Something Worth Sharing

So I saw this post from Poker Grump today and ever since I started following @phPokerMgr a couple weeks ago, I have been really impressed with how he is using Twitter to tune in to his player/customer base, not to mention build a reputation for himself and Planet Hollywood. To summarize, since there's a lot to catch up on if you didn't read the original post, Grump and others saw some inconsistency in the logic around table changes and what chips you take with you according to the PH poker room rules, and Mr. Viator, instead of chalking it up to players bitching about rules and @ mentioning him to rub it in, took the time to dive into the issue, and actually discovered that the rule was, in fact, errant according to his own philosophy/stance/perception as well.

To me, this is a great example of using Twitter to your advantage and the advantage of your followers and patrons. Customers had feedback, Mr. Viator was in tune with the feedback, and in the end a wrong was righted by someone in agreement and with the power to do so, everyone involved was happier, and Planet Hollywood & phPokerMgr gained some pretty solid credibility. Note the players promising to play there in light of the conversation and the positive PR that will come of being exposed on a very popular poker blog. Using a Twitter account as a mix of business and personal is quite a tightrope, but so far Mr. Viator seems to be doing a *great* job, and it stands to revolutionize the image of the PH poker room if he can continue to expand his footprint.

Personally, I know that the PH Poker Room has always pretty much been an afterthought as far as desireable rooms to play in go, but as I prepare to celebrate my 30th in Vegas in June and am likely looking to actually stay *at* PH, I'm now quite a bit less likely to take my poker business to MGM, Venetian, or Caesars, knowing that the PH poker room is being managed by a caring, engaging personality concerned with its patrons' experience. Not to mention the name-dropping he does of the people who show up to play! ;-) Of course, I'll have to go where the action is, surely Mr. Viator understands that. ;-)

Incidentally, I have one poker playing experience @ PH (Aladdin at the time, to be fair) on my second trip to Vegas in '05. I played a SNG there, possibly my first live casino poker experience, definitely my first live casino poker experience in Vegas. So just nervous as hell and already on edge, action moved 2-3 players past me as I had yet to act, and as this creepy/crazy guy (thick, old style glasses, headphones, stocking cap, and disheveled demeanor) at the end of the table was cautioned about playing out of turn, he proceeded to go off on me about hiding my cards, to the extent of calling over the floor and having me reprimanded. Of course I wasn't angle shooting, I'm just 6'5" and my hands are a wee bit bigger than the size of a playing card, and while I'll admit to having my cards hidden, having just started playing I figured I could treat my cards like I wanted, it was up to the other players at the table to track the action appropriately, and I couldn't even begin to consider the angle shooting ramifications at the time of having them covered. It was at that point that I became very vigilant of following proper rules and ettiquite...not that I was being previously ignorant, I just didn't really wanna get reamed again by the table whackjob. Anyway, the story and the building will always hold a special place in my heart, and the joke to not cover my cards gets busted out on a regular basis at our monthly game.

So there's your personal poker content from me for this post.

BTW, I just have to say again that Poker Grump is just one of the best reads on the web. Its a perfect mix of strategy, hand analysis, poker industry insight, and the intriguing idiosyncrasies of being a Vegas grinder, all polished off with Poker Grump's own brand of charm. He gets a little grumpy, stodgy, & crotchedy from time to time, but he wouldn't be The Grump if he didn't!

As for me, I come to my blog and see its been 3 months again since I last posted. Pretty disgusting. But again I have to state that the lack of posting is in direct correlation with the lack of playing and the arrival of my first born. I have actually managed some decent duration cash sessions and a handfull of SNGs, but not enough worth blogging about. I have a couple of screen shots I need to share, but alas, I never even have time/never think about doing that.

As each day passess my little one gets a little more self-sustaining for longer periods of time, of which I'd love to fill with poker, but until that opportunity arrives this spot will remain neglected. For certain, though, I can tell you that I'll be taking my annual "poker pro for a week" week off between Christmas & New Year's, which I dedicate to as much poker as I can possibly stomach between the laptop and the local casino. Its tended to be a losing endeavour, but admittedly its because I'm like a junkie on a binge, playing as many hands as I can and chasing after big scores, than playing good, smart, focused poker. Naturally I always hope for the opposite, and this year I really feel like I'm understanding the game and how to win a lot more, so as long as I play with some discipline, I could make a nice little profit to bask in going into 2010. I'll need all the bankroll I can get looking forward to my Vegas trip in June.

That's it for now. Thanks for stopping.

Slow & Steady Wins the Race?

Sorry for the lack of posting lately. I assure you it is in direct correlation to a lack of playing.

However, before it got away from me I did want to post about my best live tournament performance to date. On 8/9 I went out to the local casino and played their weekly $60 Sunday tournament. In the past I've had lots of success in this tournament, and this outing was no different.

There really isn't a whole lot to the story. The structure isn't great, but you do get play for the first 90-120 minutes. Of course, during that time period I saw nary a hand and was essentially even due to blinding off, one small pot won, and a couple of scoops. At that point I went into push or fold mode and stayed there for the remainder of the tournament, all the way to a 4th place finish out of about 120 players.

The details are already getting blurry, so I think my best summary is the one I sent to my brother-in-law, recapping things the Monday morning after:

Yesterday felt like I would imagine it was supposed to feel to navigate your way through a tournament. I never got nervous, just knew what I had to do and played it as smart and deliberately as I could. It didn't hurt that I played push or fold basically from 2:00 to when I busted (5ish). On the one hand its an easy 50/50 decision, but on the other you're putting your tourney life @ risk so you'd better damn sure be right about it. I even made some plays that I wouldn't typically make, but I thought every one of them through, made what I felt like was the right decision, and was right every time. I won coin flips, too, so obviously if that hadn't happened it'd be a different story. I got a lot of compliments on how I played when I busted, from final table people I played with early, middle, and (obviously) late, so that felt good. I mean, to me, I didn't do anything terribly earth shattering, but to know that my perceived table image was that of a strong, respectable player, means what I was doing, I did right. They didn't see me as a pushmonkey, they saw me as a player making strong moves and good decisions, and a force to be reconed with. Or, maybe everybody was making $800 at a minimum so there was no reason to be disrespectful at that point. :-)

When I busted, the blinds were 10k/20k/2k with like 375k in play, so needless to say nobody had a lot of big blinds in their stack. Although in general the structure wasn't terrible. I feel like its missing a couple of levels, but I think it was also fair for $60 and in the casino's interest of getting it over reasonably quickly. If you were fortunate to have a big stack you could play some poker, if not you just needed to get 'em in the middle and hope to survive. And survive I did.

I wish I could play that tourney every weekend. Its ridiculously soft. I can't believe how many people are putting significant portions of their stacks at risk with non-all-in raises when the blinds get big. The structure is *decent*. You basically get play the first hour and 40 mins or so, and if you manage to accumulate a stack you can play for longer. But if you haven't managed to accumulate chips by then, you need to be shipping your stack and putting people to a decision. But people are putting out pathetic raises that big stacks can call easy, then if you miss the flop you have to check-fold or fold to a bet because the big stacks can bet any flop. If you can manage to keep 5-10 big blinds in your stack, the big stacks are WAY less apt to call light, and that's how I skated through from 60+ people left down to 4. Push or fold w/less than 10 BBs may be the most valuable piece of tournament advice I've ever read. Every now and then you'll push a little light in late position and run into a monster, but that's just unlucky. If you're careful about what hands you're pushing in what position, more often than not it gives you control, gives off no information other than you're willing to put your tourney life at stake, puts your opponents to a decision, and even if you don't get called, at that stage there's enough out there in blinds and antes that if you can scoop 1-3 times an orbit its enough to grow your stack w/o even getting to a flop. One can improve their chances to win a tournament probably 50, if not 75% just by sticking to that basic philosophy, but usually people are so afraid of going broke, they blind themselves off hoping to catch a monster, and then wonder what someone's doing calling their 2.5xBB all-in with 89 and beating their AK. I should know. I remember being that guy, and I'm kicking myself for all the money I lost being that guy.

Anyway, I'll climb down off my soap box. Needless to say it was fun and I'm really happy w/the way things went.

So, in the end I actually got my money in good w/AJvK10, but I had won an earlier 60/40 on my biggest mistake of the tournament (I didn't realize a guy had committed himself to the pot when I shoved, but managed to win, thankfully), I had chopped a 70/30 (AJvAx) earlier at the final table, and I had won a lot of flips, so losing a 60/40 to bust is certainly not the end of the world. And I feel like I got the first of the good payouts, making about 10x my buyin, whereas 5th & 6th made about 5-6x, although the 3rd-1st payouts were something to write home about! But I'm really happy with the way things went, and this makes for my 3rd cash out of either 5 or 6 tries in this particular tournament, which as anyone who knows tournament poker knows is pretty remarkable. Its just so damn soft.

I haven't run the numbers yet, but this win *may* have officially made me a winning player on life. I dumped an ugly amount of money in 2005 (the dark days) and have been determined to recover from that ever since, and I know I'm either really really close, or now officially a winning player, which is a giant accomplishment, and as I continue to make progress, I continue to hope for better things to come.

In other news, PokerStars recently ran a promotion where you could take a quiz on their VIP program and get an automatic bump to GoldStar VIP status if you pass. So I've been a GoldStar on Stars since the middle of July and get to keep the status through the end of August. Committed to taking advantage of this and maintaining the status I have played a whopping 2 SNGs during this time. *rolls eyes* I also have the Full Tilt bonus currently active and have yet to play one hand to try and clear it. But I've been busy, and poker hasn't been a focus.

Speaking of being busy, I've gotta split for now. My wife and I had our first baby last Monday, and I've been wasting the morning away at the computer, so I'd better go hang out w/the little fella, because I hear before you know it they're all grown up. :-)

Thanks for checking in, and all the best to everyone on the felt!

