fine fine, I'll update my blog

Lets see, where to begin...

I spent a week in vegas and it was a fun trip. I went with schneids, david w and dave p. Great guys and we were able to score an adjoining room so that was nice. Kirby and pokerbob were out there trying to collect the dollars as well. I didn't play as much poker as usual, but that was fine with me.

Kelsey graduated from college on sunday so I went up there as did her family to help her move and watch her graduate. Congrats to her! She also got a job with Best Buy. The only downside is she has to work in Duluth for 6 months, but it's what needed to be done. Time flies, it'll be fine...but I'm definitely ready for a non long-distance relationship...been almost 2 years! What's another 6 months i guess.

I keep waiting for the inevitable bad run at poker...and even though i have my share of -10 to -20k daily streaks, it always bounces back strong within a couple days...very aba like. I've been really mixing nl and lhe pretty evenly these days. Maybe that's been helping, as if you feel in a small rut with one, the other is so different you can forget about the other for a little bit. I have to thank schnettler, jay, and pickett for all the NL help. I wouldn't be here doing so well without them. I'm just so pumped to finally be competent at the game. That said, I still have so incredibly much to learn, but at least I understand the flow of the game now.

little inspiration

I haven't had any real inspiration to write lately and still don't now, but click here for a little nugget from vegas:

stars nl

I haven't played stars NL in about a year and I was getting sick of the UB waitlist bug and couldn't find any good games really so I decided to try 8-9 tabling it. For the first couple weeks of getting back into NL a month ago I played 4 tables...and after that somewhere between 3 and 6.

I figured it was filled with a bunch of 8 tabling nits and I was right. It's unbelievable how many 13/5 to 13/12 guys there are on there and there are plenty that are nittier than that. There are also just a lot more 'good' aggressive players who will 3 bet you a lot compared to any of the other sites...but all this said, most tables had at least one guy who played like 35/10...and the super nits don't really give me fits because most of them don't really have any idea how to play poker.

I'm still not quite there comfortability wise vs the regs when there is a re-raise pre. I've been doing real well but I think I've ran a little on the lucky side and they've had the lower ends of their ranges a lot. I'm talking about the JJ's and the QQ's and generally I've just been jamming with AK every time haha.

I definitely feel like I'm outplaying people more than they're outplaying me...but obviously we all get outplayed sometimes and I've made a few really dumb call downs where I made kelsey yell at me for being such a stubborn moron.

I also feel like I've probably flopped about 2x the normal amount of sets...but I really don't know...it just feels like every other hand I have a set...but that could be a product of 720 hands per hour...which is another thing...I've always been a PT/stats whore and being able to play 5k hands in one day leads to some interesting stuff to look through without having to wait weeks/months.

I also liked how I could 8 table on my laptop...whereas other sites I can really only play 4 tables.

I'm sure i'll get sick of the tougher games soon, but for now, this is fun and I've been killing it. Up 16 buyins (~10k) in the last 24 hours after 6500 hands.

Also, going out to vegas on wednesday...haven't been there since the summer and was so burned out from it, but playing all that live NL in san diego really got me back in the mood.

/update ended the 2 days at 21 buyins...and I imported my hands into pokerev and I'm running 6k above expectation on all-in pots...luckbox!!!

pokerbob hand conversations

Pokerbob made a super funny post to his blog and it's definitely worth checking out here.

november coming to a close

Wow have I played a ton of poker this month - somewhere around 45k hands online. To the 8 or 10 tablers out there that's nothing I know, but when I play limit I play 1-3 tables and when I play no-limit I average around 4 with all the table switching and laptop play...so hours wise it was a sick month and the most time I've spent playing poker in a long time. I probably averaged 35-40 hours online per week.

I finally put up a couple good sessions at Canterbury, too. I'm sure I'm still down there this year.. but I made a dent, that's for sure. My live NL session in Cali definitely helped the bottom line as well.

Because I played so much no limit and almost no $100/200 my swings this month were very low. The end of the month has been kinda slow, but nothing crazy. I did start playing some more limit again though because the good Canterbury session put me in the mood/a better mental place. Limit is just so sick.

3 good months in a row. Wish I could throw one of these in the sick 8 month streak i had last year into the middle of this year. Owell, I made it through it and am definitely more aware/seasoned because of it. I just have to stay sharp and not get complacent or before I know it I could be wondering wtf again.

I finally started buying stocks within the last month. Before I would just buy vanguard funds but I really want to understand the markets and be more involved and the way I learn things is hands on so I talked to a few people, read some stuff on fool.com and dove in. I have 5 positions and that should be enough for now. The next money I invest I'll just get another fund, as I don't know enough yet to want to put toooo much into individual stocks but I have enough in there to make me care/pay attention/learn.

I don't want to jinx her, but Kelsey is feeling really good about some job prospects here in the cities. She graduates in 3 weeks and has been really giving the job hunt her all and I think it's really going to pay off.

Thanksgiving was a fun time. We always go down to Worthington, MN (3 hours south west of here) where my dad grew up on a farm. I don't get to see them very often so it was nice. I also got to talk money and all that with my parents on the car ride and I always like soaking up what I can from their experiences.

2.5 more days left in the month...I can win another 5-10k right? Wouldn't that be nice.

an update

I've really been spending quite a bit of time playing no limit these days and I've just been happier as a whole. The limit games were really sick for awhile and I took good advantage of that, but I haven't really seen them lately and NL has been so much more interesting and the money has been good. Also, it seems like everyone I know who plays limit is either currently frustrated by it or has been strongly in the last few months. It's just such a sick game...

I don't know how my earn compairs to limit as my sample size is pretty small (maybe 20k hands this month) but if it's around what I've been making I'll be more than content.

My guess gauging from my NL friends is I'll be quite happy with it...but I have plenty to learn before getting to that stage. I'm a pretty fast learner though and I spent quite a bit of time learning NL at the beginning of the year (perhaps 150k hands) so I'm not a complete n00b.

I've been very dedicated and have been putting in reletively long hours these days and have been splashing in HU PLO and stud 8 or better at low limits just to know more games.

One last bit is I've finally started buying individual stocks in addition to my mutual funds. I've been slowly tryin to better understand investing and going head first into the market has been seeming to assist the learning process. I probably spend a half hour per day reading about different things and soaking it all up. I've probably bought enough stocks (5) for a little bit and if I could get my money off poker sites faster it'd be time again for another good mutual fun investment.

I had nice timing on monday I think it was...as I was talking to schneider at canterbury and we agreed Target might be a decent company to check out for investing so tuesday I started looking at it and it had missed q3 earnings numbers by a hair which sent it down 4.5% to it's 52week low so I snatched it up right away as I think it's a good long term spot. Time will tell.

I'm in Worthington (3.5 hours sw of tc) for a few days seeing my grandparents which I see only once per year. I really wish it was more and perhaps this coming spring or summer I'll come out here again.

I'm dieing to get out skiing and the snow isn't lookin that great so far out west but you never know, it could come quickly. Brad L has a place in vail and if they can pull some snow out of their ass soon I'll probably go out there in a week or 2.

Til then, poker poker poker and crossing my fingers kelsey's interviews keep going well and she gets a couple job offers she really wants.

Leaving SD

It's been a real nice 11 days...even though it was uncharacteristically cloudy and dreary most of the time but there was enough sun the last few days to make it better.

Having 3 good poker players in 1 house is hard for game selection...and jay often beat me to the limit games so I found myself playing some NL again. Ahhh, what a nice change of pace. It doesn't help that I've been running super hot at it, but it's been fun and there's just something really satisfying to stacking a guy. Just another tool in the toolbox...being able to play more games. They play higher than I do for NL so I didn't have to compete for games. Also, it was great timing cause I could always ask them about the tough hands and discuss other hands as well. It's no surprise they've all been killing it this year.

Dave and I were bored one day so we started playing $.5/1 PLO heads up. I played pickett as well as some random guys on the net and played 2400 hands and lost 12 buyins. I importing the hands into pokerev I found out that I was running 12.5 buyins under expectation in all-in pots. LMAO PLO is such a funny game I guess.

Kels comes tomorrow for some job interview stuff and to see me...which I'm really looking forward to.

free days

It doesn't happen all that often...i mean, sometimes I'm confused as to what day of the week it is...that's normal and isn't what I'm talking about. I'm talking about the days where multiple times during the day you react to things as if it were a completely different day...and I'm sure everyone experiences this from time to time.

I went through the entire day today thinking it was saturday. I just got reminded for the 2nd time that in fact, it's friday. Tomorrow is a freebee. What a gift. Life is goood.

biggest NL pot of life

Dave, Jay, and I went up to a small casino here in san diego to play $10/20 blind no limit. There was a player who as pokerbob would say had a "strong disdain for money" who we had played with for awhile. He had about 7k in front and I covered by like a thousand.

He open limped, which meant that he had 2 cards that were suited or remotely connected, another moron limped, folded to me in the small blind so I made it $220 with TT. The open limper calls and the other limper folds.

The flop comes T64 rainbow, I bet $400, he raises to $1400, I make it $3400, he goes all in for ~$7000 I call. Turn 4 river 7. 14k pot my way. Rigggged!

Still broken, leaving anyhow

I really have no idea what's wrong with me. I've been feeling more or less good the last few days but I still have plenty of gunk and a stupid sometimes productive sometimes dry cough that is pretty prominent. I've don't really remember having a cold like this before (weirdness wise). Perhaps I have a sinus infection or bronchitis again. It's definitely not like the death plague of bronchitis we all had last year, at least not yet though which is good.

I was supposed to goto Cali a week ago but haven't felt up to it...but I wanted to go badly so I treated my body really well and didn't even leave the house from Sunday til Thursday. I just laid low - worked and watched 4 seasons of survivor lol. While I still have some symptoms I don't feel particularly crappy now so I'm outta here...flying out at 4pm today. Enough putting it off. It'll be plenty chill anyhow so it's not a big deal.

If this crap doesn't start lessoning maybe I'll see a doctor in cali.

late night music

There something to be said about having a house to yourself and cranking the shit out of a sweet song at 4am.

october coming to a close

I was supposed to go to San Diego to visit the boys on monday, but I've been cooped up with a pretty bad cold. The poker games have been a lot spottier lately and kind of annoying cause they've generally been in the 8-11 time frame when everyone else is around and like nothing in the afternoon when I want to play. It's ok but not completely not optimal.

I had such a great start to the month and since then have had quite the roller coaster and came off a little bit. This doesn't bother me at all as October was the best month I've had in a year or 2, it had potential to be even better. Limit holdem is just so funny.

I've been spending a good chunk of time trying to learn stud8 for fun. I've probably played like 15 hours in the past week of mostly 5/10 and I'm down about as much rake as I've paid. I feel like I've really been running horribly in the few multiway huge pots and a couple guys have really ginned their perfect cards. I definitely see the 'lower' variance part but that isn't to say that there's no variance.

For the first bit of stud8 most of it was short-handed and the last session I tried full table. There is suuuuuuch a huge difference. I think there is much more of a difference than in hold-em. I'm sure I'm still not good at it but I want to get better badly. I always like pushing my brain with new games.

