The Poker Punkass

The Nut Low

2006-01-09T23:58:00.000-08:00

Wow, I think I am in love. I did nicely the last three days grinding away at the Party limit HE tables. I was pleased with my results due to improved patience and of course some luck. I promptly took my earning and sat down at a few Omaha Hi/Lo tables of the same stakes. The bad news is, I put a small dent in my bankroll. The good news is, I love this stuff. It took me about an hour to settle into solid Omaha play. I had to dig back to the archives and recall the info I picked up reading Mike Capeletti's book. I didn't play all that much OH8 while actually reading the book but I really enjoyed the content and simply filed it away for future reference.

After about two hours, I stabilized my game and doubled up at my last table to minimize the overall damage to my bankroll. Overall not a great showing but I felt very comfortable by the end of my session and I really enjoyed the play. I have never had as much fun at the limit tables, nor have I felt that good poker was occurring at the limit tables. I really feel that OH8 involves some skill and I can actually control my destiny there. Well at least I have the potential to control it. Let's see what the next few sessions reveal.

Sinking Low

2006-01-05T15:12:00.000-08:00

I wanted to reintroduce limit holdem to my repetoire. I will only spend about 25% of my poker time playing limit. It is most likely what I will play when I visit the casino again and I like to play the occasional limit tournament. One of my 2006 goals is to expand my game selection and improve on those games. I almost forgot how frustrating limit poker is. I am going to stick with it because I think it helps me to develop even thicker skin. We all know the kind of junk you see at the low stakes limit tables. I am not convinced that going up to higher stakes will solve the problem so I am just going to stay at the low stakes until I either destroy my bankroll bleed from my eyes or rise above it.

I rejuvenated an old account I have on Party Poker and that is where I can be found playing limit HE at the lowest stakes they offer. There is always tons of action there and in theory it should be the best fishing grounds. I also play an occasional sit n' go there to keep my bankroll alive and thriving but that is a whole different post.

I plan to explore some books on limit strategy and keep my head straight. Let's see what happens.

Who Cares?

2005-12-31T12:51:00.000-08:00

I came across this ridiculous Greg Raymer story on Poker Gazette. This seems appropriate for a real estate magazine but didn't even remotely interest me. These guys really are starving for content. First they let Hellmuth write stories and now this.

Monte Carlo Confusion

2005-12-31T10:00:00.000-08:00

I read about Phil Ivey winning a tournament in Monte Carlo recently. Two tournaments actually. He is a bad ass and it has been painful to watch him not do well in the televised tournaments I see him play. He doesn't exactly need my sympathy but he tends to make great calls but runs into bad luck all the time on TV poker. I'm sure he makes up for it in his cash game performances and has had some impressive wins. It is difficult to be consistent in tournament poker and we all have our share of bad luck.

I was watching Monte Carlo Millions on TV. I liked the format of the show and was expecting Phil to win based on what I recalled reading. He was the chip leader most of the tournament. I saw the last 3 episodes. I missed the first one. In the last episode, it gets down to the last three, Phil, Juha Helpi and Jani Sointula. Phil is in a hand heads up with Joni with top pair, Joni goes all-in on a draw and Phil pauses for a while then calls. It was a pretty impressive call considering the board. Joni hits his open ended straight and all of sudden Phil gets busted out in third place. I was a bit confused. I still am. The Monte Carlo Millions site shows Phil as the winner. It must have seen a different tournament. Maybe it was the second time they held the tournament since the website says Phil wins the first one held. I am still poking around trying to figure it out.
Well winning the fist and coming in third at a later event. Impressive stuff!

Ultimate Bunk

2005-12-30T20:36:00.000-08:00

I used to play 90% of my poker at UB. About a month ago I started to have problems with the UB software. When I open the software, none of the tables appear. I tried reinstalling the software, clearing caches, purging my Windows registry and a variety of other things. I even uninstall Ultimatebuddy to see if that would help. I could join a table if I luanched it from my Ultimatebuddy list but that would not help me to start a SnG or MTT. It left me only able to jump into ring games that people in my list were already playing. That does not work for me since I rarely play ring games and never on UB. I emailed support and got two seperate and feeble responses which did not help. I started playing all of my SnGs at Bodog. I miss the UB tournaments though. Maybe someday I can go back once I find the time or insight to get the issue resolved.

I'm Back!

2005-12-28T17:31:00.000-08:00

I never had a ton of sage poker advice to offer and playing poker was always more interesting than talking about it in this forum but I decided to give it another attempt. I am still unclear what value I will add but once again I am mostly interested in self improvement and maybe sharing some views and resources I encounter. Let's see how it goes this time. This time, I promise I will use spell check.

$30 NL MT UB

2005-04-25T13:32:00.000-07:00

17 out of 124
(in the money)

I wasnt getting any good cards or flops leading up to 30/60 blinds.
I got a few small pocket pairs but the flops were not encouraging. I got 66 again and raised preflop. The flop was rags all smaller than my pair and I pushed all in with my remaing 600 chips. I got called by 88 but sucked out on a diamond flush and was still alive.

AJ of spades, 2 callers who either flopped a straigt or made it on the turn put me over4k when I hit the nut flush on the turn. I had many out with two spades on the flop and a gutshot draw to the nut straight if a Q hit. That put me 7th out of 76 just before the break.

The blinds are now 50/100 and I am 13 out of 69.

Q8 of clubs in the SB and a flop full of clubs puts me over 10k when a guy hits trip Ts and pays me off. Blinds are now 150/300 and I am 5th out of 37.

My AJ vs 88 and no help puts me down to 6600 in chips and 12th out of 30.

I am down to 6810 at the break and 12th out of 24.
A bonehead move with AT puts me out in 17th place but at least I break even.

11PM $50 NL MT on PokerRoom

2005-04-25T01:30:00.000-07:00

56 out of 183

I am dealt AQ and get 2 pair but sense trouble and ran into a straight on the flop and lose half my stack. Next good hand is 88 with no help on the flop with overcards and I folded to large bet.
AQ I push all in with 550, get called by KT
He hits T on turn and but I get a Q on river to double up.
1175 at 25/50 with 124 remaining

88 and I play them agressive get rags on the flop, go all-in and reach 1635
AQ again and everyone folds to me on the button. I raise to 400, blinds fold
72 of 103 at 50/100 blinds with 1585 in chips

AKd andI riase 400 get reriased to 700 by AJ, no help for either of us on the flop. He pushes me all-in on the flop and I double up when AK high wins.
40 out of 84 before the break with 3020 in chips

After the break we go to 75/15 blinds. The chip leader has 9700
AQ again but I run into TT with no help and I am down to 1690.
61 out of 76 with 1465 after the blinds.

Lots of sparks at 100/200. I was down to 1240 putting me 64 out of 69.
No playable hand on my BB of 200. I push all-in with990 after posting my SB of 100 and am back up to 1440 when one caller and the BB fold.

I raise with A8 UTG and everyone folds putting me at 1540
KT on BB, lots of betting and I fold.

I push all-in with KQ from the button and am up to 1640.
51 of 56

TT and I push again from MP and run into AA and I am out in 56th.