Moving Down

Welp, so much for .10/.25 NL. Played another 500 hands tonight and just got it handed to me. More brutal beats, couldn't flop a thing when I stepped out with a marginal hand, and no action when I really wanted/needed it (hey, look @ that...just got a walk w/AA). Even though they'd probably suck out if they tried. So back to .05/.10 it is for me. Maybe I'll get a halfway decent rakeback payment though. *rolls eyes*

I also played a couple of the PokerStars Steps toward a WSOP seat. No hands in the first one, forced to fold AK preflop after a re-raise. Then in the 2nd one I played, I had KK beat by 10s after being up early, managed to survive to final 5, then jammed 10J and called by A8. Had an open-ender & flush draw by turn but bricked the river. Then, to finish me off, I pick up QQ all-in in the big blind and get beat by Q10, when he makes a straight. ALL IN ONE SNG.

So I continue to be the butt of online poker site's jokes. You'd think I'd get used to it, but when the object of the game is to get your money in good and win other people's chips, for some reason I just have a hard time shrugging it off.

Later.

Recockulous

Hey all. Sorry I haven't been posting much. Just been busy, haven't played a lot, and when I have, its not much to post about. I'll have SHORT stretches where I feel like I'm playing well and thank the lord I'm running well, but overall I continue to run like...well...me.

Tonight I played a couple of 18-max SNGs and about 460 hands of .10/.25 NL. In my first SNG I was cruising along really well in about 5th or 6th of 10 when I picked up AK in mid-late position. I raised about 3.75x and get called by one of the bigger stacks in the SB. I don't remember the exact details of the hand, but when all was said and done the board read 3K2K4 and I was broke to his 33. Any way the action goes in that hand I don't think I'm getting away from going broke, and I can't imagine there are many players on this planet who are either. Such a sick cooler. In my other SNG I caught a nice hidden draw right off in the first level and had a nice stack going already. I messed around and got caught stealing in a pot and immediately pick up KK, and with my credibility shot in the eyes of my tablemates, I'm seeing dollar signs. I limp in UTG+1 and it gets raised 3x two seats behind me and called in a couple other places. I pop it 3x more and get a call from the original raiser and UTG. Sparing the details, the original raiser and I got it all-in on the flop and my KK had run straight into AA, and I found myself down around 1/2 a starting stack. I managed to survive to 7th when I jammed about 5BBs w/8 10s on the button and got called by 99 in the BB. Flop came 9JK, giving me life, the 9 on the turn shut me down hard. Yeah I got my money in pretty bad, do I have to pick up KK against AA when I'm rolling early, and can I at least have live cards when I jam the button w/8 10 and at least get my sweat all the way through the river? Its just so brutal.

The cash session was something else. I sat down at a regular NL table and a deep NL table, and it was 3x points Happy Hour, so the action was pretty good all around. I managed to run my stack up 100 BBs at the deep table pretty early with one gutsy play and some decent cards, but was getting brutalized at the other table. Lost w/66v55 on a 577 flop (villian was a short stack all-in for $5 on flop, thankfully), then lost w/AKvAJs on an A-high board when he rivered a flush after I priced him out with a turn raise. I raised PF, bet the flop, the A came on the turn and I check-raised. Anyway, I ended up getting stacked and had to reload on that table when I made a river two pair that made villian a straight, meanwhile steadily giving away all my profit and then some at the deep stack table.

Toward the end of the session I admit to playing very tilty, taking big risks to try and win big pots. I wouldn't even so much call it tilty as much as experimental as a result of frustration. :-) I've been watching a lot of Tom Dwan lately and really love the way he plays. I don't so much want to be as all-out reckless as him, but I'd love to figure out how to mix it up, be unpredictable, and win huge pots when I make big hands like he does. The problem I was running into last night was whenever I would try and represent big hands while actually holding garbage, it was like they could see my cards or actually had the hands I was representing and they were popping me every time. Meanwhile, every time I would think about mixing it up with an off-color hand but give it up because of position or some such extranneous factor, of course I'd flop the joint and miss out on a big pot. One hand in particular saw me hesitate over a 57s in EP in an already 5x raised and called pot, only to give it up and proceed to have made a full house in a pot that went all the way to the river with two big pocket pairs.

Anyway, in the end I was down as much as probably $30, if not maybe more, but cashed out about $7 down after finally making some hands late. I probably shouldn't have quit as I may have finally been teetering on the brink of "heater" status, but it was getting late-ish, and I had told my wife one more orbit but it had been more like three (and yet here I am blogging). So it was an interesting session. On the one hand I wish I'd have made a few more hands, but on the other, while it felt reckless and tilty at times I feel like I did make a handfull of good plays, as well as a handfull of mistakes, and learned a lot about getting involved and mixing it up. I also liked .10/.25 a lot more than .05/.10 so hopefully I can make this level work. Its one of those levels where you're still not playing for a lot of money from pot to pot, but it can start to add up a lot faster than .05/.10. I know I probably shouldn't have jumped a level AND changed my style of play, but hey, I don't get to play much, so I gotta do what I can to advance.

So I'm still not running great, but I do have my moments where the sites are throwing me a bone. I'm still working on trying to secure a Main Event package through PokerStars steps, but I've been trying to maintain a bankroll at the same time, and as little as I play (and as much as I lose :-) ) it doesn't leave a lot of opportunity to focus on that. I have been mixing in Step 1s as often as I can, and at the moment have about seven Step 2 tickets. I'm thinking at this point I'll quit trying to supplement w/SNGs and losing, play another 10 or so Step 1s, and then start to move on. Mathematically it doesn't put me anywhere near in a position for a ME package to be a solid bet, but if I can catch a few breaks and maybe run good for a day or two, its certainly not impossible. Worst case scenario I can get some Step 4 tix, which are good for Sunday Million entry, and hopefully some last chance ME sats which usually end up with quite a few seats up for grabs.

If anyone reads this, do you know if you have to use your first ME package you win @ Stars? Obviously I would likely opt to keep the money if I actually won one, but if you were required to play it, it certainly would make for a helluva experience.

So that's my story. I still feel good about 2009. I don't forsee getting to play any more than I typically do for the next few weeks with summer in full swing, but I think I'm gonna take a couple weeks off when my wee one arrives in August, which hopefully means a few hours a day. I also will be finding a time sooner rather than later for some cash and probably a tourney or two @ the local casino. I've been putting that off since January. I still love and feel like I am better at live poker, it just takes more time, dedicated focus (ie I can't do it in my kitchen while cooking dinner) and bankroll. So I really get amped to play live. When I'm not able to play, I'm doing my best to study. Continuing to watch High Stakes Poker and Poker After Dark, reading blogs, and I need to crack Negreanu's book which I got for Christmas. But I feel good about 2009. I'm gonna have a breakthrough, damn it! All the pieces are there, I just need that magical moment that everything comes together. But until then, I continue to grow as a player, and enjoy playing whether I'm winning or losing, because I know if I just continue to do my best, my time will come.

It Couldn't be Going Worse

Just wanted to check in quick and update that I am back to running bad. Or for me, about normal.

My log of my last 20 or so SNGs reads like a bad beat manual, with me getting sucked out on or getting cold-decked so hard its like its...normal. AA and KK are garbage, and I barely get a draw, let alone get there when I have one.

I was hoping to bankroll myself for a little SCOOP on PokerStars. Instead, I'm bankrolling myself for $1.20 SNGs. Well, not quite yet.

But close.

Right now I'm breaking my bankroll rules for the first time in a couple years. I should've moved down to the $5.50 level for certain by now, but I've got 2 $11 tables up and running as I type this.

The way 2009 started it, I thought things might be different. I honestly believe I'm playing about as well as I ever have, pushing my edges and putting pressure on my opponents. I've even worked on plugging a leak that started to become very obvious. I posted on Twitter the other day (@WindBreak247) that I may be the best in the world at getting my money in good, but I can't sweat an out to save my life. Usually, literally, my tournament life. 2-4 outs and you're in good shape...6+ and you may as well be a favorite.

Its really depressing. I try so hard to be disciplined and play good poker, and I got no luck when there's nothing left but cards to be laid on the table.

Anyway, that's probably enough whining. I just hoped that maybe if I posted, a little good vibes might be sent my way.

Speaking of posting, I'd love to be posting more, but unfortunately it'd be all like this. Its no fun to talk about or read about playing well and losing. So I'm sparing you the pity parties.

Please keep your eyes on this space, as I'm not giving up. Someday, somehow, I will make this a profitable, meaningful hobby, but right now I need some sort of spiritual intervention or something, because I have been plagued since the day I started this game.

Thanks for checkin' in.

Doom Switch Activated

After starting the year pretty hot, the online sites have flipped the doom switch on me something fierce. I can't do anything right. I raise & miss. I call & miss. I got something, they got more. I get in ahead, they catch up. I can't flop a set, I can't flop a draw, and if happen to, you'd better believe it won't fill. I can't remember the last time I had anything better than 2 pair, and usually my 2 pair are getting beat by someone making a better two pair on the turn or river.

I have cashed in 8 of my last 40 SNGs, ranging anywhere from 9-45 players. Luckily 5 of those cashes have been 9-man wins so my bankroll isn't yet swirling the drain, but it sure as shiznit isn't any fun. Especially when I'm playing my heart out and just getting snapped off at every turn.

It needs to stop soon. I'm about to go looney.

Still Here

Just wanted to stop by real quick and let everyone know that I'm still alive and kicking, and still love poker, I just have been overwhelmed the past 3-4 weeks with my recent move. Its not a lack of posting for once, its a lack of playing. I have played about 4 SNGs (0 cashes...I'm rusty) and 20 minutes of .05/.10 NL since my last post, and/or since we moved on 1/23. I'm starting to get back to some semblance of normal life again, which means hopefully getting back into things, including playing and posting.

Please don't forget about me. I'm looking for a big 2009!

Take care. Talk soon.

2008 Results

Well, up until now, I have not ever been able to put up a results post because A) I didn't track my play, and B) I had nothing to be proud of. That all changes for 2008.

While I won't be playing pro for a living in 2009 by any stretch of the imagination, I am 95% sure I had my first profitable year. The breakdown is as follows:

Online Misc - ($72.03) - 3033 Hands
This category is the only one in 2008 that saw me in the red and includes satellites, shootouts, steps, my Battle of the Planets payout, and the Stars "Double or Nothings". Obviously there's room for improvement in this category. I really got rocked when I experimented with about 16 of the Turbo Double or Nothings one day, otherwise it looks as if this category would've been profitable, too. So I'm not too concerned about what I lost here.

