Monday, March 31, 2008

End of March/Opening Day

I'll be playing today to close out March, so we'll see how that goes. What a low volume month, which I'll write about tomorrow. Not a great week for poker. Finally busted a streak where I didn't cash for 21 tournaments in a row. Fun! There's that variance I was talking about. Broke it by making AP 30r FT, but lost a flip, finished 6th. Hopefully I can get something done today to end on an up note.

Today is opening day for the Mets. And Johan Santana is pitching. Doesn't get any better than that. It's still something just short of a miracle that Minaya was able to get Santana, since it's possible both the Red Sox and Yankees offered better deals for him. We have to be the team to beat in the NL East, but the Phillies and Braves will be there all year.

In other sports news I care about, the Bucks get Ole Miss tomorrow in the NIT semis. Watching this team play loose has really been fun, even if it was too late. The Lakers' injuries appear to have finally caught up with them as they lost to Charlotte and Memphis before pulling out a win in OT over Washington. Need Gasol and Bynum back in a bad way, especially Gasol. Chad Johnson is ruining the Bengals. Like we didn't have enough problems. I hate him right now. And Liverpool get Arsenal at Anfield Wednesday for leg 1 of the Champions League quarters.

Opening Day!

Saturday, March 29, 2008

Playing multis and the Abandonment of SNGs

"If you're too careful, your whole life can become a fuckin' grind."

On December 12, I played a $109 SNG on AP, and finished last. That was basically the last SNG I played. It feels a little strange to have abandoned them entirely, since they were the primary way I played poker for a lot of the previous 3 years. I started out online with 30 bucks and playing $11 SNGs on AP. Not surprisingly I made money, because the other players were terrible. And somehow that escalated to the point where I thought I'd try to play poker for a living, despite some very nice pieces of paper that say I can practice law if I want to.

The only SNG I've played since then was a $44 on AP that I played late one night because I didn't feel like going to bed and didn't feel like concentrating. So ship $180 obv lol. And let me say that the play in the $44s has not improved.

At some point, I just came to hate how SNGs are played. I hate caring about the bubble. Hate it. I hate making the money being the first goal, and intentionally folding the best hand. I finished 154th in the 50-50 on FT yesterday, exactly on the bubble (153 paid lol), and I couldn't have given a fuck less. I was making a play to try to win the tournament. I like winning, not trying to finish third.

I also don't think I'm a particularly good SNG player to be honest, $44 donkathons aside. If I was going to continue to play SNGs, I was going to have to work to improve at them in a way that I haven't done to this point. And I didn't really want to do that. So I'm done with them.

So that's left me with multis and cash games. Multis are my primary means of making a living at this point. And that's definitely preferable to me. I like playing to win. I like the variety of play that multis allow, the creativity. Much preferable to sitting there like a nit until 50/100. It feels like I'm actually playing poker.

But the variance, oh the variance. Things were looking kind of glum in February there for awhile. I was getting low on many of my accounts at the same time. Playing multis definitely requires a bankroll to sustain yourself when not running well, which is a lot of the time when you're only really making money off big cashes. Also have to put in enough volume, which I'm actually doing poorly at, but that's the subject of another entry. I have played some cash games in order to curb the variance a little bit. So that helps. That's really another full entry too.

If poker is a hard way to make an easy living, I'm not sure if multis almost exclusively as a way to make a living is a relatively harder or easier living. With the variance, sometimes I think it's an even harder living, because my salary is so erratic. But it feels like a lot less of a fuckin' grind.

Thursday, March 27, 2008

Maybe I Should Go Back To Not Playing

Total for the day: 14 tournaments, 2 meaningless cashes. Down about $1150 or so.

What went wrong today? Well despite thinking I wasn't going to play WSOP qualifiers, played two WSOP qualifiers. That's not what went wrong but thought that was interesting. The first one finished ninth with three spots, the second one I went broke on the third hand when the guy called a reraise with 8s and flopped a set on my aces.

Meant to write a future entry about volume and multi-tabling too, that didn't make my list from yesterday. Harder to get tables going if you can't stay in tournaments though.