More SnG Action

2005-04-24T11:26:00.000-07:00

$10 SnG on PokerRoom
4th

$10 SnG on PokerRoom
2nd

$10 SnG on PokerRoom
1st

$10 SnG on PokerRoom
2nd

$10 SnG on PokerRoom
5th

Saturday's Summary of SnG Action

2005-04-23T15:40:00.000-07:00

$20 SnG UB
1st

$20 SnG UB
9th

$20 SnG UB
1st

$10 SnG on PokerRoom
4th

$20 SnG on PokerRoom
5th

$10 SnG on PokerRoom
4th

$30 11AM UB MT

2005-04-23T12:27:00.000-07:00

I like this tournament and try to play it each day. It really is the biggest buyin I should be participating in based on the bankroll I keep on UB. I try to make frequent withdrawls on UB and everywhere else keeping a max of about $200 on most sites these days. There are usually about 120 people who play this each day. I have been taking notes on the regulars for a few weeks since I see a lot of the same faces. It can get pretty frustrating to sit with agressive players and not have any clue about what they are playing and how they behave.

Sometimes I goof off a bit early on but try to keep it pretty smart until we get down to about 60 people and 150/300 blinds where I get more agressive. Right now the blinds are 30/60 with 77 people left and I am still at the original 1500 chips after the first break. Thanks to pocket Aces and a goofy call or two I am holding steady at my original stack. I could think of worse positions to be in at this point.

As usual, my fairly conservative play is allowing me success when I do get agressive in early position to scoop some pots to build my stack slowly. At this point I still limp when possible with small pairs and suited connectors and fold to reraises.

I proceed to play KJ of clubs and overvalue my top pair on the flop from late position and even though I hit a 3rd J on the turn to beat the pocket Q's I am against, I lose most of my chips to a lucky heart flush leaving me with 210 chips. I push all-in on the next hand with A3 of spades and hit a miracle 2-6 straight against AQ putting me back at 770 chips. Gulp..

With 61 people 75/150 blinds and only 610 chips I push from EP with KT and get called by an Ace who hits a wheel to bust me out. His high card would have been enough anyway. Better luck and play next time.

Back in Black

2005-04-22T23:47:00.000-07:00

I placed 1st in two $20 SnGs before bed to put me back in the black and recover from my lame performance in the 2pm $100 MT on UB. I get excited when I see a tournament with a $4000 payout , 50 registered and 20 minutes before it starts. Of course in that twenty minutes it jumped up to 115 people registered dropping the payout for 1st down to $2800. Very early in the tournament I foolishly check my K high heart fush to allow another player to fill up with 2s full of 8s on the river. This crippled me badly. The same player fills up again to beat another small flush when I am all-in and I am out very early. It is a painful loss but it is mitigated by my wins later that night and I am reminded to be more prudent with my spend and play. I should have waited to a win TEC before playing this level.

Afternoon MTs

2005-04-20T14:42:00.000-07:00

$30 MT
Bombed out of the 11am $30 MT chasin the nut flush. I am such a silly rabbit.

10$ MT
22nd(in the money)

Fell out of the 12pm NL MT in 22nd place when my AJ got sucked out against 99 for a set on the river. It was the 2nd hand in a row I got AJ and couldnt bare folding it again preflop. The first time was calling an all-in and another caller. No Thanks! It would have lost to trip Js anyway. The second time the same caller with the J's put in a small riase pre-flop and I knew this time I had him. Well I had him until the river. Oh well! I can only get in with the best and hope it works out. At least I was in the money. Well it was a mostly break even scenario and 2.5 hours of practice.

$10 MT 1230AM Aruba Feed

2005-04-19T01:37:00.000-07:00

12 out of 67

I dont know that I will be lucky enough to make it down to Aruba this year. I am not expecting much. I am considering using an airline voucher I have to fly down and check out the sidegames and sattelites but I would much rather win an entry so I entered this tournament which pays entry to the $200 Aruba qualifier. It is late but I am still fairly alert. I get a decent run of cards and play my spots right. This is how it unfolds...

99 and a set on the flop puts me at 6800 with 24 left
5 of 17 after the break
75/150 blinds
55 call, fold on flop
66 fold to raise on flop
22 fold to riase on flop
down to 12th of 15
100/200 blinds
QQ no action but I get 500 in blinds
currently 9 out of 14
I foolishly piss away some chips trying to steal a pot in the wrong spot.
I get 88 and I am down to 2200 after my failed steal. I go all-in with two callers, sweep the pot and am back to 7K.

I dont actually recall how I busted out since I am posting this a day later but it was a valiant effort. I think I actually made it to the final table and went out in 9th but since my memory is poor and my last notes say 12th we will call it that. I feel good about my play and look forward to more attempts at Aruba.

Oh the Brutality!

2005-04-18T12:12:00.000-07:00

It is simply amazing how abused I can get on the river. The last 2 or 3 days have been viscious. My recent loss in a $11 TEC SnG on UB was indicative of my recent luck. I can take it but man it sure does put a beating on ones ego sometimes. I am not the type to blow up and criticize the play of another person even if they suck out with a horrible call or draw. It just isnt my style. I love to talk trash but usually for the simple sake of amusement not over losing.

It was 3-handed and we were all at about 4k but I was just shy at 3900 in chips. I get pocket Aces which usually alleviates the stress of the hand and allows me to enjoy myself a bit at that moment in time. I reiase and double the pot against one caller. He goes all-in of course and I am happy. he turns over AT of clubs and I peer through squinted eyes just hoping I dont see a flop full of clubs.

No clubs in sight but a Q and J appear on the flop. I am not too worried but of course the K appears on the river and POW I am done. It was not a big loss even though I was hopin for a TEC to play another $100MT later tonight. I have had that same thing happen to me at least 3 times this weekend. Kings on the river make me wince. I told the boys good game and remarked that even that loss couldn't spoil my good mood. Ironicly a player in that same SnG had exploded earlier when his 88 lost to 66 when the river made him 6's full. He was cursing up a storm and calling him rookie and many other unpleasant things. Of course I couldnt resist throwing back some abusive words of my own cause I just love a sore loser. He went on and on and lingered so he could complain and remain abusive. I enjoyed the time ridiculing him and joking on him for being extremely mature, very emotional and probably on a losing streak. Afterall it was only $11. Ok Ok maybe I even followed him to a MT he was playing and laughed at him some more as he flushed some more chips. Maybe karma was paying me back. All in all I was pleased with my play in the SnG and just took it on the chin like a good sport. There will be plenty more ugly rivers in my future I am certain.

11AM $30 NL HE MT on UB

2005-04-18T11:10:00.000-07:00

1st out of 111

I had a nice run. I kept my head on straight and got lucky on a few hands to pull of 1st place. Wheeeeee! It was much needed for both my bankroll and ego. So far this $999 win is my biggest win to date. Let's see if I can keep the momentum going.

Home Sweet Home

2005-03-05T15:04:00.000-08:00

More home game action on the upper East side. Tonight we planned to run two events since a few of the organizers were feeling like they wanted more action than usual. We started the first game at 5pm and the second one around 10pm. They were starting a third game but I needed some sleep.

I had another good run of cards including pocket As three times. I also mixed up my play as usual and properly picked my spots. I won 1st place and 50% of tyhe prize pool in both events.

Event 1 ($20 NL HE with Rebuy)
$160 total prize pool

1st- Me
2nd- Alicia
3rd- Meg

Event 2 ($20 NL HE with Rebuy)
$140 total prize pool
1st- Me
2nd- Andre
3rd- Kevin

Still on break

2005-03-04T13:56:00.000-08:00

Another day of no poker action.

Taking a break

2005-03-03T13:53:00.000-08:00

No Poker today.