Online Cash - $70.83 - 124 sessions - Avg. $.57/session - 9905 Hands
While I played anywhere from $.01/.02 NL on Stars to a couple of quick sessions of $.10/.25 NL, I primarily played $.05/.10 NL on Full Tilt. Obviously I didn't play a lot, and that's not because I don't like cash or anything. In fact, I really enjoy it and think I could play it profitably online. I would just prefer to play a little more meaningful stakes if I'm going to be playing cash and earning rakeback. Therefore I continue to cut my teeth primarily in SNGs and MTTs, trying to snag some sort of a bankroll breakthrough. But its nice to mix in a weekend of cash on Full Tilt maybe a weekend every month or two and earn some rakeback. If I can ever get rolled for even $.25/.50 or $.50/$1, I think I would be significantly more inclined to play cash more often.

Online MTT - $86.84 - 51 Tourneys - Avg. Buyin $7.60 - Avg. Finish 940/2638 - 5606 Hands
I'm proud to have turned a profit, albeit a small one, in MTTs. While the big cash I'm after continues to elude me, I am proud of consistently finishing in the top 35% or so of the MTTs I play. I am happy with the occasional micro to medium cash to remain profitable and keep myself bankrolled for MTTs, and think the breakthrough is coming. But the end of the year and a couple glimpses at missed final table opportunities definitely has me starting to understand why the successful MTT players live by a hard and fast motto of "go big or go home", because there is nothing exciting about being a consistent micro to medium casher, and the hunger for more is burning pretty hard for me right now. And I think the nourishment I'm after lies in the 6:15 PM CST $11 1R1A. Bottom line, I am thrilled to have been profitable for MTTs in 2008, but for 2009 I would almost rather see a big negative or a big positive.

Live - $213 - 25 various sessions
For 2008 this category included 12 monthly homegames ($5 tourneys, one rebuy @ the end of the night, $.25/$.50 NL side games), 6 $1/2 NL sessions & one $3/6 Limit session, one casino tourney that I FTed, & another small collection of various homegames with similar low stakes to the regular game. It was nice to make a small live profit this year, including an 11 months & counting profitability streak at the monthly game. I didn't play nearly as much in a casino as I did in 2007, which I despise, but also don't regret. Try and figure that one out. But with any luck, 2009 will provide more opportunity to do so, because I think my game is in much better shape to be profitable. But for this year, I was happy to nickle and dime a little money in the homegames and keep the big money in my pocket. The key for 2008 was bankroll management and focusing on fundamentals online.

Online SNG - $254.80 - 401 SNGs - Avg. Buyin $6.52 - Avg. Finish 5.37/12.07 - 30281 Hands
Its no secret that I consider this my bread and butter. While I may not pull huge numbers, this is what I do and have played the most of, and know the strategy best for. In a horrendous skid eventually ending in going broke on Full Tilt at the end of 2007, I only played one SNG on there for my last $1.25. The other 400 were at Stars, where I took money I made from a couple of freerolls and bounced around from $1.20 to $5.50 to $11 and back down between January & July, then finally made a pretty quick progression through $5.50 to $11 by September, finally dipping into $22s at the end of September but running horribly. So I eventually found my home at $11 throughout the end of the year. What's fun is I saw marked improvement over the course of the 2nd half of the year and think my SNG game is on point. I'm finding it a lot easier to know when to apply pressure to my opponents in the interest of getting them to fold, when to get away from marginal hands that will only get me in trouble, and playing very fearlessly, but in a profitable way. Now if I could find a way to port this confidence to the MTT arena, I think that would be the key to the breakthrough cash I'm after. Anyway, being comfortably in the $11 range, bankroll wise, allows me to excersize the whole "the money should be meaningless" concept and play the players, the cards, and the situations, and if I bust, on to the next one, but with the peace of mind that I played it right. I am very "zen" when it comes to SNGs these days. Its kinda nice.

So, 2008 was a big year, producing just over $550 in profits in around 50,000 hands. So its around a penny a hand, but hey...its profit.

Incidentally, I have come out ON FIRE in SNGs in 2009 and have for all intents and purposes already matched my entire 2008 profitability in 12 SNGs, including one 2nd place in a 45-max, and two wins in 27-max. So I'm on the verge of dipping into the $22s again, but will tread lightly because I don't want to throw a very fortunate start to 2009 out the window.

As for 2009 goals, in general they're pretty "duh", but I think for me they are legitimately achievable. Basically, improve upon my profitability and continue to move up in levels if bankroll permits and as I see fit, lock up that damn big score in MTTs that I've been saying I'm "on the verge of" for 2-3 years now, and continue to plug away at cash and move up in levels there as well. In general, if I continue to focus on improving upon my game, the rest will fall into place.

I think that's more than enough for now. Thanks for tuning in, and I'll check ya later!

Live Blog of 18:15 CST Stars $11 1R1A

Well, since I haven't blogged in a while I thought I might pick up here on hour two of what has become one of my favorite tournaments, even though I've only played it twice. I still never blogged about the first time I played it, when I took 23rd out of 837, and would like to sometime, but I figured I'll move forward with this blog for some prosperity.

Beginning of hour 2, approx. 7:20 CST. Made it through the first hour with 9590 + the 4k addon. I'm into it for the original $11 buyin + $10 addon.

7:20: Average is around my pre-addon stack, so I'm above average with my 13590. Lost almost 2k on first hand of hour 2. W/K7o in the BB, blind is min-raised in the SB to $300. I figure everyone else will call, so I call for the discount. Flop comes 5c 8 6c and I flop about as good as I can expect. SB bets 500, I call, folds around to LP, who bumps to 1.5k, SB calls and I call. Turn is non-club 10. Check, check, 5k bet, all-in, and I fold. LP shows a set of 5s and SB goes home.

7:32: Blinds 75/150 still, I raise to 450 UTG w/JJ. With a monster or no respect of the UTG raise, player two seats later makes it 1250, and it folds around to me and I fold. I hate Jacks. My stack and chip average @ 11k.

7:41: QQ UTG. Raise 3x to 600, folds around.

7:42: Very next hand UTG again, I pick up KK and have an opportunity to get it all-in and end up with a helluva sweat. This guy was table captain and on a SERIOUS heater and I managed to snap it off. 38th out of 634 remaining.

7:53: 55 in the big blind. One caller and I check. Flop comes 3 8 10. I fire 725 into the 850 pot and get called. Turn J. I check to see where he's at. Checks behind, and I put him on a draw or a hand he doesn't love. River blank and I fire 1300 into 2300 pot. He calls and shows K8o. Ick. Not sure how he can make that call, but I'm sure I played it bad.

7:57: Try to make a position play w/Q2c. Raise to 800 in the cutoff and button and BB call. Flop comes A-high, all diamonds. BB checks, I fire 1500 into 2k pot, button calls again. I check-fold the river.

8:00: Call in mid-position w/AJo. Flop comes K-high rainbow. I fire 900 into 1200 pot, button calls. Turn 6. I fire 1300 into 2300 pot, button calls. Have to check the river again, button checks and takes down the pot w/AQo. What am I doing wrong here?? Down to 16k, w/average @ 14k.

8:05: Limp into 6-way pot w/88 from the button. Flop 694. UTG bets 500. Folds around to me and I pop to 1500. UTG calls. Turn 9. Check to me and I bet 3500. UTG folds for once. For the record, UTG is the one that doubled me up earlier and the one that just made 2 hero calls in the last hand. He is officially my nemesis. Up to 18950.

8:11: AKo UTG+1. Raise to 1k w/blinds @ 150/300/25. Nemesis calls. A-high flop. I bet, nemesis min-raise, I jam...quick. WindBreaker 3 - Nemesis 1. And the Stars setup hand goes my way! Currently 38k & 14th/483.

8:25: Second Break. Currently 36,450, 25th/447, & big stack @ my table by ~10k. Avg. 16,921. Blinds going to 200/400/50, with me in the small.

8:35: Limp w/55 UTG. UTG+1 pops to 1200. SB call so I call. Flop 7 10 4. SB check, I bet 4250 into 4450 pot. 2 folds and I drag the pot. Then scoop blinds on next hand.

8:45: Nemesis eliminated when his A9 can't beat AK on an A-high flop. Too bad I didn't get him.

8:51: Up to 41,400 after a little scoopage. THIS HAND is my favorite.

8:53: AKo in 600 chip BB. Blinds @ 300/600/50, I call a raise to 1600 from a player who has shown loose tendencies. Flop comes 10 J 4. He bets 3k into 3950 pot. I make the CR to 9650. He tanks for a while & folds. Who is this masked marauder playing my screenname check-raising with air?! Up to 46,100 & 31/309 w/avg. @ 25k.

9:01: I have been and currently am @ Table 77. A little luck from my brother's old football number??

9:12: Mini-blowup. Find 22 in MP and limp w/it and see a 10 Q Q flop 4-ways. Three checks, and I fire 2850 into the 3875 pot. SB & BB fold, and EP calls. Turn 7 and EP checks to me. I fire 6k and he calls again. River 6, he bets somewhere North of 7k and I have to fold. He probably had a 10 the whole way or just as easily could have been slow-playing a Q. But I had to get caught one of these times. 35k left. Blinds headed to 500/1000/100 and I'm due a trip through the blinds.

9:16: Unfortunately, my table is very well stacked. Shortest stack is 14k and biggest is 54k, so no shortys to pick off and nobody desperate to get chips in the middle. What are the chances table is due to break? Anyway, gonna lock it up a little and hope for some good hands and see what happens as we approach the bubble.

9:19: So much for locking it up. Folds to me in Cutoff-1 and I open for 3775. Cutoff jams 16k and I have to let it go. 28,900 w/avg @ 33k.

9:22: I lied about bubble approaching. I guess we pay 117. I thought it was 171. Still got a LONG ways to go.

9:24: Woo PokerStars glitch! Got to skip my small blind when guy on my right busted!