I'm not sure I've ever been as card dead for a full day as I was today. There were several tournaments that I just had long stretches of totally unplayable hands. And tables with people that liked to call. So I sat there a lot. In the AP 9k flop the nut straight against two pair, hit the four outer on the river. And then there were the required AJ>JJ, J7>QQ (apparently people are calling raises with J7 now), etc. Overall, whatever. Just one of those poker days.

So actually, I don't really think I played badly today.

Back to work tomorrow.

Wednesday, March 26, 2008

Morning Session

Five tournaments this morning, two cashes, none of any significance. After thinking I wasn't going to play WSOP qualifiers, I played an $80 satellite on Stars into the $650 satellite. The play in it was terrible. Actually the play was terrible in most tournaments I was playing in today, the FT $109 was pathetic. So of course I didn't get anything done in those.

US soccer: 2-0 at the half over Poland in Poland. Just a friendly, but could be a very good result. Bocanegra and Onyewu with the goals, both coming off set piece crosses from Donovan. Eddie Johnson still sucks though.

Gonna go out for a bit I think, get some fresh air, come back and have a steak for dinner, then time for a long poker session tonight.

Tuesday, March 25, 2008

Taxes

Filled out all my tax forms today. Joy.

Was made more complicated by the fact that I'm currently being audited, which is a shitload of fun, in case you were wondering. Actually the IRS doesn't call it audited. They just sent me a "proposed readjustment" for the 2006 tax year, where I owed them another $3700. The basic premise was that they didn't believe that the money I won gambling was really money I won gambling. Instead they decided that while I was in law school, I was running my own business. Which is ridiculous. But they're the IRS, so they can do whatever the fuck they want. But they assumed that because they didn't have anything from casinos stating that I'd won money there. But of course it was (almost) all online. So I had to prove to the government that I'd been online gambling. Which is a little strange. Also, it's somewhat difficult to do, since the online poker industry is like quasi-legitimate, and therefore it's not like they sent in W-2s. I did keep a bunch of old emails from AP when I cashed out, so those helped. Now I will hear back next month if they accept that I really was online gambling. If they don't, I don't know what happens next.

So in order to get my taxes in line with what my accountant said, and hopefully not get audited again, everything got divided into gambling wins and gambling losses, and was also separated by when I was in law school and when I wasn't. Annoying. Also, I have to pay social security and all that shit now that I'm self-employed. It was cheaper to be in law school. Of course law school was costing me $20k a year between tuition and books and everything, so that's not really true.

Still basically on break I guess, got soccer tonight so won't really be playing tournaments. My volume has been really low lately. Tomorrow will be definitely be a full day of poker, time to get it back going again.

Things I've been meaning to write about: live poker, the WSOP, my choice of MTTs and virtual abandonment of SNGs, cash game play, moving up levels in MTTs. Probably some other things too, but just listing those so I remember to get back to them.

Sunday, March 23, 2008

Break?

Played a lot less lately, not necessarily on purpose, just doing other misc. stuff. Did play a couple tournaments tonight, FTed UB $129 bounty but finished 9th, wow did I go card dead in that thing. Tired, didn't feel like I played well, made a donk shove in AP 75k. Need to get some rest.

Thursday, March 20, 2008

Full Poker Day/Pryor/Obama

Pretty full tournament day yesterday, but only one cash, which was 2nd in the AP 20r nooner. Had CL HU and lost a big race, then called with AQ on 6 5 4 flop on what looked like a stop and go (I was pretty short, but not so short that I had to shove, and was trying to get reraised with a worse holding), got shown A7, 3 on turn, nh, gg. Also, in the bad beats are just part of the game department, got in all in with JJ against AA at FT, J on turn obv. I run good. At some point you play enough volume that bad beats don't (or at least shouldn't) effect you any more. Got knocked out of FT $55 (1r, 1a) by QQ against KK? Part of the game. Next tournament. This is just a natural evolution over time I think. When you start out and are playing one tournament at a time, every tournament feels like life and death, and the outcome of losing after being a substantial favorite is somehow unjust, instead of part of the natural variance of the game.

Some beats are more entertaining than others of course. Have I mentioned Cake players are bad?

