A hazy shade of...

CAP games are my friend

2011-04-14T04:20:00.002-05:00

I've never been much of a cash game player. Not sure why really - but tournaments and SNG's have always been my focus. Listening to podcasts though it had become apparent to me that if I want to reduce variance the best avenue to take is playing in cash games. Make no mistake about it, tournaments are probably the most high variance form of poker out there. SNG's don't have that much variance but the capability to turn a large profit is pretty difficult as most people play moderately well in those and it's difficult to overcome the 7.5%+ rake. As I pointed out in my last post, I played 595 SNG's and showed a profit of $1.80. While VIP bonuses from Pokerstars adds to that sum a bit, it's still an awful lot of playing and not much to show for it. Obviously winning $2 is a lot better then losing a large sum but my goal is to build a bankroll and not at a $100 a month rate.

So with that being said, this month I've decided to make a concerted effort to play cash games. I had some money on Lock - I ran that up $150 playing a mix of $.50-1 and $1-2 NLHE and PLO as well as some high buy in SNG's. I got killed playing these super turbo SNG's - all luck in those and I wasn't very lucky. Fortunately I made up for it in regular SNG's and cash games. Was initially going to try and compete in the Bluff Challenge but when I saw what it would take to even be near the top, I decided to test the Lock cash out and see if I can actually receive a check from them within a month. I have a hunch it's going to take a while as it's been 3 days since I requested it and it's still "pending approval". They might as well say "we're holding onto your money as long as humanly possible in the hopes that you will cancel the cashout."

Over at Pokerstars, I started out the month playing .05/.10 full ring (while most online players prefer 6 max because they can see more hands, I 12 table and prefer full ring as it gives me a little time to observe how my opponents play and make better decisions). Played 75 minutes, 915 hands, profit of $8. Not bad, so I decided to make the jump to .10/.25. Played 3 hours, nearly 2000 hands, lost $25. OK maybe I suck at this. I reviewed the hands I played though and felt like I played okay so I wasn't ready to give up cash just yet. Despite the loss I decided to move up higher in stakes to .25/.50. With my bankroll in the mid $700 range and buying in for the minimum (I prefer playing short as my tournament skillset suits shorter stacked play a bit better then uber deep stack play) of $20, I could 12 table comfortably for about 1/3 of my roll. If I lost that, I would obviously move back down. Played a quick 30 minute session and won $18 bringing me to break even for the month after the first week of April.

And then I discovered CAP games. Oh CAP games, how I love thee. Obviously a short sample size, but in the last week I've played about 2.5 hours and approximately 1,750 hands of .25/.50 CAP. The CAP is set to $10 so even with 12 tables going, my maximum risk was minimal. Profit over the 4 quick (I usually have time to play for 30-60 minutes) sessions... $105. Now here's the funny part - playing uber tight aggressive in these games is very +EV as people are generally idiots. My normal VPIP/PFR in tournaments is somewhere in the 15-25/10-20 range depending on table make up. That was pretty much how I was playing in the non CAP cash games as well. In the CAP games, however, I'm running at 10.1 VPIP/6.1 PFR. My strategy in these is simple. In early position, I fold most hands, raise the big hands and will limp with a few (but not many... I was routinely folding AT/AJ/KQ and at times AQ depending on how aggressive the table was). If I play a hand it was usually either in position or when I had a hand that I thought had good equity against my opponent. I would liberally re-raise a player with a top 20% hand if they had a high VPIP/PFR number (yes, I use these numbers in these situations as it's a pretty accurate indicator of a player's aggression level). And I wouldn't even try and get cute with AK, JJ+. If I had one of those 5 hands it was going in pre-flop. If someone has a better hand, it's only $10 at most I'm losing... I can live with that.

The play at these is so bad it's comical at times. I guess people feel like if they can only lose $10 they can gamble it up. I've been called by T8s, K5s, pairs between 2's and 10's about a kajillion times (which the majority of time I crush if I move in), etc. Gotten lucky a few times and unlucky a few as well (those situations have broken about even). The really good thing though is that in the 2.5 hours, I've earned over 200 VPP's. It takes me about 75 $6.50 SNG's to earn that amount which even if I am 24 tabling would take me about 3 hours. Now variance might come back and bring my win down some, but for now, I'm going to keep rolling with these CAP games. Might even throw in some longer sessions when work dies down a bit.

I'm not a very good blogger

2011-04-01T11:04:00.002-05:00

So it's been 3+ years since my last blog post. Oh how time flies. I no longer play poker full time for a living any more. Work for an online football MMORPG. It's a pretty kick ass job that pays well and I still get to work out of the comfort of my own home and set my own hours so in that way life it still good. I love taking my two hour naps - couldn't do that it an office job.

Took a break from poker for about a year but I recently started back up again. Playing about 3-4 hours a day most days, trying to grind out a bankroll so I can play in some bigger events. Deposited $200 in Stars. My goal in March was to hit Gold Star and not go broke. Managed to hit Gold Star on the last day of the month. I tried my hand at 24 tabling. It's crazy hectic so needless to say I only do that when I am playing $3.40 SNG's and my play is pretty robotic. Here was how the month of March went for me (I played some Omaha but I don't have Omaha Poker Tracker so no numbers from those events):

Starting Bankroll: $200
Ending Bankroll: $737.75
Profit: $537.75

Pretty good if I say so myself, especially considering that I bought in direct to the Sunday Million 5th anniversary event for $215 (and of course not cashing in it). Here's how I mainly did it:

368 $6.50 NLHE SNG's $2,392 buy in $2,392.20 winnings $.20 profit .01% ROI
227 $3.40 NLHE SNG's $771.80 buy in $773.40 winnings $1.60 profit .21% ROI

I'm happy with break even in these as I am mainly playing these to earn VPP/FPP to get VIP Stellar Rewards and VIP FPP bonuses - the play earned me $80 in bonuses for the month.

The main money came from the following:

189 $2.20 180 man SNG's $415.80 buy in $569.16 winnings $153.36 profit 26.88% ROI
40 $4.40 180 man SNG's $176.00 buy in $336.24 winnings $160.24 profit 91.05% ROI

Out of the 229 180 man SNG's I played I should be expected on average to do the following:

Cash: 23 times
Final Table: 12 times
Final Three: 4 times
Win: 1 time

I did the following:

Cash: 30 times (13%)
Final Table: 15 times
Final Three: 7 times
Win: 3 times

Obviously the reason I did well is that when I do cash, I make it to the final three/win a higher percentage then average. One win in a $2.20 180 man is $108. If you win one, you're basically guaranteed to break even over a 50 tournament sample size. The play in these is also horrific at times. I definitely have to deviate from standard plays to take advantage of this. For example, if we are at the 25-50 level and I have 2,000 in chips and I see a guy that is 60-40 VPIP/PFR open up a pot to 200, where I might normally just flat or make a raise to 450-500 with a hand like queens, in this case I'll just shove because the majority of my time they aren't going to fold and I want to maximize full value for my hand. Yea, I get sucked out on from time to time doing this (and occasionally run into a legit hand) but when I'm 12 tabling these $2.20's, I just go join another one and move on.