9:28: Pick up 88 in UTG+2 & make it 4400 to go after 1 limper. Table big stack jams. I call and he shows QQ. I'm not sure why I called. He hadn't shown any play too far out of line, but I just thought the jam was a funny play and he was trying to scoop with a big ace, and I was willing to flip coins for the table chip lead. Horrible call in hindsight, obv, but I still would've had 25 BBs behind and approaching the 3rd break if I can fold, so its an EASY fold. This is why I don't win tournaments. All that promising play and I end up pissing it down my leg with one terrible play. I get this mindset that I'm being attacked and/or I'm due, and logic just completely escapes me.

To add insult to injury, table immediately breaks. Final verdict...208th out of 1035. I do love this tournament, though, and feel like it gives me the best opportunity to get that breakthrough win. I just wish I could avoid that bombshell mistake that always directly or indirectly shows me to the rail.

Well, here I am on the brink of my week off to spend at home and toil away the days in front of the laptop, and my bankroll is crap and I haven't been running too terribly hot. Guess I'd better hit the SNGs and see if I can get things turned around.

How to Bust a Blogger Freeroll in 29 Hands

I'm steaming so bad right now its freakin' ridiculous.

Hand 3
I probably could've played this better, but its early. Considering he was on a draw, I thought I played it pretty well. God forbid Stars let me live on the river.

Hand 5
I win some back, yay!

Hand 6
I get a little feisty protecting my blind/trying to scoop the sit out big blind, but this guy has to have a hand here. Why do they have a hand every damn time I make a move?!

Hand 8
Flop a flush draw and position myself to win a big pot...but can't get there. I admit, I made a terrible call on the turn, but it was early and I was OK with it.

Hand 10
I'm already steaming a little and decide to call a cheap all-in with suited gappers, hoping nobody raises to isolate. This guy had just lost most of his stack on the previous hand, and what are the chances that he wakes up with JJ-AA, so at worst I'm 70/30, and most likely I'm 40%. So everybody cooperates, I out turn him, and of course he doubles on the river.

Hand 13, I move to another table.

Hand 18, I limp UTG w/ATd, flop comes QQ6, three checks, turn 9, BB checks, I bet 60 into 90 pot, BB calls, river 8, we check, BB shows 9J for the win.

Hand 20
I felt like I made a really good play here preflop, reraising the button raiser to see where he's at. I then proceed to butcher my chance at a flop play, and he turns the 2-outer. Admittedly I'll probably make that weak play on the flop every time, but I feel like more often than not it saves me money. Of course the 2-outer on the turn is a kick in the stones.

Now...drumroll please. Hand 29
I get a potentially cheap look at a flop and don't hate the king. I want to make sure I know where I'm at, so I bet the flop so I can get away ASAP if need be. I'm good with the big blind's call here. Now to see if I'm *really* winning the hand I make sure to bet the turn, too, and he jams. Now NOT FOR A SECOND did I think I was beat here. I don't know if it was timing or the way he played the hand up to this point, but I was positive the 5 sealed the deal for me on the turn. So I called pretty quickly and he's dead to six outs.

...and proceeds to hit it. GG me. 458th/559. Honestly, I can't believe I outlasted 100 people. Incidentally, Twitter tells me Pauly was one of those people, going out in 545th with a set of 7s vs. a Q6 flush draw. Quite ugly in its own right.

Anyway...*that*, my friends, is a conscise lesson on how to bust a blogger freeroll before dinnertime.

After taking 2-3 weeks off because of holiday and focusing on selling/buying a house, I have been running like this ever since I picked the laptop up on Saturday. It feels like summer 2006 to summer 2007 all over again. Bankroll is getting scarce again, so I'm in lockdown mode to try and recover. I was really excited to play this tourney tonight, but obviously Stars had other plans for me. Don't think I'll probably get to play in any of the others, so this is probably the abrupt beginning and end of my WBCOOP 2008.

Hope things are treating everyone else better!

WBCOOP - Count Me In!

Its that time of year again. This is AWESOME that PokerStars does this for bloggers. Just really really cool.

I was actually a little bit scared that it wasn't going to happen this year, because as I recall last year it was a lot closer to, if not affiliated with, the WCOOP. Now weather my pea brain just doesn't remember that right or its just different this year, it doesn't really matter, cuz its on.

It does look a little different this year in that instead of just one big tourney there's a series of freerolls and a Final. Pretty sweet.

So join the club!

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

The WBCOOP is an online Poker tournament open to all Bloggers.

Registration code: 510155

I Haven't Given Up Blogging

It may look like I'm no longer a blogger, but I assure you that is far from true. I'm doing a decent job *reading* blogs these days, but I have not found a lot of time for playing or blogging of my own.

While this past month's vice has been my new iPhone, the new TV season, and keeping busy with various whatnots, this next month's vice will most certainly be finding a home. The little lady and I have accepted an offer on our townhome, and while we're upside down on it, we have to get out from under it and try to start heading in the right direction with a home where all 4 walls are our own, so between now and 1/23, we will be looking for a home and moving into it.

You may think this means less playing and less blogging, but quite the contrary, I'm going to be trying to satellite like mad for the PCA, because the size of that package just so happens to be quite a significant amount in the grand scheme of our whole moving process. Lets just say if I were able to win a $13.5k prize package for PCA, that would get us right side up on the whole deal, with a little extra for a washer and dryer.

See you in the PCA Steps! Here's to running good! :-\

Stay Tuned

I have a post coming soon, I promise. Unfortunately, lately I have gotten *to* my "post a poker blog" to do item quite a few times in the last few days/weeks, but then something always jumps up and trumps it.

Lots of pretty good news to report, including a deepish run in a new MTT I hadn't ever played, and increasingly consistent solid play.

Of course I've also been busy in work and life, including getting an iPhone *insert girly glee noises here*, so actually laying out a post unfortunately finds itself sliding all too often.

Back soon!

Heads Up!

You know, something I overlooked while I was posting yesterday was that there was a span of a couple days where 2 or 3 of my favorite bloggers really raved about HU SNGs and how profitable they were, so back around the beginning of August I decided to check out the scene, and ended up pretty happy with the results.

The thing about these is that I really feel like I should win every one, so when I lose it really bugs me. Some might argue that heads up isn't necessarily so much about beating the player, but moreso about the point at which you both make a hand worthy of getting it in the middle, and seeing who comes out with the best of it, and who ends up feeling cold-decked. And I think that's fair.

But, of course, some of us would like to think there is a lot more to it. Its about building your stack so you can put pressure on your opponent and withstand an all-in if you have to. Or its about building a table image and then when you know they're onto you, switching it up. Or its about relentless aggression. Or its about playing so passively you let your opponent run over you, only to trap them so hard they never saw it coming. Or some combination of all of these.

So even though a fair share of these will end up being a lottery, the ones that start to go a few hands certainly get a little more interesting as things progress.

Anyway, I played 5 of them on 8/4 and 8/5, and managed to cash in three. When I won my first one in 14 hands, I was like "wow, these really are *that* easy". Only to get into my 2nd one and end up defeated in 81 grueling hands. But then there was the third, which I won in exactly 3 hands. So day 1 of this experiment was from one extreme to the other. The next day I split another pair of them in what I suspect is a relatively average...maybe a *little* high...45 and 66 hands, and then I haven't been back since. But I definitely see sprinkling some of these when I'm short on time and/or don't necessarily feel like exerting enough poker prowess to take on 9 or more opponents.

As far as the value, I guess you can't really argue with it. You essentially double your money, which is just a little better than finishing 3rd place in a 9 player SNG. The number of hands is around the same as finishing 3rd in a SNG, but of course a majority of the hands are significantly faster, so if you could be successful as a heads up SNG player, I would think the value is pretty high. Might be a decent little bankroll builder for some "back to basics" poker if you're running bad or something.

Anyway, I thought that was worth mentioning. Just incase there's anyone out there like me who hasn't been to that arena and was looking for a little insight.

As far as my heads up game in general, I go back and forth on it. Sometimes I feel like I'm a heads up donkey, and sometimes I feel like I've assembled a nice little strategy. So at this point I guess I'll just say "I'm working on it".

Two posts in two days? I'm on fire!

Update-O-Rama

Hey all. Time for my much overdue check-in yet again. I'll try and keep things brief.

Looks like my last "real" post was 7/25, so let me check my logs and see what significant has happened since then...

Looks like things have been pretty standard as far as SNGs go. I've played about 40 since 7/25, and my overall win rate (for the year) is a relatively pathetic, but very much black, $60. I've been playing more of the multitable SNGs, but haven't had a lot of success in much of anything other than 18 players. It seems I can only dodge so many bullets, and the 27 and 45 player games just fire too many at me to survive. Random notes from the 27 and 45 player SNGs see me getting in w/2 pair vs. set, 60/40 & 70/30 and lose, KK < 66 (4-flushed), and AA < K10 (villian boated). As a matter of fact, that's all my 27 and 45 man SNGs since my last post, so I've been cold-decked or bad beat out of every single one. But I've had a handfull of 1st and 2nds in 18 players, so that always helps pull in a little more SNG value. The 9-max have been pretty standard. I'm managing to stay a little ahead, but just have some really sick shit happening in pretty disgusting spots. In the last one I played I bubbled when I got all my money in for a significant chip lead w/top 2, aces and 9s, vs A10, turn comes A, river 10. Dead to runner runner and he hits. Either something like that happens, or I storm to a strong finish. Cest la vie.

As far as MTTs, I had hit the skids again for a while and was approaching heading into the red on them, and then on 8/18 I made a fairly decent run in a Stars tourney. Instead of trying to detail it again, I'll just copy and paste the email I sent a couple buddies the next morning.

Man, I thought last night was gonna be the one. I got into the $3.30+rebuys ($40k Guaranteed) last night on Stars at 7:00. 3700 runners, and I proceeded to run like God for about 2 1/2 hours and led the thing during the 3rd hour w/5x the average and almost 200 big blinds, then cooled off late and grinded my way to a 66th place finish at about 1 AM. I rebought once stacking off w/88 vs 99 on a 7-high flop and did the add-on at the end of the first hour and cashed for about $60 profit. First place paid $5600. But I doubled my Stars bankroll, so I can't complain about that.

I got to learn a lot about late stage tourney play, which I haven't had much opportunity to do up to this point, and with any luck I'll get to use more often.

