MTT Thoughts

Been playing a lot of Poker lately so I figured I would give you some good, juicy, whathaveIlearned poker content. Several posts in the making. First post though, while still high off my MTT wins will be what I call the Sir Strategy.
How do I place in two MTTs in a row? Unfreakingbeleivable you say? What is your secret? I have no idea. Ha! I bet you expected some good poker content. You are sadly mistaken. However I will clue you in on a few things that I believe have helped.

Keeping Pace
In playing a few of these I think that I have found there to be a minimal pace you need to keep up to. If you do not you will be constantly worrying about the blinds. So when I initially start a game I play very loose (even for me) and weak. I basically am looking for my KJ to connect and make something nice without getting killed by KQ. All I am trying to do here is get ahead. As far ahead as I can while the blinds are small. If I hit the second break and have less than 2K I am in trouble. I will have to push at some point with cards I would normally not want to push with. I will not be able to see flops with moderate cards. Once I get over 2K in the first break I can slow down a little. I still want to see some flops, but I can stick to better starting cards. So keeping pace is important. This is where some of the luck comes in. You have to get some cards and have some flops hit early to survive. The guidelines I have set for myself are:

• 2K before first break


• 10K before second break


• 30K+ before third break

If I am keeping up with this I do not pay much attention to avg stacks and what the leader has. It all evens out in the end.

Experience
Play a lot of these. Really. If you like MTTs. I personally like two things about them: A lot of Poker for a little money, and a huge chance to score if you get lucky. In playing a lot more of these lately I am getting used to the concepts involved. I am getting a better feel for what a stack means at each part of a tourney. When to steal. How to do different things. You can find MTTs for free (1500 freerolls good), or cheap ones like 5/1, 15/1 and 20/2 MTTs that run every night on Party and various other sites.

Change it Up
If you play all tight all the time your not going to make it in an MTT. I do not care how dumb the fish are on Party, you are going to be lucky to take the blinds. I like to call my looser, more aggressive play Joos style after Jooseus. He and the Chief and the woman called Poison have been my regular partners in these freerolls. Anyhow Joos is somewhat of a gambooler according to ME and PT. However he does well with it because he knows when to back off. So every once in a while Joos it up!!

Especially change it up and read the table when you are into the high blinds portion of the game. Here is an example. I was at a table where everyone let me min-raise and take the blinds every time. Nobody stopped me. So I kept doing it over, and over, and over. If they re-raised me I would calm down for a few rounds, and then start up again. The table was that passive. I was able to get a huge amount of chips and put the table on tilt this way. It was much fun. A lot of tables will absolutely not let you do this. Know your opponents. Last night I had a guy who called every steal attempt I made. No matter what. He was a lucky fricker. So I had to back off and avoid the steals.

Final Table
So far not a lot of experience here. In the one tourney I was at the final table in I learned a couple of things. I however am not sure how to deal with them. The first thing is you can have 280,000 in chips and be short stacked. Ha! That was a major shocker the first time. Just get used to the chip sizes you have yet to see, and think in terms of big bets instead of dollars.

The other thing I have to consider with my final table showing is how much do I care about a spot. Once you get towards the end the value of 7th vs 8th or 4th vs 5th is much larger than lets say 79th vs 80th. You are talking significant amounts of money. In my last showing I ended up pushing with a good hand and losing. It happens. I was small stacked. However it might have been better to wait out the 50K stack. I would then have made almost a third more money. I have not decided if this is a good idea or not. Just pondering.

So that is all I have. It will probably mislead you. However take from it whatever morsels you can. Enjoy yourself too.

Sir Close Alot

Well. Played the 15/1 MTT on Party tonight. Placed 68th of 2000 for a grand total payout of $53 minus the entry fee. Not too shabby. I might be getting the hang of these things. Hmm. Perhaps I owe a strategy writeup. Anyway. Here is the deal. I am going to play one of these every day until Friday. Either a 15/1 or a Freeroll or something that pays some decent cash for first. Probably not a freeroll. If I hit the big one I will be flying to Vegas first class.

I have this great idea for a shirt too. So you all will know me. It is a baseball like shirt. It has 72o cards for the logo in the front. It says something like Bloggers or something for the team name. Same logo in back with SirFWALGMan for the players name. Perhaps just Sir. So if you see some wacko in a 72o shirt you will know. I figure if I win a 15/1, I get about 6K. Pays for a flight, hotel, entry (is it too late?) and some nice food and booze.

