Off to Vegas!

I leave for Las Vegas tomorrow morning. It is an extremely hectic trip and a lot of work. But, there is plenty of fun to be had! I will have my wonderful wife with me, which will make things pretty fun. I always go to this "work convention" without her, but I always wished she could make the trip with me. Well, this year she can! It will definitely be a nice little hiatus from work for her.

I will definitely be playing some live casino poker (finally). I am still trying to decide where to play and what limits. I really wish there was some lower limit triple draw games, but I guess that i'll have to grind it out on UB for a while for that. I think i'll try to play in some casinos that I've never played in before. There are now so many poker rooms that I can pretty much go anywhere and find a room. I might try out the Bellagio room for a while, just to say I played there and maybe even go up to Binions for a tourney on Friday afternoon.

Driving all day...

There are a few things that really piss me off with my job. I love my job, but one of the things that kind of sucks is having to be on the road all day long. In my territory there is without a doubt some of the worst traffic on the east coast. I have actually been told it is worse here than in New York City, and this came from someone with basically the same job as me that lives in Long Island. While I can actually deal with sitting in traffic because it really doesn't bother me that much, I cannot deal with commercials on the radio. There, I said it. I HATE THEM!! I now understand why there is satelite radio. I should probably invest in it. Here are the commercials that when I hear them I immediately turn them off:
Jewelry Commercials - you know these, they have a stupid little jingle and talk about how if you don't buy your wife something sparkly you really don't love her enough. Or the one with the South African guy and his whole family that actually dig the diamonds themselves - YEAH RIGHT!
Cell Phone Commercials - Seriously, they are all the same. We know this, so just give up!
Cable/Satelite Commercials - I pretty much hate Comcast. Always have.
McDonalds Commercials - This is a big one. I cannot stand there "I'm Loving It" campaign with that stupid little jingle...Bah Dah Bah Bah Bahhhh. McDonalds is gross anyway.
Geico Commercials - These are the commercials that try to be like "Crank Yankers"...you know call up Geico and ask them if they are a machine...ACK!

I guess that's all I can come up with right now. But you know what, this probably means those advertising executives have done there job. If I can remember all of these, isn't that what they wanted to accomplish. The problem is, if I want to buy jewelry, I go to an independent store. If I want a hamburger, I go anywhere BUT McDonalds.

On a poker note, Triple Draw has been kicking my butt recently. I have probably averaged a 15 BB loss in every session for the last week. I should've known that I would've been on a downward spiral when I proceeded to win $100 right off the bat in about 3 hands out of the first 10 or so since I sat down, then end the night losing $85. Thankfully, I have concentrated a little more to my SnG's and have made up for most of the losses with that and some NL cash games. Last night I played two interesting hands that one me one small pot and one huge pot:

Hand #1 - I suck out
$25NL (10 handed) - KJo in the cutoff. Two limpers in EP and MP. I raise it to 4.5xBB. EP calls. Flop is A T 9 w/ two hearts (i have K hearts). EP checks. I bet 3/4 of the pot. EP goes all-in. Of course I call because all he has left is .45, so pot odds cause me to make the call. He has QQ!! Yeah, nice play dude! You deserve the following - K on the turn, blank on the river. So I think I should've just taken the free card on the turn and given up the pot for a largish bet if I didn't pick up the Queen or King, although a Jack would've screwed me too! But seriously, limp in EP with QQ...HUH! Ding Dong's going on my buddy list!

Hand #2 - HUGE POT
$50NL (10 handed) - I have a pretty decent read on the table, mostly passive aggressive. I get AJs in MP. Two limpers in EP, I raise it to 4.5x BB, get one caller in LP and one EP player calls. Flop is A Q x. EP bets pot and I just smooth call. I don't put this guy on AQ or AK because of the limp, but I am a little worried about a two pair with whatever the x card was. The LP player folds and we see an 8 on the turn. He bets pot again and I just smooth call again. Now i'm thinking that I should've been raising here or on the flop, but I guess I got passive myself at this table. I do think that if I raise and he comes over the top of me I am really worried and might lay it down which is pretty weak-tight of me right? River is a blank and my opponent checks. I have him covered so I put him all-in. He took his whole time-bank to call and show A9s! I couldn't believe it, but from the way I played the hand, I guess he thought I was drawing or something. That was one of the biggest pots i've played in while and I was happy as hell to come out on the positive side.

I think i'll buy my new journal today for my record keeping. I slacked off yesterday, but I remember my sessions so i'll update it when I get home tonight. Mo and I are really working hard to eat better and exercise more. It is alot easier to do these things with a partner, and she really keeps me going. She makes me so happy and I love her so much.

What a Ding Dong!

Here's a great hand I played last night in a SnG. It is the first level, blinds 10/20. I get KQ of clubs on the button. Four limpers in front, and I limp as well (huh?). Small blind completes and Big Blind checks. Flop is K Q J with two hearts. Checks to a middle position limper that bets the pot (140) and I call (HUH?). Folds around and we are heads up to the turn card of an off-suit 8. MP limper bets 200 and I call (HUH?). River card is an off-suit 9. MP limper bets about 3/4 of the pot and I go all in (HUH?) he calls with JT of hearts and i'm down to 100 chips.

Let me count the ways I played this so freakin badly!! KQs on the button is a strong hand and I should've either raised to get rid of some of the limpers (or possibly take down the pot) or get it heads up at least. I remember thinking "ok, if I don't flop something good I can get away from it cheaply while still having plenty of chips." Whatever donkey! So I get the top two pair on the flop and one of the limpers bets the pot on a extremely coordinated board. I know I was thinking that he easily could've had AT...but that is where I stopped and didn't think about tthe range of hands that he could've had. So i passively call, while never taking control of the hand or gaining any information about what he may be holding. If I raise his bet a substantial amount, I am certainly going to here from a flopped straight/set, which are the only hands I am worried about. Then the turn I do the same exact thing. Of course the 9 on the river I deserved, but going all in? Uhhh, Why!!??

This is the occasional hand I play like newbie, where I think i'm getting cute, but am just bleeding chips. Duhh...

So far so good...

Well my first day of EXTREME record keeping is over and it worked out. I need to get a better journal though...At one point yesterday I was up about $120, until I had a real bad run in a SnG and a small loss in TD.

The SnG was interesting, and I wish I had the hand history to really analyze it, but will have to get it from UB to look at it more. Basically, I had a huge chip lead and went up against the second place chip leader. I had 55 he had QQ and I just continued to continuation bet until the river where I was thinking I made a value bet but it was like I just value bet it for him. Later on, there was a hand where I had AK and raised prf, he called (he was directly to my left). Ace on the flop I continuation bet about 75% of the pot he calls. There were two hearts on the flop (board was A Q x), blank on the turn, I bet the pot and he calls. River brings the third heart and I cannot remember if I checked or bet, but he ended up betting about 3/4 of my chips and I layed it down...I really felt like he might have had AQ here or a set since he just called my raise prf, but he sure played it like he was drawing...dunno...more on this SnG later...

Anyway, it was a positive sunday so thats good. I am seriously considering making a small deposit on PokerStars, but I really cannot decide.

Poker Resolutions and Goals...

