6].
SirFWALGMan raises [$12].
ISU folds.
noway calls [$12].
JackLoser calls [$6].
raw calls [$6].

This is the best situation I could EVER be in. I have the NUTS! I have these guys betting the hand up for me and I do not really have to do much. Actually raw stopped raising so I had to fire a shot here. I might have made more money just calling but I decided to take a chance while other people had draws and were willing to call my additional bet.

** Dealing River ** [ 8s ]
raw checks.
SirFWALGMan bets [$6].
noway calls [$6].
JackLoser calls [$6].
raw folds.
SirFWALGMan shows [ Kh, Th ] a straight, nine to king.
noway doesn't show [ Kc, Qc ] a pair of queens.
JackLoser doesn't show [ Jd, Js ] three of a kind, jacks.
SirFWALGMan wins $157 from the main pot with a straight, nine to king.

No help for the losers and Sir pulls off a miracle hand. I have no idea what raw had. He folded. Possibly a lower flush draw? He could have had the Ace high flush draw too I suppose. One question I have here. Do you think there was any collusion between raw and JackLoser? I have no idea what KQ was thinking. Possibly like me he was trying to get a straight? I wish I could have seen raws cards, because he was helping JackLoser cap the pot, and then was not even willing to see the river for 1 BET? All I can think is he was on a runner-runner flush draw, but you would not raise that on the rainbow flop? Could he have had lower trips? Would you fold trips for 1 BET on the river in a $157 pot? I would not. Anyway something to think about. JackLoser was really pissed at me! I suppose I can not blame him.

JackLoser: Nice catch [fish].
SirFWALGMan: Yeah, I thought so.
SirFWALGMan: Best card I could think of!

Shame on you Sir! Shame! Shame! Shame!

Why did I ever leave home?

I am asking myself today why I EVER left 3/6! God! I have had the best luck fishing this weekend! I am up almost 1K! Getting back to where I was when I decided to leave home and try the tough streets of 5/10! I will be going back to 5/10 eventually but for now everything is warm, snuggly, and cozy. mmmm.

Human Head just gave me a shout in the comments. Thanks for listening to my ramblings for so long! It is always nice to hear from my readers. Go see his Blog at http://humanhead.blogspot.com/. Seem good. I will be reading it more later and adding it to the Blogroll.

Rising Tide

Still plugging away. Had a nice MONSTER table! I got my stack up to almost 83BB! For those newbies that is about $500 on a $150 buyin. You know, about a years salary for Sebas! Ok, maybe only a month. I also busted out of a table and went way up on a third. All in all not a bad showing! It is nice to see the old Bankroll getting healthy again! The stats are looking good too. Over 9K hands I am 3.51/BB 100 and rising. My rating is anywhere between TA-N and sLA-P at any given time. I think I am more of a sLA-P player trying to increase his aggression levels. Somethings working anyways. Nice to be out of the funk that 5/10 put me into.

Tired as Hell

I played the Blogger table again! I lost. *sigh*. The first buyin was a sacrifice to the Poker Gods - 27o all in just after the flop! Oh well. It seemed to work as my second buyin got up to almost $60. I then dwindled it down and went all in against Pauly. Pauly has a flush and straight draw. I think I misplayed my hand. If I had gone all in first he *might* have though about it. However since he had a great draw and double my stack he probably would have called. So there goes $50. Oh well. I ended up actually make a few bucks tonight. I played alot of 3/6, busted out once, and made some modest gains on others to end the night up around $40. Not too shabby. I will take it. I am going to take a break for the weekend and then hit the tables hard again starting Monday! Should be fun.

Few Things I keep Forgetting

I found a link to an AEWSOME chip trick site. It has pictures, descriptions and even video. It does not have my FAVORITE trick which is where the chip magically fly's up from the persons palm into his other hand. It is really cool! (www.PokerChipTricks.com).

April Baby! I cannot post any comments to your site and it is annoying! I read your Blog, and every week or so I see something really aewsome and want to say something and it gives me some access error! Get someone to fix that!

The Felt Wars

The more I play this game the more I learn and the more I learn the more I understand that Poker has nothing to do with cards. Yes my friends, it is true. The cards are a medium for a psychological warfare the likes of which the world has never seen. It takes a lot of mental toughness to play this game.