Hell I might go anyways. I dunno. If I do it is just for the weekend.

Finally its happened to me..

Booo.. YAAAAAAAA! 6th Place out of 2000. I probably could have done better. I had 9BB left and bet 3BB with AJo. I get raised 3BB by a guy who had been pushing people around a little. So I have three choices: Call (yuuucckk), Raise or fold. I decided to push and found myself staring into the face of Aces. Beady little eyes twinkling. I had a little hope when a KQ hit the board but alas it was not to be. All in all very fun.

Nice Night

Hit some 5/1 SNGs. I had been doing badly at SNGs. Yeah, I know, 5/1 is not a good value. I only got 150 yall! So it was fun. The first one I had a COMMANDING stack lead HU and played brilliant poker for 2nd place. A5 vs J6 and A8 vs K5. Lost both of those. Oh well. HU with huge blinds you gotta do something. Second is good though.

Second SNG. I was running 5th place with 300 blinds. With some luck and some brilliant play again I ended up in second. Again I had a commanding lead. 6K vs 750 or something. I pissed it away. Oh well. Whatcha gonna do? It really becomes a crap shoot with 6K in chips and 1K blinds. Again second is fine. Especially since I did not even think I was going to make the money with 785 left, 400 blinds, and 5 people in. I was patient. Pushed when I should. Got lucky. Took cash.

The third SNG sucked. I know. I shoulda stopped. Oh well. I went all in with AK pot flop vs a set of 7's. I was thinking I could outdraw him. Boy was I wrong. When I bluff I do not do it lightly. I am almost always up against a set or a boat. Never TP or a bluff. Oh well. I was getting tired anyways. Net $16 for SNGs tonight.

The cash game went good too. Ended up almost doubled up. So the stack hits $150 and hopefully can keep growing. I like this pace. We shall see.

Geek! Doh! Redeux!

I have rethought my position on last nights finish and as disappointing as it was I would not have changed a thing. Here is the deal. The guy bets me 6K I have 14K left. If I just call then I have 8K. Not enough. If I fold AK to a 3xBB raise then I am a tool and do not deserve to make any money. This could be true anyways. However I think folding AK with that little money left would be a mistake. I have never really been in a tournament where I have had that many chips. At one point I was over 33K in chips. This for me is amazing. I was looking at 14K worth of chips and saying “I have plenty”, instead of looking at 7xBB which is piddly. It is very important to consider BB instead of cash size. It gets blinding. Fuck though, being better than 1547 freeroll loosers feels pretty good.

Anyhow.. at least I made my money back last night. I took a buyin off Joos when he thought his AQ was better than my A9. With an A9x board. Silly boy. Do I bluff? I ended up winning a few more pots to bring the bankroll back over 120 or so. Lol. I hate to call it a bankroll but what the heck. I am back playing NL too. Limit is just too damn slow. Heh! I want to double up every night dammit! I will probably try some limit again when the roll hits a nice number like 600. Just to mix it up. I am being very careful since my roll is in the critical stages.

Geek! Doh!

Heh. Geek was helping me out in an MTT. Along with April, Chief, Joos and Phil from China for a little. The end game came with 37 left. I was seven until the money. I get AKo. A 3x raise in front of me to 6K. I want to fold. Geek and whoever yells PUSH! I think about it. It feels kinda wrong. However it is probably the right move. So anyway, I end up 37th place in the freeroll out of 1570. He had QQ. Lesson? I do not know. Am I proud of my finish. Sort of. However I would have prefered to wait for the money. Worst case scenerio I make it to 30th place with a short stack and hope to hell to catch some cards to chip up and make it to the final table. I was definatly small stacked at 14K or so with 2K blinds. I ran into some bad luck when I had 30K. I had A8 vs A7 and the flop was 77x. He had pushed pre-flop, and seeing his loose play I decided to call. I also lost another hand where I had a nice advantage. I think it was KJ vs AK. Oh well, what can you do? I will say however that I think sometims you have to go with your gut. Nobody obviously forced me to play. Peer pressure and thinking that it was marginally the right thing to do made me play. Obiously my judgement is clouded by my dissapointment. Different people have different styles too. I prefer to make the money and then make some risky moves to make better money. Geek is focused on the final table. It is all he wants. Anyhow.. I am going to sleep. Another AK vs QQ dissapointment. Comments welcome. Except April. lol.

