So the WBCOOP wasn't quite the success I was hoping for...sure I got through about 2100+ people, but the last hand hurt a bit...here it is:
PokerStars Game #5293925825: Tournament #25183930, Freeroll Hold'em No Limit - Level XIII (1000/2000) - 2006/06/18 - 19:22:35 (ET)
Table '25183930 31' 9-max Seat #7 is the button
Seat 1: HoodedMan (38074 in chips)
Seat 3: Snoops44 (63537 in chips)
Seat 4: dj tim (91805 in chips)
Seat 5: PhenomPoker (40326 in chips)
Seat 6: ZbjaffeZ (106675 in chips)
Seat 7: ctwxman (72414 in chips)
Seat 8: Tbone19 (39250 in chips)
Seat 9: jamfreek (28850 in chips)
HoodedMan: posts the ante 100
Snoops44: posts the ante 100
dj tim: posts the ante 100
PhenomPoker: posts the ante 100
ZbjaffeZ: posts the ante 100
ctwxman: posts the ante 100
Tbone19: posts the ante 100
jamfreek: posts the ante 100
Tbone19: posts small blind 1000
jamfreek: posts big blind 2000
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to jamfreek [6h 2s]
HoodedMan: calls 2000
Snoops44: calls 2000
dj tim: folds
PhenomPoker: folds
ZbjaffeZ: folds
ctwxman: calls 2000
Tbone19: calls 1000
jamfreek: checks
*** FLOP *** [8c 6s 6d]
Tbone19: bets 4000
jamfreek: raises 10000 to 14000
HoodedMan: folds
Snoops44: folds
ctwxman: folds
Tbone19: raises 23150 to 37150 and is all-in
jamfreek: calls 12750 and is all-in
jamfreek said, "nh"
*** TURN *** [8c 6s 6d] [Kh]
*** RIVER *** [8c 6s 6d Kh] [Kd]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
Tbone19: shows [8h 8s] (a full house, Eights full of Kings)
jamfreek: shows [6h 2s] (a full house, Sixes full of Kings)
Tbone19 collected 64300 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 64300 | Rake 0
Board [8c 6s 6d Kh Kd]
Seat 1: HoodedMan folded on the Flop
Seat 3: Snoops44 folded on the Flop
Seat 4: dj tim folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 5: PhenomPoker folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 6: ZbjaffeZ folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 7: ctwxman (button) folded on the Flop
Seat 8: Tbone19 (small blind) showed [8h 8s] and won (64300) with a full house, Eights full of Kings
Seat 9: jamfreek (big blind) showed [6h 2s] and lost with a full house, Sixes full of Kings
Pretty much a cooler huh? I guess I was stuck in the hand, I mean there aren't many better flops. Oh well, it was a good tournament, and I hope I can play as well in future WSOP sattelites. 104 out of 2247? I'll take that...too bad no cash or any kind of prize...till next time...
Sunday, June 18, 2006
Tuesday, June 13, 2006
I have registered to play in the PokerStars World Blogger Championship of Online Poker!
This Online Poker Tournament is a No Limit Texas Holdem event exclusive to Bloggers.
Registration code: 3475832
This should be fun!
I should've titled this blog "POKER"
I don't think I've really blogged that much about music or really anything else since I started this thing. Oh well, I guess I can talk about my brand spankin new 60 gig VIDEO IPOD!! This thing is great. I didn't really want one of these things for a while until I talked to my boy MIKE G (AKA Smokebreak) and he really got me excited about having one of these. Since I work all day on the road and listen to music pretty much all day (with some poker podcasts along the way) it really is a no-brainer. I am having a hard time doing anything but importing my cd's. I have done about 10gigs so far and theres a ton more...I think i'll probably have the thing full in about a week. Then I'll probably have to par it down and take out old stuff like "Hootie & tthe Blowfish" LOL!
Speaking of music, while in AC last week, I played at the tables while listening to my mp3 player for the first time. It was actually quite nice, and i'll probably never play at a table without music again. I figure that if I play at home with music it can't really hurt me. I try to stay pretty concious of whats going on at the tables and when i'm in a hand I try to tune out the music a little. I enjoyed it!
And now...POKER! AC was such a BLAST! Mo and I got in on Sunday night around midnight. We checked in and my baby gave me my last birthday presents...two pairs of sunglasses and 3-4 cigars (my favorite brand!). We then promptly hit the boardwalk and a blackjack table. I swear I don't want to play anymore blackjack. I just don't really have any fun! I mean sure it's fun when you win, but i've won and it still doesn't have the same effect as taking down pots at pretty much any poker table. Monday morning we woke up and had some room service breakfast. I want to mention a bit about The Tropicana and their new tower (The Havana Tower). UMMM, not that big of a deal...it's a new room, but nothing that special, aside from it being new and CLEAN! We walked around a bit and I got in touch with NeccoWafers (Casey) who was sleeping. Snadly and SnadlysGirl (Brad and Melanie) were out eating lunch and sightseeing (LOL - sightseeing in AC :^> ). I went down to the poker room and bought in to the 2/4 limit game. A nice start...low-limit poker. After about 2 hours or so Brad and Melanie walked by and I recognized them immediately. They hung at my table for a while and Brad brought Casey over and we talked a bit before Melanie sat down two to my right and Brad and Casey went over to the the NL tables. I played some good hands the whole session and sucked out a couple times for a win of $75 over about 2.5-3 hours. A nice solid session. Mo and I had a reservation at Red Square for a beautiful and delicious romantic dinner. We loved that place! I had some great vodka drinks and one semi-girly martini (but tasted delicious). After dinner we caught up with the Snads and the Wafer for some drinks at Ri-Ra, one of my favorite Irish bars ever (hell you get my vote if you have Boddingtons on tap). We ended up playing some NL for about 4 hours or so and I stumbled into the room around 4:30am up $60 or so. Here's a pic from the night:
Tuesday morning I had planned to play the $50+15 11am tourney. It only had about 30 people with 1st taking down $500+. Sadly none of us cashed. I basically played 3 hands: AA, QQ, JJ. I went broke with QQ when on the shortstack, but lost the monster pot that had me down to nubbins with JJ. Basically it went like this...blinds are around 150/300 and 4 people limp in and I look down in the bb at JJ. I raise it up to 1500 (with about 7K behind), one mp limper calls and on other (who is on the ss) goes all-in for 750 more...At this point I look over at the first caller and she has about 3500 more, so I push her all in and sure enough she calls...i'm up against 88 and KQ...of course an 8 comes on the flop and I go from above avg stack to the shortest stack. Two hands later, on the button I push with QQ and run into KK...IGHN! It was fun and I played with Brad to my right the whole time. He ended up busting about 30 minutes later 1 from the final table (only 4 payed). All in all it was a fun tournament,and I actually came back with an extra little cash as well!
I know in my last post I mentioned that I am considering depositing into a new site...so far, I think i'm going to put a little cash into 'Stars and go for some WSOP qualifiers...I'm pretty excited about giving it a shot!
Speaking of music, while in AC last week, I played at the tables while listening to my mp3 player for the first time. It was actually quite nice, and i'll probably never play at a table without music again. I figure that if I play at home with music it can't really hurt me. I try to stay pretty concious of whats going on at the tables and when i'm in a hand I try to tune out the music a little. I enjoyed it!
And now...POKER! AC was such a BLAST! Mo and I got in on Sunday night around midnight. We checked in and my baby gave me my last birthday presents...two pairs of sunglasses and 3-4 cigars (my favorite brand!). We then promptly hit the boardwalk and a blackjack table. I swear I don't want to play anymore blackjack. I just don't really have any fun! I mean sure it's fun when you win, but i've won and it still doesn't have the same effect as taking down pots at pretty much any poker table. Monday morning we woke up and had some room service breakfast. I want to mention a bit about The Tropicana and their new tower (The Havana Tower). UMMM, not that big of a deal...it's a new room, but nothing that special, aside from it being new and CLEAN! We walked around a bit and I got in touch with NeccoWafers (Casey) who was sleeping. Snadly and SnadlysGirl (Brad and Melanie) were out eating lunch and sightseeing (LOL - sightseeing in AC :^> ). I went down to the poker room and bought in to the 2/4 limit game. A nice start...low-limit poker. After about 2 hours or so Brad and Melanie walked by and I recognized them immediately. They hung at my table for a while and Brad brought Casey over and we talked a bit before Melanie sat down two to my right and Brad and Casey went over to the the NL tables. I played some good hands the whole session and sucked out a couple times for a win of $75 over about 2.5-3 hours. A nice solid session. Mo and I had a reservation at Red Square for a beautiful and delicious romantic dinner. We loved that place! I had some great vodka drinks and one semi-girly martini (but tasted delicious). After dinner we caught up with the Snads and the Wafer for some drinks at Ri-Ra, one of my favorite Irish bars ever (hell you get my vote if you have Boddingtons on tap). We ended up playing some NL for about 4 hours or so and I stumbled into the room around 4:30am up $60 or so. Here's a pic from the night:
Tuesday morning I had planned to play the $50+15 11am tourney. It only had about 30 people with 1st taking down $500+. Sadly none of us cashed. I basically played 3 hands: AA, QQ, JJ. I went broke with QQ when on the shortstack, but lost the monster pot that had me down to nubbins with JJ. Basically it went like this...blinds are around 150/300 and 4 people limp in and I look down in the bb at JJ. I raise it up to 1500 (with about 7K behind), one mp limper calls and on other (who is on the ss) goes all-in for 750 more...At this point I look over at the first caller and she has about 3500 more, so I push her all in and sure enough she calls...i'm up against 88 and KQ...of course an 8 comes on the flop and I go from above avg stack to the shortest stack. Two hands later, on the button I push with QQ and run into KK...IGHN! It was fun and I played with Brad to my right the whole time. He ended up busting about 30 minutes later 1 from the final table (only 4 payed). All in all it was a fun tournament,and I actually came back with an extra little cash as well!