The game is about keeping control of yourself. So what if you squander a third of your bankroll? Should you let it change your game? No. Can you let it posses and obsess you? Not if you want to stay in the game. Should you keep checking your bankroll every ten minutes to see if it has grown? No way. Ask yourself why your depressed one day because your bankroll fell a few hundred bucks, and excited the next because it grew. It means nothing.

It is about keeping control of your insecurities. When you are winning it is easy to think of yourself as the worlds greatest player. The next Phil Helmouth! Watch out WSOP here I come! When you are losing do you think your game suck? Do you think you cannot win? If so you are probably wrong. Take some time and make sure your game has not changed for the worse. Then get back out there and do what you have been doing all along to win! Let these experiences make you dig deeper into your game but do not assume they are because of you.

The game is about keep your self under control at the tables. When you have been rivered for the tenth time that night does it set you off? Are you ready to slam your fist into the monitor or can you take a deep breath and really believe these are the kinds of guys you NEED to play with! If it was a table full of Doyle Brunson’s believe me you would not be winning any money.

I am guilty of all of the above. It takes tough stretched to really bring out the problems with your game. A lot of these problems are not going to have anything to do with the cards. I have had it fairly easy up until now. While this has been a disappointing setback I think I can grow from it. I am constantly trying to figure out why I did so poorly at the 5/10 tables. Some things are coming to the forefront that will improve my game. The mental aspects are always the most challenging and I continue to try and work on those. One of these days I might become a hardened and seasoned veteran of this game we all love. I look forward to that. Until then I will keep sharing my flaws with you all and keep playing my best at the tables.

Nice Night

I have had a decent night for once. Nothing major. No monster. Few hundred up. Feels good to stop losing for a change. I did get lucky and river a few people for a change. I do not think it was on really bad hands. I had a nice open ended straight draw and a backdoor flush draw. It was interesting. The table really yelled at me when I made that one. I think I had enough outs to justify playing it. That table then became alot of fun. They were whining about the bad players (hmm, sounds familiar), and I was taunting them and having a grand ole time. It was fun. How Poker is supposed to be!

One note in the comments. If your going to post anonymous comments at least put a name or nickname down in the comment. Then when I see your moronic comments again I can yell at you by name! Heh. I do not care what you say that two outer was a MAJOR suckout! I agree I probably overreacted to the beat. However that is more because of the horrible couple of weeks I have been having. So be it. I really should never whine when I get bad beats, but some days are tougher than others.. and what are friends for if not listening to me whine.

I plan on kicking around a few SNGs and the 25/NL table if it is on tonight! Whatever happens I am happy with the night I have had and needed some good news. I have no idea how people go through year long losing streaks and keep their sanity! I guess you need to have enough confidence in your game, which I have not attained yet. Something to grow in I guess.

Busted by the Big Man

Well the bleeding continues. As you can see from last night I am getting very frustrating results on the river. It is almost to the point where I would fold KK just because I know someone is going to beat me with 84o. Oh well.

On the upside I have been taking part in the nightly, impromptu, Blogger NL slap fest. I have not been winning but it has been fun. I started off pretty well last night and actually had my stack doubled at one point. The hand of the night was when I bluffed Iggy off a hand with 72o, not an easy feat! Of course I showed!

Iggy would get his revenge though. I limped in with J3d. It was s0000ted dude! The flop was a lovely 4d10d5x. Now a flush draw is not so bad. So I put a few bucks in and Iggy hangs with me. The next card is a Jack. Now here is where I go brain dead. Iggy goes all in. Here was my thinking:

A. The Rat Bastard has nothing and is trying to push me off the pot.
B. He has a draw and is trying to win outright.
C. He has a pair, and since I did not bet much, he wanted to protect it, not putting me on a Jack.
D. He has a hand and is not going to let me have a card towards my flush.

So I decide to call him. What the hell! This is why I play these little NL games. They are fun, and the money does not mean much. It was 2AM and I needed sleep anyways. Some of us have to go to real jobs! Well, I missed my flush draw and it turns out Iggs had J4 for two pair. Beats my J3. Even if it is s00ted! If I had hit my diamond the Iggster would have either been crying or berating me for a foolish play, but alas the river is only good for other people these days. At least I had a blast. Well worth my $25 donation!

Anyway not much else in Poker has been fun lately, so I am enjoying donating my money.