Party Does it Again

Lol. It was a fun, short, night. I get a set. An overpair bets all in. I call. He catches he two outer and I lose. NICE. Does anyone ever get tired of this happening all the time? I mean I know I should want to play with these clowns but cmon. Could I win like once? Oh well. I took it well tonight. Shut down Party. Quit for the night. I will hit it again tomorrow.

Pay me baby!

I want you all to listen because this is probably the best Poker I have EVERY played in my life. I think for a minute I could not do anything wrong.

I am sitting down at this NL (.10//25) table last night. I am getting good cards. Nice. AKo.. Ok. I raise. Everyone folds. Da de dum. AA! Nice! I raise! Everyone folds. Ok. This is not fun. AJ! Raise! EVERY FREAKING ONE FOLDS. Ok. I hate this table and I am going to exact my revenge on it.

I decide that I am sick of people seeing me as tight. So I click off the auto-muck and get ready to have a fun time. I decide to myself I am going to raise every other hand. If you fuckers want to fold I am taking EVERY SINGLE OTHER BLIND! So I raise K8o. First hand. One dollar. I get one caller. What the hell! I play one crappy hand and get a caller! Screw her! I am NOT going to allow her to win. By shear force of will I shall win this hand. So I bet the pot. She cold calls. I notice a little sweat on her brow though. The pot is now eight bucks. Sister you wanna play with the big boys then you better have a hand (No offence to chicks here, you all rock at Poker, just moving the story along). I bet the pot AGAIN. She fold. I show K8o for K high nothing. Biatch! So I raise every other hand for 3-4 hands. Steal every blind. Show things like T4o, 23o, crap hands really.

Someone says "What the hell!!!".
I say in the chat "I am raising every other hand because nobody wants to play with me".
He replies, "OK with me"

So I continue to do this for one or two more hands. Lose a few bucks. Everyone is steaming by now. So I clamp down. I ony play the hands you should. Limp with a few questionable ones. Just to mix it up. Really keep it tighter though. Guess what. I am getting more action than I can stand. I start getting cards like AA and people are calling me to the river. Normal. Sane. People. Losing. Alot. To the river. It all ends with me getting ATo and limping. I flop a straight. I check-call to the river. I then go all in like I am bluffing and take the guys entire stack. He was a cool guy. I felt bad. A little.

Anyway, I will say this. I think I got some good cards. I however think it was some of the best manipulation of a table I have EVER done. It was FUN as hell! That my friends is how you play Poker!

Foiled Again!

122nd Place in Freeroll. 8K Chips. 15K Avg Stack. 800 Blinds. Big Slick. I raise 2400 in EP. Get re-raised 6K. Should have folded? I dunno. It is very dissapointing when the hilton sisters get the best of you. Oh well, at least I had outs. I guess. I am thinking I played this too hard. Anyone?

Nice Night

I had a fun night. I started up by doubling on two .50/1 limit tables. Almost. Ended the night at $44 on both. Not bad for .50/1. At least for me. I then played in the 1250 freeroll for the 4-5th time. It was not very noteworthy. I finished a dismal 600th of 1600. It started out fun though:

Third hand of the damn thing. I have AQ s00ted and no less than 6 people call my 4xBB raise. Freaking freerolls. So I go oh shit, I hope I make a hand. So the flop is a nice 4 to a floosh, 4 to a straight deal so I pot it for 300, about 1/3 my stack maybe slightly more. Straight floosh too and 1 Over card that actually makes my straight. Anyways someone raises me all in like they should. I say I have to call. No way I can fold that. Spiked my A on the river for the win. Sweeeeeet. The conversation that ensues:

Moron: FUCK! What the hell! You asshole!
Me: Hey, I had a good draw.
Moron: But I had two pair.
Me: Fuck you anyway, you should not have called my raise with K8 you jerk.
Moron: But I had two pair.
Me: I mean pre-flop you jerk. What the fuck are you doing calling a 4xBB raise pre-flop with K8o? Asshole, you deserved that.
Moron: But I had two pair.

So anyway. Was my pot bet and my all in of his raise a bad move? I liked it. It was early in the freeroll and I had a chance to cruise for a level or two by doubling up. So I took it. We shall see if it pays off..

Unfortionatly it did not and I went totally card dead and ended up making a bad push with QQ vs 2 other players. I knew I should have folded but I could not. I was up against AT and KK with a flop of AT. I almost pulled a straight out of my butt but no way.

