Floating on Water

2011-02-04T16:36:00.003-05:00

Blah

Pretty disastrous week out here. Lost everyday at poker, didnt ski and internet was on the fritz all week. I did manage to go to the gym 3 days. Today I got up early and decided to attempt to right the ship. I went to the rental office to fix the internet situation, which appears to be resolved. I worked out pretty hard, had a healthy lunch and am now going to attempt a winning poker session.

Beard update: I got out the beard trimmer, because apparently my facial hair doesn't grow evenly. (lack of machismo?) So I begin evening it out and got a little carried away! Before these pics this was by far the most facial hair Ive ever had. Now Im back to a week of no sunlight and online poker in a cave look!

days skied: 6, skiing tomorrow but prolly taking sunday off for the Superbowl.

2011-01-31T13:36:00.002-05:00

WOW

We skied a couple more days this weekend. Saturday night we got 12-16 inches of fresh snow. The skiing sunday was awesome!! I have never skied in conditions like this. We skied on lots of bumps and in a bunch of woods trails, and everything was awesome. Better than I even imagined when I pictured skiing "out west." Im looking forward to more snow and more great conditions. I don't plan on missing many powder days the rest of the winter. The worst part about skiing on powder was the toll it takes on your legs. Today my legs are still jello and my whole body is aching.

I didn't play a single hand of poker this weekend. I plan to get back on track today, playing a bunch of hands and continue working on non holdem games.

Heres a couple of pictures of me and Sarah taking a breather in the powder

days skied: 6

2011-01-25T19:57:00.004-05:00

Let It Snow!!!

Headed out to ski today around noon, got about 10 runs in. I explored the back side of the mountain and found a bunch of cool areas. After getting dumped on in December there basically has been no snow in January, so the ungroomed stuff is very crispy on top. There is a ton of tree areas that I'm itching to ski through after it snows. Someone was saying they are forecasting a 10 ft storm at the beginning of February...we'll see.

Sarah and I tried a couple more local restaurants over the weekend; we went to Shogun, a sushi place, the food was ok, but it seems like a good spot to hang out. We were toast after skiing and basically ate and left. We also tried the Smokeyard BBQ in the village on Saturday night. I decided to go with the kobe ribs. Once the waitress brought them over I realized, why I never order ribs in public. I ate one rib and both my sides and brought the rest home. It would have been a disaster if I really went for it and crushed em!!

Poker has been going pretty good the last few days since getting "back to work." I have really been focusing on learning/ playing more games. Ive been studying and playing less tables, the results have been good. I still want to make sure I get a few hours of multi tabling limit holdem in to stay on pace of supernova elite, but no complaints on the poker front.

days skied: 4

2011-01-23T12:08:00.006-05:00

Partys Over

The last couple weeks I have been in transit, packing, moving, getting settled ect. but now everything is settling down and the poker grind is beginning again today. I plan on sitting around the house, cooking food and watching football while grinding some poker hands.

I skied 2 more times. Im still amazed at the temperature here, its a freaken ski mountain for gods sake. We normally take a couple breaks during the day, and hang out on one of the outdoor patio's for lunch and a snack. (this is McCoy Station a lodge about halfway up the mountain)

Sarah starts her new job tomorrow. This week I plan to join a local gym, grind a bunch of poker hands and ski one or two days. I have a season pass and I refuse to let them get the best of me so Im going to be skiing a bunch even if I only go for a half day. The closest lodge is less than a 2 minute drive from our place so there really is no excuse.

days skied:3

2011-01-20T21:10:00.007-05:00

Mammoth Mountain

Im going to attempt this blog thing again. Its been 18 months and a bunch has happened but Ill fast forward through. 2009 was a great poker year, 2010 sucked. I made elite on stars both years, and will make it again this year. I lived in Hermosa Beach for 12 months, back to Boston for 4 months and now Sarah and I are in Mammoth Lakes Ca at the base of Mammoth Mountain.

This attempt at blogging will have less poker and more skiing/ Mammoth nonsense. I would like it to end up being a guide to Mammoth. Listing all the things I like and don't like, including, skiing, dinning and partying. While Im here I plan to grind limit holdem online, as well as put in a bunch of work becoming better at both PLO and o8.

I landed in LAX tuesday around noon, drove the 5+ hour to Mammoth and picked up our condo keys. Tuesday was pretty low key as I was exhausted. Wednesday Sarah and I worked on setting everything up and getting this place habitable for the next 3 months. Gas, heat, groceries, driving around scouting the area and becoming familiar.

By nighttime we both had had enough "setting up" and decided to go out for dinner and a couple drinks. It was a Wednesday so we were not expecting anything amazing but still wanted to get a taste for the area. We went to Mammoth Brewhouse. I had 2 local beers both ok. I was on a Sam Winter kick for the past couple months in Boston, these didn't compare. We split the tuna apt which was great, and I had the the turkey pot pie, from the "locals favorites" section of the menu. I agreed, it was good.

Not many people there, so we headed out and decided to get one more drink on the ride home. We stopped at Grumpys, seemed like a fun spot. Ended up being the type of place thats great if you bring your own party. Lots of video games, pool table and stuff but pretty empty.

Headed on our way home anxious for our first day of skiing. I was amazed at the temperature! This place had more snow in December than any other resort mountain. But it hasn't snowed in January. The base lodge was 53 degrees, and the lift attendants had short sleeve shirts on. There is 4? or 5 base lodges and each one has an outdoor bar you can see when your loading any of the base lifts. California has a way of even making skiing an outdoor summer time paarty atmosphere!

This being my first time skiing west of Massachusetts, I didn't really know what to expect. I was disappointed with the snow. It was much better than East Coast skiing but I was picturing fluffy white powder shooting up every time I turned, that didn't happen. The weather was great. We took off a couple layers and still managed to break a sweat. I guess the temperature here can change dramatically based on the storm and where its originating from. At least that what they say!

working on my snowbeard:

Ill keep a running tally of days skied: 1

2009-08-05T14:23:00.005-04:00

Heading West

I played the WSOP Main Event and busted halfway through day 1. I drew a very easy table, and was able to chip up to 45k, from the starting 30k without really much resistance. I then started to lose chips when I picked up big hands and ran into better hands. In this type of event most players just are not putting there chips in without the mortal nuts, my bad. After busting I played cash games for a couple weeks and did pretty good.

Ive now been back home close to month and just grinding online a ton. I'm still chasing Supernova Elite on Poker Stars. For me to get this goal, I need to average 2000 hands a day for 365 days. I am currently about 8 days ahead of pace. But when I get to California I plan on playing live some of the time, so I'm trying to have a crazy August and try and get about 20 days ahead. All in all, I'm not in bad shape but need to continue grinding.

Sarah and I are moving to California in September. There really is no plans set in stone. But as of now, she accepted a 3 month traveling position. So the minimum stay is going to be 3 months, but I'm not selling my place in Boston. We haven't even figured out exactly where we want to live. But the 3 key points that where going to use when picking where we live are: her hospital, commerce casino and the beach. We are both willing to have a little drive to work if we can manage to rent something that's walking distance to a good beach spot. She has a couple options as far as which hospital shes going to be at, so once that's decided we'll be in touch with some rental places. (any insight as to places to or not live please leave in the comments or send an email)

I'm pretty excited for the trip. Glad we get to spend the rest of the summer here before heading out to California just as the weather is getting cold.

Being so far away and not getting to see everyone so often, I may try to get back into regular postings of new blogs, well see --Matt

2009-07-01T11:58:00.002-04:00

Long Time No Blog

Sorry its been a while since my last blog. Not too much exciting has been going on poker wise. I have been playing a ton on Poker Stars, trying to grind out SuperNovaElite. A big bonus system Poker Stars offers if you basically give up your life and grind hardcore online for one year.

Here is a breakdown for me halfway through the year:

450,307 VPPS (need 1 million for SNE)
286,775 Limit Holdem Hands
19,040 O8 Hands
3762 draw Hands
4014 PLO Hands
3149 Stud Hands
28.5 Hours Live Play

stuck a lot in tourneys/wsop sats, down a little in draw games, even in stud games, up in LHE, O8 and PLO. Overall not to happy with my results, have defiantly played when should not have just to grind hands/ hours/ VPPS

I am going to try and play better poker for the 2nd half of the year. The last couple of weeks I have been trying to go the gym before my first session instead of midday, which seems to have a positive result. I have also noticed my LHE suffers when I add in non holdem games to my 3-5 tables. I think I have been putting the holdem tables on auto pilot, which is bad when every pot is being battled for.

I am heading to Vegas Sunday and playing the Main Event Monday I will likely update here of my progress. I booked my room for 8 days, but might extend to 2 full weeks.

Anyway I am excited for the change of pace and to play the Main Event.

Matt

2008-11-20T13:30:00.006-05:00

Poker Dream

Back in the day when I first started playing these dreams were much more common, nowadays, they normally only occure after a marathon session or a monster loss. Neither happened yesterday so not really sure where this one came from...

---dreamworld----

playing heads up 100-200 stud/8 with an extra round of betting before third street, I am dealt 2 black aces and we raise back and forth ( we are playing with cash not chips), finally I six bet and he calls, third street I get the ace of spades, he gets a nine, I look back at my cards because I thought I had 2 black aces in the hole, when I look back up my oppont is running away from the table with his money (all bets included) in his hand...I am faced with the delema of having two ace of spades in my hand...end of dream

have at it Freud

-------

pics from a homemade feast last weekend

happy bday pops

2008-10-09T15:05:00.004-04:00

California Work and Play

Lets blog, its been a while…Im sitting here in the airport bar having breakfast, almost 2 hours before departure, my mom would be proud, not racing for the gate or missing my flight.

I just spent the last two weeks in California. The first week Sarah and I came out for SteveG’s wedding, and vacationing. We stayed Huntington Beach, which is a prett great area. The wedding was a few miles down the coast In Laguna Beach. A nice place for a ceremony overlooking the ocean. The highlight for me of the ceremony was little Steve being pulled down the aisle in a decked out wagon, by another little tike prolly twice steve’s age (maybe 2 years old)!!! After the ceremony the celebrating (boozing) really began. After numerous shots chased with jack and cokes it was time to take the limo back to our hotel. Somehow (mr danials fault) Sarah and I forgot we were supposed to share the limo ride back to Huntington and left someone behind at the beach resort…whoops. Apologies were given and all was good the next day. Where we reminisced over some beer and wings at Hooters, while we watched the first 2/3 of the football slate. We then returned to Steves house for the final game, but two long days of partying was taking its tole on me and I was ready to call it a day.

The next couple of days Sarah and I explored the coast a little bit. We went south a little bit past where the wedding was and walked a really nice hidden beach in Laguna called Victoria beach that Sarah read about it the ‘hotel book.’

We then moved our home base from Huntington to Commerce, quite a downgrade, but Commerce is the part of California that I have been to most and that’s where they play pokah!!! Sarah was unimpressed with the industrial jog around the smog filled buildings after being spoiled with the boardwalk jog on the Huntington Beach pier. The next day we drove north, through Santa Monica all the way up to Malibu where we had some beers and lunch at a beach bar before heading home to Commerce. Both nights we made it to downtown LA. It’s a pretty eerie feeling compared to Boston. In Boston the financial buildings are surrounded by bars and restaurants so even at night there is a constant flow of traffic and people. In LA everything is more spread out so the roads were almost dead at night, with the occasional car and rare cab driving by.

Our vacation was now over and Sarah was heading home, and I was going to work and play poker for the next week. I quickly got into a routine, where I would go to the gym, then play poker until I couldn’t keep my eyes open. Go to bed, rinse repeat. This went on for almost a week. There were a couple interruptions, mainly the Red Sox. I made it to Anaheim to watch game 2, where the Sox were able to pull out the win after slowly letting a 4 run lead slip away. Then meet a bunch of people to watch the Sox clinch it in game 4. Im glad I turned down several invitations to go ‘out’ during this week. In the past I would always jump at these chances, weather it be a dinner or ‘just drinks’ or whatever. I do not get a chance to play that much live poker and while I was in the poker mega of the world I wanted to play as many hours that I possibly could. All in all it was a good trip. I give some back the last night which kind of makes me mad, but the game was real good and I quit as soon as the spewtard monkey stopped peeling hundo’s off his roll.

Poker content-

-I got stacked with set under set a 10-20nl game for a little less than 3k, not sure I played it right or wrong, this was the last time I played this game while waiting for my limit holdem seat

-one of the things that tilts me most about commerce is when a player goes on a rush, wins a couple racks and immediately calls the chip runner to color ‘his chips up’ to bigger denomination chips, like hes basically locking up the win, taking chips off the table and just basically being a douche in my opinion

-commerce players, maybe all live players, LOVE 3 betting the flop and checking behind on the turn after they get checkraised on the flop---this lasted about 2 days before everyone began getting 4 bet on the flop

-another tilting thing about live poker, when waiting for a game and paying close attention to the board and game your wating for, then seeing a seat open and someone not on the list getting the seat in front of you…man I guess it’s the way of live poker and floor people and tipping and what not, but for gods sake Im sitting right there and that’s my dam seat

-theres prolly about a hundered other poker tales I can share but sick of typing and have this turkey sandwich and bloody mary waiting for me

2008-09-19T01:01:00.002-04:00

Pure Genius !

PokerStars Game #20519730522: Hold'em Limit ($10/$20) - 2008/09/19 0:54:45 ET
Table 'Graffias III' 6-max Seat #4 is the button
Seat 1: Darkman2000 ($87 in chips)
Seat 3: tv23 ($200 in chips)
Seat 4: SuitedAces ($576 in chips)
Seat 5: scottuga44 ($832 in chips)
scottuga44: posts small blind $5
Darkman2000: posts big blind $10
tv23: posts big blind $10

nice post in a 4 handed...

Holecards:
Dealt to SuitedAces [ ]
CHECK tv23:

ok, check your option

RAISE SuitedAces , $10 to $20

easy raise to isolate the post

CALL scottuga44, $15
CALL Darkman2000, $10
RAISE tv23, $10 to $30

limp reraise of the cutoff post ???

RAISE SuitedAces , $10 to $40

I dont buy that crap, kjo is the bst hand here.

>>>Betting capped
CALL scottuga44, $20
CALL Darkman2000, $20
CALL tv23, $10

Flop: (Pot: $160)
[ ]

NUTS!!!

CHECK scottuga44:
CHECK Darkman2000:
CHECK tv23:
BET SuitedAces , $10
CALL scottuga44, $10
CALL Darkman2000, $10
CALL tv23, $10

Turn: (Pot: $200)
[ ] [ ]

SHIP IT !!!!

CHECK scottuga44:
CHECK Darkman2000:
CHECK tv23:
BET SuitedAces , $20
FOLD scottuga44
CALL Darkman2000, $20
RAISE tv23, $20 to $40

huh ??

RAISE SuitedAces , $20 to $60

I dont buy it buddy, remember, you posted in the cutoff.

CALL Darkman2000, $17 and is all-in
CALL tv23, $20

River: (Pot: $357)
[ ] [ ]
CHECK tv23:
BET SuitedAces , $20
CALL tv23, $20

Showdown:
SuitedAces : shows [ ] (three of a kind Kings)
tv23: shows [ ] (two pair Aces and Kings)

ooops, you really did have aces after you posted in the cutoff and limp reraised!!!

SuitedAces collected $86 from side pot
Darkman2000: mucks hand
SuitedAces collected $309 from main pot

dont ever run bad suited !!!!!

SUMMARY:
Total pot $397 Main pot $309 . Side pot $86. | Rake $2

Board:
[ ]
Seat 1: Darkman2000 (big blind) mucked [ ]
Seat 3: tv23 showed [ ] and lost with two pair Aces and Kings
Seat 4: SuitedAces (button) showed [ ] and won ($395) with three of a kind Kings
Seat 5: scottuga44 (small blind) folded on the Turn

2008-09-05T13:15:00.001-04:00

'Tis the Season

2008-08-07T11:45:00.002-04:00

Limit Holdem

PokerStars Game #19430356539: Hold'em Limit ($10/$20) - 2008/08/07 - 11:37:42 (ET)
Table 'Chaldene III' 6-max Seat #1 is the button
Seat 1: SuitedAces ($816 in chips)
Seat 2: cv800 ($985 in chips)
Seat 3: mr doncki ($247 in chips)
Seat 4: KorotkoV ($364.50 in chips)
Seat 5: mfslmofi ($340 in chips)
Seat 6: G.C. King ($373.50 in chips)
cv800: posts small blind $5
mr doncki: posts big blind $10

Holecards:
Dealt to SuitedAces [ ]
FOLD KorotkoV
FOLD mfslmofi
FOLD G.C. King
RAISE SuitedAces , $10 to $20
FOLD cv800
RAISE mr doncki, $10 to $30
RAISE SuitedAces , $10 to $40
>>>Betting capped
CALL mr doncki, $10

Flop: (Pot: $85)
[ ]
BET mr doncki, $10
RAISE SuitedAces , $10 to $20
CALL mr doncki, $10

Turn: (Pot: $125)
[ ] [ ]
CHECK mr doncki:
BET SuitedAces , $20
CALL mr doncki, $20

River: (Pot: $165)
[ ] [ ]
BET mr doncki, $20
RAISE SuitedAces , $20 to $40
CALL mr doncki, $20

Showdown:
SuitedAces : shows [ ] (a flush Ace high)
mr doncki: mucks hand
SuitedAces collected $242 from pot

SUMMARY:
Total pot $245 | Rake $3

Board:
[ ]
Seat 1: SuitedAces (button) showed [ ] and won ($242) with a flush Ace high
Seat 2: cv800 (small blind) folded before Flop
Seat 3: mr doncki (big blind) mucked [ ]
Seat 4: KorotkoV folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 5: mfslmofi folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 6: G .C. King folded before Flop (didn't bet)

2008-07-18T12:24:00.001-04:00

Hit King

2008-04-09T15:58:00.002-04:00

GRRRRRR

Had a chance to win a WSOP seat today...basically just $12500 in cash because poker stars is not allowed to buy you in...1st prize is $12500, 2nd and 3rd are both just $1500...this was the key hand..