With the new year I really want to make sure that I make some resolutions as far as my poker playing is concerned. It was a positive year, but with my bankroll, that I worked very hard in making, comes some possible conflicts. In poker, the old adage, "more money, more problems" comes to mind. With that being said, "they" also say you can't play with scared money. So I have to figure out if the bankroll that I have now is making me play scared. I never like leaving loser, but that is part of the deal. So I have to understand variance a better. For the past month I have been almost exactly even. I go up some and down some and right now I am pretty much back where I was after my blackjack debacle. So I have come up with a few things that I want to do for this year, some specific goals, and ways to make them happen.

1. Record Keeping.
2. Game Selection
3. Tournaments
4. Cash Games - Moving up in Limits
5. Goals

RECORD KEEPING
This is something that I tried to do here on this blog, but failed to keep track of enough. So I have started a physical journal to log my daily sessions of play. I will make note of the game I played, the amount I won/lost, who I played with, and specific game notes (ie. interesting hands, strategies used, etc.). I might have to ask some of the plus 1'rs how they keep track of everything and what they log if they do. I know there are some computer programs out there (besides Pokertracker) that may be of use to me. But for some reason, I feel like I can "make" myself physically write things down better than typing them in some program, but I will still look into it.

GAME SELECTION
This kind of goes hand in hand with my record keeping. By noting the games that I am playing and who I am playing them with I will be able to understand a little more about how I can maximize my winnings. I need to make sure that I have the necessary bankroll AND skill level to be playing the limits I play. I have no problem playing 2/4 limit games, although I have only played triple draw this high and not hold em'. I feel pretty confident that with my bankroll, this is the absolute highest I can play in LIMIT games. And, I still probably shouldn't play hold'em that high, but that is the risk factor and the gambler in me! It wouldn't be enjoyable for me if there wasn't some amount of risk. It's funny that I can sit down at the 25 NL table and play without a care about the $$. But as soon as I sit down at the $100 NL table, or even WATCH a $100 NL table, I start to sweat.
So right now I want to stick with the following game selection:
NLHE - No higher than $50 NL
LHE - No higher than $1/2 (I hardly EVER play limit holdem, so I doubt this will matter much)
TRIPLE DRAW - No higher than $2/4 (I should probably stick with $1/2 and .50/1, but it really doesn't matter as you pretty much have to take the game you get at the limit that people are playing at the time).
OMAHA (HIGH + 8/B) - The pot limit games are big enough at the $25 tables for me. I really want to work on this game and may try to play some of the micro-limit tables to gain more experience.
OTHER GAMES (Stud - for now) - I hardly ever play stud games, but if I do I will not play anything higher than the .50/1 games.

TOURNAMENTS
This is the area of my game that I feel I can really improve upon. I really want to concentrate on these and make some money along the way. Right now i'd say I am only an average multi table tournament player, but above average SnG tournament player. I have a good tight aggressive strategy that seems to work for me on UB. After reading all of "Kill Phil", I think I can put some of there strategies to good use in the MTT's. Also, with my bankroll, I can afford to play higher buy-in's. I probably shouldn't be playing any of the $100's just yet, but anything $10 and above up to $50 I would consider to be bankroll approved. I seriously need to try some of the TEC SnG's if I want to play any of the $100's. I like that idea. One thing I want to do is try the KILL PHIL strategy in one of the lower buy-in tournaments. I find it really hard to fold pocket jacks early in a tournament, but I seriously want to give it a shot. Who knows what will happen.

CASH GAMES - MOVING UP IN LIMITS
I guess my goal is to double my bankroll before I move up. I should be able to consistently beat the limits that I am playing in cash games and tourneys/SnG's. I would like to do this all by January 2007.

GOALS
I was looking back through my September archives because I know I had posted some of my specific goals that I wanted to accomplish. They were two-fold (shorterm and longterm)
Previous Short-term goals:
1.Deposit into 'Party and/or 'Stars - well I guess I could check this off with an asterisk...yes i won a lot of money on Party Poker, no I didn't do it by playing poker. Will I do it again? Possibly, but only for the cash games over there which are very juicy. I seriously cannot decide if I really want to play on another site. What's the point? Well, maybe I should try Poker Stars after all...I really like there setup as it seems very much like UB's as far as there tournament structure is concerned.
2.Move up to $20 SnG's. CHECK. No problem here, although I tend to play the $10's a lot more. I will stick with this and play both. My ROI on the $20's is probably pretty good, but again, this will all depend on my record keeping.
3.Buy Pokertracker. CHECK. I never use it...hmmm...maybe I should? Ok, yes, I WILL!!
Previous Long-term goals:
1.Win a MTT online or live. CHECK. So shouldn't this always be the goal!!
2.Bankroll at $2500. Not yet!
3.Buy-in for WSOP prelim. event. I don't like this idea actually. It's not that I wouldn't do it. I just don't see it as a goal anymore.

So I think since this is a new year, I'm going to make some new goals. These will be time based and achievable considering my current ability. My short-term goals will now be monthly goals. My long-term goals need to be more measurable goals that are concerned with moving up in limits.

Goals for January:
Keep track of EVERY session of poker.
Have a 40% ROI for SnG's.
Play at least one MTT a week with player pool under 200 (ie $20-$30 buy-ins)

Long-term Goals:
Consistently beat the $2/4 Triple Draw tables for 5 big bets an hour.
Move up to $100 NL tables
Move up to $100 buy-in MTT's.
Win entry into big-buyin tournament (WSOP/WPT/etc.)

A Friday Night In jamfreeks house!

Poker on a friday night!! And check out my sweet new slippers!

Pocket Queens have not been very good for me tonight...

Christmas w/ the family

Christmas always seems to come and go so fast. When I was younger it was worse! These days the whole year just slips by. It has been very exciting though, and I hope 2006 is just as fun, and profitable! I remember when I would wake up and open all of my gifts and then call my friends to see what cool toys santa brought them...it's still the same, just different "toys". All of my friends got pretty cool gifts, but my friend Chris got an extra special one!! He and his wife are going to have a baby!! So that's pretty cool...

I haven't really played much poker the past couple days, mostly because it has been so hectic trying to get everything situated for Xmas. But I did get to play a quick SnG last night (which I got second in) and also spent about an hour on a $2/$4 Triple Draw table (left the table +$40). It was so late when I was finishing up my SnG that I just donked off all of my chips. I just HAD to go to bed. It was a little frustrating because I had my opponent out-chipped about 5-1!! I just kept going all-in when it got down to heads-up and he ended up getting all the right cards. An interesting note is that the "Kill Phil" style of play online says to do just that - go all-in every hand...

I have been studying "Kill Phil" quite a bit recently and am putting its concepts to use, but I haven't really tried it out in a mtt. I am looking forward to the new year to do just that.

Cardplayer Tournament of Champions...

I am a little jealous of all you +1'rs that made it to the TOC. I should have been there...hell, I could've been there if I didn't go brain numb and put all of my stack in w/ a nut flush draw! Oh well, I will be rooting for everyone today. I just watched poor Necco get an all-in called where he held KK and the other guy had AJ of clubs...he hit an A on the flop and Necco was crippled. He went out in 85th. Right now I am watching Snadly do his thing though. He had a nice hand against JRLoomis and got him to put all of his stack in with a pair of Q's...Snad had a set and it held up. Then I go away for a bit and he's lost a bit of his stack, and now JRLoomis has him covered. This tourney is filled with P1MP's!! Anyway, Good Luck to all of you!! Take it down for +1!!

