Steve O's Poker Blog

My New Home is Live!

2006-06-09T10:16:00.000-05:00

OK, I was able to import my old blogger content (sweet) and get the feed up and running. Here are the details:

The Blog itself is at: http://www.darkrune.org/blog/

The RSS feed for Bloglines and the like is: http://www.darkrune.org/blog/?feed=rss2

Hope to see everyone at my new home.

New Home

2006-06-08T22:27:00.000-05:00

I am in the process of moving to a new home on my hosting account. I will update this blog with the address and site feed for the 3 or 4 of you that actually read this :)

i think it is time for a break

2006-06-05T10:52:00.000-05:00

I have been running bad the last week. Not just bad. But *really* bad. I bombed out of two SnGs on Thursday so I dropped to the 6x12s which have treated me pretty well. Not so fast, my friend.

These are the last three bust outs. A combination of bad timing and bad luck:
Bubble time. AKo against Ah7h. Flop is two hearts, Ace on the turn. Money goes in. Heart on the river. Busted.

5 left. Short stack. All of my money in against two people with AQo. Both of them have A-10. Looking good to tripple up here. 10 on the river to bust me.

Bubble time. 9-10 on the SB, limped. Flop is 9-Q-10. Money goes in. Two pair pretty solid against Q-8. J on the river.

I'll have to look at PokerTracker, but I think this is 12 SnGs with no cashes. I have lost well over 20% of my bankroll on Stars during that time. Everytime I think I am having a good event (getting people to push their flush into my full house for example), I end up getting blanked late.

It may be time to step back for awhile, do some reading, maybe some meditation, kick the neighbors dog, anything but play cards...

Can you speed it up? Just a little?

2006-05-30T11:07:00.000-05:00

I think I played with 3 of the slowest players on PokerStars last night. It was a standard $20 SnG. As an aside: these take a *lot* longer to fill than the $10 or $15 ones, that is going to suck as I try and move up buy-in levels. Every. Single. Time. These. Players. Waited. Until. 15 Seconds. To. Act. Basically it sucked. I tried searching to see if they were multi-table masters and this table was getting divided attention- but nope, just the one SnG. PS blinds already climb pretty quickly, and adding near a minute to each hand just gets it to crap shoot levels. I ended up bubbling after losing a race and getting severely short-stacked- but when it is four handed and the blinds are already $200/$400, it does not matter much. Oh well.

I am actually doing quite well in my personal SnG series. I won a $20 on Sunday, and moved much closer to the next level.

As I mentioned above, I might need to move to another site with more players at the 20-30-50 levels because Stars just does not have the saturation of players at that level. That probably means Party, but I have not really done any research into that.

Non Poker: I played golf with a few people yesterday, we played 2 man teams, best ball skins. We had an 8 skin lead after 9, so we upped the ante to one skin for 10,11,12, two skins for 13,14,15, and three skins for 16,17,18. We were still up 8 after 12, but then we pushed 16. Luckily I made a big put on 17 to get the hole and the halved skin from 16. That put us up 14 with 3 to go. But damn, was it hot yesterday. I got fully baked. That is what you get when you tee off at 12:20.

A night at the mookies

2006-05-24T22:31:00.000-05:00

I ran before work, had my enchelada fix, took a brisk walk (3+ miles) after dinner. Now I am ready for the Mookie.

42 players tonight. Very nice turnout. Things ran pretty well for me, I caught on fire near the end of the first break and took the chip lead. And I sat there or nearby as we dropped to two tables. As we approched final table, the junk kept getting kicked- nothing pretty about the way we do it in the Mookie, that is for sure. Made the final table, but out in 9th when my Mook runs into AJ on a 48J flop.

For those keeping track at home: The over under on locals making the final table was 4. I was the lone one, so the under wins. Also, 6:5 for a World player to win- well, that pays even though I don't know the winner yet.

During the event TripJax and I setup our time to play heads up. This historic event will take place this upcoming Saturday, May 27th at 3PM eastern (2PM for me). It is on PokerStars. Come railbird for Trip as the favorite as this underdog takes his shot at the man, the myth, the legend. (heh). Look for the "TripJax vs Gilain DADI 5 Bounty Heads-Up Match" under the private tourneys.

Another decent night of poker

2006-05-24T09:00:00.000-05:00

Got to play the WWdN game last night. I started off like a donkey, but survived to to make the first break looking ok in chips. Ended up 18th of 68 with no real suckouts or spectacular hands. At least I didn't play like crap.

Then I sat in a $15+1 Turbo SnG. I have played the cheaper $6+.50 ones, but those are true crap shoots. This one is a bit better- it got to heads up and went back and forth for at least 30 hands (and seeing as it is a turbo, about 4 blind levels). I ended up winning it, which is a nice feeling.

This is a full week-plus of solid, cash positive, non-angry poker. Is that even possible for me?

The Mookie is tonight. Named after me no less. Come play, I'll do my best not to be a total donkey.

New news from Apple

2006-05-23T15:00:00.000-05:00

As some of you might have read about, Apple and Nike have joined up to do some workout related iPod items. Check out the release page here. Pretty neat stuff. They are going to do workout playlists from iTunes, link in a foot module to measure distance and pace, and then be able to track workouts. Now that I have started to run again in the morning- this might be useful to get the distance and pace up.

Poker related: I have played in 4 SnGs in the last few days. They are the 6x12s that others have mentioned (6 top, $12+1 games). I have 2 2nds and 1 1st, which is a pretty nice result. They also take less time than the full 9 top tables, which can be handy if time is not guaranteed (later night for example). I have made enough bank roll to step up a SnG level so I will probably do that next.

The WWnD event is on Stars tonight which is always a good time and The Mookie is tomorrow. Technically I am the defending champ, so I probably should play, eh?

All the cool kids are doing it

2006-05-23T14:16:00.000-05:00

I have registered to play in the PokerStars World Blogger Championship of Online Poker!

This Online Poker Tournament is a No Limit Texas Holdem event exclusive to Bloggers.

Registration code: 7330476

a pretty good wednesday

2006-05-18T08:48:00.000-05:00

First the SnG progress. Not so good on Tuesday where I finished 6th and 6th. My first one on Wednesday ended in 9th when my KK ran into AA. Ooof. The 2nd one was not as bad and I scored a 3rd place finish putting me only down a few bucks for the night. Why not join The Mookie? Well, maybe because these 10+1 MTTs are *huge* -EV for me. Oh well, I have a good time so lets play.

For the first hour I chipped up nicely. Top 5 or 8 in chips most of the way. Felt good and solid. 41 players tonight, 5 pay. That is a tough one but better than 10%, so fair. One of the Stars' milestone hands was dealt just after the 1st break, and no- I didn't get my share. The 2nd hour was survival. If you read Mookie's report, I just got lapped by the field. I never really had better than 10BB. I just kept enough to stay alive. I made the final table (first one in awhile) but was still very much hurting. When it got to the bubble, Mookie and I *combined* had less than an average stack. It looked like one of the two of us was going out 6th for $0 and the other 5th for $32 or something. As a joke, I offered to chop 5th (which really wasn't a bad deal). Mookie did end up bubbling. Then I ran my KQ into a KT and doubled up timely. I kept chugging away and chipping up. Suddenly I was getting cards again, making the right bets, and quickly moving up. I ended heads up with drewspop and had a 3 to 1 chip lead. I only doubled him up once, but ended up sucking out hitting a 6 outer on the river to take him out. To be fair I was about 30% to win pre-flop :) This is my biggest single cash online, and maybe with live as well.