Until a week ago, I hadn't ever watched a season of survivor. I had seen a few episodes from random seasons but never got into it. Having heard Jon-Robert (a fellow poker player from las vegas) was on the current season, I tuned in. I've been watching this season and when I got sick I wanted to get into something so I downloaded season 10 on itunes. Now I'm hooked. It's nothing worth getting SUPER excited about, but I've always been into strategy games and it's quite the social game/experiment too. I liked 10 quite a bit, 11 was very meh and not that enthralling, and now...halfway through 12 I'm really liking it. Definitely great for vegging out to when sick.

late nights

Some of the best games have been going late-night these days and I've had to bite the bullet and stay up a little later than I would generally want to especially when I'm fighting off a cold and trying to get my body on a normalish sleep schedule for kels being here this weekend...but...the games were just too good to not play...

It's been going phenomenal in general. The last 2 days I've came off a bit but that's to be expected with silly LHE. I've been playing a pretty high amount of hands and I think I'll have a few low/no hands days with kels here. Part of me hopes I don't see any good games so I don't have that temptation. Just never know how long this online industry is going to last...so I feel the need to get the dollars while they're being burned.

Also, LOL my rakeback is already over 3k for october. Jeez they take a lot of monies. (3k rakeback means I've paid around 10k in rake (fees) to the poker sites this month...over 500 per day just to play!) And don't get me started on income tax. :(

Anyhow, she'll be here in an hour I better go get ready.

Chicago

When I was in San Diego a month ago the boys and I decided a weekend in chicago would be fun for Vikings/Bears. Billy also went to Northwestern, so he could hang with his buddies, too.

We got there thursday afternoon and left monday morning.

I'm too lazy to give a full trip report but I will talk about the Bears game...it was amazing.

After a night at the bars til 230 we got up at like 9 and went down to the stadium. Well, we went to get beer at the 711 first but no liquor sales til 11am...so we raided the shit out of our mini-bars...which our suite had 2 of lol thank god.

We finally got down there at like 1015 or something and had to walk around a little to find the tailgating which was way low-key and not exciting. Maybe we were in the wrong lot, but it was really low key. It probably didn't help that it was drizzling the entire time...but that shouldn't affect 'bears fans'.

We got to the game and everything was very regular...that changed quickly when we tied it at 7-7. Mb the beers had started to sit in, I don't know...but the peanut throwing and shit talking was in full force. The peanuts were extra funny cause their aim was so bad...the people all around us were taking a beating too...

A peanut hit the girl in front of us who was prehaps 20 and she turned and gave jay a death look and he's like obviously we didn't throw it and it goes from that 3 second interaction to "How bout you just shut the fuck up?" bahahah flip out much?

When hester ran back that 90+ yard punt, the shit really began. The bears fans were really bad at talking shit, so it was often comical...they would also every once in awhile have a good line, but by the end of the next sentence it no longer mattered as they had said something super dumb.

Jay got drilled with an open/smeary mustard packet but it was kinda funny cause he just picked it off and set it on the ground and nobody got mad and it was definitely an in their face kind of a play. Billy is a LAG (loose aggressive) when he's drunk so he's not putting up with all the stuff from bears fans and is yelling back at them. This isn't the standard "smack talk" it's got emotion on both sides...and we're surrounded by bears fans and he's going off and jay and I are like hmmm lets not try to get the shit kicked out of us eh? At this point it's just talk, empty beer cups, pizza boxes, peanuts and that mustard...which we can take but it just felt like it could escalate quickly.

The vikings got up by 14 and it really quieted down. A number of people left and it was kinda like meh just stay to enjoy the victory. Anyone who watched the game knows how long that lasted. They scored 7 quick and failed an onside kick but got the ball back and scored on an 85 yard play to tie the game. Oman that was brutal being there. lol. I look left and just in doing so see a guy launch a cup pow right off my face ahaha. other assorted shit comes flying in...no idea what but it was but it was pelt city. Some douchey looking 45 year old guy made a big dumb face like haha in your face you big bitches (which sounds like ouh no big deal, and it was, but it had so much emotion behind it which was extra comical because he was nowhere to be seen when longwell popped the FG to win the game.

The other funny thing was so many of the people who were such assholes during the game came up afterwords to shake hands and said good game. Billy knew this is how it was all along so that's why he was so lag, but jay and I were like wtf? It's like you wanted to kill us during the game but then after gg's. That was definitely really cool. It didn't hurt that Adrian Peterson had the game he did...they were all in awe. I suppose the just respected the fact we were at our team's away game and they're just normal people and the bears game is the one spot during the week they can drink beer and be crazy and it's ok but when it's all said and done go back to being normal people.

The bears fans at the bars the rest of the day were really pleasant too congratulating us on a good game and AP's dominance.

It was sooooooooo cool to just be at the game and the trip was amazing and draining. We're all beat. Rest and relaxation for a few days...

Speak of the devil

Heh, one of the guys I was talking about yesterday in my blog (one of the morons I was playing who I quit) lived up to my prediction...got BURRRRRIED. Dude lost like 25k at 100/200 and for once in the past year during these types of games I was the big winner. I went into the game stuck 7k on the day and am now finally (8.5 hours later) quitting up 18k. It was one of those games where I'd still be up at 5pm today if the guy was still there. It sucks messing up the sleep schedule but worksacalling.

That was the longest session I've played since graduating 2.5 years ago I think. I put in a few marathoners in college but have since pretty much never played more than 4 or 5 hours at a time.

And after all that, I'm supposed to sleep now? GL to that. WIDE awake. hmmm must undwind.

****update 10:15am**** He came back 10 minutes after my last post so I hopped back on and won another 10k. I doubt he's coming back again but I'm gonna hang out a little bit longer. What a day. 12 hours, 175 bets. I don't think I've ever done anything like it.

good quitting

This is going to be a really half-assed blog cause I'm really tired, which I just realized is an extra good reason that I'm quitting. I was playing 2 tables of heads up cruising along and then all of a sudden the floor kinda fell out. I guess I shouldn't say floor fell out cause it wasn't like 6 hands in a row, but more like solidly downhill for a half hour. I was crushing them and all of a sudden I'd given back like 60 bets. This is nothing really, but given my mental state (tired and not sharp) it's quitting time. I know I'm better than both of them and one of them is a pretty big moron and I know given 'good healthy brain state' I'd crush him, now is not the time to make a gambool with him.

I see it very often from a lot of other 'good' poker players...not quiting because "i'm better than these guys" Nobody cares. Except that little ego inside of you that wants to burn your money and the chances to be greatly successful. Eff it. They 'win' today. They wont quit next time they're in my situation and I'll bury them.

wow october

Poker really is a stupid game. I've been running/playing so well lately and I'm definitely not complaining, this is great...but I wish I could have pulled just a FEW of the sessions I've had lately and send them to myself 6 months ago when I went through poker hell.

Lets hope this all continues tho and you get to read an October FTW post. I have many months to make up for.

I almost didn't want to post this cause almost every time i'm on the up I feel good then I take a nice hit. I suppose it's more the variance of poker than posting stuff like this but it almost feels like karma for overconfidence.

I've been very pleased with how the games have been as of late too. I think we've gotten past the regulation crap and are back in an era where the fish have no problem getting their money online. Also, a lot of the 'better' young players have gone to no-limit or tourneys, so the pool of good limit players is not particularly big. There's still probably more money in NL for most people but meh, for me it's limit for today. You never know in 6 months now, the scene changes so fast.

September FTW

September was the best month I've had in a year or so I think. I dumped a nice ammount in Las Angeles but online I just crushed. It was kind of a weird month because I won a ton in the first like 10 days of it, broke even for 15 days and then crushed the last few. Anyway I'll take it!

I think I'm going to stay away from live poker for a bit as it just seems like so much variance and frustration compared to online. It's definitely more fun when winning, but since I don't play that many hours and I tend to play big, each session has such a huge impact on my monthly/yearly income that it frustrates me when I lose.

The first day of october was great so I have good feelings about october, too!

That said today I felt unfocused (well, i was distracted by stupid epassporte on the phone and eating as well as feeling sort of sick to my stomach) but I just didn't feel with it. I was playing 3 tables or so and if somebody asked me anything about the games I was in, I couldn't tell them hardly anything about any individual players...which is a recipe for losing your money slowly as opposed to winning it. So I quit even though the games looked good on paper. I was going to spend the afternoon finishing up season 4 of entourage but a friend called me to play some golden tee so we're gonna do that.

plo, lhe

Well, I read a little bit of super system on PLO and thought a little bit more about it and I think I was playing a few too many hands given how non-expert I am at the game. Today I knocked off about 10% of them and gave it another crack. I started out up a buyin or two but ended up down 2. Doh. I felt like I was running horrible on all-ins so I plugged all my hands into pokerEV and it confirmed it. Made me feel a little bit better I guess.

On the complete opposite, I killed at lhe today. I also killed it yesterday. Maybe that's a hint I should be playing it instead of PLO.

I was talking to another one of my friends who plays NL today and heard he had quite the incredible month. Man I love it when my friends are winning a ton! It sounds cheesy but I'm not faking/exaggerating I honestly get pumped up when I hear stuff like that.

PLO

The limit holdem games were crappy yesterday and I was kind of bored so I thought I'd check out some PLO. I'd always wanted to learn it so it seemed as good of time as an I started talking with Schneids about it a little and played a couple $.5/1 tables. I only played for an hour or two but was intrigued...

When I woke up today, apparently Schneider tried playing some too and had a list of hands he played last night. He played $3/6 and a little $5/10 and told me to get my ass off the lower tables and at least play $2/4 lol.

I looked at the lhe games and was not impressed so back to PLO I went today. Well, I've been loving it. I spent 8.5 hours today playing and learning. I started off at .5/1 again but schneider convinced me to play 2/4, where I spent most of my time. Oman is this good for me. I have to think (as opposed to using that almost-auto-pilot part of the brain that LHE involves) and see things completely differently. It's not like LHE where you put in some money, turn the cards over and ship a pot. Hand values are so much different and convincing my brain that my queen high flush is not really particularily strong is an excersize. Or that my set on the flop is not worth continuing with. I also kind of like being able to just ram huge draws and hope you can get folds but even when you don't you still have like 53% equity. I love it (except for the fact i run terrible in AI [all in] situations)

A lot of my poker friends know that math is definitely a weaker part of my game and they pick on me for it a little. I've just always been a feel player and pretty much ignored the math. That is all kind of funny considering I have a computer science degree (a lot of math) and am 1 class away from a stats minor, 2 away from a math minor, and 3 away from a major) lol. Still, ask me dumb math and I will probably guess way off. PLO is teaching me more of the math in poker. It's a lot more necessary because of how the allins work with draws and made hands and money gets in the pot a lot and percentages are important.

As I said before, i ran really bad on my all-ins... Most of them are of the 53/44 (with 3% left for ties) variety and really big advantage ones are rare, but twice i got in with 85% equity today in big pots and lost both. Meh...so I was down 1000 for most of the day, but I just got out of the hole. :)

I'm sure I'm going to be playing tons of this coming up, this is a fun/interesting change of pace.

Notice my stats, completely different than lhe. I play like 40/10 which is super fishy for LHE but for omaha it's best to see more cheap flops.

(click for larger)

lhe stupid day

Somehow frustrating...but still a 'great' $200 per hour. What a freaking grind.


(click image to enlarge)

fine I'll update my blog

I've been unmotivated to write in the last week, partially cause I haven't had anything interesting that was poker related happen. I spent 9 days in san diego and came back late last saturday night. Those guys really have a sweet setup out there (both for living and for working). I love visiting and they're great hosts!