PokerStars Game #16606773597: Tournament #84039647 $2000+$100 Hold'em No Limit - Level X (400/800) - 2008/04/09 - 15:53:53 (ET)
Table '84039647 1' 9-max Seat #2 is the button
Seat 2: SweetT18 (10089 in chips)
Seat 8: IMRNBRGUNDY? (7499 in chips)
Seat 9: SuitedAces (9412 in chips)
SweetT18: posts the ante 75
IMRNBRGUNDY?: posts the ante 75
SuitedAces : posts the ante 75
IMRNBRGUNDY?: posts small blind 400
SuitedAces : posts big blind 800

Holecards:
Dealt to SuitedAces [ ]
RAISE SweetT18, 9214 to 10014 and is all-in
CALL IMRNBRGUNDY?, 7024 and is all-in
CALL SuitedAces , 8537 and is all-in

Flop:
[ ]

Turn:
[ ] [ ]

River:
[ ] [ ]

Showdown:
SuitedAces : shows [ ] (high card Ace)
SweetT18: shows [ ] (high card Ace - lower kicker)
SuitedAces collected 3826 from side pot
IMRNBRGUNDY?: shows [ ] (a pair of Nines)
IMRNBRGUNDY? collected 22497 from main pot

SUMMARY:
Total pot 26323 Main pot 22497 . Side pot 3826. | Rake 0

Board:
[ ]
Seat 2: SweetT18 (button) showed [ ] and lost with high card Ace
Seat 8: IMRNBRGUNDY? (small blind) showed [ ] and won (22497) with a pair of Nines
Seat 9: SuitedAces (big blind) showed [ ] and won (3826) with high card Ace

If I win this pot I am heads up with 25k-2k lead. sigh...

Results:
Holdem Hi: 1370754 enumerated boards
cards     win   %win      lose  %lose       tie   %tie        EV
As 6s  334037  24.37    989067  72.15     47650   3.48     0.255
9c Ad  282433  20.60   1040671  75.92     47650   3.48     0.218
Ac Kh  706634  51.55    616470  44.97     47650   3.48     0.527

2008-04-07T22:27:00.004-04:00

Cohasset By The Sea 10K

This weekend I tried to burn off some of the winter weight by running a local 10k race. I was reasonable happy with my 7:52/ mile pace.

2008-04-05T22:00:00.002-04:00

Nice Laydown

Pretty sick river fold getting 1464-1

PokerStars Game #16517126161: Hold'em Limit ($15/$30) - 2008/04/05 - 21:55:06 (ET)
Table 'Nerina' 10-max Seat #6 is the button
Seat 1: samanonadd ($787.50 in chips)
Seat 2: gwapes ($165.50 in chips)
Seat 3: TIMESHARE ($385 in chips)
Seat 4: bobvul ($824 in chips)
Seat 5: SuitedAces ($826 in chips)
Seat 6: goyangyi ($356 in chips)
Seat 7: Maverick Sr. ($749 in chips)
Seat 8: marchinvest2 ($4802 in chips)
Seat 9: fabsand ($952 in chips)
Maverick Sr.: posts small blind $10
marchinvest2: posts big blind $15
PokerJ: sits out

Holecards:
Dealt to SuitedAces [
CALL fabsand, $15
CALL samanonadd, $15
CALL gwapes, $15
CALL TIMESHARE, $15
FOLD bobvul
CALL ]SuitedAces , $15
CALL goyangyi, $15
CALL Maverick Sr., $5
RAISE marchinvest2, $15 to $30
CALL fabsand, $15
CALL samanonadd, $15
CALL gwapes, $15
CALL TIMESHARE, $15
CALL SuitedAces , $15
RAISE goyangyi, $15 to $45
FOLD Maverick Sr.
RAISE marchinvest2, $15 to $60
>>>Betting capped
CALL fabsand, $30
CALL samanonadd, $30
CALL gwapes, $30
CALL TIMESHARE, $30
CALL SuitedAces , $30
CALL goyangyi, $15

Flop: (Pot: $435)
[ ]
BET marchinvest2, $15
CALL fabsand, $15
CALL samanonadd, $15
RAISE gwapes, $15 to $30
FOLD TIMESHARE
FOLD SuitedAces
FOLD goyangyi
RAISE marchinvest2, $15 to $45
FOLD fabsand
CALL samanonadd, $30
CALL gwapes, $15

Turn: (Pot: $585)
[ ] [ ]
BET marchinvest2, $30
CALL samanonadd, $30
RAISE gwapes, $30 to $60
CALL marchinvest2, $30
FOLD samanonadd

River: (Pot: $735)
[ ] [ ]
CHECK marchinvest2:
BET gwapes, $0.50 and is all-in
FOLD marchinvest2
gwapes collected $732 from pot
gwapes: doesn't show hand

SUMMARY:
Total pot $735 | Rake $3

Board:
[ ]
Seat 1: samanonadd folded on the Turn
Seat 2: gwapes collected ($732)
Seat 3: TIMESHARE folded on the Flop
Seat 4: bobvul folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 5: SuitedAces folded on the Flop
Seat 6: goyangyi (button) folded on the Flop
Seat 7: Maverick Sr. (small blind) folded before Flop
Seat 8: marchinvest2 (big blind) folded on the River

2008-04-04T18:42:00.003-04:00

Limit Holdem

Ive been playing limit holdem like a mad man lately. Playing in the same games over and over I feel like Im really getting into the mindset of some of the regulars...heres 2 hands vs the same foe...

FullTiltPoker Game #5904534299: Table Maryland (6 max) - $15/$30 - Limit Hold'em - 12:51:54 ET - 2008/04/04
Seat 1: coltrane24 ($998)
Seat 2: ScooopIT ($1 801)
Seat 3: toomuchaction ($902)
Seat 4: NancytheNurse ($950)
Seat 5: TincaMarinca1 ($993)
Seat 6: poop912 ($200)
ScooopIT posts the small blind of $10
toomuchaction posts the big blind of $15
The button is in seat #1

Holecards:
Dealt to ScooopIT [ ]
NancytheNurse folds
TincaMarinca1 folds
NancytheNurse stands up
poop912 folds
coltrane24 folds
lifesgood88 sits down
ScooopIT raises to $30
lifesgood88 adds $300
toomuchaction calls $15

Flop:
[ ]
ScooopIT bets $15
poop912 adds $300
toomuchaction calls $15

Turn:
[ ] [ ]
ScooopIT bets $30
toomuchaction raises to $60
ScooopIT raises to $90
toomuchaction has 15 seconds left to act
toomuchaction folds
Uncalled bet of $30 returned to ScooopIT
ScooopIT mucks
ScooopIT wins the pot ($207)

SUMMARY :
Total pot $210 | Rake $3
Board:
[ ]
Seat 1: coltrane24 (button) didn't bet (folded)
Seat 2: ScooopIT (small blind) collected ($207) mucked
Seat 3: toomuchaction (big blind) folded on the Turn
Seat 4: NancytheNurse didn't bet (folded)
Seat 5: TincaMarinca1 didn't bet (folded)
Seat 6: poop912 didn't bet (folded)

then several hours later...

FullTiltPoker Game #5908161431: Table Farm (6 max) - $15/$30 - Limit Hold'em - 18:25:13 ET - 2008/04/04
Seat 1: dardai784 ($1 608.50)
Seat 2: ScooopIT ($371)
Seat 3: toomuchaction ($650)
Seat 4: powher ($617)
Seat 5: BadboyVegas ($611)
Seat 6: killinda_sts ($155)
killinda_sts posts the small blind of $10
dardai784 posts the big blind of $15
The button is in seat #5

Holecards:
Dealt to ScooopIT [ ]
ScooopIT raises to $30
toomuchaction calls $30
powher folds
BadboyVegas calls $30
killinda_sts folds
dardai784 folds

Flop:
[ ]
ScooopIT bets $15
toomuchaction calls $15
BadboyVegas folds

Turn:
[ ] [ ]
ScooopIT bets $30
toomuchaction raises to $60
ScooopIT raises to $90
toomuchaction has 15 seconds left to act
toomuchaction folds
Uncalled bet of $30 returned to ScooopIT
ScooopIT mucks
ScooopIT wins the pot ($262)

SUMMARY :
Total pot $265 | Rake $3
Board:
[ ]
Seat 1: dardai784 (big blind) folded before the Flop
Seat 2: ScooopIT collected ($262) mucked
Seat 3: toomuchaction folded on the Turn
Seat 4: powher didn't bet (folded)
Seat 5: BadboyVegas (button) folded on the Flop
Seat 6: killinda_sts (small blind) folded before the Flop

pretty sure his notes on me read "tight nit, always has it, dont ever pay him off"

then my notes on him are "agro monkey, never has it, loves to raise turn"

so until he catches me without it I will push the envelope..or maybe he will read this blog, then know, I don't always have it, in which case he will pay me off more, which I like, because in the end, I am a tight nit that almost always has it !!

2008-04-01T15:21:00.003-04:00

A New First

I just ran some errands down in Providence and have some time to kill, so I decided to attempt to be one of "those coffee shop people." I ordered my coffee popped a squat at a table with my laptop, surfing the web, reading this and that, yadda yadda yadda I am multi tabling a couple games of online poker. I have played in airports, cars, hotels, lobbys, but this is the first time Ive ventured into the coffee shop world. I am not too confident in the "free wifi" so Im playin off of my air card. I guess this is my first blog from a coffee shop too, but the blog would have never happened if I wasnt playing online poker and needed a window to toggle between so I could hide what I was really doing.

2008-03-27T09:04:00.010-04:00

Finally !!

I know, I know no blogs in a long time...so here goes some catching up. Since Arizona, I have been pretty busy. A bunch of us went to the Patriots final regular home game of the season.

pregame

In January I went to the Bahamas for the PokerStars WPT event. I busted out at the end of first day. Never really managed to get anything going, and finally made a stand and lost a race. But I guess if you are going to bust out of any tourney on the first day, you would want it to be in the Bahamas.

After busting the rest of the trip was spent relaxing durign the day and partying at night. Heres me and Sarah (shes the one double fisting)...

Katie and Justin
We all swam with the dolphins here...I was a whisker away from swimming in my birthday suit but was able to avoid disaster at the last minute..
Sometime after returning from the Bahamas, I went to Atlantic City, played a couple tourneys, including a super to the ME. I won a seat and made it to day 2 with average chips but never won a significant pot on the day and busted just before dinner break. Jesse made a deep run, but eventually had his Q Q snapped on day four busting with about 25 left.

After AC, I went to California for the LAPC. I onyl played 3 of the prelims and mostly cash games. Overall the trip was a loss after expenses and whatnot.

A couple weeks ago a friend of mine from college got married. Congrats Ryan. As far as poker goes, the last few months have been a disaster. I cant seem to get a hot streak going. I have been bouncing back and forth between NL and limit. I cant seem to win back to back weeks. The plan now is to grind small-mid limit holdem for the next 2 months (putting off NL for now) and see what I can do when I focus all my attention back to limit holdem. I am planning on going to the WSOP again this summer sometime June.

lets see if I can keep this blog a little more updated, with no trips or anything crazy planned the next couple months there is really no excuse except pure laziness!

2007-12-20T12:18:00.000-05:00

Arizona

Heres some pix from Arizona. Four of us went to play some golf and enjoy the sun ?!?!?

The first night there we visited Casino Arizona.

We played 2.5 rounds at Troon North.

One of the few fairways I split.

The first tee, where the bets are won and lost...

fareal ?

Brewer experiencing "desert golf"

The greens look soo small

Different can, same result

JV putting, again...

Aim at the 2nd cactus..yikes

One of my few birdies...

Pregame festivities at the Suns game

Playball...

Thats right, hold your head in shame Mr. Nash, cover the spread ONE TIME!!!

The last round was at "The Boulders" home of the famous Coyote Rule

"COYOTE RULE: If there is reasonable evidence that your ball was taken by a coyote and isnt found, place a ball on the spot from which the ball was moved, no penalty."

Really??? It says this on the back of the scorecard!

This round was a disaster!

Let me guess, in the desert ?

hmm, maybe snap hook this one...

Anthony drinking a Peroni on the patio, by the fire...

A fun trip overall. JV came out the big winner on the golf course, he clearly hit the ball better than us but could have been much more devastating if he could putt...

The final night we hit up a local bars in Scottsdale for some table hockey game, a Mexican restaurant and finally some club for some jagger bombs!!

2007-11-29T11:16:00.000-05:00

Bad Bad Beat

Absolute Poker has bad beat jackpot tables...I try not play at them because of the "extra rake" but anyway, here is the $323,000 jackpot hand....almost...

Stage #831973132: Holdem Normal $15/$30 - 2007-11-29 11:10:12 (ET)
Table: CONLEY AVE (Real Money) Seat #3 is the dealer
Seat 3 - JOWI ($711.75 in chips)
Seat 4 - BRUCEEATFISH ($452 in chips)
Seat 5 - SINDARELA ($750.50 in chips)
Seat 6 - KOHOB ($844.50 in chips)
Seat 1 - BIPSTER123 ($413 in chips)
Seat 2 - PRINCESAIF ($1034 in chips)
BRUCEEATFISH - Posts small blind $10
SINDARELA - Posts big blind $15
*** POCKET CARDS ***
Dealt to SINDARELA [ ]
KOHOB - Raises $30 to $30
BIPSTER123 - Folds
PRINCESAIF - Folds
JOWI - Folds
BRUCEEATFISH - Calls $20
SINDARELA - Calls $15

Flop:
[ ]
BRUCEEATFISH - Bets $15
SINDARELA - Calls $15
KOHOB - Calls $15

Turn:
[ ] [ ]
BRUCEEATFISH - Bets $30
SINDARELA - Calls $30
KOHOB - Calls $30

River:
[ ] [ ]
BRUCEEATFISH - Bets $30
SINDARELA - Raises $60 to $60
KOHOB - Raises $90 to $90
BRUCEEATFISH - Raises $90 to $120
SINDARELA - Calls $60
KOHOB - Calls $30

Showdown:
BRUCEEATFISH - Shows [ ] (Straight flush, nine)
SINDARELA - Mucks
KOHOB - Mucks
BRUCEEATFISH Collects $581.50 from main pot

SUMMARY:
Total Pot($585) | Rake ($3) | Jackpot Rake ($0.50)

Board:
[ ]
Seat 1: BIPSTER123 Folded on the POCKET CARDS
Seat 2: PRINCESAIF Folded on the POCKET CARDS
Seat 3: JOWI (dealer) Folded on the POCKET CARDS
Seat 4: BRUCEEATFISH (small blind) won Total ($581.50) HI:($581.50) with Straight flush nine [ - B:9s B:8s P:7s B:6s P:5s ]
Seat 5: SINDARELA (big blind) HI: [ Mucked ] [ ]
Seat 6: KOHOB HI: [ Mucked ] [ ]

« Hand #1753073

I thought we had won, but I guess its quad eights beat...this is about as close as you can get without winning...sigh

2007-11-24T16:17:00.000-05:00

Must Be Nice !

PokerStars Game #13443113194: Omaha Pot Limit ($5/$10) - 2007/11/24 - 16:08:25 (ET)
Table 'Srbija' 6-max Seat #4 is the button
Seat 1: DAVID971 ($333.50 in chips)
Seat 2: WES1032 ($764 in chips)
Seat 4: jamie2000 ($971.50 in chips)
Seat 5: NWA1103 ($562.90 in chips)
Seat 6: SuitedAces ($2355.90 in chips)
NWA1103: posts small blind $5
SuitedAces : posts big blind $10

Holecards:
Dealt to SuitedAces [ ]
CALL DAVID971, $10
CALL WES1032, $10
FOLD jamie2000
CALL NWA1103, $5
CHECK SuitedAces :

Flop: (Pot: $40)
[ ]
CHECK NWA1103:
BET SuitedAces , $30
FOLD DAVID971
FOLD WES1032
NWA1103 is disconnected
NWA1103 is connected
CALL NWA1103, $30

Turn: (Pot: $100)
[ ] [ ]
CHECK NWA1103:
BET SuitedAces , $80
RAISE NWA1103, $258 to $338
RAISE SuitedAces , $258 to $596
CALL NWA1103, $184.90 and is all-in

( in my head..."no diamond, no diamond, no diamond)

River: (Pot: $1218.9)
[ ] [ ]

(yes no diamond !!..wait a minute !!!!)

Showdown:
NWA1103: shows [ ] (a straight Ace to Five)
SuitedAces : shows [ ] (a straight Ten to Ace)
SuitedAces collected $1143 .80 from pot

SUMMARY:
Total pot $1145.80 | Rake $2

Board:
[ ]
Seat 1: DAVID971 folded on the Flop
Seat 2: WES1032 folded on the Flop
Seat 4: jamie2000 (button) folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 5: NWA1103 (small blind) showed [ ] and lost with a straight Ace to Five
Seat 6: SuitedAces (big blind) showed [ ] and won ($1143 .80) with a straight Ten to Ace

2007-11-16T15:35:00.000-05:00

It Just Doesnt Get Old

Just did my voting for "Postseason Moment of the Year" and this was it for me.

listen for the quote at the very beginning "lets just get one freaken run outa this"

how about this one, 27 seconds in, "I toldya baby, booooom!!"

2007-11-14T18:08:00.000-05:00

I like restaurants

Went out for Indain food last night, first time for me, ever. These Meat Samosas (spicy turnovers stuffed with minced lamb and spices) were basically the best appetizer Ive ever eaten.

(not actual samosas, well they actually are but not the actual ones I ate)
desert was pretty good too...Galub Jamun, deep fried wheat balls, soaked with syrup...basically warm munchkin's with glazed syrup on the plate.

2007-11-02T07:45:00.000-04:00

Ship IT !!!!

Sorry I haven't blogged for a while. The last couple weeks have been pretty crazy with the Red Sox amazing run!

At the beginning of the month I ran the Boston Half Marathon. My time (142:53) was a little slower than what I had aimed for. But I was pretty happy with the way I ran, and blame the time on a tough starting position which resulted in a slower start. I am already signed up for the Virgina Beach Half in March, and may do something else between now and then.

Somewhere in the middle of the month I won my seat to the Pokerstars EPT event in the Bahamas. So in January I will be heading to The Atlantis, which will most likely be the next live tournament I play.
A couple of weeks ago a friend of a friend was able to get 4 of us on to TPC Boston, in Norton. A pretty sick track! Fall is probably my favorite time of the year to play golf, then when you get to play a world class course it really doesn't get much better. My game was a little less than 'up to par' but my day was capped on the par 5 18th ( the hole tiger hit the massive 5 wood cut from the bunker this year). I hit my best drive of the day right next to the bunker tiger was in, leaving myself 230 to the green, 218 to the front edge and something just less to clear the marsh. Normally I would know better, and lay up and try to make birdie the traditional way. But I was goated into going for it, and crushed a 3 wood to the back of the green. Ended up making birdie which was a good for a flat on the hole...sigh sand baggers.
As far as poker goes, Ive been doing ok lately. I have been playing mostly small stakes NL. I think I have to continue to put in the hours and improve my NL game. There are just soo many more NL games online nowadays.

Anyway looking forward to the big matchup this weekend. GO PATS!!

2007-10-12T13:54:00.000-04:00

Cowboys and Indains

Great weekend coming up in Boston Sports, games 1+2 of Sox - Indians and then Sunday afternoon a battle of 5-0's when the Pats take on the Cowboys.(not even to mention the 4th ranked BC Eagles heading to South Bend to take on the Fighting Irish)...I predict an abundance of Miller Lite to be consumed as well a clean sweep !!

Tonight Im heading into Fenway section 135 about 60 rows behind the right handers batters box, so you can look for me on TV. (Ill be the kid with a sox hat on!)