You want to know how -EV these MTTs are for me? I cashed for 165 or something last night, which puts me $-1.00 over every event I have in PokerTracker (15 or something). That does not count the smaller private events which are counted as single or two table SnGs. It does feel good to have a big night though.

The one skill I have begun to work is using my breaks. Two examples from last night:

TT in mid-position, I bump it to 4BB and get someone in early position to call. The flop is Q-rag-rag rainbow. It is checked to me and I continuation bet about 1/2 the pot. I get raised 3-fold. There are not a lot of hands that beat me, but I start counting them and realize that this is bad money if I call. I fold.

Later in the night I get JJ in early position. Again 4BB bet and Mookie calls. Flop is 998 and I make it a bit more than 1/2 pot. He raises me to put me nearly in. I have to call time on this one, but I fold. He comments on how his raise was too big.

In the past I might jam with either of those two hands, especially the 2nd one. There were plenty of times when my continuation bet took the pot, so it is certainly the correct play most of the time. I just have to watch the re-raise and who is just making a move and who has the goods. Obviously either of those hands might break me and I would not have cashed last night, so it worked out for me there. What was that golden rule? It is better to win a small pot vs lose a huge one. It might be better to say it is better to let go of a small pot vs bust in a large one, but I can be a pessimist.

The big boss from Rational is here today. He is going to screw up Enchelada Thursday, so I am already unhappy.

Thursday Poker

2006-05-12T09:45:00.000-05:00

After a very lackluster performance on Wednesday, I sat down with some trepedation yesterday.

My fears were realized when I was bounced 9 of 9 from my first SnG. I then played two more finishing 3rd and 3rd to squeak out a small profit for the night. That is until I joined the WWdNOT presented by Darval.

It took two hours- but I ended up bubbling, AK s00ted is not match against QQ even when you flop the flush draw. Surflexus took the whole thing down. I did make Jordon my personal whipping post early in the event though. Sorry about that. [Ed: I pooched my first version of the results; thanks for the heads up Mook]

On the plus side, the weather has been amazing with highs in the 80s so I was able to mow my disaster of a lawn yesterday. It only looks a little crappy now rather than like *total* ass. It is finally Friday, and I plan on taking it easy this weekend. It probably won't happen- but I really want to do a bit of yard work and maybe do some more on my poker table.

Speaking of poker tables, if anyone knows of a source for inexpensive 4"x4" table legs could you leave a comment? I really don't want to pay $50 a peice for them.

In my third SnG last night, it got down to four players and one of the two players started tapping on the glass. He mentioned sharkscope to the mouth of the table, and how he is constantly losing money. The only thing the mouth said in response is "cheater". Which is an interesting, but flawed, way to look at it. I had not said a word the who event- mainly because in the middle I got chips and then donked them off trying to bully without a 4:1 or 5:1 chip advantage. I had two thoughts when these two started mouthing at each other:

1) Why tap the glass? If you know the guy is a fish, just take his money. Knowing his stats via things like SharkScope and PokerTracker give you an advantage, great. Now just play.

2) Is it really "cheating" to know that the big chip leader has an ITM percentage of 10% or a ROI of a negative amount in SnGs? I think this particular fish (according to SS) was just pissed off that anyone knew how much money he has pissed away over his poker career.

Thoughts?

The Mookie

2006-05-11T09:11:00.000-05:00

Busted out mid-pack in the Mookie last night. I do know that I donked off some chips on a steal attempt late and was forced to push and didn't get there. I was hot decked early, and played very solid to be a force and take most of Bone_Daddy84 and Darval's chips. But then nothing. Oh well. I had fun.

I then decided to continue with my personal SnG challange by plopping down at a 10+1 SnG. I did really well early and took a good size chiplead into a dumbass play where I raised with 99 and called a re-raise all-in to a mid stack. He had JJ. The math was not there, I should have laid it down. I was able to get back up to average chip stack and lost AA to AK to be busted. He hit his two outer on the river to take out the rockets. Grrr.

I gave up poker for the night. If I can't play smart *and* I get unlucky it is time to save the cash for another day.

Darval is running his WWdNOT tonight. It is a late game for us central time folk, but if I am up I am going to try and make it.

It is very odd to be part of a huge corperation. We don't have the direct oversight (yet) but you can feel the presence in everything, email, software, badges, POs, the list goes on and on. Oh well. At least I am getting paid through next year.

Be' Donk E Donk

2006-05-10T10:47:00.000-05:00

Played the WWdN event on Stars last night. Well, played is an exaguartion. I was late to show up so I post and folded 7 hands (including QQ doh!). 8th hand: AK sOOOted. Pop to 4x BB. One caller. Flop is KJ5 rainbow. Bet 80, raised to 260. I popped it to 700. Re-raised all in. And here is donkey me! I called. TPTK no good against trip 5s. I hit an ace on the turn to give me a miracle chance. Nope. Out first. Oh well. No more virtual felt last night as I decided it was time to go for my walk and catch up on TiVo rather than piss away money.

At least the guy I gave my money to ended up winning. That is worth something isn't it?

Holy Carp- I'm swamped!

2006-05-05T09:45:00.000-05:00

It has been quite a week (maybe two). The small company I work for (40 people) just got bought by a much bigger one. Perhaps you have heard of them- IBM. I have been running around like a headless chicken for about 10 days now doing everything from packing FedEx envelopes to handing out laptop locks. There really is no end in sight.

Poker has taken a back seat- I missed WWdN on Tuesday, The Mookie on Wednesday, NeverBluff's Memorial and WWdN NOT yesterday. I just don't have the time, and in some cases the energy to devote to MTTs.

Since my last report I have played *exactly* three SnGs and no Limit. 2 Token Turbos on FullTilt where I ended up 2nd in both, and one $10 on Stars which I ended up winning after getting heads up with one of the most timid players I have ever played against. I had an 8-5 chip deficit for about two hands before I just rolled. I ended it by completing a small blind with 58 and flopping trips.

Off to migrate more mailboxes now... fun fun.

early Friday update

2006-04-28T00:33:00.000-05:00

It is well after midnight, so don't mind the grammar and spelling...

Results from the last two nights:

Wednesday:
10+1 SnGs: 7th and 6th (oof)
Big O Online: 19 of 34 (AA cracked by AK)

Thursday:
10+1 SnGs: 6th and 6th (note a trend? I am)
This is NOT WWdN: 2 of 18, yipee! (99 cracked by K9)

Today was a winning day, but only because of the higher payouts of private tourneys. Not that I am bitching mind you. I am bit unsure of my play in that event because I came to the final 9 either 1st or 2nd in chips (with Mookie). I pissed them all away to last in chips with 6 remaining then got a bit lucky with some draws to double up twice and bring it into the money. BTW: This event was put on by Darval who is the one who sucked out on me at the end and took the big prize home :)

I need to spend more time reading and working out my leaks. My tourney PokerTracker stats have 2500+ hands so I ought be close to reasonable stats at this point. Harrington's Vol 1 is sitting on my nightstand... so I really don't have any excuses.

