Well, nothing good to say about the Heartland Poker Tour. 15K starting chips, down to about 13.8K when looked down at AJh, still 100/100. Couple limpers, CO raises to 300, but he's been raising frequently to take control of pots, I call from sb. Flop 4 3 2, two hearts. Checks around to CO who bets 1100, button calls, I call, ep limpers makes it 4000. Both other players fold, I call with the flush and straight draws for 2900, figuring he's got a set. Board pairs on the turn and I'm done. He's shows his set of 4s turned boat. Continued to get chipped down til about 7500, 100/200, couple of limpers, same player as before raises to 1500. I shove AK, he folds, showing 32s lol.
Finally chipped down to 7000 when it was apparently time for my absolute ridiculous/amateurish mistake. 200/400, raise to 1100 from the CO with J10o, button calls. Flop is QJ8 rainbow. I'm dwelling on how much to bet, but apparently while I did so I unconsciously hit the table. The dealer and my opponent thought I had checked. Meanwhile I bet 2000, essentially intending to get myself potstuck, so that my opponent knows he can't get me to fold and fold anything that's not a Q or a set. Confusion reigns for a moment, and the dealer tells me I checked. Awesome. Check behind, turn is an A. With the pair and double gutted straight draw, decide to bet the 2000 anyway, get moved in on instantly. I'm pot stuck, I call, he shows AK. River Q, see ya. Basically this story is about how I'm a fucking moron and I suck. I'm still sick about it.
I'd definitely make up for it by winning a Sunday Major. Or cashing. Well didn't do either. Lost a decent sized flip with 800 left in Sunday Million, made a donk ass call in UB 200k, 2 outed for most of my stack on FT, lost a flip on BD, repoped with KJ on cake into aces right before bubble. Here was 75k on AP:
Stage #1163272706 Tourney ID 1997495 Holdem Multi Normal Tournament No Limit $150 - 2008-04-27 21:17:42 (ET)
Table: 19 (Real Money) Seat #8 is the dealer
Seat 1 - _TREVOR_ ($8335 in chips)
Seat 2 - TN0911 ($10870 in chips)
Seat 3 - ESTAMI22 ($8592.50 in chips)
Seat 4 - BZIMZIM ($6175 in chips)
Seat 5 - OHSHIETITKEN ($4115 in chips)
Seat 6 - KALANGIS612 ($3930 in chips)
Seat 7 - RACEJUNKIE ($4005 in chips)
Seat 8 - BILLYBOBX ($18660 in chips)
Seat 9 - ATMWITHICM ($5752.50 in chips)
ATMWITHICM - Posts small blind $75
_TREVOR_ - Posts big blind $150
*** POCKET CARDS ***
Dealt to BZIMZIM [Kd Kc]
TN0911 - Calls $150
ESTAMI22 - Folds
BZIMZIM - Raises $600 to $600
OHSHIETITKEN - Folds
KALANGIS612 - Folds
RACEJUNKIE - Folds
BILLYBOBX - Folds
ATMWITHICM - Folds
_TREVOR_ - Folds
TN0911 - Calls $450
*** FLOP *** [4s Ks 7c]
TN0911 - Checks
BZIMZIM - Checks
*** TURN *** [4s Ks 7c] [3s]
TN0911 - Bets $2400
BZIMZIM - All-In(Raise) $5575 to $5575
TN0911 - Calls $3175
*** RIVER *** [4s Ks 7c 3s] [As]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
TN0911 - Shows [Js Ac] (Flush, ace high)
BZIMZIM - Shows [Kd Kc] (Three of a kind, kings)
TN0911 Collects $12575 from main pot
Egads. I'm taking this moment to make this my own personal bad beat forum.
So yeah, horrible end to the month. I have continuing legal education (CLE) tomorrow and Wednesday, so that'll probably be it for April. I'll wrap it in my next post. Still good month overall, though it doesn't feel that way right now.
Have to be down in the loop by 8 am tomorrow. God that's going to be early.
Clemens is going down in flames: http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/blog/big_league_stew/post/Report-Clemens-had-affair-with-underage-Mindy-M?urn=mlb,79344. 15, huh? Nice job asshole. I'm enjoying this way too much. And no, I haven't remotely forgiven him for throwing a bat at Piazza in the World Series eight years ago (and then somehow not getting ejected).
I find this remarkable: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080424/ap_on_sc/close_call.
May: It will be higher volume month. I swear.
Monday, April 28, 2008
Thursday, April 24, 2008
Afternoon Session
Played this afternoon, and the results look like a had a decent day:
FT $109-7th, $502
AP $20r ($140)-6th, $325
UB $65 (bounty)-3rd, $520
PS $109-14th, $353
AP $100K qual-8th, $0
Cashed in just about everything, but really tilted myself so bad that I didn't even want to play tonight. CL in FT tourney with 7 to go, then repopped button raise with 7s and called the guys all in when I really wasn't that priced in to doing so, he had JJ. Ugh. Then promptly three outed my way out of the tourney the next hand. Whatever, I deserved it for overplaying the 7s so badly. I don't really get that pissed about bad beats any more. But playing badly, THAT pisses me off. I promptly steamed my way out of two other tournaments and really had to calm myself down. Didn't happen. So didn't play tonight, even though I was planning to.
You know what I like about my blog? This is my place to be honest about my game. Ego is just everywhere in poker. So many poker players want to brag about how much money they've made, how great they are, and most annoyingly, berate other people for being inferior to the great poker players that they are. There was some guy had one of my tables recently that said that what it takes to be a poker pro is to make 5k a week. Really? 5k a week? Just doing this in my head, but that's about 160k a year. For sure, plenty of people do that. But anyone doing worse than that isn't really a pro? Please. Even more annoying is that he was probably lying his ass off. You'd think that half of being a poker player is trying to impress others with your supposed greatness, like you get extra rakeback for that or something.
Well guess what. I'm not a great poker player. I'm a good poker player. There are lots of players that are better. And at some point, I may have to decide if I have enough ambition to be a great player, if that's truly important to me, or if I'm ok just earning enough to live on and then doing other things. But it's important to me that this space is a truthful evaluation of my game. If I play well, I'll say so. If I play badly, like I did today, I'll say so. If I run good like I have recently, I'll say so. If I run bad, I'll say so. If I run so bad I go broke and have to get a real job (like a lawyer, God forbid), I'll say that too.
Anyway, not sure what prompted that little rant, but there it was.
I survived my audit! The government has accepted my proof that I was online gambling in law school, and not running my own business. Now they'll probably try and arrest me or something.
Keep adding blogs to the side as I find them. Special mention of Paul's blog, the still under construction ineverbust.com, which is both a poker blog and a blog about his (surely successful) battle with cancer, so no doubt it will be interesting. Many other good ones too.
Another two days off probably with plans tomorrow and Friday night and misc. crap to do during the day. Yeah I know. May will be a better volume month, I swear. Heartland Poker on Saturday. Ship.
FT $109-7th, $502
AP $20r ($140)-6th, $325
UB $65 (bounty)-3rd, $520
PS $109-14th, $353
AP $100K qual-8th, $0
Cashed in just about everything, but really tilted myself so bad that I didn't even want to play tonight. CL in FT tourney with 7 to go, then repopped button raise with 7s and called the guys all in when I really wasn't that priced in to doing so, he had JJ. Ugh. Then promptly three outed my way out of the tourney the next hand. Whatever, I deserved it for overplaying the 7s so badly. I don't really get that pissed about bad beats any more. But playing badly, THAT pisses me off. I promptly steamed my way out of two other tournaments and really had to calm myself down. Didn't happen. So didn't play tonight, even though I was planning to.