Kels and I had taken a little break but are now back together. She came down for a job fair (she graduates this december!) last monday for a few days. I came up to duluth on saturday so we could go hit up gooseberry falls and see the fall colors. They're not quite in as much of a full swing as we thought they'd be, but we went on a hike down to superior and skipped some rocks, too. Reminds me of my childhood with my cousin, we'd do it for hours trying to get some mega-skips.

Even though I wasn't a huge fan in san diego, for some reason jay was able to convince me to get a trackball for when i travel and don't have a desk. I picked one up and have been using it up here and I agree, it sure is easier when you're propped up on a bed just moving your thumb than trying to have a normal mouse work well.

poker...I've been playing mostly 30/60 and 50/100. There really haven't been any appealing 100/200 games lately and a few of the people that will play me heads up, I no longer am interested in playing them as I reviewed a couple of my sessions and I'm not convinced enough that I have an edge or a big enough edge to warrant the huge swings.

I feel like I ahve a few more blurbs but I got distracted so I'll post them later if I think of them.

More SD

Man have we been workaholics out here. Every day we put in quite a few hours...it's just so nice/ez when everyone is playing and very encouraging when others are winning. Things are going well with poker.

We also watched the first season of heroes and quite a bit of season 3 of the office, both of which are dirty.

They are building 2 condos next door and they start every morning at 8am. Their apartment is open air right now cause one of the glass doors broke (but not on the outside, hard to explain)...and they are at the early stages and it's been a lot of heavy machinery and pounding and stuff, so much that it shakes our aparment...the lots here are right on top of eachother...some of the stuff is a mere 10 feet away...so sleeping is near impossible past 8 or so which is starting to wear on me I think a little. We haven't been staying up that late usually...perhaps 2 but still it gets pretty old after day 6.

We (me, jay, dave, billy [the guys i'm staying with minus paul]) are going to Chicago the weekend of the 13th of october to see northwestern/u of mn and vikings bears. That should be quite the time...billy went to northwestern which will make it more fun.

Earthquake

I experienced my first earthquake last night (well, early this morning). The couch was uncomfortable so I was sleeping on the floor when all of a sudden it started shaking at 6am. I was sleeping, so it was confusing and I thought maybe I dreamed it, but dave said he felt it too and I looked online and it said there was a 3.8 one here so yeah, it was pretty interesting.

update from san diego

LA killed me. I lost my ass but it was still fun to hang out with everyone and play some cards.

San diego is just the cure for all of that. Running on the beach is nice and just relaxing is great. I've still managed to play a ton of online poker cause it's just what we do and being surrounded by it is very positive. This house has won quite the grip in the last few days and I'm very happy to be a solid part of it. I'm really loving heads up these days and it's been going well.

We just got back from the bars and it's sleepy time soon...

byebye

hectic

I decided to join those goofballs in going to california. The flight is at 10:15pm tonight so that gave me ample time to take care of a bazillion things. It's been quite the hectic day.

I started off with poker which couldn't have really gone better and that was really nice. I booked the flight and looked at hotels but the websites were being dumb so that was a little frustrating and I planned to just wing it when I got there.

I ended up calling a few minutes ago and asking for a room to which they told me they had none. I asked if playing big and coming to talk to them later they might have a room. She forwarded me to a host and walla! A room was available! It's funny cause it's not like I'm even gambling big against the house...they just know how to take care of their players.

I ran to the bank to wire some money and that always takes a bit, but I'll play better not feeling short for money and also more comfortable not carrying around a bunch of cash...so it's worth it.

Packing is always annoying and I had to crank out a load of laundry.

Loaded up my laptop with my poker hands from recently so I'll have history with people and grabbed some of the office off of itunes.

Sprint wasn't letting me pay the bill for my wireless card online because I didn't have an account set up...but to set up an account they need to send a text message to your sprint number. Brilliant, retards. Last I checked wireless cards CAN'T RECIEVE TEXT MESSAGES. I called them and took care of it, but I hate paying bills on the phone as it always somehow takes 15 minutes.

I tried to fit in a stop at my parents house for dinner and get my mail but I just ran out of time.

Right now the plan is goto LA until thursday evening and catch a ride to san diego with surfdoc to visit jay/dave/billy for a bit.

no title

I've been at the top of my game the last week or so, but it hasn't exactly translated into sweet results (although i'm sure it has resulted in losing less the days i've lost and winning more the days i've won) but it's been nice. It's been sort of a struggle but man do I feel sharp and good and reviewing my play I'm playing well.

This is all sort of vague but I will elaborate on today cause I feel like giving something and it was quite the roller coaster. I sat at a $50/100 table with $2000 and left with over 12k like 2 hours later. Great feeling. I also played some other tables but then and then decided to take a break and go for a run.

I came back and did some other stuff but then saw a couple off dingbats playing heads up 100/200 so I hopped in and dumped them 10k in 45 minutes. I don't really work on stoplosses, but that felt like a good place to just quit and wait for another spot. They can enjoy my money but I think in the long run they are more likely to stay when the feel like I did and dump off 15 or 20k where I just cut my losses and wait for a better day. I love good quits.

I was planning on waiting until like monday to goto san diego to visit jay/billy/dave but now schneider/pbob/kirby/cmo are going to los angeles tomorrow so I'm really tempted to hop on their 10pm flight and play live poker for a few days and goto san diego afterwords. Hmmm.

Go schneider $500/1000!!!!

crushing

I was down a bit in the middle of august. Butttt...the last week or so has been incredible and I've been destroying the bigger games and am very nicely in the green now. :)

I won the right place at the right time lottery by finding a fish who wanted to play $200/400 HU today definitely helped. Then again I've been practicing/playing tons of heads up in the last year or so I feel like that helped a ton vs this guy. Everything just flowed.

I just talked to Jay and he said the 3 of them (jay, dave (nlsoldier) and billy) have been destroying the games as well. Definitely seeing more and more of that (people winning nicely) these days and I'm really pumped up for those guys. Can't wait to visit them in san diego in a week or two.

Last night me, pickett, sam, and baronzues unleashed 10 tables of $.5/1 lhe on absolute trying to hit the outrageously huge 700k bad beat jackpot. The highest it ever got on party over a year was like 450. I think i heard around 250 or 300 it becomes +EV. My guess is it costs about 30 per hour to play because we just limp every bad beat possible hand (like JJ QJ AT 88 AA K9) etc and fold everything else. Also, play passive postflop to not knock anyone out.

BZ had a straight flush on a 88875 board but the guy didn't have the 8. I had one where I had a straight flush where there was two 8's out there but no quads. Rats.

Now it's up to 755k and bizot might come over to unleash on them again tonight as well. One of us better hit it!

4 miles

I think I ran 4 miles once on an indoor track in about 10th grade once, but since then I haven't even came close. My farthest since starting 6 weeks ago was 2.6 miles a few days ago, but today I decided to just keep going...and pretty much the only reason I had to stop was cause I was overheating with how warm/humid it is.

Feels so good to notice some nice progress...

I am going to hit the almost 700k absolute bad beat jackpot. The bigger games sucked this morning so I decided to 8 table $2/4 and $3/6 lhe. The rake is 6% with the bbj drop. Pretty much unbeatable lol.

canterbury

Schneider and I went up to canterbury at like 10pm. The game was incredible and it got down to heads up and even if one of us busted the other, neither of us was going to be even. lol. I ended up busting him and he rebought and got a little bit back but still it was bk for the win hehe.

I mean, it wasn't too hard, the kid didn't even know what makes what half the time, one hand he bet the river and I called and he goes 8 high and flipped over 85 which makes a straight on a 74Q26 board....I said isn't that a straight... oh yeah woops. Grrr i knew he was bluffing so i called with king high thinking he knows how to read the board...nope.

ALso played like 4 hours online today. I've been really happy with how that's been going lately and I feel sharp. And it's been nice that the games are pretty good as well.

I really don't know what I'm doing this week and that sounds pretty good. I got groceries today so that's out of the way. I have to stop at the bank I guess too, and softball on thursday, but other than that I don't have stuff planned and I bet I'll work a lot and probably fit the state fair in at some point. I suppose I'll have no excuse not to work out, so I can't imagine not running my ass off too.

Time to wind down and try to get to bed so I don't have too retarded of a sleep schedule.

heh x2

Well ended up playing an hour and winning all the dollars cause I ran super hot. Everything held up and I made some good hands. Love sessions like that. Seif went on mega tilt and just dumped and dumped. It's funny every time he busts everyone sits out then he rebuys and they sit back in. Must be a pretty crappy feeling but he always comes back for more...

My sister understood that I needed to play just a little bit more so that was nice...now I'm off!

A 2 hand combo that imo makes the second hand a little more interesting.


STAGE #742377418: HOLDEM NORMAL $150/$300 - 2007-08-23 19:58:16 (ET)
Table: BURLINGTON (Real Money) Seat #1 is the dealer
Seat 1 - MARK SEIF ($2507.50 in chips)
Seat 2 - Bicyclekick ($12964.50 in chips)
Seat 3 - CTRL_ALT_DEL ($6017 in chips)
Bicyclekick - Posts small blind $100
CTRL_ALT_DEL - Posts big blind $150
*** POCKET CARDS ***
Dealt to Bicyclekick [7d Ad]
MARK SEIF - Raises $300 to $300
Bicyclekick - Raises $350 to $450
CTRL_ALT_DEL - Calls $300
MARK SEIF - Calls $150
*** FLOP *** [4s 6s 3h]
Bicyclekick - Bets $150
CTRL_ALT_DEL - Raises $300 to $300
MARK SEIF - Raises $450 to $450
Bicyclekick - Folds
CTRL_ALT_DEL - Calls $150
*** TURN *** [4s 6s 3h] [Jc]
CTRL_ALT_DEL - Checks
MARK SEIF - Bets $300
CTRL_ALT_DEL - Raises $600 to $600
MARK SEIF - Calls $300
*** RIVER *** [4s 6s 3h Jc] [7h]
CTRL_ALT_DEL - Bets $300
MARK SEIF - Calls $300
*** SHOW DOWN ***
CTRL_ALT_DEL - Shows [Ks Js] (One pair, jacks)
MARK SEIF - Mucks
CTRL_ALT_DEL Collects $4198 from main pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total Pot($4200) | Rake ($2)
Board [4s 6s 3h Jc 7h]
Seat 1: MARK SEIF (dealer) HI: [Mucked] [8c 8h]
Seat 2: Bicyclekick (small blind) Folded on the FLOP
Seat 3: CTRL_ALT_DEL (big blind) won Total ($4198) HI:($4198) with One pair, jacks [Ks Js - P:Js,B:Jc,P:Ks,B:7h,B:6s]

STAGE #742408850: HOLDEM NORMAL $150/$300 - 2007-08-23 20:31:27 (ET)
Table: BURLINGTON (Real Money) Seat #1 is the dealer
Seat 1 - MARK SEIF ($2356.50 in chips)
Seat 2 - Bicyclekick ($20764.50 in chips)
Seat 3 - CTRL_ALT_DEL ($4632 in chips)
Seat 4 - MAHHERZ ($2390 in chips)
Seat 9 - MAVERI9 ($13546 in chips)
Bicyclekick - Posts small blind $100
CTRL_ALT_DEL - Posts big blind $150
*** POCKET CARDS ***
Dealt to Bicyclekick [As Kh]
MAHHERZ - Folds
MAVERI9 - Raises $300 to $300
MARK SEIF - Folds
Bicyclekick - Raises $350 to $450
CTRL_ALT_DEL - Calls $300
MAVERI9 - Calls $150
*** FLOP *** [Jc Jh Ad]
Bicyclekick - Bets $150
CTRL_ALT_DEL - Calls $150
MAVERI9 - Folds
*** TURN *** [Jc Jh Ad] [4c]
Bicyclekick - Checks
CTRL_ALT_DEL - Bets $300
Bicyclekick - Calls $300
*** RIVER *** [Jc Jh Ad 4c] [3h]
Bicyclekick - Checks planning on calling obv

heh

I was stalling waiting for my sister and cleaning my desk up when baronzeus msged me looking for some AP money and told me to get on there as the jackpot was 450k. I looked and seif was back at it. He busted but has since rebought. I won what I dropped earlier and had a few interesting hands.