While playing in tonights event I took a photo of my new monitor setup. Dual Dell 2001FP 20" screens that do 1600x1200. I have a Matrox Parhelia card that can span the desktop, so that is what I do. Have a look:

The SnG quest begins

2006-04-25T21:31:00.000-05:00

Played in two $10+1 SnGs tonight. 6th and 1st. Both tables were basically rocks. 74 hands until I was busted in the first one and 129 hands until the end for the 2nd. But I turned a profit tonight. First night in awhile.

FYI: I finished 47th of 78 in DADI 5. 8 paid spots, 39 spots gave POY points.

TripJax and I are going to try our HU match sometime later this week. Hopefully Wednesday or Thursday because I might try and make it to the lake for Lanae's last gig on Friday.

Edit: Don't forget Mookie's weekly online event.

DADI - WSOP Qualifier

2006-04-25T10:24:00.000-05:00

I entered the DADI Invitational 5 last night with a chance to win a $1500 seat to the WSOP. It was a who's who of blogger poker and quite a challange to make a deep run. I ended up finishing at just over 50% which stinks because the top 50% get POY points. I think I played pretty solid- didn't get into too much trouble. My busting hand (no bad beat here) was a re-raise all-in with TPTK (A-10) and a backdoor flush draw that was called by pocket jacks. I was at under 20 BB and with a pretty big field remaining you just have to push.

It was a good event with very solid poker- and enough donkey play- to make it interesting. I did end up busting TripJax so I get me a freeroll HU match via a bounty. I'll just need to find a time when the two of us can duel.

I did win a SnG before the DADI event. I think I am going to spend some time concentrating on SnGs and these smaller MTT (like WWdN and DADI) events. The cash game has not been happy to me of late.

very little poker of late..

2006-04-24T10:53:00.001-05:00

Just a few SnGs which I do enjoy, but are seemingly -EV for me. Played 4 over the weekend- cashed in two to just about break even. The last one I doubled someone up when it was 4 handed to get to 1 BB (actually < 1 BB w/ the ante) and was able to backdoor into the money because another player went broke the next hand. Not much of a profit - but way more than the guy who bubbled.

Three concerts this weekend. Blue October w/ People in Planes and Bril at Stubbs on Friday. My buddy Chris and I went down and caught the opening acts. Jason and BC showed up and scalped tickets when Blue October hit the stage. Great show. Highly recomended.

Saturday it was GAMF's 30th birthday at the lake (Gay Ass Mother F-er... he really does hate that). My friend Lanea was doing her 2nd to last gig in their cover band at the same place. We drank some 3.50 domestics and enjoyed the show. There are pictures- one of which may involve me being on the stage. I should probably get those sometimes. I think some of the Vegas pics on there as well.

Kid Scott got some industry tickets from Monica and passed them on to us for- get this- Blue October at La Zona Rosa. It was a Jack Daniel's event with free drinks- that is until they ran out. Who runs out of booze at a booze sponsered event? People in Planes opened, Bril did not play. A bit different set and being a club venue it was pretty damn cool. Hit the backside bar with Tae Kwon Joe, AllieCat, and Summer after the deal and enjoyed the hell out of a Sunday evening. Today is rough. Really rough.

This week in poker...

2006-04-13T17:54:00.000-05:00

I had two very bad sessions in my LLH Challenge over the last two days. Results Here. Hopefully I can snap out of it tonight or tomorrow.

No WWdN for me this week, I was running late from work and ended up way late getting home. Probably saved me $11. I did play in Mookie's weekly event last night. So. Card. Dead. I went to an M of like 5 and had to wait two orbits before I got anything to push with. 66 against AJ. I lost. It happens.

I now have a very cool monitor setup (no pics yet) of dual 20" Dell flat panel monitors. Yes it is cool. And extravigant. And mostly useless :)

However, it is not as over the top as This Guy. 12 30" panels mounted on a wall. Damn. Scroll down to see his 5 screen setup for his desktop. "Crazy Jon" indeed.

I have started to play golf on Tuesday mornings. By leaving my driver in the bag (and hopefully getting a bit better) I dropped 15 shots last week. Yeah- that was mainly going from one truely shitty round to a very solid one this week. Mook is having a golf-bbq-poker deal on Saturday. It is best ball, so I don't need to worry about my score. My goal is to be shooting in the low 90s by summer at Forest Creek here in Austin (rating 71.2, slope 128 from the blues - pretty tricky course). I figure by that time I can shoot low 90s/upper 80s anywhere.

That is all. I am heading out. See you on the felt. Or maybe the links.

Taxes feel like Death

2006-04-04T15:13:00.000-05:00

E-Filed my 2005 taxes today. I owe $5500. Ouch.

I'm working on my Low Limit Challange tracking page (here). It works pretty much exactly as I want with one exception- I would like to put a status percentage next to the running total.

However I'm not sure which percentage to use. My two options are:

Running Total/Overall Level Goal

or

(Running Total - Level Starting Amount) / (Overall Level Goal - Level Starting Amount)

Currently the first one would be 67.23% while the 2nd one would be 34.45%. I am leaning toward the 1st option for two reasons. One: the goal is to increase my overall bankroll, not squeeze out a level. Two: it is a lot easier to program :)

Because of the last few sessions, I am actually above water at FullTilt even if you take out the bonus currently worked off.

Tuesday's WWdN event is tonight- but I don't know if I will be able to play. I played golf this morning (don't ask- I sucked) and I will have to work late to make up for it.

Wednesday is Mookie's weekly online game. Come play with us- the water is great.

First VPP Bonus!

2006-03-29T13:52:00.000-06:00

I just got an email informing me that my first Vegas Poker Pro bonus has been cleared. I used FullTilt to get PokerTracker (not my itty-bitty-web tool, but the real deal). Yippee!

I am enjoying the hell out of the stories from the Playboy party that a bunch of poker bloggers attended. Check out the stories from:

Oh yeah....

2006-03-28T22:03:00.000-06:00

I am supposed to pimp out Mookie99's weekly online game.

Come play where the fishies roam.

Busy week for poker and other things

2006-03-28T21:37:00.000-06:00

First: GMU? Seriously? Wow. Apparently 4 people in the estimated 6 million entries on ESPN have this Final Four picked. When UConn lost, I lost all of my sheets. Now I root for the Patriots to win it all.

Second: Work. Busy as hell. I'm digging the job, lots to do and learn. But it has made my mind pretty frazzled after work and that makes it hard to concentrate on my hobbies (such as poker)

Third: Poker. My low limit challenge has been hit or miss. I set up a tracking site called Poker Track. It isn't all that fancy although I am learning CSS to do the colors and formatting. It does work however. I think I am going to try and use FullTilt for the remainder of this challenge. When I clear the 100% bonus I should be pretty close to matching the LLC bankroll with my real bankroll there. The only problem is that they do not have anything lower than 25c/50c - so if I dip below $50 I just have to keep playing. No biggie. I played in the WWdN game tonight. I was doing really well up until these two hands (no bad beats, I promise):

I am in seat 2 (8 handed) with the button to my left just after the first break. I get dealt JJ. drewspop makes it 450 (3x BB) in mid position. I call. 678 rainbow flop. drewspop continuation bets 600. I pop to 1200. He re-pops to 1800. I call time. I don't think he has the nuts- we are too deep and we have some chip leaders (myself included). Opening raises with AJ, KQ and above seem reasonable. I folded on the flop, he didn't show. But I have to think I folded to a made hand there and you don't typically see re-raises with 99 to have the open ended. Either way. I did lose a bunch of chips, but I think I made the right call.