You know what I like about my blog? This is my place to be honest about my game. Ego is just everywhere in poker. So many poker players want to brag about how much money they've made, how great they are, and most annoyingly, berate other people for being inferior to the great poker players that they are. There was some guy had one of my tables recently that said that what it takes to be a poker pro is to make 5k a week. Really? 5k a week? Just doing this in my head, but that's about 160k a year. For sure, plenty of people do that. But anyone doing worse than that isn't really a pro? Please. Even more annoying is that he was probably lying his ass off. You'd think that half of being a poker player is trying to impress others with your supposed greatness, like you get extra rakeback for that or something.
Well guess what. I'm not a great poker player. I'm a good poker player. There are lots of players that are better. And at some point, I may have to decide if I have enough ambition to be a great player, if that's truly important to me, or if I'm ok just earning enough to live on and then doing other things. But it's important to me that this space is a truthful evaluation of my game. If I play well, I'll say so. If I play badly, like I did today, I'll say so. If I run good like I have recently, I'll say so. If I run bad, I'll say so. If I run so bad I go broke and have to get a real job (like a lawyer, God forbid), I'll say that too.
Anyway, not sure what prompted that little rant, but there it was.
I survived my audit! The government has accepted my proof that I was online gambling in law school, and not running my own business. Now they'll probably try and arrest me or something.
Keep adding blogs to the side as I find them. Special mention of Paul's blog, the still under construction ineverbust.com, which is both a poker blog and a blog about his (surely successful) battle with cancer, so no doubt it will be interesting. Many other good ones too.
Another two days off probably with plans tomorrow and Friday night and misc. crap to do during the day. Yeah I know. May will be a better volume month, I swear. Heartland Poker on Saturday. Ship.
Monday, April 21, 2008
Got Check From AP
Just had to post this. Got a check from AP just now for $2000.35, cause they felt like giving me a 35 cent bonus. This is time the check came from Wiesbaden, Germany, which is fun. It came with a letter that was a nice reminder of the quasi-legal world that is online poker. The letter said:
Dear Customer,
The amount of your check may be a few cents more than the amount you requested. This is due to daily fluctuations in international currency exchange rates. Your balance will always reflect the amount you requested, even though the check you received was for a slightly higher amount.
To avoid any unnecessary inconvenience when depositing or cashing this check, if asked, simply explain that this is a payment from a large online service provider and that the funds were sent to you at your request.
Sincerely,
Customer Financial Services
I thought that second paragraph in particular was hilarious.
Dear Customer,
The amount of your check may be a few cents more than the amount you requested. This is due to daily fluctuations in international currency exchange rates. Your balance will always reflect the amount you requested, even though the check you received was for a slightly higher amount.
To avoid any unnecessary inconvenience when depositing or cashing this check, if asked, simply explain that this is a payment from a large online service provider and that the funds were sent to you at your request.
Sincerely,
Customer Financial Services
I thought that second paragraph in particular was hilarious.
Ship Heartland Poker Tour Seat
Might be getting the hang of this live poker thing pretty quickly. After another weekend of basically not playing (besides 150k, in which I got absolutely nothing going), went back to Majestic last night and played a $450 qualifier for the Heartland Poker Tour. 65 people, 13 qualifiers. 10k starting chips, didn't get anything going for awhile, then found kings, then starting picking off pots at a tight table. Everything was going well, up to about 26k, limpers to me with AK in the bb at 500/1000. I raise to 7k, figuring I'll pick it up right there, donkey calls. Flop A 8 2, he's got 12k left, turns over set of 8s. Ugh. Got down to about 5k, couple of shoves to get to 11k, but next blind level was 1000/2000. Shoved 11k utg with 10 8o, got called by 5s (clearly this guy is not grasping the concept of the satellite), 8 on flop, I flip so good right now I should teach flipping lessons. Then ran KK into QQ when I was up to 32.5K, easy from there for the $2200 seat.
So there are 3 day 1 sessions: Friday night, Saturday 9 am (egads) and Saturday night (5 pm), I've got Saturday night. They're taking 210 max for each day one, and we play 10 levels (40 min levels). If we're not down to 70 at that point, play down to 70. Day 2 is Sunday down to 6 people for the final table, which is Monday. 15k in starting chips, so we'll definitely get to play some, much more than I'm used to online obviously. If the quality of players in the qualifier is any sign, that has to be a good thing. This will be my first live tournament with a real prize pool since the $1k WSOP event I played since 2006. I sat down and Dutch Boyd was on my right, and Eric Froehlich was on my left. And I thought, hmm, this really isn't the draw I wanted. Then I overplayed my aces and went broke in twenty minutes. And then got so drunk I don't remember anything after dinner. It was a hell of a day. Whatever happens in this tournament, I'm guessing my day won't go exactly like that.
So there are 3 day 1 sessions: Friday night, Saturday 9 am (egads) and Saturday night (5 pm), I've got Saturday night. They're taking 210 max for each day one, and we play 10 levels (40 min levels). If we're not down to 70 at that point, play down to 70. Day 2 is Sunday down to 6 people for the final table, which is Monday. 15k in starting chips, so we'll definitely get to play some, much more than I'm used to online obviously. If the quality of players in the qualifier is any sign, that has to be a good thing. This will be my first live tournament with a real prize pool since the $1k WSOP event I played since 2006. I sat down and Dutch Boyd was on my right, and Eric Froehlich was on my left. And I thought, hmm, this really isn't the draw I wanted. Then I overplayed my aces and went broke in twenty minutes. And then got so drunk I don't remember anything after dinner. It was a hell of a day. Whatever happens in this tournament, I'm guessing my day won't go exactly like that.
Friday, April 18, 2008
I Hate the U.S. Government
So you know what happens once I write an entry on volume? I promptly take lots of time off. Last night was my first full night of online play in ten days. Of course I did have two full live days in there, and there was one night when I played a few tournaments. But good lord. This seems to run a general trend where I hit a good cash, and then coast on my laurels for awhile. Of course, in poker a downswing is just around the corner, so I really shouldn't do this. But I'm lazy. So there's that.
Anyway, at one point last night, was chip leader in ap 30r, ft 30r, and fifth in chips in cake 30r with about 60 to go in each. Somehow didn't even cash in cake, lost a flip for 10th on ft, lost a flip for 8th on ap. Grrrr.
In other news, looks like epassporte is no longer going to serve US customers. There's another online bank account down the drain. Not sure what I'm going to do about that now. Checks will be fine for big cashes, but for funneling money back and forth not sure what I'm going to do. Maybe just trade with people. So fuck the US government.
Fuck the US Government, part II: I owed the IRS 10k in federal taxes on the 15th, and another 2200 to the state of Illinois. Apparently I'll be taxed at 35.5% from here on out, and that was at making 40k a year. Meanwhile, capital gains in this country are taxed at 15%. Nice progressive tax structure there. Anyway, I like my old tax rate when I was in law school much better. Of course, I dislike getting audited, which still isn't resolved for 2006.