In April, I'm going to try and maintain Gold Star, get the roll over $1,000. Also going to be playing some on Lock for the Bluff Poker Challenge and see if I can win a long shot.

Like a little boy...

2007-12-18T10:02:00.000-06:00

A poem about poker... about remembering that poker is a game. A game that is often representative of life. The highs. The lows. But it is a game. Remember to have fun with it. Remember to laugh with it. Remember to love it. Remember when you were a little boy (or girl) and there were no worries in the world. So often I see too many people take this game entirely too seriously, as if the hand they lost is the end of the world. It's not. There is always tomorrow, and as long as you can enjoy and appreciate this game and realize that there is a human element and an element of luck, it'll be a game you love forever and that will love you in return.

He'd been here before,
the click clack music to his ears.
Gray and old,
he'd been shuffled like a deck of cards.
Over... and over...
again.

He remembered,
the first hand he'd ever been dealt.
It was a pretty simple one...
a fold.
And he waited for the next hand...
what would be the first of many.

There were the rushes,
where he won hand after hand,
and nothing could go wrong.
She smiled at him then...
and he laughed.
Like a little boy.

But this game wasn't always kind,
it broke him,
over and over again.
She yelled at him then...
and he cried.
Like a little boy.

He sat down in the chair,
knowing glances as he fiddled with his chips.
Cards thrown in his general direction,
and as he looked at his cards...
he was young again.
Like a little boy.

Like a little boy.

No, I'm not dead...

2007-12-13T14:59:00.000-06:00

So it's been nearly three weeks since I've updated. Visited family for nearly two weeks and have been playing catch up since I've got back. That and ummmm I've met someone and have been spending a lot (read: nearly every second) of time with them and enjoying every second of it. She's a fantastic woman and I'm thrilled that she is part of my life. Only time will tell how it turns out but I'm feeling pretty good about it. Finally!

Poker has been pretty break even. I haven't been doing the heads up thing lately (I still haven't had a losing session) as I've been trying the prop thing... and I've figured out that is more of a grind then the heads up thing. You know how hard it is to generate $200 in rake a week when you can only play $1/2 and up and decent games ever get going. I'm going to try one more site but the first one has been a struggle (down $100, although I did win a seat into another $200+ tournament so technically speaking I'm up $100). Mainly though I've been writing to make some money and spending time with the new girlfriend. I'll get to playing more seriously here soon (kinda have to if I want to pay the bills lol although I am doing ok on that end right now thanks to the writing and teaching gigs).

Offline for a few...

2007-11-21T23:44:00.000-06:00

I am going to visit my brothers in the Deep South over the course of the next two weeks, followed by my 20 year high school reunion. That should be interesting considering I have not seen one person since I graduated and I've gained oh... 100 pounds (I used to be a skinny, long distance running, dude). Living large isn't that what they say? I'm the proverbial definition of that one. LOL.

Didn't play too much the past few days as I've been researching some articles I'm writing and trying to get into a prop program or two. I figure if I'm going to be playing so much online I might as well get 100% or more rake back rather then the traditional 25-30%. Oh and part of the reason I haven't been playing so much is because FullTilt caught my new account when I tried to do a cash out... apparently they do a name check. Bah. It's not like I was logging in and playing two accounts, I just wanted to start new and get rakeback, which you can't do with existing accounts. Kind of sucky if you ask me. Ah well, they lost my business... thankfully they gave me my money back.

I did get signed on as a prop at one site... obviously can't say what site it is, but it's 100% rakeback, which is a good deal. I played a $20+ SNG into a bigger buy in tournament there tonight and won it... it was one of those up and down affairs. I start off tripling up early when some guy thought it was good to call my limp push with A6s. I had QQ. I got down to about double what I started with, doubled up to be massive chip leader and then in back to back hands lost with K-K to A-7 (same A-6 idiot) and 10-10 to Q-Q. Kept afloat with timely steals and resteals, then raise with K-K in the SB, BB (guy who had Q-Q earlier) pushes with Q-J. Of course the flop comes J-T-9. Jesus. I survive though and win a fairly long heads up session.

So, I'm off to see the Wizard... or something like that. Hope everyone has lots of good food and family fun. Catch ya on the flip side!

Busy, busy...

2007-11-15T18:43:00.001-06:00

I've been swamped the last couple days writing for pokerworks and Inside Poker. Not that I'm complaining... I love it... just gives me less time to write here. Still made my $100 each day playing... throw in the extra money the writing gives me and things are good on the money side of things (for now, give me time I am sure I can fuck that up lol).

Nothing too exciting on the poker front. Check out my articles at pokerworks if you are bored, they've given me some freedom to write what I want so I am going to basically be presenting a series of tournament strategy primers since it's what I know and teach best.

I almost felt bad...

2007-11-13T21:22:00.000-06:00

One of the hardest things I've had to deal with playing poker against other people is "being nice"... I'm a nice guy, I don't like to be taken advantage of and I don't like taking advantage of other people. But if I am going to make a living playing this game, I have to throw nice out the window sometimes.

Today, I was playing a $200 heads up match... I'd lost 4 in a row for the first time in a long time (the $100 match ended on one of the sickest beats I've ever had... we got it all in pre-flop... I had AAKJ, he had KQQQ. The flop came Kxx. He had 1 card in the deck he could beat me with... the case queen. He hit it. We had even stacks prior to the hand). My opponent was timing down nearly every hand, disconnected a couple times... we played about ten hands when he timed out. I waited for a minute or so, but then started raising. By the time he came back the chip stacks were 2750-250 and I won the match.

I know there are going to be people who look at this and think I am a scumbag... and that's ok, I wasn't playing poker to make friends, I'm playing it to make money. It was not my fault he had a bad connection. If I had disconnected (and I have before in the past), I think most people would have taken advantage of that fact. If it happened to me, I'd be pissed, but I know that's the risk when I play online poker (and a reason you should always, always make sure you have a backup connection to your high speed connection if you play online).

Part of me doesn't want to post this because I think some people will judge me and I'm one of those people who hates people thinking poorly of him, but I know I can't always please everyone (I've learned this the hard way) and I promised myself I was going to be honest in this blog and post everything that I went through... this is what I went through today.

A quickie...

2007-11-11T19:36:00.000-06:00

Today was my brother's birthday so we went out to Red Lobster (my treat)... was excellent for a "chain" - I don't get to eat seafood much so I enjoy it when I do. I need a nap. Went 8-8 today but still got to the $100 mark, mainly cuz I cheated and started my first round at the $20 level (lost it, but won the $50 which put me up +30 right off the bat). I went back down to $10 after that, I gotta be careful not to overstep my bounds but there was a really bad player at the $20 level that I had schooled a couple times the other day that I just had to have a go at (I told him to go to $50 after he beat me, and proceeded to beat him there, I love when fish listen to ya and give you there money).

