LA was a real good trip and I ended up staying a couple extra days cause it was fun spending time with some really awesome people as well as poker was going well. Most nights I was going to bed between 4am and 8am (which is of course 6am and 10am MN time) and my flight landed at 6am and I didn't sleep on the plane, so I came back with the standard backwards sleep schedule. This isn't particularly a huge deal, it's just pretty annoying especially when you want to hang out with friends and girlfriends who are on regular schedules.
So the last 3 days I've been trying to fix it. 2 nights ago I was able to crash from 230am-630am which I figured wouldn't be that bad because I should still be tired the next night...so when I went to bed at 230am last night I figured I could sleep. But then it was 430am and I still hadn't gotten a wink, so I got up and started playing poker. I lost my ass in like an hour so I had to quit and just kill time. A few friends had spent the night so I drove them home at 11am that probably wasn't a super good idea... I was sober but it was like i was drunk from being so tired. We made it though. I fully intended on sleeping when I got home but then I was talking to a buddy and I'm like "damn, I've made it this far, should just stay up all day and sleep at like 8 or 9pm and wake up and play the heartland poker tour tourney at 9am." So that's what I did. I played poker for 8 hours straight and man was it tough. the 4pm-5pm stretch was by far the hardest but once I got to 6pm it was smooth sailing minus the fact that I started seeing colors on white paper in addition to having the standard sleep deprived vision impairment. I actually did alright in my marathon poker session.
When I got in bed a little after 8, my body was kinda past the whole sleepiness thing. Adrenaline had obviously kicked in and so I had a couple beers and watched the end of the wild game and when it was over, conked out quickly. I woke up at 1230 for no reason and was like screw this but was able to quickly fall back asleep. Then I woke up at 230 and had no such luck. I tossed and turned. No chance. Argh. I gave it a half hour now I'm gonna go give it another shot.
Sunday, November 16, 2008
Friday, November 7, 2008
Johnny Chan
When I was a very new poker player, I would watch rounders over and over. I've probably seen it 30 or 40 times. In the last couple years I watch it perhaps once or twice a year for nostalgias sake. So when Johny Chan came up and sat down next to me at our $500/1000 game I had to admit I was like woah. I've played with many more notable people and better players than him, but there was just something cool about playing a limit holdem pot vs johnny chan- the guy who was so incredibly glorified in that movie. The only hand we got involved together was actually pretty boring and standard but I may as well share it.
Johny raised in MP, I 3 bet right behind with TT, all folded, he called.
Flop Q74 with 2 hearts.
He c/r I call.
Turn offsuit 9
He checked I bet, he called
river offsuit 2
He checked I bet, he folded.
I mean, if you woulda told me 5 years ago when I first saw this movie that I would be playing poker some day for real and not in some contrived situation(like some tournament) with Johnny chan I would have thought you were out of your mind. Now the only person left who I'd like to play with is Doyle brunson and I can't imagine playing with him outside of a tournament really. I also kinda want to play lhe with Phil Ivey cause I hear he's one of the best and I want to see if there's anything subtle I can pick up from him...
So far so good on the trip, but anyone who has played big white chips knows it can change drastically in a hurry...wish me luck!
Johny raised in MP, I 3 bet right behind with TT, all folded, he called.
Flop Q74 with 2 hearts.
He c/r I call.
Turn offsuit 9
He checked I bet, he called
river offsuit 2
He checked I bet, he folded.
I mean, if you woulda told me 5 years ago when I first saw this movie that I would be playing poker some day for real and not in some contrived situation(like some tournament) with Johnny chan I would have thought you were out of your mind. Now the only person left who I'd like to play with is Doyle brunson and I can't imagine playing with him outside of a tournament really. I also kinda want to play lhe with Phil Ivey cause I hear he's one of the best and I want to see if there's anything subtle I can pick up from him...
So far so good on the trip, but anyone who has played big white chips knows it can change drastically in a hurry...wish me luck!
Monday, November 3, 2008
boys night
On Thursday we decided a little boys night was in order, so the 4 of us with season tix decided to grab a nice dinner before the game (me, Schneider, Pickett and Dave p). Pickett had heard good things from somebody about this new steakhouse in st Paul called the strip club. Pretty fitting name for boys night. My initial reaction when we walked in was a touch underwhelming but as the night progressed the decor grew on me hugely and I really like it now.