Last hand of the night (about 10 hands later): UTG limps. I have AK in mid on the same 8 handed table. I make it 600 (4x). The UTG (GScottW) makes it 1800. I go all in for 3027, he calls with KK and goodnight SteveO.

Those two hands killed a great run I was having with a solid shot at making the final table. It sucks, but that is poker. I hit FT, made a great limit run and cleared my Poker Tracker bonus tonight- so it isn't all bad news.

Fourth: I got tickets to Blue October @ Stubb's in April. Kick ass. I love Austin.

Fifth: I think I will finally get working on the base to my poker table this weekend. When it is complete I will be running a small cash game followed by a tourney to break it in. Should be fun. Those folding legs suck.

Big O - Online, Me not-so-much

2006-03-15T21:24:00.000-06:00

This will be quick. Raised to 140 in the SB with QQ. Flop was all unders. Bet 500 into a 4 way pot. Call. Raise to 1350 all-in. Fold. Shit. Finally folded, figuring a call and a raise means I was dead to a set or an over-pair. Other caller folded, but the OG better showed her set of 8s. Good Fold.

Collapsed table. Limped with AQo in the SB. Flop is K high all spades (I have the ace of spades). Bet pot on the flop. One caller. No spade on the Turn. Check - 150... errrrr.... call. A on the River. Lead out for 450 all-in to try and knock of KJ or KT. Eventually called with a set of 6s and I go home.

Pretty much sucked.

Sucking wind on the Low Limit Challange right now too. Maybe I should just give up poker for awhile.

a bit off-topic

2006-03-15T14:08:00.000-06:00

Short post about music. On a recommendation by the lead singer for Left Hand Smoke, I recently acquired the debut album of Rocco DeLuca & the Burden titled "i trust you to kill me". He (and, obviously, the band) are good. Real good. Check them out if you get the chance. It is a mellow style with lots of instrumentation. Hard to put into a genre- iTunes calls it "rock". They are the lead act for a new indy label called "Ironworks" whose founder is a name you might recognize: Keifer Sutherland. Yep, who knew it but Jack Bauer is a indy music fan.

If you happen to be in Austin this week- they are here. Check their website for details. I'm not sure if I will be able to find a show I can attend, but really would like to.

And a poker related item: Mookie is having his weekly online event tonight. Try and join us if you can.

Undisputed Champion of the Universe

2006-03-13T10:51:00.000-06:00

That is right. I have a new title.

Some of you know of my prowess on the felt- but you may not be aware of my primary skill. 42. A game of skill, luck, and reads- just like poker.

I competed in BD Riley's 4th 42 championship yesterday and was able to pull out a victory when my partner (it is a rotating partners tournament) went 3 marks nelo made it. Good times. For my effort I was able to secure my name on the trophy, a championship belt, and a toaster.

As for the title. Well, our universe (little 'u') has a more restricted definition than normally expected.

Got absolutely shellaced at poker this weekend. Bad run, bad play (on my part), at Mookie's. Just plastered on the cash tables on Stars. No love.

New worst hand for me: AJ. First hand: Hit top pair. The other guy hit his 3 outer with A-10 on the river to sink me. Second time: Hit my J on the flop. Lost to QQ. The first hand I knew he hit it. Just a sickening feeling. The 2nd one- I just priced myself into the hand and didn't hit my miracle on the turn or river to suck out.

I think I will stick to the bones.

WWdN: An Apology

2006-03-08T00:05:00.000-06:00

After flying back from Vegas today I was pretty much spent. After I got home and cleaned some sort of yellow shit off my checked bag and the back seat of my truck where I put it I was ready to eat some dinner and maybe play some cards. I entered the WWdN weekly event and was playing ok. Got to about 2000 before the first break. Got lucky flopping trips and getting someone to put me all in and I was at 4300. Phone call. My boss. What? Our webserver was hacked? Shit. I told the folks on my table that I had to go and if I could I would make it back. Then I signed off.

Mookie called me as I headed to the office and told me Wil was seated to my left and could collect my chips. Nice of me, eh?

I couldn't get back into the event. I signed on to check my progress and saw me bust out in 20th spot. Not bad for not playing a hand since the first break.

Sorry folks, but sometimes duty calls. We had a crappy CMS system in place since before I got there and somehow someone uploaded a program and got it to run on our webserver. I don't think they did any damage, but I had to rebuild a box (nearly from scratch) and get the content moved over.

It is now midnight, and I am running on 5 hours of crappy sleep. I am off to bed.

Vegas Baby! (or The Return to Austin)

2006-03-07T14:36:00.000-06:00

We landed last Thursday about 8:30 and hit the Crown and Anchor and their amazing Hot Pot. Off to the Saraha- which is pretty much a dive. My buddy was out cold, so I headed to the tables. I played on the 2/4 table for 5 hours or something and ended up down a rack. Only one truely bad beat where one of the off-duty dealers took me to the cleaners when I had AQ top two on the flop and he hit is heart draw on the river with 2-8. Ouch. I laughed it off though- what else can you do?

In bed by 5 AM Friday. Out of bed by 7 AM to golf. We got the Member's hookup there- only $55 a round. We got back to the hotel about 4 and I needed some sleep. My buddy was supposed to wake me up in time to see the UT/UNLV baseball game. Well we didn't make it. Probably for the best because UT blew a 10-0 lead to lose 13-12. On to the Hard Rock to see if we can get into The Cult. $20 tickets. Sweeeeet. Very cool concert, but my ears rang for 3 days.

Saturday morning we got up and headed out of town to the mountains. There is a chalet about 45 minutes out of town. They had a few inches of snow on the ground and a great view of the hills around. Saturday was also the 2nd baseball game. They were out of beer in the 2nd inning- did they not realize Texas was playing? We left when they had a 1 run lead- which they promptly lost in the 9th. Grrr... A bit of poker, but only a few hours. I ended up a few dollars.

On to Sunday. Breakfast at the buffet. Nothing says Vegas more than french toast and shrimp. More baseball. This time we left them with a 6-2 lead. They ended up winning 9-8. A bit more dinner at the Crown and Anchor and back to the hotel. Dinner at Del Frisco. What a great steak that was. Then downtown. A bit of blackjack at the Vegas Club and some 2/4 at Binion's. Lost a rack at BJ and a few bucks at 2/4. I could have done ok but, my buddy was pretty trashed, so we headed back to the hotel.

Monday- more golf. I shot about the same and it only cost us $65 a round. Back to the C and A to see if we could flirt with Jennifer- but she was off shift already. Bummer. She was quite the hotty. I headed to the tables about 7. Unfortunatly I missed the Sahara's tourney. They ended up splitting 13 ways. Insane. Bad beat jackpot was over 17 grand. It was like 3 weeks old. I started off ok, but then ended up down near a rack. I re-uped and went on a tear. I quickly won my first rack back and more. At one point I was up almost 2 racks. I quit at 2 AM up a rack. My buddy stayed until 5:30 AM when he almost got in a drunken brawl and they kicked him out. Between 2 and 5 the Jackpot hit. Aces full lost to a straight flush.