I know in my last post I mentioned that I am considering depositing into a new site...so far, I think i'm going to put a little cash into 'Stars and go for some WSOP qualifiers...I'm pretty excited about giving it a shot!
Friday, June 02, 2006
Not much to report - End of May
I guess the end of the month wasn't really "swingy" for me. After the debacle of drinking and playing poker, and learning my lesson...I have buckled down. I am thinking about focusing a little more on MTT play. I think with my last final table I figured something out about my game, at least in the $5 spot tourneys. I have sooooo much more to figure out about mtt play, and I hope to get some help from some of the plus one soon!
I am about 1/3 of the way to re-building my bankroll. I am trying to stay as positive about this as possible. My TD play (other than my over the bankroll play) has been outstanding, and I may even incorporate a little A-5 here and there, rather than focusing on ONLY 2-7. The end of the month was not very kind to me on the SnG front, but I made some mistakes that I have learned from.
Sunday I am leaving after my birthday party for Atlantic City. Mo and I are really looking forward to it! I am also looking forward to meeting up with Snadly and Snadly's Girl as well as NeccoWafers. It should be a great time, and hopefully profitable.
After the AC trip, I have contemplated putting some cash on a couple other sites again. It seems like I have this thought about every month or two. The real reason is that I want to get in on some of the action, and while I have been a very LOYAL customer to UB, they just do not have the player representation that the other guys have. It's not like I am going to take my $$ off the site, I just want to explore other opportunities like FullTilt or PokerStars...we'll see how AC is!
I am about 1/3 of the way to re-building my bankroll. I am trying to stay as positive about this as possible. My TD play (other than my over the bankroll play) has been outstanding, and I may even incorporate a little A-5 here and there, rather than focusing on ONLY 2-7. The end of the month was not very kind to me on the SnG front, but I made some mistakes that I have learned from.
Sunday I am leaving after my birthday party for Atlantic City. Mo and I are really looking forward to it! I am also looking forward to meeting up with Snadly and Snadly's Girl as well as NeccoWafers. It should be a great time, and hopefully profitable.
After the AC trip, I have contemplated putting some cash on a couple other sites again. It seems like I have this thought about every month or two. The real reason is that I want to get in on some of the action, and while I have been a very LOYAL customer to UB, they just do not have the player representation that the other guys have. It's not like I am going to take my $$ off the site, I just want to explore other opportunities like FullTilt or PokerStars...we'll see how AC is!
Thursday, May 25, 2006
Don't drink and play poker
Things went south last week...VERY SOUTH! I had a TILT moment that I shall never forget...basically the TITLE SAYS IT ALL...Let's put it this way...I almost went broke...my wife goes out of town and all hell breaks loose at the UB tables. B- you had quite a point that you made in that comment, but it was more than the TD tables...it was the 7&7's on top of it...That's the bad news.
The good news is that I made a final table this week in my 3rd or 4th online tourney of the year. I finished 8 out of 974 for a whopping $120+. That made me feel pretty good. I took some time off after the debacle last week and it helped. I've been trying to lay low on the poker tables these days. I've played 2 SnG's and got 1st and 6th. The sixth place finish had an interesting final hand that has me wondering. I guess i'll get right to the point...
Preface: Tourney is playing VERY SLOW. For some reason everyone is either multi-tabling or on dial-up. Anyway, we are down to 6 and the blinds are 100/200, stacks are relatively even, I have about 2700 (in 3rd place), and there are two stacks around 1500-1800. I have been actually playing pretty tight, but have not shown down hardly any hands (actually 1 hand only where I had top 2 pair and put a guy all in with only top pair weak kicker, only to river a chop pot - I had AJs in the sb he had ATo). But the thing is, even though i've been playing very TAG, i've had good hands in good position that are not getting called preflop...so I was actually thinking that the table may think i'm trying to bully and steal using position only...so...on to the hand: KTs UTG+1 (thats UnderTheGun+1 Chris..or..the guy to the left of the guy next to the big blind :^} ), and raise to 600, which was my standard raise with good cards. The CO (thats CutOff, or the guy to the right of the button)makes it 1000 to go, and it folds around to me...I hem and haw and almost fold, but the pot was laying me 400/1900 or about 4.5/1...so I call. Flop is Q J 3 with two clubs (I have hearts and there aren't any on the board). I pause about 3-5 seconds and shove the rest of my chips in (2100 in to the pot of 2300. The re-raiser in the CO thinks for what seemed like an eternity and calls with 99. The turn and river blank out and i'm down to less than the bb and go all in on the very next hand w/ 94o (the snadly - remember that snad?!!), but run into the same guy with AQ who takes it down.
Here is my thinking into how I played it wrong: 1.KTs was probably not a hand I should've gotten involved in...as I said I had been playing TAG (TightAggressive), but not showing down many hands...therefore, I have a LAG (LooseAggressive) image. Even though I realized that, I still played it...or basically got caught with my hand in the cookie jar. I maybe should've played even tighter, but the blinds were racing and I had to make a move. 2.calling the 400 (a min. raise btw/) was correct I believe, but the JAM after the flop was sorta out of character for me. Although, if I had a hand like AK/AQ/JJ, I probably play it the exact same way. The thing is...a quick all in just seems like a draw to me in that situation...even if i waited for more than 5 seconds, it still looks fishy. 3.A bet of 1/2 to 3/4 of the pot would've taken it down for sure. I know I can't call that with the hand he's got and two overs on the board.
Well, I know that was probably a lot of explanation for basically a coinflip...he was 56%, I was 46% to win...but it's good to re-live it, although frustrating.
Thats all there is for now...I hope to not TILT so much in the future, but, as I said before, I will not forget it!
The good news is that I made a final table this week in my 3rd or 4th online tourney of the year. I finished 8 out of 974 for a whopping $120+. That made me feel pretty good. I took some time off after the debacle last week and it helped. I've been trying to lay low on the poker tables these days. I've played 2 SnG's and got 1st and 6th. The sixth place finish had an interesting final hand that has me wondering. I guess i'll get right to the point...
Preface: Tourney is playing VERY SLOW. For some reason everyone is either multi-tabling or on dial-up. Anyway, we are down to 6 and the blinds are 100/200, stacks are relatively even, I have about 2700 (in 3rd place), and there are two stacks around 1500-1800. I have been actually playing pretty tight, but have not shown down hardly any hands (actually 1 hand only where I had top 2 pair and put a guy all in with only top pair weak kicker, only to river a chop pot - I had AJs in the sb he had ATo). But the thing is, even though i've been playing very TAG, i've had good hands in good position that are not getting called preflop...so I was actually thinking that the table may think i'm trying to bully and steal using position only...so...on to the hand: KTs UTG+1 (thats UnderTheGun+1 Chris..or..the guy to the left of the guy next to the big blind :^} ), and raise to 600, which was my standard raise with good cards. The CO (thats CutOff, or the guy to the right of the button)makes it 1000 to go, and it folds around to me...I hem and haw and almost fold, but the pot was laying me 400/1900 or about 4.5/1...so I call. Flop is Q J 3 with two clubs (I have hearts and there aren't any on the board). I pause about 3-5 seconds and shove the rest of my chips in (2100 in to the pot of 2300. The re-raiser in the CO thinks for what seemed like an eternity and calls with 99. The turn and river blank out and i'm down to less than the bb and go all in on the very next hand w/ 94o (the snadly - remember that snad?!!), but run into the same guy with AQ who takes it down.