I played a $10 SnG earlier and won it! It was a battle at the end, but with my new "Kill Phil" stategy that I have been working on, I never felt like I would be out of the money! Oh yeah, I also got my first straight flush!! Here's how it went down. I am on the button w/ A6o. I have about 2400 in chips with 5 left. UTG min. raises to 300 and I call. The UTG player had really switched gears in the last 5-10 hands and built his chips up to about 3K. The flop was A45 (4 and 5 were diamonds). I had an A w/ a 6 kicker and a weak backdoor flush draw. UTG bet about 50% of the flop and I thought about jamming, but hated my kicker, although his post-flop bet felt weak, it also could've been a trap. I didn't want to fold so I made the call. The turn brought beautiful 8 of diamonds. A good card, but also a bad card for me. If he had the flush already I was drawing to one card only. This time UTG bet about 1/4th the pot...there was no way i was folding so I called. River was a pristine 7 of diamonds. The pot was about 1500 and I was going to get it, but how much of his stack? He bet 500, I raised to 1000, he thought and thought then pushed...he had the A of diamonds too! Sick feeling to win/lose that hand, as I can now say I have been on both ends! Once it got down to 3 players I started to really "JAM" and just put people to the test. One guy took the other out, and I proceeded to just go all-in with every hand. One time I showed my opponent a weak hand that I had pushed with it was something like J7 or something. He had raised pre-flop and I came over the top of him...he had A2. The very next hand he did the same thing raising pre-flop and I came over the top again, but this time I had AK...he called very quickly w/ AQ and he got no help on the flop. I wasn't thinking that showing my bluff would end up working out on the very next hand, but i'll take it!

Tonight my Mom, Dad, and Sister are all coming over for a pre-Xmas dinner. I need to clean up a bit since Mo is out getting some last minute shopping done with her brother. This year has gone so fast!!

Triple Draw $1/2

I lose $ everytime I play this level! I win when I play $2/4 and .50/1, but this level is killing me. Honestly, last night, the guy sitting to my right got lucky and hit perfect cards on me beating me for $50. It was scary...he was up $100 from the time I sat down to the time I left, which was about 45mins.

So last night I lost $90 on UB. I played TD 1/2 for a while, lost the $50 and then played two $20 SnG's and in both I made SILLY plays. Once, w/ KK where I was slowplaying in a sb vs bb situation where I just let the guy make his set on the turn...he then trapped the trapper. The other time I can't exactly remember the hand, but I believe I had no business making the play sitting in third place w/ four left and making a play at the chip leader...NO BUSINESS!!

Like I said in my previous post, I am going to really try to play some smaller tourneys and try out this "Kill Phil" strategy. It is really cool, and at the very least I want to incorporate it into my own style of play. I don't really believe that anyone should necessarily copy a specific strategy.

In my next update I want to seriously examine my goals and more specifically why I am playing online poker in the first place!

Compulsive, Degenerate?

Why didn't I do what I said I was going to do!??!! I said I was NOT going to play blackjack anymore, and they sucked me back in...good thing I withdrew most of my $$! Anyway, after losing a couple hundo, I took what was left out and have deleted Party Poker for now. I have a couple reasons for this, and they don't all have to do with their blackjack button... 1. I just do not like their interface. After playing on Ultimate Bet since 2003-2004 (I started w/ play money of course :) ), and then switching to the PP tables, it really is a step down. I know, I know, but all the little fishies you say...EFF it...I must be one of them. I have to admit I have seen some pretty BUNK plays on there, but it's been about 2 months and I can't figure it out. 2. There Sit-N-Go structure is absolutely HORRIBLE. I just don't understand why they can't use a structure like UB's or 'Stars? Actually, I know, they don't want games to go longer than 45-60 mins, because they are only getting their one time rake for these tourneys. Because I absolutely LOVE SnG's and I feel I am a better than average SnG player (at least w/ good structures), why should I play on the site? 3. No Triple Draw games. I know that is really asking alot, but I am a better than average player in that game and I want to have my $$ somewhere where I can play it.

But, god bless PP and the business they are getting...40-60K players at anytime during the day?? That's absolutely SICK! So, maybe one day in the future I will put some more $$ on PP and try it again, hell, I'm sure they will be offering me something in the future...they'll probably just put $30 in my account. Right now, I'm sticking with Ultimate Bet...and here's why...Multi-table Tourney's have an excellent structure, Sit N Go's also have a great structure, Triple Draw is offered (although hardly ever any 2/4 games anymore :( ), and all of my friends play on their as well as the P1MP's.

I am going to be focusing on tournaments for a while now. I will still play Triple Draw as much as possible because I am so intrigued by this game. But I really want to build up the 'roll even more and go for some WSOP satelites. I think it is just stupid of me to use any of my online bankroll to buy-in to any of these events, not even the $1500 event. I will probably try out Pokerstars or another site at some point in the future, but that is going to go back on the long-term goals for now. It's just not that big of a deal to me. But Pokerstars is probably going to be the one I go to next.

I have been browsing through the new book by Blair Rodman and Lee Nelson called "Kill Phil". This is the newest book on Tournaments, and I REALLY like it alot! I want to put their strategies into use right now! So my plan is to play $5 and $10 MTT's and really go for the Kill Phil approach. Once I actually get the book and read it a couple times I will see if it is a strategy that is right for me. I really don't believe that any one strategy is correct, but having a couple different ideas in your mind certainly will help. We'll see what happens!

The Goose is Getting PHAT!

And so is the bankroll!! Thank god for Necco telling me to play the $2/$4 Triple Draw on Ultimate Bet!! Until last night I had not had a losing session in about two weeks. Of course, the gambler in me had to try out the $3/$6 game for the second night in a row and lost $150, although I won about $50 the night before. But I really played pretty bad, and those guys were a little better than I expected. I think I could definitely play that high, it's just my 'roll on UB just doesn't support it. I would think to play perfect (ie not scared to lose the cash) I would need about 2-3K. I don't like buying into the 3/6 game with anything under $300, but I could buy-in for 1/2. My buy-in might seem kind of pointless, but because the game is played 6-seated (and it is not always full on UB), the blinds go by much faster and I think you get tied to hands a lot. The swings can be pretty enormous in this game and the suckouts can be horrendous...but I love it!!

I did something the other day that I should never have done, and I feel sick about it to this day! Party Poker has BLACKJACK on their site now. They actually have had it on there for a couple months, and it was too enticing to have it on there so I figured out how to delete the files. I went for a couple months, and then I had to re-install Party Poker because I was having some trouble with my laptop. Well, when I re-installed it, up pops the blackjack files. It's funny, because whenever I go to a Brick & Mortar Casino, I cringe at the thought of playing blackjack. But, I have it on Party and I HAVE TO PLAY. So Tuesday night, I fall asleep on the couch after work. I wake up after my 1 1/2 hour cat-nap and log on to PP. Mo isn't going to be home until 9pm so I'm thinking i'll play some .50/1 shorthanded or maybe the $25NL. But as soon as I see that "BLACKJACK" on the left hand corner of the screen I click on it...deposit $10...and go to work. Needless to say about 3 1/2 hours later I'm up 2K!!! I logged off and just felt entirely sick and embarrased. I've never won that much money ever, and I don't want to tell anybody, and I feel almost BAD about it...LOL!! So now the bankroll is pretty hefty...the funniest thing about the whole situation was that as soon as I logged off I had two immediate thoughts; 1. SWEET, Now I can buy-in to the $1500 NL WSOP event. 2. SWEET, Now I can afford more WSOP Satelites!! What a degenerate! I actually came to my senses...I could really use the money for things other than my online bankroll, so I withdrew a good portion of it.