Breaking Even

2005-03-02T13:40:00.000-08:00

14/104
$30 NL HE MT UB

I was off to a great start. At my first table I hit several good hands and took out 2 players to give me about 7k in chips before the blinds even hit 20/40. I was in second place for a while but it didn't last. I was moved to a new table and I slipped a bit but I continued to play fairly tight and conservative. Time passed and I did not get many hands to increase my stack and the blinds started to take a toll. I didnt get much help after that. I couldnt really find much to take a stand with and I was out in 14th place. Another valiant effort. I earned back my buy-in and a few extra dollars so it was a break even situation. I can accept that.

Aruba Dreams

2005-03-02T11:58:00.000-08:00

I was up til 2am last night playing the 11PM Aruba qualifier tournament on UB. The winner of last night's tournament got paid entry into the Sunday $200 Aruba MTT tournament. The winner Sunday gets the Aruba prize package. It was rebuy tournament (yuck) but I was anxious to get some more MT action before pursuing dreamland and the $3 buyin is hard to resist. I went ahead and did a rebuy early in the tournament to give myself a nice stack to get agressive with. I scored a few nice hands and built up a nice stack early in the tournamant. I went for the add-on to stay competetive when the rebuy period was over. At that point my investment was up to $10. That put me at about 10k in chips. I had a good run and climbed up to 1st place when we were down to two tables.

In the end, I got lucky a few times and made it to the final table. Eleven places payout but only the top five places pay entry into the Sunday Aruba tournamant. I ended up with 6th place, 50+ bucks and even more final table experience. I wasn't all that disappointed since I played well, got lucky and at least made a little money for my time. I can see improvement in my game and that is all I can ask for at this stage. Constant improvement is reward enough.

Whereabouts

2005-03-02T10:54:00.000-08:00

I am spending most of my poker time playing on Ultimate Bet right now. I play random events on Pokerroom, Full Tilt and Empire as well but mostly UB. I am considering some action on Paradise or Poker starts just to see out what kind of multi-table tournamant action they have. I have checked out those sites but never made deposits becuase I liked other sites better. I hear good things about the action but I hate the software on those two sites. I may just stay put and enjoy the good stuff at UB.

Weekend Wrap-Up

2005-03-01T09:07:00.000-08:00

I had a fairly good weekend for poker. I recently decided I cant afford to buy into tournaments larger than $50 without a TEC. I am addicted to MTTs and need a strategy to keep my bankroll healthy. I played a handful of SnGs which pay Tournament Entry Chips (TECs= $100 value) instead of cash for prizes. The payouts are pretty cool and I had reasonable sucess winning three chips in total. I definitely found some tougher opponents seated next to me at these SnGs. I saw many familiar faces and made some new friends at the tables. I used all 3 chips for larger buyin events this weekend. It was a good feeling to buyin for a total of $300 dollars with an invesment of only $50. It made me much more relaxed abut going all-in and making agressive moves. My results were not worth mentioning but it was great experience and my bankroll was grateful.

$100 MT on UB

2005-02-21T22:04:00.000-08:00

I got seated with some great players this evening. I have seen some of these guys in the top 30 fairly often. I feel pretty decent about the fact that I have been there with them but still feel they are better players. One guy just had an article written about him on pocketfives.com. I have seen him place well consistently and see his name on the winner boards often. Whether it is true is not my concern. It keeps me respectful of their play and cautious which can only be good for my game. Several people at the table make mention of how tough a table it is going to be and they include my name. Aww shuxx.

Not long into the tournament, several aforementioned players bust out. My demise hastens as I make a move with 89c from middle position. I lead at the pot first. One player cold calls my bets to the river and beats me with pocket Ts when my various draws fail. This type of move isn't wisely executed so early and without the benefit of some table respect. I would say not at all but let's be realistic about my self control. No money, no glory and with lots of shame I go to bed.

Home Sweet Home

2005-02-19T20:07:00.000-08:00

I played another fun home game tonight with the peeps after losing my shirt all day online. We mutilated the structure to accomodate some new less experienced players. We played with one level of betting instead of a small and big bet. We added more chips to the starting stacks and extended the blind levels a bit. We used a poker clock for the first time too which made it a bit easier to manage. With 8 people, it was more fun and the game lasted longer. My favorite hand of the night had to be when I had 88 with 2 other callers after my early position check-raise. I flopped a full house when the flop appeared as A-A-8. I check raised down to one caller and he was forced to rebuy when his Aces didn't stand up. He had AT and could have hit a T to beat me. Oh yeah, we also added rebuys. It sweetened the pot a bit. In the end my wife got fourth and I got took third. My buddy Drew nabbed second and his co-worker friend Sandro happily took first to win a few bucks beyond the rebuys of his girlfriend. More home games... they are fun!

Daily Rundown

2005-02-19T07:28:00.000-08:00

$20 NL HE SnG on BD
3rd

This win has me at double my original buy-in. Nothing tremendous but certainly feels good to keep it positive and climbing. (Here is where I jinx myself.)

$20 NL HE SnG UB
At 50/100 there were still ten people left and I was down to 440 chips.
I went out 10th with my AJ vs QT.

$10 Limit HE MT SnG Empire
19/30
I entered this accidentally thinking it was NL. There are not many limit MT SnGs and I goofed. I was doing well up until when the blinds hit 100/200 and I lost a few key hands that sent me packin. I like limit play when I am in the correct frame of mind. I tried to get things jump started but fell short. Next time I play limit it will probably be intentional and at a B&M casino.

$20 NL HE SnG UB
8th
Lost with my 99 vs AA.

$20 NL HE SnG BD
8th
Lost with my AK vs AA.

$10 NL HE SnG BD
4th

$20 NL HE SnG BD
2nd

$20 NL HE SnG UB
5th

$20 NL HE SnG UB
6th

$20 NL HE SnG UB
5th

$30 NL HE SnG UB
6th

These results don't add up very nicely as you can see. My bankroll is a bit anemic. I am going to continue to have these problems if I keep playing at the level SnGs. I do not want to play lower buy-ins and do not not want to leave more profits in my accounts because I need to see returns for my sanity right now.

$100 NL HE MT on UB (in the money)

2005-02-18T19:28:00.000-08:00

9:00PM
205 entered

This buy-in is a bit more than I should be investing. I have played a few MTs at this level but it usually drains my bankroll too much. At this price it usually caps about 200 players and not suprisngly, they tend to be better players.

Within 7 or 8 hands I get 99 in early position. It's me and one other player on the flop. I flop a set along with an Ace and a rag on the flop. I bet the minimum to induce. He bets 350 and I reraise and bet the pot. He goes all in and I call. He flips AQ and the turn brings a Q to give him 2 pair to my set. I brace myself for the worst. The river brings nothing relevant and I have the majority of his 2500 starting stack giving me abut 4800.

I get very few playable hands along the way. I proceeded to play very loose and wittle away 2k by the time the blinds are 50/100. I saw many flops and hit nothing. I folded on the flops but there were many of them so now I have 2800 with 96 players left putting me in 80th.

TT at 75/150 bleeds me when I raise the pot only to get reraised for all my chips and fold.

AA at 100/200 gave me a nice boost when I doubled up to 4990 putting me 50 out of 82.

Pre-flop: dave118 folds. david45431 raises to 600. weim folds. ORCCA calls. 1punkass re-raises to 900. Duke92 folds. 4cryinoutloud folds. helga calls. david45431 calls. ORCCA calls.
Flop (board: 9h Qh 3c): helga checks. david45431 checks. ORCCA checks. 1punkass goes all-in for 1615. helga calls. david45431 folds. ORCCA goes all-in for 195.
Tournament all-in showdown -- players show: ORCCA shows Kd Jd. 1punkass shows Kc Qs. helga shows 8s 8d.
Turn (board: 9h Qh 3c 5c): (no action in this round)
River (board: 9h Qh 3c 5c 2s): (no action in this round)

Showdown: ORCCA has Kd Jd 9h Qh 5c: king high. 1punkass has Kc Qs 9h Qh 5c: a pair of queens. helga has 8s 8d 9h Qh 5c: a pair of eights.