Here is my thinking into how I played it wrong: 1.KTs was probably not a hand I should've gotten involved in...as I said I had been playing TAG (TightAggressive), but not showing down many hands...therefore, I have a LAG (LooseAggressive) image. Even though I realized that, I still played it...or basically got caught with my hand in the cookie jar. I maybe should've played even tighter, but the blinds were racing and I had to make a move. 2.calling the 400 (a min. raise btw/) was correct I believe, but the JAM after the flop was sorta out of character for me. Although, if I had a hand like AK/AQ/JJ, I probably play it the exact same way. The thing is...a quick all in just seems like a draw to me in that situation...even if i waited for more than 5 seconds, it still looks fishy. 3.A bet of 1/2 to 3/4 of the pot would've taken it down for sure. I know I can't call that with the hand he's got and two overs on the board.
Well, I know that was probably a lot of explanation for basically a coinflip...he was 56%, I was 46% to win...but it's good to re-live it, although frustrating.
Thats all there is for now...I hope to not TILT so much in the future, but, as I said before, I will not forget it!
Saturday, May 13, 2006
Running Goot!
Man, every table I sit down to play, the cards just seem to fall in my favor! Boy is it FUN to WIN!! I played some $1/2 TD today and actually booked a little win (+$28), I wouldln't have played if not for Syndrome sitting there! I actually lost a decent sized pot where I was dealt #5 and he made #3 to take it down. I kind of played it weird, and probably could've lost 1 or 2 less bets. I had one of those feelings before the last draw that I was beat, but I wasn't going to go draw. Oh well! I wish I could say the same thing about my little SnG adventure, although I haven't played that many, I am up, but not by much. It's weird, I have been getting my $$ in with the best of it, but sometimes the deck just doesn't really care that much. I need to take one down here soon!
Thursday, May 11, 2006
MAY...
Well, May has started off pretty great. At the Triple Draw tables I am up $104! Hopefully by writing this blog I won't bring myself any bad luck LOL! I have been logging a lot more hours this month, mainly because I feel like I finally have gotten my head on straight again. I want to focus a little more on my single table tourneys though, as i've only played 2, and i'm I have one cash to show for it. The play hardly ever changes in these $5.50's, and I find them entertaining and fun! I have played a few NL ring games at the $10 level and have had some good sessions.
I am looking forward to June though since it is my birthday and we have a trip planned for AC. I can't wait! Hopefully I will get some much needed live action with some forum members (Snadly and SnadlysGirl), and maybe some more. It should be a great time.
I want to post some TD hand histories, but I really need to find a good converter. I know 2+2 has one but it doesn't always work. Oh well, more to come on that end!
I am looking forward to June though since it is my birthday and we have a trip planned for AC. I can't wait! Hopefully I will get some much needed live action with some forum members (Snadly and SnadlysGirl), and maybe some more. It should be a great time.
I want to post some TD hand histories, but I really need to find a good converter. I know 2+2 has one but it doesn't always work. Oh well, more to come on that end!
Monday, May 01, 2006
April in the Black
So after a full month of record keeping with the new spreadsheet, it looks like I am in the black for April! Unfortunately last night I got a little greedy and lost about $20 or so. Although, it would have been more of a loss if I did not get second in a SnG. It seems to me that these are definitely the way to go to re-build. On UB they take about 1.5 hours so my hourly rate is much better than the stupid TD cash games. I did not play that much, and although I won about $30+, in the time I played, I'd have at least doubled my SnG cashes. I know i'm like a broken record, but if I could stay off those tables my bankroll would/could be much healthier. But aren't we here for fun?? Well that is exactly what those triple draw tables are!
I did play a live home tourney this past weekend and finished 3rd. It was a very fun time with some friends and the tourney was full of players that were basically sub-par. Their were actually only 4-5 players that I respected. The only thing that was not fun about the tourney though, was the fact that the "tournament director/host" decided to skip about 3-4 levels of blinds. We started with 3500 in chips with blinds at 25/50 going up every 20 minutes. Pretty standard right? Well, once we got past the 200/400 level he skipped 250/500 and 300/600 and went to 350/700 (which was not in the original plan). Then they skipped 400/800 and went straight to 500/1000. From there on they doubled the blinds, so when we got down to the final table with about 6-7 left, it turned into an all-in fest much like a World Poker Tour televised final table. I had only one "suck out" when I went all-in w/ 93o trying to steal the blinds and got called by the chip leader. I caught a 9 on the flop and two pair on the river to double up, and basically stood strong until we were in the money.
So now to May, I hope I continue to re-build. It's definitely a challenge, but it sure is fun!
I did play a live home tourney this past weekend and finished 3rd. It was a very fun time with some friends and the tourney was full of players that were basically sub-par. Their were actually only 4-5 players that I respected. The only thing that was not fun about the tourney though, was the fact that the "tournament director/host" decided to skip about 3-4 levels of blinds. We started with 3500 in chips with blinds at 25/50 going up every 20 minutes. Pretty standard right? Well, once we got past the 200/400 level he skipped 250/500 and 300/600 and went to 350/700 (which was not in the original plan). Then they skipped 400/800 and went straight to 500/1000. From there on they doubled the blinds, so when we got down to the final table with about 6-7 left, it turned into an all-in fest much like a World Poker Tour televised final table. I had only one "suck out" when I went all-in w/ 93o trying to steal the blinds and got called by the chip leader. I caught a 9 on the flop and two pair on the river to double up, and basically stood strong until we were in the money.
So now to May, I hope I continue to re-build. It's definitely a challenge, but it sure is fun!
Thursday, April 27, 2006
$5.50 SnG Adventures Continued
Well the month is almost over and I am interested to see some results as i've kept track to a "T"! The $5.50 SnG's are full of absolute morons and it sure helps to have that to build a 'roll on. I am still staying within my bankroll in the SnG's, but I HAVE been playing some .25/.50 and .50/1.00 Triple Draw 2-7. I am a little sick about it, and although i've been winning, I know that it will take a couple bad nights to put me on tilt. But, I have been pretty good about staying pretty emotionless with the bad beats and the premium draws that just do not get there. That being said, I just do not understand the low limit TD players sometimes. I sat for about 2.5 hours the other night, and watched as the guy to my right repeatedly limped UTG and cold called raises with 2 and 3 draws. Now usually this is a tell-tale sign of a weak to moderate hand something like 345xx or just a 23xxx. The thing is, by just limping with these hands he is giving odds for other players to limp into the hand as well and take available cards. It's not like there is an endless supply of 23456 and 7's?!?!! The part that is really screwy is that this guy had won over 50BB's, and quite a few of them were from me! For example: I am in 2nd position with 248xx and moron UTG limps, I raise and BB calls and UTG moron calls. BB draws 2, moron takes 3! and I take 2. I catch 2348x, BB checks, moron bets, I raise (to drive out BB), BB folds, moron caps, and I call. Now he draws 3 again! I take one and blank out. Moron checks I bet, and he calls and stands pat! Now, I had seen this guy do the same type of thing with anything as bad as a rough Q, so I am feeling pretty good that I can beat him with any 5679, and I can't really snow him because he calls anything. I take 1 and catch #5 (23458), Gin i'm thinking! So he comes out betting (which again i'd seen him do and show down said rough Q high type hands), and I raise expecting him to fold or just call, sure enough he 3-bets, and just before I cap, i'm thinking he couldn't have made #1 right! Sure enough, we showdown his wheel vs my #5. The thing is, it's hands like these that make people use the term "luck" in reference to this game, but this guys play is sooo wrong on so many levels its almost unexplainable (at least until third street). Sure, he played the hand great once he had the lock perfect! But what about the play in the early streets? Unbelievable!
So, I will continue the SnG adventures and the bankroll rebuild. Personally, things have gotten a little better with the passing of my long-time friend. Deep down I know that he did not want us to morn for long and that he wanted us to get on with our lives. It's just hard sometimes. Things like using your cell-phone and calling people with names that start with "D" and realizing that you still have his phone numbers locked in your cell. And, emails, and UBuddy aliases, etc, etc. But it gets easier everyday. I'm sure that soon I will go a couple days without thinking about David, but that is just the way life is. He sure is looking down on all of us and smiling and "getting our back", I know this.
So, I will continue the SnG adventures and the bankroll rebuild. Personally, things have gotten a little better with the passing of my long-time friend. Deep down I know that he did not want us to morn for long and that he wanted us to get on with our lives. It's just hard sometimes. Things like using your cell-phone and calling people with names that start with "D" and realizing that you still have his phone numbers locked in your cell. And, emails, and UBuddy aliases, etc, etc. But it gets easier everyday. I'm sure that soon I will go a couple days without thinking about David, but that is just the way life is. He sure is looking down on all of us and smiling and "getting our back", I know this.