Hand #14451B913C001288: $20,000 GUARANTEED!! - R&A
Seat 1: **Na** (3029.00 in chips)
Seat 2: 202020 (8775.00 in chips)
Seat 3: CAKE4PREZ08 (9746.00 in chips)
Seat 4: WheresMyCake (14802.00 in chips)
Seat 5: bzimzim (10663.00 in chips)
Seat 6: ROYAL PITA (2572.00 in chips)
Seat 7: KOBE4MVP1 (28967.00 in chips)
Seat 8: Rumble (12958.00 in chips)
Seat 9: chatica (3340.00 in chips)
chatica: posts small blind $100
**Na**: posts big blind $200
Dealt to bzimzim [ As Ah ]
202020: folds
CAKE4PREZ08: folds
WheresMyCake: calls
bzimzim: raises to $700
ROYAL PITA: folds
KOBE4MVP1: folds
Rumble: folds
chatica: folds
**Na**: folds
WheresMyCake: calls
@@@ F_L_O_P @@@ [ 6s 5d Ts ]
WheresMyCake: checks
bzimzim: bets $1,100
WheresMyCake: calls
*** TURN *** [ 2d ]
WheresMyCake: bets $1,999
bzimzim: is all in 8863.00
WheresMyCake: calls
*** RIVER *** [ 3c ]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
WheresMyCake wins $21,626 with Two Pairs, Sixes and Deuces

Ah, the old limp 62s ep. I may have lost the tournament, but I can't imagine greater confirmation that I should be playing the Cake 30r every night than this hand.

Now, in what I'm sure will become a tradition, it's the "why the fuck did I play it like that?" hand:

FullTiltPoker Game #5706679834: $18,500 Guarantee (1r+1a) (42716524), Table 21 - 170/340 Ante 25 - No Limit Hold'em - 1:16:37 ET - 2008/03/20
Seat 1: aabeware (16,991)
Seat 2: CapTinBisKuiT (9,698)
Seat 3: JustARoper (7,116)
Seat 4: STJEAN81 (13,119)
Seat 5: xxxTATxxx (34,422)
Seat 6: shooter1666 (4,911)
Seat 7: dsindy (15,838)
Seat 8: MASTRODAMUS (16,631)
Seat 9: bzimzim (10,690)
aabeware antes 25
CapTinBisKuiT antes 25
JustARoper antes 25
STJEAN81 antes 25
xxxTATxxx antes 25
shooter1666 antes 25
dsindy antes 25
MASTRODAMUS antes 25
bzimzim antes 25
JustARoper posts the small blind of 170
STJEAN81 posts the big blind of 340
The button is in seat #2
*** HOLE CARDS ***Dealt to bzimzim [Ad 9d]
xxxTATxxx folds
shooter1666 folds
dsindy folds
MASTRODAMUS folds
bzimzim raises to 850
aabeware has 15 seconds left to act
aabeware calls 850
CapTinBisKuiT folds
JustARoper folds
STJEAN81 folds
*** FLOP *** [7d 4c 6d]
bzimzim has 15 seconds left to act
bzimzim bets 1,000
aabeware calls 1,000
*** TURN *** [7d 4c 6d] [8s]
bzimzim checks
aabeware bets 3,500
bzimzim raises to 8,815, and is all in
aabeware calls 5,315
bzimzim shows [Ad 9d]
aabeware shows [As Kd]
*** RIVER *** [7d 4c 6d 8s] [6c]
bzimzim shows a pair of Sixes
aabeware shows a pair of Sixes
aabeware wins the pot (22,065) with a pair of Sixes

I checked with intention of c/r all in on the turn. He also snap called me which I thought was a little odd since he had no pair, no draw, but I guess he read me well or something. The real question is, why am I not the one leading with the pot sized bet on the turn? Then if he shoves (which I imagine he wouldn't in this spot), so be it, and I have outs. This hand definitely had me muttering to myself. I suck.

Non-poker thoughts: No. 1 player in the country Terrelle Pryor signed with Ohio State yesterday. It always seemed like a matter of time, but it's great to finally have him in the fold. It'll be interesting to see if/how much he gets integrated into the offense this year, and what this means for the future of Antonio Henton. We really need to sign another QB this upcoming recruiting class since Boeckman is a senior and Henton transfer rumors will flying, but it's going to be tough to get a good one with Pryor in the previous class.