It was one of the better dinner experiences I've had and I eat out a lot(more than i should). Our waiter was one of the best I've ever had - he was really attentive and helpful (and yet not annoying/over the top) and even called us a cab to get to the game. The food was really good. We all got steaks of somesort and everyone was pleased. One of the appetizers stood out as really good - it was like beef tips or something. Basically rib eye marinated in BBQ sauce and then grilled with some peppers or something. It only comes with 2 so it's pretty small but it really hits the spot.
We started with some wine but then got intrigued by the $25 dollar 750ml beers at the bottom of the list so we asked the waiter about them and he said he personally picked them and they are all fantastic. We decided why not try all 3 so he got us all 3 glasses and poured them all and it was quite the sight with 3 beers, a glass of wine, and water all in front of everyone on this little table. 2 of them were Belgian imports while the third was from some small brewery in Colorado. All 9-10% alcohol content. They were super good, as was the wine, so much so that we decided to get another bottle. Schneider said it may be one of his favorites. I hope he wrote it down because it wasn't very expensive.
All that eating and drinking and we were ready for some hockey. Dave P and I had 20 bucks on how long the cab would take to get to the stadium. I had under 7 minutes and Dave had the over. 6:05 later we were there. There was a light we coulda missed that woulda made for a sweat butttttt our cabby decided yellow means go. ship it!
The wild game started off far more intense than many and we were finally like YES! there is going to be a fight finally! (I've been to 5 games so far, 0 fights) Nope. Just some scuffling. The game was tight and down to the wire but we just couldn't capitalize on the most power plays I think I've ever seen. Montreal was sick at killing them and ended up winning which was well deserved in my book.
Going drink for drink with Pickett and Dave P is recipe for disaster so by the third period it was time for a round off for beeker. Those boys don't slow down. Schneider had stopped after round 1 or 2 at the game. By the time the game was done I was feeling like a little extended break. We walked to a local bar and Dave and mike went in for a drink and Schneider and I waited outside cause it was super nice out and just pretty chill and talk a little trash with Montreal fans...most of which had came down from Manitoba. They were all real nice and fun to chat with.
Chal was at the game (but not with us) and somehow had gone home after so we swung by his house and then went downtown to meet up with some of the other boys (Frank, Adam, Johny, Justin). We got apps/drinks at the 508 which really hit the spot for me. We hung out there for awhile then hit up the drink and stinky petes or something where nothing notable really happened. By 1am I was ready to just go home and relax so Dave p, chal and I came back here to chill. Chal was giving me grief about being kinda tired, demanding I stay up so I told him I'd promise him an hour. On the way home Dave P slept most of the way so as we're pulling up I'm like ok everyone have their cell phone and wallet (chal has lost like 4 cell phones in cabs). Chal said yep and dave didn't really respond. We got out of the cab and Dave p is like oman my phone must be in the cab. Wtf i just asked if you had it. Haha. It was there and all is well.
One side note I didn't understand is we called a cab from my house initially and Dave p got caught up in traffic on the way here so when I told the cabby to start the meter, our buddy will be here in 10 minutes he said "god dammit" and was all put out. I don't understand? Is it that crappy of a rate that they get to charge for waiting or what's the deal? I thought cabby's live for big fairs and ours was going to be at least 50 or 60 bucks cause we had to swing by Pickett's, too. Of course on the way we missed a turn because we were too busy talking and he was pissed about that too. Who cares dude? The meter is running and it was our fault. We don't give a shit. Must be just an unhappy person. Pickett lost the paper rock scissors for who had to pay and wasn't there for most of the shenanigans so I'm not sure how much he tipped him, but I wouldn't have given him anything which I'm sure would compound his view of the world but, hey that's not my problem...I was pleasant.
It was one of the better dinner experiences I've had and I eat out a lot(more than i should). Our waiter was one of the best I've ever had - he was really attentive and helpful (and yet not annoying/over the top) and even called us a cab to get to the game. The food was really good. We all got steaks of somesort and everyone was pleased. One of the appetizers stood out as really good - it was like beef tips or something. Basically rib eye marinated in BBQ sauce and then grilled with some peppers or something. It only comes with 2 so it's pretty small but it really hits the spot.