Had a nice chat with my friend Jen yesterday. We spent the entire summer working together, spending 12-16 hours a day with one another so we really got to know one another. We've kept in touch which has been nice and she sent me a good contact at pokerworks.com and looks like I am going to be doing some writing for them. Thanks Jen (I've tried to return the favor by seeing if InsidePoker has something for her)! It's too bad she has this silly rule about not making out with colleagues though. Hmmphhh.

I don't watch a lot of sports but enjoy pro football. My team, the Packers is off to an 8-1 start, so I am psyched about that. After a couple off years it's good to see them winning like this again. I never would have imagined it at the beginning of the year, but they look like they have a legitimate shot at making the Super Bowl although I am sure Dallas will have something to say about that.

Guess this wasn't so quick after all, so on that note, I'm out.

Now playing on Full Tilt...

2007-11-10T19:26:00.000-06:00

Took yesterday and most of today off as I am visiting my brother and his family. I did get my $100 in today... 11-6 (6-5 at the initial level for those keeping score at home). Moved to Full Tilt to start collecting a deposit bonus there, the heads up matches fill up a little slower there, but I can keep myself pretty busy so it's ok. In 17 matches, I earned $5.24 of bonus... so at that pace it'll take me 100 days to clear the $500 bonus since that's what I deposited (stupid ePassporte deposit limit).

I am researching some articles for InsidePoker, if anyone has some ideas/thoughts on the following, send me an e-mail at aaron@thepokermentor.com.

1) Micro-limit no limit hold em, including multi-tabling
2) Backing/staking arrangements

Also if anyone wants to back me into about 20 WPT events, I'm pretty confident I'd make you rich. Gamble baby! ;)

An example of how NOT to play PLO heads up

2007-11-08T21:57:00.000-06:00

I am a big proponent of "bonus" whoring so I wiped out my new pokerstars account tonight with the intention of depositing it into my new Full Tilt account. I left a little money on there though because I am working on an article for InsidePoker on "crushing the micro limits"... which I've been doing in relative terms (return on investment) but it's really hard to make money playing .01/.02 and .02/.05 NLHE but it's giving me a good base for my article (I turned $50 into $150 in a week playing nothing but those two for about 3 hours a night).

Anyway, I'm done with my "research" so to speak and decided I'd go for the ole win big or go home with the last $150, so I decided to play a few $50 heads up matches. I don't want to embarrass the pour soul so I just crushed so I will remove their name but here's an example of how NOT to play PLO. These are back to back hands.

Seat 1: ME (1300 in chips)
Seat 2: ISUCKATPLO (1700 in chips)
ME: posts small blind 15
ISUCKATPLO: posts big blind 30
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to ME [Qh Th 7d 2s]
ME: calls 15
ISUCKATPLO: checks
*** FLOP *** [7c 2c 2d]
ISUCKATPLO: bets 60
ME: calls 60
*** TURN *** [7c 2c 2d] [4s]
ISUCKATPLO: bets 120
ME: calls 120
*** RIVER *** [7c 2c 2d 4s] [6s]
ISUCKATPLO: checks
ME: bets 270
ISUCKATPLO: calls 270
*** SHOW DOWN ***
ME: shows [Qh Th 7d 2s] (a full house, Deuces full of Sevens)
ME collected 960 from pot
Seat 2: ISUCKATPLO (big blind) mucked [Td 3s 3d 2h]

I understand he had trip two's here but after the flop and turn flat calls, he had to know he was beat... if he had a bigger kicker like an ace or a king, the call would be justifiied but the two likely hands I have are a full house or a 2 with a bigger kicker.

This next hand is a classic example of the biggest mistake many people make in PLO.

Seat 1: ME (1780 in chips)
Seat 2: ISUCKATPLO (1220 in chips)
ISUCKATPLO: posts small blind 15
ME: posts big blind 30
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to ME [2h 8s Ts 9c]
ISUCKATPLO: raises 60 to 90
ME: calls 60
*** FLOP *** [5c 2s 9d]
ME: checks

I know he's going to bet, so I'm gonna let him so I can get a lot of money in there and tell him I am committed.

ISUCKATPLO: bets 180

*yawn* so easy sometimes.

ME: raises 540 to 720

This raise is saying 1) I am not folding and 2) I can beat an overpair. So let's see what ISUCKATPLO does with his obvious AAxx or KKxx

ISUCKATPLO: raises 410 to 1130 and is all-in

There's a shocker. I think I had my hand hovering over the call all in button.

ME: calls 410
*** TURN *** [5c 2s 9d] [3s]
*** RIVER *** [5c 2s 9d 3s] [6h]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
ME: shows [2h 8s Ts 9c] (two pair, Nines and Deuces)
ISUCKATPLO: shows [Kd Ah Qh Ad] (a pair of Aces)

So he's basically drawing to the 5 pairing or the ace... so 5 outs twice. And believe me, I see this happen at least 5 times a day and it's the same thing everytime... they won't fold (I fold AA post-flop all the damn time, even on a board like 844 if I am facing serious action... in PLO it's all about getting your money in when you know you have the best of it or are a strong favorite to have the best of it by the time the hand is over0.

Game, set, match. The other $50 match took 1 hand. LOL. I'm done. I don't have to work tomorrow now! But I will cuz I love it.

That's better

2007-11-08T14:53:00.000-06:00

After yesterday's epic struggle, today was much better. 10-2 and 4 hours of play to get to the $100 mark (actually it was 97, but I figured that was close enough). On a promising note, I was 8-2 at the $10 level.

Something that cracks me up in these is players starting to berate me in the chat. I make it a habit to never chat with anyone while playing, but it's kinda funny to watch people call me a donkey after I check raise them all in on a 8T44 board with 8754 and they call me with AAKQ. Yep, you got me bud... Hee Haw.

Now that was a struggle

2007-11-07T16:59:00.000-06:00

Probably my most difficult day using my HU system yet. I actually had a losing record at 12-16 but still managed to hit the $100 mark... in oh.... 7.5 hours. LOL. Closest this has felt like a job yet but I knew there would be days like this eventually so I have to take the good with the bad. I had a ton of second best hands and lost to draws that hit when all the money got in... fortunately my longest losing streak was only 3 but I had a ton of 2 game losing streaks. Day went like this:

L-W-W-L-L-W-W-L-L-W-L-W-L-W-W-L-L-W-L-L-W-L-W-L-L-L-W

Ended up having to play a $100 match to end the day... thankfully I was able to win that one and that was enough to get me over the $100 mark. I had actually been up $89 when I started the last series so all I needed was one win and of course I lose three in a row to make me sweat my ass off. LOL.

I am still struggling with the first level (3-9 today). I have to figure out why... I tried my best in them today but nothing was working.

Still no losing days though so I can't complain and it's the first time it's actually taken me a complete day to get to the $100 level.

