54s no gooooot?

i started off horribly in chasers last night. i slept until about 9, and was messing around on the internet when i decided at about 9:15 to open up ftp and see what was going on before the 10pm chasers tournaments. ooops! i forgot chasers starts at 9. first hands i saw were JJ and AQ, but there were only about two people actually playing at my table and everyone folded. i got in trouble against pushmonkey early on, but then nearly doubled when i flopped a set and turned a full house against a guy who had trip As. that's when i made a huge error.

pushmonkey raised to 120 in the hijack, and i called in the co w/ 54s. ordinarily in a blogger tournament (or any tournament really) i would drop this to a raise, but he had been raising so many pots that i thought if i hit a flop i could take the pot. all i hit was bottom pair, but i didn't think pushmonkey had a K when the flop came KT4. in fact, he had a K AND a T, and i was down to 540 chips on a careless, stupid play where i thought he didn't have anything and i'd get him out of the pot.

somehow i kept at it. doubled up w/ Qs when sellthekids made an ep raise w/ JTo and was priced in to call me (really, JTo? even i don't play that garbage from ep) :)

i made my way back up to almost 7k, and was feeling slightly proud of myself, when don got moved to my right. he is back from his hiatus, and he just about killed me when he called my jam (i had 99) with ATs. he announced that he was making an "lj" call. um, i don't call jams w/ AT unless i'm playing shorthanded, so i'm not sure wtf he was talking about, but of course he hit a T and i'm down to about 2k in chips. in hindsight i could just call his raise in position, and then fold when an A flops. but i didn't think he had anything he'd call with (and despite him telling me he made a "read" that i had a low pair i'm not sure why he would purposefully choose to flip with me there) but i was not running like chad (or kaja) and could not win the flip.

a few hands later there is an ep raise to 3x bb, and i go over the top for only about 1500 more w/ QQ. i get called by AJo (another terrific ep raise) and not only does an A come on the flop, but he four flushes me for good measure. still to go from 530 chips about twenty minutes in to 30-something place seemed like a good thing, so as always i can at least find SOMETHING that i did right.

congrats to kod (aka my own personal confidence booster) for taking it down.

tonight i'm gonna play some live cash at wall street, in preparation for my trip to vegas in FIVE days. i'm bringing a few friends, and it should be interesting.

also, as an update, project peer pressure lucko (pppl) can officially be called a failure (see earlier post here). personally i think it's cause very few bloggers tried, but thanks to fuel and alan who i know made valiant efforts. i probably wouldn't wanna play cash with him anyway.

congrats

to alan for taking down moooookie. how his A6 cracks AA yet i essentially go out w/ A6 to KK i will never understand.

math

not a whole lot of time to write since i'm off to box review in ten minutes, but i final tabled another blogger tournament. this was my fourth or fifth final table over the past couple of weeks and while i realize that this is basically a winner take all tournament (though second place last night would not have looked terrible in my ftp acct) it certainly is an improvement from my performance in the last bbt. i will not link, but let's just say if you looked up one from the bottom you might have seen a familiar name.

i had a horrible rebuy period -- i spent over 100 bucks, and was cursing myself for not just playing the 55k. figured with top 6 paying i had no shot of making any money back. my AA got cracked by blinders' QQ who flopped top set. niiiiiiiice. basically any time i got a remotely strong hand, someone else had it beat. and anytime i was able to see a flop, i whiffed it horribly.

so rebuy period ends, i look down at JJ, and i'm off. some other player whose name i'm gonna butcher, jlk5089 (?), shows some strength, and after a flop of T9x i decide i'm going to the felt w/ my JJ. oops. i'm up against KK and i think i'm going to bed early when BOOM, i two outer on the river and a J falls, and all of a sudden i'm up to 11k. i continued to build my stack up, but aside from a string of AK about three times in a row, i was not getting any other really premium hands. finally got QQ in against T9 (don't ask), flopped a set, and he did not straight me. that brought me to 45k. from there i lost a big pot (can't remember, blocked it out?) to drop me to 20k again, and after a HORRIFIC beat for fuel (his KJ v. QJ on J high flop, Q on river, so gross) i went out right behind him in 5th when i got into a blind contest w cmitch. despite an innocuous enough flop of T34 (two clubs) for my A5, the J on turn and 9 on river gave him a straight w/ his KQ and me 5th place. i was bummed, b/c i win that and i'm back in the game. scottmc got lucky over and over with the worst hand (A5 v. A6 comes to mind) and easily could have been out before the money, but instead ended up in 4th place. it was a long three way battle, but cmitch finally took it down, congrats!!!

once again, though, i had a blast playing, and while i'm still working on my strategy late in these things i'm starting to be a little more confident that with a little luck on my side i have what it takes to take one down. i'm sure all the haters out there disagree, but i don't care what you think anyway. :)

happy thanksgiving!!!!