We started with some wine but then got intrigued by the $25 dollar 750ml beers at the bottom of the list so we asked the waiter about them and he said he personally picked them and they are all fantastic. We decided why not try all 3 so he got us all 3 glasses and poured them all and it was quite the sight with 3 beers, a glass of wine, and water all in front of everyone on this little table. 2 of them were Belgian imports while the third was from some small brewery in Colorado. All 9-10% alcohol content. They were super good, as was the wine, so much so that we decided to get another bottle. Schneider said it may be one of his favorites. I hope he wrote it down because it wasn't very expensive.
All that eating and drinking and we were ready for some hockey. Dave P and I had 20 bucks on how long the cab would take to get to the stadium. I had under 7 minutes and Dave had the over. 6:05 later we were there. There was a light we coulda missed that woulda made for a sweat butttttt our cabby decided yellow means go. ship it!
The wild game started off far more intense than many and we were finally like YES! there is going to be a fight finally! (I've been to 5 games so far, 0 fights) Nope. Just some scuffling. The game was tight and down to the wire but we just couldn't capitalize on the most power plays I think I've ever seen. Montreal was sick at killing them and ended up winning which was well deserved in my book.
Going drink for drink with Pickett and Dave P is recipe for disaster so by the third period it was time for a round off for beeker. Those boys don't slow down. Schneider had stopped after round 1 or 2 at the game. By the time the game was done I was feeling like a little extended break. We walked to a local bar and Dave and mike went in for a drink and Schneider and I waited outside cause it was super nice out and just pretty chill and talk a little trash with Montreal fans...most of which had came down from Manitoba. They were all real nice and fun to chat with.
Chal was at the game (but not with us) and somehow had gone home after so we swung by his house and then went downtown to meet up with some of the other boys (Frank, Adam, Johny, Justin). We got apps/drinks at the 508 which really hit the spot for me. We hung out there for awhile then hit up the drink and stinky petes or something where nothing notable really happened. By 1am I was ready to just go home and relax so Dave p, chal and I came back here to chill. Chal was giving me grief about being kinda tired, demanding I stay up so I told him I'd promise him an hour. On the way home Dave P slept most of the way so as we're pulling up I'm like ok everyone have their cell phone and wallet (chal has lost like 4 cell phones in cabs). Chal said yep and dave didn't really respond. We got out of the cab and Dave p is like oman my phone must be in the cab. Wtf i just asked if you had it. Haha. It was there and all is well.
One side note I didn't understand is we called a cab from my house initially and Dave p got caught up in traffic on the way here so when I told the cabby to start the meter, our buddy will be here in 10 minutes he said "god dammit" and was all put out. I don't understand? Is it that crappy of a rate that they get to charge for waiting or what's the deal? I thought cabby's live for big fairs and ours was going to be at least 50 or 60 bucks cause we had to swing by Pickett's, too. Of course on the way we missed a turn because we were too busy talking and he was pissed about that too. Who cares dude? The meter is running and it was our fault. We don't give a shit. Must be just an unhappy person. Pickett lost the paper rock scissors for who had to pay and wasn't there for most of the shenanigans so I'm not sure how much he tipped him, but I wouldn't have given him anything which I'm sure would compound his view of the world but, hey that's not my problem...I was pleasant.
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
afternoon off
One thing I've always wanted to get better was just taking a little more time off to just enjoy an afternoon or whatever. For some reason when I wake up and don't have any plans I pretty much automatically go to my computer and start a session. Literally almost every single day is started with a session. They usually last 2-4 hours and then who knows the rest of the day. I guess looking at my PT I did play 45 minutes today but it just wasn't feeling satisfying. A lot of times if I quit short it's cause I started off blowing my brains...but today I was dead even and just not feeling it. A buddy messaged me and said "why you quit that table with such and such still playing?" I guess I just want an afternoon off. I haven't even decided what I'm going to do yet but I have a few business things and errands I have to run so I guess I'll take care of those and then who knows. Maybe just sit on my ass and play the new guitar hero or see if the boys want to play some more racquetball. All I know is, I've earned an afternoon off and I'm taking it...
Saturday, October 25, 2008
canterbury tournament
My friends convinced me I 'had to' play at least the main event of the fall poker classic at Canterbury. Fine. I can handle that.
