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.
Thursday, April 27, 2006
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!!
Monday, January 30, 2006
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.
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.
Friday, January 13, 2006
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.
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.
Tuesday, January 10, 2006
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...
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...
Monday, January 09, 2006
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.
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.
Sunday, January 08, 2006
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.)
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.)
Friday, January 06, 2006
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...
Wednesday, December 28, 2005
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.
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.
Saturday, December 17, 2005
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!!
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!!
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