During my sick run of cards which lasted about the first 2 1/2 hours, I had AA about 5 times and held, including in a 3-way all-in right after I rebought, KK and QQ about 3 each, and JJ probably 5 also, I *think* winning all, flopped a couple of boats, flopped two or three sets, flopped trips I think twice in a row (in the BB and SB) at one point, three outering and stacking the guy on the 1st one w/K7 vs K10 with the board coming KxKx7 (we got it in on the flop), flopped quad 8s against some guy all-in w/A10 vs. my 88, got QQ and took a decent pot then got KK on the next hand and got some guy to stack off w/33, hit a couple of nut flushes and a couple of straights, 2 pair, etc, etc. Almost every hand I played I just got smacked upside the head w/the deck. Even limping/checking my blinds. And if I didn't stack someone entirely, I got paid off a decent amount pretty much every time. I had 150k while the average was 22k-35k. Man it was fun after perpetually running bad.

So like I mentioned, it was nice to get into that tourney and just run good and have a blast, but part of me wonders if I should have made more out of it and/or if I didn't play the cards so much as they played themselves. Its not often you run that good and get that much action, so I'm wondering if I could have done a little better in the middle/late stages to propel me to a final table. Makes me wonder if Lucko or Hoy or smokkee could have done better given the situation, or if its just that running good late is much more important than running good early. Sure, I had 150k when the average was 30k, but when I busted, $150k was chicken scratch. You have to keep building. But my cards went DEAD. Anyway, I got some later stage MTT experience, so hopefully next time I can learn from it and do better. Fact of the matter is its my deepest MTT run and biggest cash (aside from a turbo sat to a 100k guarantee...but that doesn't really count) of the year. And maybe my deepest non-freeroll run ever.

My next MTT after that was the noon 5.50 tourney that I played on Labor Day, and I microcashed in that in 355th out of 4800 for $12.60. Only ever really had a stack twice in the tourney, and just kinda held on the whole way. But now I'm back to a $75 winner on the year in MTTs, which will buy me into several more of the tourneys in my price range to keep going after that bigger score.

In other tournament news, I decided to venture into the Steps sats for the WCOOP on Monday and things have gone well so far. I immediately moved to Step 2 in my first attempt, only to enter myself into a Limit Step 2 tourney like an idiot and get 7th. So I licked my (self-inflicted for being a moron) wounds and jumped into another Step 1 and advanced, and it'll be on to Step 2 again. My initial hope is to get to a Step 4 and win an entry to one of the $215(?) tourneys, and just cash that out for the W$ and sell it. At this point a tourney like that would be nothing more than "taking a shot", and even the % of cash I could get for the W$ would be immesurably more valuable. Bankroll management, baby. *Maybe* if I can somehow manage to win 2 entries I'd use one. But chances are if I can get to a Step 4 and sell my $215 W$, I'd take my next chance to go for Step 6 and try and get the >$1k W$. THEN maybe try and win an entry to use. But that's all quite wishful thinking from Step 2 at this point. I'm just happy to be 2 for 2 at Step 1. I think I may finally have a little better grasp on these turbos.

As for the last facet of my online game, I've still been working in a session of .05/.10 NL over at Full Tilt from time to time. I'll find its Happy Hour on some weekend day, or I'll go to a wireless hotspot between work and flag football on Wednesdays and get an hour or two in, and my last 4 sessions have been fairly significantly profitable. Throw in rakeback, and I'm making a nice, steady bankroll climb on Tilt.

All of the success I've been having I think has come because of a renewed approach to a well balanced strategy. A mixture of feel, numbers, and less paying off, I've been trying to keep emotion out of it, and looking at plays from a strictly EV perspective. You're all like "duh...that's how you win at poker", but when you tend to run as bad as I do, you fall into this really deep, dark place where you feel like every time you get raised or re-raised they've got what has you beat no matter how unlikely, or you're "only" 60%, or you know you're flipping but you wonder if you'll lose again just like the last 4, and you fold, more and more disgustedly every time, or you payoff when your big hand gets cracked, "just to see it". But lately I've been more apt to play back at aggression when it really just doesn't seem likely they have it, and a LOT more often put pressure on people for *their* stacks and for *them* to have to make a decision. As it turns out, there really are a ton of bad players who will either stack off with garbage or call bets or fire all the way to the river only to fold. And I find myself in a lot more coin flips and 60/40s w/all the money in the middle, hoping the odds shake out the way they're supposed to. When they don't, I bust and move on, and when they do, I find myself in good position to move forward and apply even more pressure to people.

Or, you know, maybe I'm just playing the same and running a little better. Either way, I *feel* better, and the better you feel, the clearer you see and the more naturally your play unfolds at the table. Of course it also helps to have a few more buyins in reserve so the money means less and less.

So that'll be it for now. I've got some Vegas play to report on, but it was pretty typical, so I'll save that for its own quick post somewhere down the line.

I've Been Neglectful Again

Well, I'm sitting in the airport right now and ponied up $8 to pay for wireless to play some SNGs because my flight to Vegas, of all places, is delayed 2 hours.

I have quite a bit to report since my last post, although nothing terribly earth shattering.

So I promise I'll get something up shortly after I get back, including some cash game table exploits from mecca.

Hope all is well. Back atcha soon.

Slow and Steady Wins the Race?

Well, I'm back for another quick update, even though I don't have a whole lot to report.

I'll start w/MTTs. Played 3 since my last post and didn't cash. I made a run *to* the bubble in one, but instead of limping through the bubble like I very well could have done yet again, I was playing this one to win, and fizzled about 75 spots short of the money. This tourney was a blast, where I was mixing it up and keeping my stack above the average stack and playing table captain and all of that, right up until I got my money in 70/30 and got crushed. Then I ended up jamming my short stack A8o into an already raised AQ and that was that. This tourney seriously tilted me because I was playing the exact kind of poker I wanted to be playing and I envision solid online MTT players to be playing, and just like that it was all out the window. In the second tourney I played I was out before the end of the first hour. Had a really active table and was trying to get mixed in and make the best of it before I got moved, and ended up getting in with a draw and not getting there. Had it gone the other way, who knows what happens, but again, I am trying to play the kind of MTT style that will get me deep, and word on the street is that sometimes that involves getting your money in in somewhat uncomfortable spots and leaving the rest up to the cards. I think any good MTT player would tell you that. And admittedly, the last tourney I played was a tilty $3.30 RB that I played after I busted the 2nd tourney. See, it was the first 2008 WSOP broadcast, and I envisioned going deep in an MTT that night, so after I busted the first before the broadcast even started, I had to find another to play in. Honestly, I wasn't in too bad of shape after the rebuy/addon period, but then I had my JJ (preflop raised, naturally) busted by 54 SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOTED when he flopped 2 pair and obviously called my flop jam. Fantestical. So I will mount up again this week and give it another go.

I did discover I don't hate rebuys *quite* as much as I thought I did, because a $3.30 rebuy not only has a higher guarantee than an $11 $20k Guarantee, but after the rebuy/addon period, there is a LOT of play. I had 4000 in chips after my addon, and sure, the average was like 8600, but I still had 26 big blinds as a "short stack". Hell, you could go broke in the last hand of the hour and for another $9, rebuy for 30 big blinds. The tourney doesn't even really start until the 2nd hour (yes...I'm aware that that is a "duh" statement). Whereas in a regular 3k starting stack tourney your average is gonna be at about 4600 at the first break, and a 4k stack means that you made relatively significant progress during the first hour. I just still don't love rebuys, though, in that they're 1500 starting stacks (sort of), the playing field doesn't start level (What's the deal w/the double rebuy? I'd be much more ok w/the concept if there was no double rebuy.), and the first hour is a freaking mine field. I know its not the right way to approach a rebuy, but personally I buyin for the minimum, play my normal game (albeit 25-30% looser) and see what happens. I know others go into a rebuy guns a'blazin' and will get their money in the middle of huge pots as often as possible and double rebuy at will if things don't go their way. I look to fly under the radar and pick those guys off. Its just my style. But, when all is said and done, I see myself giving that $3.30 rebuy at 7 Central a few more shots. For less than the $11 buyin of the $20k guarantee at 6, I can buyin, rebuy once if needed, and get an add-on, have a $30k guarantee, and if I make it through the hour in good shape, have a lot of play.

SNGs were basically break even, although adventureous. Also on Tuesday night after I'd busted both MTTs I sat down in a $5.50 18 player SNG and busted a few minutes in when my turned nut boat lost to flopped quads. We both slow played each other to the river when he put out a feeler bet, I jammed (overbet for value?), and that was that. There was a couple of other SNGs I played on Tuesday night where I started strong and then didn't play as well as I'd have liked to late. One 9 player where I had a decent chiplead and was pushing the table around, but then didn't back off when people started pushing back and my cards were no longer there (bubbled in 4th), and one 18 player where I came into the FT in 2nd with almost 3x the average stack, and managed to go out in 6th. Again, I had a big stack and was catching cards and splashing pots, and then the well dried up but I failed to tighten up in time. So I'm not terribly proud of this week's SNG results, but I'm livin'.

And as for online cash...drumroll please...I broke about even. I played for about 4 hours on 5 tables of .05/.10 NL, and I believe my balance lay within the same dollar it started at when I finished. This was another case of poor discipline, as I was running well early and up about $20-25, but then as the cards dried up instead of quitting or tightening up, I actually started to play more hands, and before I know it I was chasing a loss. So I was happy to end up even, and with my rakeback hitting my account today, up $3 or so. :-)

So I think we see where I have an obvious leak. It lies in a combination of boredom and denial. When my cards dry up, I don't want to quit playing a lot of pots and catching a lot of cards, and I don't want to believe that my run is over and its time to tighten up and play it safe (SNG/MTT) or quit (cash). I realize I have this flaw, and I think this week's events will really hammer it home for me. I want to be a profitable player, but I never will if I continue to perpetuate this behavior. See, the problem is that I only get to play so often, so when I play, I want to PLAY. I want to play a lot of hands, and I want to play until my time to play is over. Because who knows when I'll get to play again. So I don't like the idea of my cards going dry in a tourney and not getting to splash around in pots at will, and I don't like the idea of being up 250 BBs in a cash game and seeing the tide turn but with 2 hours more to play. That means the fun is over. And when the fun is over is when you become a profitable player (great post, and SO TRUE!). So I need to get out of that frame of mind and get into the *winning* frame of mind. I have the instinct to know when the jig is up and its really a simple adjustment...I just need to make it.