I hate Canterbury. I don't hate too many things, but they seem determined to stick it in your ass and just make you know that it is in fact your privilege to play there and you are not a customer who is paying them. I hadn't been there in six months previous to this tournament and I really doubt I'll be there in the next year until the next one. That said, there are quite a few people who work there whom I like and it sucks that the only place I see them is there.
On one of the dinner breaks I was 2nd to act (utg+1) and I looked down at 92o so I stood up and started walking towards the buffet. Somebody started hollering my name. I looked back and it's the floor and he's irate that I 'folded out of turn'. Yes, i suppose very technically I did, but it's not like this was even a remotely critical spot of the tournament and surely not worth hollering at me for. I said sorry and kept walking away. Everyone does this. It's not like I'm some out of norm out of line renegade.
The tournament sheet said play was going to be until 27 players or midnight, whichever came first. From the get go that seems OK. They pay 27 ($1270 which is a huge 190 dollar profit from the buyin) and playing longer than 12 hours is kinda long. Ok. But when you have a really stupid structure and it's 9:30 and people are literally getting knocked out every 2-3 minutes it doesn't make sense to make everyone quit and come back the next day. Most people have jobs and other things they need to be doing. It sucks to have to come back and bust out and 'break even' especially if you had to drive a long way. They were going to prolong it but there were a couple 'strongly voiced' players who insisted they stick to it so they did. 80% of the players wanted to keep playing. From a direct business perspective I don't totally blame them, it made a ton of people have to come back the next day who otherwise wouldn't have and they probably spent some money. But from a rational standpoint it's totally brutal. It didn't help that after they decided we were done they collected our ID's and made us sit there idly for 25 minutes. Take our ID's, let us play until you are done with that shenanigans and then send us home. That would make more sense at least.
33 minutes into playing today we had gone from 27 to 18. After about an hour and a half we were down to 9.
I went into the final table 2nd in chips. The only player who covered me was some young kid who 'looks sorta like eminem'. He definitely looked out of his element and was right to my left. A few hands in I raised to T37000 with with AQdd T5000/10000 and T2000 ante. I had been raising smaller but this spot seemed right. I had about 400k chips and he had perhaps 700k and the avg stack was ~220k. He called and everyone else folded.
The flop came AhQsTh and I led for T60,000 and he instantly sat back in his chair like damn. Then he said "raise, one hundred twenty thousand." I immediately hated my hand. I was pretty sure I was folding. Nobody who knows me would ever call me a folder, but jeez, I'm not a bonehead either and this goofball is telling me he flopped a straight or three tens. Or he could have AT, QT, or a flushdraw right???? I went into the tank for like 30 seconds. Some asshole older guy who couldn't stop needling Blake the day before called the clock on me. Ok fine. I hadn't said a word after he raised because I didn't want to give away my hand. Well, now I had to figure out what was going on so I did my standard talking. Asking him what he had, running through different hands etc and he was just staring down at the felt. Good move by him for sure. Then I asked him if he had king jack and he looked up and looked me in the eyes. That was the decided moment in my mind. Most players fitting his description will not all of a sudden look at you if you call their hand out. They'll be like OMGOMGOMG don't make a move, he'll know you have it. Sold. I said all in and he SNAP-called. hmmm. I showed AQ and he showed KJ and byebye beeker. All that good playing and making good reads to blow one and go out to the only guy who can break me. So frustrating. There were a handful of pretty short stacks so I coulda folded and still had an above average stack and easily gotten some decent money. I've lost many 'huge' pots in cash games without blinking at all and for some reason this just hurt really bad. I was in the worst mood I've been in in years. I don't know what my problem was, but I was super crabby.
As I'm walking out of the tournament area I ran into Pickett, troy, frank and another buddy who had just came down to sweat. They didn't even get to see one hand. After cashing in my chips and getting a beer I'm sitting down kinda stewing a little bit at an open table when a dealer walks by and spills my beer everywhere including partially on me. Haha. My initial thought was oman...when it rains it poors, but given how ridiculous the timing was it actually made me in a better mood. It's like the world is testing me. Oh yeah, life is good.