Unrelated things that are awesome: ABC focusing on absolute non-issues/political nonsense during the Obama/Clinton debate, and people actually calling them on it! They are getting hammered. It's great.
Anyway, at one point last night, was chip leader in ap 30r, ft 30r, and fifth in chips in cake 30r with about 60 to go in each. Somehow didn't even cash in cake, lost a flip for 10th on ft, lost a flip for 8th on ap. Grrrr.
In other news, looks like epassporte is no longer going to serve US customers. There's another online bank account down the drain. Not sure what I'm going to do about that now. Checks will be fine for big cashes, but for funneling money back and forth not sure what I'm going to do. Maybe just trade with people. So fuck the US government.
Fuck the US Government, part II: I owed the IRS 10k in federal taxes on the 15th, and another 2200 to the state of Illinois. Apparently I'll be taxed at 35.5% from here on out, and that was at making 40k a year. Meanwhile, capital gains in this country are taxed at 15%. Nice progressive tax structure there. Anyway, I like my old tax rate when I was in law school much better. Of course, I dislike getting audited, which still isn't resolved for 2006.
Unrelated things that are awesome: ABC focusing on absolute non-issues/political nonsense during the Obama/Clinton debate, and people actually calling them on it! They are getting hammered. It's great.
Monday, April 14, 2008
Live Poker Wrap
Change of pace: actually played lots of live poker this week! It's almost like I'm a poker player or something.
Resorts East, Gary, Ind:
You know how some people like going to casinos? Unless they play poker I really don't understand it. There's almost nothing more depressing than wandering through the Penny Slots on a Thursday afternoon. Anyway, sat down at the table and played some 1/2 NL for awhile. Caught a couple cooler flops and dumped about $150 to start, but finally doubled through and ended up about $100 for the session. Play at the 1/2 NL tables was typical I think, by which I mean pretty bad. One or two good players, a couple just generally tight players, and some people just begging to give their money away. Even a donkey cash game player like me can run over that game pretty easy.
Majestic Star, Gary, Ind:
The Majestic is only about a mile away from Resorts, so I wandered there after dinner. This time up to 2/5 NL. Third hand, pair of 3s in ep, limp, call raise. Flop A 2 3, and stacked a set of deuces. Up about $400 in that hand.
Nothing much good to say after that. The key hand was when I picked up QQ utg, popped to 20, two callers. Flop 9s 8s 2c. I bet 45, mp calls, other player moves in for 300 total. I went into the tank and finally called putting him on a draw. He had 98. Good read me. After that, I lost about another 200, couldn't hit flops, didn't play very aggressively, felt tired, and just generally played bad after that all around. I'm sure the table was sad to see me go.
A couple of thoughts in general. First, in a weird way, live poker doesn't feel like real poker, and I realize how ridiculous that sounds (I believe Chip Reese, Stu Ungar, etc. all just rolled over in their graves). But almost all of my real poker success has been online. Poker is my job, and when I'm playing multi-tabling 3-4 tournaments at night, that feels like I'm working. Not that I'm not enjoying it; if I ever stop enjoying playing poker, I need to find a new job. But playing live just feels like I'm having fun. And I play better when I'm having fun. I was having fun at the first table, talking to other people, making fun of the donkeys with the actual solid player next to me. The 2/5 game was much more serious. And frankly, it was a hell of a 2/5 game. There were a lot of good players, not much chatter. Some of those people played for a living I'm pretty certain.
Second, I'm not a good cash game player. Period. That's not news.
Third, I should stick to tournaments.
Greektown Casino, Detroit, Mi:
Went to Detroit on Saturday to meet a friend of mine, we had fun screwing around in the casinos for awhile. Mostly we were at the MGM, and I gave away $50 playing slots. Exactly what is the fun part of casinos again? Meanwhile despite the MGM being fairly new, they didn't have much poker. They had about 4 tables going. That's it. Eventually we wandered back to Greektown, and I sat down at a 1/2 NL game. Wow that table was absolutely terrible. TERRIBLE. Even on the scale of 1/2 NL tables, this has to be one of the worst tables I've ever seen. Only played for about an hour, and only up about $20, but that table was just begging to be cleaned out. But I stopped because they announced they were having a a $275 tournament. Hmm, tournaments. I believe I play those.
There ended up being 15 players. I'd say about a third of the players were remotely competent. Then there were lots of players that liked to limp oop with terrible hands, call raises, and then call with gutshot straight draws (that was the guy who finished third). And then there was the guy who finished four giant blue drinks. He finished fourth. But mostly they were just begging to be run over, weak tight players that couldn't raise without a hand and would never repop. It was easy to just sit there and pick off pots. By the break I'd doubled my stack, from 5k to 10k. Unfortunately, it was 200/400 right before break, and jumped right to 400/800 50 ante after break. They also combined the tables with 10 of us left. So that considerably reduced my ability to play small ball and pick off pots. But I won a race with 9s against AJ, and I was off and running. Found AK in the sb, ran into AJ in the bb, and had the big stack. Got down to three handed, won a race with 5s against AJ, I run like a god. Got heads up, button min raised, called Q9s, flop KJ3, two spades, he had K10, turn was a 10, river a spade just in case. Ship $2250. And I made it out of Detroit with that much cash without getting shot. So, bonus.
What have I learned from this week? If I'm gonna play live cash games, play 1/2 or soft 2/5 games and donk around and have fun. I'm not a cash game player. But there was definitely a 2/5 game at Greektown that was awful, where both players got it all in on the turn with aces with a bad kicker. Seriously, that happened. What is it about Greektown? Seriously, if you live near the Detroit area and play poker, GO TO GREEKTOWN. Every game in that place is soft.
But I do need to find some more tournaments to play live on a regular basis. I know Majestic runs some. Also, the Heartland Poker Tour, known to me mostly for its terrible announcing and production value, is coming to Majestic in a couple of weekends. Buyin is $2200, sattys running for $450. So I'll definitely try and get in on that. But otherwise maybe I'll start going to Indiana once a week if I find a regular tournament that I like. I'll check it out the next time I'm there.
Other fun note, on April 12 I passed 44K, the most money I've ever made in a year. Weeee.
Resorts East, Gary, Ind:
You know how some people like going to casinos? Unless they play poker I really don't understand it. There's almost nothing more depressing than wandering through the Penny Slots on a Thursday afternoon. Anyway, sat down at the table and played some 1/2 NL for awhile. Caught a couple cooler flops and dumped about $150 to start, but finally doubled through and ended up about $100 for the session. Play at the 1/2 NL tables was typical I think, by which I mean pretty bad. One or two good players, a couple just generally tight players, and some people just begging to give their money away. Even a donkey cash game player like me can run over that game pretty easy.
Majestic Star, Gary, Ind:
The Majestic is only about a mile away from Resorts, so I wandered there after dinner. This time up to 2/5 NL. Third hand, pair of 3s in ep, limp, call raise. Flop A 2 3, and stacked a set of deuces. Up about $400 in that hand.
Nothing much good to say after that. The key hand was when I picked up QQ utg, popped to 20, two callers. Flop 9s 8s 2c. I bet 45, mp calls, other player moves in for 300 total. I went into the tank and finally called putting him on a draw. He had 98. Good read me. After that, I lost about another 200, couldn't hit flops, didn't play very aggressively, felt tired, and just generally played bad after that all around. I'm sure the table was sad to see me go.