Wake up call at 5:45 today and 8 hours later I am in the office.

Overall I pretty much broke even on poker. Given a bit more time I could really kill that 2/4 game. Nice to know. Lost some on blackjack, no big loss or surprise there. Given comps of draft beer and food at the local joints I certainly didn't have a bad weekend.

Good times. Good times.

Big O Online Results

2006-03-02T11:11:00.000-06:00

I played in Mookie's online event last night. This is quickly becoming one a great force of online private games. We had TWELVE people. Dear god. I don't know how Poker Stars even handles that kind of load :)

I ended up 7th when the blinds were 50/100 and I had 1300ish. I was in push or fold mode and pushed with QJ to be called by KQ. Drat. I ended up 7th. Which, dedicated readers might notice, is better than I did in Tuesday's WWdN event. The money wasn't as good though.

I moved back into my recent cash cow, which is 50c/$1 NL on Stars. I quickly moved to near double my buy in. Nice. I kept playing. People kept donating. I ended up nearly trippling my buy in for a earn rate of over $100 an hour. Why can't I make this kind of money consistantly? I could quit my day job :)

Still grinding on Full Tilt. I have about 1/2 of my Poker Tracker bonus from VPP worked off. My session was slightly positive, which is much better than mostly negative. My bankroll thanks me.

Off to Vegas in a few hours. My bags are packed and my wallet is full. I'll be getting in at about 8:30 local time. I should be drunk by 8:45 local time. I have not had a drink since Super Bowl Sunday and will start off with my first cold beer and a shot of Jager before I head to the airport.

Back to the promised land!

2006-02-28T22:01:00.000-06:00

Finally! I made a great run at the weekly WWdN event on Stars tonight. I ended up 8th of 91.

I had to make some ballsy calls and ended up busting out on a flush draw that didn't get there. The chip leader had turned a straight.

Feels good to play solid poker and have it payoff against a solid field.

Oddest part of the entire event? I never changed seats. Not once from the 10 tables that started to the final table. Pretty cool.

Final Results: FishyMcDonK won. It took almost 3 1/2 hours. Here is a screenshot of the final results:

Update. My favorite hand from last night is as follows. I have 99 on the SB. A mid-possition solid player makes it 4x the BB. It folds around to me and I call, as does the BB. The Flop comes out a very scary AAT. What are the odds he has a A? I think small. I bet out, about 1/2 the pot. BB folds. He goes in the tank. Requests time. The whole bit. He finally lays it down and claims KK. Ouch. I claim ace-rag to make him think he made the right call. I'm all about making people happy :)

Grinding it out on FullTilt

2006-02-28T14:22:00.000-06:00

So I am trying to work off my bonus and Poker Tracker bonus on Full Tilt. I have something like 115 points left to clear PT and well, a bunch to clear the 100% bonus. It is basically grinding. I only have the bankroll to play .25/.50 which is fine- but I am not getting anywhere. Maybe I will head back to SnGs there, I had a hot streak that got ice cold recently.

Plugging away at the .50/$1 NL on Stars. I am making very good upward progress on my bankroll. I have awhile before I move up to the next level, but I think I found a game I am comfortable at.

Two full days (almost exactly) before I start heading to the airport to catch a plane to Vegas. Baby.

Mookie is having his weekly(ish) Online Event at Stars tomorrow night. Join us if you can:

Another decent night...

2006-02-21T22:38:00.000-06:00

After a very up and down weekend that basically netted me down a few SnGs worth of money, I had a very good night tonight.

I sat at a 50c/$1 NL table on stars and a bit more then doubled though when I hit quad kings on the river and had someone raise into me for a near $80 pot.

I then played a 6 top SnG on FullTilt where I busted 4th with a good draw that never made it but only had 12x the BB. Blinds made it to 50/100 with 5 people left.

Another 6 top. I laid low and watched a few crazy people duke it out. I ended up heads up with a 5 to 1 chip defecit but was able to battle it back to even with some smart betting and good hits. Including a semi-bluff where I had overs, a straight draw, and flush draw on the turn and re-raised all in. The other fellow folded claiming pocket 2s. That actually gave me 3 more outs than I had planned on. We were basically even when I had Qs 8h and the flop came K98 of spades. We both got it all in with the fellow having 10s 8d. No spades on the turn but a 10 on the river sealed it for me and I was out 2nd. (88 hands total)

All in all I am pleased with the night. Even though I missed the WWdN event that wwonka ended up winning.

Mookie is having another online event tommorrow on Stars. Hopefully more than 9 will show up this week. He is also hosting a bounty event on Saturday where I am currently first alternate but hoping to join in.

Vegas in 9 days. My first beer since Super Bowl Sunday in- imaging this, 9 days.

DADI III

2006-02-17T19:19:00.000-06:00

Come play with us... 40 minutes to sign up.

PokerStars 9PM, password: "blogsaregay".

Oh Fer...

2006-02-15T21:57:00.000-06:00

Played in basically 3 SnGs tonight. First two were 6 top ones on FullTilt. 6th and, well, 6th. Mookie had a Virtual Big O game on PokerStars. I ended up 9th when my top AK ran into QJ on a AJJ flop. Ooof. SirFWALGman made an appearance.

Plus side: I made my Stars buyin plus some playing 50c/$1 NL. So really I didn't do badly overall tonight.

I just watched Top Gear's Winter Olympics special. Holy Carp! That is some funny stuff. If you can find it, I highly recomend it.

WWdN gets me again...

2006-02-15T10:40:00.000-06:00

I have moneyed once in the weekly WWdN event a few weeks back but have yet to return to the promised land since. Last week I was busted when my queens ran into kings and SERNE hit quads. I got to about the 50% mark. This week, I just didn't get any steam at all. I was card dead for a l-o-n-g time and finally busted out when the blinds were 100/200 and I had 1200 or so in chips. My AQ ran into a AK and it was over, 27 of 54. Boo.

Part of my early tournament was distracted by a 6 top SnG on FullTilt that had me either 1st or 2nd in chips (it moved back and forth) and my intent was to win there. I find it really hard to two table SnGs or MTTs. Cash games, to me, are a lot more formulated where players move in and out and progressing blinds don't happen. I ended up 2nd, but it was an epic heads up battle. One hand of note that I think I played well was AA on the 2nd hand of the event. I raised to 60 (4x BB) and was re-raised to 200. I re-raised all-in to 1500. Normally this would be considered too strong, especially early in the event. That is what I was hoping he would think. He called the bet with 88 and my aces held. This gave me a gunslinging perception with big cards. I bought many a pot when my AX or KX suited didn't hit on the flop. No suckouts in heads up play, just good bets and better cards for my opponent. That means I have 2 1sts, 2 2nds, and 2 4ths in 6 6-top SnGs on FullTilt. Not bad.

Last Friday was Mookie's bi-weekly home game. It was a $20 freezeout with 19 players. I ended up 12th. Ick. My 66 ran into Mookie's TT when we were both really short stacked. Even though he doubled up (and left me with 2BB) he was *still* below average stack. I played solid, it just didn't work out for me. Next time.