I played a little PL/HE with Joose tonight. You know. Chief Tokems bud. He is a decent MTT player. Has been finishing under 100 in the last few I watched him in. I would not be surprised if he made some money. I sat down at the PL table with $6 just for the fun of it. Wanted to play with the guy. Ran my $6 up to $50 before Joos sucked out a flush when I had been making pot bets on ever card. Oh well. I got a little annoyed. Very next hand he rivers a 6 straight against my 5 straight. I ended up winning $17 at that table. Gave a little back but overall did well.

I am still not dealing very well with losing. Oh well. Whatcha gonna do. I have the roll over $100 again. snort. I hate to call it a roll. At least I am feeling I can win at limit holdem again. I was playing the extremely tight SSHE rules but I really think you lose too much money unless you loosen up. So I have switched to the loose game rules. Page 82 of SSHE for you guys. It seemed to work well last night but we shall see. The only adjustment really is playing MP hands in EP. Since .50/1 people tend not to raise much pre-flop it actually is probably a good solution.

This and that and the other..

A lot to talk about tonight. I finally found a good table and doubled up my buyin. I also was VERY entertained. I saw not once, but twice, the same guy with 3rd pair and a flush already on the board, bet, catch his 2nd pair, and win a hand. Now I know 3rd pair is really good at .50/1 tables but with a four flush on the board do you bet when you catch your second pair? I dunno.. seems kind of .. oh what’s the word.. fishie to me.. I think more scouting is in order before I sit down. This table had an average VP$IP of 48% at one time. That is incredible. I think I should play more tables like this.

I think Hank and Iggy should donate a PT guide to me. It will do several things:

A) Give them free advertising on a slightly trafficked website.
B) If I do end up making a big comeback I can be one of the success stories on their blog. Imagine how much press you could get from that! Even SirF can win with the power of the guide.
C) I am interested in what the hell it says but do not want to buy it until my roll improves.

So if you guys want to lend me a hamburger today, I will gladly repay you on Monday when my roll hits the $500 mark. There I go again, looking ahead.

I told Felicia I am going to grind out some wins just to spite her. Heh. I love her straight forwardness a lot, and I agree with everything she says, but I am going to do well just because I am stubborn. Hell, maybe some day I will even be good at this game. Either that or I can be Josh Ariah with a hell of a lot less skill. Wahh Wahh Wahh.

Oh yeah, that Fag John bailed on me. Jerk. I know he reads my blog so he better read this! Heh. I dunno. I mean he gets me all excited about going to Foxwoods with him. We set a date. Then just because he can not get ahold of me before the event he bails. Seems kind of L-A-M-E. I am still going with my IT recruiter pal Chris and probably another guy from my old work. Wish me luck.

Oh and this one is for you Pauly: Boston Creamed NY in the poorly watched Boston vs NY Poker challenge. Nah Nah Nahhh Nah Nah! Although your team had the chick with the biggest boobs, so maybe it is a tie.

Speaking of luck Felicia was saying that Slansky was telling her (I embellish a little) that the difference between skill and luck in any hand is 5%. I probably said it badly. But it is interesting in a way. It fits with what we all see in our stats. Look at PT and see your winning percentage. It is probably 55-60%. Over time that adds up. However it takes time. Anyhow, now that I have spewed the rhetoric, I know is true but have not been able to live up to yet, I will go back to playing. CIAO Baby!

LMAO

Man I love .50/1. It is funny. I am sure I will grow to hate it. So this dude is at my table and the conversation goes like this. The guy gets rivered for the umpteenth time:

Dude: FUCKFUCKFCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCK
Sir: I do not think you have the temperment for this game.
Dude: You do not understand! I have been rivered all night!
Sir: Beleive me I know
Dude: No you do not! I will show you my poker stats SIR!
Sir: Have you ever lost 3K in a night? Then quit your fucking whining!

Anyway, it was fun pretending to be a little Felicia-esque in my Poker mentality. Ok, so really I was just causing trouble. I kind of think he might read the blog since he called me SIR and offered to send me his PT stats. If so then I feel for you man. I have SOOOOOOOOO been there so many times and usually do not deal with it well either. Better luck tomorrow night.

Oh btw - congrats to Joos (BigChiefTokems pal) who went out on the bubble at 32nd place out of 1600+. The chief and I were railbirding him the whole game. I actually think I helped him get as far as he did. He almost made it too. He went all in with QQ vs JJ. I said to him: "If you want to gamble then go all in, otherwise fold and make the money". So he went all in. The other guy showed JJ and turned his set. What are ya gonna do? Now I need to sleep.