Three hours into the tournament and the blinds are 300/600. I scratched and clawed my way up to 12.5k putting me 22nd out of 31 remaining.

The blinds are up to 600/1200 and I am at 26k and we are down to 2 tables. I am already in the money. The money started at 30th but it is not an impressive reward yet. The final 2 tables are fairly agressive with many players opting to go all-in post-flop or sometimes pre-flop when they appeared to have a hand.

88 and some nice agressive betting puts me at 38k.
AQ and I am up to 60k and in the LEAD by more than 20k in chips!

The next hand I am dealt KK.
The flop appears as 8-8-8. I end up all-in.
He flips up AA.
I am down to 900 chips.

Nothing miraculous happens and I am out in 15th place. I more than cover my buy-in and make a reasonable profit but am devestated at my loss of opportunity. I am quite disappointed in myself. Nuff said.

:(

E. Village action

2005-02-17T07:29:00.000-08:00

Played a friendly home game with the peeps. We played the usual SnG tournament structure starting with 2k in chips. There were only five of us. I had fun, got some good cards and took first. Thanks for the hospitality and action guys!

When I got home I continued the action. I ended up losing all of my nights winnings online. Not a devestating event since my net winnings were only $30 but not part of the plan either.

$20 SnG
4th

$10 SnG
5th

Mo Dog

2005-02-16T08:40:00.000-08:00

$10 SnG
1st

$25 MT
(not in the money)

I checked out the SnG action right away. It was a good game and I was able to pull of first. I also jumped into a MT tournament while I was plaing the SnG. The buy-in was more than I wanted to pay but there did not seem to be a large amount of MT action from what I could tell. I played anyway. I played very poorly and went out fairly early. The SnG win covered the MT loss and a few dollar loss from playing some .50/1 limit earlier. I was back to my buy-in.

$10 SnG
4th

$20 SnG
1st

Two more money wins at Bodog SnGs. LI hope to keep the good luck rolling.

New stuff

2005-02-15T23:53:00.000-08:00

I registered on Bodog.com to see what the action was like. I thought it might be interesting since it is a sports betting site as well. I like the software. It is clean and efficient. They have a standard spread of poker action and the tournements jump off frequently enough so far. It's late so I will check out the action tomorrow.

Still At It

2005-02-13T11:42:00.000-08:00

I had a few weeks in January that were very poor. I played poorly and hit lots of unfortunate luck casuing me to play even worse in a few situations. Playing 5 and 10 SnG can be frustrating enough. I like to play agressive sometimes but I have been working to fine tune my opportunistic agression. It seems to work especially if I respect the reraises. I also showdown an occasional big hand to make sure I get some credit for good hands.

Small Pairs

2005-01-24T08:46:00.000-08:00

I would consider a small pair, anything 7 or under. In early position I like to mix up the play with this hand. I might raise it one mimimum bet from early or middle position. In late position I am more inclined to bet the pot or a medium raise. I dont often call a large raise with this hand however.

Blech

2005-01-22T19:21:00.000-08:00

I had a terrible run at SnGs on Ultimatebet and pokerroom this weekend. Here is a stretch of my impressive results:

$5 SnG PR 2nd hand KK called all-in agaist TT and AA
$5 SnG PR called all-in with AJ on 1st handlost
$5 SnG PR 4th
$5 SnG PR 2nd
$10 SnG PR 5th
$5 SnG PR 1st
$5 SnG PR 4th busted out with AA
$5 SnG PR 6th
$5 SnG on UB 8th busted out with AQh vs KK
$5 SnG on UB 9th busted out 1st hand with QQ vs 66
$5 SnG on PR 2nd
$5 SnG on UB 4th
$5 SnG on PR 6th
$5 SnG on UB 9th

Creepin

2005-01-20T17:43:00.000-08:00

I have been keeping my banrolls low on a few sites, withdrawing frequently into my Neteller to optimize my profits. It is simply how I need to operate right now. I still have the occasional horrible swing and even some tilt so for me its best to keep it lean. I like to refund different accounts for bonuses anyway and I am a low limit player so it hasn't cramped my style. It has actually helpded me to ensure some profit. I did decide that I would play less MT with buyins higher than $20 just so I would not squander my lean baknrolls. I sat down tonight reminding myself of that fact and I have been well behaved about it the last two weeks.

My small pocket pairs have really been improving and paying me off tonight. I made 3-4 sets in one hour and also made a nice 2-6 straight with my pocket 5's. I came up against a guy who happened to hit a set of twos so I took him all in when he reraised my tiny trap bet on the turn after making the straight. He started the hand with 1900 in chips. It added nicely to my stack.

The next hour at a $30 MT was up and down. I made a few nice hands that paid off and made a few really nice hands that lost me some cash. I was back down to my buy-in for a bit.
I was feelin lucky and made a bonehead call for all my chips tryin to hit a one outer with one card to come. I like this draw with two cards to come and when I lead at the pot. I rarely would call especially for all my chips. I just wanted to take a big jump but instead I took a big fall. I am sure I could have made it pretty far without any big increases so I feel stupid. No real lesson to learn unfortunately. Just don't be a bonehead again. (64th out of 233 )

Late, Lean & Hungry

2005-01-11T23:59:00.000-08:00

I worked later than usual but figured I would play a bit. I am going to see how I do playing less games per day. I often balance out early evening losses with late night winnings. Sometimes a small loss will put me back in line because I scold myself so badly over it. I have certainly tilted out in the late evening to finish a nice losing streak too but just not lately.

$5 NL HE MT
98 out of 138
It was an Ultimate Bet guranteed prize pool which is the only way I like to play $5 MT. They are great fun but not terribly lucrative considering the dollars per hour usually your receive when you win. I just like higher limits when I need to commit 3+ hours. All of that is irrelevamt of course since I ended up sitting out a bit during dinner to keep household harmony. I raised all-in with pocket 7s and a good feeling about my starting cards based on how the action went down. Three players all in with mid to low stacks and they turn up 33 and 55. I was lookin good until the flop when it fell apart with another 3. No wonder everyone had huge stacks when I returned. It was a rebuy tournament with an add-on. It was also a qualifier for an upcoming $200 MT. All I qualified for was pathetic.

5th $20 NL HE SnG
I opted to sit down for a SnG on Full Tilt. My bankroll was still healthy there. I snagged KK early in the match. I lost some blood but had to throw them away to survive. One familiar face at the table from the same format the other night. I got KK again late in the match but it was still 5 handed. I got called by A7 and got busted. Loser!

Absolute Crap

2005-01-11T20:21:00.000-08:00

I checked out Absolute Poker since they were running a 35% deposit bonus. The bonus there does not allow you to withdraw your depoit for about 48hrs which is lame but didnt presnt a real problem. I usually make a deposit, withdraw it all then commence to earn my bonus. I didnt earn much bonus before I withdrew all my funds. The software was very ugly. The action was pretty good with a nice variety of tournament and Sit & Go offerings. There seemed to be some sort of memory issue with their software on my main system so it made my computer run very slow. It worked better on my laptop but it wasnt worth the trouble. Plenty of other sites with better looking and running software.