So, folks, for me, the fun is over. Its time to play profitable poker.

And it starts tonight. Heading out to the local casino with the brother-in-law tonight to get a 1/2 NL practice/hopefully bankroll building session in as we count down the days to Vegas. I'm not concerned about playing profitable poker live, though. Live poker really gets the blood flowing for me and I'd like to think I'm exponentially better live than online. If only I had the time to grind it out more often.

Anyway, that's the latest from this neck of the tubes. Poker tonight, probably a little tomorrow, and then of course on Tuesday, and otherwise who knows when. But I'm gonna try my best to make every hand count, and form my session based on results and not a schedule.

The Latest

In the interest of being a good blogger, I wanted to check in and report on how things have been going lately. To sum it up, not too shabby!

Since my last post reporting a little bankroll stimulation, I've ventured back to the $5.50 SNGs and made $13.50 cashing in 4 out of 8. Not a whole lot to report, as I only felt motivated enough to leave comments in 2 of those. I'm cool with the profit.

I've also played in 4 MTTs, turning a hum-drum $2 or so profit. But profit's profit. I feel like I played really quite well in all of them, but I still just can't get things to break my way and send me on a deep run in an MTT. But lemme tell you...I've got the market cornered on limping through the bubble and microcashing. Ain't nobody better. Last night I felt like I played a REALLY strong tournament and felt like it might be the one. I came out firing, making a well disguised nut flush right out of the gate, and keeping with the aggression as best I could. Then, as usual, I got mixed up in a hand I didn't belong and found myself in push or fold mode. After doubling up, I had a legitimately healthy, above average stack again, and vowed not to fall victim to my own pitfalls. I then proceed to pick up QQ and am ready to take down another big pot. I raised 3-4x UTG and got a call from a completely reckless LAG who played the role pretty well, but also benefitted from some obscene lucksackery. But it was the right person to call with my strong holding. Flop comes down extremely raggy with two hearts, and I bet about 85% of the pot, and after a brief hesitation, get min-raised. I wasn't worried about a set here at all and probably should have just jammed right here, but I just called. The turn was an offsuit Jack and like a pansy, I check and give up control...and he checks behind. The river is another low heart, and I thought about checking, but then decided that there was about a 95% chance he'd put me all-in if I did that, so I put 2k into about a 5k pot to bet my queens for value, but also tell the story of a value bet on a flush, and like clockwork I got raised to 5700. I couldn't see any way not to let it go, and did so. He very easily told the story of a flush himself, so I made the decision to keep my 14 big blinds or so and live to see another day. He claims to have had the other two queens, but the way the convo played out, I don't buy it. So once again I'm on a short stack thanks to another pretty poorly played hand. I feel like I should have jammed the flop or the turn for maximum value, but even if he has the QQ, all I end up doing is splitting. And if he has the flush, I'm out unless he finds a fold. Opinions?? After that I doubled up once to skate through the bubble, and then fizzled in 388th out of 3100 or so when my AJ couldn't outlast KJ. BUT, I can't be mad about that one because I had AQ hold up against AK and Q7 (4-flushed it) and AQ hold up against AK to get to where I was. So hell...maybe I just played the whole tourney badly with my money in bad twice. Although, I'll play the AK/AQ/Q7 hand the same every time. Shortstack jammed his Q7, I rejammed my AQ, and just got unlucky to have AK behind me. I would have had the shorty crushed. But I got lucky and more than doubled myself. Perhaps some reward for a strong play?? :-) Anyway, its nice to be cashing in MTTs again, and hopefully someday soon my time will come.

Also played a little cash on Full Tilt on Saturday night while left at home alone with my NASCAR in HD. I won $16.50 playing .05/.10 for a little over 2.5 hours. Mainly just one table as I played a SNG on Stars at first, then mixed in another cash game for the last hour. I was just completely card dead for the first hour and a half or so, getting $20 deep into that first cash game table when I got giddy over an overpair and ran it into a set, but then caught fire about the time I opened the second table, and could finally put my reads to use on the table captain and used him as my personal ATM, eventually cashing out with a $29 stack for $9 profit. At the second table I made a nice, steady $7 profit, and called it good when the wife got home. So my FT balance is back up above my original deposit from last month and I'm not quite so mad at myself for how I played like a moron trying to clear that bonus.

Live poker has also treated me well, as we had our monthly game last Friday, and I posted what either ties or sets a personal record $60 profit. Not bad for $5 tourneys and .25/.50 cash on the side. You'd never guess things would go that way after I busted on the first hand of the first tourney when I flopped broadway holding J10. I was in the cutoff and when it folded to me I raised 3x to 150 chips. SB and BB both called. Flop comes AQK and both blinds check, and I fire 300 at it and SB calls and BB folds. I'm saying to myself "please don't pair the board, please don't pair the board...", and what comes off but a King. The SB bets 500, I min-raise to 1k, and he jams. I put him on AK even before the turn came, and I could read into his jam that he had the goods, so even though I know I'm beat, I decided I'm not gonna find a fold w/broadway in a $5 tourney and call. I considered it $5 to the prize pool for the bad beat story value. As it turns out, it was the best worst call I could make, because once the cash game fired up I won a huge pot on the second best hand I'd ever had unfold for me. The first being when I had three all-ins in front of me and I look down at aces and held up. In this case I had pocket 9s in late position and raised to $2. The big blind, a notorious donator, called. The flop came 8-high, 2 hearts, and I fired $4 into the $4 pot, and got the call. The turn paired 4s on the board and I bet $4 again this time and got min-raised. For the first time I considered the thought of being beat, but I had to call with almost 5:1 and the possibility of him holding a 4 or a full house. The turn was a glorious 9h, filling me up and completing the flush. My opponent bets $5, and I play it up real good and raise my last $6 or so and eventually get the call. He showed a J-high flush. While if any non-heart comes I win the hand, I got the single perfect card in the deck to get doubled up, which is always fun. After that I donated a little back to the group and then cashed out up $20 for 45 mins to an hour of "work". I then went on to come from my last 900 chips to flop two sets in a row and double both times on my way to chopping first place in the second tourney for $30 profit, then hung around in the rebuy tourney and took 4th for $20 and a $10 profit. Nice to have things turn around for me after the first tourney, and fun to sling around real chips with buddies as usual.

So there you have it. Read that to your kids and they'll be asleep in no time. If you don't fall asleep first. Thanks for checking in, and hopefully I'll be back sooner rather than later to report more!

Among the Best in the World...

...between 6/30 & 7/5...among those who played at least 20 $1-2.99 SNGs...on PokerStars. But still, for this one shining moment, I'm among the best in the world at something poker.

Hello Windbreak247,

Congratulations on your performance in last week's Sit & Go Leader Boards. A cash prize of $20.00 has been credited to your account.



So I've reached another goal...another milestone in this poker journey I'm on, and at the moment I'm pretty proud. I started with a bankroll of just under $20, and in the span of 20 SNGs, plus the bonus, ran it up just shy of $65. That's not bad for SNGs that payout at a profit of 3.30, 2.50, and .60. I cashed in 15 out of 20, which is pretty remarkable. This run also got me back in the black in 2008 SNG play, which is always nice as well. I just wish I would've had a little more time and I could've played in some 18 or 27 player SNGs and really made a run at the top spot. Sadly, its difficult enough for me to play 20 SNGs in a week, so once I realized I had 9 under my belt and had cashed in 8 and this could be the week for me to make the leaderboard, I really only had the option of finishing it off w/9 player SNGs. I did it right under the gun, too, having to play 5 SNGs at once on Saturday afternoon to get it squeezed in. That is something I'd never done before, and I even managed to cash in 4 out of 5. Its nice to really accomplish something with SNGs after I've really specialized in them for the 3 1/2 years I've been playing online. Anyway...it was fun, and hopefully I can do it again and make the top 10 and the monthly Battle of the Planets triple shootout sometime.

This week with PokerStars 2x promotion its 2x the guarantees in the daily guaranteed tourneys, so I'm gonna look to play at least one of the nightly 6 PM Central 20k guarantees, and then maybe on Saturday I can play the Noon Central 10k guarantee. Both of those being their pre-2x guarantee amounts. I haven't checked yet, but I'm guessing pretty much all of these double guarantees are going off with overlays, because even with the guarantees being doubled, I just don't see these daily tourneys doubling their entries...but who knows.

The other obvious fact at this point is that I managed to run well for 20 straight SNGs, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed that that will continue. Sadly, it felt very, VERY strange to run normal/well, but at least I took full advantage of it, and just have to hope that maybe...just maybe...it can last at least through the end of August, during which I have a couple of "practice" live sessions planned for the local poker room, then a trip to Vegas next month, with plenty of online play mixed in inbetween. But its all in the hands of the cards at this point. I've given up all superstitious tactics to try and make it better, because not once has anything ever worked. I'll just be getting my money in the middle and hoping for the best.

That's about all I have to report. I'll check back in when I have more.

Shame On Me

Well here we are again and I've gone over a month...almost two...without a post. I've had quite a bit of playing, a lot of working of course, a vacation to Dominican Republic, but mostly a lot of reading up on the WSOP that I've been doing. Its been fascinating reading the really compelling 2008 WSOP stories from Pauly, Pokerati, WCP, and all the other numerous blogs and outlets who, as usual, have done an outstanding job covering the WSOP and all that goes along with it. Sadly, I predicted last year to be the year the pros took back the WSOP to any friends that would listen, but turns out I was a year premature on that prediction.