Full Tilt

Well the battle continues on Party. I am winning. I finally got over the 1 buyin mark of winning. So now I have a 3 buyin cushion. Anyway, instead of boring you, I am feeling kind of frisky tonight so I will ask a general, controversial question about Full Tilt. I know certain members of the team frequent here infrequently so here goes:

Is full Tilt trying to corrupt a generation of young children with their poker icons? BWAHAHAHA! I am starting trouble. Ok. So it is only a half serious question but here is the background. I am playing some play money hands on FT and my son walks by “HEY COOL! Which one are you!!!! The MONKEY or the SHARK! Can I play!!! I WANNA BE THE SHARK!”. It takes me a half hour to explain that this IS NOT A GAME! I mean can you imagine the conversation:

“This is not a game”
“Why?”
“Because it is for money”
“Monopoly has money”
“That is play money”
“Well those chips do not look real”
“Well they are not but you can cash them in for real money”
“SO IT IS A GAME!”
“This is not a game”
“Why?”

So I am passing the pain on. Will Full Tilt ever run into Joe Camel type legal issues? If online gambling becomes legal will this hamper them in any way? Will Bush go on a rampage and bomb India to remove the corrupt, un-christian, Full Tilt scourge! Just thought this might be an interesting question. I actually love Full Tilt and I am 82.5% sure they are not marketing to children. That nagging 17.5% though..

It's really funny..

It is super funny how stats can be so skewed in one session. Here are my big winners and losers over 105 hands:

Top Ten Winners
73o,QQ,k6s,t4s,AQs,J8s,AKo,KK,JJ,K2o

Of those hands half were played as the BB. Goes to show why you need to raise pre-flop, even with hands like TT.

Top Ten Losers:
TT,AA,K9s,JTs,Q3s,AKs,65o,AJs,77,J2s

Nothing too scary there except AA and AKs. Now as time goes by and I get 1000, 2000, 20000 hands everything will even out and the world will look different. Until then the bad shall be good and the good shall be bad.

I RULE!

I did not think I was a loose fucking passive player. No fucking way. So I found some games I forgot to purge and I became TA-P. Need to work on that last P, but what the hell, it is better than a calling station.

SlP-P

lol. Jesus. I erased all my stats except today and this is what I get? Ouch! Well hopefully it is a fluke. A statistical abnormality. I did not feel particularly loose or passive. Up $14 in a couple of hours of play. Not too bad. Worst hand of the day: AA cracked by 78o for 4.50. I could have lost more, but with the straight on the board and him 3-betting me on the flop, I decided to check-call his 78o down. The funny think is my best hand was 73o. I limped as the BB, had pot odds to call my straight draw on the flop with four people in. Made a VULNERABLE straight using both the 3 and the seven. Check-Raised the turn. Got two callers. I even got those two to pay me off on the river. Not too bad. The most dissapointing hand was when my K9 turned a straight only to be rivered by a gutshot. Biatch! Oh well. Whatcha gonna do? I guess I want her to call my raises on the turn with nothing every day.

Soccer

Did the soccer thing today. Nothing like that heart attack feeling in your chest chasing around your six year old. The upside was he did really well. I think I might have taught him something. He ended up having a nice cut up the field move he used in his game. Kick it around me with the left foot, when I stuble trying to turn around, run up field and score. Very nice. It was fun seeing him do that to a few of the evil Purple Team. He did not score but he played well.

What kind of freaking town have I moved to anyways. People come and play soccer with there kids in Gucci loafers and kacki's. HELLO! I feel so much like sticking my foot out when you run by. I resist.

Poker day one was good. Single table. .25/.50. I ended up a whole nine bucks in an hours worth of play. Not bad. The hands of note were K6 hitting MY second pair on the turn against K7. Very funny. I even raised the turn but he thought his K7 was good. Folded alot of QJo's and crap like that I think I had gotten into the habit of playing. I am being very serious when I say if SSHE does not say to play it I am not. The only other hand of note was when my T4o stood up against three people. I was LMAO when all the small cards kept coming and the other three people kept calling. I halfway though someone had slow played Aces or something but I was good.

A ten high is a tricky hand to play. Your basically hoping everyone folds to your flop bet. If any card J or higher hits you really can not continue with any certainty. I was lucky that small cards kept falling.

I think I may have figured out what went wrong with my game. I think when my wife took my TV out of here I had nothing to distract me between hands. Not good. Makes me want to play more. So I think I need a TV in here.