Stage #742357950: Holdem Normal $150/$300 - 2007-08-23 19:37:28 (ET)
Table: BURLINGTON (Real Money) Seat #5 is the dealer
Seat 5 - DONKOFHOLDEM ($11387.50 in chips)
Seat 1 - MARK SEIF ($4890.50 in chips)
Seat 2 - Bicyclekick ($4198 in chips)
MARK SEIF - Posts small blind $100
Bicyclekick - Posts big blind $150
*** POCKET CARDS ***
Dealt to Bicyclekick [9c 10s]
DONKOFHOLDEM - Raises $300 to $300
MARK SEIF - Calls $200
Bicyclekick - Calls $150
*** FLOP *** [5s 9d 8s]
MARK SEIF - Checks
Bicyclekick - Checks
DONKOFHOLDEM - Bets $150
MARK SEIF - Raises $300 to $300
Bicyclekick - Raises $450 to $450
DONKOFHOLDEM - Folds
MARK SEIF - Calls $150
*** TURN *** [5s 9d 8s] [Kc]
MARK SEIF - Checks
Bicyclekick - Bets $300
MARK SEIF - Calls $300
*** RIVER *** [5s 9d 8s Kc] [7d]
MARK SEIF - Checks
Bicyclekick - ????

video games

I haven't really played much poker in the last few days...instead I've been playing some other video games. I bought mario strikers (soccer) for Wii so jon and I have been playing that quite a bit. Civilization 4 came out with an expansion pack so I've dedicated some time to that. And how can we forget golden tee. Also, instead of running I've been playing DDR and lifting which is probably good to mix in from time to time.

The only poker I played today was a quick 15 minute hit and run that mark seif put on me at 150/300. He's so dumb.

After bragging to jeff the other day about how I dropped a peanut butter and jelly sandwich onto my lap and it fell face up I've had terrible luck. Jon and I got Chinese last night and I boxed mine up and some of the juices leaked out of the side onto my shirt that I'd been wearing a whole 1 hour. Then I had a glass of wine while we were playing soccer and for some reason there was some on the outside of the glass which dripped onto my shorts. Darnit. I quickly used one of those fabric pens and all is well, but I'm still a putz.

My favorite mark seif hand:

STAGE #742046060: HOLDEM NORMAL $150/$300 - 2007-08-23 12:22:51 (ET)
Table: GRAND AVE (Real Money) Seat #1 is the dealer
Seat 1 - MARK SEIF ($16020.50 in chips)
Seat 2 - CBBBBB ($3836 in chips)
MARK SEIF - Posts small blind $100
CBBBBB - Posts big blind $150
*** POCKET CARDS ***
Dealt to CBBBBB [Kh Jh]
MARK SEIF - Raises $200 to $300
CBBBBB - Raises $300 to $450
MARK SEIF - Calls $150
*** FLOP *** [10h Qc 3c]
CBBBBB - Bets $150
MARK SEIF - Calls $150
*** TURN *** [10h Qc 3c] [Jc]
CBBBBB - Bets $300
MARK SEIF - Calls $300
*** RIVER *** [10h Qc 3c Jc] [9c]
CBBBBB - Checks
MARK SEIF - Bets $300
CBBBBB - Calls $300
*** SHOW DOWN ***
MARK SEIF - Shows [As 7d] (ace high)
CBBBBB - Shows [Kh Jh] (Straight, nine to king)
CBBBBB Collects $2399 from main pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total Pot($2400) | Rake ($1)
Board [10h Qc 3c Jc 9c]
Seat 1: MARK SEIF (dealer) (small blind) HI:lost with ace high [As 7d - P:As,B:Qc,B:Jc,B:10h,B:9c]
Seat 2: CBBBBB (big blind) won Total ($2399) HI:($2399) with Straight, nine to king [Kh Jh - P:Kh,B:Qc,P:Jh,B:10h,B:9c]

Just no brain.

6 for 6

I'm starting to think the poker gods have something to do with the airline industry. I swear I'm like 6 for 6 on huge winning sessions whenever my plane is delayed.

We stalled most of the afternoon as we had a 545 flight and had done pretty much everything and ended up getting here real early at like 315 or something cause we just didn't have anything better to do - only to find out our plane was delayed til 930. That would bring us in around 230am. At first we were disgruntled but after the grrr phase we relaxed and realized it's not that big of a deal. I ended up played poker for like 3 hours and winning a grip (that's a lot, schneider). We then went to grab food and drinks and played some 2 handed wist...my mom cheats I swear...either that or I suck at remembering waht trump is. Lol.

One of the fish railed me for a hand I played.

Full table 30/60
Basically a guy raised and 5 cold callers so we were going to take the flop 6 ways so I called in the bb with 64o

The flop came J32 with 2 clubs and the guy bet and 4 people called...so of course I called.

The turn was a 6 of hearts. The guy bet and 3 people called. I did as well, obviously.

The river was another 6 and the sb bet out, I called, and the pfr over called with his QJ. I hated the spot but obviously I'm never folding in a million years and the better ended up having 75 and the pfr QJ. Nice flop call with the 75 sir. LOL. well played.

The QJ guy went off and I giggled. It may seem fishy but my play is nothing but standard and doing anything else is wrong. :) num num.

50/100 stars. I raised in the co with ak, the bb was the fish who just didn't quite get it called.

HU

Flop QJ9 he check called.

The turn was a 6 and he checked and I bet, knowing somehow that he was going to check-raise. When I say I knew it, I was like 80% sure, which had nothing to do with the flop. I just thought it wouldn't make sense given the flop check-call from him and I was going to call down. It's a pretty ugly spot, but for some reason I was ready to dive right in and get dirty with this guy. So I bet. He check-raised. I called. The river bricked off and I called again and he showed a7 and I took it down. I know that sounds all weird and semi-long winded, but it was just one of those 'spots' where playing tons and tons of hands with goofballs for some reason just lead to the right answers. In a vacuum it looks kinda stupid and sometimes I have these premonitions and they make me look stupid, but I feel that they are good.

Jonny A and I played a hand at canterbury where I called him on the river with queen high after we had put in 3 bets pre, 3 on the flop and 1 on the turn, sure as hell he was bluffing...but it was after too much talk and deliberation to raise...that he actually had K high and took it down. Darnit. I'm terrible.

The minneapolis people just got off the plane so it's time to get on soon byeee.

From seattle

My mom and I have spent a lot of time walking around downtown and down by the water and we were surprised by the number of 'hippies' or grunge like people we saw(if that's not pc, my bad - not sure what is)...it's very prominent...much more than any other place I've traveled to. We just thought it was 'normal' for seattle and didn't think a whole lot of it...My mom was reading the paper this morning and she read that it was the 16th annual hemp fest here this weekend. Ahhh, that would explain.

Also, it would explain the comedy show 2 nights ago where one of the comedians spent almost his entire show talking about weed/getting high. The funny part to me is my mom doesn't relate to that mindset really at all (and told me she didn't condone that kind of behavior) yet she found him hilarious...i think mostly just in how he was genuine and funny about it and not hey look at me I smoke i'm cool.

Another thing is you're guaranteed to see about 16 homeless people per mile you walk. They all seem very harmless...either quiet/panhandling or just completely out of their mind talking to themselves. One guy was walking through the intersection completely jamming out on his air guitar oblivious to the world which was hilarious. There have been a few yelling about Christianity too. One guy had a mega-phone and was so retarded that he didn't realize if he talked too close to the receiver it comes out as a squeak, so most of what he said was just be squeeeeeak sqqueeeeak the lord sqqqueeeeeeak squeeeeak. Brilliant, moron.

We met up with amy fox for lunch today. I hadn't seen her in a year and a half so that was nice to catch up. I tried also meeting up with Ian J and Travis but it just didn't work out.

We saw the Mariners pound on the white sox today. Our seats were 4 rows behind the sox dugout so I was ready to heckle AJ but he didn't play and I didn't have any beers for encouragement and yelling at him when he's not in the game is kinda lame.

I could blab some more but I've talked enough. We fly out at like 5pm tomorrow so we're gonna do some more wandering and check out the space needle.

Seattle

Tomorrow my mom and I are headed to Seattle for a long weekend as she turned 50 and wanted to take a trip with each of her kids and her husband.

I'm not sure exactly what we're doing, but I'm sure it'll be a great time. She put me in charge of getting Mariners tickets so I went on their ticket exchange and was able to snag 8th row behind home plate for sunday afternoon. I'm pretty excited for that.

I've been keeping up on the running and have a softball game tonight. I better go shower quick and then I'm off to golden tees.

king lazy

I've been super lazy lately as far as updating this goes.

So anyhow, I went up to a buddy's cabin for a few days which was super fun except for blowing my brains in in some amazingly good 100/200 games. I took a few days off after that partially cause of it and partially cause I had lots of other stuff to do...my cousin got married and I was an usher so I had to do stuff with that.

Played a little and won a nice amount the day after and played yesterday and lost like 1k but felt super tilty for some reason so I decided I"m going to learn O8 for a few days. I'm just such an omaha n00b and I don't want that to be the case in case I need to be able to play the game sometime. That said, man are other people horrrrrible at omaha...at least at the 5/10 level I've been playing. I want to get to the point where I don't even have to 'think' about what the nut low and nut low draw is at any point...which is what I have to do now which seems pathetic to me. I dunno, the cards come fast and change a lot and I still have to try to sorta hand read. I also am probably too loose but I don't really know hand values that great short handed.

The twins are so terrible, ugh.

post-vacation update (longest blog ever)

Ahhhhh (relaxed ahhh, not yelling ahhh lol) that vacation was nice. I didn't even think about poker one small bit on the trip. I did something physical every day (mostly back-country type hiking) and ate really well and am really starting to notice some gains on my running.

I had gotten way out of shape, so I started running 1.6 miles (because taht's how far it is to a good turn around point and back) about 3 weeks ago and the first time it took me 16 minutes and 40 seconds. Pathetic, but I gotta start somewhere. My best time before leaving was 14:53. Yesterday I did it in 13:35. It's still like 8:30 minute miles which is pretty slow, but it's good progress. Now it's time to start adding a good bit more distance.

On friday, after unpacking and showering I started a session which just didn't feel right. I didn't feel sharp so after a half hour or so I quit and decided to take the rest of the day off.