i hope everyone out there has a great day, whatever you're doing and whomever you're with. i'm off to nj to my cousin's house, where i'll eat some killer food, watch some football, and try not to think about what could have been last night. :)

i'm sick

second in the mookie. played solid poker right up to the final table.

that's when downward spiral started. i made HORRIBLE fold after pf raise to a shortie when i was getting 3-1 at final table, and he showed hammer. my not calling w/ two overcards (obv) allowed him to get back in the game and eventually win it. i have been chastised by several people for this play, i know it was a HUGE mistake. i just didn't stop to think about pot odds. i simply decided i did not want to show the hand i'd raised w/. stupid stupid stupid. it probably cost me the mookie win (though hoy thinks it cost him the win, since budo (hammer guy) later busted hoy w/ his KK v. hoy's AQ.

shortly before that happened i had a medium stack and i raised w/ AJs. i get re-raised by donkette, who i figure has something like KJ or KT. i jam and she calls with....A7. of course a 7 flops. reminds me of another final table where i got all in against a blind w/ A9 v. A6 and he hit a 6. i guess i want that call but i still CANNOT believe she put all her chips at risk w/ A7 pre flop.

i was down to 2700 chips, kissing any hope of toc seat goodbye, when miraculously i doubled up. and doubled up. and doubled up. all of a sudden i was back in contention, hoy went out in fourth, and then we had a three way all in. my AK v. QQ v. 88 (donkette, who called behind budo after he'd called my jam) and A on the flop. i'm back in business. and then i wasn't. the hu match was pretty even, with things going back and forth, when i called a small raise oop w/ A6o. flop comes 622, i bet out and get raised. i am slightly worried that budo has middle pair here, but also think it's likely he thinks his two overs are good (really?). i jam, he flips over KK, and it's effectively over. the closest i'll ever come to a toc seat, probably, and i essentially lost it when i folded to budo's hammer back when we were five-handed.

so yeah, i came back from 2700 chips to over 150k to be in powerful position to take down toc, and i run tptk into KK. i could have folded, i guess. i could have done a lot of things, many of which may have changed the outcome and all of which i can't control now. to say i'm frustrated and upset is an understatement, but at least i'm getting closer. i thought i was a goner after the AJ v. A7 hand, so for me just coming back from 2700 was amazing. hah. who am i kidding. i'm pretty sick right now.

ftops 15

it's hard not to be frustrated knowing that i had good shot at 67k, and some really big payouts for final table. i definitely got outplayed in the later stages, and pissed away a huge stack when we were down to about 3-4 tables. there are a few hands i think i should have played, or played harder, and while i tried to be aggressive i got re-raised almost every hand, and started playing like a weakling when it was my whole stack at risk.

i don't remember too many of the early hands, aside from having a particularly weak table in the early going (with a couple strong exceptions). i had a nice run of cards in the middle/late stages, i think it went TT, 66, 88 (flopped top set), a few hands later AKs, then a few hands later aaron bartley jammed his pp into my button AA. weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee. i heart pro bounties.

i got pissed at one point when button raised my bb for second time in what i perceived as obvious steal attempt. i jammed w/ Q6, i believe he called w/ AT, and i hit Q. that was sweet. as was the time that i jammed on the bb w/ 84 (from sb), he called w/ AK, and i hit 8.

i got a lot of my late game stack when i made huge jam to raise and re-raise w/ QQ and won the flip w/ AK. hoy and chad both said they'd fold in a nanosecond there.

i also called an utg raise w/ AK, which i think was horrible play. def shoulda re-raised, and if i flip i flip. we checked crappy flop and i folded to his turn bet.

lost a ton on this crappy sb/bb face off. i went too wild w/ my middle pair, grrrrrr. lost a HUGE chunk of chips on this one.



got back in it w/ this one.



got short again and def shoulda jammed this to pf raiser.



this hand killed most chance of cashing big out. my m was getting low and it was first worthwhile hand i'd seen in awhile. i hate resucks.



and this killed rest of chance. very next hand, too.



i also came in second in this ko tournament hosted by the poker grind. i had a blast, and made back the buy in in bounties. i went to final table w/ HUGE stack, but came in second due to some shitty play. late tournament play is a leak that needs to be fixed asap if i want to have a shot at a toc seat.



i feel really good about my poker today. i def still made some mistakes and have aspects of my game that require vast improvement, but i incorporated some of the lessons i learned this weekend (ty lucko and pokerxfactor) and it is a huge boost to my poker confidence. i still played a little too timid in blogger big game, but i think i'll have much better shot over the next couple of weeks if i can continue to improve.

off to another warehouse tomorrow. weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee.

weekend

brief got filed about 20 seconds before 6 on friday, and i got home in time for 24k. it was a horrible idea, since a) i'm supposed to be studying first then playing and b) i was supposed to go out around 10/11. but i knew if i went deep my friends would still be out, and i figured saturday seemed like a perfect studying day (happy bday chloe and lindsay!).