So we get to the wild game and the guys want food and I have to use the restroom so I go find one. I walk down to our seats and take a seat. The boys are sitting in seats 5-7 and I sat in seat 4. There is a ~45 year old couple in seats 2 and 3 and the guy kinda snaps "you have a ticket for that seat?" I'm like what? Yeah? He says ummm actually you don't. Then I realized the boys didn't scoot all the way in. We have 5-8 and I'm in 4. It's the 2nd game of the season. Sorry, I'm off by one seat. Ok. "well if whoever has that seat comes you're going to have to move" "ok fine yeah I will don't sweat it" and I thought it was over there. I got back to the game. Then like 30 seconds later his lady friend turns to me and says really bitchily "no really, if somebody comes you're going to have to move, that's not your seat." I thought for sure she had to be joking cause it was just like mega-bitch tone so I asked her and no, was serious, wrong seat dude. Pickett turns to me and says "wow, wrong day lady." I told her that "I having the worst day ever and to please just stop pushing my buttons and leave me the fuck alone, if somebody wants to sit here I'll move." She mocks "ouhhh what are you going to do, go postal on us???" I don't think I've ever went off on somebody I didn't know or said fuck to a random person but this lady was out of this world. I mean wow. I switched seats with Pickett and ignored them the rest of the time and that was that. I climbed over like 3 rows of seats the other time I came back to avoid them and the wild scored a couple goals and I quickly forgot about all that bologna. Some people though, man.
I hate Canterbury. I don't hate too many things, but they seem determined to stick it in your ass and just make you know that it is in fact your privilege to play there and you are not a customer who is paying them. I hadn't been there in six months previous to this tournament and I really doubt I'll be there in the next year until the next one. That said, there are quite a few people who work there whom I like and it sucks that the only place I see them is there.
On one of the dinner breaks I was 2nd to act (utg+1) and I looked down at 92o so I stood up and started walking towards the buffet. Somebody started hollering my name. I looked back and it's the floor and he's irate that I 'folded out of turn'. Yes, i suppose very technically I did, but it's not like this was even a remotely critical spot of the tournament and surely not worth hollering at me for. I said sorry and kept walking away. Everyone does this. It's not like I'm some out of norm out of line renegade.
The tournament sheet said play was going to be until 27 players or midnight, whichever came first. From the get go that seems OK. They pay 27 ($1270 which is a huge 190 dollar profit from the buyin) and playing longer than 12 hours is kinda long. Ok. But when you have a really stupid structure and it's 9:30 and people are literally getting knocked out every 2-3 minutes it doesn't make sense to make everyone quit and come back the next day. Most people have jobs and other things they need to be doing. It sucks to have to come back and bust out and 'break even' especially if you had to drive a long way. They were going to prolong it but there were a couple 'strongly voiced' players who insisted they stick to it so they did. 80% of the players wanted to keep playing. From a direct business perspective I don't totally blame them, it made a ton of people have to come back the next day who otherwise wouldn't have and they probably spent some money. But from a rational standpoint it's totally brutal. It didn't help that after they decided we were done they collected our ID's and made us sit there idly for 25 minutes. Take our ID's, let us play until you are done with that shenanigans and then send us home. That would make more sense at least.
33 minutes into playing today we had gone from 27 to 18. After about an hour and a half we were down to 9.
I went into the final table 2nd in chips. The only player who covered me was some young kid who 'looks sorta like eminem'. He definitely looked out of his element and was right to my left. A few hands in I raised to T37000 with with AQdd T5000/10000 and T2000 ante. I had been raising smaller but this spot seemed right. I had about 400k chips and he had perhaps 700k and the avg stack was ~220k. He called and everyone else folded.
The flop came AhQsTh and I led for T60,000 and he instantly sat back in his chair like damn. Then he said "raise, one hundred twenty thousand." I immediately hated my hand. I was pretty sure I was folding. Nobody who knows me would ever call me a folder, but jeez, I'm not a bonehead either and this goofball is telling me he flopped a straight or three tens. Or he could have AT, QT, or a flushdraw right???? I went into the tank for like 30 seconds. Some asshole older guy who couldn't stop needling Blake the day before called the clock on me. Ok fine. I hadn't said a word after he raised because I didn't want to give away my hand. Well, now I had to figure out what was going on so I did my standard talking. Asking him what he had, running through different hands etc and he was just staring down at the felt. Good move by him for sure. Then I asked him if he had king jack and he looked up and looked me in the eyes. That was the decided moment in my mind. Most players fitting his description will not all of a sudden look at you if you call their hand out. They'll be like OMGOMGOMG don't make a move, he'll know you have it. Sold. I said all in and he SNAP-called. hmmm. I showed AQ and he showed KJ and byebye beeker. All that good playing and making good reads to blow one and go out to the only guy who can break me. So frustrating. There were a handful of pretty short stacks so I coulda folded and still had an above average stack and easily gotten some decent money. I've lost many 'huge' pots in cash games without blinking at all and for some reason this just hurt really bad. I was in the worst mood I've been in in years. I don't know what my problem was, but I was super crabby.