For you fantasy sports fanatics out there a friend of mine recently launched his own fantasy sports site called Instant Fantasy Sports. The premise behind it, is that leagues only last one week, and drafts are run "sit n go" style for those familiar with poker sit n go's. I have played a bunch of these the last couple weeks and have managed to double my initial buy-in. The site seems to be crawling with fishes!!!! You should all check it out !!

As far as poker goes recently .... BLAAAAAHHHHHHHH !!!!!!!!!!!!

2007-09-25T16:12:00.000-04:00

Live Poker

Home from Atlantic City. Overall I was a small winner in the cash games but after you subtract hotel expenses, food/ dinners, and general spewing of money I ended up coming home with slightly less than I left with.

Although this trip was far from a gigantic success I plan on playing a lot of live poker in the next few months. My next trip will be Commerce in a couple weeks.

In my final session this trip I played one hand that really really pissed me off. I opened in early position with 88, a MP fish calls and a solidly playing BB calls. The flop comes J92 rainbow, I bet they both call. I am pretty sure the fish has nothing and is just peeling with whatever cheese he called me with preflop. The turn comes a 4 making the board J92(4), I bet, the fish folds and the BB calls. As soon as he calls I feel like he has a pair and is not folding, but unlikely to have a jack because he would have riased me at some point. So now the river comes off an ace, and it goes check check. ugh as soon as I checked I am pissed at myself..before I even see his hand, I am ready to jump off a bridge for not betting this river. Now I am waiting for him to show me his f***en nine and him scooping the pot. (If I bet this river, with my tight/ solid image, he would be hard pressed to now call with 3rd pair on this ace high board.) Luckily for me he shows me 66 and my 88 takes the pot. I guess this is just a nuance of not playing a lot of live poker and completely blowing a hand. Although I got lucky and didn't lose the pot, I made a major error that I hope I can correct/ eliminate by getting in more and more live hours and capitalizing on many basic real obvious live tells.

The next couple of weeks I plan on hanging out in the Boston area, watching the Red Sox hang on and win the AL East. I am also running a half marathon on October 7th so I will hopefully continue training and put up a solid time.

2007-09-17T13:47:00.000-04:00

65% - 35%

I have been Atlantic City for about a week now. My laptop died before I left so I decided I was going to do the trip without any computer...that lasted about 4 days before I drove to BestBuy and picked up this laptop. Things are going ok down here, Im up a little in cash games, up a little online and cashed in the 530 WCOOP event yesterday for 3k to put me slightly ahead in tourneys for the last week. Kind of a funny bustout hand...I got it in with 9 high flush draw, but it turns out I was against a smaller straight flush draw.

PokerStars Game #12104622785: Tournament #70000005 $500+$30 Hold'em No Limit - Level XVIII
(4000/8000) - 2007/09/17 - 02:32:23 (ET)
Table '70000005 418' 9-max Seat #7 is the button
Seat 1: El RubioII (287573 in chips)
Seat 2: stormi22 (197053 in chips)
Seat 3: DalmatinacST (777520 in chips)
Seat 4: TheMasterJ33 (188267 in chips)
Seat 5: AB_illusive (336481 in chips)
Seat 7: ukgatsby (1626317 in chips)
Seat 8: tkap243 (531111 in chips)
Seat 9: SuitedAces (258272 in chips)
El RubioII: posts the ante 800
stormi22: posts the ante 800
DalmatinacST: posts the ante 800
TheMasterJ33: posts the ante 800
AB_illusive: posts the ante 800
ukgatsby: posts the ante 800
tkap243: posts the ante 800
SuitedAces : posts the ante 800
tkap243: posts small blind 4000
SuitedAces : posts big blind 8000

Holecards:
Dealt to SuitedAces [ ]
>>>Vlekski [ observer ] said, "nh"
RAISE El RubioII, 13000 to 21000
FOLD stormi22
FOLD DalmatinacST
FOLD TheMasterJ33
FOLD AB_illusive
>>>tkap243 said, "ty"
CALL ukgatsby, 21000
>>>tkap243 said, "ul"
FOLD tkap243
CALL SuitedAces , 13000

Flop:
[ ]
wrecker is connected
CHECK SuitedAces :
BET El RubioII, 55000
FOLD ukgatsby
RAISE SuitedAces , 97000 to 152000
RAISE El RubioII, 113773 to 265773 and is all-in
CALL SuitedAces , 84472 and is all-in

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

cards     win   %win      lose  %lose       tie   %tie        EV
6c 5c     343  34.65       647  65.35         0   0.00     0.346
9c 7c     647  65.35       343  34.65         0   0.00     0.654


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

Turn:
[ ] [ ]

River:
[ ] [ ]

Showdown:
SuitedAces : shows [ ] (a pair of Sevens)
El RubioII: shows [ ] (a straight Four to Eight)
El RubioII collected 546344 from pot

SUMMARY:
Total pot 546344 | Rake 0

Board:
[ ]
Seat 1: El RubioII showed [ ] and won (546344) with a straight Four to Eight
Seat 2: stormi22 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 3: DalmatinacST folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 4: TheMasterJ33 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 5: AB_illusive folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 7: ukgatsby (button) folded on the Flop
Seat 8: tkap243 (small blind) folded before Flop
Seat 9: SuitedAces (big blind) showed [ ] and lost with a pair of Sevens

If i did win this hand I would have been in pretty good shape with 150 people left. But I cant really complain as this was the fourth time my chips were all/mostly all in and I won them all, AK > QQ, AJs >KQ, JJ>AK.

Not really sure when I am heading back north. If there continues to be games in the poker room during the week I may stay until Friday or Saturday, but if the action is gone I may be making the trek north tomorrow.

2007-08-31T15:44:00.000-04:00

HELP !!

3rd post in the same day, def a personal best...

I need a new desktop, want to be able to play 2-4 games, watch a dvd, run poker tracker, surf the web, ect all at the same time...this is what I have so far...

ThinkCentre A55 Tower - 1 Year Depot Warranty

	Intel® Core™ 2 Duo E6700 Processor (2.66GHz 1066MHz FSB 4MB L2)
	Genuine Windows XP Home Edition^[12]
	Mechanical Package Tower 4x4 no FDD
	4GB PC2-5300 SDRAM (2 DIMMs)^[8]
	ATI Radeon X1300 256MB ( S-Video,DMS-59)
	500GB Hard Disk Drive, 7200RPM Serial ATA^[4]
	DVD Recordable with WinDVD Software^[23]
	Integrated Gigabit Ethernet
	1 Year Limited Warranty

anything lacking ? anything I dont need and never will ? any reason not to go with lenovo ?

2007-08-31T13:16:00.000-04:00

Why

are there no mirrors in the restroom of some bars ?

2007-08-31T11:12:00.000-04:00

Reason 11023...

why I love limit holdem

Seat 1: tasty poop ($2899.50 in chips)
Seat 2: fwilliams007 ($2778 in chips)
Seat 3: Donald ($492 in chips)
Seat 4: badactuary ($1433 in chips)
Seat 5: bucky7444 ($1296 in chips)
Seat 6: SuitedAces ($1125 in chips)
Seat 7: goldiefish ($1694 in chips)
Seat 8: PokerJ ($2043 in chips)
Seat 9: MyAGame777 ($1545 in chips)
Seat 10: 42DD ($1401 in chips)
bucky7444: posts small blind $15
SuitedAces : posts big blind $30

Holecards:
Dealt to SuitedAces [ ]
FOLD goldiefish
FOLD PokerJ
FOLD MyAGame777
FOLD 42DD
FOLD tasty poop
FOLD fwilliams007
FOLD Donald
FOLD badactuary
CALL bucky7444, $15
CHECK SuitedAces :

Flop:
[ ]
BET bucky7444, $30
RAISE SuitedAces , $30 to $60
CALL bucky7444, $30

Turn:
[ ] [ ]
CHECK bucky7444:
BET SuitedAces , $60
CALL bucky7444, $60

River:
[ ] [ ]
CHECK bucky7444:
BET SuitedAces , $60
CALL bucky7444, $60

Showdown:
SuitedAces : shows [ ] (high card Ace)
bucky7444: shows [ ] (a pair of Sevens)
bucky7444 collected $417 from pot

>>>bucky7444 said, "nh"

SUMMARY:
Total pot $420 | Rake $3

Board:
[ ]
Seat 1: tasty poop folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 2: fwilliams007 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 3: Donald folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 4: badactuary (button) folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 5: bucky7444 (small blind) showed [ ] and won ($417) with a pair of Sevens
Seat 6: SuitedAces (big blind) showed [ ] and lost with high card Ace
Seat 7: goldiefish folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 8: PokerJ folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 9: MyAGame777 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 10: 42DD folded before Flop (didn't bet)

post hand banter...

bucky7444: nh
SuitedAces: u2
bucky7444: tnk

2007-08-30T11:55:00.000-04:00

Broken Computer, Misclicking and Running Goooood

My desktop is about 5 years old and has completely died. During the past couple years small things have been going and eventually the other day it kicked the bucket and is no longer with us. RIP. So lately I have been playing on my laptop, which is very small and I use a touch pad. Anyway I have made several (maybe 3 or 4) miclicks recently. After I misclick I try to rationalize it in my head. If I call a $60 raise preflop with 29 offsuit, Im not really throwing away 60 bux. Since this has has some value( the flop could come 229), I have some chance to win the pot. And hopefully the hand is not as bad as 29offsuit!! And then since I have been playing a ton of omaha 8, most hands have some value closer to zero vs -60. Anyway here is my first good misclick !!

Seat 1: partyall9 ($4823.50 in chips)
Seat 2: Pukalin ($2215 in chips)
Seat 3: silverlion99 ($1155 in chips)
Seat 4: fantasia23 ($2288.50 in chips)
Seat 5: SuitedAces ($655 in chips)
Seat 6: Herke83 ($1737.50 in chips)
Pukalin: posts small blind $15
silverlion99: posts big blind $30

Holecards:
Dealt to SuitedAces [ ]
RAISE fantasia23, $30 to $60
CALL SuitedAces , $60

MISCLICK !!

FOLD Herke83
FOLD partyall9
CALL Pukalin, $45
CALL silverlion99, $30

Flop:
[ ]
CHECK Pukalin:
CHECK silverlion99:
BET fantasia23, $30
CALL SuitedAces , $30
CALL Pukalin, $30
FOLD silverlion99

Turn:
[ ] [ ]
CHECK Pukalin:
BET fantasia23, $60
RAISE SuitedAces , $60 to $120
FOLD Pukalin
RAISE fantasia23, $60 to $180
RAISE SuitedAces , $60 to $240
>>>Betting capped
CALL fantasia23, $60

River:
[ ] [ ]
BET fantasia23, $60
CALL SuitedAces , $60

Showdown:
fantasia23: shows [ ] (two pair Jacks and Sevens)
SuitedAces : shows [ ] (a full house Deuces full of Sevens)
SuitedAces collected $927 from pot

SUMMARY:
Total pot $930 | Rake $3

Board:
[ ]
Seat 1: partyall9 (button) folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 2: Pukalin (small blind) folded on the Turn
Seat 3: silverlion99 (big blind) folded on the Flop
Seat 4: fantasia23 showed [ ] and lost with two pair Jacks and Sevens
Seat 5: SuitedAces showed [ ] and won ($927) with a full house Deuces full of Sevens
Seat 6: Herke83 folded before Flop (didn't bet)

2007-08-13T20:45:00.000-04:00

Satellites are Stupid

Played a 150 satellite for tonights 1k FTOPS on Full Tilt. I was second in chips with 8 left, 7 people getting seats. I was 99% sure I could fold my way in...

Full Tilt Poker Game #3244391789: Satellite to FTOPS Event #7 (24731721) Table 5 - 500/1000 Ante 125 - No Limit Hold'em - 20:42:01 ET - 2007/08/13
Seat 1: ScooopIT (15 710)
Seat 2: Thoralf (8 065)
Seat 4: rdcrsn (20 475)
Seat 5: Pimpn8ntEzE (2 677)
ScooopIT antes 125
Thoralf antes 125
rdcrsn antes 125
Pimpn8ntEzE antes 125
Thoralf posts the small blind of 500
rdcrsn posts the big blind of 1,000
The button is in seat #1

Holecards:
Dealt to ScooopIT [ ]
Pimpn8ntEzE folds
ScooopIT folds

then the very next hand...

Full Tilt Poker Game #3244394182: Satellite to FTOPS Event #7 (24731721) Table 5 - 500/1000 Ante 125 - No Limit Hold'em - 20:42:14 ET - 2007/08/13
Seat 1: ScooopIT (15 585)
Seat 2: Thoralf (7 440)
Seat 4: rdcrsn (21 350)
Seat 5: Pimpn8ntEzE (2 552)
ScooopIT antes 125
Thoralf antes 125
rdcrsn antes 125
Pimpn8ntEzE antes 125
rdcrsn posts the small blind of 500
Pimpn8ntEzE posts the big blind of 1,000
The button is in seat #2

Holecards:
Dealt to ScooopIT [ ]
ScooopIT folds

wish me luck in 1k tonight!

2007-08-09T15:56:00.000-04:00

Round and Round

Since beginning my recent PLO run I have bragged to a couple friends that I have quaded out a couple times, when we got it all in on the flop and I had a smaller set...well I was just 'quaded out' on for the first time...

Full Tilt Poker Game #3201721674: Table Fisher (6 max) - $5/$10 - $400 Cap Pot Limit Omaha Hi - 15:42:26 ET - 2007/08/09
Seat 1: wannaabe ($3 137.50)
Seat 2: DRGN1 ($1 422.50)
Seat 3: Class V ($743)
Seat 4: xianggangdao ($526.90)
Seat 5: ScooopIT ($1 019.50)
Seat 6: kerendream ($1 114)
wannaabe posts the small blind of $5
DRGN1 posts the big blind of $10
The button is in seat #6

Holecards:
Dealt to ScooopIT [ ]
Class V folds
xianggangdao has 15 seconds left to act
xianggangdao folds
ScooopIT raises to $35
kerendream calls $35
wannaabe has 15 seconds left to act
wannaabe folds
DRGN1 calls $25

Flop :
[ ]
DRGN1 checks
ScooopIT bets $110
kerendream folds
DRGN1 raises to $365, and is capped
ScooopIT calls $255, and is capped
DRGN1 shows [ ]
ScooopIT shows [ ]

cards           win   %win      lose  %lose       tie   %tie        EV
Qs Td 8d Jh     128  15.61       692  84.39         0   0.00     0.156
Ks Jc Jd Kh     692  84.39       128  15.61         0   0.00     0.844

Turn:
[ ] [ ]

he increases his equity ??? NO !!

Omaha Hi: 40 enumerated boards containing Js Ts Tc 3h
cards           win   %win      lose  %lose       tie   %tie        EV
Qs Td 8d Jh       1   2.50        39  97.50         0   0.00     0.025
Ks Jc Jd Kh      39  97.50         1   2.50         0   0.00     0.975

River:
[ ] [ ]

DRGN1 shows four of a kind Tens
ScooopIT shows a full house Jacks full of Tens
DRGN1 wins the pot ($837) with four of a kind Tens

SUMMARY:
Total pot $840 | Rake $3
Board:
[ ]
Seat 1: wannaabe (small blind) folded before the Flop
Seat 2: DRGN1 (big blind) showed [ ] and won ($837) with four of a kind Tens
Seat 3: Class V didn't bet (folded)
Seat 4: xianggangdao didn't bet (folded)
Seat 5: ScooopIT showed [ ] and lost with a full house Jacks full of Tens
Seat 6: kerendream (button) folded on the Flop

2007-08-04T19:58:00.000-04:00

Just When I Thought...

life couldnt get any better, they go ahead and do something like this!!!

2007-08-02T11:43:00.000-04:00

THEN

& NOW

btw, poker is going great, on a super heater...life is goood

(as you can see I figured out how to embed videos...expect more)

2007-07-23T22:11:00.000-04:00

Et Mon

A true classic !

2007-07-22T08:37:00.001-04:00

Nips

I was on my way to play golf Saturday morning (about 10am) and stopped at my liquor store for a case of miller lite, as the girl is ringing me up, I decide to get 4 cigars from behind the counter. As shes handing them to me a guy in line behind me says "you know you shouldn't smoke." I turn and look at him like, ehh whatever buddy, and head for the door...I look back and hes buy 4 plastic nips

2007-07-16T15:28:00.000-04:00

Thats It

Yesterday I watched Shaniac's Final table at the Bellagio Cup where he finished fourth, then heard the news that a friend Ray Henson just busted from the Main Event in 12th place. I went to bed unsure what I was going to do today. But after I woke up around noon and the maid was in the kitchen (today is the final day in the house) and I had 3 missed phone calls from the car rental place (car is over a week late), it feels like time is up. Anyway I just booked my flight and I will be sleeping in Beantown tonight.

2007-07-12T01:17:00.000-04:00

Busted

Just busted, built my stack to 200-205k at its peak, then down to 61 at dinner for my low. After dinner I doubled up then won a few small pots to get to 173K, before losing them all to Christian Toth in one hand. I guess I should have folded to his river bet of 113k, but Im a fish. I raised preflop with QQ he called, the flop came 963 I bet he raised I called, the turn was a Q I bet he called, the river was a king I bet he raised all in, I called. He had Jack Ten for the straight. Looking back I think he played the hand very very well. Anyway here are a couple pictures taken seconds before the hand and seconds after the hand.
I have 173,000 he has 173,300. (notice all my ante chips!!! <<< robbery)

Does he have to point and laugh ??

2007-07-10T11:23:00.000-04:00

Trigger Pulling

Probably the best way to describe my day 1. My stack on was in constant motion. I bluffed and raised more than I ever have. It was fun, and I think close to optimal in this soft WSOP field. I played many many more pots than I normally do, and this led to a few mistakes but looking back I am happy with my overall play. Anyway I ended the day with 97,400 (average around 55K), I have tuesday off before I head back to war on wednesday. A tuesday BBQ and maybe a nap is in my future...

good luck everyone playing today!

2007-07-07T17:50:00.000-04:00

Main Event

Good luck to everybody playing! I am starting on day 1d, which is monday at noon. I dont plan on leaving my house between now and then...I have had a crazy vegas week here, need to detox and rest up for Monday.

you can follow the action on poker news

2007-06-24T19:32:00.000-04:00

Hitting the Wall

I guess I realized I hit the Las Vegas/poker wall when I ran out to pick up subway this morning (4pm) and realized subway is in the same parking lot as the Henderson gym I joined at the beginning of my stay. When I first got to Vegas I bought a 30 day membership and was a frequent visitor going about 10 out of the first 14 days here. But in the last week I have not been once. I have played more tourneys, getting my total for the series to 6 events. In the begging I was skipping most events, working out, playing cash games and running real well. But lately I have been losing in the side games, busting my mini-online bankroll and becoming increasingly frustrated in my tournament results.