An observation about my W/L rate in heads up matches

2007-11-06T13:49:00.000-06:00

Today I went 5-5 but hit the $100 mark relatively quickly because I was waiting for a $50 HU match, one couldn't get going so I decided to jump to a $100 match that had a player waiting in it and won that one. Of my 10 matches today, five were at the $10/$11 level... I went 1-4 in those and 4-1 in the others. So I decided to look at the rest of the ones I have played thus far. So far I am 24-18 at the $10/$11 level and 17-6 at the higher levels. Not sure if it's because 1) I have a "eh who cares" attitude at the $10/$11 level 2) the players tend to be a little worse at this level so I tend to get unluckier more or 3) I focus more once I've stepped up to the next level.

Something I need to think about, I don't want to put myself in high pressure situations (the 2nd/3rd matches after losing) more then I need to, so I might need to evaluate how I am approaching those first games.

Poker authors suck ass

2007-11-05T22:58:00.000-06:00

As someone who spends a lot of time teaching people theories and concepts about poker, I make it a point to read as much poker literature as possible. I recently picked up No Limit Hold'Em Theory and Practice and I have to say it's the most convoluted piece of crap I've ever read.

Now don't get me wrong... the material in the book is excellent. There's just one problem. It was written for an analytical geeks. It's not easy to read. It's not easy to understand... and I imagine about 3/4th's of the people that read it don't have a fucking clue what they just read. Here's an example for you:

"If he gets there with a nine, which will happen 3/5 of the time he improves, you have eight outs (three aces, two queens, and three treys). If he gets there with an eight, then you have only the two queens. So even if he gets there on the turn, you'll draw out on the river 12.7 percent of the time.

.127=(3/5)(8/44)+(2/5)(2/44)

So, on average, when he gets there on the turn and all the money goes in, he'll win $900 87.3 percent of the time and he'll lose $800 12.7 percent. His expected win in that circumstance is $684.10.

$684.10=(.873)($900)-(.127)($800)"

Is math important in poker? Sure. But too mcuh math is going to take away from the fundamentals that are the overriding keys in big bet poker. Besides, who the fuck really understands what you just read? Or more importantly, cares about what they just read? To me, the important part of poker is learning concepts. How do you do this? By applying them in every possible situation you can imagine and figuring out what works and what doesn't work. If it works, why did it? If it didn't, why didn't it? This is the key to learning poker. Figuring out the EV of a particular situation if a particular card comes... is for people who go around chasing and backing 25 year olds just on the off chance they might fuck them (i.e. Sklansky). TPFAP was a good book but I gotta say most of Sklansky's other books (and Two Plus Two's for that matters) are overcomplicated, look how smart I am, pieces of trash.

You're better off learning on your own. Or reading Harrington. Maybe I'll write a book one of these days, I'm about 1,000% sure it'd be better then NLHE Theory and Practice.

/end rant

Felt like playing some high stakes

2007-11-04T23:32:00.000-06:00

I'd had a good run recently at Canterbury so I can afford to play higher limits then what I have been playing, but have been conservative on purpose because I have a "plan" so to speak. That being said, I have allotted myself $1000 a month to play in events of my choosing. I was watching a friend cash in 3 of the big events simultaneously and was craving some action myself so I decided to just play some higher buy in heads up matches. I started with a $50 heads up match, flopped the nut full house and lost to runner runner quads. Fun! Saw a $200 heads up match going and thought why not... yea, I have a bit of gambler in me... I am a poker player after all. The match lasted two hands. If I woulda lost to quads again I think I woulda quit poker. OK, not really, but I would have for at least a day!

Had to hold my breath for a second on this one, had just lost to runner runner quads in a $50 match.

PokerStars Game #xxxx: Tournament #xxx, $200+$10 Omaha Hi/Lo Pot Limit - Match Round I, Level I (5/10) - 2007/11/05 - 00:13:33 (ET)
Table 'xxx 1' 2-max Seat #2 is the button
Seat 1: ronpraha (1395 in chips)
Seat 2: ME (1605 in chips)
ME: posts small blind 5
ronpraha: posts big blind 10
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to ME [Qc Qs 6c 7c]
ME: calls 5
ronpraha: checks
*** FLOP *** [5d 5c Qd]
ronpraha: checks
ME: checks
*** TURN *** [5d 5c Qd] [2h]
ronpraha: bets 20
ME: raises 60 to 80
ronpraha: raises 180 to 260
ME: raises 540 to 800
ronpraha: calls 540
*** RIVER *** [5d 5c Qd 2h] [9c]
ronpraha: bets 585 and is all-in
ME: calls 585
*** SHOW DOWN ***
ronpraha: shows [4h 2c 2s Jh] (HI: a full house, Deuces full of Fives)
ME: shows [Qc Qs 6c 7c] (HI: a full house, Queens full of Fives)
ME collected 2790 from pot
No low hand qualified

Sometimes I suck...

2007-11-04T19:41:00.000-06:00

A former student of mine wanted to back me into the Sunday Million today... I've done ok with people backing me in the past so I decided to go ahead and do it. I busted with about 1/2 the field gone after an up and down beginning... the key hand, in hindsight, was a mistake. Initially I analyzed it as just being unfortunate timing but in hindsight I think the better play would have been to call pre-flop and lead out on the flop. Here's the hand:

n
Seat 1: ShankingYou (10800 in chips)
Seat 2: GoldGame (15175 in chips)
Seat 3: Pilu1978 (11700 in chips)
Seat 4: joetrapper (21295 in chips)
Seat 5: He_simply (42275 in chips)
Seat 6: ME (23100 in chips)
Seat 7: Great Baisen (13200 in chips)
Seat 8: finalvision (9964 in chips)
Seat 9: tucisloose (11986 in chips)
He_simply: posts small blind 300
ME: posts big blind 600
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to ME [Ac Qh]
Great Baisen: folds
finalvision: folds
tucisloose: folds
ShankingYou: folds
GoldGame: raises 1800 to 2400

Gold had not been completely out of line over the course of the tournament but he was definitely a liberal user of the Gap Concept. As such I thought his range of hands included small pairs, smaller aces then mine, and dominated hands like KQ, QJ.

Pilu1978: folds
joetrapper: folds
He_simply: folds

He has 12.7 left after his raise, definitely enough to fold, so I do have folding equity. I don't like calling out of position because then what do I do if I miss the flop (as I said, looking back at it now, this would have been a better play because he'd been fairly solid post-flop... I made his decision easy for him)... definitely can't just make a regular re-raise because if he pushes, I have to call. An argument can be made for folding but given the fact that the hand is heads up and the action has been fairly normal, I think that would be playing too tight. So I push... he thinks for a bit but finally makes the correct call (if you have AK in his place you HAVE to call).

ME: raises 20700 to 23100 and is all-in
GoldGame: calls 12775 and is all-in
*** FLOP *** [2d 9s 6d]

See if I had just called and led out on the flop, I very likely would have won the hand if he is not one of those overvalue AK idiots.

*** TURN *** [2d 9s 6d] [Ts]
*** RIVER *** [2d 9s 6d Ts] [9c]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
ME: shows [Ac Qh] (a pair of Nines)
GoldGame: shows [Ad Kc] (a pair of Nines - Ace+King kicker)
GoldGame collected 30650 from pot

Lost with 9's a bit later and that was that. I'm usually my harshest critic... was not happy with the end of my tournament because there was no reason to put myself in a position to cripple myself. I could have called and risked another 2500 on the flop instead of an additional 12K.