A couple of thoughts in general. First, in a weird way, live poker doesn't feel like real poker, and I realize how ridiculous that sounds (I believe Chip Reese, Stu Ungar, etc. all just rolled over in their graves). But almost all of my real poker success has been online. Poker is my job, and when I'm playing multi-tabling 3-4 tournaments at night, that feels like I'm working. Not that I'm not enjoying it; if I ever stop enjoying playing poker, I need to find a new job. But playing live just feels like I'm having fun. And I play better when I'm having fun. I was having fun at the first table, talking to other people, making fun of the donkeys with the actual solid player next to me. The 2/5 game was much more serious. And frankly, it was a hell of a 2/5 game. There were a lot of good players, not much chatter. Some of those people played for a living I'm pretty certain.
Second, I'm not a good cash game player. Period. That's not news.
Third, I should stick to tournaments.
Greektown Casino, Detroit, Mi:
Went to Detroit on Saturday to meet a friend of mine, we had fun screwing around in the casinos for awhile. Mostly we were at the MGM, and I gave away $50 playing slots. Exactly what is the fun part of casinos again? Meanwhile despite the MGM being fairly new, they didn't have much poker. They had about 4 tables going. That's it. Eventually we wandered back to Greektown, and I sat down at a 1/2 NL game. Wow that table was absolutely terrible. TERRIBLE. Even on the scale of 1/2 NL tables, this has to be one of the worst tables I've ever seen. Only played for about an hour, and only up about $20, but that table was just begging to be cleaned out. But I stopped because they announced they were having a a $275 tournament. Hmm, tournaments. I believe I play those.
There ended up being 15 players. I'd say about a third of the players were remotely competent. Then there were lots of players that liked to limp oop with terrible hands, call raises, and then call with gutshot straight draws (that was the guy who finished third). And then there was the guy who finished four giant blue drinks. He finished fourth. But mostly they were just begging to be run over, weak tight players that couldn't raise without a hand and would never repop. It was easy to just sit there and pick off pots. By the break I'd doubled my stack, from 5k to 10k. Unfortunately, it was 200/400 right before break, and jumped right to 400/800 50 ante after break. They also combined the tables with 10 of us left. So that considerably reduced my ability to play small ball and pick off pots. But I won a race with 9s against AJ, and I was off and running. Found AK in the sb, ran into AJ in the bb, and had the big stack. Got down to three handed, won a race with 5s against AJ, I run like a god. Got heads up, button min raised, called Q9s, flop KJ3, two spades, he had K10, turn was a 10, river a spade just in case. Ship $2250. And I made it out of Detroit with that much cash without getting shot. So, bonus.
What have I learned from this week? If I'm gonna play live cash games, play 1/2 or soft 2/5 games and donk around and have fun. I'm not a cash game player. But there was definitely a 2/5 game at Greektown that was awful, where both players got it all in on the turn with aces with a bad kicker. Seriously, that happened. What is it about Greektown? Seriously, if you live near the Detroit area and play poker, GO TO GREEKTOWN. Every game in that place is soft.
But I do need to find some more tournaments to play live on a regular basis. I know Majestic runs some. Also, the Heartland Poker Tour, known to me mostly for its terrible announcing and production value, is coming to Majestic in a couple of weekends. Buyin is $2200, sattys running for $450. So I'll definitely try and get in on that. But otherwise maybe I'll start going to Indiana once a week if I find a regular tournament that I like. I'll check it out the next time I'm there.
Other fun note, on April 12 I passed 44K, the most money I've ever made in a year. Weeee.
Wednesday, April 9, 2008
Casino Trip
Monday was lose a flip day for me. ITM in Stars $109, lose a flip. FT of Bodog 9k, lose a big flip with AK against QQ with a pretty big stack for 8th. Otherwise nothing of interest.
Didn't play yesterday, won't play today, take care of some other things. Tomorrow finally making my long planned trip to Indiana casinos, probably leave around noon, come back around...who knows? Depends how I'm running.
Soccer news: Got pounded in our indoor semifinal 7-3. So much for that. Liverpool went through in a truly stunning 4-2 win over Arsenal that went back and forth, and benefited from a controversial penalty. Pair that with the non-call in the first leg, I bet Arsenal fans are pretty pissed. Oh well.
My friend pointed me to this website: http://stuffwhitepeoplelike.wordpress.com/. It's not so much stuff white people like as making fun of snobby, elitist, upper middle class white liberals who think they're better than other people. So you know, me basically. And I can't lie, I do like San Francisco, hating corporations, threatening to move to Canada, Co-ed sports, Juno, Sarah Silverman, Irony, Living by the Water, Sushi, Indie Music, Arrested Development, the Daily Show/Colbert Report, Wrigley Field, Wine, Film Festivals and Barack Obama. Especially Barack Obama. I am, despite knowing so many of them, ambivalent about lawyers though. And I probably like sports way too much to fully fit the stereotype. Some of the entries are pretty hilarious though.
Didn't play yesterday, won't play today, take care of some other things. Tomorrow finally making my long planned trip to Indiana casinos, probably leave around noon, come back around...who knows? Depends how I'm running.
Soccer news: Got pounded in our indoor semifinal 7-3. So much for that. Liverpool went through in a truly stunning 4-2 win over Arsenal that went back and forth, and benefited from a controversial penalty. Pair that with the non-call in the first leg, I bet Arsenal fans are pretty pissed. Oh well.
My friend pointed me to this website: http://stuffwhitepeoplelike.wordpress.com/. It's not so much stuff white people like as making fun of snobby, elitist, upper middle class white liberals who think they're better than other people. So you know, me basically. And I can't lie, I do like San Francisco, hating corporations, threatening to move to Canada, Co-ed sports, Juno, Sarah Silverman, Irony, Living by the Water, Sushi, Indie Music, Arrested Development, the Daily Show/Colbert Report, Wrigley Field, Wine, Film Festivals and Barack Obama. Especially Barack Obama. I am, despite knowing so many of them, ambivalent about lawyers though. And I probably like sports way too much to fully fit the stereotype. Some of the entries are pretty hilarious though.
Monday, April 7, 2008
Weekend Wrap
Well of the tournaments I listed yesterday, the only one I cashed in was the Cake 150k. But wow, that was close. 33k for first, was third in chips with 40 to go. Then lost a race with 8s against AQ, then reraised all in with JJ from sb and bb woke up with KK, then shoved random A and couldn't suck out on 8s for 25th. Disappointing. I was feeling it too. Also built up nice early stack in Sunday Million, then played pretty atrociously from that point on. I'll review that hand history at some point.
Despite those disappointments, along with my bubble in 250k, hard to complain about the weekend as a whole. Looking back over Warmup win, was hit was the deck with the deck pretty good at the final table, with aces, kings, jacks and tens. And better yet, managed to play decently big pots with basically all those hands, which is just as important as picking up the hands in the first place. And had a decent amount of other raising hands, pairs and AJ and stuff like that.