Some friends and I have gone on the wagon after the Super Bowl. Today marks 10 days. Which in itself would not be a big deal but... I also went on a diet and began doing a *lot* of walking. I have lost 6 lbs in the last week. Yikes. And to those who worry about my tolerance fading- don't worry, Vegas is coming up. I'll be back in true form the first weekend of March. :)

Friday Update

2006-02-10T11:18:00.000-06:00

A short update about my play after WWdN on Tuesday.

I have played in a bit of 25c/50c razz. I now am beginning to understand how frustrating this game is. But I like it.

Since I signed onto FullTilt trying to earn my Poker Tracker licence via VPP, I have played in 3 6 top SnGs. I won two and finished 4th in the other. Pretty good ROI. I am in the low $5 ones because I don't have the bank roll to support higher levels. My bonus will work off much quicker if I play higher levels so I am hoping to get enough bankroll in the next week or so to move up.

Live play at Mookie's tonight. $20 Freeze out. Should be fun.

WWdN Tuesday Game

2006-02-07T19:30:00.000-06:00

I'm going to try to live blog here... this ought to be interesting.

7:30 - I'm at Table 1, seat 8, but don't recognize any of the names. 99 people tonight.
7:32 - I stopped playing at FullTilt to concentrate. I was seriously card dead at 25/50 but did OK at razz. I'm working off a 200 point bonus there. It is going to take awhile.
7:34 - First player out. wwonka joined our table
7:37 - my first pot! yippee!
7:38 - second pot! yippee!
7:51 - wwonka is out 93rd. Two pair to a flush. Next hand I crossed over 2k in chips. Good for top 20 at the moment.
7:55 - Columbo777 joined our table- as one of the chip leaders. He is on my left. In fact I have two chip leaders immediatly to my left. Joy.
8:04 - Just lost a fairly decent chunk of chips to Columbo777. Grrrr... Out of the top 20 for now.
8:07 - 2nd kill at our table.
8:08 - Lost *another* chunk to Columbo777 when he reraised me both preflop and on the flop when I hit 2nd pair. Possition sucks.
8:11 - Phluxer raises all in over BigSlickNut's raise. BSN folds
8:12 - Decker711 is all in and all out (79th). I would have won. Grrrr...
8:13 - Phluxer is at it again. This time with InanimateJ. He gets the win and shows the bluff.
8:16 - Apparently Wil is out.
8:16 - Phluxer is all in and called by Columbo777. 99 v KK, 9 on the flop and Columbo is hurt
8:18 - Longshot1999 is out. All in w/ A9 against AQ - I am moved to table 4. I recognize no one.
8:19 - Wait, Sweet79Chuck is at my table. He is blogging.
8:20 - Smalldog is out when his nut flush draw doesn't get there. Kaellinn18 is a chip leader- on my left, imagine that.
8:28 - It seems the game has tightened up a lot. I have dumped a bunch of AXo because of low chip stack. I am well below average.
8:30 - We are on break. I am 49 of 64 remaining. and almost a thousand chips shy of average.
8:35 - Blinds are 75/150. I am at < 10BB. Ouch.
8:40 - Columbo777 is back at my table. SoxLover is out 59th.
8:42 - Doubled up with my AA against Kaellinn18's 82o. huh? I am back to just shy of average stack.
8:44 - DavidK is out. when his 88 runs into SERNE's TT. SERNE has to be high on the leader board
8:45 - Sweet79Chuck is all in against thebrux and looses AQ to AK He is done in 54th.
8:48 - I'm out 50th. I reraised all-in with QQ to be called by SERNE with KK. He flopped quads. Ouch.

And that my friends is poker in a nut shell.

Good night everyone.

Thursday Night Poker

2006-02-02T21:05:00.000-06:00

After my brisk 4 mile walk tonight I sat down at ye 'ol computer to play a bit of poker. Mookie is having his Big O online tourney and I have my Limit Challange to attend to.

Cash: Currently playing 25c/50c and am up $6.10.

Tourney:
9:01 - Seven to start. Pays three spots. This should be a wild and crazy event.
9:05 - Just lost a outside straight draw to Weezy. It didn't get there.
9:07 - lost a chuck to Texicans when my AJo flopped a JQx and a K on the turn. Grrrr.
9:10 - redemption! Got Texicans to lay down when I hit my TP on the river with KJo
9:13 - left the cash game up $5.50, very hard to two table Limit and NL
9:17 - Texicans just turned a fullhouse As full of 4s to aimikes25's flopped wheel. All the money was in on the flop. ouch.
9:18 - aimike shows true tilt when he bluffs all in with 25c, no callers
9:20 - back over starting chips when I check the BB and flop 2 pair. Also rivered the FH
9:21 - Mike doubles up with 24o against A8. Damn.
9:24 - Mike more than doubles up with KQ against QJ, new chip leader
9:27 - Jim is out when K7 flops top pair but Henry's 35 flops the 7 high staight
9:29 - Henry drops the Hammer. No one calls.
9:31 - I take out carol when my AA runs into A9d and she hits TPTK. They hold.
9:33 - Joel doubles up off Henry when he turns two pair against Henry's paired Ace
9:36 - I'm out. I make it 250 (blinds are 25/50). Henry makes it 750. I'm all in for 1700 or so. He calls with KK. I have 66. Ouch. Flop: 6QQ. Wow. Blank. K on the River and I am done.

Back on the Cash game. This concludes my live blogging. Not so hard when you only last 30 or so minutes.

this is great...

2006-02-02T15:30:00.000-06:00

I saw this on Wil's blog today I came across this link: http://onegoodmove.org/1gm/1gmarchive/002814.html#002814

This is quality entertainment.

Poker Related: Not too much. I had one really bad session on Tuesday, but made up some ground yesterday. In related news: I'm not ready to two table 25c/50c. Too much variation and not enough concentration. Stats updated on the right sidebar.

cash game update

2006-01-31T13:27:00.000-06:00

I am making good progress on Phase 2, almost to 20%. 25c/50c is very similar game to 10c/20c in the quality of play. But I suppose that is to be expected with a default $5 buy-in.

One SnG over the weekend. I won, but I am very happy with my heads up play where I was able to apply pressure as needed and get away when I was behind. It worked very well. There was one maroon at the table who busted out early and went on a cussing fit. It was actually a bit entertaining- but after a minute or two it was just plain annoying. I'm not sure if it still works this way- but you can not block a single players chat on PokerStars. Well, you can "block" them, but you get a "***" everytime they chat to the room. I would rather just not hear them at all.

No live poker recently.

I put $20 on the money line for Seattle. Bodog has them as 4 1/2 pt dogs so the money line is paying really well. It's only money right? Of course the only sports book based bet I personally lost this season was a Seattle game. Hmmmm...

2nd Live Game of '06 and Level 2

2006-01-26T22:26:00.000-06:00

I played in my second live game of 06 and did much better. I think I did one of my best games in a long time. The only mistake I made was trying to bluff our biggest calling station. It basically crippled my chip stack. I was 2nd short stack with 14K (2K/4K) blinds and went in with AKo against a 10K range. He called reluctantly with A5o and hit a 5 on the turn. Damn. Oh well.

After that (it was basically a live SnG so it ended fairly quickly) I headed home to see if I could keep some steam going from my live game. It worked out well. I played on a 3 tables total and cleared near $6 to cross into the next level. On to 25c/50c I go.