I am skipping the 1500 half/half event today and just going to hang out at the house. I am going to try to start fresh tomorrow for the stretch run in Vegas. I am going to attempt to get a good night of sleep, hit the gym, restocking the fridge, and playing some cash games tomorrow and hopefully I can right the ship and get back on track before the main event on July 6th.

---

side note: our fantasy teams for the 50k Horse event can be found on Jesse's blog

2007-06-16T04:10:00.001-04:00

Tourneys are EZ

two 1st's in the same week...

maybe I should be trying one of these WSOP things, maybe if I get up in time tomorrow, 1500nl.

2007-06-09T14:04:00.000-04:00

Almost a week!

I have been in Vegas for almost a week now. Ive played two events, the 1500 limit holdem, and the 2k no limit. In the limit event, I picked up a bunch of big hands early and lost with most of them, sending me to the rail in the 3rd level. In the 2k no limit, I built a big stack and was cruising all day until 11pm, when I was priced in to call with JJ and lost a big flip to AK, then minutes later I lost a bunch of chips with 55 on a 742 flop. I managed to survive with my now short stack for another hour or so but finally busted when my 6-2 wasnt able to run through jack-ten sooted. I was sent to the rail with about 190 left, paying 150.

Other than live tourneys things have been going pretty well out here. I have played 2 sessions of 100-200 holdem and scored nice wins in both sessions. Along with a good win in a 60-120 BOTA session.

Yesterday I decided to take the day off from the strip and we grilled and hung out by the pool at my house, before the mandatory home game broke out. The mix was about nine games (except limit holdem). I managed to squeak out a small win when I sucked out in a capped plo pot, when my bottom set, flush draw got out on middle set...life is good. After that I ran 4 small buyin tourneys on stars including the 77 6max tourney that I snapped off and won!

Today Im heading down the strip, I plan on playing live for most of the day then registering for the 5k limit event tomorrow, should be a smallish tougher field, but Im looking forward to a limit holdem event with 10k starting chips. Wish me luck!

2007-05-31T18:14:00.000-04:00

World Series of Poker 2007

Its finally here. As a kid, I would want all year for Christmas, then as I grew older and went to school you would wait for summer break, in college you wait for spring break/ spring week, and now as a poker player, you wait for World Series time. As Jesse Martin coined it last summer it is "Summer Camp" for adults.

April was a disaster for me, May began much of the same, but somehow the last couple weeks things turned around and it ended up much better than it could have been. Im glad to be heading west on a little upswing.

I just booked my flight and will be heading to Vegas Sunday night to play my first event which will be the $1500 limit holdem event Monday morning. Im not sure of how many events I will play, but Im guessing somewhere in the 8-12 range, including the main event. I am looking forward to a fun summer of poker, golf, and "exploring" what Vegas has to offer...

2007-05-11T11:14:00.000-04:00

Queen of clubs, Queen of spades

The last thoughts that ran through my head, as I busted out of the foxwoods 3k deep stack event yesterday. I have made it a point to memorize my suites when playing live poker so I will not ever have to look back down. I have 62k in chips, a middle position player opens for 15k, someone flat calls and I move in, average is just less than 100k at this point with ~75 players left. The first raiser calls and the second player folds 99 face up. I am unable to fade a king on the flop and his KJ prevails, sending me back to Boston.

I really feel like I played well yesterday, never getting too involved and building my starting stack of 30k up to 120k at its peak. My first big pot came when I opened 10-10 in late position for 9k and the button moved in for 42k. I had to call 33 more with about 25 dead in the middle. I really didnt want to call because I had a big stack and loved my table. I had climbed from 70k to 120 without ever risking much. But getting almost 2-1 I called and he instantly asked me if I had "two overs?" Before this had time to sink into my head, he flips over 2-2, I am like duh I have 2 overs, maybe you should be more concerned if I have a pair ??? Anyway he wins the "race" with a deuce on the flop for close to 100k and Im back to an average stack struggling for survival.

Your options are much more limited when you dont have any extra chips in these tourneys. When I was double average I managed to get involved with a couple of the weaker players and pick up the pots when they gave up. But now being shortstacked I just had to wait for a playable hand, queen of clubs, queen of spades...

2007-05-09T22:45:00.000-04:00

I OWN PRESIDENTS !!

Two rounds in the last couple days at Presidents Golf Course in Quincy, my nines were, 38-40, 45-37....lost one ball and it wasnt on the hole I made an elevan...F* swinging and missing from under a tree branch...

First time Ive broken 80 since summer of 05 ??? shooting some solid splits makes me want to play more...

----

Im sick of paying off the gutless nut peddler omaha players....

Full Tilt Poker Game #2390220274: Table Webb (6 max) - $5/$10 - Pot Limit Omaha - 22:36:36 ET - 2007/05/09
Seat 1: fairwead ($443.50)
Seat 2: umbomito ($1 314)
Seat 3: berdyfish ($400)
Seat 4: PLOPLO ($1 624)
Seat 5: ScooopIT ($732.50)
Seat 6: bryantward ($507)
ScooopIT posts the small blind of $5
bryantward posts the big blind of $10
5 seconds left to act
berdyfish is sitting out
Time has expired
The button is in seat #4

Holecards :
Dealt to ScooopIT [ ]
fairwead calls $10
umbomito folds
PLOPLO folds
ScooopIT calls $5
bryantward checks

Flop:
[ ]
ScooopIT checks
bryantward checks
fairwead bets $30
ScooopIT calls $30
bryantward folds

Turn:
[ ] [ ]
ScooopIT checks
fairwead checks
berdyfish has returned

River :
[ ] [ ]
ScooopIT bets $90
fairwead raises to $360
ScooopIT has 15 seconds left to act
ScooopIT folds
Uncalled bet of $270 returned to fairwead
fairwead mucks
fairwead wins the pot ($267)

SUMMARY :
Total pot $270 | Rake $3
Board:
[ ]
Seat 1: fairwead collected ($267) mucked
Seat 2: umbomito didn't bet (folded)
Seat 3: berdyfish is sitting out
Seat 4: PLOPLO (button) didn't bet (folded)
Seat 5: ScooopIT (small blind) folded on the River
Seat 6: bryantward (big blind) folded on the Flop

2007-04-27T15:54:00.000-04:00

No Wheel ??????

Seat 1: SuitedAces ($1200 in chips)
Seat 2: G.C. King ($642 in chips)
Seat 3: mortimer755 ($150 in chips)
Seat 4: lillafoose ($801.50 in chips)
Seat 5: quietman ($673 in chips)
Seat 6: DDoL ($288 in chips)
G.C. King: posts small blind $10
mortimer755: posts big blind $15

Holecards:
Dealt to SuitedAces [ ]
FOLD lillafoose
FOLD quietman
FOLD DDoL
RAISE SuitedAces , $15 to $30
CALL G.C. King, $20
CALL mortimer755, $15

Flop:
[ ]
CHECK G.C. King:
CHECK mortimer755:
BET SuitedAces , $15
CALL G.C. King, $15
CALL mortimer755, $15

Turn:
[ ] [ ]
CHECK G.C. King:
CHECK mortimer755:
BET SuitedAces , $30
RAISE G.C. King, $30 to $60
CALL mortimer755, $60
RAISE SuitedAces , $30 to $90
RAISE G.C. King, $30 to $120
>>>Betting capped
CALL mortimer755, $45 and is all-in
FOLD SuitedAces

River:
[ ] [ ]

Showdown:
G.C. King: shows [ ] (a pair of Tens)
mortimer755: mucks hand
G .C. King collected $432 from pot

Seat 3: mortimer755 (big blind) mucked [7h 6h]

I got owned here, well played sir....

2007-04-26T12:40:00.000-04:00

Audible

This past weekend was a ton of fun. On Friday I saw an incredibly Red Sox comeback (maraino who ???), Saturday went to a BBQ and again the Sox didnt disappoint, and finally Sunday night the Sox completed the sweep as I witnessed back to back to back to back homeruns!!!

Monday I was going to get back on the horse and start grinding some poker again...I always tend to do better if I make a game plan for myself...heres kinda how its been going...

mon
ok, lets multi table 15-30 limit holdem, play a zillion hands for the next 6 weeks and just make money
result +peanut shells

tues
this is kind of boring, why cant i just grind like I used to ?
result +more peanut shells

wed
maybe lets play fewer tables with some heads up, and 3060 and 50100 mixed in
result lost the shells and a little white meat as well (also began season 4 for 24)

thurs
havent played but im thinking fewer tables, nothing bigger than 3060
results coming soon

-----

with only a few days left in the month, I am looking at having my first losing month in the last 7 or 8...nothing drastic, but the winning months havent been anything spectacular either. (times sure have changed since the multi tabling party 100-200, swinging 20k a day) Not sure of my plans this weekend, but I may try to get this month into the black, which would be good for team morale.

2007-04-20T11:01:00.000-04:00

TILT

Yesterday was a pretty crazy day. I planned to run a bunch of errands in the morning, then go to the gym, then play poker at night. As a general rule the games during the day are not as good as they are night. But things didnt go exactly according to plan. I woke up around 11, was eating breakfast while screwing around on the web for a bit, checking email, fantasy sports seeing who was still alive at Bellagio, standard morning crap....then I saw the Sox were playing at 1230.

At this point I decided to delay the start of my day and play some poker and watch the game. Well as things would have it, I lost, lost, and lost more. It didnt really matter what I played I just couldnt win a hand. By about the fifth inning I began to really get steamed up. Probably the worst tilt I have experienced in a long long time. Anyway by about five oclock, I had to get out of my apartment, I decided to just go for a jog, instead of the gym or the errands I had planned. Man I was in a complete daze, even during the run outside in the fresh air, I was not there...if I could only harness my energy for good!

After getting home, cooking dinner, showering, and relaxing a bit, I decided to give a stab to a couple nightly tourneys. When those failed (obv you idiot you had no chance, duh), I realized today was not my day and I was hopeless. It was sometime after midnight that I crawled into bed and escaped my life and joined the journey of Jack Baur, as I made it through about 8 hours of Jacks life (season 3 midnight - 8am).....

---

going to take a couple of days off from poker, as the yanks are in town and I have tickets to the game tonight and sunday, and am planning to meet some friends tomorrow for miller lites to watch the game...GO SOX!

----

EDIT: anyone that played mario bros 1 way back in the day must watch this video on Terrance Chans live journal...keep the sound on!

2007-04-19T00:47:00.000-04:00

WSOP

Played 4 tourneys tonight, 100 rebuy, nightly 320, 33 rebuy WSOP Satellite, and Double Shootout WSOP Satellite. I quickly busted out of the 100 rebuy and the 320. But managed to win my first table of the Shootout while building up chips in the 33 rebuy. While waiting for the other tables to finish we began play of the final table of the 33 rebuy (only 1 seat given out). Two final tables, could I win two seats?? (trust me, two woulda been great, but I would be happy with one!)

I was about average chips in the 33 rebuy, but eventually busted out in 5th. Now to focus on the shootout. I lost some of my chips early, but picked up AA just in time to double up and get a rally going. When got down to 4 handed I was chip leader. I then lost some chips in a SB vs BB contest. Eventually we got down to heads up and I was slightly down in chips, but the blinds were still small enough that I felt comfortable. I slowly chiped away, and got a pretty good lead. I had a chance to win with QT vs Q4, on a QJ9 board, but when the 9 paired we chopped. He battled back to get it close to even, but eventually when I flopped bottom two pair vs his top pair on the 24J flop, I ended it, and won my WSOP seat! sweet....

2007-04-16T23:46:00.000-04:00

Super Sunday ...almost

Played some tourneys yesterday, bubbled in the morning 100 rebuy, busted in stars zillion just just before the money, not really bubbling because there were still 1400 left and need to get real deep to make it worth while. But then it began to get exciting...

I had doubled pretty early in the 500$ FTP tourney and was top 5 in chips the whole way, meanwhile, my horse was building a big stack in the stars biggie and was top 30 with about 100 to go. I had visions of a big payday coming soon, with ~60 percent of my him, and my stack at FTP there were sugar plums in dancing in my head. But all was for not, as my friend busted short of anything substantial and I ended up busting around 25th on FTP. I guess anytime I play the "sunday circuit" and go to bed ahead I should be happy because it is pretty standard to spew buy in after buy in and never snif paydirt. tourneys ....

----

Congrats to Jesse Martin who just won the 2500 Bellagio Event.

-----

I cant bitch about bad beats for at least 3 days as I just had this suckout for 8k...

*** FLOP *** [4h Ks 7s]
thaaj2004 joins the table at seat #6
little dino: checks
SuitedAces: bets $158
little dino: raises $474 to $632
SuitedAces: raises $1422 to $2054
little dino: raises $3372.50 to $5426.50 and is all-in
SuitedAces: calls $1860 and is all-in

SuitedAces collected $7986 from pot

2007-04-11T03:48:00.000-04:00

SICKO ...

sorry havent posted in a while, the longer i wait the more have to write about, which will take more time which makes me not want to write, shitty cycle...but anyway, things have been going well, finally on somewhat of a roll online the last couple of months, which is good, been playing mostly limit holdem, with some tourneys and pot limit omaha mixed in...

i just played the biggest online pot ive ever played (possibly???)...i noticed during this session that when out of position after calling a flop bet very rarely could i call a turn bet unimproved, (i normally raise/folded the flop) so i decided at some point i was going to play a big hand slow out of position, and hope they could/would fire a second barrel...

Seat 1: badboypony ($3988.60 in chips)
Seat 3: hamsa ($1727.75 in chips)
Seat 6: PDX-JMc ($2120 in chips)
Seat 7: IURichard ($3725 in chips)
Seat 8: SuitedAces ($4123 in chips)
SuitedAces: posts small blind $10
maroni: is sitting out
badboypony: posts big blind $20
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to SuitedAces [5d 7h 8c Ac]
hamsa: calls $20
PDX-JMc: folds
IURichard: raises $70 to $90
SuitedAces: calls $80
badboypony: raises $290 to $380
hamsa: folds
IURichard: calls $290
SuitedAces: calls $290

we are all deep enough i dont mind taking a flyer here, this could be a mistake, im still learning the game...position is sooo important.....

*** FLOP *** [Qc 6c Tc]

gin :>

SuitedAces: checks
badboypony: bets $460
IURichard: calls $460

if i raise here i will probably lose any future action, and/or have to fold if the board pairs on the turn

SuitedAces: calls $460
*** TURN *** [Qc 6c Tc] [Jh]
SuitedAces: checks
badboypony: checks
pkrmlln joins the table at seat #4
IURichard: bets $2538

whooot !!! a clean turn and he potted it !! life is goooooood...

SuitedAces: raises $745 to $3283 and is all-in
badboypony: folds
IURichard: calls $347 and is all-in
*** RIVER *** [Qc 6c Tc Jh] [6h]

*note - i cant see his cards at this point*

here im thinking "HOLY SHIT THE BOARD PAIRED IF I LOSE THIS HAND IM NEVER PLAYING STARS AGAIN OMG OMG I REALLY MEAN IT THIS TIME IM NEVER EVER PLAYING ON POKER STARS AGAIN!!!!"

*** SHOW DOWN ***
SuitedAces: shows [5d 7h 8c Ac] (a flush, Ace high)
IURichard: shows [2s 7c Ks Kc] (a flush, King high)

phew, false alarm, he had a flush and he was drawing dead....

SuitedAces collected $8308 from pot

SHIP THE BREAD TO FRED!!!!

2007-03-06T17:11:00.000-05:00

ImAnIddiot

flying home tonight..a fun profitable trip is over...

2007-02-26T19:06:00.000-05:00

Quick Exit

Arriving at my new table, I see the same guy to my left that had AA vs my KK yesterday. And as it would turn out he would seal my fate. The tenth hand of the day, I opened for 6k from the cutoff with AA, and he flat called on the button. I was hoping one of the blinds would attempt some kind of squeeze play here, but they both folded. Based on my play with Edvin Davoudi, he knew I was pretty solid and normally not too far out of line. The flop came Q-10-2 with two spades, I had the two black aces. I lead at the pot for 8k, and he called. I had ruled out QQ and TT based on his preflop action. So when the turn came a red seven, I checked it to him, knowing he is a fairly aggressive player and would likely make a stab at the pot. He obliged and bet 16k, I had 57k total, and decided to move in for 41k more. He thought for a while (much like he did with KK the previous night) before finally calling and showing me pocket two's for a flopped set. I hate tournaments....

2007-02-26T04:19:00.000-05:00

Johan Storakers'ed

Made it through day 2 today. I finished with 75k with the average being slightly less than 100k.

The day turned out to be a day of making key folds. After folding about 10-15 hands I finally picked up AQ, ace of clubs and raised from first position. The small blind, who hadn't played a pot yet either, called my raise. The flop came Q75 with two clubs, he checked I bet 3500, he made it 8500 to go, I called the 5k in position. The turn brought the jack of clubs, giving me a flush draw, to go with top my top pair top kicker. With the pot close to 25k, the SB moved his remaining 30k. I decided to dump the hand and move on. Seems like top pair is never good in this spot.

Shortly after this pot, I was in the BB and it was folded to the fairly active aggressive SB, who also was in the habit of flashing me one of his cards!!! The benefits of the normally uncomfortable 4-7 seats!!! He shows me the Q of diamonds, then limps in the SB. Now that I have seen one of his cards, I need to see what I got. I look down at two eights, and put in a little raise in position, he insta calls with his Q-?. The flop comes Q-x-x, we both check, the turn he bets out 2100 or something, and I insta fold...this hand had to look a little funny to the table who was unaware of my hole card knowledge!

I was able to fairly quickly rebound from my slow start and build my stack to slightly over 80k, when I was moved to a new table. This table featured "Bodog Ari" who raised virtually everypot, literally everypot!

One of the few pots he didn't open, was folded to me in the SB where I locked down at two kings, I raised, the BB reraised, and I moved him in. He called, and showed me to two aces, to cripple my stack to 25K.

Luckily I picked up AK 3 out of the next 5 hands, with Ari putting chips in the pot, and folding to my reraise shove. And I was quickly back up to 40k. I slowly chiped up to slightly over 50k, when I could have gotten the break I needed to build a big stack!

In th 800-1600 level, I opened the pot to 4800 with two tens from the hijack seat, the cutoff makes it 11200 to go, and now Johan Storakers, decides to make the three bet reraise squeeze !!! I was defiantly calling the first raise, but now with the normally tight Storakers putting in the third raise my tens couldn't stand the heat and had to be put in the muck. The player to my left, agonized but eventually wasn't able to bring himself to lay down his pocket kings. Storakers was in bad shape when his 3-4 was unable to improve on the ten high flop !!!! Man if he could only lay down that 3-4 one time and let me take a flop, I would have surely gotten most of, if not all my chips in and had over a 100k with my set vs KK.