We got or new computer last night! My in-laws got it for us as an early Xmas gift, and it really is nice. Not top of the line, but perfect for what we use our home computer for. I really want to fix up our office a little better, and I am considering getting a new desk. The one we have is "OK", but I think we need to get a little more organized. Maybe my parents will hook us up. I know Mo doesn't want to get something big because we will hopefully be moving sometime soon, but I think we need it anyway.

Tonight, I will probably play some tournaments on Ultimate Bet and some Triple Draw...(but only if I get busted out early!).


I also plan on DELETING ALL FILES THAT CONTAIN THE WORD "BLACKJACK"!!

ABORT, ABORT...

Seriously, I can't be this bad!! The SnG mission on Party Poker is over. I'm not going through with 50 of these things. The beats I have been taking have been brutal. I did place in the money just two days ago (3rd place grrrrr), but before that I probably averaged 4th or 5th place. The structure of these mother-effers is so messed up that it forces you to play kinda bad. But the beats....ARGGGHH! This is one of my favorites and sums up the play in these $10+1's;

Middle of 2nd level of blinds (15/30). AKo on the button (730 chips). One MP limper (about 500 chips), one player next to him raises to 100 (he has about 300 left), and I seriously knew I had the lead here. I put in a 350 raise to shut out the limper and let the raiser know i mean business. The limper goes all in, as does the raiser!! Wonderful i'm thinking...but for some odd reason I knew I was in the lead. This is what I was up against: MP limper - JTo, MP raiser - AQo...of course a Jack hit and I was down to a little over 200 in chips. The best thing is the limper says in the chat box "there's a lesson for you, sometimes Jacks are better than Aces". Thanks retard. I told him I didn't have aces and that if I did he'd have been out, but thanks for the lesson.

So, it's cash games only on Party Poker from here on out. I thought about trying out the 20's, which i've heard great things about, but I don't want to have to re-deposit after taking these kind of beats.

Thanks to NeccoWafers on plusone, I have been on a roller coaster of sorts playing $2/$4 Triple Draw. On Sunday I had my worst run and almost lost a buy-in. I think I left with about $15. I really got absolutely no cards to speak of and tried to make hands out of crap. Then last night I turned $84 in to $205 playing what I consider to be close to flawless (and a little lucky). By lucky I mean I was defending my bb (which was almost always raised) w/ 23xxx,24xxx and hitting perfect cards. I think I drew out of position three times in 2 hours. I do have to stop pushing hands like 268xx out of position. That is just awful. But at least I know it now. In the .25/.50 and .50/1 games these didn't hurt as much so I didn't realize how bad they were. But when you lose a $25 pot because of a rough draw, you start to see things a bit more clear.

Here's my favorite hand of the night, before I went on the $2/$4 run!

Hand #9779145-3394 at Saint John ($1/$2 Triple Draw 2-7)
Powered by UltimateBet
Started at 28/Nov/05 21:18:29

graysonf150 is at seat 0 with $100.
jamfreek is at seat 1 with $105.25.
scottpoker04 is at seat 2 with $25.50. (This guy bought in for $100 i believe)
Zebulon300 is at seat 3 with $10.50.
worldcup2010 is at seat 4 with $70.50.
GreaterThanU is at seat 5 with $18.50.
The button is at seat 3.

worldcup2010 posts the small blind of $.50.
GreaterThanU posts the big blind of $1.

jamfreek: 8h 5c 7d 3s 4s
scottpoker04: -- -- -- -- --
Zebulon300: -- -- -- -- --
worldcup2010: -- -- -- -- --
GreaterThanU: -- -- -- -- --

First Round:

jamfreek raises to $2. scottpoker04 re-raises to $3.
Zebulon300 folds. worldcup2010 re-raises to $4.
GreaterThanU calls. jamfreek calls. scottpoker04
calls.

worldcup2010 takes 2 cards. GreaterThanU takes 2
cards. jamfreek stands pat. scottpoker04 takes 4
cards.

Second Round:

jamfreek: 8h 5c 7d 3s 4s
scottpoker04: -- -- -- -- --
worldcup2010: -- -- -- -- --
GreaterThanU: -- -- -- -- --

worldcup2010 checks. GreaterThanU bets $1. jamfreek
raises to $2. scottpoker04 re-raises to $3.
worldcup2010 folds. GreaterThanU calls. jamfreek
re-raises to $4. scottpoker04 calls. GreaterThanU
calls.

GreaterThanU takes 1 card. jamfreek stands pat.
scottpoker04 takes 2 cards.

jamfreek: 8h 5c 7d 3s 4s
scottpoker04: -- -- -- -- --
GreaterThanU: -- -- -- -- --

Third Round:

GreaterThanU checks. jamfreek bets $2. scottpoker04
raises to $4. GreaterThanU calls. jamfreek
re-raises to $6. scottpoker04 re-raises to $8.
GreaterThanU calls. jamfreek calls.

GreaterThanU takes 1 card. jamfreek stands pat.
scottpoker04 takes 1 card.

jamfreek: 8h 5c 7d 3s 4s
scottpoker04: -- -- -- -- --
GreaterThanU: -- -- -- -- --

Final Round:

GreaterThanU checks. jamfreek bets $2. scottpoker04
calls. GreaterThanU folds.

Showdown:

jamfreek shows 8h 7d 5c 4s 3s.
jamfreek has 8 7 5 4 3.
scottpoker04 mucks cards.
(scottpoker04 has As 6d 4c 3c 2c.)

Do you fold a $50 pot w/ an A? Of course right. And trust me, he didn't think it was A-5....I saw this guy push hands and raise and re-raise w/ 45789! He called people down with Q high after they were pat after the second draw. He must have been on some serious TILT!

Triple Draw...Playing Over My Bankroll...

So Necco, on PlusOne, gave me this crazy idea that I could play 2-7 at the 2/4 limit. I really think I am a good enough player for this limit, but boy is it frustrating. I really shouldn't play that high, mostly because I might play a little scared, since $30 pots come and go. And, with a game like TD, suckouts happen so much. Regardless, I played 2/4 Sunday night for the first time and lost like $50. I was just completely card dead for almost all of the 2 hours that I played. But, as Necco said, the play wasn't that great. For the most part, it was pretty straightforward. So I decided to play again last night. I again saw the same straightforward play, people pushing their one card draws and decent two card draws. One thing that is different, is that you don't see a pot that hasn't been raised before the first draw. Occasionally there will be a limper, but 95% of the time the button is raising or the CO. I also see a lot more rougher hands winning. I've never seen so many rough 9's. But these guys pay attention. I am the king of the value bet and aggression after the last draw. I almost NEVER check OOP after the last round. If I am pat I want them to be confused and scared to call with there 8. So I got called down one time value betting a pat 9 and lost a decent pot to an 8. But now I know that he knows that I might do this and I can exploit it. I don't think it's all that bad to be aggressive like that. It mixes up your game so that they will call you down. I just have to control it a bit more. Necco is the king of this (not the control part but the aggression). I was watching him play last night (10/20), and he would either have the nuts or a completely ridiculous hand. Now he was playing 3 handed which will open up your starting hand requirements, and he too was playing over his 'roll, but I saw so many times he would get called down and win his biggest pots with his good hands. He was about break even though, and a little tilted. I'm going to keep playing it though, although I may step down a level. I just can't stand the .25/.50 table. I've had great sessions there, but winning 30 bb's in 1 hour (which is a great winrate) is only like $15, while last night I won about $80 in 2 hours. If I am averaging 10 bb's an hour at the .25/.50 level, I think I can make a jump.