Wednesday, April 19, 2006
Memories of Blue Shark
My first memory of Dave goes all the way back to second grade. You see, my parents and I lived in the White Oak apartments from 1975-1982. From kindergarten through first grade I went to Jackson Road. David, along with Phil and Mike G were in both of my classes. Then, Montgomery County decided that the boundaries for the school system needed to be changed and I was "on the wrong side of the tracks". So, I had to go to Cresthaven Elementary for the beginning of my second grade schooling. We later moved to Eden Road in the winter. I can remember actually moving in and seeing David and some of the other kids playing up the street and my mom asking them where they lived and basically "hooking me up with friends". Later that week, I went down to Davids house and re-introduced myself. I think I basically said something like, "hey remember me? I was in your first grade class and I need someone to play with..." or something to that effect. Thus began our many adventures on Kathryn/Eden Rd.
Many of the following events actually took place, but because they happened so long ago, I know that they are probably not in chronological order, but they're close:
The Falcons Weekly: This was our neighborhood paper. I think it was more about setting up some kind of office in Davids basement, where I wouldn't be surprised to still see a paper sign that reads Falcons Weekly Office. I remember actually going around and knocking on doors asking people for a subscription. Our first (and only) issue, which probably still exists somewhere at the Holts, was about a page and a half long, and our lead story had something to do with Kevin Carter building a new bike jump at the basketball court where many of the neighborhood kids would convene.
Baseball Cards: David and I had an obsession (for me the first of many) for collecting baseball cards. My favorite player was Cal (obviously), Dave's favorite was Eddie Murray. We loved to trade our collections back and forth. David was always so much more knowledgable about the players and the cards than I was, probably because of his older brothers (mainly Bruce), who already had extensive collections. Basically David probably ripped me off a couple times. I remember getting really angry one time, and probably a little jealous, so I took one of my Eddie Murray cards and forged his signature on the card, in hopes of getting a real good trade or just to rub it in that I had such a valuable card. Also, one of the weird role playing "games" that we used to do, was to set up my basement with all of our cards and baseball memorabilia and pretend that we owned a baseball card shop, reminiscent of "The House of Cards" in Wheaton.
Kerry Flagg and the Spikes: This was one of our first of many combinations of a band. I believe that Andre Gary was the drummer and Dave and I were the singers, I don't think we ever actually had Kerry "in" the band, but we just used his name. Actual song titles: Skinny Boys (They can fit through closed doors), and Tommorrow is Today (The only lyrics being Dave singing Tomorrow is today tomorrow is today ehh-yay-eee-yay-eee-yayyy - also completely improvised). There were MANY more songs actually, possibly as many as 8-10 and they WERE recorded and MAY still exist. I know we had given the "master copy" to Cindy. Later, we had heard that Q-107 was having a "battle of the bands" in which bands had to send in recordings to the radio station in hopes of getting a record contract. Yeah, we did that as well, but no recording contract!
Redman and Blue Shark: At some point we had shifted our television watching to mostly "You can't do that on television" and old "Batman & Robin" re-runs. I guess we had it in our minds that the neighborhood needed some homegrown heros to save all of the kids from bullies and pranksters. We came up with the names Redman (my alter-ego and the name I thought of), and Blue Shark (Dave's much cooler name). My mom was our "Alfred" and the only one who knew our true identity. Our "cave" was my bombshelter in my parents house. So one day we get all dressed up in our costumes. Now picture this, me in my red sweatsuit, red wool-knit hat and swimming goggles, and David in an all Blue sweatsuit with a blue wool hat and sunglasses in 95+degree summer heat. We march down the street to Andre Gary's house to collect for past due "club fees". Yes, we had a number of clubs and forts along the way as well, all of which had "dues", but none of which were ever paid by Andre. So we get to his house sweating profusely in our costumes, knock on the door, only to find Andre's sister Lisa answer the door cracking up. We say "Is Andre here?", "No!", "well, tell him that Redman and Blue Shark are looking for him!", and we walk away. As we are about to turn onto my street, we see Andre's parents Volvo coming toward us and we say to eachother "don't even wave at him". We look over to the car as he is passing us and we can tell that, 1. he knows its us, and 2. he is excitedly, and proudly holding his brand new "Purple Rain" album in the window so that we can see as the car passes.
Jackson Road Talent Shows: These took place every year and it was a major assembly of students showing there wares in song, dance and various skits. We took part in two shows. The first was simply titled "Painter Comedians", where we wore overalls and those old "Duron" paint hats that you got free when you bought paint at the local hardware store. We stood on small step ladders and mimed painting (i'm pretty sure we actually had paint brushes and paint cans) while telling really stupid jokes we got out of an old "Highlights Magazine". For our second year, we simply showcased our singing skills with the classic "Best Friends", accompanied my Ms. Barbara Strang.
The Amusment Park: This was another one of those, lets get rich schemes that just never really panned out. We had the idea that we could make some kind of ride in Dave's backyard that we could sell tickets for to all of the local kids. I think we may have spent two days on this, and the most we came up with was a red "radio flyer" wagon that we would push people around in and ultimately down a very small hill that we lined with plywood for a smooth ride. Also, we had a sprinkler that the kids could run and play through, as well as Dave and Steves super cool playhouse that I can still remember Mr. Holt building in there backyard.
The "Infamous" St. Johns Dance: Going from sixth grade to seventh grade is usually a pretty big transition period for many kids. Luckily we had Sunji, who was one year ahead of us already there, so we didn't really have to worry much. I remember the night before school started for us at White Oak, getting a call from Dave. He questioned "So what are you going to be like this year?" "HUH??" I replied! Later that year we started going to St. Johns dances which were every other Friday night I believe. On one particular night David, Shannon, and I got a ride from Mrs. Holt to the dance. I don't remember much about the dance, as they were all pretty much the same. Didn't they ALWAYS end with "Stairway to Heaven" and a bunch of the older kids making out? So we are on our way out the door, when Shannon makes a comment about Daves hair. Ever since I can remember, Dave just did not get regular haircuts (at least until high school or thereabouts). His hair would grow out over his ears and he would just look a little more shaggy than most. So Shannon says something about this, and Dave gets fired up and starts chasing after us. This was one of those "two's company, three's a crowd" type things, where Shannon or I would make fun of Dave and the other would in-turn pile on. Classic middle-school stuff. Anyway, Dave picks up this huge tree-branch and starts swinging it around and with every swing he yells "OWWWHHH". We heard this and Shannon (I swear it was Shannon) starts yelling "OXXXX" after every swing/yell from Dave. This went on for basically the whole mile home, most of the time it was me running from Dave.
As I think back to most of Bruce's eulogy on Monday, I keep coming back to those glorious days on the baseball field playing in High School. A couple months ago, my Mom gave me a huge scrapbook with tons of pictures and old school papers dating all the way back to pre-school. Something that I found tonight that had me laughing out loud was the Springbrook Baseball 1992 stats. I went right to Davids Pitching stats for that year. Heres basically what it reads: Holt: 1 game, .66 innings pitched, 5 runs 1 earned, 1 base on balls, 10.61 ERA, 2 HitByPitch!!!! Now that is hilarious! Luckily for the rest of Montgomery County baseball, he improved on those stats senior year!
Finally, just to show how sincere and heartfelt David was in his final days/months/years, I have to share this story that had me really choked up when Bruce was doing the eulogy. As he said, one of Dave's favorite pastimes was too look up baseball stats in his Baseball Encyclopedia. It usually would happen when we were just chatting about a player and he would say something like "well lets see how many actual games so and so played". And, he would pull out his 1995 Total Baseball book that was never to far from reach. MANY times I would say to Dave, "man, I really need to get one of those books", and I would always tell him when I would find a used one and never buy it because it was too old. So one day I get a call from Dave and he's like "dude come over, I got something for you, your gonna LOVE it!". I get over to his house and sure enough, he pulls out a BRAND NEW Total Baseball Encyclopedia and hands it to me. I'm like "what's this?", and he says, "it's yours, I was down at the museums today and I saw it and thought you might like it...". And, I am absolutely STUNNED. He could've just given me his old one and kept the new book and I would've been ecstatic. What a friend!
There are so many other stories about Dave, but i'll leave those up to everyone else. I'll miss you Blue Shark!
Many of the following events actually took place, but because they happened so long ago, I know that they are probably not in chronological order, but they're close:
The Falcons Weekly: This was our neighborhood paper. I think it was more about setting up some kind of office in Davids basement, where I wouldn't be surprised to still see a paper sign that reads Falcons Weekly Office. I remember actually going around and knocking on doors asking people for a subscription. Our first (and only) issue, which probably still exists somewhere at the Holts, was about a page and a half long, and our lead story had something to do with Kevin Carter building a new bike jump at the basketball court where many of the neighborhood kids would convene.