From that pot on, I was able to win a few small pots and end the night with 75K. Play begins tomorrow at 330Pacific, there is around 175 left, paying 54...wish me luck, 2.2million would make for a fun summer in Boston !!!

2007-02-25T07:07:00.000-05:00

End of Day 1

I made it through day one with an above average stack..About 400 players remain of the original 790, I have 62k with average just less than 40. There were a couple interesting hands, but I am exhausted and ready for bed...

2007-02-24T17:18:00.000-05:00

The Sickness Continues

Well, after spending a couple weeks here in LA, the Main Event begins today, and once again a shelled over the two 5k pink chips for my seat. This year I did sell a couple small pieces of myself but none the less I will be playing the LAPC Main Event in a little over an hour. Action can be followed on pokerwire, cardplayer, pokerpages and probably a few other media sources.

2007-02-17T13:09:00.000-05:00

What Coulda Been

Day 2 of the 2500 Limit Event started with two short handed tables. My stack beginning the day was 30k, placing me in 10th place of the remaining 13 players. I blinded down a little before my first big hand took place. A small stack, an aggressive player limps utg in a 5 handed game, this set off warning bells in my head immediately but decided to call the 2 chips from the SB with 23 of hearts. The flop came perfectly 239 and I was able to bust his QQ and chip up to 45k. Within minutes we were redrawing for the final table as two players busted quickly from the other short table.

At the final table I had Joe Sebok on my right. He opened the very first pot from the cutoff and I reraised him on the button with QJ of diamonds. He immediately check folded the flop. But this was just the beginning of my battles vs Mr Sebok, as we played numerous big pots throughout the final table. With him ultimately having the last laugh.

Play at the final table was fairly snug, without many big pots being played. I lost a couple sb vs bb battles to Ralph E Porter AKA "Rep", before making a stand vs Cyndy Violette. She had been playing fairly tight, but I decided to call her button raise out of the BB with 9-10. When the flop came Q-9-x with 2 hearts I decided to make my stand with my remaining chips. I was able to fade her flush draw and double up while crippling her.

A little while later my pocket kings sucked out on Rep's AQ on the A high flop when the king spiked on the river. Then after a few small pots and another confrontation with Joe Sebok I was now chip leader with 6 remaining. But as things go at a short stacked final table, no lead is safe. When we got down to 4 handed, Rep and Sebok had 80% of the chips with Glen Cozen and I sharing the remaining few chips. I had a slight lead at this point over Glen and both of us were hoping the other would get involved in a confrontation with one of the big stacks. Eventually Rep put the nail in the coffin eliminating Glen in 4th place, in a SB vs BB battle.

Now that we were 3 handed with 525k in chips in play, and I only had 21k, with Rep and Joe fairly even. I posted 8k in the BB, Rep raised Joe called in the SB, and I reraised 5 more chips with 94 of clubs. Somehow my 94 sooooooted was able to beat of AJ and 88 and I was back in business. I turned those 63 chips into 170K over the next several orbits. I was now in second place ahead of Joe by about 40K. But all was for not as I lost a couple pots, and made my final stand with Ace Ten vs Joe's K10, but the king on the flop sealed my destiny.

Starting the day I guess I would have been happy climbing up the ladder to finish 3rd but once you get that far and don't win it leaves a very bitter taste in your mouth. If my 9-4 had lost I think I would have left much happier but to build a big stack 3 handed and not be able to finish is a very frustrating. I beat 102 people to earn 23k, but to beat one more I would have earned 25k more (48 total), and to beat two more I would have gotten 75k more (97 total). So as you can see all the money in these events go to the winner and when you have a chance to close to door everything must be done to secure victory.

---

Today I plan on playing the 1500 limit event, even though I am not completely over last nights defeat.

2007-02-16T07:58:00.000-05:00

Deep In $2500 Limit Event

Were down to the final 13 people heading into day 2 of the $2500 limit holdem event. Average Chips is 44k, I have 30k. Blinds are 1k-2k playing 2-4k.

Midway through the first level, a local highstakes player on my right was trying to get someone to cross book with him. After being turned down by everyone in the room, I offered him a last longer. Feeling this tourney is much smaller than the games he normally plays, plus he was up all night, so hopefully he would just give up if things didnt go his way immediatly. Well my 5k offer was not enough for him, he countered with a 20k last longer. I was pretty sure I could have sold off peices of my action, but the bet would have been big enough to make him play his "A" game (which I didnt want). Midway through level 2 he finally got some cross book action going with someone else and now asked me if I would still make the last longer bet. He now had enough action going where this tourney wasnt a total bore for him. He had me slightly outchipped, but I still felt I was a favorite, and got him to lay me 6k for 5k. We both remained fairly close in chips for the next several levels, one scare for me, but I was able to chip up and avoid elimination....he busted shortly after the table broke....ahh life is good...wish me luck tomorrow.

2007-02-15T07:46:00.000-05:00

Finally !

Today I booked my first substantial winning session of the trip...probably the only reason this blog is being written. I guess I am not really in the mood to write when I am losing day after day. I have been playing 40-80 mixed games, 60-120, 1-2 and 2-4 holdem. I am still losing for the trip but at least have some confidence back after a solid win today.

some interesting hands....

200-400 holdem, the fish limps UTG, the cutoff raises, I flat call on the button with KJ of hearts, the small blind calls, and Johnny Chan three bets in the big blind, we all call ... nothing else of interest in hand, other than Chan sitting for a while while he was waiting for his 2million -4million mixed game

40-80 mix 2-7, I raise with 2357 get two callers, I make a wheel after the second draw, I bet, get called then raised, I three bet both call, river I bet and get raised again, after about 6 more bets, we realize we both made the nutz ...

60-120 holdem, 4 limpers, the cutoff raises, I three bet on button with AA, everyone calls, cutoff caps, flop comes down Q high, we cap it again, monster pot is built, by the river only three of us are left...cutoff and I both have aces and chop....booorrring

ahh thats all for now, Im tired and ready for bed...I think I am going to play the 2500 limit event tomorrow...prolly a small tough field but seems like the only events I ever build chips in are limit holdem, so I may stick with what I have had some success with.

2007-02-10T17:21:00.000-05:00

PayDirt

My flight out to cali, pretty much could not have been worse. The Long Beach Flight was delayed coming out of Boston. Once finally on the plane, my seatmate was a gigantic dude, who decided the armrest (plus a few inches on my side) were all his. Luckily I was able to sleep against the window for a few hours. But the six hour flight was a little over seven due to "crossing the jet stream twice." At least that's what my friendly monster next to me said. His dad was a pilot, his uncle was a pilot, his grandfather was a pilot (you get the picture), he knew everything, just ask him.

I played the first limit holdem tourney on Friday. I was pretty disappointed with my table draw. There was only one person I had not played with in a cash game before. Normally you can hope to get some low limit clueless (non aggressive) people, but this wasn't the case. Luckily for me the cards did better than break even and I was able to survive the turnover and by the fifth or sixth level some of the better players had been eliminated and replaced with some of the random donkey's I was expecting to begin with.

We finally got down to the money around 1am, with average stack a little over 20k, I had 19k so was in decent shape. But once in the money I did not win another pot. Playing 1k-2k your survival is dependent on winning almost every pot you play. Anyway my KK went down to A6s, 77 down to KK, AQ was forced to check fold, and finally my KT was unable to hold off Q8. Anyway, spending almost 12 hours playing this tourney was well worth the $255 of pure profit.

Good luck today to Feming Chan who is still alive in the final 13 players...

2007-02-08T09:44:00.000-05:00

Birthday Blog

Sorry for the long delay between blogs, for some reason I really have not been in the mood to blog. There was one blog I had in the works, then my camera crashed and erased all my crazy ski weekend pictures, so that blog was all for not...anyway...

This is the anniversary of "when it all began." I am walking around my apartment, doing laundry, looking for matching socks, charging my DVD player, looking for extra contact lenses...all the things that I do before leaving on a long trip. It was one year ago, that I wrote my first blog before leaving on this same trip to sunny California for the LA Poker Classic. Again I am very excited about this trip. Lately it has been brutally cold in Boston, so a blast of warm air and some golf could be just what the doctor ordered!

Lately I have been on a hot streak playing online poker. I had back-to-back losses at the end of January that were very big, but besides those two sessions, I have not had any other major setbacks since the first of the year! And overtime it has become obvious that the best way to make money online, is to plug away and book lots of small wins, opposed to taking shots and going for the big score.

This possible run of good fortune may be partly do to my workout regimen. I have been training for the Shamrock 1/2 Marathon on March 18th. I always feel like I play better poker when I am working out and running, and lately I have run more miles than ever before. I feel strong and confident about putting up a solid time in March Race.

While in Cali, I plan on playing some golf, playing some tourneys (not as many as in the past), and mostly cash games. The WSOP circuit event in San Diego is only a 5k event (opposed to 10k in the past) so I may make the trek down there at the end of the month. I would also like to play the LAPC Main Event, but I think I am done directly buying into these events since my track record pretty much sucks. Events played around 10, direct buy-ins around 6, cashes 0, so while everyone deserves to splurge a little and have fun, I don't think this "hobby" is worth 60k+ a year.

more updates to come from the flip side ...

2007-01-21T07:37:00.000-05:00

Old School Style

2007-01-17T17:51:00.000-05:00

The First Rule of FightClub ....

Dont talk about fight club!

From January 2nd through the 15th I played poker 8 days (fewer than norm) and went to bed a winner 8 times. Nothing big or crazy but pretty cool to start the year off with a little winning streak. But as the world turns, all good things must come to an end...and I dropped a wrapper yesterday. Was kind of strange too because I was aware of my winning streak but just really didnt feel like battling and battling. In the past I would get in one of those lose 1 zillion or win 80 bux modes...definatly not a smart thing, but I think any gamblorer has been there and experienced the chase to become winner. Maybe Im maturing ??? Unlikely...

---

This past weekend a bunch of us (15 or so at peak) went skiing aka 3 days of binge drinking and watching football. The ski conditions were pretty bad. Only blue squares and green circles, or whatever the really flat non steep trails are called were open. But besides the skiing there was plenty of canned miller lites, and lots of good football games. A good time that has become MLK weekend tradation, some highlights this year inlcluded karaoke, barefoot shotguns, cranium, plenty of grilled meats and The Pats!!!

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misclick of the week ....

Full Tilt Poker Game #1621827054: Table Everback (6 max) - $30/$60 - Limit Hold'em - 17:46:13 ET - 2007/01/17
Seat 1: AceFromSpace ($1,755)
Seat 2: zoozax ($4,199)
Seat 3: ahrimaster ($4,842)
Seat 4: CHAOS_77 ($4,799), is sitting out
Seat 5: ScooopIT ($1,950)
Seat 6: eleform ($1,672)
eleform posts the small blind of $15
AceFromSpace posts the big blind of $30
The button is in seat #5
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to ScooopIT [9h 5s]
zoozax folds
ahrimaster raises to $60
ScooopIT calls $60
eleform folds
AceFromSpace folds
*** FLOP *** [5h Jd Ad]
ahrimaster bets $30
ScooopIT calls $30
*** TURN *** [5h Jd Ad] [9c] (joker joker joker!!!!)
ahrimaster bets $60
ScooopIT raises to $120
ahrimaster calls $60
*** RIVER *** [5h Jd Ad 9c] [3d]
ahrimaster checks
ScooopIT bets $60
ahrimaster calls $60
*** SHOW DOWN ***
ScooopIT shows [9h 5s] (two pair, Nines and Fives)
ahrimaster mucks
ScooopIT: lol
ScooopIT wins the pot ($582) with two pair, Nines and Fives
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $585 | Rake $3
Board: [5h Jd Ad 9c 3d]
Seat 1: AceFromSpace (big blind) folded before the Flop
Seat 2: zoozax didn't bet (folded)
Seat 3: ahrimaster mucked [Jc Kc] - a pair of Jacks
Seat 4: CHAOS_77 is sitting out
Seat 5: ScooopIT (button) showed [9h 5s] and won ($582) with two pair, Nines and Fives
Seat 6: eleform (small blind) folded before the Flop

obv misclick preflop, overcome by my expertise postflop ... NH Matt

2007-01-11T16:16:00.000-05:00

Toys

I bought the Nike+ to plug into my Ipod and track my running distance/ time. In the past I have used a website that offers GPS tracking to meausre my runs. Here is the GPS version of my run:

Using my uncalibrated Nike+ here is my running totals:

At the end of my run I didnt realize the Ipod was locked and I was not able to stop the clock, hence the reason for the dramatic drop in running speed. I also stoped a little earlier then the map shows; as soon as I crossed the bridge and reached city square it was time to walk it in...

---
skiing for the weekend...go Pats !!!!

2006-12-30T14:59:00.000-05:00

2006 Year in Review

It was almost one year ago to the day, a couple friends and I were driving our golf carts from the "halfway cafe" to the 10th tee at the Michael Jordan Golf Course in the Bahamas, drinking our Miller Lites, smoking our twenty something dollar cigars and eating some of the grossest hot dogs one could find. Life was good. While traveling with poker players the conversation inevitably turns to poker. Anyway it was on this tenth tee when we talked about our results for the previous year and what we saw happening in the year to come. It was my third full year playing poker and I had said that I made more each year, both of my playing partners said the same, they too had made more money every year since they began playing poker. We pretty much agreed that things should continue to get better in the future. Well that was about all I needed to secure the jinx.....

lets see if I can remember some of the year's highlights....

Jan
-Bahamas WPT event, made day 2 w/ good chips, lost bunch of races early, John Pham trapped me, busted in time to catch some sun
-JV 3 puts from 12 feet for eagle in big skin carryover, $500 extra birdie golf match, he did make a nice par though

Feb
-WPT @ Commerce, made it to day two, low chips, they had assigned the tables for day 2 by first name, I think I had 7 Matt's and 2 Mike's at my table...busted early
-played first live session of Badagi/ triple draw +10k, beginners luck obv
-played highest holdem Ive ever played, 600-1200, only had 1/2 my own action, takeover owns me (obv), small loss over 2 sessions

March
-WPT @Foxwoods, busted day 1, never got anything going
-Foxwoods has the crappiest limit holdem games in the country, tough to start a 40-80 game

April
-Trip to AC, vowing to learn to play better O8, booked a little win for trip

June/July
-WSOP begins, got a house in Henderson, sharpen my pool skillz
-Don't cash in any events, obv huge tourney donk
-Save my trip with a hot run on party
-Manage to have enough cash to blow in Vegas by having a winning trip in the 80-160 to 200-400 mixed games

Aug
-Shit hits the fan, first significant losing month in poker career, party poker 100-200
-Bought Rental Property in Dracut

Sept
-More of the same, another big losing month
-Senate Majority Leader Frist passes bill to attempt to stop online poker/ banking/ gambling

Oct/Nov
-pretty much living life on perma tilt
-Party Poker closes it doors to US customers
-WPT @ Foxwoods, no chance
-Struggle through entire Foxwoods trip, end up blowing a good chunk of change mostly the last 2 days
-sometime during this two month stretch I manage kick myself in the balls and attempt to get my act together
-finally have a little winning streak online to end out November

Dec
-solid month, playing a zillion hands between 10-20 and 30-60

summary: I suck at tourneys. Year end totals were down from 2005, and pretty close to my totals in 2004, but I have far from perfect records, which needs to change in the future.

---

2007 Resolutions/ Goals

Poker
-Keep better records
-Study/ learn tourney poker opposed to just dishing out thousands of dollars trying to learn on the fly
-Continue working/ studying other forms of poker, especially no limit cash games

Fitness
-Run a sub 1:50 half marathon
-Bench my weight, 3 sets of 8
-play 25 rounds of golf

General
-Get involved in another piece of positive cash flow real estate
-Read 10 non poker books
-Continue to keep an active blog
---

Anyway, thanks for reading and Happy Holiday's to all !

2006-12-20T17:46:00.000-05:00

Reemergence of Limit Holdem

This is just a 15-30 hand, but these types of hands used to be the the norm not the exception...

PokerStars Game #7529453921: Hold'em Limit ($15/$30) - 2006/12/20 - 17:19:40 (ET)
Table 'Venus V' 10-max Seat #6 is the button
Seat 1: all aces ($529 in chips)
Seat 2: Dano 21n ($1087 in chips)
Seat 3: slipknot3323 ($572.50 in chips)
Seat 4: matty14 ($584 in chips)
Seat 5: Which ($1905 in chips)
Seat 6: orly63 ($234 in chips)
Seat 8: SuitedAces ($880 in chips)
Seat 9: SIVLA ($650 in chips)
Seat 10: huypham111 ($1656.50 in chips)
SuitedAces: posts small blind $10
SIVLA: posts big blind $15
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to SuitedAces [Kh Kc]
huypham111: raises $15 to $30
all aces: folds
Dano 21n: folds
slipknot3323: folds
matty14: calls $30
Which: folds
orly63: folds
SuitedAces: raises $15 to $45
SIVLA: folds
huypham111: raises $15 to $60
Betting is capped
matty14: calls $30
SuitedAces: calls $15
*** FLOP *** [2c 9c 2s]
SuitedAces: checks
shenan55 has returned
huypham111: bets $15
matty14: folds
SuitedAces: calls $15
*** TURN *** [2c 9c 2s] [Qd]
SuitedAces: checks
huypham111: bets $30
SuitedAces: calls $30
*** RIVER *** [2c 9c 2s Qd] [6d]
SuitedAces: bets $30
huypham111: calls $30
*** SHOW DOWN ***
SuitedAces: shows [Kh Kc] (two pair, Kings and Deuces)
huypham111: mucks hand
SuitedAces collected $342 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $345 | Rake $3
Board [2c 9c 2s Qd 6d]
Seat 1: all aces folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 2: Dano 21n folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 3: slipknot3323 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 4: matty14 folded on the Flop
Seat 5: Which folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 6: orly63 (button) folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 8: SuitedAces (small blind) showed [Kh Kc] and won ($342) with two pair, Kings and Deuces
Seat 9: SIVLA (big blind) folded before Flop
Seat 10: huypham111 mucked [6c 4h]

I guess I could have put it another raise, but as it turned out, I probably got the max.

2006-12-19T16:39:00.000-05:00

Running Bad

Ive been on a little hot streak the last 10 days or so in poker. Nothing significant monetarily but a pretty solid bb/100 number so it looks like I wont be living on the street come Christmas...