Foxwoods is still on for this weekend, although my buddy John might bail out. Idddiiiot. I did this thing with you in mind. We planed a month ahead. What is your problems? I swear if he cancels I am going to kick his ass. I will still be going with another friend though.

Poker Blog: Day 1

Know what I miss about poker. That superior feeling. Like nah nah, I am better than you! I mean fuck that felt good. Sneering down at all the losers. Lol. Now I have joined their merry bunch. I am not even sure why either. Anyway for today I have decided to go back and forget everything I know about poker. I am going to just read page 80 of SSHE and only play hands that it says I should. Fold everything else. Play limit. See what happens.

So... Hello, my name is Sir and I have decided to write a Poker blog. It will probably lead to me getting a swelled head and let everyone out there have a good laugh, but what the hell, it sounds like fun anyways. I will keep you posted with every tiny detail until you are so nauseated you can not stop coming back. Wish me luck!

Sigh

Well, I played two freerolls today. AA gets creamed by 89o. Hey, whats a few hundred buck pre-flop call between friends. I overplayed the flop on that one. Oh well. I felt worse about my play than the idiot who called my 10xBB raise with 89. The second freeroll on Full Tilt pissed me off to no end. I had JJ. The blinds were 50/100. Only four places paid and I had 2K left. So I decide to push with JJ. I get called by q9. Of COURSE a Q hits the flop. I mean wtf! Oh, and btw, in case anyone did not get the reference, I am doing BadBloods homework assignment: Write a ficticious story about your experience at the WSOP. Anyway. I can not wait until the 21st. That should at leats be a new experience.

BadBlood's Homework: Part I

I remember the day I won the entry to the WSOP. Who knew what a strange turn of events it would spark. I figured it would be fun to go and meet the bloggers. If I survived that it would all be well worth it.

It all started innocently enough. I deposited my fifty bucks into Poker Stars for one of the many WBPT sanctioned tourneys that had become the more frequent as the biggest event in poker grew nearer. I figured I was dead money. It is hard enough to win a tournament when everyone you are playing against is a fish, but when you take on people who are as serious about poker as the bloggers it becomes damn near impossible. I have always found it fun to play in these games though. Knocking out people who you respect is a lot of fun. I started my warm-up to the competition my usual way: by losing the other seventeen bucks left from my deposit. I figured I was not going to build a roll on Poker Stars so I might as well have some fun at 100/NL. Of course, with that little money, after a few blinds you basically are all in anyways so unless you get really lucky you’re not going to win.

I felt my normal trepidation and excitement as the tables for the tournament started filling up. I am the eternal optimist, and the foul pessimist all wrapped into one. The alpha and the omega. The beginning and the end. A schizophrenic minor deity of the poker blogger world. I always start these things with the best of intentions. I figure if I play a tight game and catch a few cards I can do well. Inevitably I always end up feeling a little dejected. Having my stack eaten away by bad beat after bad beat. Playing marginal hands too hard. Always seeming to end up just outside of the bubble. At least there were only eighty people to beat this time.

I hardly recognized anyone at my starting table. I have trouble keeping the online site names in line with the blog names anyways, especially since some people change there site names more than I change my underwear. However I really was clueless as to who this bunch was. The universe that is bloggerdome grows and contracts at such a high rate of speed that it is nearly impossible to keep track. Different factions spin off and form there own little universes at alarming rates. Each one bringing something somewhat unique to the whole entity. It is really very amazing.

The table chatter was incessant as usual. My kind of game. If there are two things that bring my game up a notch they are verbal banter and verbal abuse. The later being more fun. I am always on the lookout for someone who wants to start something. It keeps me distracted between hands and I am more willing to wait for something good. I decided to stay away from the Yahoo! chat this time since it was a little too distracting.

The first hour nothing really huge happened. A few of the well know bloggers took some bad beats and were knocked out. It was kind of sad to see Pauly make a set with his Hiltons only to lose to a rivered set of Aces that were overplayed on the flop. Damn those Hiltons! Nobody told me how Otis got knocked out but I am sure it was something similar. Texas was down to the felt as usual, and a few of the lesser known bloggers had met there fate.

One of my only big hands in the first hour was when I made a loose call with a flush draw. Hell, if he wanted me to fold he needed to bet something worth while.

“I can not believe you fucking called with that you asshole”, my nemesis typed in the chat.

“I had pot odds” I replied, fully knowing that I did not. Fuck him though. If he wants to start shit then let’s go.