As I'm walking out of the tournament area I ran into Pickett, troy, frank and another buddy who had just came down to sweat. They didn't even get to see one hand. After cashing in my chips and getting a beer I'm sitting down kinda stewing a little bit at an open table when a dealer walks by and spills my beer everywhere including partially on me. Haha. My initial thought was oman...when it rains it poors, but given how ridiculous the timing was it actually made me in a better mood. It's like the world is testing me. Oh yeah, life is good.
So we get to the wild game and the guys want food and I have to use the restroom so I go find one. I walk down to our seats and take a seat. The boys are sitting in seats 5-7 and I sat in seat 4. There is a ~45 year old couple in seats 2 and 3 and the guy kinda snaps "you have a ticket for that seat?" I'm like what? Yeah? He says ummm actually you don't. Then I realized the boys didn't scoot all the way in. We have 5-8 and I'm in 4. It's the 2nd game of the season. Sorry, I'm off by one seat. Ok. "well if whoever has that seat comes you're going to have to move" "ok fine yeah I will don't sweat it" and I thought it was over there. I got back to the game. Then like 30 seconds later his lady friend turns to me and says really bitchily "no really, if somebody comes you're going to have to move, that's not your seat." I thought for sure she had to be joking cause it was just like mega-bitch tone so I asked her and no, was serious, wrong seat dude. Pickett turns to me and says "wow, wrong day lady." I told her that "I having the worst day ever and to please just stop pushing my buttons and leave me the fuck alone, if somebody wants to sit here I'll move." She mocks "ouhhh what are you going to do, go postal on us???" I don't think I've ever went off on somebody I didn't know or said fuck to a random person but this lady was out of this world. I mean wow. I switched seats with Pickett and ignored them the rest of the time and that was that. I climbed over like 3 rows of seats the other time I came back to avoid them and the wild scored a couple goals and I quickly forgot about all that bologna. Some people though, man.
Monday, October 20, 2008
one of those days
I sat down after softball this evening just planning on working a little bit with the baseball game on in the background...well then every bad player and their helpless brother thought it would be a good night for a marathon session...so here I am 7 hours later. I wanted to work out. Nope. I wanted to go to bed and fix my sleep schedule. Nope. I wanted to watch the new entourage cause I hear it's good. Not yet.
But...it's all worth it. It's just one of those days where the fish don't leave or go bust and I'm crushing so my image is good. As a good professional - when those two come together I just don't get to quit no matter how 'sick of sitting at this stupid freaking computer' I am. Days like today make the non-poker days just that much sweeter and make me feel better about a splurge here and there.
I think I'm just extra satisfied because after my 1k/2k shot I lost five or six hundred bets and today brings me out of that hole. Money wise I'm still in it but it's not about that. That will come in due time. I have the bets and a good chunk of my confidence back.
For those of you who are playing the fall classic main event...good luck and hopefully see you at the final table...
Wow, just as I was going to post this (which is now 8 hours instead of 7) one of the big dumbdumbs quit and that's gonna be good enough for me to just call it a night. Yay. Good night.
But...it's all worth it. It's just one of those days where the fish don't leave or go bust and I'm crushing so my image is good. As a good professional - when those two come together I just don't get to quit no matter how 'sick of sitting at this stupid freaking computer' I am. Days like today make the non-poker days just that much sweeter and make me feel better about a splurge here and there.
I think I'm just extra satisfied because after my 1k/2k shot I lost five or six hundred bets and today brings me out of that hole. Money wise I'm still in it but it's not about that. That will come in due time. I have the bets and a good chunk of my confidence back.