Tumultuous Tide

2005-01-11T19:16:00.000-08:00

I ran even even a bit and then down this last week. It is not traumatic, just disappointing. I think it is a combination of factors but most it is a small amount of bad play on my part. Some old habits coming back a bit perhaps. I can usually offset a handful of small losses with a good medium sized win to keep my bankroll healthy. I have also been playing more MT tournaments then my bankroll can sustain given my low frequency of winning final table money. There is certainly no real money for anything after 8th place. I need to step up my final table finishes.
I decided in order to keep the bankroll healthy, I would cut back on my MT tournament play and go back to Sit n Go basics. Cash games will be very limited also until bankroll tranquility is once again restored. I enjoy playing the MT's and will mostly just cut back on the higher limit ones. I feel I have learned a tremendous amount in the last two months regarding decent tournament play. Sklanksy helped quite a bit.

Sit n Go Madness

2005-01-10T19:27:00.000-08:00

All NL HE-

4th $10 SnG
3rd $10 SnG
5th $10 SnG

I played these on Empire and UltimateBet. I can only recall that I could have played these better. I made a few bad calls and moves and this is how it came out. I probably should have called it quits after that. I certainly took a break and tried to shake that off.

I played for a while on Full Tilt Poker. I like this site quite a bit although there isnt much action. The avatars on poker sites rarely interest me but the ones there are the best I've seen. I usually would prefer to just hide that sort of thing. The site also has a cool way of hilighting the tables where the Full Tilt pro players are playing. Some of the pros have low limit NL tables named after themselves with a reserved seat so you can get a sit down with a pro. When they are not there, the table is an odd 8 handed though. Otherwise the tables are 9 and 6 handed. I prefer the 10 handed sites. More money. I have only played with a few pros on that site because I don't seek it out and I only play lower limits. The action tends to be fun with a nice mix of skilled players otherwise. And they have Razz!

9th $5 2-Table SnG

1st $20 SnG FT
I was pot commited early in the tournament with QQ. I get re-raised all-in and I call knowing I am beat by AA. I was right but spiked a third Q on the turn to double up.

4th $20 SnG FT
1st $10 SnG FT
4th $20 2-Table SnG

Miserable Daily Highlights

2005-01-06T20:23:00.000-08:00

Empire $30 3-Table NL HE SNG
19 out of 30

UB 9PM $10 NL HE MT
109th out of 694

$50 2-Table SNG
2nd out of 20

UB $10 SNG
3rd out of 10

Regretful Performance

2005-01-05T18:58:00.000-08:00

14th $30 3-Table NL HE SnG
I would love to not post this.

2nd $10 NL HE SnG
I gave up the lead being a bit too agressive while playing heads up. That wasn't so smart.

Trail Goes Cold

2005-01-04T20:13:00.000-08:00

Empire $30 3-Table Sit n Go
8 out of 30

I got home late but still wanted to play one event. I played another Empire MT Sit n Go tonight but didn't finish so great. I only post all these annoying tidbits to help me track my play and development. In time I hope to incorporate useful information here as I continue my poker journey and explore some upcoming topics for the sake of personal education. Topics such as PokerTracker and other stat tools, bankroll tracking and some of those software hacks for changing the look of the poker software. Visuals are important and some of those sites have the worst graphics and layout.

I was playing conservative with an appropriate mix of agression. I made it to the final table with one very lucky hand along the way where my all-in bet with pocket 5's turned into a straight to save me from pocket kings. I have to stop and ask myself, does that hand qualify as not playing a close gamble as I proclaimed I would avoid in the future. I do like to gamble a bit. Sometimes you just get THAT feeling.

At the final table I made one or two small mistakes which jeapordized my moderate stack. I got busted by a nonsense hand when the BB called my Ace rag.

Wishful Cruisin'

2005-01-04T19:58:00.000-08:00

I hooked up the Empire HAPPY2005 bonus today. Twenty percent is decent. I never like to play ring games on Empire or Party but if that's where the bonus is, I will play.

The Party Poker Million IV semi-finals start this Thursday and run until Sunday. That's where all my poker time will be spent this weekend. This is one of the first events of 2005 that I will make a serious effort to qualify for. It will be fun trying. As long as I learn something along the way it will be time and money well spent.

Empire $30 3 -Table NL HE

2005-01-03T21:33:00.000-08:00

I wasn't quite sure what the New Year had in store for me. Things seemed a little bleak for the first couple days. Some serious luck and decent tournament play helped me score 1st in an Empire MT Sit N Go. I needed it after the early part of my evening poker session. Earlier, I entered my favorite UB MT, the same one I played last night. The 10PM NL HE with an 8k guranteed prize pool. It's usually a good match although it keeps me up a bit late on skool nites. I also started up a Sit N Go at the same time, just cause that's how I do it. In ten minutes or so I was out of both tourneys and I was not pleased with myself. I thought I was pretty focused.
I had to pause and take stock. I almost called it quits for the evening but like I said, I was feeling focused. I would have been very disappointed to end the night oon sucha down note. I continue to have good vibes about this MT format.

UB 10PM $20 NL HE MT

2005-01-02T22:43:00.000-08:00

16 of 517 (in the money)

I need to look seriously at my late tournament strategy. I am improving but I have quite a ways to go. I just finished Tournament Poker for Advanced Players by Sklansky. It definitely had some information that I could use. I was already comfortbale with and practicing the Gap Concept. I have been giving far more consideration to avoiding close gambles for small money. I was a bit guilty of that. I like to stay agressive but I have made a move toward smarter agression. Hopefully the next few weeks will give me the opportunity to further test these theories and changes in my behaviour. I feel like I am making good solid progress (at least with the tournaments).

UB 5PM $10 NL HE MT

2005-01-02T15:22:00.000-08:00

72 of 513

UB 7PM $5 NL HE MT

2005-01-01T19:40:00.000-08:00

26th out of 655 (in the money)

Holiday Drought

2004-12-29T13:52:00.000-08:00

No real time to play any poker during the holidays. I returned last night from being out of town. I played online for a short time. I placed out of the money in a $20 2-Table MT Sit N Go and out of the money in a single table Sit N Go then called it a night.

I missed out on the required raked hands to retreive my Party Poker bonus for December. Oh well! I just didn't have the time to make it happen. Plenty of more bonuses to be chased another day!

Mediocre Tuesday

2004-12-21T18:48:00.000-08:00

UB 10PM $20 NL MT
93 out of 472

Like many tournaments, I hit a rut around 150/300. I only had 2500 in chips and I lost my agression factor. I get a bit too tight around this level. Got to work on that. While I played this tournament using the awesome UB mini-view, I fired up some cash games to work on my Party bonus.

Party 2/4 Limit

I played 3 hands of Limit at one table for 5 minutes. I only played one hand and won since it seemed a tight table. Maybe I should have stuck around. I quickly recalled how tiresome limit is and opted to multi-table some .25/.50 NL instead. It just suits me better. I have to play multiple tables when I play cash games of any kind. For those of us who have the attention span of a five year old on pixie stix like me, you understand. I am actually a very patient person in certain situations. OK, if you are paying me, I am infinitely patient. If you are my wife, forget about it! I also love the action in Poker so I find myself stirring up trouble every chance I get. Multi-table play consumes my attention and often has me clicking away and making quick but quality plays and calls. I find I make less risky calls and play better poker much attributed to the fact that I am not seeking more action than I can already handle with 3 tables. I still stir up plenty of trouble. I just call less. I am not saying I have inheritant characteristics that make me a fine poker player. It is just the opposite. I have traits I need to counterbalance. I make some mistakes, of course. I don't feel I make more but rather less playing this way. It can take me longer to get a feel for all the tables or get a read on the personas seated virtually with me. Twenty-seven other people are hard to keep up with. I often start one table at a time adding one more once I get a feel for the table (maybe after 10 or 15 minutes). I only play with $15 or $20 per table. I like the flexibility this gives me and works well for my style of play. I will hardly be devestated by busting out but will not easily bluff off my stack, not that I do that often.