This is the race I never had to win:
Stage #1143028182 Tourney ID 1974593 Holdem Multi Normal Tournament No Limit $5000 - 2008-04-05 18:01:46 (ET)
Table: 11 (Real Money) Seat #3 is the dealer
Seat 1 - GOROYALBLUE ($44258 in chips)
Seat 2 - BBOUJA ($73215.50 in chips)
Seat 3 - BZIMZIM ($149626.50 in chips)
Seat 4 - KINGOFTROY8 ($140610.50 in chips)
Seat 5 - MRPUMPKIN107 ($53228 in chips)
Seat 6 - ELHOLANDES ($95282 in chips)
Seat 7 - JOHNNY2912 ($111324 in chips)
GOROYALBLUE - Ante $250
BBOUJA - Ante $250
BZIMZIM - Ante $250
KINGOFTROY8 - Ante $250
MRPUMPKIN107 - Ante $250
ELHOLANDES - Ante $250
JOHNNY2912 - Ante $250
KINGOFTROY8 - Posts small blind $2500
MRPUMPKIN107 - Posts big blind $5000
*** POCKET CARDS ***
Dealt to BZIMZIM [10d 10s]
ELHOLANDES - Folds
JOHNNY2912 - Folds
GOROYALBLUE - Folds
BBOUJA - Folds
BZIMZIM - Raises $13000 to $13000
KINGOFTROY8 - Raises $43500 to $46000
MRPUMPKIN107 - Folds
BZIMZIM - All-In(Raise) $136376.50 to $149376.50
KINGOFTROY8 - Folds
BZIMZIM - returned ($103376.50) : not called
*** SHOW DOWN ***
BZIMZIM - Does not show
BZIMZIM Collects $98750 from main pot
He then told me he didn't believe I had a big hand, but that he folded AQ, which I thought was a hilarious statement. He said he didn't want to get his whole stack in there with AQ. The rigidity of people's thinking amazes me sometimes. He reraised, he's getting 2:1, he's got a third of his stack in there, and he folds while saying he doesn't think I have a big hand. So instead of having to win a gigantic, tournament-defining flip, I'll take a third of his stack without a flop. Awesome. Feel free to make that fold anytime.
Aces in the bb:
Stage #1143037480 Tourney ID 1974593 Holdem Multi Normal Tournament No Limit $6000 - 2008-04-05 18:11:52 (ET)
Table: 3 (Real Money) Seat #2 is the dealer
Seat 2 - WSTELLIAN ($151597.50 in chips)
Seat 3 - MONCUR ($127464.50 in chips)
Seat 4 - BZIMZIM ($208076.50 in chips)
Seat 5 - ELHOLANDES ($233017.50 in chips)
Seat 8 - JOHNNY2912 ($227296.50 in chips)
Seat 9 - COIN GUY ($172547.50 in chips)
WSTELLIAN - Ante $300
MONCUR - Ante $300
BZIMZIM - Ante $300
ELHOLANDES - Ante $300
JOHNNY2912 - Ante $300
COIN GUY - Ante $300
MONCUR - Posts small blind $3000
BZIMZIM - Posts big blind $6000
*** POCKET CARDS ***
Dealt to BZIMZIM [Ah Ad]
ELHOLANDES - Folds
JOHNNY2912 - Folds
COIN GUY - Folds
WSTELLIAN - Folds
MONCUR - Raises $15000 to $18000
BZIMZIM - Calls $12000
*** FLOP *** [Qh Qs 10s]
MONCUR - Bets $12000
BZIMZIM - Calls $12000
*** TURN *** [Qh Qs 10s] [9s]
MONCUR - Bets $12000
BZIMZIM - Raises $30000 to $30000
MONCUR - Folds
BZIMZIM - returned ($18000) : not called
*** SHOW DOWN ***
BZIMZIM - Does not show
BZIMZIM Collects $85800 from main pot
Obviously wasn't crazy about that board at that point. That raise on the turn should give me a very good idea where I'm at. Could have raised the flop, in retrospect, if he doesn't give me credit for a Q, I wonder if I could have gotten him to shove a more marginal hand there, like a 10 or draw. But actually, I didn't really give him credit for that much. I kind of like it as played, picked off an extra 12k on the turn.
Hey another hand on the button!
Stage #1143050527 Tourney ID 1974593 Holdem Multi Normal Tournament No Limit $8000 - 2008-04-05 18:24:02 (ET)
Table: 3 (Real Money) Seat #4 is the dealer
Seat 2 - WSTELLIAN ($198595 in chips)
Seat 3 - MONCUR ($51467 in chips)
Seat 4 - BZIMZIM ($268026.50 in chips)
Seat 5 - ELHOLANDES ($215817.50 in chips)
Seat 8 - JOHNNY2912 ($255146.50 in chips)
Seat 9 - COIN GUY ($130947.50 in chips)
WSTELLIAN - Ante $400
MONCUR - Ante $400
BZIMZIM - Ante $400
ELHOLANDES - Ante $400
JOHNNY2912 - Ante $400
COIN GUY - Ante $400
ELHOLANDES - Posts small blind $4000
JOHNNY2912 - Posts big blind $8000
*** POCKET CARDS ***
Dealt to BZIMZIM [Js Jc]
COIN GUY - Folds
WSTELLIAN - Folds
MONCUR - Folds
BZIMZIM - Raises $20100 to $20100
ELHOLANDES - Raises $60200 to $64200
JOHNNY2912 - Folds
BZIMZIM - All-In(Raise) $247526.50 to $267626.50
ELHOLANDES - All-In $151217.50
BZIMZIM - returned ($52209) : not called
*** FLOP *** [Jd 2s 4s]
*** TURN *** [Jd 2s 4s] [5c]
*** RIVER *** [Jd 2s 4s 5c] [Ad]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
BZIMZIM - Shows [Js Jc] (Three of a kind, jacks)
ELHOLANDES - Shows [Jh Ah] (Two Pair, aces and jacks)
BZIMZIM Collects $441235 from main pot
I wonder if my earlier shove where I got Troy to fold helped my here, and made it look like i was overplaying hands. Troy's call should have been clearcut I think, this one is less clearcut. A little deeper stack, so not quite as good a price, and the AJ instead of the AQ. Is he ever going to see a worse A here? I wouldn't really think so. Best case scenario is a race, but I would think he would be dominated here a lot, and not sure he's getting quite the right price. Not a bad call, but debatable perhaps. Whatever, ship.
An A+ laydown that makes me think about my play:
Stage #1143060706 Tourney ID 1974593 Holdem Multi Normal Tournament No Limit $10000 - 2008-04-05 18:33:44 (ET)
Table: 3 (Real Money) Seat #9 is the dealer
Seat 2 - WSTELLIAN ($189395 in chips)
Seat 3 - MONCUR ($24917 in chips)
Seat 4 - BZIMZIM ($610744 in chips)
Seat 8 - JOHNNY2912 ($160496.50 in chips)
Seat 9 - COIN GUY ($134447.50 in chips)
WSTELLIAN - Ante $500
MONCUR - Ante $500
BZIMZIM - Ante $500
JOHNNY2912 - Ante $500
COIN GUY - Ante $500
WSTELLIAN - Posts small blind $5000
MONCUR - Posts big blind $10000
*** POCKET CARDS ***
Dealt to BZIMZIM [Kd Kc]
BZIMZIM - Raises $25100 to $25100
JOHNNY2912 - Folds
COIN GUY - Calls $25100
WSTELLIAN - Folds
MONCUR - Folds
*** FLOP *** [8c Jd 8d]
BZIMZIM - Bets $30000
COIN GUY - Folds
BZIMZIM - returned ($30000) : not called
*** SHOW DOWN ***
BZIMZIM - Does not show
BZIMZIM Collects $67700 from main pot
What was interesting about this hand was that coin guy, who is a good player, told me he mucked 99 here, and I'll choose to believe him. For one thing, I don't know how it didn't get it pre, I'd certainly been raising enough. But I also wonder if my lead out bet, a little less then half the pot, gave away my hand a bit. Sometimes my lead out bet is a little smaller with a big hand, trying to invite a raise. This works great against bad players. But I wonder if players I see more frequently are beginning to pick up on that. Definitely time for a little more variety in my play against people I play against frequently.