For those of you who are playing the fall classic main event...good luck and hopefully see you at the final table...
Wow, just as I was going to post this (which is now 8 hours instead of 7) one of the big dumbdumbs quit and that's gonna be good enough for me to just call it a night. Yay. Good night.
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
oopps, it's been 6 weeks
There are quite a few more than interesting enough things that have happened over the past month and a half but I just haven't felt overly motivated to write them down. A big part of the problem is since Barcelona(where I went for 9 days in sept) I've felt like I would have to write about that before writing about anything else. This was combined with the Twins crazyness at the end of September and I just wasn't sitting around feeling like typing.
Soon enough I'll write-up about barcelona because I think it's pretty interesting considering it was my first time to Europe.
The poker side of things has been pretty interesting. August was my biggest month ever and by mid sept I was having a top notch september too...so I pressed while in barcelona. I found a couple good $1000/2000 spots (where I had 400/800 once and 500/1000 the other time) and went with it with my friends having the other half of the action. The first night got out to a bad start but I recovered vs benyamine HU and only lost a little. The 2nd night I played just benyamine and man do I feel like I have a big edge on him. He folds sooo sooo much. We were going back and forth and he was starting to run hot when this hand happened and it was downhill from here:
Full Tilt Poker Game #8043391767: Table Vina (heads up) - $1000/$2000 - Limit Hold'em - 14:41:57 ET - 2008/09/12
Seat 1: uglystyles ($61,474.50)
Seat 2: David Benyamine ($64,463)
David Benyamine posts the small blind of $500
uglystyles posts the big blind of $1,000
The button is in seat #2
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to uglystyles [8h 8d]
David Benyamine raises to $2,000
uglystyles has 15 seconds left to act
uglystyles raises to $3,000
David Benyamine calls $1,000
*** FLOP *** [9h 8s Ks]
uglystyles bets $1,000
David Benyamine calls $1,000
*** TURN *** [9h 8s Ks] [5s]
uglystyles bets $2,000
David Benyamine raises to $4,000
uglystyles raises to $6,000
David Benyamine calls $2,000
*** RIVER *** [9h 8s Ks 5s] [7s]
uglystyles bets $2,000
David Benyamine calls $2,000
*** SHOW DOWN ***
uglystyles shows [8h 8d] three of a kind, Eights
David Benyamine shows [Jc 9s] a flush, King high
David Benyamine wins the pot ($23,999.50) with a flush, King high
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $24,000 | Rake $0.50
Board: [9h 8s Ks 5s 7s]
Seat 1: uglystyles (big blind) showed [8h 8d] and lost with three of a kind, Eights
Seat 2: David Benyamine (small blind) showed [Jc 9s] and won ($23,999.50) with a flush, King high
I played a little bit longer but he kept me down and after a bi it just felt like he had all of the momentum so I quit and haven't played it since. I played some 500/1000 but ran bad there too as well as at the lower games. I started playing lower to get my confidence back and I ran really bad. I lost like 600 bets average of like 30/60 probably. I've since won over half that back since and I'm going to keep playing tons of $15/30 until I get them back before I get back at it too much. I've just really been game selecting for 100/200 and 200/400 and pretty much just grinding. It's been relaxing to say the least. I ended up losing a little in september which was my first losing month in quite awhile I think. I was definitely due. I'm down a touch here in october but it's not stressin me. I know how the game works and I'm in such a good mental state with it these days that I don't even think about getting to the positive as much of a goal. I just want to play well and find good games.
I started really looking at houses but I only want one on a lake and I'm pretty particular about things so that leads to high prices and not much selection and with everything in the economy and the fact I'm gone so much anyhow has made me rethink it. I'll probably just see how the winter goes and there's a reasonable chance go with it in the spring. A couple buddies want to get a condo in Vail and it's tempting me. They would be using it as their primary residence....but I really want to still live in MN so if I did it i'd probably live at both. I love it here...the seasons, the people(friends/family and just people in general are cool), twins, wild (which pickett, schneider, dave P, and I got season tix to for the first time this year). The home opener was quite the fun time.