Anyway, personally speaking, things are about the same as usual. Break even at best. I finally received another bonus offer from Full Tilt, so I put $60 in there, and after working off like $27 of my $30 bonus (which is a pretty big accomplishment for me), in addition to some rakeback, I'm sitting at something like $43-45. In 3 significant sessions I ran pretty decent in the first and ran it up a little over $90, but then played tiltier than I'd have liked and couldn't buy cards in the 2nd two sessions and subtracting bonuses and rakeback, ended up down a good $50 overall at the .05/.10 NL tables. I also worked in one brief session of .25/.50 Limit that was basically break even. Anyway, thank goodness for the bonus and rakeback or I would've damn near gone broke. I ran pretty bad in those last couple of sessions, but I also played equally as badly, so I'm not gonna whine about my results. Looking back, I was more focused on clearing the bonus than I was actually making money playing poker, which is pretty f'n sick, but I'll live to see another day. It would've been nice to show some winnings in addition to the free money, but if I had to use the free money to not go broke, so be it. In the end, I end up with a fair amount of money on Tilt to play with, and with my rakeback there and their Happy Hour promotion, I think I'm gonna focus on it as my cash game site to try and not only try to play more cash games, but get optimum value for my play.

That said, I kind of burned myself out on cash games working to clear that bonus, so for the time being I've gone back to PokerStars and the SNGs I know and love. I'm not comfortable with what had happened to my bankroll on that site, and I'm determined to build a respectable bankroll, and I think I want it to be at Stars. It also doesn't hurt that they're running this 2x promotion during the month of July, and even though my FPP "bankroll" is piss poor at the moment, I would someday like to move up in their VIP program and have some FPPs to mess around with for satellites and whatnot. Also, given that I am a self-proclaimed "SNG Specialist", I would like to at some point get some sort of value out of their Battle of the Planets promo. This may be the week as I have currently gone 3, 1, 7, 2, 1, 2, 7 in my 7 SNGs. Its hard enough for me to play 20 SNGs in a week (I've yet to ever even do it), so I have to focus and make sure my first 20 SNGs are my best 20. So for now, I'm content at the 1.20s and trying to get ITM, but more preferrably 1st and 2nd place finishes for the Battle of the Planets points. With any luck, everything will unfold naturally and maybe next week I can move back to the 5.50s and try the same thing.

I also broke a disgusting run of non-cashes in MTTs on Sunday. As of that point it had been almost 4 months and 18 MTTs (7 of which were the WSOP turbo freerolls which only sorta count) since my last cash. I had forgotten what its like to get past the first 90 mins of a tourney. In the end it was a microcash where I basically doubled my $5.50 buyin, but for me its always more of a pride thing and I feel like I made a good run. Recently, MTTs have been too big of a hit to the bankroll to play too many, so again, I'm hoping to get back to the point where I can play more MTTs, specifically the $20k Guarantee a couple of nights a week, and maybe finally make a real run at some money after playing this game for 4 years. But for now, I'm pretty damn thrilled to cash after 4 months and 11 MTTs.

Incidentally, I did manage to work in a 1/2 NL live session back at the end of May, but there really isn't much to say about it. I posted a $5 loss that felt like a $195 win, considering there was a point where I was $200 deep and had the last of it in the middle. I then made a steady run to recover and walked out of there with what I came in with minus $5 and experience.

I also need to plan in a couple more 1/2 NL sessions between now and August 21st, because we have booked our annual patronage to Vegas, and it is 8/21-8/25. While my good buddy who lives out there unfortunately will be gone for most of it, we are going w/my bro-in-law, so he and I plan on working in plenty of poker, and then it sounds like Jorgen will be back in town on the 24th for one good session before we leave bright and early Monday. So once again I'll be doing my best to work to put together a bankroll and counting down the days to that nice little midday flight out of Des Moines and 4 nights in my favorite place on the planet.

So I guess I am capable of blogging in a positive, or at least even keel manner. Right now, things are looking up. Of course with me, that could all change tonight. But I'm trying to just persevere, focus, and take it one hand at a time. If I could run decent between now and the end of August, I'd be the happiest poker player on the planet. But I'm not gonna get greedy, and I'm not gonna count my chickens before they're hatched. I'm just gonna play 4-5 more SNGs tonight and hope for the best each time the cards are dealt, then do the same thing tomorrow.

Thanks for tuning in, and I'll do my best to keep you posted.

Quickie Update

Hey. Just wanted to check in to keep up to date on how things have been going.

After my epic rant, I played 5 SNGs on Friday and it was the same ol' story. Here's my notes from my SNG spreadsheet (today's comments in italic)...

6th out of 9 after 26 hands - Raised on the button like 4 times in a row then finally pick up AQ and raise again. BB re-raise, I jam, he calls w/KK.
Uncharacteristic play for me, but I felt like I set the BB (who was the big stack) up to make a play at me. If I took my own advice from the previous post, I would know that a PF re-raise in a $5 SNG indicates a monster. Any insight on this one? Good TAG play or donkariffic?

6th out of 9 after 57 hands - Flopped top 2 on 10 4 Q board vs. unraised KK, got it in ready to punish, turn 6, river 4, and the 8-outer gets there
This is just the same ol' ish. Dude should be punished for limping w/KK and instead sucks out w/the money in the middle.

7th out of 9 after 31 hands - I manage to make top pair w/A7 on turn and check it then dude rivers broadway gutshot. I run so good.
I played this whole SNG terribly to even be all-in w/top pair w/7 left. Then to just rub it in I try and get tricky and check the turn and he rivers his gutshot. My own fault. I prolly win the hand and live to see another day if I jam on the turn.

5th out of 9 after 88 hands - Had huge lead w/6 left, then lost w/AJ vs KQ, then call a button jam w/10s in the BB & he had JJ, then couldn't outrun AQ w/JK
This was irritating as shit because the dude who should've gone broke w/KQ vs. my AJ started giving me shit for making "loose calls" w/10s vs JJ in a button short stack vs. BB confrontation and another shorty all-in call I made w/44 vs. 77. Then of course he's the one to bust me.

8th out of 9 after 17 hands - I limp w/AA UTG to C-R after like 5 raised pots in a row, BB checks and flops 2 pair w/49o
4-5 raised pots in a row and I find AA UTG, poised to limp, re-raise, and of course there's no raise, and even more obviously the BB flops 2 pair w/49o. I put him on A9/K9, but I'm not that lucky

So, forced to drop a level I end up playing one more and naturally I pretty much dominate it with the deck hitting me upside the head.

Friday night was our monthly poker game, and I cleaned up there, too...in poker, as well as in the bottle of gin I brought. Incidentally, Friday night I was catching cards, too. Forced to get my money in bad in several spots and hitting miracles. I remember at least two 70/30s all-in preflop, as well as a runner-runner flush to my 5 in my eventual win in our final tourney/rebuy. I ended up making $35 on the night in 2 out of 3 tourney cashes, which is a nice haul and nice boost to the cash roll. The bottle of gin was dead broke by the time I was done with it.

Played a couple of chicken scratch SNGs on Sunday night where I made bottom money in both. Got 3rd out of 9 in one, then did a pretty good job coming from 12th out of 12 to get 4th in a 2 table SNG. For the record, I got it in as a 70% fav to go broke. ;-)

Tonight I touched base w/my brother-in-law and we played one of the turbo freerolls on Stars toward the Main Event. Only noteable hands there were my K10 hitting a straight against AK, only to turn around and get it all-in in the end w/A3 vs. 77 vs. KJ. Board came 10 A 8 and I'm set to triple up, turn 7 and I'm still making money off the big stack, river Q and I'm out. Is anyone surprised??

Ok, well I think that's good for now. Hopefully its not too boring. I'm trying to grab hold of the wheel and set this ship back on course, but the seas are rough and the icebergs are plentiful. Hope everything is going well for everyone else!

This Post Brought to you by Sofa King

I am Sofa King tired of losing and running bad. As of about today (it was exactly a year ago I got my Macbook Pro, and ever since my portable poker playing has experienced rare moments of joy), its been A YEAR of running Sofa King terrible, save for 3-4 strings of 3-4 days where I'd run "normal", and then I think there was one string of 3-4 days a couple months back where I actually ran "good" and ran my online bankroll up over $250, only to find my way back to the basement the next day.

After not having played since before I left for San Antonio on 4/27, I was Sofa King refreshed, rejuvinated, and ready to hit the felt and play well. I'd been reading a decent little pre-release book that someone asked me to take a look at, I'd been reading blogs and picking up on strategy and reading about other people's good fortune, and my love of the game was rejuvinated. I was aware of mistakes I'd been making while trying to experiment with more LAG play, and wanted to get back to basics and play the way I've been successful in the past, and hone in a strong TAG game. Make good decisions, make good plays, and just let it all flow nice and naturally. I played a SNG on Tuesday and after struggling early, played really well to end up taking it down. So far, so good.

Then last night I had plans to get in and go deep in the $20k Guarantee at 6 Central on Stars. Before I know it I'm deep...into my stack...w/AK where the board comes QQKxA, on a 3-flush board. After raising preflop and betting every street and getting called to the tune of about 1/3 of my stack, I get jammed on on the river and see no way around folding. He either has the Q or made the flush on the river. Here we go again. I eventually double back above the starting stack, only to move tables and find AK again. I raise preflop and get a caller in the BB. Flop comes QQx. I c-bet, thinking I'm probably in pretty good shape still, and get slow called. I hesitantly bet bigger on the 10 turn, thinking I can get a fishing mid-PP to fold, and get called even slower. The river comes, and I quickly make the same bet as the turn making it look like I don't want to lose him, and I'm quickly called again. BB shows down AQ. Nice play, me. It doesn't matter what my bets make me look like...there was no way I was getting this guy to fold. But seriously, how unlucky is that?! Sofa King unlucky. So I've got this guy dominated PF, he calls my raise for a discount in the BB, then flops trips. He could have SOFA KING MANY hands that don't have a Q in them that would make him call my Flop and Turn bets, but no...he's got one of the other two Qs. From this point, I actually did chip up to an almost average stack by my AK actually holding up against 67o, and then my 88 holding up against 77h on a 5h6h2h board, but found myself back in the basement releatively quickly when I made a couple of pretty damn decent hands, bet them, and got raised or showed down losers. Of course a pretty damn decent hand for me doesn't stand a chance against 8 other hands at a poker table. I really should fold with anything less than a set. I eventually go broke when I've got K7o in the SB and its folded to me, I open jam 7 big blinds, and get called in the BB w/K10s. Lemme spell this out for you. I've got K-high and one hand to beat, and not only can I *not* beat it, but I'm dominated, *and* I find a guy who's willing to call off 7 big blinds and more than half his stack w/K10s. I don't know if that's an excellent call or a terrible call, but one thing's for certain, its an enfuriating call. GG me. Sofa King screwed. Oh, and BTW, its my 10th straight MTT non-cash.