Baseball Cards: David and I had an obsession (for me the first of many) for collecting baseball cards. My favorite player was Cal (obviously), Dave's favorite was Eddie Murray. We loved to trade our collections back and forth. David was always so much more knowledgable about the players and the cards than I was, probably because of his older brothers (mainly Bruce), who already had extensive collections. Basically David probably ripped me off a couple times. I remember getting really angry one time, and probably a little jealous, so I took one of my Eddie Murray cards and forged his signature on the card, in hopes of getting a real good trade or just to rub it in that I had such a valuable card. Also, one of the weird role playing "games" that we used to do, was to set up my basement with all of our cards and baseball memorabilia and pretend that we owned a baseball card shop, reminiscent of "The House of Cards" in Wheaton.
Kerry Flagg and the Spikes: This was one of our first of many combinations of a band. I believe that Andre Gary was the drummer and Dave and I were the singers, I don't think we ever actually had Kerry "in" the band, but we just used his name. Actual song titles: Skinny Boys (They can fit through closed doors), and Tommorrow is Today (The only lyrics being Dave singing Tomorrow is today tomorrow is today ehh-yay-eee-yay-eee-yayyy - also completely improvised). There were MANY more songs actually, possibly as many as 8-10 and they WERE recorded and MAY still exist. I know we had given the "master copy" to Cindy. Later, we had heard that Q-107 was having a "battle of the bands" in which bands had to send in recordings to the radio station in hopes of getting a record contract. Yeah, we did that as well, but no recording contract!
Redman and Blue Shark: At some point we had shifted our television watching to mostly "You can't do that on television" and old "Batman & Robin" re-runs. I guess we had it in our minds that the neighborhood needed some homegrown heros to save all of the kids from bullies and pranksters. We came up with the names Redman (my alter-ego and the name I thought of), and Blue Shark (Dave's much cooler name). My mom was our "Alfred" and the only one who knew our true identity. Our "cave" was my bombshelter in my parents house. So one day we get all dressed up in our costumes. Now picture this, me in my red sweatsuit, red wool-knit hat and swimming goggles, and David in an all Blue sweatsuit with a blue wool hat and sunglasses in 95+degree summer heat. We march down the street to Andre Gary's house to collect for past due "club fees". Yes, we had a number of clubs and forts along the way as well, all of which had "dues", but none of which were ever paid by Andre. So we get to his house sweating profusely in our costumes, knock on the door, only to find Andre's sister Lisa answer the door cracking up. We say "Is Andre here?", "No!", "well, tell him that Redman and Blue Shark are looking for him!", and we walk away. As we are about to turn onto my street, we see Andre's parents Volvo coming toward us and we say to eachother "don't even wave at him". We look over to the car as he is passing us and we can tell that, 1. he knows its us, and 2. he is excitedly, and proudly holding his brand new "Purple Rain" album in the window so that we can see as the car passes.
Jackson Road Talent Shows: These took place every year and it was a major assembly of students showing there wares in song, dance and various skits. We took part in two shows. The first was simply titled "Painter Comedians", where we wore overalls and those old "Duron" paint hats that you got free when you bought paint at the local hardware store. We stood on small step ladders and mimed painting (i'm pretty sure we actually had paint brushes and paint cans) while telling really stupid jokes we got out of an old "Highlights Magazine". For our second year, we simply showcased our singing skills with the classic "Best Friends", accompanied my Ms. Barbara Strang.
The Amusment Park: This was another one of those, lets get rich schemes that just never really panned out. We had the idea that we could make some kind of ride in Dave's backyard that we could sell tickets for to all of the local kids. I think we may have spent two days on this, and the most we came up with was a red "radio flyer" wagon that we would push people around in and ultimately down a very small hill that we lined with plywood for a smooth ride. Also, we had a sprinkler that the kids could run and play through, as well as Dave and Steves super cool playhouse that I can still remember Mr. Holt building in there backyard.
The "Infamous" St. Johns Dance: Going from sixth grade to seventh grade is usually a pretty big transition period for many kids. Luckily we had Sunji, who was one year ahead of us already there, so we didn't really have to worry much. I remember the night before school started for us at White Oak, getting a call from Dave. He questioned "So what are you going to be like this year?" "HUH??" I replied! Later that year we started going to St. Johns dances which were every other Friday night I believe. On one particular night David, Shannon, and I got a ride from Mrs. Holt to the dance. I don't remember much about the dance, as they were all pretty much the same. Didn't they ALWAYS end with "Stairway to Heaven" and a bunch of the older kids making out? So we are on our way out the door, when Shannon makes a comment about Daves hair. Ever since I can remember, Dave just did not get regular haircuts (at least until high school or thereabouts). His hair would grow out over his ears and he would just look a little more shaggy than most. So Shannon says something about this, and Dave gets fired up and starts chasing after us. This was one of those "two's company, three's a crowd" type things, where Shannon or I would make fun of Dave and the other would in-turn pile on. Classic middle-school stuff. Anyway, Dave picks up this huge tree-branch and starts swinging it around and with every swing he yells "OWWWHHH". We heard this and Shannon (I swear it was Shannon) starts yelling "OXXXX" after every swing/yell from Dave. This went on for basically the whole mile home, most of the time it was me running from Dave.
As I think back to most of Bruce's eulogy on Monday, I keep coming back to those glorious days on the baseball field playing in High School. A couple months ago, my Mom gave me a huge scrapbook with tons of pictures and old school papers dating all the way back to pre-school. Something that I found tonight that had me laughing out loud was the Springbrook Baseball 1992 stats. I went right to Davids Pitching stats for that year. Heres basically what it reads: Holt: 1 game, .66 innings pitched, 5 runs 1 earned, 1 base on balls, 10.61 ERA, 2 HitByPitch!!!! Now that is hilarious! Luckily for the rest of Montgomery County baseball, he improved on those stats senior year!
Finally, just to show how sincere and heartfelt David was in his final days/months/years, I have to share this story that had me really choked up when Bruce was doing the eulogy. As he said, one of Dave's favorite pastimes was too look up baseball stats in his Baseball Encyclopedia. It usually would happen when we were just chatting about a player and he would say something like "well lets see how many actual games so and so played". And, he would pull out his 1995 Total Baseball book that was never to far from reach. MANY times I would say to Dave, "man, I really need to get one of those books", and I would always tell him when I would find a used one and never buy it because it was too old. So one day I get a call from Dave and he's like "dude come over, I got something for you, your gonna LOVE it!". I get over to his house and sure enough, he pulls out a BRAND NEW Total Baseball Encyclopedia and hands it to me. I'm like "what's this?", and he says, "it's yours, I was down at the museums today and I saw it and thought you might like it...". And, I am absolutely STUNNED. He could've just given me his old one and kept the new book and I would've been ecstatic. What a friend!
There are so many other stories about Dave, but i'll leave those up to everyone else. I'll miss you Blue Shark!
Thursday, April 13, 2006
Let Him Rest
The latest sun is sinking fast, my race is nearly run
My strongest trials now are past, my triumph is begun
O come Angel Band, come & around me stand
O bear me away on your snowy wings to my immortal home
O bear me away on your snowy wings to my immortal home
I know I'm near the holy ranks of friends & kindred dear
I've brushed the dew on Jordan's banks, the crossing must be near
I've almost gained my Heavenly home, my spirit loudly sings
The Holy ones, behold they come, I hear the noise of wings
O bear my longing heart to Him who bled & died for me
Whose blood now cleanses from all sin & gives me victory
Artist: The Stanley Brothers
Song: Angel Band
I'll miss you David
My strongest trials now are past, my triumph is begun
O come Angel Band, come & around me stand
O bear me away on your snowy wings to my immortal home
O bear me away on your snowy wings to my immortal home
I know I'm near the holy ranks of friends & kindred dear
I've brushed the dew on Jordan's banks, the crossing must be near
I've almost gained my Heavenly home, my spirit loudly sings
The Holy ones, behold they come, I hear the noise of wings
O bear my longing heart to Him who bled & died for me
Whose blood now cleanses from all sin & gives me victory
Artist: The Stanley Brothers
Song: Angel Band
I'll miss you David
Tuesday, April 11, 2006
Week One, Year Two
I didn't really play that much this week as I have been dealing with some personal issues. I have played about 6 SnG's and about 1.75 hours of ring games. Ok, I played Triple Draw (LOL, guess my will is no good). Actually, I did very well in the 1.75 hours that I played, and I guess the time off from that game was much needed. The $5.50 SnG's are a real joke, and I am actually having a lot of fun with them. In the 6 that I have played i've been ITM (in the money) 4/6, with one 1st place, one 2nd place, and two 3rd place. The last one I played last night where I ended up in 3rd, I was trying out a jam or fold strategy when it got down to 3, and I was slightly on the shortstack. The BB had me covered 3/1 or more, and the SB was much closer but still had me covered. I get 88 on the button and jam w/ blinds at 100/200, both players called; AQo and KK from the chip leader. A crazy flop and i'm out.