i built up a nice stack, and then my internet went out. none of my usual fixes worked (GRRRRRRR), so after being offline for almost ten minutes i hopped on a neighbor's free network. i made a HORRIBLE blind defend move and lost almost my whole stack, then made a come back when i hit an A on the river to double through 88 w/ AJ. couldn't get much going after that, i lost AQ to KK, and then i was pretty much toast. it was nice to cash in a big mtt again, though, it had been awhile!

cable guy window was 12 - 4, and i got out of bed around 11:30. was shocked when door buzzed at 11:58. score more credits for time warner. i spent the earlier part of saturday looking at hand histories and reading some harrington on hold em, but ended up playing in a pokerstars super stack, which ruled, except for the part where i busted. they have some really nice low buy tournaments, i had no idea! then i went to a friend's bday party, which was super fun, but unfortunately i woke up atrociously hungover due to not following my own advice. it's not just poker, i do it in real life too.

i looked at some hand histories but could not resist the allure of a satellite to ftops 15. i had thought about buying in when i first saw it listed, but after bankroll sitch of late i figured satellite was better route. of course i busted, but saw bayne was in event 15, and decided i would also engage in poor br mgmt. it turned out to be +ev move. thanks to everyone who railed me, gave me encouragement, and called me the equivalent of a luckbunny throughout (and wendy, who is without blog but made guest railbird appearance). special shout out to alan and trip for exchanging money with me that gave me opportunity to play.

note to self

do not cbet quads, even if you think check in five-player pot despite pf raise will look fishy.

conservative or stupid?

Full Tilt Poker Game #4218265709: FTOPS Event #15 (30723660), Table 16 - 40/80 - No Limit Hold'em - 15:18:03 ET - 2007/11/18
Seat 1: easy_slide (4,688)
Seat 2: biker1947 (4,950)
Seat 3: ogaschaka (2,415), is sitting out
Seat 4: grgimpy (1,795)
Seat 5: Stevie D 12 (6,760)
Seat 6: vindog1 (6,532)
Seat 7: mangy71 (2,245)
Seat 8: wittge83 (5,280)
Seat 9: pvanharibo (10,215)
wittge83 posts the small blind of 40
pvanharibo posts the big blind of 80
The button is in seat #7
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to pvanharibo [6h 4s]
easy_slide folds
biker1947 folds
ogaschaka folds
grgimpy folds
Stevie D 12 has 15 seconds left to act
Stevie D 12 calls 80
vindog1 folds
mangy71 folds
wittge83 calls 40
pvanharibo checks
*** FLOP *** [6s Ah 4d]
wittge83 checks
pvanharibo bets 180
Stevie D 12 calls 180
wittge83 has 15 seconds left to act
wittge83 folds
*** TURN *** [6s Ah 4d] [Js]
pvanharibo bets 400
Stevie D 12 has 15 seconds left to act
Stevie D 12 calls 400
*** RIVER *** [6s Ah 4d Js] [Qh]
pvanharibo checks
Stevie D 12 checks
*** SHOW DOWN ***
pvanharibo shows [6h 4s] two pair, Sixes and Fours
Stevie D 12 mucks
pvanharibo wins the pot (1,400) with two pair, Sixes and Fours
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 1,400 | Rake 0
Board: [6s Ah 4d Js Qh]
Seat 1: easy_slide didn't bet (folded)
Seat 2: biker1947 didn't bet (folded)
Seat 3: ogaschaka didn't bet (folded)
Seat 4: grgimpy didn't bet (folded)
Seat 5: Stevie D 12 mucked [As 9s] - a pair of Aces
Seat 6: vindog1 didn't bet (folded)
Seat 7: mangy71 (button) didn't bet (folded)
Seat 8: wittge83 (small blind) folded on the Flop
Seat 9: pvanharibo (big blind) showed [6h 4s] and won (1,400) with two pair, Sixes and Fours

would you fold here?

i think i should have shoved pf, cause i wasn't gonna lay this down -- but once he re-raises, do you fold? my thought was, it's a token frenzy, it doesn't get all that much better than QQ, so i'll take a flip here. i had a decent stack, but i didn't think i had quite enough to fold to token.