I also played in two tournaments last night. One WSOP super satelite (my first), and the $5 7pm that I took down a couple months ago. The super was really a spur of the moment thing. It was a turbo tourney, and I seriously hate those things. I played pretty bad though, only lasting about 30 mins. The 7pm was great until I busted! I had an above average stack the whole tournament until the ante's kicked in. There were about 600 that played, and I think I went out around 130 or so. I had JJ UTG, and raised to 1500 (my stack was about 10k blinds were 200/400 w/ 50 ante). UTG +2 re-raised to about 4-5k. The button called. I pushed. I really should've layed it down looking back, but I just can't do that with that much in the pot. I figured the re-raiser for AK, but the button smooth calling was sooooo weird. So the re-raiser goes all-in and I know I'm toast now, as he had to have an overpair to JJ, and surprisingly the button calls. I think this was about a 30k pot. It turns out I was up against QQ and ATs<--WTF. I guess he was priced in, but seriousy the smooth call!!

Anyway, i'm glad I had a decent night playing Triple Draw to make up for the tourneys and the $50 from the other night. The Turkey Tourney is one day away, and I can't wait to play live. If only I could get my friends to play some other games besides hold'em!!

Need an update

Man, it's been a while since I posted anything on this blog, so I figured I'd see what comes out. The last thing on here was our 1 year anniversary picture, which was a great night. We had a lot of fun and ate a ton of excellent food. Eating is like our hobby. My gut proves it! I finally got a bunch of new music though and actually went to a show last night at the 9:30 club in DC. Mo got me a $100 gift card from Tower Records (one of my favorite all time stores of course!), and I have about $20 left on it. I bought the newest Leo Kottke and Mike Gordon CD, The Bad Plus' newest release, Trey Anastasio's great new album called "Shine", Drew Emmitt, and Robert Walter. Chris and I went to see Umphreys McGee last night, as I said, and it was rockin' as usual. I have been listening to the show all day today since I bought it right after the show. These guys are seriously on fire! They just don't produce a dud of a show ever! It was Chris' second UM show and I think he had a good time...i don't know, didjya Chree? We spent a lot of the preshow chatting and drinking beers. I love that the 9:30 has such excellent brews on tap. Of course at $6 a pop, it can get pretty expensive.

I have realized something this month and October in that I really haven't played much poker, or should I say as much poker as usual. I have actually been doing a little experiment on Party Poker, and I have played nothing but $10 SnG's. I haven't had a very good run after about 15-20, but I think I am in a little bit of a funk. I believe I know the best course of action in these things, it's just my hands aren't paying off as much as they should be or I am getting a little unlucky. It's weird, but I don't think i'm paying enough attention as I should either. I will look at my results after about 50 and see what comes up. I really want to get 100 under my belt to really look at my PokerTracker statistics, which should be interesting. I did get to play two live home tourneys though, one of which I placed second. It was a really good mix of players about 20 or so, and three of them I had played with before. This was a $100 buy-in tournament that was possibly going to have a couple of "The Junkies" of WJFK playing in. Somehow they were all friends with these guys so I was looking forward to playing with them, cause they are funny as hell! Alas, they didn't show, but I took down 2nd place in the first tournament for a payday of $300. I was pretty pissed at myself when it got down to heads up. I feel like i've played so many SnG's and HU SnG's that I am comfortable with the cards and how to play in that situation. The problem was that I can't remember a time when i've played heads up live. I felt that my opponent had an excellent "read" on me and could tell when I was weak or when I was strong. At least I read the last hand correctly and got all of my money in with the best hand. It went down like this. I was sitting with a little less than my opponents stack, he had me covered but only by about 300-600 chips. The blinds were 500/1000 and I was in the sb/button with J5s. I doubled the bb and my opponent re-raised me to 4x the bb. Here I sensed that he sensed that I was weak, which I was...LOL. I thought it out and decided I'd call and see a flop, leaving me with about 1/2 my stack. The flop was an insignificant rainbow except for a 5 that gave me middle pair. My opponent immediately went all in and I beat him to the pot and called. He turned over KTo and I was ahead at the moment, but he had 6 outs to beat me. He turned a K and I got no help on the river and it was over. Not a bad beat really, but unlucky nonetheless. I went on to play the second tournament, but went out after something like 10-12 hands. My JJ ran into AK after an A Q x flop that I had to muck (he later told me he did indeed have AK). And then I was left with a short stack that I donked off when I had top pair to a made straight. I was just happy to play some live poker and actually make a profit. I can't wait for another chance to play with those guys though, they were a good group of players and nice and friendly to boot.

So I look forward to playing some more online soon, as well as the much anticipated poker night with our good buddy Aman. He is in town with his wife for Thanksgiving and we a tournament scheduled the day before. I really don't care how well I do, I will take it seriously, but I am just looking forward to watching "Shmee" in action!

1 Year Anniversary 

Now What?

Since my big win this week, I have been struggling to figure out what to do with my new and improved bankroll. But, by doing this I achieved a few of my goals. So after doing some research I decided to deposit on Party Poker, basically after hearing everyones comments. I played my first few hands on the "beginner" tables and these things are seriously a joke, as I have already won $30 in less than 1 hour playing .50/1.00 limit. I guess I get to play these very fishy tables for the first 45 days of play on PP. Another one of my goals was to buy Pokertracker, basically because of the high praise it gets on just about every poker forum on the net. Since I was making a first time deposit on Party, I signed up for the bonus through pokersourceonline.com and once I play 250 raked hands I will get PT for free. What a deal! It looks like I have 60 days to complete it. This looks like such a fantastic site and they have great products to choose from like chips, tables, cards, etc. Maybe if I want to open up another account I will sign up for another one of their bonuses. The great thing is that you not only get their bonus for the cool products, but you also get the bonus for that specific card room. Pretty Sweet!

I bought some new KEM cards with some of my winnings and I really like them. We played with them last night and I think everyone was happy with them. The cards were a little on the expensive side, and if I wasn't so impulsive, I could've bought them for much cheaper online. They take some getting used to because they are so slippery, but they will last forever. Speaking of last night we had a nice 7-8 person game over at Chris and Tiffany's house and it was a lot of fun and I won a little. I was down a little when Tiffany called my all-in bet where she held top two pair and I had top pair with a flush draw. She made a GREAT call and I although I was dissapointed to lose my first buy-in, I was happy with the way she played the hand. Chris couldn't believe how well she played it! I also had a huge hand at the end of the night against my buddy David where I had AA. If I remember correctly I was in the cut-off David was on the button and Chris was to my right. Chris put in a standard 3 1/2xbb raise and I re-raised the size of the pot. David called, which worried me a little, and Chris folded. The flop was Jxx with two spades. I made a big pot size bet and David just smooth called. This worried me even more since I felt like he would make this play with everything from a set to two pair to possibly a flush draw. The turn was another spade and I was sure that I had the A of spades. I didn't have that much $$ left compared to the pot but he had me covered so I went all-in, he did not call quickly so I felt like I had the best hand. He reluctantly called w/ KJo (though he did have the K of spades) and he got no help on the river. All-in all it was a fun night out with the boys (and girl). I really wish we could play more, but everyone is so busy with kids and work that it's really hard to make it happen. I guess we play about once a month so that gives everyone their poker fix.