Anyway, Snadly hooked me up big time with a sweet spread sheet to track my play. I LOVE it! So, at least after a week, I have been up-to-date with my record keeping. I have doubled my stake in the first week, but that is probably only because I have not received my last withdrawal from UB, so I still have quite a bit of $$ on there. I really should be pretending it isn't there, and I have to a certain extent as I haven't played anything higher than the $5.50's or the .50/$1 TD games (which are certainly above my 'roll, but much lower bankroll risk). But, I haven't played anything like the $22 SnG's or even the 1/2 and 2/4 games. No more of that!!
All in all I think the small break I have taken has gotten me focused on more important matters in life and hopefully will revitalize my passion for poker and keep me away from tilt!
Anyway, Snadly hooked me up big time with a sweet spread sheet to track my play. I LOVE it! So, at least after a week, I have been up-to-date with my record keeping. I have doubled my stake in the first week, but that is probably only because I have not received my last withdrawal from UB, so I still have quite a bit of $$ on there. I really should be pretending it isn't there, and I have to a certain extent as I haven't played anything higher than the $5.50's or the .50/$1 TD games (which are certainly above my 'roll, but much lower bankroll risk). But, I haven't played anything like the $22 SnG's or even the 1/2 and 2/4 games. No more of that!!
All in all I think the small break I have taken has gotten me focused on more important matters in life and hopefully will revitalize my passion for poker and keep me away from tilt!
Tuesday, April 04, 2006
One Year Anniversary (For Online Poker!)
So much has gone on with me personally since my last update it's not even funny. So I will just stick with my original intention to talk about my first year playing online poker. A little over one year ago on March 31st, I made my first (and only)deposit on Ultimate Bet. Many withdraws later, i'm still playing and have learned a ton. So, while in the last few months I have seen my bankroll swing up and down, I have made a big decision. I'm going to start all over again!
Here are some things that I have learned this past year:
1. I am a winning SnG player. Ok, I didn't trak my ROI, but I know I am in the money in one table tourneys about 40% of the time.
2. I can win a large online tournament. A combination of excellent cards holding up, patience and a little skill mixed in, rewarded me with a nice new and improved bankroll.
3. I am a pretty good Triple Draw player. I feel like I understand this game and could play this every day with the right bankroll.
4. Bankroll Management. I started off extremely patient with my bankroll. But, once I hit certain points in my 'roll, I put a little too much on the table at one time.
5. You need a much larger bankroll for Triple Draw, at least the $2/4 games and up. I am probably break even at this level and I think it mostly has to do with having "scared money". For some, it might not matter. For instance, lets say you have $1500 in your bankroll and you buy in to the $10/20 Triple Draw game. Well, yeah, you can buy in for $500, but it may or may not hurt if you have a 10-20 BB swing, which happens all the time in this game (at least for me).
6. Sometimes you win and give it right back. Perfect example here. Played a $20 SnG and took 1st place for $100. Seconds after the tourney window closes, I take it all to a tough $2/4 TD game that was also shorthanded and lose all my profits for the day and end up stuck. That blows.
7. I need to stay away from the Blackjack tables on 'Party. That site is sooooooo soft, but I put too much of my winnings on that damn BJ table. Sure, I won a lot, but that was a fluke, and it will never happen again!!
So what is this all telling me?
Quit TD! This is going to be a real test of my will. I LOVE that game so much. It has the perfect amount of action, skill and luck. But, the swings (as i've said before) are horrendous, for me at least. I value my bankroll way too much to let it effect my emotional state.
How am I going to quit the game?
Well, for one, I won't have the $$ anymore. At some point I may go back to it. But that won't be for a long time.
What's the plan?
Like I stated earlier, I originally deposited $50 on UB, but I had $100 in reserve, in case I went broke with my initial $50. So I am going to try it again. But this time I want to diversify a little and either open up another account on Full Tilt or 'Stars (mayyyyyyyyybeeee 'Party). I will focus on $5 SnG's until I hit $200 on that given site. I will then move to $10 SnG's until I reach $500. At any time that I hit $500 or more, I am giving myself the option to withdraw $100 or more and drop down a level or "let it ride". At $1,000 I will step up to $30 SnG's and move up a level for every $1,000 or more. My plan for cash games will be to use the 5% rule of bankroll management. Never putting more than 5% of my 'roll on a table at any time.
What about TD?
I think i'll eventually go back to that game, who knows how strong my will is? I'd like to have about $2K to play the $2/4 and $3/6 games regularly. But only time will tell.
Finally, I keep coming back to the fact that I need to do a better job of record keeping. Thankfully, my good buddy "Snadly" hooked me up with a nice little excel spreadsheet that I have already used. I guess I have to face the music; and, my piano teacher in 4th grade said it best: "I am the worlds worst procrastinator" (or would it be "best"?). So I guess it's try and try again.
I plan on updating this blog at least every week or so to keep track of things.
Wish me LUCK!!
Here are some things that I have learned this past year:
1. I am a winning SnG player. Ok, I didn't trak my ROI, but I know I am in the money in one table tourneys about 40% of the time.
2. I can win a large online tournament. A combination of excellent cards holding up, patience and a little skill mixed in, rewarded me with a nice new and improved bankroll.
3. I am a pretty good Triple Draw player. I feel like I understand this game and could play this every day with the right bankroll.
4. Bankroll Management. I started off extremely patient with my bankroll. But, once I hit certain points in my 'roll, I put a little too much on the table at one time.
5. You need a much larger bankroll for Triple Draw, at least the $2/4 games and up. I am probably break even at this level and I think it mostly has to do with having "scared money". For some, it might not matter. For instance, lets say you have $1500 in your bankroll and you buy in to the $10/20 Triple Draw game. Well, yeah, you can buy in for $500, but it may or may not hurt if you have a 10-20 BB swing, which happens all the time in this game (at least for me).
6. Sometimes you win and give it right back. Perfect example here. Played a $20 SnG and took 1st place for $100. Seconds after the tourney window closes, I take it all to a tough $2/4 TD game that was also shorthanded and lose all my profits for the day and end up stuck. That blows.
7. I need to stay away from the Blackjack tables on 'Party. That site is sooooooo soft, but I put too much of my winnings on that damn BJ table. Sure, I won a lot, but that was a fluke, and it will never happen again!!
So what is this all telling me?
Quit TD! This is going to be a real test of my will. I LOVE that game so much. It has the perfect amount of action, skill and luck. But, the swings (as i've said before) are horrendous, for me at least. I value my bankroll way too much to let it effect my emotional state.
How am I going to quit the game?
Well, for one, I won't have the $$ anymore. At some point I may go back to it. But that won't be for a long time.
What's the plan?
Like I stated earlier, I originally deposited $50 on UB, but I had $100 in reserve, in case I went broke with my initial $50. So I am going to try it again. But this time I want to diversify a little and either open up another account on Full Tilt or 'Stars (mayyyyyyyyybeeee 'Party). I will focus on $5 SnG's until I hit $200 on that given site. I will then move to $10 SnG's until I reach $500. At any time that I hit $500 or more, I am giving myself the option to withdraw $100 or more and drop down a level or "let it ride". At $1,000 I will step up to $30 SnG's and move up a level for every $1,000 or more. My plan for cash games will be to use the 5% rule of bankroll management. Never putting more than 5% of my 'roll on a table at any time.
What about TD?
I think i'll eventually go back to that game, who knows how strong my will is? I'd like to have about $2K to play the $2/4 and $3/6 games regularly. But only time will tell.
Finally, I keep coming back to the fact that I need to do a better job of record keeping. Thankfully, my good buddy "Snadly" hooked me up with a nice little excel spreadsheet that I have already used. I guess I have to face the music; and, my piano teacher in 4th grade said it best: "I am the worlds worst procrastinator" (or would it be "best"?). So I guess it's try and try again.
I plan on updating this blog at least every week or so to keep track of things.
Wish me LUCK!!
Thursday, March 23, 2006
Update Coming Soon...
I have a big post written about what is going on these days, and my future with online poker. Big news! But, I am going to wait until my 1 year anniversary (March 31st)to tell anyone who cares! Until then, here's what I've been up to lately at work:
That's right! Selling samples!! Woo Woo!
That's right! Selling samples!! Woo Woo!
Tuesday, February 21, 2006
AH HA...That's Why...
So in my last post I lamented how I could not seem to win, or get any worthwhile cards (in Triple Draw that is...). Well, today I booked a +$140 day. Not a HUGE win by any stretch (although not bad for me!), but an interesting turn of events to say the least. I played all of my draws hard and fast, but it doesn't hurt to get dealt pat hands a couple times in 2 hours either! That's right, I got 24568 dealt twice tonight. And, the kicker...it held up both times! I also was dealt a pat #3 which paid off pretty nicely as well. The funny thing about today was that twice I was all-in in two different sessions, only to turn around and leave winner both times. Lately, I have been doing a sort-of mini buy-in. The reason? Psychological. For me, and for my opponents. For one, if I have a bad session, it doesn't seem to hurt so much. I don't really know if my opponents even make note of how much I am in for, but I certainly do with them, and the more stuck they look, the more likely I may be to run a play on them.