Saw foolishgolf took down the dream package on AP last night, quite a ship. Never bothered to play that thing, with first being the only real prize just didn't seem worth my time, even though it would be awesome.
Back to work tonight.
Despite those disappointments, along with my bubble in 250k, hard to complain about the weekend as a whole. Looking back over Warmup win, was hit was the deck with the deck pretty good at the final table, with aces, kings, jacks and tens. And better yet, managed to play decently big pots with basically all those hands, which is just as important as picking up the hands in the first place. And had a decent amount of other raising hands, pairs and AJ and stuff like that.
This is the race I never had to win:
Stage #1143028182 Tourney ID 1974593 Holdem Multi Normal Tournament No Limit $5000 - 2008-04-05 18:01:46 (ET)
Table: 11 (Real Money) Seat #3 is the dealer
Seat 1 - GOROYALBLUE ($44258 in chips)
Seat 2 - BBOUJA ($73215.50 in chips)
Seat 3 - BZIMZIM ($149626.50 in chips)
Seat 4 - KINGOFTROY8 ($140610.50 in chips)
Seat 5 - MRPUMPKIN107 ($53228 in chips)
Seat 6 - ELHOLANDES ($95282 in chips)
Seat 7 - JOHNNY2912 ($111324 in chips)
GOROYALBLUE - Ante $250
BBOUJA - Ante $250
BZIMZIM - Ante $250
KINGOFTROY8 - Ante $250
MRPUMPKIN107 - Ante $250
ELHOLANDES - Ante $250
JOHNNY2912 - Ante $250
KINGOFTROY8 - Posts small blind $2500
MRPUMPKIN107 - Posts big blind $5000
*** POCKET CARDS ***
Dealt to BZIMZIM [10d 10s]
ELHOLANDES - Folds
JOHNNY2912 - Folds
GOROYALBLUE - Folds
BBOUJA - Folds
BZIMZIM - Raises $13000 to $13000
KINGOFTROY8 - Raises $43500 to $46000
MRPUMPKIN107 - Folds
BZIMZIM - All-In(Raise) $136376.50 to $149376.50
KINGOFTROY8 - Folds
BZIMZIM - returned ($103376.50) : not called
*** SHOW DOWN ***
BZIMZIM - Does not show
BZIMZIM Collects $98750 from main pot
He then told me he didn't believe I had a big hand, but that he folded AQ, which I thought was a hilarious statement. He said he didn't want to get his whole stack in there with AQ. The rigidity of people's thinking amazes me sometimes. He reraised, he's getting 2:1, he's got a third of his stack in there, and he folds while saying he doesn't think I have a big hand. So instead of having to win a gigantic, tournament-defining flip, I'll take a third of his stack without a flop. Awesome. Feel free to make that fold anytime.
Aces in the bb:
Stage #1143037480 Tourney ID 1974593 Holdem Multi Normal Tournament No Limit $6000 - 2008-04-05 18:11:52 (ET)
Table: 3 (Real Money) Seat #2 is the dealer
Seat 2 - WSTELLIAN ($151597.50 in chips)
Seat 3 - MONCUR ($127464.50 in chips)
Seat 4 - BZIMZIM ($208076.50 in chips)
Seat 5 - ELHOLANDES ($233017.50 in chips)
Seat 8 - JOHNNY2912 ($227296.50 in chips)
Seat 9 - COIN GUY ($172547.50 in chips)
WSTELLIAN - Ante $300
MONCUR - Ante $300
BZIMZIM - Ante $300
ELHOLANDES - Ante $300
JOHNNY2912 - Ante $300
COIN GUY - Ante $300
MONCUR - Posts small blind $3000
BZIMZIM - Posts big blind $6000
*** POCKET CARDS ***
Dealt to BZIMZIM [Ah Ad]
ELHOLANDES - Folds
JOHNNY2912 - Folds
COIN GUY - Folds
WSTELLIAN - Folds
MONCUR - Raises $15000 to $18000
BZIMZIM - Calls $12000
*** FLOP *** [Qh Qs 10s]
MONCUR - Bets $12000
BZIMZIM - Calls $12000
*** TURN *** [Qh Qs 10s] [9s]
MONCUR - Bets $12000
BZIMZIM - Raises $30000 to $30000
MONCUR - Folds
BZIMZIM - returned ($18000) : not called
*** SHOW DOWN ***
BZIMZIM - Does not show
BZIMZIM Collects $85800 from main pot
Obviously wasn't crazy about that board at that point. That raise on the turn should give me a very good idea where I'm at. Could have raised the flop, in retrospect, if he doesn't give me credit for a Q, I wonder if I could have gotten him to shove a more marginal hand there, like a 10 or draw. But actually, I didn't really give him credit for that much. I kind of like it as played, picked off an extra 12k on the turn.
Hey another hand on the button!
Stage #1143050527 Tourney ID 1974593 Holdem Multi Normal Tournament No Limit $8000 - 2008-04-05 18:24:02 (ET)
Table: 3 (Real Money) Seat #4 is the dealer
Seat 2 - WSTELLIAN ($198595 in chips)
Seat 3 - MONCUR ($51467 in chips)
Seat 4 - BZIMZIM ($268026.50 in chips)
Seat 5 - ELHOLANDES ($215817.50 in chips)
Seat 8 - JOHNNY2912 ($255146.50 in chips)
Seat 9 - COIN GUY ($130947.50 in chips)
WSTELLIAN - Ante $400
MONCUR - Ante $400
BZIMZIM - Ante $400
ELHOLANDES - Ante $400
JOHNNY2912 - Ante $400
COIN GUY - Ante $400
ELHOLANDES - Posts small blind $4000
JOHNNY2912 - Posts big blind $8000
*** POCKET CARDS ***
Dealt to BZIMZIM [Js Jc]
COIN GUY - Folds
WSTELLIAN - Folds
MONCUR - Folds
BZIMZIM - Raises $20100 to $20100
ELHOLANDES - Raises $60200 to $64200
JOHNNY2912 - Folds
BZIMZIM - All-In(Raise) $247526.50 to $267626.50
ELHOLANDES - All-In $151217.50
BZIMZIM - returned ($52209) : not called
*** FLOP *** [Jd 2s 4s]
*** TURN *** [Jd 2s 4s] [5c]
*** RIVER *** [Jd 2s 4s 5c] [Ad]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
BZIMZIM - Shows [Js Jc] (Three of a kind, jacks)
ELHOLANDES - Shows [Jh Ah] (Two Pair, aces and jacks)
BZIMZIM Collects $441235 from main pot
I wonder if my earlier shove where I got Troy to fold helped my here, and made it look like i was overplaying hands. Troy's call should have been clearcut I think, this one is less clearcut. A little deeper stack, so not quite as good a price, and the AJ instead of the AQ. Is he ever going to see a worse A here? I wouldn't really think so. Best case scenario is a race, but I would think he would be dominated here a lot, and not sure he's getting quite the right price. Not a bad call, but debatable perhaps. Whatever, ship.