I fired up one NL table. Played for 5 minutes then fired up a second table. I ended up doubling up on one table and getting crippled on another by a weak heart flush on the river. I played 2 tables for about 80 minutes before I slimemd down to just on cash game so I could focus more on this UB tournament I was simultaneously playing. I ended up about even at the end of the night as far as cash games(maybe even up a few dollars, I have to double-check). I knocked out 10% of my bonus. If I get some evening time to play the remainder of this week, I may just clear this bonus before it expires.

Surviving a Set

2004-12-20T23:51:00.000-08:00

I barely had the focus tonight to play one MT Sit n Go on Party. I stuck with my new found structure of choice. Like I said before, Party and Empire are in cahoots so they are the same. They both have those nifty MT SnGs. I was playing on Party since I just loaded in some cash for the December reload promotion. I saw a 2 table tourney warming up for $20 and it only needed one more person to join. I jumped in. I wasn't feeling super focused but wanted to play a bit since I had poker on the brain. As usual I started a bit loose and agressive to test the waters and set the tone. It was a little embarrasing actually. For example...

It is still 10 handed and I am in middle position (ok maybe it was more early than middle, shh).
I get A9 of hearts. I call a decent raise from the guy on my right, not because it is suited, just because I felt like it. The flop comes 9-5-2 giving me top pair. I make a pot sized bet and he calls. The turn brings an Ace and top 2 pair for me. I am cautious because I am feeling like he must have a set to still be in this. I bet another pot size bet, bringing us both down to about 60% of our chips. He reraises me all-in and as I am thinking about his set of 9's I call out of pure stubbornness and the river bring another A giving me a nifty full house to match his now lessor full house. Horrible play on my part rewarded. I am practically apologizing to the guy in chat and pondering what good deed I had performed today to deserve that.

For the rest of the time, I tightened up a bit with my calling but stayed very agressive in position and in unraised pots until I placed in the money (down to 4). Then I got agressive beacuse I wanted to end it soon. I took out #4 and soon became #3 for an $80 payout. Not a bad investment and a good lesson learned. What more can one ask for in a night of poker. On that note, I am out.

Party Poker December Reload Bonus

2004-12-20T20:41:00.000-08:00

Party Poker Bonus Challenge

Can I play 840 raked hands between now and December 27th? It's worth $120 if I can.

I do not know if I can play that many raked hands in a ring game. I probably should have started on this bonus much earlier in the month. I heard the buzz but was busy clearing up other bonuses. Since this one expires much sooner than my others, they get my time between now and the 27th. I wonder if I get any points for MT play? Nope, just looked it up. I haven't really been in the mood for cash games unless I can play 3 at once. I can only do that on UB since it is easy to manage with the mini-view feature. It is important to set goals in life so wish me luck!

Blog ShoutOut

2004-12-20T10:29:00.000-08:00

I really enjoy the content on this guy's poker blog, Sounds of a Suckout. He recently had a nice post about multi-tabling and all kinds of other good tid bits. I read it regularly and he even got me started on BlackJack for the sake of chasing bonuses (non-sticky variety). I have always respected Blackjack but avoided it and most gambling because I did not feel I had the comfort level with the mechanics of the game. It took me a while to warm up to chasing bonuses in general. I like to explore new poker sites frequently looking for cool software and features or different tournament structures. Getting free money is always good so I started seeking out poker bonuses while exploring new sites. There is a ton of information out there about bonus codes. It just seems appropriate if I am going to invest my time I should get some extra rewards along the way. Normally I am not even the type of person to use coupons or even send in for mail-in rebates. I will eagerly chase some bonuses though.

Now let's try some Blackjack bonuses. I wasn't very comfortable playing BlackJack at first. I have limited experience and didn't even understand the basic rules and tactics until just recently. His posting on Blackjack bonuses is awesome. He breaks it down very nicely and oultines the basics of successful bonus chasing. I was a[[reciative of his effort. After meeting the wager requirements (required number of hands at a certain wager) to clear my bonus, I broke even on my first Blackjack site and made $50 bux on my second site. Each site matches you $100 in bonus for $100 deposited. I like to play a little Blackjack when I am feeling burnt on poker or when I need to clear my head. I played kinda loose and made some big wagers and dipped hard into my bankroll. Both times I had good luck making well timed recovery bets and quit while I was ahead or in the second situation, I was up $50. It was a very minor success but I can see the simplicity in the formula and math of it all. Give it a read.

Many thanks for the insight!

Weekend Review

2004-12-20T08:53:00.000-08:00

I didn't play much in the way of cash games this weekend. I was hot to win some X-mas cash so I focused on MT tournaments. I used to make more money playing cash games and still like these for regular income. It may be foolish but I am looking for bigger payouts for time invested. I am going to invest several hours a weekend playing poker anyway, it might as well pay bigger dividends. I invested quite a bit ($200+) on buy-ins for these MTs in an effort to win big. I usually play several of the UB MTs each evening. They have guranteed prize pools from $1500-$5000 for less than $50 buy-ins. I did not place in in the money for any of the 5 or so UB events I played all weekend. I played 4 or 5 Empire MT SnGs. This is where my income came from this weekend. Overall I came out way ahead ($800+) and hope to continue my MT winnings.

This weekend I played the following sites and usernames:

Empire Poker (onepunkazz): MT Sit n Gos and MT Tournaments
Ultimate Bet (jackpotsmoker): .25/.50 NL Ring Games
Ultimate Bet (1punkass): MT Tournaments
Full Tilt (1punkass): .25/.50 Ring games $5 SnG's and a few MT tournaments

I cleared all of my outstanding UB bonuses, am 25 raked hands from clearing my Empire bonus and have another decent bonus on Full Tilt I need to clear. I will probably play these 3 sites until the new year.

All in the cards

2004-12-19T17:29:00.000-08:00

This weekend brought some great cards and some rare hands. Well rare at least for me. The best hands didn't pay me off very well but were fun to play all the same. I flopped a nice 5-9 straight flush of spades and also flopped quad 4's at the same table playing .25/.50NL on UB. The table was very cold and I got not action whatsoever but it was still fun. I have only received a straight flush about 4 times in my time playing Hold'em (about 11 months). I have only had the opportunity to get quads about 5 times as well. Even when there is lminimal action, these are fun and relaxing hands to play since the expectation to win is pretty high.

I usually work hard at getting money out of all my cards especially the mediocre ones and try to have lower expectations for the high cards and traditionally strong hands. I don't like to put much value on KK or QQ for example. Those hands can be so difficult to get away from if you put too much expectation on them. I like to see more flops, play agressively post-flop and make my money on less powerful hands so I feel better about throwing away those big hands when I know I am beat.

More Empire MT SnGs

2004-12-19T17:23:00.000-08:00

Wow, these MT Sit N Go's things are great! I took 1st ($450) in another 3 table $30 MT. I was pretty excited because this was my third decent money win on Empire this weekend. I played several tournaments with this format and figure my rate of placing in the money is about 45% for this weekend.

Another MT Tournament

2004-12-19T13:48:00.000-08:00

I placed 4th (in the money - $175) out of 300+ last night in an Empire $20 MT.