---

Anyway with the holidays approaching Ive been busy doing a bunch of errands and stuff that I have to take care of. Today I got my car inspected (about 3 months overdue), then decided to make my inaugural trip to the mall to begin my Christmas shopping. I live about a 15 minute walk/ 5 minute drive so 9 out of 12 months I probably make a visit about once every couple weeks BUT come Thanksgiving and sales and blah blah blah, I stay the F*** away. But anyway today I ventured into the overcrowded parking lot, and circled for a while before finding a lady coming out the door that I would follow to her car (pretty sick but I guess this is how you get a spot around this time of the year). Anyway after she loads her bags, fixes her hair, puts on her sunglasses, checks her mirrors, looks both ways, she is ready to go!! Ahh a spot at last. Now I'm walking around through the masses of people looking like a chicken with my head cutoff, knowing I need to buy so many gifts and knowing I don't want to come back but don't know what to buy anyone, or what stores to go to. Finally I decide to hit up BestBuy, where if nothing else I can get some DVD's for me (not very festive but hey, its Tuesday and that's when the new releases hit the shelves). Upon reaching the front door, I see the big metal gate is lowered, I walk up and read the sign, "Store Closed, Due to a broken pipe and a water leak." Ugh, possibly the busiest shopping week of the year, and Best Buy is closed at 2 in the afternoon! I wonder how Best Buy (BBY) stockholders feel about this ? That is truly running bad!

2006-12-14T17:35:00.000-05:00

The "Would Ya?" Blog

Lately poker has been pretty blah...I read Maroons blog a while back and he mentioned your theoretical rake back on stars went way up once you reached supernova status, so for the last couple weeks Ive been playing a zillion hands on there. Mostly 15-30, some 10-20 and 30-60. For some reason I have more trouble winning on this site than any place else in the world. I'm beating the 10-20 and 15-30 pretty soundly...and obv getting crushed in the 30 game. But I did achieve Supernova status yesterday, which is good through all of 2007.

-----

I was recently picked up off the waiver wire in a men's street hockey league. I made my debut last night, scoring a goal and an assist, but it wasn't enough as we lost 6-4.

----

off topic...waaay off.....Not really sure when the phrase "Would Ya" first popped into my vocabulary, but I think the original story was a few friends and I were out somewhere and a marginally attractive girl was across the room and someone said, "would ya?" Being the first time these words were uttered in my presence, we all checked out the specimen and replied with our answers. Anyway since its origination, this phrase has been uttered countless times by someone. Recently this phrase was applied to an onslaught of Movie/TV milfs. Some of the favorites include, Selma from Fools Rush In, Demi Moore from Strip Tease, Carmelo from Sopranos, Jill Taylor from Tool time, Cheryl Hines from Curb Your Enthusiasm, Carrie from King of Queens and Elaine from Seinfield. Then once the question was inevitably answered "yes." Then debate continues...with some headsup battles...Selma in her peak vs Demi in her peak ? (I know this is getting juvenile but I don't care, its my blog, I make the rules) KoQ Carrie vs Seinfield Elaine, current or peak...Soprano's Carmella vs Cheryl Hines...Rank them...yadda yadda yadda this go on for ever...anyway good times

2006-12-06T12:25:00.000-05:00

Stick Practice

With my 28th birthday just around the corner and my physical peak rapidly declining I decided to follow in the footsteps of Jesse Martin and start playing some sports again. I had played hockey through high school and decided I would try to find a street hockey league in the Boston area. When scouring the web I couldn't find a league to join, but I stumbled across "Stick Practice" at HockeyTown USA in Saugus. This is an open sheet of ice where you can go skate, shoot and attempt to get your skating legs back. Today was my first day skating in 3 or 4 years...and it showed !

Anyway, while there I was talking to this guy, who says they play a pickup game 3 times a week in Stoneham the Home of Olympic figure skater Nancy Kerrigan. So maybe after a few more times attempting to regain some of my skating skillz I may go and play a little competitive hockey.

Also on a side note, HockeyTown has indoor wiffle ball and street hockey leagues, with a wiffle ball Home Run Derby December 17th. Mark your calenders!!

2006-12-06T12:18:00.000-05:00

LuckBox

Im in the midst of a (1500-2k hands) no-limit session....
Seat 1: FatalError ($296.25 in chips)
Seat 2: billyjex ($1200 in chips)
Seat 4: SuitedAces ($591 in chips)
Seat 5: stacysmom ($609 in chips)
Seat 6: macay ($676.70 in chips)
SuitedAces: posts small blind $3
stacysmom: posts big blind $6
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to SuitedAces [Th Jh]
macay: calls $6
FatalError: raises $21 to $27
billyjex: folds
SuitedAces: calls $24
stacysmom: folds
macay: calls $21
*** FLOP *** [Ts 9h Qh]
SuitedAces: bets $36
macay: calls $36
FatalError: calls $36
*** TURN *** [Ts 9h Qh] [Kh]
SuitedAces: bets $60
macay: raises $60 to $120
FatalError: calls $120
SuitedAces: calls $60
*** RIVER *** [Ts 9h Qh Kh] [4d]
SuitedAces: checks
macay: bets $493.70 and is all-in
FatalError: calls $113.25 and is all-in
SuitedAces: calls $408 and is all-in
*** SHOW DOWN ***
macay: shows [Ah 2h] (a flush, Ace high)
SuitedAces: shows [Th Jh] (a straight flush, Nine to King)
SuitedAces collected $589.50 from side pot
FatalError: mucks hand
SuitedAces collected $892.75 from main pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $1484.25 Main pot $892.75. Side pot $589.50. | Rake $2
Board [Ts 9h Qh Kh 4d]
Seat 1: FatalError mucked [As Jd]
Seat 2: billyjex (button) folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 4: SuitedAces (small blind) showed [Th Jh] and won ($1482.25) with a straight flush, Nine to King
Seat 5: stacysmom (big blind) folded before Flop
Seat 6: macay showed [Ah 2h] and lost with a flush, Ace high

overcalling 2 big bets with the straight flush .... ahh life is gooooood

2006-11-23T07:27:00.000-05:00

Turkey Day

Not much new happening since my last post. Blogspot just joined with google, so I had to download a new "blogging system" or something of the sort. So I kind of just wanted to try it out and see whats new ... so far, I havent noticed anything major.

Last night a few of us visited one of our old stomping grounds, the Claddaugh in Lawarence. A couple years ago, it seemed like I would run into endless number of old friends, but as the years move on the number of reconizible faces gets smaller and smaller...maybe Im getting old ?

Anyway, everyone have a good Thanksgiving....3 football games, life is goooood

2006-11-20T15:33:00.000-05:00

Lazy Season

Since my trip to Australia/ California, I have been a somewhat of a slump pokerwise and not really in the mood to write blogs about bad beats, some tilt and horrid game selection. I did real well out in Cali and felt ready to go on a hot run. But when I returned home, I played break even online poker before heading to Foxwoods. Down at the woods they pretty much refuse to spread any holdem games above 20-40, so my time there was spent playing 75-150 Omaha for the most part. The last day before the Main Event I did play 200-400 Holdem for about 6 hours and took a decent sized loss that canceled out any of my 75-150 omaha profits.

The Main Event started out great for me, I was real happy with my table draw, and managed to build my starting 20k in chips up to 30k by the 3rd level. But then things took a turn for the worse, and I lost multiple 4 or 5k pots, bleeding my stack down to the mid teens. Then just before dinner I make a mistake that all but sealed the deal for me...

I began playing poker at Foxwoods almost 6years ago now, so I guess I will always a soft spot in my heart for Foxwoods but in general it is one of (if not the worst) place to play poker. After playing countless hours in Vegas and LA, you really get to see everything that Foxwoods does wrong.

Anyway after spending much of the last 6 weeks on the road, Im glad to be home and looking forward to relaxing and seeing family and friends over the holiday. Before I decide if I want to make the trek to Vegas in mid December for the Bellagio Tournaments.

---
Boston.com interviewed me a while back, and the peice was just published in the globe yesterday. The interview was a little over an hour long, and they chose some sound bits from the interview for the web. You can check it out here.

2006-10-29T15:39:00.000-05:00

Australia Trip Report ... Finally

I finally managed to upload some pictures from my trip to Australia. All the pictures are at the end.

My sister and I left Boston on Thursday, planning to spend the night in LA before heading to Wester Australia on Friday. When we finally landed in California (over one hour late) my sister Kara obviously forget her "makup" bag and we had to stop and reload her makeup supplies. When visiting the local pharmacy she also got "cash back," from the teller. From there we quickly took a cab to our hotel, showered/ changed and headed to Sunset Blvd to meet Ben and have a night on the town.

Once we arrived at one of the local watering holes, the shots were flowing followed by an endless supply of beers. When Kara went to hook us up with the next round of beers/ shots the bartender rips the corner of her newly acquired hundred dollar bill. After a few more moments tearing the bill she informs us, the bill is counterfiet!!! It is kind of funny that she gets the "fake hundo" when I deal with numerous hundred dollar bills on a regular basis and have never experienced a single counterfiet bill.

After stumbling back to our hotel at an unknown time, we quickly got some food and slept while mentally preparing for our lext leg of the journey, a 20+hr plane flight. Friday night, we loaded up on some sleeping pills and a few glasses of wine, to make the flight go by as quickly as possibly. I was almost instantly in zombie land, upon boarding the plane. When I finally awoke Kara tells me we are almost to Brisbine and that our flight sat on the LAX tarmac for a long time, and we were most likely to miss our connection to Perth . In Brisbine we get rerouted through Melbourne before finally landing in Perth about 8hrs later than we originally planned.

Once we arrived at Aly's crib, she took us out for some dinner in Freo, a small city close to her house. After a few hours of catching up it was time to head home and catch some shut eye. When waiting in the taxi que (australian taxi stands) Aly begins making small talk with this young attractive girl. I figured it was one of her friends, we decide to split a cab back to Murdock Campus. It turns out, Aly had never meet this person before, so we begin ridiculing the stranger with questions. After some prying it is finally revealed she works in the "sex industry." haha .. When arriving at our dropoff point, Aly handed the local hooker and few bucks (our share of the cab) and we headed home.

The next day, we headed to the beach...where I decided I didnt need any sunscreen...a clear mistake. I managed to turn myself into a nice violet color, that would linger for the next couple weeks. During the next couple of days we saw some of the sights in Perth and Freo and then at night we followed Aly's strict shedule of bars. Monday was half price pitchers, tuesday karoke, wednesday everyone went to campus bar, (you get the picture), alot of time for socializing when you are on the pass/ fail grading system.

When the week was finally over, I was left exhausted with alot of blurry memories!!!! A good trip, thanks for having us Aly!!

Me, Aly and Kara at the Murdock Campus Bar.

An assortment of Australian meats, including Kangkaroo

A dingo, one of the few animals you were not allowed to touch, that were kept behind an electric fence.
Surfs up dude. Kara and me, before we head into the frigid water for our selfing debut.

A refreshing beverage after a tough day surfing.

A roo and Kara

Some Koloa's

A bunch of Roo's lounging around in the petting park.

A peacock ?

Koloa's
hmm, there not bats, but very similar, as you can see

Birds
Not too sure what this guy is...but hes pretty ugly with some BIG ASS FEET

More of the batlike creatures
Entering the petting zoo

Our first Kangaroo sitting, this guy has seen better days.
Aly thinks its pretty amusing the way I eat a sandwich at the bus station.

2006-10-24T13:05:00.000-04:00

A Fish Tale

Nothing too exciting happening, Im still in cali, planning on heading home soon. Games here have been great, and I have been running pretty hot as of late, so all in all Im glad I decided to stay out here for a little while. Still mostly playing 100-200, but have been having some luck in the 10-20 no limit as well. Heres a couple more hands...

the stackoff: Background, I sit in a 10-20nl game and post in the cuttoff, long story short, I bet the flop and the button calls and when I check the turn he makes a big bet and I fold...whatever he may have had it but it feels like I was robbed...moving on, I have ~10k in front of me, the guy on my left (same dude) has ~4k. I limp with 77 he limps, as well as 4 other people. The flop comes 79J rainbow, I bet 100, he makes it 350, I call. Turn is a 9, I check he bets 680, I call with the intent of betting any non jack river. The river is a 7, I put him all in for a little less than 3k, slightly more than the size of the pot. He think tanks it for a while, prolly about 2 minutes, finally calls, and mucks when he sees my hand...not sure what he had, some table talk ensued and the final conclusion was either 10-8 or J-9, I dont think J9 because he took waay to long to call on the river.

chop pot ? 100-200 with a super fish in the game...superfish limps, couple others limp I limp with 77, flop 743, checked to me I bet, superfish calls, turn 5, superfish checks and calls, river 6, we both check, I show my hand, he mucks...about 2 hrs later, super fish is now on my left, its folded to me in sb, I raise with kq, he calls, flop 447 i bet he calls, turn A, i check(superfish doesnt bluff and doesnt fold) he checks, river 7, check check, I show my hand and he mucks...ahh life is goood

2006-10-18T10:20:00.000-04:00

Home Away From Home

On my return from Australia I had planned a one night visit at the Commerce Casino in California. After arriving here and realizing how much I like live poker and how poorly I have been doing online, I decided to change my return flight to Boston and spend a little time in LA playing some poker.

I have been playing mostly 100-200, with a little 60-120 and 10-20 nl mixed in, when the 100 game is not going.

Heres a couple interesting hands, these hands are great because they could have NEVER taken place online!!!

100-200 limit holdem, the game is great with plenty of action. UTG raises, and gets called in 4 spots, including the small blind who is a Commerce regular ( I am not involved in this hand). Anyway the flop comes 8-10-J, the SB leads into the field, the preflop raiser raises and it gets called in a couple spots before the SB can reraise and everyone calls. Four or five players to the turn, which is a small unimportant card. The SB bets and is called by the preflop raiser and one of the weaker players in the game. The river pairs the ten, making a final boar of J-10-10-8-x. The SB bets out, the preflop raiser folds and the fishy player raises. The SB agonizes and hems and haws (basically whinning), shows there hand Q9, for the floped straight. Asks the fish if they want to chop, the fish doesnt say anything. Some more time/ whining goes on, before the SB asks if the fish wants to chop the pot (there is about 5k in this pot). Finally the fish says "fine you want to chop, lets chop." Immediatly the SB calls and drags the whole pot with no chopping !!! The floor is called and chaos breaks out. After some yelling and arguing, the floor rules "there is No Chopping." (Although chopping is not allowed by the floor, in California there is more chopping and giving back chips then anyplace I ever played. And it may not be allowed by the floor, but it is a very very very common practice) Mingha, I think this is one of the lowest moves I have actually ever seen in all my days playing live poker.

10-20 NL, again I am not involved in this hand. There is a player in the game who is very aggressive and is firing 3 street bluffs without a problem. He has lost his stack a couple times and rebought. Now several players limp in for 20, and when it gets to this guy in the BB he raises to 120, and is only called by this pretty clueless player in the game. The flop comes K67, the BB bets and the fish calls. The turn is a Q and the BB counts his total cash remaining (he has no more chips) and he has 1700. He bets 800 the other player whines (seems pretty common in live poker I guess) and says something allong the lines of "I know you dont have a King." After saying this, he calls. As soon as he calls the BB bets his remaining 900 dark, before the river car is dealt. The river is a 9, for a final board of KQ967. The fish instantly calls and proudly tables 89...everyone looks puzzled, and the overaggressive player mucks his hand, unable to beat the pair of nines. The fish later said he thought he made the straight...doh.

I will post a full Aussi "trip report" when I get back home and am able to upload all of my pictures to my desktop.

2006-10-04T13:09:00.000-04:00

The Land Down Under

With the current meltdown of online poker I can not think of a better time to go on vacation. I am heading to Australia over the next couple days (pretty crazy that its ~24hrs from Boston to Perth). My sister Aly has been studying abroad since August, and with finals just around the corner I better get there before she gets "too busy."

Tomorrow morning my sister Kara and I are heading to LA for the night before we leave Friday for "the land down under."

Once we finally arrive in Australia we still will have another five hour flight to get to the west coast of the continent (faarrrr Australia as I like to call it). Couldn't she just go to school in close Australia ????

After flying and flying and flying we will finally arrive on Sunday morning Australia time (whatever that means), and according to Aly, "everyone goes to the beach on Sundays."

After spending a long day cliff jumping I hope she is able to hook us up with some roo's!

She claims to have tried some cooked kangaroo and loves it. hmmmm.. Cant wait for some medium rare roooo !!!
UPDATE

No one seems to be really sure about anything and the state of online poker. Here is the best link that I have found that has everysite's public response to this new bill and how they plan on interpreting it.

link

2006-09-30T10:21:00.000-04:00

The Day the Music Died

Not quite sure what direct effect this has (or how long this will take to materialize) but the Senate appears to have passed a bill that will ban online poker in the United States.

More Info

What will US based online poker pro's do ? Move to Mexico ? Canada ? Seems like a somewhat easy fix. How about the fish ? I don't anticipate the fish moving, doh !!

Strictly live poker coming soon .... California here I come!

2006-09-27T13:23:00.000-04:00

Couple Poker Hands

I Decided to venture out of the friendly confinds of Boston yesterday and head down to Foxwoods. I was planning on playing the tues night tourney @7 and screwing around in whatever cash game was going on at the time.

I jumped in a four handed 75-150 Omaha/Stud 8 game.

The Omaha game was pretty passive preflop with very little raising. I was in the SB with 685J and the button limps, I toss in the quarter (I had posted a $50 small blind) to see the flop. The flop came K95 and it gets around. The turn is the 7 of clubs, giving me the nuts, but also making 2 clubs and 2 to a low on board. I bet out and the BB, thinks for a couple seconds and says "I have to call." I immediately think he has a low draw and a club draw. Its kind of foolish to call with just clubs or with just a low draw in such a small pot. Anyway the river came a big club and I check folded. Not a big deal but him "having to call the turn," I think is a big mistake. Him putting $150 into a $375 pot, where he will get scooped 42.5% of the time and only scoop me 22.5% of the time(thats if he has 3 live low cards), and the rest of the time we split the pot.

After a couple hours in that game, the 7pm tourney began. Its a 150 buy-in, with 60 rebuys and a 120 add-on. During the rebuy period I had full intention of shooting it up, playing as many hands as I could. I had just doubled my stack up to ~4k with the J4 of clubs, so my image was a little tainted to say the least. Now a FW regular limps so I limp in the cutoff with AJ, the blinds come along. The flop is JJ5 with 2 spades, I have the A of spades. The FW reg bets 150, I splash out 525 and clear out the blinds and get it heads up. The turn is and 8 of spades, he checks I check, the river is a 5, making the board JJ855, giving me the virtual nuts. He immediately moves his stack in and I call. He shows me Q9 of spades. The hand seemed pretty standard, but for about the next 15 minutes the other end of the table cant stop talking about his turn check...."you shoulda shoved," "you cant give him free cards," "he woulda called anyway," "he just won with j4soooooted".....blah blah blah it was rebuy period, I had three jacks and the ace of spades, sorry boys' I was getting that pot.