I went on to play 4 SNGs, and the beating continued. Tons of pocket pairs but not one set. If I have KQ, an Ace flops, if I have AK, a Q flops, if I have AQ, a K flops, if I have 10s or Js overs flop, or better yet someone has QQ, and my suited connectors whiffed or flopped monster draws that never got home. Almost without fail. Every time I *did* make some semblance of a hand, I'd bet 2/3 of the pot and get raised. And when you bet 2/3 of the pot in a 5.50 SNG and get raised...you're beat. Every time I gave someone 2:1 on the turn with their flush draw instead of the 4:1 they needed and they called, the flush came on the river. And naturally, every time I managed to make a monster, everyone folded. I ended up with my money in the middle once w/top pair vs. middle pair, and obviously his trips came on the turn. In another, with A9s vs. KJ by the turn I had the lead, plus a flush draw and gutshot, but obviously his 4-6 outer came. In another, I raise from M/LP w/9c9, get three callers, flop comes J-high all clubs. I move in for size of the pot, button rejams, and shows QcJ, for top pair and the blocker club. I admittedly got my money in bad...but come on! Does it have to be *that bad* 6-handed?! And in another, 4-handed, the shortstack calls on the button w/97o and I end up doubling him w/95 on a 794-8 rainbow board. Probably a tilty call of his all-in raise by me, but after getting raised w/decent hands all night, I struggled to see how I was beat 4-handed in this spot and was Sofa King tired of getting pushed around. I then open jammed my 4xBB stack w/76o from the SB, and duh...the BB has A6o. See above.

I left in shambles no less than three goals I had set for myself when I started. Namely, don't run plays/spew chips when I'm beat (see: AK vs. AQ on QQx board hand), don't get sucked into other players' traps (see: AK vs. XX on QQKxA 3-flush board), and don't, under any circumstances, make that "gutsy" or "heroic" call when my gut is telling me I'm beat (see: 59 vs 79 hand). And while, yes, I broke these rules on my own, its simply because I never get the chance to run that good bluff, when I make big hands I'm beat, and when I should be safe I never am. Honorable mention for broken rules were don't get run over/be the aggressor, always play your position, and quit limping so much. I thought I made some pretty good preflop decisions in spots where I'd normally be spewy, and I thought I made some pretty good plays that I just ended up unlucky in. But, see, that's the key. I'm Sofa King unlucky!

I'm also tired of the level I'm playing at. I feel like a lot of the time I'm setting up the right table image and making the right plays, and have a very systematic approach to the whole thing, and then some idiot who either isn't paying attention or is doing a bad impersonation of a LAG throws all that out the window and pops up and screws me. Like when I open jammed K7 in the SB into K10s in the BB. After showing down nothing but winners and folding all the live long day, I jammed 7 BBs and over half of the BBs stack, and this guy is willing to call w/K10. Where is he when I have a *real* hand?! Of course then when I open jam something like A9 in the cutoff or button, looking to actually double, the SB wakes up with AJ. Sofa King sick. I can't remember, but I think I blogged about recently when I open jammed on the button or SB w/AK and the BB wakes up w/AA. Anyway, I just feel like at my level there are some players who don't know jack and/or don't care and are doing horrible impersonations of a LAG player, and some, like myself, who are really trying to better themselves and that make really strong TAG plays. And then somewhere in between, there is actually the LAG who is making a strong go of it. The problem is, no matter who they are, I'm the guinea pig. I'm the guy w/AA that the LAG flops the nuts against after I raise and he calls me w/56o after I've seen his incapability to keep his hands out of the cookie jar, and I'm also the guy who open raises/jams in position/resteals against the strong TAG who is capable of folding, only this time he's actually got a monster.

Yes, it happens to all of us. But I guaran-damn-tee you it doesn't happen to you as much as it happens to me. I generally try and take the high road and keep the bitching to a minimum (no, seriously...I do), but now I'm officially whining. I'm Sofa King tired of it. I'm the Mike Matusow of bloggers. There...I said it.

Now I know some of you are reading this and seeing leaks galore and percieving this as me thinking my game has no room for improvement and that my big hands will never be beat. But that's not the case at all. I've got a long ways to go, and I know that. I even am fully aware of several of the mistakes in hands I pointed out above, and several of my "conceptual" mistakes such as needing to make plays WITHOUT actual hands and it doesn't matter how many people are left, anything short of the nuts can still be beat. Problem is, I'm so busy fighting tangible uphill battles, I never have a comfortable enough stack/bankroll to even get to a conceptual level. I'm perpetually recovering from the last bad beat and don't get to put it on cruise control to work on sniffing out bluffs, running plays, accumulating chips. I'm always in disaster recovery mode. I'm just so sick of it. I study and I practice and I study and I practice, and I get my money in good, and I make my opponents make mistakes, but my poker life is a perpetual bout with negative variance. Its almost as if instead of there being variance from hand to hand in the cards that are dealt, there's variance from player to player in ones ability to run normally, and I'm the 30% and under. The sick part is that I know there's just as much mathematical backbone to that theory as there is to card variance. Maybe for me it doesn't "always even out", and on the opposite end of the spectrum, there's a guy that sucks out equally as disproportionate as I am able to hold up with the best hand. I just don't want to come to terms with that...I love the game too much.

So now, as you may be able to tell, I'm Sofa King pissed off and depressed and down on the game again. My 9 days off and good attitude about finally making a go of this hobby was completely ruined over the course of 4 hours, 1 MTT, and 4 SNGs. So now, with my sub-$50 bankroll AGAIN...I'll have to pick myself up by the bootstraps and give it another go...AGAIN.

Sorry for the vent. A guy can only take so much.

Thnanks to Sofa King for their sponsorship of this post. I'm out.

WSOP ME Final Table Delay

So as usual, I'm a few days behind, and since my last post a little bit ago I've been catching up and reading posts on the delay for the WSOP Main Event Final Table.

This is all well and good, it has its pros and cons, and I'm not about to dive deep into it as many others have already done much better than I could, but I did have one thought/question that I wonder if it has been broached anywhere.

What if someone offers the final 9 x amount of dollars to play a 9 man SNG and shortcut the Main Event final table and/or give the players a "practice" opportunity/exhibition. Surely some sponsor(s) could benefit from such an activity, and is there really any way that Harrah's can prevent this legally?

I'm sure there is some simple legal work that Harrah's could do to prevent this, but I think it would be interesting to see if such a situation arises. There may be something explicit that Harrah's can draw up and make each player agree to not participating in, but what happens if all the players just happen to play in the same tournament and end up at the final table together? Sure, we all know the chances of that happening...but its an interesting "what if" question, and surely in that specific situation there's nothing Harrah's could do. They're surely not going to prevent these players from entering tournaments, but I'm sure they could make them sign something to agree to not playing out a mockup of the final table explicitly. But whatever they draw up, I'm sure there's somebody out there who will be digging and digging hard for a loophole to steal Harrah's thunder if at all possible. Could be interesting.

As usual, I'm sure I'm either way behind on this thought or way out of left field, but I thought I might throw my discussion point hat into the ring on this nonetheless.

Ok, So That Didn't Work Out Like I Hoped

Well, I know in my last post I said that I'd that I hoped to get rocking and rolling on the playing and blogging, but my week in San Antonio didn't turn out exactly like I expected. In the conferences I've been to in the past, you have your session stuff during the day and then you're pretty much on your own in the evenings. I was looking forward to free time and free internet...instead it wasn't until Wednesday night that I even got my personal laptop out, and then of course as I got to thinking about using the internet that I had already paid for for my work laptop, my assumption was realized in that the charge ($10/day) was by computer/MAC address, and not by room. I don't see how they could do it any other way. So in the end, I couldn't see paying $10 to play an hour or two of poker, even if I turned a profit.

But the week in San Antonio was great. Ate and drank on the company hosting the conference on Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday, and of course the rest of it was on my company, so its really here nor there. Then spent a lot of what little free time we really ended up having working out and doing the tourism thing.

Anyway, I'm here to talk about poker, and at this point I don't really have any poker to talk about except for the atrocious suckout my sister-in-law laid on me at the couples game we played last Saturday. She got all her money in against me as a 95% dog with one to come and of course got there. In a sequence of three hands I got QQ and beat 66 to double, KK and LOST to 66 to lose more than half my stack, and then jammed what I had left w/JJ and lost to AK to go broke. I should've had about 7k and taken two people out VERY early in an 8 person tourney, but instead I found three top 5 hands in a row and the rail. Love this game.

Anyway, I'll be back when I have some more to talk about!

Geez...Has it Been a Month Again?

I'm hoping to get back in the swing of things this week. I will be traveling for work to San Antonio, and I hope to have quite a lot of opportunity to play, and similar opportunity to blog.

I've been hanging in there, but bad luck keeps jumping up to grab me at the least opportune times. KK losing to AK. Pairing my over on the flop, only to have the underpair set on the turn. You know the story.

I've also tried to loosen my game up and get involved in more pots and make moves, etc, etc, but I really think I'm at WAY too low of a level to be able to play a LAG style. In the $5 and $10 SNGs, it seems nobody can find the Fold button, no matter how much pressure you put on them.

All that said, I am currently up in every single facet of play for 2008. I'm tracking Live, Online Cash, Online SNGs, Online MTTs, and Online Misc (Shootouts, etc). Actually, I may have lied. I think I'm down in shootouts. But still, after being significantly down in SNGs for a long time, its nice to be showing a little bit of profit. Unfortunately my MTT stats have suffered because I can't catch a break, so even though I'm playing all facets profitably, the bankroll is still right about where it always is.

Incidentally, I'm off to a friends house tonight w/the wife for a couples game we like to have from time to time, so I'm looking forward to tossing around some real chips and cards and having some fun with friends. But I got my weekly website stats email and saw that my hits were in the single digits for the first time in quite some time, so I wanted to check in and let you know I'm not giving up or anything...just trying to get priorities in order a little bit. I intend on being around for some time to come.

Hope the felt is treating everyone well. Be back soon!