I have been playin on Empire for the last 2 weeks. It is a Party Poker network site. It has the same software and as far as I can tell, the same players as Party Poker. I went there chasing bonuses. I started by tossing around some money on 3/6 limit for a week. I have been playing mostly MT SnGs and Tournaments there. I really enjoy the MT SnGs because at the higher buyins like $30 and $50, it is a good game and has very good payouts for the time you have to invest.

Another Empire MT SnG

2004-12-18T13:12:00.000-08:00

Took 1st out of 20 on a MT SnG. A nice prize rewarded for good play on my part. I have really been enjoying these games. Good money and a manageable field of players. I expect to play more of these.

UB 7 Stud MT

2004-12-18T09:44:00.000-08:00

I played the 10PM 7 Stud MT on UB again last nite. 7 stud is fun and I enjoy it in a MT format. Ring games are a bit trickier but I occasionally sit down at those. I am not that good but I played very tight only playing the premium starting hands or at least pairs. I went out 99 out of 3oo and something. The night before I went out much quicker. Better luck next time.

Empire MT SnG

2004-12-18T09:39:00.000-08:00

Placed 4th out of 90 people in an Empire MT $50 SnG ($175). I went out with AK in the BB against the SB with Q4. Pretty sad to lose to that hand but a straight appeared and gave him the bottom end of it. I was pleased with my play and had no issue goin out. At least I was in the money. It payed 5 places. I probably only played about 10 or 12 hands the whole tournament. I didn't get very good cards. I had medium pocket pairs to keep me alive most of the way. That's about it.

Getting Zen

2004-12-15T13:12:00.000-08:00

I started reading Zen and the Art of Poker yesterday. It seems like an interesting book and may be just what I need to help my game. In the first chapter, I already found some helpful anecdotes and concepts. I will post some feedback as I read more.

MT Money again on UB

2004-12-14T22:19:00.000-08:00

I have been playing one or two MT tourneys a day on UB. I mostly play the $5 and $10 buy-ins.I even tried a $100 buy-in since the payout was very juicy and the field was limited (225 by the time it closed). They have been offering some nice guranteed payouts upward of 5-7k. I placed 15th out of 1119 (in the money) tonight in the 9pm $5.

Sampling some 3/6

2004-12-13T17:15:00.000-08:00

I played a handful of SnG's on PP. I only placed in the money in 1 out of 4. My head wasnt in it.
While coming back from AC and since arriving home, I have given some thought to where I felt my time was best spent playing poker, in terms of profit. I play 3-4 hours a day if not double that sometimes. I am feeling comfortable with my ability to make decisions and know where good judgement begins and ends. I enjoy playing poker but play so many hours in hopes of generating additional revenue. I dont think I could rationalize the hours spent to myself and others (my wife) if I wasnt raking in the chips.

I was feelin in touch with my limit game since my return from AC. I never found much excitement in limit but it was growing on me. After dipping a bit from back to back SnG losses, I wanted to reinvigorate my banroll. In the past limit action had not made much of a positive impact on my bankroll. I did play 2/4 though online a few times and that is pretty bad territory. I had read and heard that limit is where the good money is and I had been increasingly curious and dove into some 3/6 since my banroll was healthier than previous months.

The 2/4 tables were pretty bad with a variety of poor players and loose play. I had fun anyway and mostly broke even since I was alternating my play and also playing pretty loose myself. I can get a bit chatty once I get into the flow of a limit table . There isnt much tension in limit. I had fun throwing around some loose agression and a good bit of table talk.

I got 2s, 3's and 8's back to back to back. Bad flops but curiosity brought me to the river anyway.

2/4 Limit to Pass the Time - Tropicana

2004-12-11T10:08:00.000-08:00

I played 2/4 Limit last night after the tournament was over and all day today. I avoided the NL tables because I just didn't have the NL vibe. I stuck with Limit. I was up slightly for a few sessions and down one session. Overall I broke even but payed for a small portion of my tournament buy-in. For now I am OK with mosly breaking even at the casiono. I gave significant thought to my B&M strategy and look forward to returning for another go at it. I would like to head down regularly for MTs at the Tropicana and even The Sands.

Tropicana MT - Atlantic City

2004-12-10T09:40:00.000-08:00

Krakap and I took the bus down to AC for the night. I wanted to go down and play a MT tournament and some cash games to celebrate my 32nd birthday. We both entered the Friday 4pm $50 rebuy tournament. Rebuys suck but I have only played a few casino tournaments so Iwanted to check it out. The field was mixed with some decent players. My first table was a bit loose for the first round and at least three people did a rebuy in round one. One of the rebuys occured when I flopped the nut flush with A9 hearts from late position. I limped to see the flop. The flop came all hearts and I put on my slow play hat. The guy 2 seats before me had been pretty agressive, betting strong with top pair and good draws. He went all-in on this hand. There was no straight possibility and the board was not paired. I didnt have to think too hard to realize I had the better of him and called his all-in bet. I had just a few less chips than him, took the pot and sent him off to rebuy. I saw him at my 3rd table later in the day. I did not rebuy but added-on for 4000 more chips after round three. Everyone was adding on and my stack was about average so I did not have much choice if I wanted to survive. I played very few hands and lost very few showdowns excpet for an all-in bet with KK. I had just taken the guy for a nice pot the hand before. He pondered calling my all-in bet with AQ. I told him he could have a chance to win back everything I had just taken from him. I said this becuase I was very confident with my hand and I didn't really want him to call. He paused a while and eventually called and hit a staright on the river. It wasn't hard to take since I had the best hand going into it. He admitted he almost folded there and then when I invited him into the pot. You can't really ask for much more. That guy ended up taking at least 2nd and maybe even 1st at the final table. I sat at a total of 3 tables all day and ended up in about 25th place when the good cards dried up and the 2000/4000 blinds ate me up. My highest chip stack was 18k all day. Krakap lasted about 15 minutes longer than me and pulled about 23rd.

Something about those sixes

2004-12-09T09:50:00.000-08:00

Last night while playing a MT on UB I found my self in late position with pocket 6s. The table was mixed and it was 75/150 blinds with about half of the 550 person field remaining. My stack had slipped a bit from 6k down to 2k. Ok more than a bit. I was probably feeling a bit anxious seeing most of the stacks at my table hovering from 8-13k. It was late, I was nodding off and in somewhat of a daze I just cold called an all in bet of 6k or so with my 6's. I was all-in for about 2300 and feeling OK about it.

In general I play small pocket pair below an 8 cautious before the flop. I don't usually call a serious raise preflop but I will bet agressive at an unraised pot from. I try to avoid playing them post flop without a favorable flop, a set, straight draw or serious pent up agression.

Long story short, he had KQ and hit a Q on the flop. I was optimistic about my set making an appearance but I tend to be optimistic at all the wrong times anyway. The six did fall on the river and I took a decent chunk from his stack. He told me how badly I played in chat. How horrible it was to call all of my money with a pair of sixes. I didn't really disagree and I said that I was tired. I told him I was awake now and thanks. He went on and on a bit which I usually enjoy. Twenty minutes later in the game he bet all-in with pocket sixes and survived. Pocket sixes surfaced at least one more time at that table before I busted out.

-------------------*

While playing a SnG just a moment ago, I had pocket 6's and flopped 2 more 6's for quads. I checkd them to the river to induce a bet. Got my bet and a few wows in the chat. Love them 6's.