Full Tilt Poker Game #4208376509: $75 Token Frenzy (31383332), Table 3 - 200/400 Ante 50 - No Limit Hold'em - 17:44:02 ET - 2007/11/17
Seat 1: sellthekids (9,864)
Seat 2: bad beats mcgee (3,972)
Seat 3: Italian Zar (2,988)
Seat 4: VekToR64 (5,438)
Seat 5: callthebet (2,660)
Seat 6: pvanharibo (5,625)
Seat 7: D8N McDEEZ (8,120)
Seat 9: thirstyboots (2,258)
sellthekids antes 50
bad beats mcgee antes 50
Italian Zar antes 50
VekToR64 antes 50
callthebet antes 50
pvanharibo antes 50
D8N McDEEZ antes 50
thirstyboots antes 50
D8N McDEEZ posts the small blind of 200
thirstyboots posts the big blind of 400
The button is in seat #6
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to pvanharibo [Qd Qs]
sellthekids folds
bad beats mcgee folds
Italian Zar folds
VekToR64 has 15 seconds left to act
VekToR64 folds
callthebet folds
pvanharibo has 15 seconds left to act
pvanharibo raises to 1,600
D8N McDEEZ raises to 8,070, and is all in
thirstyboots folds
pvanharibo calls 3,975, and is all in
D8N McDEEZ shows [As Kc]
pvanharibo shows [Qd Qs]
Uncalled bet of 2,495 returned to D8N McDEEZ
*** FLOP *** [3c Kh 4d]
*** TURN *** [3c Kh 4d] [Td]
*** RIVER *** [3c Kh 4d Td] [Ac]
D8N McDEEZ shows two pair, Aces and Kings
pvanharibo shows a pair of Queens
D8N McDEEZ wins the pot (11,950) with two pair, Aces and Kings
pvanharibo stands up
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 11,950 | Rake 0
Board: [3c Kh 4d Td Ac]
Seat 1: sellthekids folded before the Flop
Seat 2: bad beats mcgee folded before the Flop
Seat 3: Italian Zar folded before the Flop
Seat 4: VekToR64 folded before the Flop
Seat 5: callthebet folded before the Flop
Seat 6: pvanharibo (button) showed [Qd Qs] and lost with a pair of Queens
Seat 7: D8N McDEEZ (small blind) showed [As Kc] and won (11,950) with two pair, Aces and Kings
Seat 9: thirstyboots (big blind) folded before the Flop

T high is gold?

granted, i did not have the best hand, and i'd been raising a lot, but omg!

Full Tilt Poker Game #4207851793: $20 + $2 Sit & Go (31933534), Table 1 - 50/100 - No Limit Hold'em - 16:53:44 ET - 2007/11/17
Seat 1: Tight_HOPE (2,980)
Seat 4: pvanharibo (3,015)
Seat 5: dml44 (1,565)
Seat 6: Phuick Yu (3,195)
Seat 8: berniedog (1,605)
Seat 9: glottis45 (1,140)
pvanharibo posts the small blind of 50
dml44 posts the big blind of 100
The button is in seat #1
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to pvanharibo [Jd 8d]
Phuick Yu folds
berniedog folds
glottis45 folds
Tight_HOPE folds
pvanharibo raises to 300
dml44 calls 200
*** FLOP *** [3d 5d Ac]
pvanharibo bets 455
dml44 raises to 1,265, and is all in
pvanharibo calls 810
dml44 shows [7h Tc]
pvanharibo shows [Jd 8d]
*** TURN *** [3d 5d Ac] [9h]
*** RIVER *** [3d 5d Ac 9h] [Qh]
dml44 shows Ace Queen high
pvanharibo shows Ace Queen high
pvanharibo wins the pot (3,130) with Ace Queen high
dml44 stands up
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 3,130 | Rake 0
Board: [3d 5d Ac 9h Qh]
Seat 1: Tight_HOPE (button) didn't bet (folded)
Seat 4: pvanharibo (small blind) showed [Jd 8d] and won (3,130) with Ace Queen high
Seat 5: dml44 (big blind) showed [7h Tc] and lost with Ace Queen high
Seat 6: Phuick Yu didn't bet (folded)
Seat 8: berniedog didn't bet (folded)
Seat 9: glottis45 didn't bet (folded)

slow play to no pay

Full Tilt Poker Game #4207596628: Super Sat to FTOPS Main Event (31924593), Table 1 - 40/80 - No Limit Hold'em - 16:29:00 ET - 2007/11/17
Seat 1: HurricaneDK (4,310)
Seat 3: jdntal (3,475)
Seat 5: willyboy58 (1,690)
Seat 7: KingKongKK (1,350)
Seat 8: pvanharibo (1,330)
Seat 9: ggpokerstars (1,345)
ggpokerstars posts the small blind of 40
HurricaneDK posts the big blind of 80
The button is in seat #8
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to pvanharibo [As Ah]
jdntal folds
willyboy58 folds
KingKongKK raises to 240
pvanharibo calls 240
ggpokerstars folds
HurricaneDK calls 160
*** FLOP *** [Jc Jd 2s]
HurricaneDK checks
KingKongKK checks
pvanharibo bets 400
HurricaneDK calls 400
KingKongKK folds
*** TURN *** [Jc Jd 2s] [5c]
HurricaneDK checks
pvanharibo bets 690, and is all in
HurricaneDK calls 690
pvanharibo shows [As Ah]
HurricaneDK shows [Jh Ks]
*** RIVER *** [Jc Jd 2s 5c] [2d]
pvanharibo shows two pair, Aces and Jacks
HurricaneDK shows a full house, Jacks full of Twos
HurricaneDK wins the pot (2,940) with a full house, Jacks full of Twos
pvanharibo stands up
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 2,940 | Rake 0
Board: [Jc Jd 2s 5c 2d]
Seat 1: HurricaneDK (big blind) showed [Jh Ks] and won (2,940) with a full house, Jacks full of Twos
Seat 3: jdntal didn't bet (folded)
Seat 5: willyboy58 didn't bet (folded)
Seat 7: KingKongKK folded on the Flop
Seat 8: pvanharibo (button) showed [As Ah] and lost with two pair, Aces and Jacks
Seat 9: ggpokerstars (small blind) folded before the Flop