That being said my tournament wasn't ALL bad... I had put myself in decent position with a couple of key hands... I never had a pair bigger then tens the entire tournament. Here are a few of them:

Seat 1: Pickles7 (9500 in chips)
Seat 2: GoldGame (12425 in chips)
Seat 3: Pilu1978 (12650 in chips)
Seat 4: Sooners (4725 in chips)
Seat 5: jc_bluej (11725 in chips)
Seat 6: ME (8875 in chips)
Seat 7: Great Baisen (13575 in chips)
Seat 8: finalvision (9700 in chips)
Seat 9: Pokerpablo7 (6825 in chips)
finalvision: posts small blind 50
Pokerpablo7: posts big blind 100
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to ME [Jh Th]
Pickles7: folds
GoldGame: folds
Pilu1978: folds
Sooners: folds
jc_bluej: folds
ME: raises 200 to 300

Pretty standard play for me.

Great Baisen is disconnected
Great Baisen is connected
Great Baisen: calls 300
finalvision: folds
Pokerpablo7: calls 200

Not necessarily the result I wanted... Great has been very loose and called me down earlier with nothing but a draw and hit a weak pair on the river and called with it to win the pot (I was bluffing... I don't typically bluff calling stations but I didn't know at the time that's what he was)

*** FLOP *** [8c 9h Ac]
Pokerpablo7: checks
ME: checks

Not a terrible flop for me but I decide to see if I can get a free card or at least an inexpensive card... the last thing I want to do is bet and get forced off of my draw with a big raise. I think many people make this mistake of betting automatically if they raised pre-flop when they hit a draw.

Great Baisen: bets 500
Pokerpablo7: folds
ME: calls 500

I can call that, especially against him since I think I have great implied value.
*** TURN *** [8c 9h Ac] [7s]
ME: checks

Bingo, gonna go for ye olde check raise.

Great Baisen: bets 1000

Thank you for cooperating. Now I want to make a bet that I think he will call... I think a bigger one will look more like a bluff then a smaller one, and I want to set up the all in river bet by relatively committing myself with my turn bet. Normally I'd raise 2000 to 3000 but I up it a little more against this guy because I think he'll call.

ME: raises 3000 to 4000
Great Baisen: calls 3000

I know he's not folding the river now... the rest is going in.
*** RIVER *** [8c 9h Ac 7s] [2c]
ME: bets 4075 and is all-in
Great Baisen: calls 4075
*** SHOW DOWN ***
ME: shows [Jh Th] (a straight, Seven to Jack)
Great Baisen: shows [As Ks] (a pair of Aces)
ME collected 18100 from pot

Great obviously should have folded on the turn to the check raise, but some people just can't get over top pair, top kicker. Those players are the bread and butter... the ones that pay my bills.

Seat 1: ShankingYou (14045 in chips)
Seat 2: GoldGame (14175 in chips)
Seat 3: Pilu1978 (20125 in chips)
Seat 4: joetrapper (16325 in chips)
Seat 5: jc_bluej (9100 in chips)
Seat 6: ME (9900 in chips)
Seat 7: Great Baisen (15800 in chips)
Seat 8: finalvision (10264 in chips)
Seat 9: tucisloose (19186 in chips)
ME: posts small blind 200
Great Baisen: posts big blind 400
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to ME [6h 6d]
finalvision: folds
tucisloose: folds
ShankingYou: folds
GoldGame: folds
Pilu1978: folds
joetrapper: raises 800 to 1200
jc_bluej: folds

I'd lost a pretty big pot earlier to joe (took 1/2 my stack) with AQ against AK on a A65A2 board. He was very active... raised a lot first to act and bet the flop anytime someone checked to him. Many players would push all in here, but I wanted to give him the opportunity to bluff the flop and was willing to take the chance. Obviously if the board comes AKJ, I fold, but if he has a hand that fits that board he's not going to fold pre-flop anyway.

ME: calls 1000
Great Baisen: folds
*** FLOP *** [2c 7h 4d]
ME: checks
joetrapper: bets 1600

Got the flop I wanted and the bet I wanted. I remember with the AK vs AQ hand that he continued to be aggressive after I called him on the flop, so I decide to take a different line here and give him an opportunity to make one more bet on the turn.
ME: calls 1600
*** TURN *** [2c 7h 4d] [7d]
ME: checks
joetrapper: bets 4000

This is tough. A good card for my hand but I'm not sure I have any folding equity here... still I think I have the best hand so I gotta go with it.

ME: raises 3100 to 7100 and is all-in
joetrapper: folds

Personally I think if you're gonna bet 4K here, you might as well bet 7100. I really can't see folding here... if he has two overs he has 6 outs or about 6:1 to improve and is getting nearly 5:1 with no threat of an additional bet on the river. But to each their own I suppose.

ME collected 14000 from pot

Joe wins a pretty big pot off of me later in this hand:

Seat 1: ShankingYou (11900 in chips)
Seat 2: GoldGame (13775 in chips)
Seat 3: Pilu1978 (9600 in chips)
Seat 4: joetrapper (25595 in chips)
Seat 5: jc_bluej (12900 in chips)
Seat 6: ME (17100 in chips)
Seat 7: Great Baisen (14400 in chips)
Seat 8: finalvision (10864 in chips)
Seat 9: tucisloose (12786 in chips)
ShankingYou: posts small blind 200
GoldGame: posts big blind 400
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to ME [Ts Th]
Pilu1978: folds
joetrapper: raises 400 to 800
jc_bluej: folds
ME: calls 800

I know he's weak... he raises more with his better hands, so I just call here because like the previous hand I feel like I can outplay him post-flop.

Great Baisen: folds
finalvision: folds
tucisloose: calls 800
ShankingYou: folds
GoldGame: folds
*** FLOP *** [5d 4d 3h]
joetrapper: bets 1200
ME: raises 2800 to 4000
tucisloose: folds
joetrapper: calls 2800

I figure he's on some type of draw here... either has a 6, an ace, or diamonds. Any safe card on the turn and I'm gonna pop it.

*** TURN *** [5d 4d 3h] [2d]
joetrapper: bets 4000

That might very well have been the worst card in the deck that could have come... now any ace or 6 beats me... even if I'm still ahead I don't have any redraws. Maybe I'm the one getting "outplayed" now... but I can't call. Well I can but I'm not going to.

ME: folds

Then shortly before the AQ vs AK crippling hand I get this one... really don't get the JTs call but I was glad to see it. I actually said "shit" when he called until I saw his hand.