So I have a page-a-day calendar called the "George W. Bush Out of Office Countdown". Sometimes there's some pretty good stuff. A couple good quotes, here's one on education:

"If we're going to spend federal money, we expect the states to show us whether or not we're achieving simple objectives-like literacy, literacy in math, the ability to read and write."

Good examples Wubya. I really like "literacy in math".This one is about elections in the Middle East:

"I like the idea of people running for office. There's a positive effect when you run for office. Maybe some will run for office and say, vote for me, I look forward to blowing up America. I don't know, I don't know if that's their platform or not. But it's-I don't think so. I think people who generally run for office say, vote for me, I'm looking forward to fixing your potholes, or making sure you got bread on the table."

Sigh. What a moron. As the calendar tells me, 306 days left.

On the opposite note, if you haven't seen Obama's speech on race from Tuesday, it was absolutely incredible. I was inspired. I was in awe. I almost can't overstate it. And I don't normally care that much about political speeches themselves even though I'm interested in politics.

37 minutes in total, but it's worth it:
Part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o1uJztFbOk8
Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qxZACaelHr4
Part 3: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F-EPJeTaaio
Part 4: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TGyELYLfuRI

That man needs to be President.

Tuesday, March 18, 2008

Breakdown of a Win (or chop, close enough)

Went over the hand history, really felt I played well. Obviously. Lots of key moments, someone trying to resteal with K5o when I had aces was a key moment when I chipped up later in the tournament. I think I've really improved my aggression on picking times to re-steal, that's something I noticed going back over the tournament. Wanted to post these consecutive hands from earlier where I chipped up, from there I was off and running.

POKERSTARS GAME #16056508050: TOURNAMENT #80995650, $100+$9 HOLD'EM NO LIMIT - LEVEL IX (300/600) - 2008/03/17 - 21:14:44 (ET)Table '80995650 25' 9-max Seat #3 is the button
Seat 1: LolS (18325 in chips)
Seat 2: Katte-M (22800 in chips)
Seat 3: Papa Bull XL (18981 in chips)
Seat 4: okhcad777 (16172 in chips)
Seat 5: kickboyswoop (15048 in chips)
Seat 7: bzimzim (7624 in chips)
Seat 8: IG0tDibs (8108 in chips)
Seat 9: kongobongo85 (4920 in chips)
LolS: posts the ante 50
Katte-M: posts the ante 50
Papa Bull XL: posts the ante 50
okhcad777: posts the ante 50
kickboyswoop: posts the ante 50
bzimzim: posts the ante 50
IG0tDibs: posts the ante 50
kongobongo85: posts the ante 50
okhcad777: posts small blind 300
kickboyswoop: posts big blind 600
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to bzimzim [Kh Qh]
bzimzim: raises 1000 to 1600
IG0tDibs: folds
kongobongo85: folds
LolS: folds
Katte-M: calls 1600
Papa Bull XL: folds
okhcad777: folds
kickboyswoop: folds
*** FLOP *** [5h 3h 5s]
bzimzim: bets 2400
Katte-M: raises 2400 to 4800
bzimzim: raises 1174 to 5974 and is all-in
Katte-M: calls 1174
*** TURN *** [5h 3h 5s] [6h]***
RIVER *** [5h 3h 5s 6h] [2d]
SHOW DOWN ***bzimzim: shows [Kh Qh] (a flush, King high)
Katte-M: shows [4d 4c] (a straight, Deuce to Six)
bzimzim collected 16448 from pot