I missed the Cardplayer freeroll which I am pretty dissapointed about. I actually was supposed to miss it since we were going to go to the Maryland Million (Horse Races), but that was cancelled due to the constant downpour we have had since yesterday. I remembered that I had not unregistered for the freeroll, but I came to find out that you actually have to register for it before you can unregister..LOL, what a bummer. I hope there is one more cause I would really like to play in their "tournament of champions" and I need a big payday to get close to that.

Well as far as my goals are concerned, my short term goals have almost been met. I opened an account in the pond known as Party Poker. And, I should have Pokertracker by the end of the month. I have only played one $20 SnG, and although I won it, I want to continue to play the $10's and occasionally play the $20's. I really didn't see much of a difference, and since I have enough $$ right now, I want to play it pretty conservative with my tournament buy-ins. I will eventually play those $20's exclusively. If I can consistently beat those I will be a happy man. The real problem is keeping track of my progress. I need to figure out how to keep track of my SnG's. Since I won a large MTT, that satisfied that goal, but its not like I will not be playing anymore of those.

I will think about some new goals this weekend.
UB Stats:
9/27/05 - 10/8/05
Starting Balance: $408
Cash Games: +$23
Tournaments: +$681
Cash Out: $400
Ending Balance: $712

Party Stats:
10/7/05 - 10/8/05
Starting Balance: $250
Cash Games: +30
Ending Balance: $280

I WON, I WON, I WON!!!

Well the bankroll is juicy now, and I achieved one of my goals. To win a large online Multi Table Tournament. It was Mondays 7pm $5 + .50 $2500 guaranteed on Ultimate Bet. I beat out 560 people for a nice return on investment of $680! I really feel that this was MY tournament to win. I will post some hands and analysis for everyone's enjoyment. It gets pretty long, but this is the first big tournament that I have won so I really want to preserve this.
This was the SIXTH hand of the tournament!!
BB-10
AA in CO, min. raise from EP, I reraise to 150, SB goes all-in for 1415, i call and pull a wheel straight to take it down.
Hand #26:
BB-20
AA in 2nd pos., min. raise from UTG, I re-raise to 200, UTG calls, Flop is 938 rainbow, UTG bets min., I raise to 300 and he folds.
An interesting one: Hand #44
BB-40
Ac 4s in CO, 3 limps in front, I call and SB calls and BB checks. Flop is A42 all hearts. Checks around to me, I bet 240 and get 1 caller. Turn is a black 3, checked to me again and I bet 225 and get called. River is a black T and it's checked to me and I check to. I take it down with A's and 4's to his (obvious) flush draw (he had had the Qh).
Hand #50:
BB-40
QQ UTG, I raise to 150, one caller and it folds around to the chip leader at the table who goes all-in, I think and say my usual "woah" out loud, and fold.(GOOD FOLD??)
Three hands later I pick em' up again!! At this point I'm thinking there's no way they will hold up a third time!!
Hand#53:
AA in the CO, folds around to table chip leader who limps as does one player to the right of me. I go all-in and say "hey it's all the rage", since for the last three hands there was someone going all in. I felt it also looked like I may be on a bit of tilt, since I got raised all of my chips with the QQ hand. I really didn't care much if everyone folded, as I said earlier, I seriously didn't think they could hold up AGAIN...LOL. Well, I did get what I wanted with one caller who showed JTo?!!?? He picked up a straight draw on the flop, a flush draw on the turn, but blanked out on the river and I was now in REAL good shape!
I am pretty proud of this hand...
Hand #72
BB-100
9sTs in SB. I call a small raise from MP along with the BB. Flop comes 7 8 J w/ two diamonds. I bet the pot, worried about the flush draw, BB folds and MP just calls. Turn is a 2 of diamonds. I bet 500 and get another call. River is an offsuit A and I bet 500 again, he raises me to 1K and I call, praying that he didn't have the flush. He ended up with a set of 7's on the flop. I'm actually surprised this guy didn't go broke on this hand on the flop, LOL, that's probably what I would've done.
Hand #75:
BB-100
KK in the CO, min raise from EP, I re-raise to 1200, min raiser goes all-in for 1350 and I call, he has JJ, K on the flop and I win!
Hand #90:
BB-150
77 in EP, I limp with one other in front of me and someone in LP goes all in, it's only 335 so I have to call, he's got AK, K on the flop, A on the river and I lose...
Here's another hand I'm pretty proud of:
Hand #101
BB-200
3s4s in BB, short stack who only has 145 left calls so he is all-in, SB completes and I check, flop is 3 A T with two spades, SB bets 200 and I call. Turn is a offsuit 9, SB again bets 200 and I call. Now at any point does this guy put more pressure on me, I have to fold, but just betting the minimum into a dry side pot just doesn't seem right. River is an off suit 4. SB checks and I bet 1345 and he calls and shows down A2, my two pair wins the side pot, the short stack had A9.
After the following hand I knew something was up with this tournament!
Hand #110
BB-200
I post the BB and am dealt 93o. 4 limpers and I check, flop is 9 3 3. I check it down to the river after an A falls and bet 1/2 the pot, the button calls showing A7o.
How about AA a fourth time!!
Hand#135
BB-300 Ante-25
AA in 3rd pos. I raise to 1600, short stack goes all in for 220, and I get one other caller. Flop is A J Q rainbow, I bet 4120, I have the other caller covered, he calls for 1600, he shows QQ and I take both pots down with my set over his set...a 8300 chip pot.

Then I get moved to a tough table which included the chip leader who was really on a tear.

BB-300 ante-25
Dealt 99 in the BB, folds around to a late position player on a short stack who goes all in for 3135. I thought and thought, and really felt like this player was ready to make a move regardless of his cards, I put him on AT initially, but said aloud AK? I felt like I had to call. He turns over TT and I get no help on the flop.

So now I’m still sitting in about 25th place. I was waiting and waiting to steal blinds with some decent hands, but everytime I got one it was raised in front of me and I couldn’t call or re-raise. I finally picked up the blinds and antes with 55 in MP. We hit the break and I look to see that things are ok, but not great. I am third in chips at my table, but still at the end of the pack. After the break I decided I now had to make a move and go for the win. I wanted to get aggressive and really put pressure on the guys at my table, but all I could seem to do was stay at or around the chip average of 18000. The cards really started to get cold for me, but I wasn’t standing for going out in 20th place! Card’s?? Who needs cards??

Then this hand:
BB-400 ante-50
AQ in BB. Folds around to SB who limps, I raise to 2400 basically hoping he folds and I can move on, but totally not expecting a re-raise all-in for 6435, which is what he does!! So now I feel I have him and if not I probably have overs. I call and he shows A2o. I take that pot down and get my stack to over 25000. Now I feel good!