Seat 1: ShankingYou (11700 in chips)
Seat 2: GoldGame (15175 in chips)
Seat 3: Pilu1978 (11700 in chips)
Seat 4: joetrapper (30595 in chips)
Seat 5: jc_bluej (10800 in chips)
Seat 6: ME (11400 in chips)
Seat 7: Great Baisen (13800 in chips)
Seat 8: finalvision (10864 in chips)
Seat 9: tucisloose (12886 in chips)
Great Baisen: posts small blind 300
finalvision: posts big blind 600
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to ME [As Jc]
tucisloose: folds
ShankingYou: folds
GoldGame: folds
Pilu1978: folds
joetrapper: folds
jc_bluej: raises 1800 to 2400
ME: raises 9000 to 11400 and is all-in
Great Baisen: folds
finalvision: folds
jc_bluej: calls 8400 and is all-in
*** FLOP *** [Kd 4c 5s]
*** TURN *** [Kd 4c 5s] [5h]
*** RIVER *** [Kd 4c 5s 5h] [9d]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
jc_bluej: shows [Js Ts] (a pair of Fives)
ME: shows [As Jc] (a pair of Fives - Ace kicker)
ME collected 22500 from pot

On a more positive note, the heads up matches went smooth today. I went 9-3 and won the $100 in 4 hours and 16 minutes. In 4 days I am 39-19 and only twice have I lost more then two in a row. There was one match that took 55 minutes... my opponent literally timed down every single hand. Not sure if he was just trying to tilt me or had a terrible internet connection. At one point he had me outchipped 2700 to 300 and I thought about just throwing it all in and moving on to the next one, but since I'd lost the previous one I didn't want to just concede in order to play a $50 heads up match, so I fought back, put up with his annoying time outs, and came back to win. Definitely a testament to how much my game has changed. 5 years ago I would have said fuck it and just gave up.

And this is why I play PLO heads up matches

2007-11-03T15:16:00.001-05:00

Today was a bit quicker. Only took 2 hours and 46 minutes to get to the $100 mark. 8-5 overall, longest losing streak was 3. I thought I'd post a couple of hands to show you why these HU matches are so +EV.

First, a bad beat (I still came back to win the match, but this one was kinda funny):

Table '66047511 1' 2-max Seat #1 is the button
Seat 1: ME (2280 in chips)
Seat 2: cardsBgood (720 in chips)
ME: posts small blind 10
cardsBgood: posts big blind 20
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to ME [Td Kh Ad 9c]
ME: calls 10
cardsBgood: raises 40 to 60
ME: calls 40
*** FLOP *** [3d 6d 8d]
cardsBgood: bets 120
ME: raises 120 to 240
cardsBgood: raises 420 to 660 and is all-in
ME: calls 420

1 out... the 4 of diamonds.

*** TURN *** [3d 6d 8d] [8h]

2 outs... the 4 of diamonds and the 8 of clubs.

*** RIVER *** [3d 6d 8d 8h] [8c]

Heh.

*** SHOW DOWN ***
cardsBgood: shows [2d 8s 5s 5d] (four of a kind, Eights)
ME: shows [Td Kh Ad 9c] (a flush, Ace high)
cardsBgood collected 1440 from pot

He did at least say "man that was lucky" afterwords. LOL.

Seat 1: ME (1190 in chips)
Seat 2: 8fox8 (1810 in chips)
ME: posts small blind 15
8fox8: posts big blind 30
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to ME [7h 6d 4h Js]
ME: calls 15
8fox8: raises 60 to 90
ME: calls 60

There are about 15 hands I'll fold in a PLO heads up match pre-flop... quads and the lower end 3 of a kind hands. Everything else, I'm calling. I'd say 90% of people in PLO heads up matches raise pre-flop every hand. It's so predictable and honestly I don't mind it because it helps me build pots when I have really good hands pre-flop, and let's me win bigger pots post-flop when I hit.

*** FLOP *** [4c 8h 6s]
8fox8: bets 180

I don't think he has 75, more likely an overpair that he thinks is the best hand ever.

ME: raises 540 to 720
8fox8: raises 540 to 1260

Well I ain't folding now, if you have 75, I still have outs to a 6, 4, or 5.

ME: calls 380 and is all-in
*** TURN *** [4c 8h 6s] [Tc]
*** RIVER *** [4c 8h 6s Tc] [2d]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
8fox8: shows [Kh Kd 9s 5c] (a pair of Kings)

Yep. Common mistake in these... can't fold the overpairs. This isn't hold'em kiddies. At least he had gutshot outs too.

ME: shows [7h 6d 4h Js] (two pair, Sixes and Fours)
ME collected 2380 from pot

This one was interesting, very first hand of a $10 heads up match:

Seat 1: Ramjurobon (1500 in chips)
Seat 2: ME (1500 in chips)
Ramjurobon: posts small blind 5
ME: posts big blind 10
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to ME [Td 8s Ks Tc]
Ramjurobon: raises 20 to 30

See... raise every time.

ME: calls 20
*** FLOP *** [Qs Js Kh]
That's a pretty strong flop for my hand. Top pair, open ender, flush draw, I'm gonna check raise his predictable flop pot bet.

ME: checks
Ramjurobon: bets 30

Hmmm less then pot, that's weird. Well I'm still gonna raise and build this pot up for when I hit.

ME: raises 120 to 150
Ramjurobon: raises 360 to 510

Uh oh. He has AT. I have about 40% EV in this situation. I'm not going to just call here because if I hit the flush on the turn, he's going to put me all in. I either fold or push. It's a $10 heads up match (although I'd probably make the same play at the $20 and $50 level too) so I decide to make the gamble.

ME: raises 960 to 1470 and is all-in
Ramjurobon: calls 960 and is all-in
*** TURN *** [Qs Js Kh] [3s]

Sucking out occasionally is fun!

*** RIVER *** [Qs Js Kh 3s] [7s]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
ME: shows [Td 8s Ks Tc] (a flush, King high)
Ramjurobon: shows [Kd Ac Ts 4h] (a straight, Ten to Ace)

Finally playing

2007-11-02T21:20:00.000-05:00

I was finally able to get some money online and have been playing the past two days... because of my other committments with mentoring and writing articles I have modest goals of making $100 a day when I play. Once I've reached that goal, my day is complete. I plan on playing some tournaments here and there but for the most part I am going to stick with my newest method of grinding... PLO and PLO8 heads up matches because they work pretty well for me. I use a blackjack betting system to play these, I'll explain in a bit, and it's pretty relaxed. I play one at a time and usually am watching some tv, listening to some music, or something else that I enjoy at the same time. Yesterday it took me 3.5 hours to hit the $100 mark, today it took 5.5. I had a bit of a bad run today, which is why it took me so long, but as is usually the case in heads up matches (and why I use the blackjack betting system), I prevailed eventually.

During the bad run today I actually lost with two nut full houses to straight flushes. Much more likely to happen in PLO then in NLHE but still, that sucked. :)

So anyway, the blackjack betting system is the Martingale system, and basically what I do is start with a $10 (or somewhere close to there) heads up match. If I win it, I play again at that level. If I lose at that level, I move up to the next higher level ($20 for example). If I win, then I move back down to $10. If I lose, then I move up to the next level. The reasoning behind this is I believe my skill level is good enough in these (especially at PLO and PLO8 where the play is fairly bad/predictable) that I will seldom lose more then 3 or 4 in a row. I start the day with a cap. If I lose that cap, then I'm done and consider the day a loss. The cap is $500. I almost hit that cap today... only the 2nd time I've been playing a heads up match with all my daily cap on the line. Basically for me to get to this match I would have had to lose 4 in a row. If I lose the 5th one in a row, I'm done for the day.