So after a nothing happened session in the morning Kels and I decided to goto the twins game. Man is that a pain in the ass to get down there without the 35W bridge. What a pain in the ass and I think I took a stupid way although that's the way google maps told me to take...94e which wraps ALL the way around the city and then have to take some stupid back roads in there. I think I'm going to investigate taking like broadway or something off of 94 and coming in that way...would only seem to make the most sense.

The evening session was alllllll over the place. Huge variance.

I don't play much 1/2 on stars but this game looked (and was) really good so I hopped in and almost immediately this hand happened. After this hand the guy rand up like 15k and quit. lol. This hand was actually from the afternoon i guess, but my session was short and I don't really recall much from it.

POKERSTARS GAME #11307221317: HOLD'EM LIMIT ($100/$200) - 2007/08/04 - 14:49:19 (ET)
Table 'Triton' 6-max Seat #1 is the button
Seat 1: MrTile ($5344 in chips)
Seat 2: Donald ($5245 in chips)
Seat 3: SicVinnyness ($1072 in chips)
Seat 4: bicyclekick ($4547 in chips)
Seat 5: nanonoko ($4498 in chips)
Donald: posts small blind $50
SicVinnyness: posts big blind $100
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to bicyclekick [Kh Jc]
bicyclekick: raises $100 to $200
nanonoko: folds
MrTile: folds
Donald: folds
SicVinnyness: raises $100 to $300
bicyclekick: calls $100
*** FLOP *** [7c Jh Ks]
SicVinnyness: bets $100
bicyclekick: calls $100
*** TURN *** [7c Jh Ks] [3c]
SicVinnyness: bets $200
bicyclekick: raises $200 to $400
SicVinnyness: calls $200
*** RIVER *** [7c Jh Ks 3c] [3s]
SicVinnyness: checks
bicyclekick: bets $200
SicVinnyness: raises $72 to $272 and is all-in
bicyclekick: calls $72
*** SHOW DOWN ***
SicVinnyness: shows [5h 3h] (three of a kind, Threes)
bicyclekick: mucks hand
SicVinnyness collected $2192 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $2194 | Rake $2
Board [7c Jh Ks 3c 3s]
Seat 1: MrTile (button) folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 2: Donald (small blind) folded before Flop
Seat 3: SicVinnyness (big blind) showed [5h 3h] and won ($2192) with three of a kind, Threes
Seat 4: bicyclekick mucked [Kh Jc]
Seat 5: nanonoko folded before Flop (didn't bet)

saw an ok 150/300 game on absolute so played that and right away this hand came up:


STAGE #XXXXXXX: HOLDEM NORMAL $150/$300 - 2007-08-05 00:50:58 (ET)
Table: CHESAPEAKE (Real Money) Seat #5 is the dealer
Seat 5 - BICYCLEKICK ($7035 in chips)
Seat 6 - DONKOFHOLDEM ($19251 in chips)
Seat 7 - CALVINHOBBES ($10829 in chips)
Seat 9 - SCHDNFRD ($13370.56 in chips)
Seat 1 - MAVERI9 ($7587 in chips)
Seat 2 - BEARBUCK ($7987 in chips)
DONKOFHOLDEM - Posts small blind $100
CALVINHOBBES - Posts big blind $150
*** POCKET CARDS ***
Dealt to BICYCLEKICK [Ad Kh]
SCHDNFRD - Folds
MAVERI9 - Folds
BEARBUCK - Raises $300 to $300
BICYCLEKICK - Raises $450 to $450
DONKOFHOLDEM - Raises $500 to $600
CALVINHOBBES - Folds
BEARBUCK - Calls $300
BICYCLEKICK - Calls $150
*** FLOP *** [Js Qh 10h]
DONKOFHOLDEM - Bets $150
BEARBUCK - Raises $300 to $300
BICYCLEKICK - Raises $450 to $450
DONKOFHOLDEM - Calls $300
BEARBUCK - Calls $150

At this point I turned to kelsey who was on the bed watching the movie and said "baby this hand is pretty much going to either make my night or make it a struggle from the get go. Wish me some good luck.

*** TURN *** [Js Qh 10h] [7h]
DONKOFHOLDEM - Checks
BEARBUCK - Bets $300
BICYCLEKICK - Raises $600 to $600
DONKOFHOLDEM - Calls $600
BEARBUCK - Raises $600 to $900
BICYCLEKICK - Calls $300
DONKOFHOLDEM - Calls $300
*** RIVER *** [Js Qh 10h 7h] [3d]
DONKOFHOLDEM - Checks
BEARBUCK - Bets $300
BICYCLEKICK - Calls $300
DONKOFHOLDEM - Folds
*** SHOW DOWN ***
BEARBUCK - Shows [Jh 9h] (Flush, queen high)
BICYCLEKICK - Mucks
BEARBUCK Collects $6595 from main pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total Pot($6600) | Rake ($5)
Board [Js Qh 10h 7h 3d]
Seat 1: MAVERI9 Folded on the POCKET CARDS
Seat 2: BEARBUCK won Total ($6595) HI:($6595) with Flush, queen high [Jh 9h - B:Qh,P:Jh,B:10h,P:9h,B:7h]
Seat 5: BICYCLEKICK (dealer) HI: [Mucked] [Ad Kh]
Seat 6: DONKOFHOLDEM (small blind) Folded on the RIVER
Seat 7: CALVINHOBBES (big blind) Folded on the POCKET CARDS
Seat 9: SCHDNFRD Folded on the POCKET CARDS

Rats. Foiled. Bad start.

I got stuck quite a bit and put my stoploss at 10k but never got there and got back to around even at one point and the games were starting to fall apart so I unposted but lost a couple big pots and the end and ended up down a nice bit but not frustrated as I played great.

I opted for the 50/100 stars games this morning and this one guy seemed to be starting to tilt. I looked at his pt and he was down like 6 or something and sitting all alone at another table. I joined and we started playing hu. He wanted a 2nd table and I was already beating up on him so of course I obliged. In the first 15 hands or so I hit 3 gut-shots, all of which I c/r the flop. Now he was stuck maybe 10 on the day and whatever control he had left, had now left the building. Every hand was something like this (except the me having 3 of a kind part, i really didn't have super strong hands that much, just a lot of top pairs)

POKERSTARS GAME #11323037764: HOLD'EM LIMIT ($50/$100) - 2007/08/05 - 13:06:17 (ET)
Table 'Hilda' 10-max Seat #6 is the button
Seat 6: lb6121 ($2524 in chips)
Seat 9: bicyclekick ($2472 in chips)
lb6121: posts small blind $25
bicyclekick: posts big blind $50
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to bicyclekick [7s 6h]
lb6121: raises $50 to $100
bicyclekick: calls $50
*** FLOP *** [Jd 7d 7c]
bicyclekick: checks
lb6121: bets $50
bicyclekick: raises $50 to $100
lb6121: raises $50 to $150
bicyclekick: raises $50 to $200
Betting is capped
lb6121: calls $50
*** TURN *** [Jd 7d 7c] [9h]
bicyclekick: bets $100
lb6121: raises $100 to $200
bicyclekick: calls $100
*** RIVER *** [Jd 7d 7c 9h] [4c]
bicyclekick: checks
lb6121: checks
*** SHOW DOWN ***
bicyclekick: shows [7s 6h] (three of a kind, Sevens)
lb6121: mucks hand
bicyclekick collected $999 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $1000 | Rake $1
Board [Jd 7d 7c 9h 4c]
Seat 6: lb6121 (button) (small blind) mucked [Kd 8h]
Seat 9: bicyclekick (big blind) showed [7s 6h] and won ($999) with three of a kind, Sevens

The river was one of those hand gets ahead of the brain spots. I meant to bet it but my hand beat me to the check button. It didn't matter as he had K high and there's perhaps a 15% chance he calls, but I figured he actually had a better hand than that.

A few more hands:

POKERSTARS GAME #11322965082: HOLD'EM LIMIT ($50/$100) - 2007/08/05 - 13:01:29 (ET)
Table 'Norma' 6-max Seat #3 is the button
Seat 3: lb6121 ($21576 in chips)
Seat 6: bicyclekick ($7038 in chips)
lb6121: posts small blind $25
bicyclekick: posts big blind $50
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to bicyclekick [3s Ah]
lb6121: raises $50 to $100
bicyclekick: calls $50
*** FLOP *** [Ac 5c 7h]
bicyclekick: checks
lb6121: bets $50
bicyclekick: raises $50 to $100
lb6121: raises $50 to $150
bicyclekick: raises $50 to $200
Betting is capped
lb6121: calls $50
*** TURN *** [Ac 5c 7h] [Tc]
bicyclekick: bets $100
lb6121: folds
bicyclekick collected $599 from pot
bicyclekick: doesn't show hand
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $600 | Rake $1
Board [Ac 5c 7h Tc]
Seat 3: lb6121 (button) (small blind) folded on the Turn
Seat 6: bicyclekick (big blind) collected ($599)

POKERSTARS GAME #11323192537: HOLD'EM LIMIT ($50/$100) - 2007/08/05 - 13:16:31 (ET)
Table 'Hilda' 10-max Seat #6 is the button
Seat 6: lb6121 ($1593 in chips)
Seat 9: bicyclekick ($3389 in chips)
lb6121: posts small blind $25
bicyclekick: posts big blind $50
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to bicyclekick [Kc Jc]
lb6121: raises $50 to $100
bicyclekick: raises $50 to $150
lb6121: raises $50 to $200
Betting is capped
bicyclekick: calls $50
*** FLOP *** [Qh Ac As]
bicyclekick: checks
lb6121 said, "shall wer play 100 200"
lb6121: bets $50
bicyclekick: calls $50
*** TURN *** [Qh Ac As] [3c]
bicyclekick: checks
lb6121: checks
*** RIVER *** [Qh Ac As 3c] [Qs]
bicyclekick: checks
lb6121: bets $100
bicyclekick: calls $100
*** SHOW DOWN ***
lb6121: shows [6d Js] (two pair, Aces and Queens)
bicyclekick: shows [Kc Jc] (two pair, Aces and Queens - King kicker)
bicyclekick collected $699 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $700 | Rake $1
Board [Qh Ac As 3c Qs]
Seat 6: lb6121 (button) (small blind) showed [6d Js] and lost with two pair, Aces and Queens
Seat 9: bicyclekick (big blind) showed [Kc Jc] and won ($699) with two pair, Aces and Queens

And one from our 3 handed at the beginning:

PokerStars Game #11322614090: Hold'em Limit ($50/$100) - 2007/08/05 - 12:36:01 (ET)
Table 'Norma' 6-max Seat #4 is the button
Seat 3: lb6121 ($971 in chips)
Seat 4: yahii ($1925 in chips)
Seat 6: bicyclekick ($3096 in chips)
bicyclekick: posts small blind $25
lb6121: posts big blind $50
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to bicyclekick [Qc 9h]
yahii: folds
bicyclekick: raises $50 to $100
lb6121: raises $50 to $150
bicyclekick: calls $50
*** FLOP *** [8d 8s 3s]
bicyclekick: checks
lb6121: bets $50
bicyclekick: calls $50
*** TURN *** [8d 8s 3s] [Th]
bicyclekick: checks
lb6121: bets $100
bicyclekick: raises $100 to $200
lb6121: raises $100 to $300
bicyclekick: calls $100
*** RIVER *** [8d 8s 3s Th] [8h]
bicyclekick: checks
lb6121: checks
*** SHOW DOWN ***
bicyclekick: shows [Qc 9h] (three of a kind, Eights)
lb6121: mucks hand
bicyclekick collected $999 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $1000 | Rake $1
Board [8d 8s 3s Th 8h]
Seat 3: lb6121 (big blind) mucked [9s 5s]
Seat 4: yahii (button) folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 6: bicyclekick (small blind) showed [Qc 9h] and won ($999) with three of a kind, Eights

At then end he types this in the chat:

lb6121: listen
lb6121: if u keeep bettin that quick im gonna leave
bicyclekick: ?
lb6121: dont bet so quick
lb6121: it is the most tilting thing ever esp when i am down 20k
lb6121: ok
bicyclekick: deal
Dealer: lb6121 has two pair, Fours and Threes
Dealer: Game #11323327218: lb6121 wins pot ($399) with two pair, Fours and Threes
Dealer: Game #11323342723: bicyclekick wins pot ($399)
Dealer: Game #11323346238: bicyclekick wins pot ($100)
Dealer: Game #11323347882: bicyclekick wins pot ($50)

and then he quits


Kels and I are going up to canterbury today cause she's been wanting to check out the races all summer and summer is winding down so now is the time. Schneider is meeting us up there and poker bob probably too eventually.