I haven't been doing that great a job of tracking my stats this month. In fact, I have been horrible at it. But, I know I need to do a better job, so this week I have re-started my tracking. It's always easy to track winning sessions...it's the losers that really suck!
I haven't been doing that great a job of tracking my stats this month. In fact, I have been horrible at it. But, I know I need to do a better job, so this week I have re-started my tracking. It's always easy to track winning sessions...it's the losers that really suck!
Sunday, February 19, 2006
Why do I play this game?
Seriously, I should think about switching to straight draw poker high...How can you go 60+ hands seeing 77KTA, 9TQ48, AJJ58, and the best one...AAKKK!!! ARRGGHHH! And it is really messing me up with these guys just limping in...if I only had a damn hand to raise with I would punish these retards!!
Tuesday, February 14, 2006
Poker Update - The Triple Draw and Sit N Go Adventure
I have been doing a little bit of soul searching, if you will. That sounds like I am having a bad run or something, but that's not entirely accurate. Really, what has happened is I have been playing entirely too much Triple Draw.
I freakin' love the game, but it is addicting as hell and the swings are seriously monsterous. The main reason for that is the fact that it is played 6-handed. Not to mention that they do not stay 6-handed very long. Lately, the trend at the tables is to limp into the pot. This is really screwing me up. So, I have found that I am treating limpers to be 2 card draws. The problem lies in pot-odds. The more limpers, the more likely to limp or even call a raise. Some of these people treat the game like a coin-flip and a luck machine. I have seen more 2 card draws on the last round that hit for wins in the last couple days, you would just not believe it. Actually, I think some of these people are trying to disguise there hands. My buddy Chris, who I got into the game, did this as well. His reasoning was that when you raise you are losing those callers with worse hands. The thing is, when you do not raise, you are losing value. He would occasionally limp from EP w/ huge 1 card draws like 2345 and 2347. Now, I never saw this really work out for him all that well, but I didn't see it work against him either. He would limp and get a caller or someone would raise and he would cold-call, but as soon as they saw that he was drawing one, they would back down. I really thought he was losing bets. I don't think he put enough time into the game, nor did I "sweat" his games enough to get a handle on his results...he also had the unnerving actions of limping in w/ awful starting hands. Anyway, enough about TD!
I have done extremely well at the $10 SnG's so far this month. I haven't played a ton so it is not really a good indicator of anything, but it is something that is very positive and makes me happy! I think I have such great patience in these things and once I get down to 4-handed, no matter what my stack looks like, I feel I have an edge. I was doing a little bit of research for my 1 year anniversary of online poker and found this crazy little nugget. In June of '05 (my third full month of poker), I was 34/38 in SnG's ITM (In The Money). Now because I only had a bankroll of $50 to start with in April, by June it was around $100-150, and I was playing $5 SnG's exclusively. My profit in SnG's was $292.20! To me, that is pretty damn impressive!
I have done a poor job of record keeping. I don't know why, but I am having a hard time keeping up with it. I know I had a pretty "swingy" month of January, and Febuary has not started off that great. Basically my SnG's are keeping me just a bit under even. I am contemplating diversifying again, and trying out another site. What my thinking was is that, I would keep a bit on UB, and take a couple hundred to Full Tilt or Poker Stars and just focus on SnG's on one site or the other. I don't have any real reasoning on this. My other thought was to start a second account on UB and use it strictly for SnG's/Tourneys, so I could track my progress a little better. With all of my personal research (what little I have done really!), I think I am an above average SnG player, and an average, slightly loose cash game player (that is for hold'em). I think my TD stats will even out and a lot of the things that I am experiencing in that game are variance related, and educational on some level.
I freakin' love the game, but it is addicting as hell and the swings are seriously monsterous. The main reason for that is the fact that it is played 6-handed. Not to mention that they do not stay 6-handed very long. Lately, the trend at the tables is to limp into the pot. This is really screwing me up. So, I have found that I am treating limpers to be 2 card draws. The problem lies in pot-odds. The more limpers, the more likely to limp or even call a raise. Some of these people treat the game like a coin-flip and a luck machine. I have seen more 2 card draws on the last round that hit for wins in the last couple days, you would just not believe it. Actually, I think some of these people are trying to disguise there hands. My buddy Chris, who I got into the game, did this as well. His reasoning was that when you raise you are losing those callers with worse hands. The thing is, when you do not raise, you are losing value. He would occasionally limp from EP w/ huge 1 card draws like 2345 and 2347. Now, I never saw this really work out for him all that well, but I didn't see it work against him either. He would limp and get a caller or someone would raise and he would cold-call, but as soon as they saw that he was drawing one, they would back down. I really thought he was losing bets. I don't think he put enough time into the game, nor did I "sweat" his games enough to get a handle on his results...he also had the unnerving actions of limping in w/ awful starting hands. Anyway, enough about TD!
I have done extremely well at the $10 SnG's so far this month. I haven't played a ton so it is not really a good indicator of anything, but it is something that is very positive and makes me happy! I think I have such great patience in these things and once I get down to 4-handed, no matter what my stack looks like, I feel I have an edge. I was doing a little bit of research for my 1 year anniversary of online poker and found this crazy little nugget. In June of '05 (my third full month of poker), I was 34/38 in SnG's ITM (In The Money). Now because I only had a bankroll of $50 to start with in April, by June it was around $100-150, and I was playing $5 SnG's exclusively. My profit in SnG's was $292.20! To me, that is pretty damn impressive!
I have done a poor job of record keeping. I don't know why, but I am having a hard time keeping up with it. I know I had a pretty "swingy" month of January, and Febuary has not started off that great. Basically my SnG's are keeping me just a bit under even. I am contemplating diversifying again, and trying out another site. What my thinking was is that, I would keep a bit on UB, and take a couple hundred to Full Tilt or Poker Stars and just focus on SnG's on one site or the other. I don't have any real reasoning on this. My other thought was to start a second account on UB and use it strictly for SnG's/Tourneys, so I could track my progress a little better. With all of my personal research (what little I have done really!), I think I am an above average SnG player, and an average, slightly loose cash game player (that is for hold'em). I think my TD stats will even out and a lot of the things that I am experiencing in that game are variance related, and educational on some level.
Tuesday, February 07, 2006
Monday, February 06, 2006
Vegas Trip Report
I wish I could say great things about our Vegas trip, but I cannot. Unfortunately it was a very unprofitable trip, gambling wise. Business was excellent on the other hand, and it was a ton of fun to be there with Mo. But, since this here blog has absolutely nothing to do with work, i'll have to focus on the negative!
The trip started out pretty normal for me. When I say "normal" I mean that whenever I go on a big trip, I always have some kind of fiasco. Well, as soon as we went to check our bags in at Treasure Island, I went to give the bell man a tip. I reach into my pocket and freak out because I cannot find my bankroll. I had all of my CASH folded up in an envelope in my pocket, and I was SURE that I was pick-pocketed in the airport. So my family is frantically looking all over the floor of the lobby searching for an envelope, that if anyone saw, was most definitely gone. I looked all over my carry on bag and found nothing. Then, my father says, "well, where is your wallet?". I reach into my pocket to show him that my wallet is there, but that my money was not in it, but was in an envelope. Sure enough, the folded envelope was stuck inside the flap of my wallet. Pretty stupid of me to have that much cash on me in the first place, but...ehh...live and learn.
I did not get to play any poker until the second night (Wednesday). I just could not figure out where I wanted to play, and for what kind of stakes. I finally decided on the new room at MGM. I remembered seeing an article on it in ALL IN or BLUFF. It was a pretty nice room. I also decided on the $3/6 limit game to get myself in tune. It was actually quite a nice table. I had some good hands that I showed down, and I played pretty standard (TAA). I had probably the biggest hand at the table and the biggest pot pushed to me the whole time I was seated when I held 66 in the CO. A very aggressive guy had just come to the table and he had been raising just about every hand. Another player who I had become "friendly" with actually said beforehand, "this guy is going to play ultra-aggressive". So "aggressive guy" raises in EP and a MP player calls, I call, and both the SB and BB call. The flop brings a 6 J 4 rainbow. ADRENALINE!! SB comes out firing and everyone calls, as do I. I may have been able to pop it up, but I was comfortable slowplaying on an uncoordinated board. The turn is a T. Again the SB fires away $6 and everyone calls except here, I raise it. I get two callers and then "aggressive guy" says "I have JT should I call?"...yeah right buddy, I'm sure that's what you have...I just stare into space and he of course calls. The river pairs the T and everyone checks to me...now the T scared me just a bit because of the guys statement, but I wasn't checking my gin card, so I went ahead and bet it...unfortunately, EVERYONE FOLDED!! HUH?? I think, that if I had raised the flop I would have possibly lost bets on the turn, but may have induced a call on the river...who knows. Later on, just before I left the table, I had a loose call in MP with J9 of diamonds and flopped a inside straight flush draw. Neither the straight nor the flush got there on the river and I lost one silly bet where I thought I might be able to pick up the pot on the river. I played the hand perfectly though, raising on the flop (buying the free card), got the free turn card, but misplayed the river. Oh well! So i won $53 in two hours. I was just happy to have a win.