POKERSTARS GAME #16056525533: TOURNAMENT #80995650, $100+$9 HOLD'EM NO LIMIT - LEVEL IX (300/600) - 2008/03/17 - 21:15:30 (ET)Table '80995650 25' 9-max Seat #4 is the button
Seat 1: LolS (18275 in chips)
Seat 2: Katte-M (15176 in chips)
Seat 3: Papa Bull XL (18931 in chips)
Seat 4: okhcad777 (15822 in chips)
Seat 5: kickboyswoop (14398 in chips)
Seat 7: bzimzim (16448 in chips)
Seat 8: IG0tDibs (8058 in chips)
Seat 9: kongobongo85 (4870 in chips)
LolS: posts the ante 50
Katte-M: posts the ante 50
Papa Bull XL: posts the ante 50
okhcad777: posts the ante 50
kickboyswoop: posts the ante 50
bzimzim: posts the ante 50
IG0tDibs: posts the ante 50
kongobongo85: posts the ante 50
kickboyswoop: posts small blind 300
bzimzim: posts big blind 600
*** HOLE CARDS ***Dealt to bzimzim [5s 3s]
IG0tDibs: folds
kongobongo85: folds
LolS: folds
Katte-M: folds
Papa Bull XL: raises 925 to 1525
okhcad777: calls 1525
kickboyswoop: folds
bzimzim: calls 925
*** FLOP *** [3c Js Qs]
bzimzim: checks
Papa Bull XL: bets 3175
okhcad777: folds
bzimzim: raises 5325 to 8500
oleko111 is connected
Papa Bull XL: raises 8856 to 17356 and is all-in
bzimzim: calls 6373 and is all-in
*** TURN *** [3c Js Qs] [9s]
*** RIVER *** [3c Js Qs 9s] [2h]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
bzimzim: shows [5s 3s] (a flush, Queen high)
Papa Bull XL: shows [Ts Qd] (a pair of Queens)
bzimzim collected 35021 from pot

Weeeeeeeeeee.

Some thoughts on the second hand. Reasons I called in the first place: Papa had been opening frequently from late position, better price when ok came in, we're all deep enough that I can stack someone if I really hit. Then just the kind of flop I can get aggro with, pair and a flush draw. I actually thought Papa had hit the flop, but thought there was a pretty good chance he wouldn't be able to stand the heat. Instead he put his whole stack in with top pair 10 kicker. So good read, I guess. Then, of course, I run good :)

Boy he was pissed though. Haha. I think I put the whole table on tilt with that one, had Katte get his whole stack in with 5s on an 8 7 3 flop when I smooth called pf with QQ. So that was another 18000 chips or so.

Now obviously, I'm not calling raises with 53s very often, but I actually liked my play here, both the initial call and the play after. Got to chip up sometime, and I think this was a good spot to get aggressive. Maybe this is really a leak though. I am calling with a marginal hand. There's a hand on the AP forum right now where someone min raises from lp, and two others call. The bb has J9o, is deep enough to make a speculative call, and is getting nearly 8:1. Most people there say they would fold. In my mind, with connecting cards and such a great price, that seems like a chance to see a flop and try and chip up. At some point you have to rely on post-flop play/reading to try and avoid trouble if you flop a medicore holding.

Of course, it's possible I'm just playing badly and don't know it. But as long as I keep hitting five figure cashes, my ignorance is ok by me :)

In Buckeye news, Ohio State leads UNC-Ashville right now 55-47 in the second half in the NIT. They've got a 7'7" center Kenny George that's getting away with murder. He's a monster though. My God. Also Pryor announcing for Ohio State tomorrow! Sweet.

Off to my soccer game after I missed last week's game, ship a win.

SHIP IT!!!!!

Got heads-up in 25k ($109) on Stars, then made a deal where I get a little bit more because I had a few more chips. I'm calling it a win since I made more, $10,023 total.

Um, SHIP IT!

Probably more thoughts on the tournament tomorrow after I look over hand history.

Monday, March 17, 2008

Not Finishing the Job

Had the potential to be a pretty big night last night. Couldn't get anything going in AP 75k, but final tabled UB $129 bounty and Cake 30r. Sort of nitted up at the beginning of the UB FT (though a lack of cards were certainly partly why) when I had some chips, then tried to get more aggressive as blinds rose. Maybe missed some resteal opportunities against a really aggro player at the table? Disappointingly finished sixth. Here's a hand from that when I finally found a big one:

Hand #51730474-64 at Sun801pm20KBounty-Final (No Limit tournament Hold'em)
Started at 17/Mar/08 00:54:55
Shark__Bait is at seat 0 with 72890.
spiderweb98 is at seat 2 with 98185.
foolishgolf is at seat 3 with 22480.
phill757 is at seat 4 with 116940.
Twanbon is at seat 5 with 26970.
bzimzim is at seat 7 with 79435.
BHShrubbery is at seat 9 with 75600.
The button is at seat 4.
Shark__Bait posts ante (300).
spiderweb98 posts ante (300).
foolishgolf posts ante (300).
phill757 posts ante (300).
Twanbon posts ante (300).
bzimzim posts ante (300).
BHShrubbery posts ante (300).
bzimzim posts the small blind of 1500.
BHShrubbery posts the big blind of 3000.