Vacation

Going up north tomorrow for a week with my fam/kels/extended fam.

7 poker-free days coming right up! No computers, tv's, phones, or anything else like that, either. No gambling as well! Niceeeee!

Good bye work, hello relaxation/fun.

The funny part is poker has been going great - but a good forced break is always nice. :)

See ya in a week.

killing it

I don't have much time as I have to get ready to go golfing with bob, kirby, and dmark but it's been awhile so I thought I'd stop in.

The last few days have been incredible. I've been torturing people and winning the dollars and it's been really fun albeit exhausting with how many hours I've put in. I've been playing a chunk bigger too...perhaps avg 50/100. I played some 1/2 on stars yesterday on my own for the first time in awhile. There was 1.5 morons and I viewed that as enough. The main one busted and I left too.

I'm in the zone and while a vacation is going to be great for me, it's unfortunate I wont get much more play in this week and saturday I go up north away from everything til at least wed if not a full week.

Too bad it's not always like this :P

I'll leave with an LOL hand. (not standard btw, but this was the right spot vs this goofball)

HU 50/100

I raise 7d5c on the button, bb calls.

Flop J52 all hearts

He checks, I bet, he check raises, I 3 bet, he caps.

Turn 8s

he bets, I raise, he calls.

River 6

he checks, and I check.

He shows Ah9s and I sheep. :)

bk the spew monkey is back.

no title

I met up with Jay, Dave, Billy, Schlattery, Cahoy, balogna, and a few others up at Jay's dad's place on wednesday night up near saint cloud. The night started with some intense beer pong and was ended bye a rowdy camp fire with cahoy jamming on his guitar while we pretended to be able to sing to the songs.

Jay, Billy, Dave and I went to daves parents cabin the next day. It's incredibly dirty...pretty much a sweet house on a lake. A few relatives came out to celebrate dave's graduation from college as well as his grandpas birthday. Parties lead to great food. mmmmm foood. I'm getting a little soft but have been running lately so that should change by ski season.

The lake was really low from the lack of rain, which also made it really warm for swimming which was nice. We didn't make it wake boarding though.

After playing a little online in the evening, a home game broke out. I've been dying to play a home game for quite some time, so this was perfect. The 4 of us played dealers choice of games that are actually played at casinos. We played 2/4 limit badugi, stud 8, and 1/1 blind nl and plo. I think I lost like 80 bucks! Rats.

The following day instead of being human and enjoying the lake, we started playing a session in the morning and I started playing hu 30/60 with a guy at noon. We were going to go out in an hour or two. The guy was a HUGE moron and I was running it up on him and he rebought a few times and got lucky and ran it back against me to get to even after a few hours. I decided I was in it for the long haul as he was in for 6k and was destined to lose it all. I love being at the lake, but I just couldn't put aside 6k.

After about 5.5 hours something changed. I was up perhaps 3k on him and he hadn't said a word the whole time. Not one. He started commenting during hands and playing way better. I don't know if he called a friend over or what, but he started playing much better which wasn't good enough, but he wasn't the moron I had played all afternoon. He got some back and I quit up 1k after 6.5 hours :( We payed like 700 in rake and played like 1100 hands. It just asn't worth it anymore as he wasn't playing awefully and 6.5 hours straight is sick. Weagans and billy substituted a few short times so I could take a leak but other than that it was straight. Yuck. But sometimes you gotta work hard and make sacrifices. I made a lot more than 1k in sklansky bucks as he ran incredibly hot. I think my final SD stats were 34/43 which is terribly bad. That's sick for still beating a guy. my lifetime sd stats are like 43/49 so it was way different. He won a few big nasty pots too.

At night we went to transformers...which I didn't have much interest in seeing but it was really good. obviously very far fetched and ridiculous but there are actually a bunch of funny parts and the computer animation was incredible.

After the movie we came back to Dave's parents house and grinded some more and hung out with his brothers/cousin. I worked so hard for the 1k in the afternoon, but pulled out 7 in an easy hour or 2 here. Funny how that works sometimes.

Action

Schneider has been playing patrikskjold 2 tables HUHU of 200/400 for a few hours while pickett (gassit) has been playing 2 tables of 150/300 huhu with fatal_fog. GL boys!

I'm sooooooooooo tired right now. Kels and I went to a wedding last night for her god father. Obviously stayed up til like 330 and the couple decided 830am present opening time/breakfast was somehow a brilliant idea so we had to get up. :(

I'm crashing immediately when we get home.

done

Man it's nice to be home. No more vegas for quite awhile (unless of course CMO makes the final table of the ME then i'll go back tues.) I'm incredibly vegas'd out.

I have a nice few weeks coming up then going up north with the fam to a camp we goto every year with my extended family. It's going to be heavenly - No tv's, no cell phones, no computers, no poker, no stress. Just relaxation. Sounds good to me.

Now, sleep.

touchdown

I've heard the song "touchdown" by T.I. feat eminem twice now and it's super dirty and I about gaurentee it'll be one of those songs you hear a million times.

I would also like to submit the following hand to pokerbob's money hater of the week which he keeps on his sweet blog.

PokerStars Game #10889541910: Hold'em Limit ($100/$200) - 2007/07/11 - 18:45:08 (ET)
Table 'Katharina IV' 6-max Seat #6 is the button
Seat 1: bicyclekick ($5625 in chips)
Seat 2: LOINGPOKERWR ($4730 in chips)
Seat 3: chaldo225 ($6918.50 in chips)
Seat 5: BrynKenney ($20989 in chips)
Seat 6: twin-caracas ($18768.50 in chips)
bicyclekick: posts small blind $50
LOINGPOKERWR: posts big blind $100
vinnybstgk: sits out
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to bicyclekick [7s 7c]
chaldo225: folds
BrynKenney: folds
twin-caracas: raises $100 to $200
bicyclekick: raises $100 to $300
LOINGPOKERWR: calls $200
twin-caracas: raises $100 to $400
Betting is capped
bicyclekick: calls $100
LOINGPOKERWR: calls $100
*** FLOP *** [Kc 9h Th]
bicyclekick: checks
LOINGPOKERWR: checks
twin-caracas: checks
*** TURN *** [Kc 9h Th] [7h]
bicyclekick: bets $200
LOINGPOKERWR: raises $200 to $400
twin-caracas: folds
bicyclekick: raises $200 to $600
LOINGPOKERWR: calls $200
*** RIVER *** [Kc 9h Th 7h] [Qs]
bicyclekick: bets $200
LOINGPOKERWR: raises $200 to $400
bicyclekick: calls $200
*** SHOW DOWN ***
LOINGPOKERWR: shows [Qh Ts] (two pair, Queens and Tens)
bicyclekick: shows [7s 7c] (three of a kind, Sevens)
bicyclekick collected $3198 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $3200 | Rake $2
Board [Kc 9h Th 7h Qs]
Seat 1: bicyclekick (small blind) showed [7s 7c] and won ($3198) with three of a kind, Sevens
Seat 2: LOINGPOKERWR (big blind) showed [Qh Ts] and lost with two pair, Queens and Tens
Seat 3: chaldo225 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 5: BrynKenney folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 6: twin-caracas (button) folded on the Turn

for I am busto

rats.

short stackign

I start day 2 in about 45 minutes with 8400 chips. The blinds are 500/1000 with 100 ante and the avg stack is like 50k. GL double up.

here we gooooooooooo

I'm really lazy but haven't updated in a few days so I thought I'd come on here real quickly. I've been staying with Jay and Billy at the Rio and it's about 50 times better than staying at the bellagio. We have a suite (they are all suites) so we have tons of space and the room service menu is actually good food and not a million dollars. It's not as convenient for cash games but I've only played like 4 hours of cash games since getting here anyhow. We've played quite a bit online though.

All of us start the main event today. I have 75% of myself in it after selling 10% to schneider and poker bob and trading off a few %'s to billy, jay, and kirby. GOGOOGGOOGO

James282 and CMO both have around 80k after day one so that's good for them, even though both of them felt like they should have a grip more.

Wish me luck!

Sometimes it's nice being a retard

Usually I double check everything before going on a trip but for some reason this time I got careless and didn't double check and apparently I didn't complete the ticket buying transaction on NWA.com so when I got to the ticket counter they couldn't find my ticket. Doh. The assholes wanted 1200 to get on the flight so I quickly called my dad who came to the rescue with an orbitz search. I could get on a flight 3 hours later for just under 300 on US airways. Sweet. That'll work. I have my laptop and I'll would just play poker or whatever. I wanted to catch up with jay on the flight but we'll have plenty of time for that I guess. I'll also miss pool time today. rats.

Good thing I missed my flight as I won 6tk at mostly 40/80 and 30/60 HUHU. All my focus and study has really been paying off at heads up. I've found my weakness and I've been quitting people who play that way lately as I feel like I just flail a little bit. I'm gonna have to do some more reflection/discussing with other smart poker players about the best way to adapt as I haven't figured it out yet. Lucky for me almost nobody plays this way, but I want to have a full toolbox.

Getting guys on tilt is great. The 30/60 and 40/80 players were complete opposites but were both on big tilt. The 30/60 guy tried to win every single pot and put in a billion bets in hopeless/stupid spots. The 40/80 guy folded wayyyyyy too much and just let me run him over. Those type of guys tend to also pick a few retarded spots to bluff just for good money burning pleasure.