19th out of 334 on a PokerRoom $5 MT

2004-12-07T20:29:00.000-08:00

19th out of 334 on a PokerRoom $5 MT (in the money)

Best hand was pocket Ts 10 minutes before I busted. I only played about ten hands. I sat out for 25 minutes while I had dinner with the wife. Wost hand was betting the minimum 4k with KJ, Jack high, with one eventual caller behind me; checking the river to AKo to lose a 14k pot and 60% of my stack.

...went out with AQd against AKo.

I could have played tighter but I think I was discouraged by the huge stacks.

18Reeve Poker Nite #3

2004-12-04T22:12:00.000-08:00

In honor of my birthday we had another nite of poker at the house. The usual suspects and structure. The action started late so we did decrease the rounds to 15 minutes each. The action was pretty good. Some good showdowns and fun hands. Meg went out to a river card that made sandy a set of T's. I lost most my stack to Kev when he flopped a set of 2's.The payout went like this...

Kev
Chris
Sandy
Drew
Kim
Meg

Clearing Bonuses on UB

2004-12-04T22:11:00.000-08:00

Clearing Bonuses on UB. Fairing well at the .25/50NL tables.

Ultimate Bet $10 MT 3:00PM

2004-12-02T22:08:00.000-08:00

Ultimate Bet $10 MT 3:00PM

Out of 177 players I popped first. My first money finish for a MT. I am very pleased. I had good luck with pocket 5's and T's. Receiving each 3 times and flopping sets each twice. I played smart and agressive. It payed off.

World Poker Finals @ Foxwood's

2004-11-23T14:59:00.000-08:00

Myself and krakap rented a car and drove up to Foxwoods for the first day of the World Poker Finals. Day one was a multi-round qualifier consisting of 6 multi-table qualifier rounds throughout the day. Each round was about 230 people and the finalists from each table from the 6 rounds went on to day two.

I played one round at noon. Krakap played 3 rounds in total throughout the day since they forgot to charge him for one round. I was a bit nervous when I first sat down at my table. I am a bit of a spaz and it took me a minute to figure out the chip values. I had AJ my first hand in MP. I called the BB and the pot was raised from late position by an initimidating asian guy. I wasnt trying to foolishly squander chips too early so I folded. Soon after, I had AK. I called a raise, didn't hit anything on the flop bet out and later folded to a large raise from the same late position asian guy. My confidence was still shaky at best so I stayed tight and mucked a few hands. Just as I was starting to get a good feel for the table, I was dealt KK in MP. I felt I was too timid previously and had to play this much stronger if I wanted to hang around for a shot at round 2. I was hesitant to push all-in preflop so I raised it 3 times the BB and. The flop came somethin like J-7-2 rainbow. No A fell and no flush scares so I pushed all-in with my KK feeling pretty good. I got another all-in call from the guy 2 seats away and the guy on the button after him also called all-in. I was a bit nervous at first but figured I had a good shot since I saw no real strength from these guys pre-flop. We flipped up our cards and I was pleased to see the guy behind me had TT and the guy behind him had J5h. What was he thinking to call with J5? He hit runner runner hearts to make the flush and knocked both of us out. Wow!

Exploring the $20 Tables

2004-11-23T14:13:00.000-08:00

I spent my poker time this weekend playing some $10 and several $20 SnG's mostly on Party Poker. I really enjoy the caliber of play at these buy-ins but I tend to only average a 40-50% rate of placing in the money at these levels. I do not see as many silly calls or ridiculous plays so it's a more enjoyable experience. The lower win rate, however, means that my bankroll sometimes dips a bit if my game isnt on point. On Saturday night I was doing pretty good and had increased my bankroll by $100.

Crushing the $5 Party Poker SnG's

2004-11-23T14:08:00.000-08:00

I got home after work as usual and fired up some Party Poker. I had spent the previous weekend playing some $10 and several $20 SnG's. I usually prefer the caliber of play at these buy-ins. On Poker Room and UB I often play the $5 buy-ins to keep my bankroll from swinging too hard. Full Tilt has such low number of players that any of the SnG's have a real mix of play skills and are slow to fill up so I also stick with the $5 tables.

I have had a great run at the Party $5 SnG's and it has helped to build my bankroll even further.

Lingering Online

2004-11-22T14:00:00.000-08:00

Based on my experience to date, I prefer playing poker online. It is very convenient and the variety of action is amazing. Honestly I have only played in 3 actual casinos (Bicycle, Tropicana and Foxwoods). Currently these are my favorite online poker sites and my accounts on each:

Party Poker (onepunkass)
Poker Room (1punkass)
Full Tilt Poker (1punkass)

I am also exploring the following sites but have yet to make real money deposits:

Doyle's Room (www.doylesroom.com)
Pacific Poker
Interpoker

Full Tilt Two-Table Triumph

2004-11-21T14:38:00.000-08:00

I have tried maybe 3 or 4 times to play the two-table tournaments on Full Tilt. The structure is enticing since it pays double the prize pool compared to a single table SnG but isnt as long and weary as true multi-table scenario. There are 20 players. I entered a $5+$1 tournament. I never placed in the money previously because I usually lost focus or grew impatient mid way through and busted out. I decided this time I would demonstarte patience and sound judgement. I didnt expect to win but simply tried to play smart.

I had a nice run of luck, some good cards and made some great plays. I made it to the final table without too much trouble. Iplayed fairly tight but agressive in the right moments as the final table slimmed down to 6 players. At 4 players left, I played very very tight until i was in the money. Then I opened up and added a few nice pots to my stack. I took 1st in the end after a quick heads up match. I pocketed $36 and a gold star for my ego.

Throwing in the UB Towel

2004-11-21T13:41:00.000-08:00

I think I have officially given up on my Ultimate Bet account. I think it has the best interface and the mini-view feature kicks ass. It is also one of the few sites that work from the office. Not that I play poker at work (look over his shoulder to see if the boss is around).

The competition on UB is fairly mixed but has really put some beatings on my bankroll. I will admit I have played some fairly loose cash games and definitely made some bonehead calls in SnG's. I can't really reationalize adding any more money to that account. It just doesn't seem a good idea since my other bankrolls are doing far better. Maybe when I withdraw some more funds from my other accounts, I may make another deposit. I do prefer the software interface although the tournamant time schedules are kinda lame.

18Reeve Poker Nite #2

2004-11-19T14:14:00.000-08:00

Birthday Poker Bash

Six of us sat down for the 2nd 18Reeve poker tourney in honor of Sandy's Birthday. We played a similar structure as our last home game but made a few minor but effective adjustments. We used the same mutually agreeable buy-in of $20. This time we increased the chip count to $2000 to keep things going longer and to compensate for the shorter time level between blinds. We started at 25/50 blinds and increased them every 20 minutes. Last time we were a bit looser with the level changes but opted to be more strict this time to keep the game movin' along.

Here are the final standings! Congrats to Kim and her 2nd time playing poker and first time winning! Next time she is on her own, no help from the rest of the table after a win like that.

Kim - $60
Meg - $40
Drew - $20
Kev - 4th
Chris - 5th
Sandy - 6th

Premier Post

2004-11-01T14:29:00.000-08:00

I started playing Texas Hold 'Em about 6 months ago. Some friends taught me the basics one night during an impromptu home game. I lost $20 and was instantly enamored.

Immediately I wanted to soak up as much as I could about poker. I never previously enjoyed gambling. I still dont really like gambling aside from poker. I bought a few select books and started recording (DVR) all of the television shows I could find. First I found the World Poker Tour and couldnt help but get excited. Very shortly after, I found the WSOP on ESPN. Since then, I have found a truckload of poker shows on TV and more shows seem to keep popping up.

I look forward to more at local B&M's and even more tournament experience.