The bubble came and went and we were all in the money. Things got real tricky as the blinds rose and my cards were cold. Everytime I tried to steal I met resistance so I really had to sit back and wait. At one point I was WELL below the average stack, but not desperate yet. I then tried to steal with QTo and was re-raise so I had to give it up. But, this fold was tough as the guy who raised me was doing it almost everytime I raised, like he had some read on me. Well, I almost went all-in, but decided not to be a donkey and go out with QT. So I waited. I was now at a little over 10000 in chips and pretty desperate. Thankfully, I picked up QQ the very next hand.

BB-1200 ante-125
QQ UTG, I raise all-in to 10770. I get called by a TT and I get my set on the flop and don’t get sucked out on. I am now sitting pretty with 24300 chips.

A couple hands go by and I pick up AQo and re-raise the second place chip leader all-in (about half of his chips) and he folds. At one point I got to as high as 35000 in chips, and then picked a bad spot to steal and lost about 8000 in chips, putting me back down to the bottom of the pack at 14000. Well that didn’t last long as I pick up the bullets for the FIFTH TIME!!!
Hand #271
BB-2000 ante-200
AA in 3rd position. Min raise from UTG who I have covered, I go all-in for 14165 and he calls showing AJo, I take it down AGAIN!!!

So I get back up to over 35000 and can breath a little easier. We get down to 18 left and I am comfortably in the middle of the pack. I end up stealing a bunch, mostly with Ax (A-6,7,8, etc). And then pick up AA for the SIXTH TIME!!! This time I get no callers preflop so I am stuck with the blinds and antes…phew, no worries, I have 57000 in chips. Then I go on a string of blind steals one after the other, but everytime I had decent hands (AK twice). Basically everyone was playing tight as hell trying to get to the final table at this point we started playing hand for hand. I built my stack up to about 75000 once we got down to the final 15 or so. We reach the final table and I can’t believe how well I’ve played and how lucky I had been to get such great cards and for them to hold up. I got to the final table in 5th position and just adjusted to the full table. I stole a bunch of blinds and got my stack up to over 80000 when this HUGE HAND CAME UP!!

Pocket Aces – SEVENTH TIME!!
BB-6000 ante-600
MP1 goes all in for 52440, MP2 goes all in for 42720…I call hit a set on the flop and fill up on the turn and I go from fifth to second in a matter of seconds.

I end up taking the lead with about 7 left but I go up and down for a while. Then this interesting hand comes up.
BB-6000 ante-600
QJo in SB. Button raises and I call as does the BB. A big pot develops and we see a flop of 7 2 Q rainbow. I bet a little more than half the pot 25000 and am raised by the BB who goes all-in for 84K. I think for a bit and decide to call after he says “222 good?” He shows Q9 (the hellory), and he gets no help and I win another huge pot and take a huge chip lead. We then get to six and I stick with my chip lead after people actually letting me see cheap flops and hitting them with top pair, or just enough of a hit to take down the small pots. At this point the pots really were not “small”, but were substantial enough. Another interesting hand came up that I was quite surprised to see, and glad I did not take part in. Three people got all in after some preflop raises with a flop of 874 with two diamonds. The hands were KJ of diamonds, QQ, and JJ. Of course the diamond got there on the river and Mr. I’ll put my whole tournament on the line with the second nut flush draw wins almost 500K and takes out one player and cripples the other (who ended up w/ a straight). So now I’m sitting in second place with a huge lead to 3rd and 4th. 1st place has me covered but only by about 100K. We lose our short stack two hands later and the 3rd place player goes out the very next hand…and I’m sitting there almost in disbelief that I made it this far!

I tell my opponent “gg” and we proceed to go to war. He has me covered by about 2-1, so I don’t feel too worried. First hand headsup I unfortunately get a walk over w/ AKo. Second hand I get J8o and raise preflop, he re-raises and I call, he bets the size of the pot and I fold, he opts to show AKo…LOL! Third hand is another walk over where I hold 92. I can’t understand how you cannot play position playing headsup. It’s really the only thing you have going for you as I believe the cards really don’t matter. Fourth hand I get J8o again and call from the button, we see a meaningless flop, he checks, I bet, he folds. Again I get a walkover on the fifth hand. Sixth hand I get 77 and bet the size of the pot, he folds. I’m thinking this guy must be a real weak headsup player, because here I am with the shortstack bullying the big stack. The seventh hand I picked up Q2o and folded to a raise from him. The eighth hand is where this match gets interesting. I pick up J8o AGAIN! I limp, he raises, and I call his raise. Flop is J93 w/ two spades. He checks, I bet a little less than the size of the pot, he goes for the checkraise, raising the minimum and I pump him and go all-in on him. He folds and I take about 150K of his chips. We are now almost even in chips, and I am on a tear. The ninth hand is another walkover! I can’t believe this guy didn’t like the button…LOL!! Hand #10 I limp w/ 73o he checks his option and we see a flop of 229 and he proceeds to go all-in…I of course have to fold. Hand #11 is another walkover. Hand #12 I get J4o and raise preflop, he of course folds. Hand #13 is a walkover. Hand #14 I limp w/ 93, he checks and the flop contains a 3 so I bet and he folds. Another walkover the next hand then in Hand #16 I raise w/ 52o, he calls preflop and he trys to put me allin after another meaningless flop. I fold. I start to get the feeling that he is ready for this thing to be over. Hand #17 he again trys to put me allin this time preflop, I have QT, but fold. Hand #18 I raise w/ AJo, he goes all-in and I call, but he has the same hand and we split. Hand #19 is another walkover. Then this intense hand. Hand #20, I get K4o and minimum raise to 16000. He calls and we see a flop of K 7 5 rainbow, he goes all-in. Now I have to think…was he slow playing a K with a decent kicker, did he get two pair? I go back to my read that I feel he wants to end this so I call and he shows 79o. He gets a 9 on the turn, but I get another K on the river and double up leaving him with only 140K or so. I can’t believe that the best hand held up!! What a lucky River!! Well I end up doubling him up the very next hand when he goes all-in with A8 and I call with KQ, he gets an 8 on the flop an 8 on the turn and an 8 on the river. Basically UB is telling me not to count my chickens!! I still have him outchipped 2-1 and the next hand get AKo and raise him and he folds. We go back and forth a bit for the next few hands, and it seems he has some life in him. Then the final hand, Hand #28: Th6h on the button. I raise to 25600 and he reraises to 43200. I call and the flop is a beautiful T T 2 w/ two spades. He goes all-in and I quickly call. He shows AQs and he gets no help on the turn and river, and I take it down!!

VARIANCE!!!

Or, how to lose $130 in two weeks!

Yep, the 'roll has taken a swing downward and it looks like it might be time for a quick break! I guess these things happen, you lose a couple buy-ins at the $25 NL tables and thats where you are. The truth of the matter is that I got up so high in the last month that it was like me against the world, with me winning no matter what! It wasn't like I played hands rather bad, I just put myself into pretty bad situations.