I tested this out last month by starting at the $2 level with a $100 cap and managed to turn $300 into $600 relatively easily. I never lost 5 in a row and I think my W-L record over the month was 110-45. Yesterday was a good day... I was 12-3. Today was a bit tougher, I finished 10-8 and I'm going to show you how the system works using today's results as an example (it's possible to make a profit even finishing less then .500).

Start Time Buy in W/L Profit (Loss) Daily Profit (Loss)
10:23 11.50 L -11.50 -11.50
10:44 21 W +19 +7.50
10:54 10.50 W +9.50 +17
11:26 10.50 W +9.50 +26.50
11:58 11.50 W +10.50 +37
12:19 10.50 L -10.50 +26.50
12:31 21 L -21 +5.50
12:51 52.50 L -52.50 -47
1:10 105 L -105 -152
1:27 230 W +210 +58
Break
7:11 10.50 L -10.50 +47.50
(at this point I am 5-6 and have made a profit)
7:21 21 W +19 +66.50
7:30 10.50 L -10.50 +56
7:42 21 W +19 +75
7:57 10.50 L -10.50 +64.50
8:20 21 W +19 +83.50
8:38 10.50 W +9.50 +93
9:09 11.50 W +10.50 +103.50
Done for the day at 9:17

Now obviously you have to be able to stop at a certain point, this system could cause someone to tilt off a large bankroll... but I know my limitations. Basically if I hit the $500 cap (which I imagine will happen sometimes) it just means I am using my profits from previous winning sessions to cover for it.

I'll keep you all up to date on how this goes, I've allotted $2000 for this, so it would take 4+ cap loss days to bust me... I don't see it happening. Anyone want to bet against me? :)

Moving sucks but the end result is usually worth it

2007-10-28T10:28:00.001-05:00

I've spent the better part of the last three weeks packing, moving, and unpacking. I always hate moving, it is one of the reasons I don't do it often (I spent 6 years at my last place even though I didn't really like it all that much). Well I'm done, and getting a new start is both exciting and somewhat scary.

Some difficulties I've encountered is setting up a bank account to fund my online poker accounts. I was fortunate enough to have a couple of nice cashes before I moved out here... I bought some new toys for my room (a HDTV, playstation, mini-fridge, and other misc. accessories) but I have no way of playing online poker right now until I get a bill sent to my new address so that I have verification of my new address. Seriously, since when did banks get so picky about taking people's money? I actually closed my old bank account and since I am creating all new poker accounts (to take advantage of the bonuses and to be somewhat anonymous... for now) I am spending the majority of my time right now setting up things at my new mentoring site, writing articles for InsidePoker, and playing Tiger Woods on my PS.

So that's what is up. Soon I'll be talking poker here, but for now that's what is going on here.

Living for today

2007-08-27T23:14:00.000-05:00

I was sending an e-mail to a good friend of mine explaining why I make some of the choices I do (i.e. quitting a good job to go to Vegas for two months to report on the World Series of Poker). Here is what I said:

Life without hope... well it's not much. We have to have something to look forward to the next day... something that makes us dream and wonder... something that excites us or angers us... something that gets our minds thinking, our hearts racing...

I've always lived life with that in mind. When an opportunity comes, I seize it. I'm not a believer in planning for the future... I believe in living in the moment. I laugh at all the people my age who scrape their pennies so they will have money when they are older. What kind of life is that? Live now I say! I'm not saying that I make bad choices... I don't... I'm just saying that the choices are make are with today in mind... not ten years from now.

Don't know much 'bout...

2007-08-07T06:39:00.000-05:00

Golf. But that's a whole lengthy dissertation.

I've been spending the past two weeks with my boys and my Dad. It's been an interesting experience to say the least, 95% enjoyable, but 5% reminding me of why I doubt I'd ever have kids again (I'm much too old anyway). Although I think if I had just one child that could not fight with their siblings that I might enjoy that. Love my boys to death but man their fighting with one another gets old and frustrating and try as I might to contain/control it, I just don't know if it's possible considering I only get them one month a year. We're having fun though and I know that they are enjoying their time with me... as they usually do since I pretty much spoil them rotten for a month and send them off to their evil (well in my eyes) mother (and no I don't talk bad about her in front of the kids).

My Dad lives in a retirement community (55 and over) on a golf course so we have been golfing 4-5 times a week since we've been here. I. Suck. At. Golf. I'm getting better though but it is a challenging game for sure. Many similarities to poker if you think about it, especially when it comes to dealing with your emotions. As with poker and taking a bad beat, you have to be able to move on to the next hand calmly and rationally... same with golf and a bad shot.

Anyway, that's all I really have time for right now. Playing cards/games/golf with the boys keeps me busy... I'm sure once I get back to Minnesota in three weeks I'll start playing more poker and have more things to write about.

People are strange

2007-07-24T19:11:00.000-05:00

I am driving from Minnesota to New York to pick up my boys and rather then listen to the 20 mix CD's I made for my drive to Vegas (which I have subsequently wore out from overuse) I spent the day listening to talk radio. A couple of comments:

1) Everything is not about race. I could not believe how many people were calling in saying that Michael Vick was being persecuted because he was an African-American. Are you kidding me? I guarantee if Brett Favre did the same thing he'd get persecuted just as much (if not more). I understand that this country has a history of civil unjustice and at treating minorities like shit but when people start throwing the race card at things like this it really takes away from issues that really deserve closer scrutiny.

2) Many Republicans are ignorant: now before I explain what I mean here let me preface this by saying that I am very tolerant of opposing political views... many of my best friends are Republicans. With that being said I spent two hours listening to a Republican talk show host take calls from Republicans (I can't remember what his name was but it sounded like a nationally syndicated show) and discuss how if the Democrats take over and we pull troops out of Iraq that we are going to have another 9/11 on our hands. *sigh*

Wake. The. Fuck. Up.

Driving through Chicago and Western Indiana is quite possibly the ugliest drive known to mankind. Besides the traffic, the scenery consists of train tracks, electric cables, power lines, power poles, transmittors, electrical switches, and all kinds of plants including power and sewage. For miles and miles... and because of traffic (even at 1 in the afternoon) you are forced to take it all in very slowly and painfully. I've visited Chicago before and enjoyed my visits... but I don't think I'd ever want to live there.

What is up with all the country music stations? Since when did country music take over the country (bad pun intended)? No wonder so many people get road rage.

Get to see my boys tomorrow... I am SO excited for that.

I sent the pink kitty to a 6 year old girl in Arizona. Her aunt wrote me today to tell me:

--------------------

I came back from a meeting to a voicemail from a very excited Samantha, "someone sent me Poker Kitty". And tonight an e-mail from my sister:

Samantha takes kitty everywhere. She even ate dinner with her.