It was nice to be hitting sets, flushes, and top two rather than just missing everything. I'm done for the night but will pick up level 2 over the weekend. Exciting.

OK, I was over confident and I admit it!

2006-01-26T11:06:00.000-06:00

So in a few of my last posts I commented on how few losing sessions I had. Well, that pretty much ended this weekend. Of the last 5 tables I have sat at I have only had one winning session (it was a pretty good one so my loses are limited). I am not down huge, a week's worth of winnings. Normal variance - but that doesn't make it better.

I have learned, or re-learned a few things. The big one is that at these micro-limits you can not bully a table at all. Example: UTG with QQ on a full table. I raised to 20c. A few callers including the SB. The flop is 6-2-K rainbow. SB checks, I bet. One other caller but the SB calls. 2 on the turn. Check-Bet-3rd player folds-Raise. Crap. I knew it. He has a deuce and I am a sucker. A smart player would lay it down figuring I am dead to a Q but apparently I am not that smart. I call. River is a blank, SB leads out, I call. A-2 offsuit. Maybe I am too tight, but I lay down A-2 off in the SB against a raise- especially an early position raise. Even if I do call, I don't call a bet against the raiser if I hit bottom pair. Now the bad post-turn play is all mine. The check-raise is textbook and I should have saved myself 40c and folded. And my read was solid. So all was not lost. This is the kind of situation in NL that a 4x bet would drive the SB out of the hand and certainly a pot sized bet post flop would.

I did have one really good table last night that I nearly doubled my buy-in which reduced the losses dramatically. I didn't really change my game too much, it just worked out better. Bless me variance. As of right now I am down to just over 82% of my first level goal. I hope to get there this weekend. I might also try and work off my bonus for Poker Tracker via VegasPokerPro.com. They have a pretty good selection of cardrooms including Full Tilt.

BTW: plumbing sucks. I came home Monday to find my tub faucet would not turn off. It was an expensive learning experience but apparently solder got into the valve and jammed it open.

busy week...

2006-01-20T10:38:00.000-06:00

Not as much poker this week as I would like. I am up to almost 78% of my stage one goal (note the table on the right side of this page). I did add a losing session, so my record sits at: 18-5 for winning sessions.

I played in a SnG last night and was chip leader until the blinds hit 50/100. Someone doubled up and took over the lead and my AKo lost to his A9o when he spiked a 9 on the turn (we both paired up our A on the flop). I ended up 8th. It was a lot of effort for a 8th place finish. Oh well.

Went to the UT-Texas Tech basketball game on Tuesday. Pretty fun event. We mossied down to half court, 22 rows back. No one came to question us and UT just plain kicked ass. I tried to find a picture but couldn't, but the UT pom/dance squad is just H-O-T-T. We wandered by the tower after the game and it was still lit from the Rose Bowl victory and got some pictures.

Vegas Here I Come! Watch Out! I will be in Vegas from March 2 to March 7. UT baseball is playing UNLV. My buddy Jason and I are going. We will make at least two of the 3 set. Our sticks will be tagging along to play a bit of golf on Friday. And poker. Yes. There will be poker. And probably drinking. Yeah, I will probably have a few drinks.

football and poker, a progress report

2006-01-16T08:28:00.000-06:00

So the Pats lost. Badly. Grrrr. Oh well, they didn't really have the team they had last year and they at least got to the playoffs. After going 3-3 to start that was in doubt. Indy lost yesterday on a WIDE RIGHT kick by the most accurate kicker in NFL history... guess it was not meant to be.

So we have Denver-Pitt and Seattle-Carolina. Hmmm... unless you are from any of those areas, who cares? Oh well. I'll watch anyway.

I played 4 SnGs this weekend. First one I won in 51 hands. It just blew through. The 2nd one was just insane. All-ins after all-ins. I never really got anywhere and could not figure out the table and ended up 7th. *shrug* One on Saturday, finished 2nd. One on Sunday, finished 2nd but I should have won. I had the guy down to two bets (blinds were 300/600) but he doubled up twice and took me out after a long heads up battle. He played very well, but I am pissed at myself for not sealing the deal.

Cash Game Progress: 57% of the way though the first level. The best part is that I have played 17 sessions at this level and only have 4 losing ones.

I missed the first game of the season at mookie99's place this weekend. I chose to watch the Pat's lose. In retrospect, maybe I should have gone.

Colds suck.

2006-01-12T13:38:00.000-06:00

I have been fighting a headcold- or allergies- for about a week now and it sucks. On the plus side NyQuil gel caps are giving me wickedly vivid dreams.

I am just shy of 20% though my first level of the Low Limit Poker challenge. I have not done many sessions in the last 7 days but hope to do more in the next couple. One interesting hand I had last night was AA on UTG. I raised. A fairly tight player raised from mid-position. I capped. Flop was all unders, Q high, two clubs. I bet. Raised. I re-raised. He capped. Turn is a blank club giving me the backdoor flush draw. The fellow chatted "I hope you have rockets." I did not reward him with a reply. I bet, raised, called. Total blank on the river. Repeat of the turn bet. He had KK. I think I missed two BBs on this hand by not re-raising on both turn and river. I should have at least re-raised the river. He bounced from the table but came back a few orbits later looking for his money from me. I did not give him the pleasure.

The was no WWdN challenge this week. Probably a remnant of the PCA event that just happened.

Hopefully my weekend will not be a trend...

2006-01-09T12:21:00.000-06:00

I did rather poorly all around actually.

My $5 Lotto parley (I thought it was $4, so maybe a mild win there :) was a bust.

I finished 2nd in a SnG, but busted out early in two others.

I played in a live "Tournament of Champions" deal and made a pretty sick bluff early that got called with a hugely suspect hand. Details as I recall: 7-top table, money has been moving. I raised from the button with AQo. SB called along with one or two others. Flop is all unders, 4-6-10, two diamonds. Checked around to me. I made about a 1/2 pot sized bet. Only the SB called. Another blank, non-diamond. I fire again- about 1/2 sized. Ponder. Call. Non-diamond J on the river. Check. I push. I have probably 1/2 of the pot left in chips. He goes in the tank. For at least two minutes. I know he has at least a piece of it- A-10 maybe? I'm not sure. But I am sure I don't want a call. Well. He called. Ballsey call but the right one. This is the kicker though, he had pocket 3s. Yep. An under pair. Wow. I didn't see that coming. I'm not sure how the event went, I have not seen the results yet. But damn.

My biggest gripe of the night? I flopped a flush with an 8 high in my hand. I bet at the pot, but not enough to take it down. Another club on the turn. Crap. Meanwhile, another player at the table was out of a hand and started digging though the muck. What the hell? I had a straight flush draw so I called a small bet. Blank on the river. Dickfer is still digging though the muck. I called him out on it. What? What did I do? "Don't dig in the fucking muck." As I mucked my crappy flush. Tool.

Someone at the bar asked if I know a bookie. No, but I have a Bodog account. $50 on NYG -3 and $50 on CIN+3. He gave me cash. Both were busts. I had just over $10 left my buddy put a parley with the over (44) on the NYG/CAR game and CIN+3. Yeah. Missed both of those. I now have $0.55 in that account. Ooops :)

That is enough rant for a Monday. I'll move on now.

