The Death of AP

Four years ago I put 30 bucks on a little site called Absolute Poker. Somehow that took me down a path to where I now play poker for a living. AP died today, and will be missed.

Of course that's not really quite right, it's combining with Ultimate Bet to form Cereus. Annoying note number 1: instead of just combining our accounts, we have to pick a new sn for our UB account. I picked bzimzimm. I'm clever. But then, since I only had about 2 grand in there anyway, I promptly withdrew all the money from it save about two dollars, and I'll just use my AP account as my Cereus account. I just don't think I could part with the Ohio State logo I've had up for about three years, and the random hecklers it brings out.

One way AP does seem to be dying is that Cereus seems to be adopting what is primarily the UB tournament schedule. Today I woke up and there was no 20r at noon (11 ct). It was kind of sad. This was the defining hand from the last AP 20r ever:

Stage #1328615593 Tourney ID 2112826 Holdem Multi Normal Tournament No Limit $1000 - 2008-11-24 14:30:35 (ET)
Table: 15 (Real Money) Seat #7 is the dealer
Seat 1 - TCB21 ($11785 in chips)
Seat 2 - MIKECHR23 ($16155 in chips)
Seat 3 - EMPHORROR ($18673.50 in chips)
Seat 4 - CARWA78 ($8515 in chips)
Seat 5 - JP106623 ($17275 in chips)
Seat 6 - SHUNYOK ($45697.50 in chips)
Seat 7 - DOUBLET8 ($45585 in chips)
Seat 8 - BZIMZIM ($11565 in chips)
Seat 9 - BILLCARD15 ($9947.50 in chips)
TCB21 - Ante $100
MIKECHR23 - Ante $100
EMPHORROR - Ante $100
CARWA78 - Ante $100
JP106623 - Ante $100
SHUNYOK - Ante $100
DOUBLET8 - Ante $100
BZIMZIM - Ante $100
BILLCARD15 - Ante $100
BZIMZIM - Posts small blind $500
BILLCARD15 - Posts big blind $1000
*** POCKET CARDS ***
Dealt to BZIMZIM [Ac Qh]
TCB21 - Folds
MIKECHR23 - Folds
EMPHORROR - Folds
CARWA78 - All-In(Raise) $8415 to $8415
JP106623 - Folds
SHUNYOK - Folds
DOUBLET8 - Folds
BZIMZIM - All-In(Raise) $10965 to $11465
BILLCARD15 - Folds
BZIMZIM - returned ($3050) : not called
*** FLOP *** [8s 2d 9s]
*** TURN *** [8s 2d 9s] [Js]
*** RIVER *** [8s 2d 9s Js] [3s]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
CARWA78 - Shows [Ad 8d] (One pair, eights)
BZIMZIM - Shows [Ac Qh] (ace high)
CARWA78 Collects $18730 from main pot

So it goes.

Otherwise having an ok month, I've been playing a lot when I have time so it hasn't been quite as low a volume as I feared I might be. I was CL at FT of Stars 20 1r1a yesterday and finished sixth. I continue to run bad (play bad?) at final tables. Played a big pot with AQs on A64 flop with flush draw as well, other guy had set. Still wondering if I should have slowed down a bet, we were sort of deep, and I felt like I was up against a set. Meh, I don't know. Here's a good read I made to get the CL in the first place.

PokerStars Game #22335974289: Tournament #122500787, $20+$2 Hold'em No Limit - Level XIX (3000/6000) - 2008/11/24 19:19:11 ET
Table '122500787 38' 9-max Seat #4 is the button
Seat 1: DibicDave (173256 in chips)
Seat 2: achillezzzzz (143861 in chips)
Seat 4: JJ_69UK (329612 in chips)
Seat 5: Ice B (301513 in chips)
Seat 6: Snabel_Tann (67486 in chips)
Seat 7: GrandPrixGT (85025 in chips)
Seat 8: bzimzim (507924 in chips)
Seat 9: larryc123 (119928 in chips)
DibicDave: posts the ante 600
achillezzzzz: posts the ante 600
JJ_69UK: posts the ante 600
Ice B: posts the ante 600
Snabel_Tann: posts the ante 600
GrandPrixGT: posts the ante 600
bzimzim: posts the ante 600
larryc123: posts the ante 600
Ice B: posts small blind 3000
Snabel_Tann: posts big blind 6000
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to bzimzim [As Ts]
GrandPrixGT: folds
bzimzim: raises 9100 to 15100
larryc123: folds
DibicDave: folds
achillezzzzz: folds
JJ_69UK: calls 15100
Ice B: folds
Snabel_Tann: folds
*** FLOP *** [Jd Qh Ad]
bzimzim: bets 24000
JJ_69UK: calls 24000
*** TURN *** [Jd Qh Ad] [6h]
bzimzim: checks
JJ_69UK: checks
*** RIVER *** [Jd Qh Ad 6h] [4h]
bzimzim: bets 36000
JJ_69UK: raises 253912 to 289912 and is all-in
bzimzim: calls 253912
*** SHOW DOWN ***
JJ_69UK: shows [Jh Ks] (a pair of Jacks)
bzimzim: shows [As Ts] (a pair of Aces)
bzimzim collected 671824 from pot

I'd be playing with that guy for awhile, had a read on him pretty good and thought the odds he was making a move were very high. Just couldn't put him on a hand unless he backdoored that flush.

I've been running good just donking around four tabling 1/2 NL cash, been an easy way to make a couple quick hundred. Think I may start throwing in an hour or two of cash before I start playing tournaments for the day, both for some easy money and to improve cash game skills.