In the past few years I haven't been at home for a month straight ever. Travelling is very fun and I'm very lucky and blessed, but this past month it's been nice to get into a little rythm here at home. I've been pretty focused on getting a lot of work done (both poker and business related) and workout a lot as the ski season is rapidly approaching. I'm jonesing really bad and can't wait. I suppose I'll take a quick trip out to cali before winter but by the end of november if I haven't really gone anywhere I wont burn myself out as bad by being gone a lot. For now I'm just going to keep enjoying fall in Minnesota.
Soon enough I'll write-up about barcelona because I think it's pretty interesting considering it was my first time to Europe.
The poker side of things has been pretty interesting. August was my biggest month ever and by mid sept I was having a top notch september too...so I pressed while in barcelona. I found a couple good $1000/2000 spots (where I had 400/800 once and 500/1000 the other time) and went with it with my friends having the other half of the action. The first night got out to a bad start but I recovered vs benyamine HU and only lost a little. The 2nd night I played just benyamine and man do I feel like I have a big edge on him. He folds sooo sooo much. We were going back and forth and he was starting to run hot when this hand happened and it was downhill from here:
Full Tilt Poker Game #8043391767: Table Vina (heads up) - $1000/$2000 - Limit Hold'em - 14:41:57 ET - 2008/09/12
Seat 1: uglystyles ($61,474.50)
Seat 2: David Benyamine ($64,463)
David Benyamine posts the small blind of $500
uglystyles posts the big blind of $1,000
The button is in seat #2
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to uglystyles [8h 8d]
David Benyamine raises to $2,000
uglystyles has 15 seconds left to act
uglystyles raises to $3,000
David Benyamine calls $1,000
*** FLOP *** [9h 8s Ks]
uglystyles bets $1,000
David Benyamine calls $1,000
*** TURN *** [9h 8s Ks] [5s]
uglystyles bets $2,000
David Benyamine raises to $4,000
uglystyles raises to $6,000
David Benyamine calls $2,000
*** RIVER *** [9h 8s Ks 5s] [7s]
uglystyles bets $2,000
David Benyamine calls $2,000
*** SHOW DOWN ***
uglystyles shows [8h 8d] three of a kind, Eights
David Benyamine shows [Jc 9s] a flush, King high
David Benyamine wins the pot ($23,999.50) with a flush, King high
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $24,000 | Rake $0.50
Board: [9h 8s Ks 5s 7s]
Seat 1: uglystyles (big blind) showed [8h 8d] and lost with three of a kind, Eights
Seat 2: David Benyamine (small blind) showed [Jc 9s] and won ($23,999.50) with a flush, King high
I played a little bit longer but he kept me down and after a bi it just felt like he had all of the momentum so I quit and haven't played it since. I played some 500/1000 but ran bad there too as well as at the lower games. I started playing lower to get my confidence back and I ran really bad. I lost like 600 bets average of like 30/60 probably. I've since won over half that back since and I'm going to keep playing tons of $15/30 until I get them back before I get back at it too much. I've just really been game selecting for 100/200 and 200/400 and pretty much just grinding. It's been relaxing to say the least. I ended up losing a little in september which was my first losing month in quite awhile I think. I was definitely due. I'm down a touch here in october but it's not stressin me. I know how the game works and I'm in such a good mental state with it these days that I don't even think about getting to the positive as much of a goal. I just want to play well and find good games.
I started really looking at houses but I only want one on a lake and I'm pretty particular about things so that leads to high prices and not much selection and with everything in the economy and the fact I'm gone so much anyhow has made me rethink it. I'll probably just see how the winter goes and there's a reasonable chance go with it in the spring. A couple buddies want to get a condo in Vail and it's tempting me. They would be using it as their primary residence....but I really want to still live in MN so if I did it i'd probably live at both. I love it here...the seasons, the people(friends/family and just people in general are cool), twins, wild (which pickett, schneider, dave P, and I got season tix to for the first time this year). The home opener was quite the fun time.
In the past few years I haven't been at home for a month straight ever. Travelling is very fun and I'm very lucky and blessed, but this past month it's been nice to get into a little rythm here at home. I've been pretty focused on getting a lot of work done (both poker and business related) and workout a lot as the ski season is rapidly approaching. I'm jonesing really bad and can't wait. I suppose I'll take a quick trip out to cali before winter but by the end of november if I haven't really gone anywhere I wont burn myself out as bad by being gone a lot. For now I'm just going to keep enjoying fall in Minnesota.
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