Better lucky than good...

2006-01-05T13:15:00.000-06:00

Not poker related but: I won the lotto on Saturday, ok not the *whole* lotto. But I did with $102 on $1 ticket. Nice. I let $2 ride and took a crisp $100 bill.

Well I checked my numbers for the 4th. One of my 2 tickets hit for $4. Double Sweet.

That Texas/USC game was one of the most amazing events I have ever witnessed. And Leinart came across as a tool. And I picked Texas to cover. I should have bet them on the moneyline.

Tuesday Poker

2006-01-04T09:51:00.000-06:00

So I entered Wil Wheaton's Tuesday event last night. It starts at 6 for me and the PSU/FSU game comes on at 7, so I figured to be distracted after that.

Wil did not play, something about the Bahamas. Damn him. But we did have 45 players.

I got hot decked early having litterly no less than 3 pairs of Aces, 2 pairs of Kings, and a timely pair of Queens that I made gutsy call with a KKJ two hearts board to take someone out (he was on the nut flush draw and missed). Again, top 10 in chips- I think I made it to third before the ice age came.

My goal was to make final table. I did it last week, and figured I had a good shot by staying in the top 10. But I had nothing- even the semi-playable hands got raised in front of me. I did have one untimely play late when I re-raised from the BB with AKo and was re-raised all-in by the SB. I pondered a long time and laid it down. I still don't know if it was a good play or not. He was playing very solid poker and I can't think I had any advantage there. Since it was past the first break and blinds were pretty high I lost about a 1/3rd of my stack. That hurt. Another cold run of cards and I knew I had to make a move to even get to the final table (never mind the money). I ended up all in with KQ against AQ. Not so good. Interlude: How many times do hand likes these hit when the shared card comes out on the board. I know it is a statistical minority, but it seems too often :) It left me with under the SB in chips.

I made the final two tables, and a timely knockout of two players on the other table put me out in 16th. Respectable against a solid field, but not where I wanted to be.

As for my limit challenge goals: just over 12% through the first level. Although, I did about 1/2 of it at 5c/10c on Bodog because I left myself logged in on PokerStars at home... oops. Plus I put money on OSU to cover (which they did) and Texas to at least keep it close (which we will find out about tonight).

2006 Poker Goals

2005-12-31T15:11:00.000-06:00

So everyone needs to have "New Year's Goals" and I am, well, no different. So here is the list in no particular order:

Limit Poker Skills: my limit game was doing well in the earlier part of the year, I moved from 25c/50c all the way to $1/$2. Then it went south. I tried to play through it- no luck. I ended up back in 50c/$1 and am managing to slow the losses. I am going to do a bunch of research and hand tracking. I think I am going to use the The Limit Challenge Structure - High on Poker from HighOnPoker's Blog. Hopefully 2006 will allow me to improve my game to a point where I can compete at any table I sit at.

Tournaments: although my SnG results are not pisspore, I would like to move up from the $5 and $10 ones to the larger $20+ games. I also want to play in more MTT events. An ultimate goal would be to qualify for a WSOP, WPT, or EPT event. If so, I would like to make it deep- even if I don't cash.

Vegas: I am going to go at least a twice this year. And ultimately, I would like them to be self sustaining. The only thing better than a vacation is a free vacation :-)

Live Games: We have a home poker league and I would like to play that more often and with better results. This is going to be more difficult, but I think it will be wise to play against both donkeys and players that have significantly improved their games.

To bubble or not to bubble

2005-12-30T09:44:00.000-06:00

After being at work for 12 hours yesterday, I decided to enter a SnG (or more). Of course I bubbled.

One more. OK, I finished 2nd- great. My end game was not so good though. I need to work on even stack heads up more- I just bled out and got crushed at the end. It sucked.

One more. Damn it. Got up to 2000 or so (7 or 8 people left) and I needed to head to the house- a 10 minute drive from the bar I was playing at. As an aside, having someone bring you beer while you play poker on WiFi may be the coolest thing ever. It took me 10 minutes to get home and I was down to 1500 after being blinded off. I ended up in a battle of the bubble with another short stack and I lost. Damn it.

One more. This one I played pretty darn solid, top 3 most of the way. Got to heads up with a 40/60 chip distribution. Again, my heads play was not steller. I ended up losing with a flush draw and two live ones on the flop against a naked ace. If one part of my game showed weekness last night it was my heads up play.

For the night: four $5.50 buyin SnGs ($22). two bubbles ($0). two 2nd Place Finishes ($27). Total: Up $5. Woot!!

Another week with Wil

2005-12-27T20:51:00.000-06:00

So I signed up for Wil Wheaton's weekly event again today. Despite the fact that I had to sit out two orbits because I couldn't get online at 6, things went very well. I was in the top 10 in chips most of the event, chip leader for quite awhile. We made the final table and I was in the top 3 the whole time. What killed me was doubling up Change100 when my AQo ran into 77, I hit a Q but the board 4 flushed giving her the win. Next hand I had 33 and ran into AKo by SeedyV and a K flopped. Oh well. I finished 5th of 60, not to shabby.

Wil Wheaton Poker Stars Event

2005-12-20T19:29:00.000-06:00

I decided to play the WWdN Bonus Code IGGY Invitational tonight. It was a $10+1 event with 70 entrants. My overall goal was to make the final two tables.

I did very well early pushing up into the top 10 in chips. However I ran into a key hand where I pushed a short stack all in with my QQ and was called by another player. The board tripped 8s but there was an A as well. I lost a bunch of chips to 8s full. I hung on until 31st place.

The only saving grace is that I earned my entry fee playing 50c/$1 earlier in the day.

Thanks for a great event Wil. I look forward to playing it often.

Longest SnG ever... ok, maybe not

2005-12-15T21:55:00.000-06:00

This one was a record for me. It lasted just over 1 1/2 hours and 178 hands were dealt. Wow. It was six handed and the blinds were 200/400. It ended when the blinds were 400/800. The amazing part is that there were very few eventful hands. The play was solid- good bets, good bluffs, good laydowns, the whole deal. It is nice to have won though :)

1st Head's Up Event

2005-12-15T15:28:00.000-06:00

Last night was a decent stop to a week long skid. I played a bit of 50c/$1 limit to pass some time and I made 7 or 8 bucks. Not horrible, and it almost payed for my entry fee to a private heads up event.

I played in the 3rd or 4th Big O Poker Room PokerStars private event. We had 8 players and I think I played pretty solid. In the first round, "moku" and I danced for a good while as the blinds climbed to 50/100. I ended up hitting quads and although there was no showdown I took a bunch of chips and moved onto the victory. The second round I was put up against "Qn of Hearts" I got down early but built it back up and ended up winning an all-in with KJ against AQ when I hit a K on the river. It put me in good chip state when my AK ran into QQ (fitting hand eh?). I spiked a K on the turn. This got me into the final round. The final round lasted exactly one hand. I had J6 of diamonds in the small blind and limped in. The flop gave me a gut shot straight and 4 to the flush. A single bet didn't get me off the pot. The turn broght and offsuit 5 filling my gut shot. I made it two bets and got called. The river was a 9 of diamonds giving me the J high flush. My opponent, "brucewayne31", went all in and after pondering a spell I called. He showed Q7 diamonds for the bigger flush.