An A+ laydown that makes me think about my play:
Stage #1143060706 Tourney ID 1974593 Holdem Multi Normal Tournament No Limit $10000 - 2008-04-05 18:33:44 (ET)
Table: 3 (Real Money) Seat #9 is the dealer
Seat 2 - WSTELLIAN ($189395 in chips)
Seat 3 - MONCUR ($24917 in chips)
Seat 4 - BZIMZIM ($610744 in chips)
Seat 8 - JOHNNY2912 ($160496.50 in chips)
Seat 9 - COIN GUY ($134447.50 in chips)
WSTELLIAN - Ante $500
MONCUR - Ante $500
BZIMZIM - Ante $500
JOHNNY2912 - Ante $500
COIN GUY - Ante $500
WSTELLIAN - Posts small blind $5000
MONCUR - Posts big blind $10000
*** POCKET CARDS ***
Dealt to BZIMZIM [Kd Kc]
BZIMZIM - Raises $25100 to $25100
JOHNNY2912 - Folds
COIN GUY - Calls $25100
WSTELLIAN - Folds
MONCUR - Folds
*** FLOP *** [8c Jd 8d]
BZIMZIM - Bets $30000
COIN GUY - Folds
BZIMZIM - returned ($30000) : not called
*** SHOW DOWN ***
BZIMZIM - Does not show
BZIMZIM Collects $67700 from main pot
What was interesting about this hand was that coin guy, who is a good player, told me he mucked 99 here, and I'll choose to believe him. For one thing, I don't know how it didn't get it pre, I'd certainly been raising enough. But I also wonder if my lead out bet, a little less then half the pot, gave away my hand a bit. Sometimes my lead out bet is a little smaller with a big hand, trying to invite a raise. This works great against bad players. But I wonder if players I see more frequently are beginning to pick up on that. Definitely time for a little more variety in my play against people I play against frequently.
Saw foolishgolf took down the dream package on AP last night, quite a ship. Never bothered to play that thing, with first being the only real prize just didn't seem worth my time, even though it would be awesome.
Back to work tonight.
Sunday, April 6, 2008
Majors Day!
Hey I've got some bankroll to burn! So I'll play some Sunday Majors today and not cash in any of them. Or it seems to usually work out that way anyway. On tap: Stars Sunday Million, UB 200K, FT 750K, Cake 150K, AP 75k. Let's have some fun.
Tomorrow I'll see if I can find some hands for the weekend to recap my ship of the 25K Warmup and the Sunday Million (at least one of those anyway).
Tomorrow I'll see if I can find some hands for the weekend to recap my ship of the 25K Warmup and the Sunday Million (at least one of those anyway).
Saturday, April 5, 2008
Ship? No. Double Ship? Hell yeah!
Just played a few tournaments today, but they were excellent tournaments. Results:
AP 20r: 5th
AP $88 $250K qualifier: nope
AP $4.5K Guar: SHIP
AP $25K Warmup: DOUBLE SHIP
AP $250K: all kinds of bubble
Really wanted the triple ship, would have been the best day ever. Instead JJ into KK for 55th and the bubble. Ah well. Whatever. Up about $7.5K for the day. I run good.
AP 20r: 5th
AP $88 $250K qualifier: nope
AP $4.5K Guar: SHIP
AP $25K Warmup: DOUBLE SHIP
AP $250K: all kinds of bubble
Really wanted the triple ship, would have been the best day ever. Instead JJ into KK for 55th and the bubble. Ah well. Whatever. Up about $7.5K for the day. I run good.
Thursday, April 3, 2008
Multi-tabling/Volume
Didn't play Tuesday, had soccer instead. We actually won our playoff game! 0-0, 4-3 on penalties. All the goalkeeping obv :) Then we went to some bar with some people that were way too drunk for 9:30 on a Tuesday. Also found cool soccer bar called the Globe to watch the Liverpool Champions League match yesterday, only a ten minute walk away on Irving Park.
So yesterday was the first day of the month for poker. Nothing of interest really, fell short of third straight AP 30r FT when lost a flip and finished 15th. I did win the AP Forum Tourney, which throws in the 75K entry for Sunday, so that's $162 I won't have to buyin for. Today was the day I was thinking about heading to the casinos across the border in Indiana, but instead I realized that I'm out of clothes, so I'm going to do laundry instead. Most likely early next week on the casino trip, maybe Monday.
Played eight tournaments yesterday, counting the AP Forum Tourney and a $250K qualifier that only had 7 people. Looking back over March, eight tournaments is sort of typical for a poker night, though of course it depends on how long I'm lasting in those tournaments. I usually try to keep three tables going at a time, sometimes four. But four is really my maximum, because I don't feel like I can keep concentration on my all my tables above that. I feel like this is unusual compared to a lot of other people who play online, for whom 7/8/12 tables is no big deal. I can sort of understand that philosophy while playing at lower levels and it's all ABC poker anyway. But the joy of playing multis is that I don't feel like I am playing ABC poker, and that I'm actually making some attempt to read my opponents. But even if I was doing that, I feel like I would have trouble. Even with three tables going, if I have a couple decisions at the same time, I sometimes feel rushed, and feel like it affects my play. I tend to be a more deliberate player than most, and like to give myself a couple seconds to make a decision unless it's really obvious. But that's all fine I think, I'm absolutely sure I can make a living playing only three (with sometimes four) tables at a time.
The real trick is to keep that many tables going. I have to keep in mind that volume=my friend. No such thing as guaranteed income in poker, but volume I can control. There are two reasons that I don't play the volume that I should. The first is days when I decide to not play. For whatever reason, some days when I'm really planning on playing I just don't have the motivation. Frankly this was a lot more of a problem in February when I was just getting depressed about poker, and it was cold outside and I wasn't leaving my apartment enough. Lately I've just been in a better mood about everything, so not really an issue. The other that I've been trying to focus on is just staying in three tournaments at a time. If I get knocked out of a tournament, there's usually a tournament at the stakes that I'm playing at within the half hour, combining the six sites I have accounts on. This is also something I've been doing better at lately. But still, need to keep it up. Space away from poker is healthy as well, but that's not usually my problem. Usually the other way around.
Should be playing a lot this week, trying to get the month started right.
So yesterday was the first day of the month for poker. Nothing of interest really, fell short of third straight AP 30r FT when lost a flip and finished 15th. I did win the AP Forum Tourney, which throws in the 75K entry for Sunday, so that's $162 I won't have to buyin for. Today was the day I was thinking about heading to the casinos across the border in Indiana, but instead I realized that I'm out of clothes, so I'm going to do laundry instead. Most likely early next week on the casino trip, maybe Monday.
Played eight tournaments yesterday, counting the AP Forum Tourney and a $250K qualifier that only had 7 people. Looking back over March, eight tournaments is sort of typical for a poker night, though of course it depends on how long I'm lasting in those tournaments. I usually try to keep three tables going at a time, sometimes four. But four is really my maximum, because I don't feel like I can keep concentration on my all my tables above that. I feel like this is unusual compared to a lot of other people who play online, for whom 7/8/12 tables is no big deal. I can sort of understand that philosophy while playing at lower levels and it's all ABC poker anyway. But the joy of playing multis is that I don't feel like I am playing ABC poker, and that I'm actually making some attempt to read my opponents. But even if I was doing that, I feel like I would have trouble. Even with three tables going, if I have a couple decisions at the same time, I sometimes feel rushed, and feel like it affects my play. I tend to be a more deliberate player than most, and like to give myself a couple seconds to make a decision unless it's really obvious. But that's all fine I think, I'm absolutely sure I can make a living playing only three (with sometimes four) tables at a time.