project peer pressure lucko (pppl)

i have been falsely accused of gathering bloggers to persuade lucko to go out to vegas for blogger party in december. even though i am (er, was) innocent, it sounded like such a good idea that now i'm gonna do it for real. i barely know the dude, though i did meet him recently, and he seems nice. i've also heard good things about his blog. i used to hate him, but i've been over that ever since he railed me a few weeks ago when i made a final table in a blogger event. apparently he's a pretty decent player. so, the trip would probably pay for itself once he hits the tables in vegas. flights from nyc are less than $400. i can't think of one good reason why a blogger who doubles as a good poker player wouldn't go. can you?

lucko's blog is pokercash.blogspot.com -- go tell him what a ghey loser he is for not going.

bad horsey

i thought i made decent showing as horsey in mookie last night, but i have been dropped to alternate, and am thinking i may not be anyone's horsey anytime soon. kod just explained to me why:

"You c-bet KK on Ace high flop with two callers in blonkament :( You can't be my horsey for awhile now :(("

oops. i play bad.

i am tard

thanks to everyone for their comments on my last few posts, including some people who i didn't even know stopped by my blog. i still have so much to learn and i need to dedicate myself and put a lot more time into studying than i have been. i know this, i've known it for awhile (and written about it), and i think (and hope) that the time w/o a bankroll will help me to reset a little and take it from the top. i am definitely hoping to re-deposit -- i tried my trusty credit card that worked for me up until july and it's done. it would have been a good idea to try making a credit card deposit before i withdrew, just to confirm that i could reload if i needed to. i am such a donkey. a few people offered to trade me ftp $ for cash and if you have more cash on ftp than you know what to do with, i will happily trade you real american dollars for it (they're not as valuable as they used to be, but they do match up 1:1). i am in the process of getting my bank account verified by paypal for ease of payment -- they say it takes 3-5 days, so i think i'd be ready for trades by wed at latest. i can also send you a check, that i promise will clear, but that seems old-fashioned.

i realize that having to post this is slightly pathetic, so no need to comment on that, but thanks in advance if you can help out.

booooo no cable

i got home tonight excited to watch heroes and play the mookie, but among the first things i noticed was that my cable box was off, and little green lights were going nutso in the display. my tivo remote was changing channels through the time warner box, and even basic channels appeared scrambled. i finally got the channels changing again after playing w/ tivo set up, but then the cable box started restarting/rebooting every ten minutes. grrrrrrrr. no season premiere of project runway! that is worse beat than A flopping when i had KK! good thing bravo reruns everything a million times.

i have called time warner numerous times for internet and cable problems, and it is always a frustrating experience. so i was floored when after a twenty minute hold i was connected to someone who seemed to want to help me, called me right back when he said he would, is doing everything possible to get me an appt for saturday, and will call me back tomorrow. time warner and customer service would not normally go in the same sentence, but shout out to daniel.

i am excited to be back in the city from dirty warehouse in nj, though i'm headed back next week. apparently we're staying at a different hotel, and i'm upset only b/c i never got to play the air hockey and big buck hunter in the hilton sports bar. on the bright side we'll be closer to civilization in a place with real restaurants.

not much poker studying being done so far, due to blogger tourneying and wii playing. i plan to spend a chunk of saturday exploring pokerxfactor and reading, though i haven't chosen reading material yet. goal of concentrating on tournament and going deep was also not met, when i lost in second hand of 28k w/ JJ to QQ all in on 555 flop. i may have gotten a little aggressive with the hand, but i did not put him on 5 (he raised 3x bb from middle position and i called) and i really thought i had him beat. assuming he does not have me drawing dead w/ 5, he can only have three hands that beat me. maybe i should be laying that down to his jam (he bets, i raise, he jams), but i am not yet that good a player.

math

i'm feeling extremely sick, both literally (my throat is killing me) and figuratively (from the math), but if i don't write this now it's not gonna get written.

so thanks to everyone for comments on all my latest posts. i appreciate your thoughts and suggestions. i played the math tonight but with little sleep last night and another day of box reviewing ahead i figured it was a win/win if i got knocked out earlier or made it deep. however, i did not count on feeling so totally broken by the time it ended, and now i'm just wired enough to type this up before sleep. omg, i have to mention that buddydank radio is playing color me badd right now. i won tickets to see them and paula abdul from hot 97 when i was in 9th grade, and adina bricker and i totally rocked out. yeah, that's how cool i was. but i digress.