She had to leave school today and go to Urgent Care, so the arrival of Kitty today was just purrfect (I can't believe I did that, but it's been a long Monday.)

Thank you so much for making her so happy.

---------------------

Things like that are what life is all about to me.

Home... for now

2007-07-20T14:51:00.000-05:00

Well I made the 1680 mile trek in under two days. I drove 860 miles the first day. I stopped at pretty much every scenic viewing area and took pictures, especially in Utah. Unfortunately it was raining while I drove through the Rockies so it wasn't as breathtaking as it was the first time I drove through. Something about the sun shining down through the mountains made a difference. Don't get me wrong, it was still spectacular, but not quite as much so. I was dead tired about 8 p.m. so I stopped at Fort Morgan, Colorado (an hour past Denver) for the night and fell asleep by 10. I woke up at 6 and was off the next day through the most boring stretch of highway ever (Eastern Colorado, Nebraska, and Iowa). Made it home by 9 p.m.

I had a friend feed my cats while I was gone. Cat's are not the neatest animals in the world... I don't think I'd ever own a cat again on my own... I inherited these from an ex-girlfriend. Cat hair, vomit, and kitty litter mess everywhere. Not my idea of fun, but I cleaned most of it up right away. And of course the one cat who loves me to death (well ok, I kinda like him too) would not stop scratching at my door when I tried to go to bed. I don't let them in the bedroom though because I don't want cat hair all over my clothes and bed. Anyway, I spent some time out in the living room this morning so he would calm down but he's still acting like a spaz. I guess I'm too loveable for my own good. ;)

Today I ran a few errands. A light was green but traffic was backed up so if I would have proceeded I would have blocked the intersection. They guy behind me was not too fond of my decision. He started flailing his arms like a crazy man and giving me all kinds of versions of the middle finger. Quite amusing but it didn't sway my decision to not move forward. So then he swings over into the left lane and zooms through the intersection... after the light had turned red. The whole time he is doing this he is still flailing his arms and giving me the general fuck off. I'm laughing my ass off. And then a siren... Ha Ha Ha... I love karma. The idiot got pulled over for running the red light. Good times.

I'm staying in a hotel tonight because I have no cable or Internet and I don't want to set it up again when I am leaving on another trip to see my kids in a few days. I had some free nights racked up so I decided to use one tonight. Tomorrow I'll probably rent some movies and spend the next two days watching them.

Going to hang out with my best friend Jordan tonight so I am looking forward to that. Jordan is my ex-girlfriend and is probably the coolest woman I know (she even plays poker... she cashed in the main event in 2006). We've been broke up for a year now but have maintained a very good friendship and see each other whenever we have time... usually we catch a movie, dinner, or watch our favorite television shows (Lost, Heroes, The Office) together. I think the 7 weeks I spent in Vegas is the longest we've not seen one another since we first met.

I think that's it for now. I have some gig apparently from PSO (pokerschoolonline) that will give me employment for the next three months. Thank God! I did sooooo not want to have to get a 9 to 5 for a couple months.

Bittersweet

2007-07-18T03:14:00.001-05:00

I was excited to cover the final table of the Main Event. So much so that I was unable to sleep... I was up at 5:30 a.m.

But unfortunately I have an idiot savant for a boss... a 22 year old kid who burned so many bridges with the Harrah's and WSOP staff that after a couple of errors were made in the Day 6 coverage they revoked our pool reporter privileges. I have mixed feelings about the kid I worked for. He does have some talent and at certain times is a likeable guy... but he completely lacks people skills, management skills, has emotional/temper issues, lacks maturity, and pretty much centers everything around him. If it's to his benefit, he's going to do it. If it's not, someone else would do it. It was a me, me, me thing with him and it got old real quick. Not to mention the fact that I got tired of being his fucking alarm clock. I woke him up pretty much every day for the first three weeks before I finally said enough was enough and quit doing it.

Enough of that whine. I was pissed that I worked my ass off for so long and then had to sit in my condo and cover the main event there by watching the pay-per-view broadcast.

I'm amazed this kid still has a job. All I can figure is he has incriminating photos of the boss. It's the only thing that makes sense... because if I was running a company, this latest transgression would be the breaking point for me. But c'est la vie... I don't run it... I made my opinion known to the people that matter (as did the rest of the people on the team... it was definitely not just my opinion) and now it is in their hands. I'd do tournament coverage for pokerpages.com again but not if he was in charge of the reporting team.

I leave for home in a few hours... I'm excited to see friends I haven't seen in a couple months. Then on Tuesday I am going to leave for New York to pick up my boys and drive down to Florida so they can see their Grandpa for the first time in 5 years.

Leaving Las Vegas

2007-07-17T05:16:00.000-05:00

I've had this Blogger account for several years but have never really used it other then to read other people's blogs. Time to change that since I've gotten to know so many people who do.

I have spent the last seven weeks in Las Vegas reporting on the World Series of Poker. I am leaving with mixed emotions because quite frankly I've loved every second of it. While I hear most of my colleagues and peers say how they can't wait for it to be over, I'm of the opposite frame of mind... I wish it would never end. The World Series took place over 47 days. I worked 40 of them. 40 of 46 if you consider the fact that I was off on the very first day of the World Series. I would have worked them all if they had let me.

I have had the good fortune of having done nothing but poker for a living over the past five years. Either as a player, a mentor, and know as a reporter, in some shape or form I have paid my bills through this wonderful game. That being said I have learned more about this game and the people that play it in the past 7 weeks then I have in the previous 5 years. It was one of the reasons I took the job in the first place... I wanted to see what the poker world was like... I looked at it not only as a job but as an educational experience.

The second thing it did was it made me realize how much I need to be playing rather then teaching or writing about it. I started out solely as player but over the course of time and because of opportunities that were presented to me I moved away from playing (not completely, but it was more a hobby then a profession). Watching people play for 7 weeks... I know I belong at the table and I know I can compete with any of these players. I saw mistake after mistake being made. Players getting tired and burnt out and making poor decisions. Gambling when gambling wasn't the best way to proceed. I'd see players make calls when I knew they were beat... only they didn't know they were beat.

So that's my goal now... to play in next year's World Series. Not just one or two events like I have in the past, but all the ones I want to play in. The problem I have is that I'm the kind of guy that lives in the moment which means I have little to start with. I had a small bankroll but recent situations in my life depleted that. So I am starting from scratch... well not completely, but close enough that it's going to be a lot of work to meet this goal. But I know I can do it. I've never lost over the long run in poker. I've been fortunate that way. Just three months ago as an experiment to prove to my students some concepts about bankroll management I turned $100 into $2700 solely playing $1 and $2 rebuy tournaments (I actually cashed in 18 straight at one point... it was sick). I had turned $500 into $8000 a year and a half ago before I was a victim of identity theft. So I know I can do it. I just have to do it.

That being said I still want to do some more tournament reporting over the course of the next year to fill in the blanks and provide myself a little security. I'm going to use this blog to talk about the trials and tribulations I go through. The good. The bad. And everything in between. I might even talk about stuff other then poker. But I doubt it. LOL.