A few hands from the end of the 30/60 session:

FullTiltPoker Game #2867720066: Table Tee (heads up) - $30/$60 - Limit Hold'em - 13:56:01 ET - 2007/07/06
Seat 1: uglystyles ($2,228)
Seat 2: ballah21 ($1,659)
uglystyles posts the small blind of $15
ballah21 posts the big blind of $30
The button is in seat #1
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to uglystyles [6c 6h]
uglystyles raises to $60
ballah21 calls $30
*** FLOP *** [3h Ts 2h]
ballah21 bets $30
uglystyles raises to $60
ballah21 raises to $90
uglystyles calls $30
*** TURN *** [3h Ts 2h] [7s]
ballah21 bets $60
uglystyles calls $60
*** RIVER *** [3h Ts 2h 7s] [5d]
ballah21 bets $60
uglystyles calls $60
*** SHOW DOWN ***
ballah21 shows [Qc 8s] Queen Ten high
uglystyles shows [6c 6h] a pair of Sixes
uglystyles wins the pot ($539.50) with a pair of Sixes
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $540 | Rake $0.50
Board: [3h Ts 2h 7s 5d]
Seat 1: uglystyles (small blind) showed [6c 6h] and won ($539.50) with a pair of Sixes
Seat 2: ballah21 (big blind) showed [Qc 8s] and lost with Queen Ten high

FullTiltPoker Game #2867759395: Table Tee (heads up) - $30/$60 - Limit Hold'em - 14:02:23 ET - 2007/07/06
Seat 1: uglystyles ($2,854.50)
Seat 2: ballah21 ($1,025.50)
uglystyles posts the small blind of $15
ballah21 posts the big blind of $30
The button is in seat #1
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to uglystyles [Kc Qh]
uglystyles raises to $60
ballah21 calls $30
*** FLOP *** [7h 6s Qd]
ballah21 checks
uglystyles bets $30
ballah21 calls $30
*** TURN *** [7h 6s Qd] [5c]
ballah21 checks
uglystyles bets $60
ballah21 raises to $120
uglystyles raises to $180
ballah21 calls $60
*** RIVER *** [7h 6s Qd 5c] [9d]
ballah21 bets $60
uglystyles calls $60
*** SHOW DOWN ***
ballah21 shows [2s 2h] a pair of Twos
uglystyles shows [Kc Qh] a pair of Queens
uglystyles wins the pot ($659.50) with a pair of Queens
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $660 | Rake $0.50
Board: [7h 6s Qd 5c 9d]
Seat 1: uglystyles (small blind) showed [Kc Qh] and won ($659.50) with a pair of Queens
Seat 2: ballah21 (big blind) showed [2s 2h] and lost with a pair of Twos

FullTiltPoker Game #2867766008: Table Tee (heads up) - $30/$60 - Limit Hold'em - 14:03:25 ET - 2007/07/06
Seat 1: uglystyles ($3,273.50)
Seat 2: ballah21 ($605.50)
uglystyles posts the small blind of $15
ballah21 posts the big blind of $30
The button is in seat #1
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to uglystyles [8h Qc]
uglystyles raises to $60
ballah21 calls $30
*** FLOP *** [Qh 4c Jc]
ballah21 bets $30
uglystyles calls $30
*** TURN *** [Qh 4c Jc] [7d]
ballah21 bets $60
uglystyles raises to $120
ballah21 raises to $180
uglystyles raises to $240
ballah21 calls $60
*** RIVER *** [Qh 4c Jc 7d] [4h]
ballah21 bets $60
uglystyles calls $60
*** SHOW DOWN ***
ballah21 shows [9c Js] two pair, Jacks and Fours
uglystyles shows [8h Qc] two pair, Queens and Fours
uglystyles wins the pot ($779.50) with two pair, Queens and Fours
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $780 | Rake $0.50
Board: [Qh 4c Jc 7d 4h]
Seat 1: uglystyles (small blind) showed [8h Qc] and won ($779.50) with two pair, Queens and Fours
Seat 2: ballah21 (big blind) showed [9c Js] and lost with two pair, Jacks and Fours

back to vegas part 3

Even though I don't have a ton of interest in going to vegas again at the moment, I'm headed back tomorrow morning. I'm going to play the main event and it'll be nice to hang out with the guys as good times always ensue.

As far as online has been going, I've played a few marathon sessions and other than that haven't played much as I kinda wanted/was given a little break by getting a wii and going to kelsey's cabin for the 4th of july. Still on fire though and I've been dabbling in NL a little bit again with some nice success.

I'm freaking lazy/have plenty to do so I'll just leave it at that.

weird

Well, an hour or two after making my last blog post I started feeling pretty normal. I've heard of a 24 hour but, but never an 10 hour bug. I'm pretty excited about that.

Schnettler ended up getting 8th, which paid 55k! Pretty damn excited for him.

I slept from like 12-4am again last night. Seriously I haven't slept more than 4-5 hours per night since vegas which is pretty annoying in a way, but tonight worked out for my advantage as the poker games have been sick good and I'm running sick hot and up like 9k (180 bets). Kinda makes me feel like I'm back in the olden days.

101.2

I went to bed last night at about 12 as I've been trying super hard to 'right' my sleep schedule. I had a few beers at the bar a few hours earlier so when I woke up at 330 I just kinda figured it was a side effect of that. Nope. Started getting the chills a little bit and was burnin up...so I decided to see what was going on. 101.2 temp. Yuck. Popped some tylenol and attempted to sleep again, to no avail. Watched some tv, which goes SUPER slow when you feel like shit. It seriously felt like I was watching tv for 4 hours after an hour. Finally fell asleep around 8 in the morning and slept til 11.

Previous to this, I was shocked I hadn't gotten sick because almost everyone does who spends 3 weeks in vegas around those nasty chips and people.

I had been planning on adding HBO and now that I got sick it just expedited the process.

I just hope I get feeling better to goto Kelsey's cabin. Supposed to go back to vegas this coming weekend too. I still probably will, but we'll see.

Dave Schnettler (nlsoldier from 2+2) final tabled the 2k NL event #47! There is no payout sheet but I looked at a previous tourney with similar stuff and it paid 40k for 9th, the worst he can do. He's the short stack so he's gonna have to get a little lucky but I hope he can take down some big monies! He definitely has waited long enough.

GOGOOGOGOG

leaving yay!

I've been on a little bit of a downer live lately and that's been kinda annoying. Spending so much time in vegas has really warn us out, so we're leaving tonight. Same food, living out of a hotel room, gambool gambool all day, missing gf's...time to go home.

cannot think of a title

So, while the tournament I was crying about yesterday was the biggest crapshoot I've ever seen, it actually wasn't miserable at all and I honestly had a decent time playing it. I think I lasted only 4 hours or something, but everything mattered from the beginning so there wasn't that super mundane first 3 hours where nothing matters.

After busting out I decided to check out the rio 100/200 game, which was 5 handed at the time. Perfect. While not a particularily great game, it surely beat the 1/2 games at the bellagio on average. I won my buyin back and quit around 5am. Ian and schneider had came over to play 2/4 with a fish that I had set up but the floor were assholes and wouldn't start it for us. We agreed to play today at the venetian and exchanged #'s but his is and Israeli # so none of us can call him. I called sprint to have international calling added to my plan but it's still not working. Darnit. I gotta get a phone card I guess.

We came back and Ian and I played online. Chopped 100/200 action and I played some 50/100 HUHU vs some n00bs. Won a little and decided to ring em up and goto bed around 7 or something.

misery

Prepping myself to be miserable for the next x hours...playing another stupid tournament - the $1500 lhe/nl mix. I have next to no interest in playing but I guess it's a cheap/easy shot at a bracelet and a nice little pay day. If only I wouldn't have left my ipod on the airplane it would be far less painful.

kill me now.

destruction

I've been playing tons and tons of HUHU online and it just doesn't seem fair for my opponents. A big part of the success I've been having is knowing who to play when. A lot of the guys can play fine but they get on tilt and don't quit, whereas when I get in the same spot I quit much faster. Basically what I'm saying is along with the fact that I play slightly better than most of the people I play, I play more hands when I have a psychological advantage than they do. There are also a lot of guys who will sit with 600 who have almost no chance and will lose that and quit. That definitely helps too.

I only played like 2 hours yesterday live, where I won something like 26 bucks. I was in HUHU online mode which doesn't really work overly well at a live 100/200 game. Tariq and I took a break and went to dinner, but even when I got done with that I didn't feel like playing anymore. So instead I played a little online and started watching entourage. I thought the show started a little slow and while amusing, wasn't particularly great, but now that I'm a few more episodes in I'm really digging it. It's not deep or anything, but the antics are quite hilarious.

Gambool.

mmm tilting

After reloading for $600 8 times a guy finally threw in the towel. lol.

betabear: $##% it GG
Dealer: uglystyles wins the pot ($30)
Dealer: Hand #2743926767
uglystyles: ?
Dealer: betabear has 5 seconds left to act
Dealer: betabear has timed out
Dealer: Hand #2743926767 has been canceled
betabear: remmind me never to play u ever again
uglystyles: lol
uglystyles: do i know you?
betabear: no
uglystyles: ok
betabear: cant believe u got me on tilt, im so $&!!in stupid
uglystyles: ez to happen at HU
betabear: bye

money hating

I'd link to poker bob's blog but he hasn't started writing in it yet. This is definitely a case of money hating.

FullTiltPoker Game #2743024203: Table Kansas (heads up) - $30/$60 - Limit Hold'em - 23:35:59 ET - 2007/06/22
Seat 1: uglystyles ($553)
Seat 2: jelie767 ($642.50)
jelie767 posts the small blind of $15
uglystyles posts the big blind of $30
The button is in seat #2
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to uglystyles [Ad Ac]
jelie767 calls $15
uglystyles raises to $60
jelie767 calls $30
*** FLOP *** [2d 6s 7c]
uglystyles bets $30
jelie767 raises to $60
uglystyles calls $30
*** TURN *** [2d 6s 7c] [Kh]
uglystyles checks
jelie767 bets $60
uglystyles raises to $120
jelie767 raises to $180
uglystyles raises to $240
jelie767 calls $60
*** RIVER *** [2d 6s 7c Kh] [Ah]
uglystyles bets $60
jelie767 raises to $120
uglystyles raises to $180
jelie767 calls $60
*** SHOW DOWN ***
uglystyles shows [Ad Ac] three of a kind, Aces
jelie767 mucks
uglystyles wins the pot ($1,079.50) with three of a kind, Aces
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $1,080 | Rake $0.50
Board: [2d 6s 7c Kh Ah]
Seat 1: uglystyles (big blind) showed [Ad Ac] and won ($1,079.50) with three of a kind, Aces
Seat 2: jelie767 (small blind) mucked [5d Qc] - Ace King high


About 15 hands later

FullTiltPoker Game #2743079973: Table Kansas (heads up) - $30/$60 - Limit Hold'em - 23:41:37 ET - 2007/06/22
Seat 1: uglystyles ($1,238.50)
Seat 2: jelie767 ($1,454.50)
uglystyles posts the small blind of $15
jelie767 posts the big blind of $30
The button is in seat #1
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to uglystyles [Ks Kh]
uglystyles raises to $60
jelie767 calls $30
*** FLOP *** [Jc 3h 4s]
jelie767 bets $30
uglystyles raises to $60
jelie767 raises to $90
uglystyles raises to $120
jelie767 calls $30
*** TURN *** [Jc 3h 4s] [5h]
jelie767 bets $60
uglystyles raises to $120
jelie767 raises to $180
uglystyles calls $60
*** RIVER *** [Jc 3h 4s 5h] [6d]
jelie767 bets $60
uglystyles calls $60
*** SHOW DOWN ***
jelie767 shows [9h Js] a pair of Jacks
uglystyles shows [Ks Kh] a pair of Kings
uglystyles wins the pot ($839.50) with a pair of Kings
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $840 | Rake $0.50
Board: [Jc 3h 4s 5h 6d]
Seat 1: uglystyles (small blind) showed [Ks Kh] and won ($839.50) with a pair of Kings
Seat 2: jelie767 (big blind) showed [9h Js] and lost with a pair of Jacks


He dusted off like 1700 and with left with like 2k on the table. :( Still a nice donation though I guess.

update from vegas

Just waiting at a 30/60 HU table so I figured I'd make a little update.