“You did not even have close to pot odds you moron”, he replied, “You needed to be getting 4:1 and you barely had 2.7584:1”.

“Close enough” I snickered.

“WHAT!!!” he screamed in outrage, “How the hell can you say that!”

“I won didn’t I?” was my reply.

Shortly after he was finished off by another player with a slightly questionable hand. The Poker gods frowned on him this day. They are a fickle lot. Sometimes opening up a world of opportunity and other times crashing down upon you like an angry wave of fury. Only the rocks survive. The one’s who have been there for so long that the crashing waves no longer do much damage to them, except polishing their already smoothly worn surfaces.

Next Entry: Part TWO. The Poker Stars tourney heats up as I start playing some of the bloggers I know. The railbirds take up the cry: Sir! Sir! Sir!. The river giveth and taketh and giveth some more.

Degenrate Poker Blogger

I think quitting poker, or cutting back, is a good thing. I definitely was playing too much. Getting too wrapped up in the whole thing. I really thought it would be a nice, easy, way to make some money. I mean why wouldn’t I? I spent the first five months of my “poker career” basically avoiding variance. Imaging my surprise when it came back with a vengeance. I mean I absolutely hit barely any variance in my first run to 3K. Looking back it is really amazing. I am not sure if my style of play has changed to a more variance prone style or what. I really want to think about this. Is the optimal style of play weak passive? Bet when you have a hand, raise when you have the nuts, check-call when your almost positive your good. Fold everything else. I think it makes for lower variance, slower growth. Anyways.. I will have some time to analyze.

The next poker action I see will be a live game the 21st at Foxwoods. Until then posting will be slower. I might try a freeroll or so before then. Who knows. If I do hit the tables again I want it to be a small hobby. Something to do on a Friday night for a few bucks and some enjoyment. I have given up the idea that I can make money playing poker. Right now it is not true and is not going to be my focus. I will leave the money making to the Iggy, Felicia and Otis’s of the world. The other thing I will be doing is Bad Bloods assignment. I might as well go to the WSOP if I am not playing poker, if that makes any sense at all.

I thank everyone for their comments. The best thing about poker so far has been the great people I have met. Felicia, keep being honest, it suits you. I am one of the few people in the world that takes things like that pretty well. Thanks to the Glyphs, Aeq’s, Chief Big Tokes and Texas’s of the world who have watched me play this game. It is always fun. The blogger tables were the best. Especially when I had a huge bankroll. They were fun as hell. Teasing Iggy about his “tell”, heh. Sucking out on people. Just playing the game for the fun of it was great. I could mention everyone’s name here but it would get boring fast. Ok wtf: paulyDAbadbloodGOBERUDEhellaANIsoopahDRIZmournDUGGLEal.. ok, my brain doesn’t work well, I am sure I have missed a lot of people. Anyhoo keep checking in.. I will post when I feel like it. I will play when I feel like playing. Everything is just going on the back burner for a while.

I quit

I have had it with poker. Cya. I do not think I have the mentality for poker. Also I am starting to beleive if you put enough monkeys at a poker table you will get rivered every single time. It gets to the point where it is pure luck to win a hand, because 8 other people are seeing the river. I know, this is supposed to be a good thing. Bah! I have had it. I am taking a break. Next post will be sometime in June. I guess I at least owe you guys the secret mystery of my name.. however it probably is not worth waiting for.

Stud MTT and SNG

Played in the 10/1 Stud MTT. If you like stud these MTTs are fun. I think first place is usually about 1K. However I only made like 33rd place for a grand total win of 11 bucks. Which I am now pissing away on an SNG. I do not know why I never win these SNGs. Oh well. I got reamed bad on a hand I was sorta bluffing. I raise with an A door card and one guy calls me. I bet 4th street, he raises, I re-raise, he goes all in. He has nothing. Well, neither do I but he ends up hitting a Q and I do not improve. Next hand I went out with JJ vs AK getting his K. Oh well. Whatcha gonna do. I had fun anyways.

Hey what the hell. I actually won one of these SNGs. Cool. Of course on my cash table I dropped my winnings by playing trip 9’s vs Quad J’s. Ah well.