i doubled up early in math when someone limped w/ AT and i held AJ in either sb or bb. A flopped and despite overplaying my A rag it held up.

then it was kind of a crapshoot until i limped w/ AA (i always seem to get big pp utg) and got a raiser, who then played his bottom pair of 3s (w/ 43) like it was my hand.

i then got no cards. for a really long time. one QQ that everyone folded to. same w/ 88. two AJ, one of which i folded to a raise.

then i picked up AA in the bb and cardgrrl overplayed A3 (gutshot, i think on turn?) and i doubled up.

very next hand QQ and i get paid again.

and then card dead for a long while. picked up a few pots here and there w/ decent hands, but nothing premium. i did not get AK once the entire tournament! KK once, towards the end.

then everything turned to shit. i called a shortie raise to my bb w/ 76 and doubled him up w/ his A rag. along the way i doubled up kaja a couple times, one time w/ J8 (which was stupid on my part) and once w/ A8 sooooooted (on button). then i doubled up jamy when he raised w/ AQ and i thought my asian jew was good. um, it wasn't.

and then it got worse. i saw A9 on the button and tried to pick up the lone bb from julkeus. he called w/ A6 and river was a 6. throw up a little in mouth.



few hands later, TT in bb. jam by button. snailtrax has A3h. flop has two hearts, turn brick, river heart. puke.



i then had m of less than 2, and made what in hindsight was probably my final boneheaded play. i jammed utg+1 w/ K7o right into AT. i could have waited for something better utg, and at the very least defended my blind like a (wo)man and hoped to get lucky. patience may have paid off in this spot, but i'll never know. i was thinking, we're six handed, there's over 12k in each pot, and i have just over 20k, so maybe i can take one down right here. oh well. i did not hit miracle K and i'm out in 6th place after being chip leader for much of final table.

i know i made a few bad plays along the way, but i guess the consensus is correct, you have to have some luck and the ftp rng clearly had no interest in seeing me in toc. why would it really? thanks to the nice people who railed me at table and in girlie chat, i really appreciate it. also thanks to bayne for sending along screen shots to post cause i have no idea how to take them on my mac. i'm frustrated both for losing another good shot at the toc seat, and also for losing out on at the very least another place or two of cash, which would have gone a long way right now.

congrats to jamyhawk for taking it down.

in shambles

i am once again at a low point in my poker game. i made a mistake by withdrawing a significant percentage of my bankroll (i didn't listen when several people told me was a horrible idea), and over the past couple weeks i've played down what little i had left into nearly nothing. some of it was pure stupidity. i have been very liberal at buying into ftops sats (especially games like razz at which i have no skills), and then not playing smart or hard. my mind is often elsewhere, and over the past few weeks i've made so many boneheaded plays and calls (and non-calls, see previous post) that i'm in a tailspin. i know about variance, blah blah, but i've had a healthy amount of sick beats combined with a healthy amount of horrendous plays on my part.

so what to do?!

obviously a break would be logical suggestion, but the truth is i really enjoy playing blogger events, so i'm still gonna play those (and try my best not to be dead money, like i was in riverchasers last week). i want to focus on sit n gos, in part while i'm playing blogger events. play tight and smart poker, not play too many tournaments at once, and see if i can at least grind what i have into anything. i would hate to reload, after purposefully taking off so much, but i don't think i can go back to $2 sngs.

i made a good amount of money at .50/1 cash in sept and oct, but my bankroll really isn't deep enough to sustain playing 1 or 2 tables at that level anymore. i lost a buy in and a half the other day, and that is only one small part of bankroll bleeding. i also think my online cash game has made my online tournament game worse, and i think maybe i made a mistake sometimes playing cash and tournaments at the same time. that said, i see others do it all the time, very successfully, so it could just be that i'm retarded.

all that said, the biggest problem i've had is that i've stopped taking online tournaments seriously. especially mtts. i get impatient and fuck around, and make bad calls/raises, or make a play and then call a jam just cause. since i haven't been cashing, and playing like shit, i've lost a lot of confidence, and i've started to make stupid plays thinking, maybe i'll get lucky. not the right way to play.

online really has become pushing buttons in some way for me, because unlike when i make investment in live tourney and focus on it, i get totally distracted online and play a different game. the two times i had big cashes i played incredibly tight throughout, folding marginal hands like AJ or AT, and only making plays when i thought i had upper hand. that is the complete opposite of how i've been playing lately.

one poker friend in particular has given me suggestions, and tried really hard to help me believe that i have potential as a poker player that i'm squandering. it helps, but something needs to change.