Here's an interesting hand from this past weekend. I sat down at the regular .1/.25 table and after about 45mins I was down about $10, not too bad, but I was about ready to get up or re-buy, I decided one hand in MP would do the trick, so I waited for something decent. I got A8 of hearts in the CO and limped into a pot with about 4 other limpers. BB checked and we saw a flop of Q 4 9 w/ two hearts giving me four to the flush. Check, Check, Check, I bet about 1.50 and get one caller then one guy checkraises me the minimum. I decide to call that. Turn is a blank and it gets checked to me and I happily take the free card. River is a wonderful heart, it gets checked to me and I put out a value bet of about 1/2 the pot. The checkraiser goes all in and I take it down with the nut flush. Turns out the guy also had hearts, JT of hearts. Anyway, that gets me back up to about $26-27 and I feel great. It goes around for another round when I get in the BB with two red 4's. One guy in 2nd pos. min raises my BB after UTG limps, it folds around to me and I call as does UTG. We see a flop of J 9 4 with two spades I decide to get tricky (not a good idea here), and check raise. UTG bets the minimum, 2nd Pos. raises the size of the pot, I re-raise, UTG calls 2nd Pos, goes all-in as do I and UTG. I was figuring that both were on a straight and flush draw...turns out that I had bottom set, UTG had 34o!! and 2nd pos. had pocket 9's. The funniest part of the whole hand was that I thought i was dead after the turn because another spade fell, and to make matters worse, another fell on the river! Funny right, even funnier because no one even had one spade! Anyway, that one hurt a bit, but I have since shrugged it off. I feel pretty good about my play, but as the title states, it's just variance.

On another note, I have done pretty well in the $10+1 SnG's. I haven't played enough of them to show much of my results but lets just put my ITM at roughly 45%. Though I haven't won one in the last two weeks I have a couple seconds and thirds. So I will continue to play these as well as the $5's and the MTT $5's and 10's. Triple draw was even kicking my butt a little, but i'm not too worried about that game, I really like it and am still in the black in it.

As far as music, I still have not bought the new Leo Kottke/Mike Gordon CD and I really need to get it. The Martin Scorsese documentary on Bob Dylan is on again tonight (the first half was on last night) and I thought it was fantastic. My buddy David let me borrow the "soundtrack" which I have been listening to all of the last two days. In the car right now is: Leo Kottke live album, Bob Dylan "No Direction Home", Widespread Panic, Tribe Called Quest!.

UB Stats:
9/14/05 - 9/27/05
Starting Balance: $532.50
Cash Games: -$130
Tournaments: +$6
Ending Balance: $408 MAN THIS IS DEPRESSING :)

Triple Draw

Lately I have been playing many hours of Triple Draw 2-7 on UB. I am really enjoying this game, it's so much fun! The problem is that it is really a grind to eek out a profit. Last night I played over two hours and was +$16. Now this isn't bad considering it the limit (.25/.50), but this game has some major swings. I was playing with a couple forum members (NeccoWafers and OutOfOrder, and then Corona1-formerly known as Seanstack later on), and OoO really said it best in that your stack fluctuates pretty drastically, but your profit comes from your "runs" where the deck really hits you. This is exactly what happened to me last night as I was going back and forth, up $10 and down $5 until I hit one wheel followed by a draw to #2 that hit after the first draw, followed again by a pat rough 8 that I never thought would hold up but did. I did have one interesting hand where I had a draw to the wheel. Pre-draw there was major raising and I think it got capped. I had 2345 and hit my 7 after the first draw. Two other players in the hand were also drawing, one drew 1 the other drew 2. I was in EP (can't remember if it was BB or UTG). I bet out and it got capped and I of course was pat for the second draw. My opponents drew 1 and 0 collectively and here I was sitting with the straight up nutz. Of course it got capped again before the last draw, but this time the one guy who was still drawing dropped out and it was down to the pat hands, I bet out and re-raised until we capped and showed down my wheel. I don't know what the other guy was thinking I think he had a 23568! Which is in trouble and he just kept jamming? Anyway, that was a fun hand and I was positive that we would be chopping, but I later got a good read on this guy because he would go pat with real rough hands.

So my bankroll is back up and I am pretty happy. It's funny how great August was for me, and I attribute that to my cash game play. I really want to get better in the big tournaments, but I haven't been able to play many and they take so much time! I can see how it is so important to have stamina and I can't imagine how hard the WSOP main event is. The first couple months I mainly played SnG's and worked up my bankroll with many 1st and 2nds, and I cashed in 40% or so. The last month and a half I have only played a handful of SnG's. I know I wanted to track my play on these, but I haven't played more than 3 I think! I did play in one $10+1 on Sunday and got another dissapointing 3rd place, where I should've at least got 2nd. The problem was that I was playing triple draw and the SnG at the same time. I worked my stack up real big, but then with 4 people left made a bad call to an allin w/ an A9s (Chris' favorite hand!) and was up against AK. That crippled me and I was left struggling for third place.

In other news, Chris and I lost our first fantasy football matchup against Phil! :<
It was kinda flukey since Phil had the Bills defense and kicker who put up 37 points collectively. Cut that in half and we had a chance going into the Monday Night Football game with T.O. going, but he didn't score so it probably wouldn't have mattered. We still feel good about our team and feel that it is one of the most solid in the league. Brian won his matchup with a pitiful performance from Chris/Jesse. Football season is the best!!

Chris responded to my "Talking *hit" post! It was funny. Chris you're my boy, and I meant it all in fun. He seriously is the hardest working guy i've ever known. And thats why he makes the big bucks, and i'm sitting here wasting time on a blog that maybe 3-4 people read! He did make a point to invite me to play in the golf tournament on friday which I am so very grateful! I can't wait to play!

So I need to summarize my short-term and long term goals, mainly for myself:
Short-term:
A. Open account at Party or Stars - I would like to get my 'roll up to $800 before doing this.
B. Move up to $20+2 SnG's.
C. Buy Pokertracker - This will be essential because I am awful about keeping notes on my opponents. Cost $55

Long-term:
A. Win a MTT online or Live (buy-in irrelevant / pay-out irrelevant)
B. Bankroll at $2500+
C. Buy-in for WSOP prelim. event.

UB Stats:
9/5/05 - 9/14/05
UB Starting Balance: $484.38
Cash Games: +$39.12
Tournaments: +$9.00
UB Ending Balance: $532.50

Aces Suck!!!

I've seen a shirt with this exclamation on one of the guys in "the crew" in a WSOP broadcast, and I always thought it was humorous. But, never would I have thought it was true! The other night I decided to play in UB's Katrina Relief Tournament. It was the lowest buy-in $5 + 5. From the beginning of the tournament until the end, I got AA and KK about 10! times. They say that with these big pocket pairs you usually only win a small pot, but lose the big ones. Well, that is exactly what happened. I was actually pretty impressed that I made it as far as I did since I was down to 325 chips after the first 30 mins. Each time I lost these big pots it wasn't because I played it bad before the flop, in fact, there was absolutely no reason for these donkeys to be in it against me. Of course, the first hand I lost with KK, there was the dreaded A on the flop and of course the guy behind me had AQo. I was UTG and was re-raised by this donk, I re-re-raised and he calls. Too bad I didn't have AK! After getting my stack up to just under the average stack after the first break, I ended up getting all of my chip in the pot on the turn with this board Q 9 9 J. He of course had A9s! No business!! So while I was dissapointed in not making it in the money, I was impressed that I had made it that far. Later, I played in a $5+.50 with $3500 guaranteed and ended up getting 45th. Going out in a blaze of glory with pocket sevens.

So the 'roll has taken a bit of a hit, though nothing out of the ordinary. I have not had a winning session in cash games, but the losses have been small. My tournaments haven't been that great either (SnG's, MTT's). Today is the Cardplayer Freeroll, which I am glad to be playing in again. I need another money finish to have any chance of playing in the Championship tournament. We still don't know what the big prize is, but it's Cardplayer, so I have faith that it will be nice.