So I set up an account on Doyle's Room but apparently they won't let me access it because I'm in Illinois. I don't know if Illinois has some specific law that makes them more cautious, but I haven't heard anything about it or had any problems on any other sites. That's an interesting red flag with the regulations coming out for the anti-online gaming law, I don't know if those two are related.

42-7 is a beautiful score. My God Michigan is a horrible football team though. Just awful.

Another work day today before I head to Pittsburgh for Thanksgiving via Lansing. RIP AP rebuys.

I Run Like a God on AP

FT of both 30r and 8k last night. The 8k only had 66 people, so a little overlay, which is nice. Unfortunately that tourney keeps shrinking field-wise. I worry that AP will keep making the guarantee smaller or just do away with it altogether at some point. There used to be a $109 4.5K on AP 1 ct, the field was so small it almost wasn't worth playing, since it was mostly AP regulars without your usual AP mix of total donkeys.

Ended up heads up with foolishgolf in 8k, had 2:1 CL, aipf two hands in a row, 77>99 and TT>AK. Ah well, foolish is a nice guy. Also I'm a lot less annoyed if I got two outed then when I play badly, as I did at a couple FTs earlier this month.

Ran like crap everywhere else yesterday, couldn't win a flip on any other site to save my life.

Up 2100 for the month, now I have to try to find time to play for the rest of the month.

Very Annoying Bubbles/Some Terrible Play

So this is an entry I was going to write before I went to Middletown, but never got to it. Before I left, I was in the Stars Super Tuesday, right before the bubble when this happened:


PokerStars Game #21206295502: Tournament #113525268, $1000+$50 Hold'em No Limit - Level XII (500/1000) - 2008/10/14 23:55:40 ET
Table '113525268 6' 9-max Seat #6 is the button
Seat 1: gregior (9783 in chips)
Seat 2: BabyGrand (13111 in chips)
Seat 3: g0lfa (77699 in chips)
Seat 5: HopeUfold (7675 in chips)
Seat 6: poker_lord76 (18432 in chips)
Seat 7: ael1979 (7444 in chips)
Seat 8: bzimzim (36961 in chips)
gregior: posts the ante 100
BabyGrand: posts the ante 100
g0lfa: posts the ante 100
HopeUfold: posts the ante 100
poker_lord76: posts the ante 100
ael1979: posts the ante 100
bzimzim: posts the ante 100
ael1979: posts small blind 500
bzimzim: posts big blind 1000
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to bzimzim [Ac Ks]
gregior: folds
BabyGrand: folds
g0lfa: raises 1355 to 2355
HopeUfold: folds
poker_lord76: folds
ael1979: folds
bzimzim: raises 5255 to 7610
g0lfa: raises 69989 to 77599 and is all-in
bzimzim: calls 29251 and is all-in
Uncalled bet (40738) returned to g0lfa
*** FLOP *** [6c Js 7h]
*** TURN *** [6c Js 7h] [3h]
*** RIVER *** [6c Js 7h 3h] [8c]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
bzimzim: shows [Ac Ks] (high card Ace)
g0lfa: shows [Qs Qc] (a pair of Queens)
g0lfa collected 74922 from pot

And out for 46th and the bubble.

Obviously, this is extremely annoying on several levels. First, I'd qualified in, so the $1200 for 45th meant something to me, as opposed to normally where I don't care at all if I bubble out playing to win. I had a top ten stack at the time of this pot, so it was unexpected for sure. Would have had a top three stack if I'd won the flip though. With 70K for first, that woulda been a good flip to win.

The hand itself was interesting, because the chip leader opened, and I expected to be able to take it away fairly easily with the 3 bet. Instead he just shoved. Well that caught me be surprise. But I wondered if it was because he thought I was 3 betting weak because he'd been opening so much. In the end he showed down a real hand, nh, gg.

I can't seem to find the HH, but I flipped for another top 3 stack with AK in the UB 80k the next day, K on flop, T on river against TT. Out in 42nd and another bubble (well practically). That was just annoying. Only 20k for first in that one, but still, I win too many flips in small tourneys. I'd trade them for a few in a row in a big tourney. Been awhile for me and a big score.

Since being back from the Obama victory, I've been at a couple final tables and played horrifically. Played terrible at AP 30r a few nights ago, 4 betting 8s into QQ pre. Then I was big CL three handed in Cake 25r the other day, and managed to finish third, with some plays I'm too embarassed to even type. Not exactly taking advantange of my opportunities this month. Pretty annoyed at myself.

Back to work tonight.

October Wrap

This month pretty much redefined a "low volume" month, compared to all the other months that were low volume months. I didn't play at all after October 16. For that matter I've only played one day so far this month. That'll change today. But at least for October, I wasn't being lazy, I was helping to save my country. So that's a pretty good reason.

Month: +$2239

Year: +$69,394

Trying to crank it up the rest of this month, but I'll be out of town this weekend to Champaign, then probably to Columbus the week after for the last two Ohio State games. No excuse not to finish 10-2, with a BCS bowl being extremely likely if that happens. Also go Sparty. Anyway, then I'll be travelling to Pittsburgh for Thanksgiving, so I'm going to have to take it while I can get it on poker this month. Maybe I'll just ship the Super Tuesday or something and call it a month. But barring a big score (which is always possible), it looks like the 100 grand goal I once proclaimed is looking more like a long shot. Ah well. I do need to spend more effort on improving my game though.

Work day today and tomorrow. MSNBC is on in the background, and told me that when Bush and Obama meet today, there will be some "joshing around". I remember why I don't watch news networks now.

Back

And I'm back! Went to Middletown, Ohio for two weeks to help out before election day. So it's been awhile since I've played poker. Night session tonight. How about that.

Also I'm about four entries behind, which I'll make up in the next couple of days. One about the week before I left, Oct Wrap, Middletown, and goals for the rest of the year.