Shark__Bait: -- --
spiderweb98: -- --
foolishgolf: -- --
phill757: -- --
Twanbon: -- --
bzimzim: Kc Kh
BHShrubbery: -- --

Pre-flop:
Shark__Bait folds. spiderweb98 folds. foolishgolf folds. phill757 folds. Twanbon folds. bzimzim raises to 7600. BHShrubbery calls.

Flop (board: Ac Ks Qd): bzimzim bets 9000. BHShrubbery raises to 20000. bzimzim goes all-in for 71535. BHShrubbery folds, showing As 9h. bzimzim is returned 51535 (uncalled).

Hand #51730474-64 Summary: No rake is taken for this hand. bzimzim wins 57300.

A solid fold by shrub, who seems liked a good player. Still, my image was maybe too solid for this play? Didn't want to give a free card to a straight draw, but in retrospect that reasoning seems fucking stupid. Call and hope he leads the turn. Someone even commented when he showed that they couldn't imagine that was good. Don't think I got maximum value here given my image, mistake by me.

Also finished sixth in Cake 30r (note for the 74th time, cake players suck), seen here:
Hand #14421AD99E002765: $20,000 GUARANTEED!! - R&A
Seat 2: bzimzim (116763.00 in chips)
Seat 3: HalfFrenzy (3410.00 in chips)
Seat 5: 222555 (173704.00 in chips)
Seat 7: cooger (441215.00 in chips)
Seat 8: b0untyhunter (290784.00 in chips)
Seat 10: cukiemonster (238624.00 in chips)
bzimzim posts ante of $800
HalfFrenzy posts ante of $800
222555 posts ante of $800
cooger posts ante of $800
b0untyhunter posts ante of $800
cukiemonster posts ante of $800
cooger: posts small blind $4,000
b0untyhunter: posts big blind $8,000
Dealt to bzimzim [ Kd Kh ]
cukiemonster: folds
bzimzim: raises to $21,000
HalfFrenzy: is all in 2610.00
222555: folds
cooger: folds
b0untyhunter: calls
@@@ F_L_O_P @@@ [ 2c 8d Jh ]
b0untyhunter: bets $53,410
bzimzim: is all in 94963.00
b0untyhunter: calls
*** TURN *** [ Ah ]
*** RIVER *** [ Qs ]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
b0untyhunter wins $228,096 with Two Pairs, Queens and Jacks
*** SHOW DOWN ***
HalfFrenzy wins $15,240 with Three of a Kind, Eights

Ah, QJ is the nuts. That one hurt. Also finished 15th in UB 30r, so 4 tournaments, 3 cashes, 2 final tables, no wins. Ah the life of a tournament player, disappointment most of the time. Still, feeling good, back to work tonight.

Sunday, March 16, 2008

Poker? What's poker?

Finally back playing today, though not sure how much. Played cash games for an hour just now. Probably play tonight. For now basketball break, with the Lakers playing the Rockets for tops in the West, along with two games that could affect if Ohio State gets in the tournament, including Illinois playing. Weird spot for my fandom. Illinois fan because I went there for law school, and they get a tournament spot with a win. But that might take OSU's spot. Personally I think OSU is out anyway, but maybe not. Who knows. So Go Illini. Kind of.

Definitely will be playing for real tomorrow.

Sunday, March 9, 2008

Just your average party at a warehouse in Oakland

Good party night last night, with DJ Uberzone the headliner at my friend's warehouse party. Apparently he's well-known to people who pay attention to DJs. My friend William played a set too, and it was pretty sweet. Also they hired girls to dance with/eat fire. Just your average Saturday night. I have three hours of couch sleep and a wonderful hangover.

Haven't played too much out here, but up about 500 or so in cash games I've played sporadically. I'm only like 90k behind what Carson has apparently made this week on AP. Sick run that.