**EDIT: I just remembered, and in tune with my bleeding out the ass on the river theme, Iggs actually caught a 4 on the river, to make his BOAT! #&*#*(# river!

I freaking quit

What the fuck did I do to the Poker Gods? Here is one example of there wrath:

***** Hand History for Game 1248597667 *****
$3/$6 Hold'em - Thursday, December 02, 00:54:10 EDT 2004
Table Table 12324 (Real Money)
Seat 6 is the button
Total number of players : 10
Seat 2: SirFWALGMan ( $171 )
Seat 7: MrsBrunson ( $271.5 )
Seat 9: Riverhatter ( $72.5 )
Seat 3: nickyballz ( $185.5 )
Seat 5: rxphsp2 ( $87.5 )
Seat 4: unsane99 ( $77.5 )
Seat 6: Pinksword ( $116.5 )
Seat 8: hecticdude ( $27 )
Seat 1: mjfboston ( $158 )
Seat 10: JacNog ( $48 )
MrsBrunson posts small blind [$1].
hecticdude posts big blind [$3].
JacNog posts big blind [$3].
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to SirFWALGMan [ Ad Jd ]
Riverhatter calls [$3].
JacNog checks.
mjfboston calls [$3].
SirFWALGMan raises [$6].
nickyballz folds.
SirFWALGMan: lol
unsane99 calls [$6].
rxphsp2 folds.
Pinksword folds.
MrsBrunson folds.
hecticdude calls [$3].
Riverhatter calls [$3].
JacNog folds.
SirFWALGMan: i cant win
mjfboston calls [$3].
** Dealing Flop ** [ Js, Ah, 2c ]
hecticdude checks.
Riverhatter checks.
mjfboston checks.
SirFWALGMan bets [$3].
unsane99 calls [$3].
hecticdude calls [$3].
Riverhatter folds.
SirFWALGMan: go ahead runner-runner flush
SirFWALGMan: lol
mjfboston calls [$3].
** Dealing Turn ** [ 2h ]
hecticdude checks.
mjfboston checks.
SirFWALGMan bets [$6].
unsane99 calls [$6].
hecticdude calls [$6].
mjfboston folds.
** Dealing River ** [ 4d ]
hecticdude checks.
SirFWALGMan bets [$6].
unsane99 calls [$6].
hecticdude is all-In.
SirFWALGMan calls [$6].
unsane99 calls [$6].
SirFWALGMan shows [ Ad, Jd ] two pairs, aces and jacks.
unsane99 shows [ 2d, 7h ] three of a kind, twos.
hecticdude shows [ 4c, 4h ] a full house, Fours full of twos.
hecticdude wins $97 from the main pot with a full house, Fours full of twos.
LOL!

He then proceeded to get river trip 6's, and do all sorts of rivering. What the hell do I have to do to win. I admit I lost my cool and told him "I was going to hunt him down and kill him". Is that too harsh?

Variance why am I your Bitch?

I have huge issues with variance and I really need to get them under control. I guess I have not been playing this game very long, so I have time. Tonight is another night and we shall see.

I had a nice little chat with HDouble last night. Nice guy. Interesting. He gave me some advice and I am going to try it out tonight. Will let you know if it works in 10,000 hands. How's that for long term thinking? Not good? Well, I have to take baby steps. One of the suggestions I am going to try tonight is a little 3-Table action. I figure I have been doing two for a while and should try and spread the variance out a little. We shall see..

I finally got over to Paulies Truckin' site. It was very cool. If you have not been there try it out. I read everyone's stories. Some were a little obvious, but the writing was solid, and I enjoyed them all. For the record my favorite was the "Good Guy" one. Why? I guess it is fun to put yourself in a situation you would LOVE to be in, but that is so out of character for you that you know it would never happen. Go read the story and you will get what I am saying. I would never do that! Hell, I have enough problems just trying to talk to women.

It definatly inspires me to try to do some writing myself. I have always enjoyed reading and writing. I never really liked most of what I wrote though. I am not sure why. I have problems wraping the whole story up in a air of suspense and anticipation. I am too direct. Where a writer might take two or three paragraphs to describe a hot blonde I like two words. It gets the point across. heh. So if I can muster up some time and feel like putting some effort into it I will give it a shot. If not I am sure it is no great loss to the world.