A few hours later we are at the 600-1200 level, with 200 antes. I have ~10k after I post the small blind. By this point in the tourney everyone is short stacked relative to blinds, and the most aggressive players are the ones that will survive. Its folded around to the button (an older man from NY) who open limps, I pretty much know I am not folding before I look at my cards. Anything that resembles a poker hand and all my chips are going in the pot, and any piece of cheese I will call and hope to get lucky, getting a great price. I look down and see the seven deuce of diamonds. I call. The BB checks, the flop comes out 258, with 2 spades. With 5600 in the middle and 9400 left in my stack, I move in hopping to take it down right now. The BB gets all mad saying he wishes he raised preflop (later he says he had QJ) and the passive old man on the button casually calls the 9400 (leaving himself with about 3k) and turns over A8sooted. This is normally the end of the story, but the blank turn was followed by the 7 spades on the river! Ship The Bread to Fred !!!

I ended up busting out with about 35 people left, I decided to try and win a big pot with QQ rather than just taking down a smallish one. I thought the play was right at the time and I stand by my decision now. Blinds 1k-2k with 300 ante, the button goes all in for 1700, I am in the Small Blind with QQ. My three options are A.shove my 25k in and get the BB out of the hand. B.Limp in and allow the BB to see a free flop or make a preflop move to get me out. or option C.Make a weakish raise tempting the BB to reraise me. Based on my feel for the player I chose option C and raised to 5k the BB immediately says "allin" he has me barely covered and I beat him into the pot with my remaining 20k. But this wasn't meant to be, as he rivered a straight with his KJ, sending me to the rail.

2006-09-25T10:52:00.000-04:00

Threshold of Pain

Stones Hat ... Souviner from Wednesday's Show

------

The Past two months have been my worst consecutive months of my poker career.

some saggy boobs .... or my current poker graph

But due to my struggling, I have been playing less hours and fewer hands. I have been spending more time thinking about the game and thinking what I am doing wrong. A friend recently asked me why I thought I was losing. I think there is no simple answer to this question. Its a combination of running bad (bad luck), tilting or playing less than optimally, poor game selection, and not "fully reloading" my account. These factors combined have created a spiral effect. I would take a couple bad beats, get frustrated, push a couple hands too hard against opponents who can sense blood and come in for the kill. Then when I ran out of money, I would only reload for a couple buyins; this was done out of convienience of smaller buyins.

For now I am just going to continue to play a light schedule and really focus until I play my way through and get back on track. Not really nervous about my ability's and I'm not in jeopardy of "running out of money." But all of this "sole searching" made me think about my entire poker career from the beginning. I have a bunch of funny / scary situations that were major issues at the time before my current comfort level. But now it made me think of my "threshold of pain."

The Scene: 3 1/2 years ago, the Saturday before Easter, on my Tanglewood couch in RI. I'm not sure of the exact numbers, but I would say I had about 60-70% of my bankroll (or total value of everything I have) in my Pokerstars account. I jump in the full stars 100-200 game, and lose a little as the game breaks down to Rabs, Jdags and Myself...clearly not a good spot for me. But hey, I was stuck a little and may get lucky. FASTFORWARD 14 hrs later, about 20 1k heads up sit n goes, and a little headsup with Toronto Toro and I had busted my stars account (this was my first major bust on stars, but a pattern that would repeat itself over the years). Now its about 2 or 3am and I have to drive to an Easter Brunch in the morning. The beating had really taken a toll on me. Spending a day with the fam, talking about my "new poker career" which was going great with the exception of the precious 24 hrs. FASTFORWARD Now almost 4 years later and my current downswing being more than triple that single day loss. I have created a new threshold. But I still can not recreate that same "pit" I had in my stomach on that dreadful EasterSunday.

2006-09-13T13:32:00.000-04:00

Vegas Net Result + 12 LBS

After "Senior Week" in college I did not think I would ever party as hard on as little sleep as I did that week, but to my amazement I outdid myself. This past week in Vegas with a big group of friends was simply out of control. By the last night there (a Friday night, in the greatest party city in the country) we only had 6 troops remaining for dinner, and only four that made it out past that. Seven days pushing ourselves to the limits severly took the tool on all of us. During the week we hit up numerous clubs/ bars/drunk buses /restraunts and by the end everybody was ready to just get home!How did we miss out on this ?????

Before and After

Light @ Bellagio

The Drunk Bus

A couple jagger bombs before we head out....

Vegas does bring out the best in everybody !

-----
Finally after spending the better part of Saturday 30,000 feet above the ground, I returned to Boston around 1030pm, which was just in time to catch the tailend of my good friend Sean's Bachelor party. MINGHA was I beat, but hey, if he was ready to lock it up for good, I wanted to make sure he went out in style! The wedding is this coming weekend, congrats and gl Sean!

-----

Poker

Ehhh, poker is kinda dumb...I ordered season 1 of the show "High Stakes Poker" on DVD and have spent the last couple of days on the couch napping and recovering. I sure dont bounce back like I did in my prime....

2006-09-01T15:04:00.000-04:00

F Mr Grant !!!!!

Nothing too exciting lately...I have been playing poker @ FullTilt like its my job. I have been playing alot of headsup and shorthanded limit holdem, with good results for the most part. I have been using "the trick," with a few modifications. The "trick" is a preflop strategy used when playing headsup when the button is the small blind (party poker has the button as the big blind). There have been a few opponents that have come up with ways to counteract my game plan, but for the most part I have been successful.

I have also been playing a lot of Omaha 8. Mostly 50-100, but some 100-200 and a session at 200-400. Kind of crazy/ stupid to be playing 200-400 Omaha when I'm not even sure if I can beat the 50-100 game. Anyway all in all I am a small winner thus far playing O8.

----
Tomorrow morning I am going to Vegas for a week. This will be pretty much a week long party with a bunch of good friends from college. I am bringing enough money to maybe sneak in a session or two of poker, but no biggie either way.

Today I stopped by the bank to pick up some cash from my friendly teller, when she decided she wanted to give me all fifty dollar bills (which I absolutely HATE!!). I nicely asked her for large bills. She in turn shows me the 50's, as if to say "these are large bills." I then ask for hundreds and she says "there are none in my draw." I kindly ask her to look in another draw. She explains they cant go in each others draws. At this point I am beginning to get a little frustrated. I explain to her that I am traveling and 50's just wont cut it. I couldn't imagine what she would have said if I explained to her that 50's "don't play" at Bellagio, which is true, if you have 50's on the table you cant use them, you can use 100's only. Anyway, after this ordeal goes on for a while I end up getting mostly hundreds after she "made a few trades." I will have to make sure I burn the unwanted 50's before I enter the poker room!

2006-08-24T22:48:00.000-04:00

Standard

ok, so my money is still in transit (expecting it to reach neteller anytime) and got the feaver to play some pokahhh. I borrowed 1500 on FTP and run it up pretty quickly. First 2 15-30s, then 2 30-60's then three tables then four ..blah blah blah I was able to shoot it up pretty high pretty quickly...Then today I jumped in the 100-200 omaha, and the only 2 holdem games going 30-60 and 50-100.

In the 50 holdem game, I had just beat this opponent like 19 straight hands and could feel the steam coming off his avatar. Then this hand happened...

Full Tilt Poker Game #931964725: Table Mary Ann (6 max) - $50/$100 - Limit Hold'em - 22:38:47 ET - 2006/08/24
Seat 2: LUCKYADOPTZN7 ($3,549.50)
Seat 3: wwwPKTJAXnet ($10,330.50)
Seat 4: ScooopIT ($3,655)
Seat 5: mave_ace ($3,074.50)
Seat 6: moni6 ($2,478.50)
ScooopIT posts the small blind of $25
mave_ace posts the big blind of $50
The button is in seat #3
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to ScooopIT [Ts Qs]
moni6 folds
LUCKYADOPTZN7 folds
wwwPKTJAXnet raises to $100
ScooopIT raises to $150
mave_ace folds
wwwPKTJAXnet calls $50
*** FLOP *** [Ah 5h 3s]
ScooopIT bets $50
wwwPKTJAXnet raises to $100
ScooopIT raises to $150
wwwPKTJAXnet raises to $200
ScooopIT calls $50
*** TURN *** [Ah 5h 3s] [As]
ScooopIT checks
wwwPKTJAXnet bets $100
ScooopIT raises to $200
wwwPKTJAXnet raises to $300
ScooopIT calls $100
*** RIVER *** [Ah 5h 3s As] [3d]
ScooopIT checks
wwwPKTJAXnet bets $100
ScooopIT calls $100
*** SHOW DOWN ***
wwwPKTJAXnet shows [9h Td] (two pair, Aces and Threes)
ScooopIT shows [Ts Qs] (two pair, Aces and Threes)
ScooopIT wins the pot ($1,548) with two pair, Aces and Threes
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $1,550 | Rake $2
Board: [Ah 5h 3s As 3d]
Seat 2: LUCKYADOPTZN7 didn't bet (folded)
Seat 3: wwwPKTJAXnet (button) showed [9h Td] and lost with two pair, Aces and Threes
Seat 4: ScooopIT (small blind) showed [Ts Qs] and won ($1,548) with two pair, Aces and Threes

jajajajaja hahahaahahaa...I really felt confident he was on non ace hand, probably hearts but maybe a pair...then I saw his hand and couldnt help but burst out laughing when not only did he have a complete airball, but I had his ten dominated !!!

*next time I will post a hand where I put in all these bets with QT high on an AA33 board and my opponent has AJ

2006-08-20T13:09:00.000-04:00

RELOAD !!!

Since returning home from Vegas I have booked maybe one winning session. Things have not been going well. I finished the Vegas trip with a strong showing in the cash games (online and live) that covered all my entries / expenses. I was ready to come home and go on a tear @party, but to my disappointment I have had a string of losses. I have never been a big believer in keeping a ton of money in my poker accounts but I did have a decent amount and in the last 10 days I have managed to empty them all out. I have money "in transit" but it will take a couple days to arrive in my accounts. A break from poker may be just what the doctor ordered.

On a side note: a very disappointing showing by the Red Sox so far this weekend.

2006-08-15T15:57:00.000-04:00

16-1

My approximate weekend record playing Beruit.

Saturday began with running around town like a chicken with my head cutoff. First had to make it downtown and pick up some Jimmy Buffet tickets.
After getting the tickets, the rest of the "supplies" for the day had to be purchased. Finding a grocery store, a liquor store and a beach chair store close to the Tweeter Center were the next things on the Agenda. By the time the clock stuck noon we were entering the front gets and into Margaritiville for the day long tailgate party. A couple friends and I made the trek down from Boston, but we were meeting a bunch of other people. They had arrived just before us, so we were all in the same parking lot. Once settling in, the "real party" began. The grille was fired up, shots were being taken and ice luges were aplenty.

I was surprised at the amount of sand that had found its way into the "Lot 10" parking lot. But hey those Parrot Heads don't fool around. The most extreme car, was this pickup truck, that had a kiddy slide on the cab, that led to the bed of the truck that was full of water!! By midday there was a constant flow of bathing beauties racing down the slide into the pool of water! Amongst the action we turned our "cooking table" into a beruit table and later a flip cup table. Defiantly one of the best tailgating parties I have ever been too. By the time the show started at 8pm, everyone was feeling the effects of the "boat drinks," but we were here to see a concert and that's what we did, although it was a blurrrr....

On Sunday a friend was involved in a three day festival that concluded with a pig roast.

It so happened that it was planed in my backyard. Not literally but less than a 5 minute walk from my front door! When I first arrived I only knew a couple people but as the day went on, it turned into a pretty crazy party. It did not take long for some people there to decide all the food could fit on one table instead of two and this extra so happened to be the perfect size for a game of beruit. Again another long day in the sun flexing my muscles on the beruit court which then lead to a chaotic night racing around Boston. A fun long weekend...it took its toll on me, in a long day of detox on Monday.

*all pics were stolen off web

2006-08-09T00:37:00.000-04:00

Finally Home

After a long long long trip I’m finally home. This trip began in late June (which now feels like it was about 2yrs ago), when I visited some friends in southern Cali. From there I drove to Vegas for the WSOP 06.

During the WSOP I played in the:
1500 No Limit
1500 Limit
2k No Limit
5k No Limit
2500 No Limit
1k Rebuy
2k Pot Limit
5k No Limit 6 max
Main Event

As I had said before I really feel don’t feel like my tourney game is at the level that I should be investing this amount of money in buy-ins. I know one of the best ways to improve my game and get to the next level is to continue to play these events, but all the small buy-ins (1500-$2500) you really don’t have enough chips to play poker. So I am pretty sure I am done playing short stack tourneys for a while and continue to work on and think about deep stack play of the bigger buy-in events.

Recap of my Main Event

Its been a while since the main event so all details may not be 100% accutate but I will do my best. The recap should be short and sweet since I did not make it make it through the day BUT some pretty interesting situations did develop through the day. I will begin with the fact that I hate all the hoopla that surrounds the current state of the game. I arrived at the RIO as close to the noon kickoff as I could, which was about 5 minutes of 12. I made my walk through the circus like atmosphere of the convention center with endless supllies of advertisements and banners.

When finally wading my way through the sea of people I arrived at my table. I was not disappointed when I did not recognize any of the 7 people already there, within a couple minutes the last two seats were filled, one of which was a kid I recognized as someone that plays mid – high stakes cash games mostly no limit (I think) , and the other was an old old man. Before the event started they introduced “Team Doyle,” and opened the front door to the Amazon room where Doyle Bronson and his entourage of 6-10 people rolled down to the center of the room all dressed in Doyle’s room apparel from head to toe, similar to what I would expect if I went to see the Queen giving a speech…kind of a joke if you ask me, but anyway.

The first round was weak tight and I was able to chip up pretty easily to about 13k. The player UTG limped, a MP limped and I limped from late position with JJ, the sb (cash game kid) called as well. The flop came down 246 rainbow, the player just before me bet 200 into the 250 pot, I called as well as did the cash game kid (CGK). I really sensed he was calling with a gutshot at best. The turn came a K and it was checked to me, I bet 500 into the 850 pot, the CGK made it 1k, the other guy folded and I really really didn’t think he had much of anything, I made 2k more (3K total), and he almost instantly mucked his hand. I felt good chipping my way up, as well as pulling the trigger based on my read, which turned out to be right this time.

Nothing too exciting happened the next couple of rounds. I was able to chip up to ~23k before they broke my table and moved me to the middle of the room. I was defiantly disappointed to get moved off this table, but among the masses of tables I saw, I recognized very few people so I wasn’t took worried about a “bad” draw.

When I arrived at my table, again I didn’t recognize anyone. The empty seat on my left was quickly filled by someone from my original table, who says “I have been waiting to get position on you all day.” He had amassed probably close to 30k at the first table but never really was involved in a confrontation with me. Anyway my very first hand I picked up 88 and decided to limp in from early position for 200. I was quickly called in 2 spots, then raised to 800 and the 800 flat called. Everyone called the raise, 5 of us to a flop for 800, this table already seems to have waaaay more action than my weak tight first table. The flop came down JJ3 rainbow and gets checked to the last spot, who looks like a middle eastern crazy man. His top couple buttons on his shirt were opened, showing off some obv bling, his hair was greased and scattered, not someone I would want to run into in an alley in the middle of the night!! He shoves the rest of his chips into the pot, approximately 6300 into this 4k pot. I think and think, and decide I can’t give him this pot, and think by just calling it looks scary enough that none of the 4 people to act after me would try to move me off my hand unless they had a jack. The other people quickly folded and now crazy man, looks as if he was caught stealing from the church basket, which I love to see, but hesitantly rolls over pocket tens….sigh, one hand new table down 8100 !!!

From this point on, the player from my first table (later identified as “WillingtoDie” (sp) from pocket fives) decided he was going to raise every limper for the remainder of the day. No one fought back and he was able to build a huge stack on my left that really limited my actions. I decided I was going to limp behind a limper and trap him if I ever got a hand, but that never happened. I reraised JJ once and had to fold to a push. I think this was the right play based on the players involved but this crippled my stack to ~10k close to the end of the day.

Now with 11300, 200-400 blinds and 50 ante, the button who had about 40k opens for 1400, and I decide to move in from the BB with KQ. The button instantly calls and I am out…gg matt. I think this play was probably wrong in hindsight, but what do I know. If this was a Poker Stars Sunday tourney, I would make the same move; but as I was walking out of the Amazon room, feeling dejected at 3am after almost making it through the 16 hour day, I feel like I should not have gone broke on this hand.

Immediately after busting I picked up Fatburger and a milkshake for the ride home, where I slept for an unidentified amount of time. When finally awaking I began contemplating when I was going to leave Vegas and return home. I decided to stay until all my friends either busted or won the Main Event. I played some live poker during this week, but the largest chuck of time was used parting and living it up in Vegas. Overall it was a fun trip but a very very long one, I am glad to be home again where I can enjoy the rest of the summer and hopefully watch the Sox rebound from their current slump.

2006-07-30T16:38:00.000-04:00

Goose Egg Complete

I busted from the Main Event late last night, halfway through the final level. I was pretty happy with my play throughout the day I just ran into a couple tough spots. Early on I built my stack to 22k, then dwindled down to about 12k before I got it back close to 30K. Then in level 5 I lost ~15K back in a series of hands. My final hand, I reraised a button raise all in for 11k with KQ and he woke up with AK and sent me packing. Anyway, this completes a disappointing string of tourneys here at the World Series of Poker. I managed to not hit the board in nine events...yikes...nine events...

I did have a successful month playing cash games and covered most of my buyins + expenses, but will re-evaluate my tourney game before I go spewing anymore money in these events.

Anyway, thanks for all the phone calls and texts I have received in the last couple days, sorry I haven't answered many, but I was playing poker for about 16hrs yesterday and then just woke up from a long comma sleep, which tends to happen after a long session (especially a disappointing one).

I have a couple friends that advanced through day 1 with average to well above average chips so part of me wants to stay and see how they progress through the tourney. But part of me wants to get outa dodge and be back in Beantown ASAP.

I am going to check the flight schedule and hang around the house and mull it over today while I fire up the BBQ and watch the Sox-Angels game....

2006-07-26T18:30:00.000-04:00

The Main Main Event

Between the WPT and ESPN there seems to be a 10k event every couple of weeks. During the past year I have played 5 of these big events, but starting friday is THE MAIN EVENT. The World Series of Poker Main Event is the culmination of a 5 week stretch of smaller buy-in events, ending with a 6k+ person field. Anyway the field is so big they have to have four seperate starting days. I am beginning on day 2, Saturday July 29th...wish me luck and follow the action on pokerwire.

Lately I have logging a bunch of hours of live poker, nothing too noteworthy. I played in a shootout 100-200 holdem game. There was very little "poker" being played in the true since of the word. Most pots were 5+ handed with many preflop raises, and multiple people staying in all the way to the river and playing "showdown poker." Also played a session of BOTQ (badugi, omaha, triple draw, stud hi low regular), where I managed to spend the entire session clawing my back from an early deficit and book a modest win.

This past friday a bunch of us went to the Palms Friday Pool Party. We were able to get a poolside cabana and have a "few" Miller Lites and enjoy a fun day in the sun. Shane Schleger found a good picture of the group of us at the palms that he posted in his blog. I will leave you with a picture of the fashion show on the pool runway that the palms provided for us....