Hey my last entry had three comments. It's a groundswell. To quote Mitch Hedberg: "I did an interview for XM radio, anybody have XM radio? (very scattered applause) I'll be damned, it's growing in popularity. They said, you can swear on XM radio. No shit, cause nobody can hear it. You can swear in the woods, too."

So basically, my blog is growing in popularity.

Wednesday, March 5, 2008

Hillary, Big Soccer/Buckeye Win, California

Hillary won both Texas and Ohio tonight. Shit. This thing will keep going for a long time. How could either one land a KO in Pennsylvannia? Doesn't seem possible. To the convention?

Great article on the constant power struggle with Iran in Iraq: http://www.thenation.com/doc/20080310/dreyfuss

Ship a win for my soccer team 4-3. Goalkeeper was the difference, obv. Ship a win for the Bucks in OT over Purdue. Ohio State's season isn't quite over yet.

Off to Berkeley tomorrow to chill for a week, back next Thursday. Blog will probably not be updated much. Even if no one is actually reading this thing, pleased that I've been writing regularly so far. Probably not much poker out there, though bringing the laptop and may try to get some in. To be young and self-employed. And lazy.

6:30 wake up call tomorrow.

Tuesday, March 4, 2008

Bodog Poker Open

Went deep in the BPO last night, but finished 16th when shoved 97o from the CO and ran into AK. 9 on the flop, K on the river. Sigh. NH, GG. It felt a little bit like a 2004 WSOP reunion, with David Williams and Josh Arieh both at my table at various points. Evelyn Ng was on my left down to two tables as well. Felt like I played pretty well in the tournaments, tried to be aggro but kept getting reraised, so nitted up a bit and tried to pick my spots, was folding a lot in late position and getting aggressive from mp. Was able to attack a couple short stacks near the bubble that had clearly nitted up and that allowed me to chip up a bit. Not enough in the end though.

That was definitely the news of the night, somehow didn't even make the money in the cake 30r. Have I mentioned that the players are bad there? Maybe once or twice? My god, they are awful.

Not sure if I'll play today. Potential epic match between Arsenal and AC Milan coming up in a minute, then have my own soccer game coming up at 6:30. Ship a win obv; lost the opener 4-1. Also Ohio State plays Purdue tonight. Ugh. Apparently Jamar Butler quit the team for a couple of days earlier this year. Awesome senior leadership. Somehow just take this season out back and put it out of its misery already. At least the Lakers are good again.

Monday, March 3, 2008

Running Bad, Playing Bad

Played a few tournaments Saturday, ran bad. Lost a race, set over set, card dead, etc., then sat around for the first hour and a half in the AP 150K before picking up QQ in the sb at 100/200 with 5k chips. Donk player on button min raises, I bump to 1400, he calls of course. Flop 5 5 2, A5 obv, gg.

Yesterday played a few big tournaments, Sunday Million on Stars, Sunday Mulligan on Tilt, Bodog 100K, AP 75k. Didn't do anything in any of them. Don't think I played well. Here's a hand I hated.

FullTiltPoker Game #5477549864: The Sunday Mulligan (40615989), Table 107 - 150/300 Ante 25 - No Limit Hold'em - 21:40:25 ET - 2008/03/02
Seat 1: DBmeplz (15,384)
Seat 2: str8outtacmpton (10,165)
Seat 3: brehmer (7,451)
Seat 4: BOBCATSTATE (7,690)
Seat 5: GamBaLLer21 (4,630)
Seat 6: bzimzim (5,725)
Seat 7: saint-luc (17,434)
Seat 8: tjbozz (11,752)
Seat 9: pretty work 007 (6,575)
DBmeplz antes 25
str8outtacmpton antes 25
brehmer antes 25
BOBCATSTATE antes 25
GamBaLLer21 antes 25
bzimzim antes 25
saint-luc antes 25
tjbozz antes 25
pretty work 007 antes 25
saint-luc posts the small blind of 150
tjbozz posts the big blind of 300
The button is in seat #6
*** HOLE CARDS ***Dealt to bzimzim [9d 9c]
pretty work 007 folds
DBmeplz raises to 810
str8outtacmpton folds
brehmer folds
BOBCATSTATE folds
GamBaLLer21 folds
bzimzim calls 810
saint-luc folds
tjbozz folds
*** FLOP *** [6s Qc 4d]
DBmeplz checks
bzimzim checks
*** TURN *** [6s Qc 4d] [3s]
DBmeplz checks
bzimzim bets 1,200
DBmeplz raises to 3,600
bzimzim has 15 seconds left to act
bzimzim folds
Uncalled bet of 2,400 returned to DBmeplz
DBmeplz mucks
DBmeplz wins the pot (4,695)