The real trick is to keep that many tables going. I have to keep in mind that volume=my friend. No such thing as guaranteed income in poker, but volume I can control. There are two reasons that I don't play the volume that I should. The first is days when I decide to not play. For whatever reason, some days when I'm really planning on playing I just don't have the motivation. Frankly this was a lot more of a problem in February when I was just getting depressed about poker, and it was cold outside and I wasn't leaving my apartment enough. Lately I've just been in a better mood about everything, so not really an issue. The other that I've been trying to focus on is just staying in three tournaments at a time. If I get knocked out of a tournament, there's usually a tournament at the stakes that I'm playing at within the half hour, combining the six sites I have accounts on. This is also something I've been doing better at lately. But still, need to keep it up. Space away from poker is healthy as well, but that's not usually my problem. Usually the other way around.
Should be playing a lot this week, trying to get the month started right.
Tuesday, April 1, 2008
Ship Good Month
So wanted to go out with a bang for the month, and almost did it. Second straight day at the FT for AP 30r, but ended up finishing third. Here's the hand:
STAGE #1138816836 TOURNEY ID 1987777 HOLDEM MULTI NORMAL TOURNAMENT NO LIMIT $16000 - 2008-04-01 01:57:52 (ET)
Table: 19 (Real Money) Seat #6 is the dealer
Seat 1 - GRAMPWNAGE ($370550.34 in chips)
Seat 5 - NORCALSURF83 ($113581 in chips)
Seat 6 - WUIFAL ($464089.66 in chips)
Seat 9 - BZIMZIM ($158279 in chips)
GRAMPWNAGE - Ante $800
NORCALSURF83 - Ante $800
WUIFAL - Ante $800
BZIMZIM - Ante $800
BZIMZIM - Posts small blind $8000
GRAMPWNAGE - Posts big blind $16000
*** POCKET CARDS ***
Dealt to BZIMZIM [10d 10c]
NORCALSURF83 - All-In(Raise) $112781 to $112781
WUIFAL - Calls $112781
BZIMZIM - All-In(Raise) $149479 to $157479
GRAMPWNAGE - Folds
WUIFAL - Calls $44698
*** FLOP *** [2h 3s Js]
*** TURN *** [2h 3s Js] [Qs]
*** RIVER *** [2h 3s Js Qs] [4c]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
NORCALSURF83 - Shows [Ah Jc] (One pair, jacks)
WUIFAL - Shows [Jh Jd] (Three of a kind, jacks)
BZIMZIM - Shows [10d 10c] (One pair, tens)
WUIFAL Collects $89396 from side pot-1
WUIFAL Collects $357543 from main pot
Anybody folding in that spot four handed? I don't see how I can fold there. Norcal's solid and all, but still that initial shove is extremely unlikely to have my tens beat, so I can pretty much ignore that. And wuifal has to be calling with 88+, AQ+, and probably wider than that. Oh well, what can you do. Still a decent cash to close out the month.
March: +$10,530
Year to date: +$35,887
I like this winning thing. Makes poker a lot more fun. In my first year as a "pro" and at my current stakes, don't really expect to maintain my current pace. Hell I've never made more than 44 grand in a year. Of course all other years I have been doing law school at the same time and not had playing poker as my job, so I certainly expected to make more this year than I had any other year. But I didn't have the faintest idea how much that would be. And I have no idea how the year will turn out. Last year I had an extremely good first quarter of the year as well, and the rest of the year didn't go near as well. So who knows.
Very low volume month. From March 3-March 16 didn't play any tournaments, just donked around at some cash games when I had some free time when I was in San Francisco. The low volume thing doesn't seem like too much of a problem as long as I find one big cash a month though. Still, I know I need to maintain my volume. I can't guarantee that I'll run well. I can give myself the opportunity to account for variance (somewhat) by playing a high volume of tournaments. Sometimes I have trouble doing that though. This is made more difficult by the fact that I don't really multitable the way some people do. But I'm tired of typing right now, so I'll save that for another entry.
Soccer playoffs tonight, ship a win. Probably not.
STAGE #1138816836 TOURNEY ID 1987777 HOLDEM MULTI NORMAL TOURNAMENT NO LIMIT $16000 - 2008-04-01 01:57:52 (ET)
Table: 19 (Real Money) Seat #6 is the dealer
Seat 1 - GRAMPWNAGE ($370550.34 in chips)
Seat 5 - NORCALSURF83 ($113581 in chips)
Seat 6 - WUIFAL ($464089.66 in chips)
Seat 9 - BZIMZIM ($158279 in chips)
GRAMPWNAGE - Ante $800
NORCALSURF83 - Ante $800
WUIFAL - Ante $800
BZIMZIM - Ante $800
BZIMZIM - Posts small blind $8000
GRAMPWNAGE - Posts big blind $16000
*** POCKET CARDS ***
Dealt to BZIMZIM [10d 10c]
NORCALSURF83 - All-In(Raise) $112781 to $112781
WUIFAL - Calls $112781
BZIMZIM - All-In(Raise) $149479 to $157479
GRAMPWNAGE - Folds
WUIFAL - Calls $44698
*** FLOP *** [2h 3s Js]
*** TURN *** [2h 3s Js] [Qs]
*** RIVER *** [2h 3s Js Qs] [4c]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
NORCALSURF83 - Shows [Ah Jc] (One pair, jacks)
WUIFAL - Shows [Jh Jd] (Three of a kind, jacks)
BZIMZIM - Shows [10d 10c] (One pair, tens)
WUIFAL Collects $89396 from side pot-1
WUIFAL Collects $357543 from main pot
Anybody folding in that spot four handed? I don't see how I can fold there. Norcal's solid and all, but still that initial shove is extremely unlikely to have my tens beat, so I can pretty much ignore that. And wuifal has to be calling with 88+, AQ+, and probably wider than that. Oh well, what can you do. Still a decent cash to close out the month.
March: +$10,530
Year to date: +$35,887
I like this winning thing. Makes poker a lot more fun. In my first year as a "pro" and at my current stakes, don't really expect to maintain my current pace. Hell I've never made more than 44 grand in a year. Of course all other years I have been doing law school at the same time and not had playing poker as my job, so I certainly expected to make more this year than I had any other year. But I didn't have the faintest idea how much that would be. And I have no idea how the year will turn out. Last year I had an extremely good first quarter of the year as well, and the rest of the year didn't go near as well. So who knows.
Very low volume month. From March 3-March 16 didn't play any tournaments, just donked around at some cash games when I had some free time when I was in San Francisco. The low volume thing doesn't seem like too much of a problem as long as I find one big cash a month though. Still, I know I need to maintain my volume. I can't guarantee that I'll run well. I can give myself the opportunity to account for variance (somewhat) by playing a high volume of tournaments. Sometimes I have trouble doing that though. This is made more difficult by the fact that I don't really multitable the way some people do. But I'm tired of typing right now, so I'll save that for another entry.
Soccer playoffs tonight, ship a win. Probably not.
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