i'm going to try to play less over next few weeks and read/re-read some poker books. one of my biggest problems when reading poker books is that i instantly want to play, so i just need to balance reading and studying a little bit more. i've thought for awhile about joining cardrunners or pokerx, and watching some videos, etc. but never took the plunge. does anyone rec one or the other? or think it's a waste?

so...i hope that this marks some kind of change for the better in both my play and my bankroll. i'm extremely frustrated with myself for letting things get this dire. after getting pwned in every tournament i played today, the only bright spot to the day is that despite benching mcnabb and chatman in the blogger ff league, i may still beat alan. woooooot.

i'm off in new jersey reviewing boxes again this week, but plan to play math. see you there.

terrible fold?

i am pretty sure i had wwonka on this pot. but i had just lost in ftops w/ K high flush to A high flush, and was steaming a bit (yes, i'm trying not to tilt, but omg, it's hard given the total DONK who took me out of ftops -- he rivered a card earlier otherwise i would have stacked him!). in hindsight i def should have called cause a few hands later i'm almost out when i run AKs (on button) into AA (bb). niiiiice.

Full Tilt Poker Game #4103768952: The Mookie - Loretta Wynn (30733111), Table 11 - 50/100 - No Limit Hold'em - 22:58:24 ET - 2007/11/07
Seat 1: whiskigrl (2,420)
Seat 2: AgSweep (2,185)
Seat 3: UnTiltable15 (4,150)
Seat 4: Schaubs (1,930)
Seat 5: cardgrrl (2,980)
Seat 6: wwonka69 (4,565)
Seat 7: Loretta8 (7,110), is sitting out
Seat 8: pvanharibo (5,185)
Seat 9: chrispy2005 (2,130)
chrispy2005 posts the small blind of 50
whiskigrl posts the big blind of 100
The button is in seat #8
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to pvanharibo [Kd Qc]
AgSweep folds
Loretta8 has reconnected
UnTiltable15 folds
Loretta8 has returned
Schaubs has 15 seconds left to act
Schaubs folds
cardgrrl folds
wwonka69 has 15 seconds left to act
Loretta8: stupid comcast
Loretta8: wanted to c/r there
wwonka69 raises to 300
Loretta8 folds
pvanharibo calls 300
chrispy2005 folds
cardgrrl: I had 2 pair
whiskigrl calls 200
*** FLOP *** [7h Tc 8c]
cardgrrl: you?
whiskigrl checks
wwonka69 checks
pvanharibo checks
*** TURN *** [7h Tc 8c] [Ac]
Loretta8: yay comcast
whiskigrl checks
Loretta8: lol
cardgrrl: :)
wwonka69 has 15 seconds left to act
wwonka69 checks
pvanharibo checks
Loretta8: i had a pair and a straight draw
*** RIVER *** [7h Tc 8c Ac] [5c]
whiskigrl checks
wwonka69 has 15 seconds left to act
Loretta8: i run so good i would have hit though
wwonka69 bets 4,265, and is all in
pvanharibo has 15 seconds left to act
pvanharibo has requested TIME
cardgrrl: I run so bad I'd have never made my boat
pvanharibo folds
whiskigrl folds
Uncalled bet of 4,265 returned to wwonka69
wwonka69 mucks
wwonka69 wins the pot (950)
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 950 | Rake 0
Board: [7h Tc 8c Ac 5c]
Seat 1: whiskigrl (big blind) folded on the River
Seat 2: AgSweep didn't bet (folded)
Seat 3: UnTiltable15 didn't bet (folded)
Seat 4: Schaubs didn't bet (folded)
Seat 5: cardgrrl didn't bet (folded)
Seat 6: wwonka69 collected (950), mucked
Seat 7: Loretta8 didn't bet (folded)
Seat 8: pvanharibo (button) folded on the River
Seat 9: chrispy2005 (small blind) folded before the Flop

wall street

i played at wall street last night, and did pretty well. one play will not leave my mind however, it was a pot where i laid down pocket As, and its festering is one reason why i have trouble mixing friends and poker. i also boldly told one player i thought he played annoyingly slow, although he was so endearing about it that i actually felt bad after. :) i'll try to start at the beginning, but my memories may already be fuzzy.

first tournament: there were only 8 of us, and while we were zipping through blind levels, nobody was going out! everyone seemed to be playing fairly tight. i won my first hand w/ 66 when i took a couple stabs and got called despite overs, however b (i guess i'll call him b) had a lower pair than mine. then i remember calling when we were down to 4 w/ 53s, flopping bottom pair, jamming on am who called me w/ middle pair. she turned trips, and i was crippled. somehow through some well timed cards i stayed alive, jamie busted on bubble, and i made it to the money. three handed, i would love to hear thoughts, cause i thought this was a crazy (bad) lay down, and did not understand the explanations given. i'm three handed w/ pp and am. we play a few orbits, pp is short stack, i am medium and i'm pretty sure am is biggest stack, although we're probably around even. so pp goes all in on the button. i think he's maybe made this play once before and not shown down, but otherwise he hasn't been crazy aggro (which for some reason people have the impression i am????). so am goes into the tank and eventually folds from sb, this is maybe for half her stack, giving her huge lead going into hu.