I haven't played a ton of cash games since coming back, but I'm down a little bit at them. Online I've been crushing, so that's been nice. I was playing $200/400 yesterday and Ian J complimented me and said the "old bk" is fully back. Basically the "confident/relentless" bk is back, which is a big deal to me.

I played Crazy mike HUHU $100/200 at the Venetian last night too. He beat me for like $8500, but if we could have played another hour or 2 it's highly likely I would have came back, as I had him on "monkey tilt". He said he was able to get in everyone else's head yet he couldn't get in mine and instead I was in his head. Still, he got the dollars, so it's not super great.

After the match I went back to the bellagio at about 6am and saw a short-handed $300/600 game schneider was playing in so decided to hop in cause I was feeling really good and I liked the spot.

Played a bunch of big pots but quit 45 minutes later when the game got significantly worse up 500!!!! 1 big bet per hour at 3/6!!!

ftw

I ended up actually winning yesterday after a nice evening session. I focused on mostly heads up and it went well. I absolutely destroyed a guy for about an hour and then I don't know if a light bulb went off in his head, or he started really tilting or what, but he stopped doing the stupid things and started playing a lot tougher and I felt almost like he had an advantage. Pretty sure it was a form of tilt as he was down so much. When most players tilt HU they are terrible. That's pretty much the main reason to play a lot of reasonablish players...try to tilt them and if they do it turns into a landslide...but I've found there are a certain few bad players who's tilt game is much better because they 3 bet a lot more out of the big blind, they don't fold as much, they throw in a couple f-you raises and generally make your day tough.

Off to Vegas now.

Stressful stressful

Well I got out of the shower and for some reason just felt like playing...so I sat down and played. A moron sat 30/60 HUHU with me and proceeded to run up 2500 or so off me really quickly. Usually I'd quit but dean msged me about how horrible this guy was, and I agreed so I stuck to it.

An hour and a half, lots of frustration, and 372 hands later I had all the money, which was only a profit of 518 dollars after the rake. I was also getting pwned on other tables, so at one point was down $5500 on the day, which I haven't been online in a long time. Now I'm at -2300 which is completely tolerable and acceptable.

Back to vegas

Booked my flight this afternoon for tomorrow. The plan now is to stay til monday but you just never know. Could be longer, not likely shorter.

Took the rest of the day off yesterday as planned. Played a couple short sessions today but wasn't overly feeling it either so unless I play real late tonight, I probably wont play any more online til vegas.

We have softball tonight, which I missed 2 weeks of cause I was in vegas. That was dissapointing as I've really been having tons of fun with it.

bad start

I suppose there is one good thing about starting a session out bad...you get to take the afternoon off! :)

Given the breakeven for 6 or 7k hands I think I'm just going to focus more on 15/30 for a little bit more to help disallow myself from getting back into a rut. Probably weak-tight but the 15 games are super good and should have me back on path for making a gillion very shortly. I'm also not going to push it...I'll just take more afternoons off and all will fall into place in due time.

stars heads up tables

If stars had heads up tables it would profit me nicely. So if you're bored and would like to help me - email support@pokerstars.com and tell them you want to see heads up tables.

Thanks!

some time in mn

Since coming back poker has been completely breakeven. Maybe 6k hands as I've played a good amount (given how i only play 2-4 tables...usually 3 or so. It's definitely ok to come back down to earth.

I feel like 3 betting the flop and checking the turn is way back in style. Maybe people just do it to me cause they are sick of me check/raising so many flops, but man have I seen a ton of it and a lot of stupid ones, too.

This is a very standard hand it seems. In this case he didn't get there, but it feels like they are getting there far more often than they should.

POKERSTARS GAME #10467215866: HOLD'EM LIMIT ($30/$60) - 2007/06/16 - 16:25:42 (ET)
Table 'Natalie V' 10-max Seat #7 is the button
Seat 2: bicyclekick ($1396 in chips)
Seat 6: Pongo69 ($1271 in chips)
Seat 7: poker_millie ($302.50 in chips)
Seat 8: bulld7 ($2424 in chips)
bulld7: posts small blind $15
bicyclekick: posts big blind $30
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to bicyclekick [3s 3h]
Pongo69: folds
poker_millie: raises $30 to $60
bulld7: folds
bicyclekick: calls $30
*** FLOP *** [2h 5h Ts]
bicyclekick: checks
poker_millie: bets $30
bicyclekick: raises $30 to $60
poker_millie: raises $30 to $90
bicyclekick: calls $30
*** TURN *** [2h 5h Ts] [8s]
bicyclekick: checks
poker_millie: checks
*** RIVER *** [2h 5h Ts 8s] [4s]
bicyclekick: bets $60
poker_millie: calls $60
*** SHOW DOWN ***
bicyclekick: shows [3s 3h] (a pair of Threes)
poker_millie: mucks hand
bicyclekick collected $433 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $435 | Rake $2
Board [2h 5h Ts 8s 4s]
Seat 2: bicyclekick (big blind) showed [3s 3h] and won ($433) with a pair of Threes
Seat 6: Pongo69 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 7: poker_millie (button) mucked [Kh Js]
Seat 8: bulld7 (small blind) folded before Flop

For those that were wondering, I would have called down most turn/river combos if he had fired both streets. I mean, if it comes running QJ I would almost surely fold, and if an ace would have come I would have probably mucked it too. I just see too much shit like AJ here (and in this case even KJ) as well as I like seeing showdowns with pairs to give too much thought to folding. I mean people might think I'm a loose fish when they have QQ and I payoff, but it'll stick in their head that I'm betting and raising without overly strong hands and most people are not great at adjusting to that kind of play, especially live vegas players (nothing against them, they just don't have to deal with it as much cause they don't play online or in LA as much)

Kels and I took a really bad beat the other night. I had purchased twins tickets on stubhub for row 2 behind the twins dugout for only 115 a piece and I got a phone call about 2 hours before the game saying something happened with the seller and we no longer got the tickets. WTF? luckily the way the twins do tickets is messed up, so they had better tickets at that point than they did a few hours before, so we still got reasonable seats.

internet gambling hearing video

http://financialserv.edgeboss.net/wmedia/financialserv/hearing060807.wvx

barney frank ftw.

3 quick hands

I'm pretty lazy right now but I thought I'd share 3 hands I played today that while nothing special at all, I've been asked to post more hands and these hands I am much more likely to screw up when running badly.

PokerStars Game #10432335401: Hold'em Limit ($30/$60) - 2007/06/14 - 13:58:26 (ET)
Table 'Ophelia V' 10-max Seat #6 is the button
Seat 5: skilledyou ($1399 in chips)
Seat 6: bicyclekick ($1199 in chips)
Seat 7: Intrepidity ($1287 in chips)
Intrepidity: posts small blind $15
skilledyou: posts big blind $30
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to bicyclekick [Jc Td]
bicyclekick: raises $30 to $60
Intrepidity: folds
skilledyou: calls $30
*** FLOP *** [3s Ts As]
skilledyou: checks
bicyclekick: bets $30
skilledyou: raises $30 to $60
bicyclekick: calls $30
*** TURN *** [3s Ts As] [Qd]
skilledyou: checks
bicyclekick: bets $60
skilledyou: raises $60 to $120
bicyclekick: calls $60
*** RIVER *** [3s Ts As Qd] [9d]
skilledyou: checks
bicyclekick: checks
*** SHOW DOWN ***
skilledyou: shows [Kh 7s] (high card Ace)
bicyclekick: shows [Jc Td] (a pair of Tens)
bicyclekick collected $494 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $495 | Rake $1
Board [3s Ts As Qd 9d]
Seat 5: skilledyou (big blind) showed [Kh 7s] and lost with high card Ace
Seat 6: bicyclekick (button) showed [Jc Td] and won ($494) with a pair of Tens
Seat 7: Intrepidity (small blind) folded before Flop


PokerStars Game #10432364413: Hold'em Limit ($30/$60) - 2007/06/14 - 14:00:26 (ET)
Table 'Nashira III' 6-max Seat #2 is the button
Seat 1: Numbr2pencil ($1256 in chips)
Seat 2: bicyclekick ($1851 in chips)
Seat 3: loco90 ($7566 in chips)
Seat 5: imissparty ($2707 in chips)
Seat 6: TheForeigner ($3235 in chips)
loco90: posts small blind $15
imissparty: posts big blind $30
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to bicyclekick [Kc Qd]
TheForeigner: folds
Numbr2pencil: raises $30 to $60
bicyclekick: raises $30 to $90
loco90: folds
imissparty: folds
Numbr2pencil: raises $30 to $120
Betting is capped
bicyclekick: calls $30
*** FLOP *** [5d 4d Kh]
Numbr2pencil: bets $30
bicyclekick: calls $30
*** TURN *** [5d 4d Kh] [3s]
Numbr2pencil: bets $60
bicyclekick: raises $60 to $120
Numbr2pencil: calls $60
*** RIVER *** [5d 4d Kh 3s] [8s]
Numbr2pencil: bets $60
bicyclekick: raises $60 to $120
Numbr2pencil: calls $60
*** SHOW DOWN ***
bicyclekick: shows [Kc Qd] (a pair of Kings)
Numbr2pencil: mucks hand
bicyclekick collected $823 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $825 | Rake $2
Board [5d 4d Kh 3s 8s]
Seat 1: Numbr2pencil mucked [Kd Jd]
Seat 2: bicyclekick (button) showed [Kc Qd] and won ($823) with a pair of Kings
Seat 3: loco90 (small blind) folded before Flop
Seat 5: imissparty (big blind) folded before Flop
Seat 6: TheForeigner folded before Flop (didn't bet)


PokerStars Game #10432390849: Hold'em Limit ($30/$60) - 2007/06/14 - 14:02:09 (ET)
Table 'Nashira III' 6-max Seat #6 is the button
Seat 1: Numbr2pencil ($999 in chips)
Seat 2: bicyclekick ($2284 in chips)
Seat 3: loco90 ($7624 in chips)
Seat 5: imissparty ($2662 in chips)
Seat 6: TheForeigner ($3040 in chips)
Numbr2pencil: posts small blind $15
bicyclekick: posts big blind $30
Gator519: sits out
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to bicyclekick [9d 8d]
loco90: folds
imissparty: folds
TheForeigner: folds
Numbr2pencil: raises $30 to $60
bicyclekick: calls $30
*** FLOP *** [3h 6c 4h]
Numbr2pencil: bets $30
bicyclekick: raises $30 to $60
Numbr2pencil: folds
bicyclekick collected $178 from pot
bicyclekick: doesn't show hand
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $180 | Rake $2
Board [3h 6c 4h]
Seat 1: Numbr2pencil (small blind) folded on the Flop
Seat 2: bicyclekick (big blind) collected ($178)
Seat 3: loco90 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 5: imissparty folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 6: TheForeigner (button) folded before Flop (didn't bet)