I think calling on the flop is fine, he raised in ep but I've seen him raise with a decent starting range before. Pushing would have been too aggro I think. He checks flop, I check behind. Partially I'm worried about getting trapped, also just willing to take a free card. Given my bet on the turn, betting on the flop probably would have been better and represented more strength. Another check on the I turn, I bet and get c/r. In retrospect, I hate this play. Hate it. And if I'm willing to bet here, maybe I should be more willing to call off here. My theory in making the bet was that I wouldn't give any more free over cards and find out where I was at, but I also wonder if I didn't just give an aggro player a chance to make a play where it looked like I was weak. Also, my 9s have showdown value, why not just try to get there as cheap as possible? If he fires a big bet on the river I can evaluate then. I think given my hand strength here, I either had to bet the flop and define the hand or check behind on the turn and control the pot size. Instead I put myself in a position where I had to either fold away a good portion of my stack or really take a read and call off my whole stack with a marginal hand. Not where I want to be.

Went broke two hands later when my JJ got ran down by 77 when guy made a straight on the river. Didn't even bubble FT on cake rebuy last night per usual when guy got all in with a straight draw on the turn and hit on the river. At that point I just gave up for the day. This is probably why I don't play the volume I need to.

There's a headline on Yahoo right now that reads: "Kid Rock pleads not guilty to battery in Waffle House fight." Not even clicking the article. It's not going to get any better than that.

Hilary remains in full spin control by saying today she has the momentum in the campaign. She has now lost 11 straight primaries. Momentum is relative I guess. At the moment I would guess she'll win two of four tomorrow, although that's very much up in the air. So she has momentum like Notre Dame football has momentum after beating Stanford and Duke the last two games of the year. Anyway, my guess is that my home state of Ohio goes for Hilary, because why not? It went for Bush in 2004, why not screw our country a little bit more. Somewhat disconcerting in the usual drabble of political stories is this: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080303/ap_on_el_pr/democrats_nafta;_ylt=AsdbuwgVGk1KfhVFKjWTqZSyFz4D

I'm still for Obama, obviously, but I have gotten more concerned recently about his influences and potential political posturing. He's certainly got the big money people and interests lined up behind him, which both makes him electable and is disconcerting. I've never been that concerned about specific plans (i.e. health care) that get debated during the campaign, I'm looking for a candidate that is intelligent, has character and shares values. Obama has done a lot of good in his life, even before politics, such as the work he did here in Chicago as a community organizer. I just hope he's not losing his way in order to get elected. That's a slippery slope toward being Bill Clinton and not standing for anything at all. On the issue of NAFTA itself, I'm generally for trade with environmental standards and labor protections, which NAFTA did not do a good job at. I'm not for protectionism just for protectionism. If that's what Obama is essentially telling the Canadians, all well and good. But it's hard to know what that all means.

I'll play tonight I'm sure, need to get some poker in before heading to California Wednesday.

Saturday, March 1, 2008

Ship Biggest Month Ever

Thanks to Bodog 100K biggest month ever in my very young poker career.

February: +$23,216

Year to date: +$25,357

Very good start to the year. Playing a few tournaments today, not too many, play $250K probably, see if I can get anything going in that. Got TV on in background on GolTV, got the Athletico Madrid-Barcelona and Real Madrid-Recreativo matches on at the same time, sort of like the tournament where they keep going back and forth. My friend is a big Real Madrid fan so I've sort of inherited that. Right now Athletico 2-1 and 1-1 for Real Madrid. Good news so far, Real Madrid would pick up a point with those scores and be 3 up in La Liga, ahead of their Champions League showdown with Roma and Wednesday.

Ohio State plays at 3 at Minnesota. Maybe they'll actually win a game that matters. Been a frustrating year. Still, Go Bucks!

Alright, time for some afternoon poker, hopefully get March started right.