Unfortunately, that was the first and only winning day! Thursday, Mo and I played some blackjack and essentially broke even for the day. I did get to go over and check out "Doyle's Room" at The Bellagio and saw pro's, Barry Greenstein, Eli Elezra, Daniel Negreanu, and Phil Ivey. I was sure that there was one or two others, but I could not see who they were. Also, earlier that day, sprstoner (Shawn from +1) came over to the booth at the convention and we talked for a while. My first +1 meet! That was very cool, and he was a real nice guy, and in the same business (sort of) ta boot!
Friday I had wanted to play in some kind of tournament, and I really liked Binions structure. Plus just getting to play in that room was very cool. I did not do to well against the locals there, but I do feel I played ok, just made one or two bad moves. That tournament ended up costing me a little over $100. I then lost a little in a cash game (3/6 again) and thought, "hey, i'll just recoup it playing blackjack". DUH...that didn't work out as planned, and I was down just under $200 for the day. Mo and I went out and had a great time that night, checking out all the usual sites and getting some great pictures that I'll add later tonight. We finally sat down for some more BJ after midnight on Friday and proceeded to lose another $150 or so.
Saturday, my final day in Vegas had me itching to play some more poker. I really couldn't just play anywhere since we had our bags checked at our hotel and had to be within walking distance to get back to a taxi and head out to the airport. I set my eyes on The Mirage's $3/6 game. I had about 2-3 hours to play. This was special to me since it was the first casino I ever played live poker at. Too bad the players there again took my money. I played everything right, but an example of the horrendous play there was this hand. I have KTs OTB. I raise on the CO. The button calls, as does the SB and BB. Flop comes 9 K 4. BB bets out and I raise to see if he really has a good K. Everyone folds and he flat calls. Turn is a blank and he checks to me. I fire out $6. He calls. River is a 9 and he comes out firing. I say to the guy next to me, "I guess he hit his third 9, huh?". I call and he shows J9o. Nice Hand Sir. That hand really pissed me off, but what could I expect, as that was the way the whole table was playing.
We got on our plane and got into town just before midnight. I have been on Vegas time for the last two days and I feel like I might be coming down with a cold or some kind of illness. I think that always happens after this trip anyway. The most important thing about the Vegas trip was how much fun I had with Mo. It was awesome to be back there with her 5 years later. I am a little spoiled because I get to go every year. But, it is much more fun to have a partner in crime!
Oh yeah, the food is also a great perk with this trip. Tuesday night - Ruth's Chris Steakhouse. Wednesday night - Spago (Wolfgang Puck), Thursday night - Top of the World (Stratosphere restaurant that spins - but not as good as last time I ate there), Friday night - Sushi Roko (sp?) - an AWESOME sushi restaurant in Caesars, Saturday day - FATBURGER - HELL YEAH, now that's the way to end the week!!
The trip started out pretty normal for me. When I say "normal" I mean that whenever I go on a big trip, I always have some kind of fiasco. Well, as soon as we went to check our bags in at Treasure Island, I went to give the bell man a tip. I reach into my pocket and freak out because I cannot find my bankroll. I had all of my CASH folded up in an envelope in my pocket, and I was SURE that I was pick-pocketed in the airport. So my family is frantically looking all over the floor of the lobby searching for an envelope, that if anyone saw, was most definitely gone. I looked all over my carry on bag and found nothing. Then, my father says, "well, where is your wallet?". I reach into my pocket to show him that my wallet is there, but that my money was not in it, but was in an envelope. Sure enough, the folded envelope was stuck inside the flap of my wallet. Pretty stupid of me to have that much cash on me in the first place, but...ehh...live and learn.
I did not get to play any poker until the second night (Wednesday). I just could not figure out where I wanted to play, and for what kind of stakes. I finally decided on the new room at MGM. I remembered seeing an article on it in ALL IN or BLUFF. It was a pretty nice room. I also decided on the $3/6 limit game to get myself in tune. It was actually quite a nice table. I had some good hands that I showed down, and I played pretty standard (TAA). I had probably the biggest hand at the table and the biggest pot pushed to me the whole time I was seated when I held 66 in the CO. A very aggressive guy had just come to the table and he had been raising just about every hand. Another player who I had become "friendly" with actually said beforehand, "this guy is going to play ultra-aggressive". So "aggressive guy" raises in EP and a MP player calls, I call, and both the SB and BB call. The flop brings a 6 J 4 rainbow. ADRENALINE!! SB comes out firing and everyone calls, as do I. I may have been able to pop it up, but I was comfortable slowplaying on an uncoordinated board. The turn is a T. Again the SB fires away $6 and everyone calls except here, I raise it. I get two callers and then "aggressive guy" says "I have JT should I call?"...yeah right buddy, I'm sure that's what you have...I just stare into space and he of course calls. The river pairs the T and everyone checks to me...now the T scared me just a bit because of the guys statement, but I wasn't checking my gin card, so I went ahead and bet it...unfortunately, EVERYONE FOLDED!! HUH?? I think, that if I had raised the flop I would have possibly lost bets on the turn, but may have induced a call on the river...who knows. Later on, just before I left the table, I had a loose call in MP with J9 of diamonds and flopped a inside straight flush draw. Neither the straight nor the flush got there on the river and I lost one silly bet where I thought I might be able to pick up the pot on the river. I played the hand perfectly though, raising on the flop (buying the free card), got the free turn card, but misplayed the river. Oh well! So i won $53 in two hours. I was just happy to have a win.
Unfortunately, that was the first and only winning day! Thursday, Mo and I played some blackjack and essentially broke even for the day. I did get to go over and check out "Doyle's Room" at The Bellagio and saw pro's, Barry Greenstein, Eli Elezra, Daniel Negreanu, and Phil Ivey. I was sure that there was one or two others, but I could not see who they were. Also, earlier that day, sprstoner (Shawn from +1) came over to the booth at the convention and we talked for a while. My first +1 meet! That was very cool, and he was a real nice guy, and in the same business (sort of) ta boot!
Friday I had wanted to play in some kind of tournament, and I really liked Binions structure. Plus just getting to play in that room was very cool. I did not do to well against the locals there, but I do feel I played ok, just made one or two bad moves. That tournament ended up costing me a little over $100. I then lost a little in a cash game (3/6 again) and thought, "hey, i'll just recoup it playing blackjack". DUH...that didn't work out as planned, and I was down just under $200 for the day. Mo and I went out and had a great time that night, checking out all the usual sites and getting some great pictures that I'll add later tonight. We finally sat down for some more BJ after midnight on Friday and proceeded to lose another $150 or so.
Saturday, my final day in Vegas had me itching to play some more poker. I really couldn't just play anywhere since we had our bags checked at our hotel and had to be within walking distance to get back to a taxi and head out to the airport. I set my eyes on The Mirage's $3/6 game. I had about 2-3 hours to play. This was special to me since it was the first casino I ever played live poker at. Too bad the players there again took my money. I played everything right, but an example of the horrendous play there was this hand. I have KTs OTB. I raise on the CO. The button calls, as does the SB and BB. Flop comes 9 K 4. BB bets out and I raise to see if he really has a good K. Everyone folds and he flat calls. Turn is a blank and he checks to me. I fire out $6. He calls. River is a 9 and he comes out firing. I say to the guy next to me, "I guess he hit his third 9, huh?". I call and he shows J9o. Nice Hand Sir. That hand really pissed me off, but what could I expect, as that was the way the whole table was playing.
We got on our plane and got into town just before midnight. I have been on Vegas time for the last two days and I feel like I might be coming down with a cold or some kind of illness. I think that always happens after this trip anyway. The most important thing about the Vegas trip was how much fun I had with Mo. It was awesome to be back there with her 5 years later. I am a little spoiled because I get to go every year. But, it is much more fun to have a partner in crime!
Oh yeah, the food is also a great perk with this trip. Tuesday night - Ruth's Chris Steakhouse. Wednesday night - Spago (Wolfgang Puck), Thursday night - Top of the World (Stratosphere restaurant that spins - but not as good as last time I ate there), Friday night - Sushi Roko (sp?) - an AWESOME sushi restaurant in Caesars, Saturday day - FATBURGER - HELL YEAH, now that's the way to end the week!!
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