2006-07-17T19:10:00.000-04:00

Vegas Sovineirs

The last few days there has been very little poker. I managed to squeeze a couple live sessions in with mixed results, but for the most part this past weekend was filled with a little chaos to say the least! On Saturday night we had ringside seats to the Moseley - Vargas Fight.

When attending a sporting event like this with a group of sick gambling poker players you know there will be prop betting amongst ourselves as well as all of us loading up on one side of the fight, to "make it interesting." We decided to all bet Moseley for the win.

We also bet some of the prop bets offered by the house, which included a 6th round Moseley KO at 18-1 which a friend nailed for a cool $1800 profit. Besides the fight, the remainder of the weekend was spent bouncing between different clubs and bars all over the Vegas Strip.

Random PIX
Kimshi is one of my favorite late night (earlymorning) stops in Vegas. This is a Korean BBQ across the street from Stardust that is open 24hrs a day and tends to be just what the doctor order after a long night in Vegas.

Watermellon juice served at Bellagio tends to lighten the mood a little when you are getting burried in a cash game and dont have the mountain of chips in front of you that you began the session with.

And this one is my favorite. When you register for a World Series of Poker Event one of the many "perks" is that the RIO gives you a 10$ food voucher. So after playing in 9 events without hitting paydirt, I am left with a pile of 10$ food vouchers that cost me ~23k to remember my 2006 WSOP.

2006-07-14T20:59:00.000-04:00

Vegas Update

Not sure what my last tourney update was but they have all been the same lately...blah blah blah...I am taking a few days off from tourneys. I skipped the 2500 shorthanded, and 2k Nolimit the past two days. I am also skipping the 3k limit tomorrow.

The last week or so I have been playing mostly cash games. Some 100-200 and 200-400 Holdem, 100-200 BOT, and 100-200 and 200-400 BT, with a brief stint of 10-25 PLO mixed in. My results have been great in the draw games. But I know the variance in these games is extremely high, and my recent winning may be contributed to variance...but I feel there are players in the game that are making many fundamental mistakes that can not be overcome.

200-400 2-7 Triple Draw Hand
I raise UTG with 2357 and get cold called in 2 spots and the BB comes along. Everyone draws two cards and the BB checks blind, I bet blind, everyone calls. No one improves. The BB checks again and I fire again with my 1 card draw. The first cold caller looks at his two cards and raises me. This could mean a wide variety of things, beginning with improving to a one card draw, all the way up to making a strong complete hand. The next cold caller reraises, the BB folds and I look at my hand and see I caught an 8, for a 87532. I call 2 bets cold here,then the guy that made the initial raiser 4 bets; we both call. I decide to break my 8 and try and improve. The four bettor stands pat and the other player angrily draws one card also. I check dark, the 4 bettor bets and the other player folds. I am squeezing my last card and looking to catch a 4 for the nuts, but end up catching a 6, and improve my hand to 76532 and contemplate raising but decide to only call. I am shown a 76432 and lose a monster pot, but feel like I played the hand well on all streets. This is the first time I have broken an 8 playing live 2-7 and improved my hand and still lost...ahh poker rules!!!

2006-07-07T00:58:00.000-04:00

Sigh

Soo.. the plan to play mostly cash games and a couple tourneys while out in here has completely gone down the tubes. I am already registered for tomorrows 2500 No Limit and I recently played the 5k No Limit Event. In the 5k I built my stack to about 8k in the first two levels, but then took jacks vs queens to bleed some chips away and fizzled from there to eventually be busted my Chad Brown's two tens vs my two nines. After busting out, I jumped immediatly into a cash game, which normally is not a good idea, but there was an open seat and who am I to not take it ? I made a nice score and everything was right in the world again.

Yesterday we had our 4th of July BBQ a day late. We had about 10 people over the house and grilled up some Korean BBQ and Chicken. Kudos to the cook, the food came out great!! The BBQ was obv accompanied by an endless supple of Miller Lite Cans!!

I eventually passed out with little (I mean no) intent to play the 1500 Limit Holdem Event today. But due to my inability to sleep for more than 6 or 7 hours I was up early and felt like today was the day I was going to build a stack and make a run at one of these events. Things were moving smoothly until a player was ready to give up and 4 bet the turn with an open ended straight draw and a flush draw. This is normally a great spot for someone to gamble it up, BUT I had top pair and a bigger flush draw, so what he thought were 15 outs were actually only 6. After he spiked his straight, nothing really went well for me from there on in. I was finally put out of my misery by John Bonnetti on the seven high flop when my pocket nines couldnt hold up vs his A7. ahhhh tournament poker bad beat stories; everyones favorite pastime!!

Again after busting I jumped right into a 1-2 Badugi / Duece to Seven game. Making a bunch of hands early made me feel like a genius. The we kicked it up to 2-4 and I missed a few big draws and bleed back some profits and felt like I was outclassed. These draws games are really a humbling experience; if your running good your on top of the world, running bad and you question every play you make.

Patting himself on the back
I really feel like I made a expert play today in Badagi that I will share with you. 200-400, the button open limps, I call in the small blind with A3xx, I catch a 4 and it gets checked around. I probably should have lead here, but this set up the rest of the hand. I draw 1 as does the BB, the button draws 2. I make a Q badugi, and lead, the BB calls and the button folds. Now I know my hand is best, but the difference between a Q badugi and three card 4 is minial so I decide to break my Q and draw 1, the BB also draws 1. I get my card shuffle it in my hand and "fake look" at it, then bet the river without knowing my hand for value. I know the BB is going to call with any reasonable 3 card hand here, since we both drew 1. If I stood with my Q, he would only put money in on the river when he beat my Q, but by breaking it I made an extra 400 when I missed my draw and my three card 4 was gold !!

2006-07-02T05:10:00.000-04:00

The Tourney Grind

After just missing the money in the first event, I skiped the pot limit event and played the limit event on friday. Things got off to a quick start but fizziled quickly and I was out by 5th round. Nothing noteworthy, from that event. I then decided to enter the 2k No Limit event today.

Early on I played a key pot, where I opened with Q10 of diamonds and was called by big blind. The Flop came down J84 with 1 diamond. He fiddled with his chips for a second or two and then decided to check. As a general rule this fiddling makes me believe he doesnt want me to bet....so in order to disapoint I bet 150, into the 175 pot. He plays with his chips some more and makes it 500 to go, he only has ~1700 total and I have almost 4k. I decide he either has a draw (9-10 or the same hand as mine) or a weak pair that he is willing to fold. I reraise him to 1400, leaving him with 300 if he calls. This bet usually looks much stronger than if I just moved in, since it seems like I am begging for a call, but in this case with Q high Im rooting for a fold. After aprox. 17 minutes he call (ends up having J10) as if he is saving those 300 chips for something. Well anyway the turn is a 9, and Im off to the races, with a 6k stack early on.

From this point on nothing worked really. I played down to about 250 players from the starting field of almost 2000, when I had 5500 chips and Chris Furgeson had 4100. He pushed in from late middle position with blinds @200-400 with 50 antes. Knowing he is "a real math" guy, I think his range in this spot is v.v.big. I look down and see good ol' reliable Ace Jack offsuit. I think tank it for a while...I dont think he is going to post his BB again without pushing one of the next 4 hands which means he is somewhat desperate. And if I fold, I really can only post one more set of blinds before I am in shoving mode as well. I finally decide AJ is a money favorite against his range of possible hands and call hoping to see some Ace rag hand. But he turns up pocket sevens, and wins the race to cripple me and double up. I busted shortly after when my 66 ran into AQ and QQ....gg matt

After playing all day today and getting close to paydirt before busting, I am not sure that I am mentally ready for another 12 hour day tomorrow of tournament limit holdem. I think I am going to hang around my house and play the sunday circuit online, and fire up the ol BBQ.

My favorite hand of the tourney...maybe of all time, this one is really great. John Pham has great table presence and can really read his opponents well. He also plays a somewhat loose aggressive style where he puts himself in tough spots and is forced to make some really tough decisions. Anyway, its folded to the small blind who limps, John's in the big blind and looks down at his cards; as hes doing this I dont think there is one person in vegas, never mind at the table, that thinks John may let this guy limp on his blind. He grabs a fistfull of green quarter chips and raises the limper another 6 or so chips. The limper calls. The flop comes 522 with 2 clubs, with the pot of 400 the limper bets 300, John raises to 625 and the limper calls. The turn is 5 of spades making two spades and two clubs on the 5522 board. The limper now bets 400 of his 1275 stack. Again John raises him to 925, and again the guy calls. The river comes what appears to be a meaningless red ten, and the limper bets his reamaining 350 and John (now nearing the felt) splashes a call into the pot. The guy says, good call, John refusing to show his hand, says "I called you." Now after both of them raising and betting everystreet, no one wants to show there hand. Evantaully the small blind shows K8 of diamonds for K high and John proudly shows the 10-8 for a rivered ten! This hand was clearly the talk of the table for the next couple orbits.

2006-06-28T13:30:00.000-04:00

Heading East to Vegas

Before the World Series started I wanted to visit some friends in SoCal and play some golf and visit some of the local watering holes. Last Wednesday I flew out to Long Beach. My non stop flight was detoured through Canada and was forced to make a "gas stop" in Salt Lake City. A pretty crappy start to what is sure to be a great overall trip. This 4.5 hour flight turned into a seven hour journey, but not to worry because I was compensated with a $25 dollar voucher for a future Jet Blue flight!

During my stint (wed-mon) in Cali, I had a great time. We squeezed three rounds of golf into the mix, with the highlight being playing a great track called Strawberry Hills (?), this was a really nice course in Irvine California. My golf game declined at a rapid rate during the three rounds. Thursday morning, I got the short stick working and finished with an 81, but by the third round (and toughest course by far), there were a couple X's on the card as well as numerous three putz.

As far as the nightlife goes, I was expecting nothing less than complete chaos and I was not disappointed! During my stay a we hit up a bunch of restraunts including a great seafood place (crab legs hmmmmmm), outdoor Italian place, a Steak house by the Commerce and a little sushi place. Dinner was normally an apetizer (or pregame) to the night of festivities. One night we hit up this college type bar, where I swear Steveg is on the verge of world class level in Mrs Pacman. From there we managed to get on the pool table and proceded to beat all challangers for a couple hours...a blurry finish to say the least. Then when visiting Cali you obv have to hit up Sunset Blvd and do the whole bottle service thing at least once. On Saturday we made the trek northward and with only a few minor problems, including the police, lack of registration, a glass wall and no garage door opener we eventually arrived in LA and did the whole club thing. A good time was had by all !!

Sunday I played the online circuit for the first time in a longtime. I had built up some chips in the stars 1k event only to eventually go card dead and be forced to shove with 76s and run into the K3 ball to be taken down. I cashed twice, with a final table on FullTilt and a small cash in the stars $100 rebuy.

Off to Vegas

Monday morning the entire LA crew and I loaded up three cars and made the trek to Vegas. The Rio was expected to be a complete madhouse with rumors of the first event selling out. I headed straight over there was was alternate number 28. With 250 tables and only 1500 starting chips I was not expecting the wait to be very long. I was called midway throught the first level.

I feel like I played fairly well this tournament. I built by stack from 1500 to 2900. Then shoved over a raiser and bunch of callers with JJ, all folded except the initial raiser who called with AK and was unable to make a pair which increased by stack to 8k. I hung around there for most of the day, with my high point ~12k. I donked most of my stack with K4s defending my blind. A hand I may have screwed up on every street. Shoulda folded preflop, shoulda possibly raised flop, shoulda def folded turn....but anyway tournaments are dumb. I was crippled after this hand and ended up finishing ~315th. I would have like to make the money (270th) more to boost my tourney confidence than anything else. But anyway, my next event is the limit event tomorrow.

WSOP hand of the day
Every Tourney I play I will post my favorite hand. With the blinds at 25-25, a solid tight player makes it 125 UTG (first position) the next player makes it 300 and a New York Pro (MM) makes it 500 from third position. The UTG player shows me QQ and lays down the hand. The other guy calls 200 more.

The Flop comes AJx, check check.

The Turn is a blank and with the pot 1175 the first guy checks to MM who bets 200, the other player moves him in and MM calls with his set of aces.

Nice double up sir...

2006-06-20T11:05:00.000-04:00

A Kid on Christmas Eve

Lately I have not played that much poker. Between The World Cup, The US Open, and a friends wedding poker really has not been on my mind. But now I have been getting a little antsy. The first event of the World Series of Poker (the dealers event) is this Monday, and the first “open” event is Tuesday; it’s the 1500 NL Event.

I was planning on skipping the first three events and playing the fourth event on Thursday. But lately I have felt like “A kid on Christmas Eve” and am ready to play some poker. I have decided to start my trip a little early and head out to LA this weekend, then make the drive into Vegas Sunday and play the first event Tuesday.

I am not sure exactly which events I am going to play this year. I am planning on playing all the Limit Hold’em events, both of the 1k NL rebuy events and the Main Event plus the first NL event (that’s nine events). Then based on the way I feel and how things are going I will probably play a couple other events along the way.

http://worldseriesofpoker.com/2006wsop.asp

2006-06-15T15:24:00.000-04:00

Optimal Posting Strategy

One of the benefits of playing online poker is the speed at which the hands are dealt and played. There is almost no reason to ever post anyplace other than the Big Bland. You can make a case that in a 10 handed game posting behind the button on your first orbit may be slightly better expected value, but anytime you were “sitting out” and return to the game you should always wait until it is your Big Blind, even in a ten handed game. Here are two examples of the same player posting UTG (worst possible position), two times, in a ten minute time period. Pretty funny…

***** Hand History for Game 4522530700 *****

$100/$200 Texas Hold'em - Thursday, June 15, 15:03:28 ET 2006

Table Table 107580 (Real Money)

Seat 1 is the button

Total number of players : 5

Seat 2: i_dont_chop ( $1395 )

Seat 5: YeShalBAssGo ( $19454.88 )

Seat 6: theomichel ( $1500 )

Seat 3: LETZkickITup ( $5412.50 )

Seat 1: wiuwiu ( $4483.84 )

LETZkickITup posts small blind [$50].

YeShalBAssGo posts big blind [$100].

theomichel posts big blind + dead [$150].

***** Hand History for Game 4522576191 *****

$100/$200 Texas Hold'em - Thursday, June 15, 15:13:05 ET 2006

Table Table 107580 (Real Money)

Seat 1 is the button

Total number of players : 6

Seat 2: i_dont_chop ( $1395 )

Seat 5: YeShalBAssGo ( $18192.88 )

Seat 6: theomichel ( $4180 )

Seat 3: LETZkickITup ( $6490.50 )

Seat 1: wiuwiu ( $2878.84 )

Seat 4: slopoker805 ( $9045.50 )

LETZkickITup posts small blind [$50].

YeShalBAssGo posts big blind [$100].

theomichel posts big blind + dead [$150].

2006-06-14T23:48:00.000-04:00

US Open

I very rarely bet sports, but here goes nothing ... Some random golf bets.

Wager Type: Proposition/Future

Selection 1 : Golf
                    US Open
                    Odds To Win The Tournament
                    Odds to Win the US Open

                    6) V. Singh  +1400

                    Risking 166.99   to Win 2,337.86  USD  ---

Selection 2 : Golf
                    US Open
                    Odds To Win The Tournament
                    Odds to Win the US Open

                    15) S. Appleby  +6000

                    Risking 167.00   to Win 10,020.00  USD  ---

Selection 3 : Golf
                    US Open
                    Odds To Win The Tournament
                    Odds to Win the US Open

                    48) R. Sabbatini  +15000

                    Risking 167.00   to Win 25,050.00  USD


Lets bring it home Rory !!!!!

2006-06-09T09:52:00.000-04:00

Random Blog, No Poker

Yesterday I went to play in a charity golf tournament for my friend, Walter Poirior, who went missing in Bolivia, while working for the Peace Corps. The tournament was canceled due to rain, but I stayed around the course, ie the clubhouse bar, for the better part of the day catching up with some old friends. By the end of the night, the blackjack game was on !!!

Recently my cellphone has been getting slower and slower, or more laggy if that makes any sense. When I press a button I literally have to wait 2 seconds for anything to happen. I am hoping that this is due to its memory being filled. I am currently going through erasing all text messages one by one; seems like there has to be a “clear all button” but I certainly can’t find it. As I’m going through there are a couple messages in the “inbox” that made me laugh when reading them out of context.

“upstairs pay him off”

“No tv’s in tents?”

“I puked”

“talk obv” – kinda funny text message right ??

“Those don’t exist in our world sir” – no idea what I could have said to prompt this response

I also cleared my picture memory, here are some of my favorites...

My sister and company went to Ireland for St. Patricks day.

This one has been in my phone for a while and I was unable to read the box on my phone, and it was just a picture of a brown box. After downloading it to my PC, I see why the picture was taken..."young turkey parts," hmmm

Friends birthday party, people were breathing fire, drinking a bottle of "Mr Blue."

Here, everyone likes a little bit of "cold tea" in the middle of the night.

These last two are just classic summer time activites. Cooking on the grille and hanging out with friends having a couple Miller Lite's.

2006-06-06T19:14:00.000-04:00

Never Forget Who Pays the Bills !

At the beginning of May my plan was to learn to play and beat 2-7 triple draw. I deposited $2500 into my Ultimate Bet account and wanted to run it up, playing only triple draw on UB. Well……I did only play triple, but I did not fare that well. All in all, I lost ~12k throughout the month. I was a small winner in the 10-20, I lost about $4500 in the 30-60, and a little over 7k playing 80-160. I do feel like I have improved my play during the course of the month. Most of my sessions were at the 30-60 level, and I was sitting alone and taking on all challengers. This is clearly poor game selection for a new player to the game; but I wanted to learn, and the best people to learn from are the best players. I also took a few shots in the 80 game, and did not fare that well, but the swings in this game are big, so for now I will call this “variance.”

Also throughout May, I played some stars 100-200 and did not fare that well there either. This was clearly my own fault, I borrowed 10k from a friend, and in general when going to pay someone back the online preferred method of payment is always Stars. Out of pure spite, I decided I did not want to use my own money to pay back the full 10k, and bought in for 5k and tried to double it. Both times I busted my account, before finally giving in and depositing 10k and just paying him back….steep interest rate I created there.

Now on to something much more positive, Party Poker Results. The majority of my play during the course of the month was Party Poker 50-100 and 100-200. I played 21K hands of 50-100 with a win rate of 1.23BB/100, and 13k hands of 100-200 with a win rate of 0.91BB/100. With these wins I was easily able to overcome my UB and Stars’ losses and make it a very good month.

June plans are still very much in the air. Party Poker has had server problems the last couple days which motivated me to open up an account at World Sports Exchange (http://www.wsex.com/). They are offering 100% rake back which adds up very quickly. I also plan on playing more 2-7 triple draw as well as some Omaha to get ready for live cash game play in Vegas during the World Series of Poker.