#*()*()#)(*#)*()*(#@ Holdem

God dammit. Why the hell do I torture myself by playing Holdem? I entered the freeroll tourney and got to 166th place out of 2159 people. Yes, that is impressive. What is more impressive is how I got taken out. I had 7K in chips. My opponent had 8K. I had QT in the SB. The blinds were 600. He had 8K in chips. The flop is QJx. I bet hard. He calls. The turn is an x. I bet the POT which basically puts him almost out if he loses. He calls. The river is an all important 5. I only have 2K left to bet by now so I go all in. Only to be beaten by J5o. Thank you very much you &*(#(&*#&*(@#*(&*(#&*(*(@*(@ moron.

Stud was not much better tonight. I went up $100 and then lost $100 to basically break even. I think if I can learn to leave when I am up I can make alot playing stud.

Da Grind

Crazy ass Stud grinding going on. Not too much to talk about. The bankroll is back to healthy status at $300. I think I should be able to quadruple up every night playing Stud. I mean I have a 4 floosh or more on the board and overcards and people want to play chicken with a pair of sixes. Hey they won that hand, pissed me off, but keep building my bankroll that way idiots. Are flooshes good to bet? My usual line in Stud is to wait until I have the 4 floosh and then keep betting it until I lose or it pays off. Last night I missed a ton of 4 flooshes and 4 straights. I even had a 4 floosh, straight, straight floosh going on and never improved. Ah well. Do you ever slow down with these? I can not see how you get paid off if you do. Even though EVERYONE yells at me when I make these hands on the river. Hell I had three cards to go why not? Anyone have any advice here? Keep playing them hard? Slow down somewhere? I guess I will figure it out.

Stud Eight is Great

Sorry I have not written. I think most people would get bored of Stud since you all are such HE junkies. I am enjoying the change of pace though. I have decided that S8 is more profitable than Hi alone. More people (including me sometimes) chasing that low, and a chance to split if you are wrong about your high or low being good. It also adds the challenge of figuring out if someone has a great hand or is just trying to catch the low.

Work is most EXCELLENT. I am developing again! Woo hoo! The environment is the best. I can dress like a slob, I get free food, and all the COKE I can DRINK! WOOT! It also does not hurt that people think I am a genius. Who can blame them? Working with creative advertising people is very interesting. It looks like the position could turn into a head of Microsoft Programming technologies type position which would be pretty cool. However before I get ahead of myself I will wait and see.

One thing I can not get the hang of is the SNGs. The stud SNGs kick my ass. Oh well. Someday maybe.

The bankroll is nursing itself back up. It will be a while before it gets back to 1300. Playing limit games by nature means winning 20 one night, losing 5, winning 10, etc.. etc.. ad nasium. So I expect it to take a lot longer to get the roll to a healthy level.

"I am glad to see someone else find the seven card stud tables a dream to play on at Party Poker. I have been playing the .5/1 for a while, made around $700 in about 8 months mostly playing those tables."

Hey thanks for the info. It has been fun doing something different. If anyone has any tips on stud they would like to share that would be cool. Here is SirF's basic strategy as understood from the few books he has tried to read. I know I need something better.

Starting Hands:
For the most part these are the hands I will see a 4th card with.

3-flush. If I have a 3-Flush dealt to me I will always see a 4th card. However I might not do so if I see 2 or more of my suit in other people's hands.

3-Straight. Same as a 3-flush. Looking at other people's hands to tell if alot of my cards are used.

4-Trips. Woo hoo! Best starting hand in Stud I think! I have seen one so far and it got cracked. However this is great to see.

5-Pockets. I like playing pockets. I really want to see them improve quickly though.

6-Big Cards. Things that work together. I will see a 4th card with two overs, where everyone else seems to have small cards, etc.. Or if I have two big cards and my ace suits up with a smaller card or something. These are much fishier and I am probably playing too many of these.

Fourth Street:
I really want my flushes and straights to be defined here. I will look at another card but it is nice to have my 4-flush or 4-straight here. Otherwise I am looking to fold.

If I have pockets I want to make sure there bigger than anything I see out there. I would love to get trips or two pair here. Not necessary. Really depends on what other people are showing in there hands. If someone has a nice flush working and I only have a small pair I will consider dumping my hand.

Fifth Street:
Here is where I drop off alot of hands. My Flush or straight better be 4 cards. I should have a high pair and other people's hands must not have anything. If I decide to proceed from here I think I am ahead and I am comitted until the end.

So anyway, some really basic play on my part. Probably all wrong. I have no idea when to ram the pot. I also think I chase certain hands too far. I think I should be able to make 4x buyin two tabling. So around 100 per night. So far I am making 1x buyin. I am not complaining. I just think if I played better, I.E. "Knew what the hell I was doing", I could do alot better.