i look down at A5o and practically instacall. i know there's a chance i'm dominated, but three handed i figure my A high has (hopefully) at least a shot, as pp could be doing that w/ just about anything. he flips over JTo and we're essentially racing. i'm about 55 percent, i hit a 5 on the turn, and pp is out in third. here's the thing: am showed her cards after i called, and she folded AJ!?! i don't understand how she doesn't call there. she has a chance to take out a player, we're THREE HANDED, and AJ is a monster. not that she can know she has him dominated (about 70/30), but i was/am confounded by her fold. the way it was explained to me was that she wanted to secure second place and go into hu, but that makes no sense to me. i get that if she calls and loses she is definitely the short stack, but how do you not take that chance w/ AJ three handed?

am and i briefly discussed a chop, but we decided not to and i won the hu match. then it was time for tournament 2.

it was the first hand of tournament 2 that really frustrated me. i look down at AA with one limper, blinds 25/50, and raise to 200. i guess this was my first mistake. didn't raise enough. i get either 5 or 6 callers (this tournament is 11 handed) and we see a flop of K56 w/ two spades. i bet out half the pot, b calls, and w thinks and talks and then jams. is my half pot bet a mistake here? should i be betting pot? am i begging someone to take the pot away? i have no idea what to do. i put b on AK, KQ or KJ, and am not worried about him. i am worried about w. she could easily have a set or 56, in which case i'm praying for a running pair or A. or she could be on flush draw, in which case i think we're about even money. i think if i have A of spades MAYBE i make call, but i laid down my hand. she also could have had nothing, and was maybe doing that w/ a pair of Js or Ts, just trying to pick up pot. but either way i still want to know what she had.

i know there are no friends at poker table blah blah, but i basically outlined my tournament strategy for her and am in ac one time when we were there, and w even came back the next day and said she was doing some things differently and it was really working out for her. so i guess i feel like after putting some of my shit out there it would be nice for w to share one hand after the fact.

i was told by others i needed to forget about it, since i ended up in the money anyway. i had a really nice stack despite losing massive chips in that AA hand when a few hands later i limped w/ 44, pp min raised, and three of us saw flop with a 4 in it. all the money went in on turn, pp turned over JJ and river was no help to him. i made a HUGE mistake when i re-raised in middle position a min raiser w/ JJ, there was one caller, and then w jammed. i nearly instacalled, which was horrible, and b (who called) also called. w has KK, b has AJ and td, who had gone all in for very short stack had A4. of course an A came, w was crippled, i was down to just under the starting stack, and b had massive stack. ebs, sitting next to me, was kind enough to tell me how bad my call was w/ JJ, and of course it's probably not surprising to anyone reading that i overplayed a medium pocket pair. when w goes all in she is showing strength, and since there's a caller all in i'm going to see her cards.

who knows, maybe i was still steaming from my earlier play w/ her, although i don't think so. anyway, b and i get heads up, but i can't beat the darko when he turns a straight w/ it, and i get all my money in drawing dead. niiiiiice. so first in first tournament and second in second. not bad results, but i know i made a few bad plays in there.

regression

my poker game has been on a serious downhill spiral lately. i've discussed it w/ a few of my poker blogger buddies, and they have agreed. :)

then today i saw this article. crazy timing.

Improving Your Game

User Rating: / 2
PoorBest
Written by Matthew Hilger
Do you remember when you started out playing poker and read your first poker book? You were probably very motivated and worked extremely hard on improving your game. At this point in your poker career, learning was essential as the alternative was mostly likely going broke.

So you spent countless hours reading poker books, evaluating hands, and talking about poker with your friends. After a while, you probably became a winning player. A little later you probably started achieving some really good results. It's at this point where many players fail to take their game to the next level. Once you're a winning player, it becomes much easier to sit back and enjoy the fruits of all your labor. The problem with this is that your game can digress and the game can evolve so that you find yourself struggling to maintain the same results you are accustomed to.

Many long-term players reach a point where they become less keen on learning and improving their game. Ian Taylor described in The Poker Mindset (which I coauthored) some of the reasons why our desire to learn might start wane. These inclue:

• Complacency

• Illusions of Mastery

• Loss of Enthusiasm

• Stagnation

It is important to constantly improve your game. Many people understand they need to improve but haven't quite figured out how. It is also important to note that how you go about learning can often be more important than the method or tool you have chosen to help. The good news is that there is a tremendous amount of tools out there to help your improve your game.

Books – The number of books in the market have skyrocketed the last few years. I am sure most players interested in learning have picked up at least a few poker books. However, there is a big difference in reading a book, and studying a book. Do you read a poker book or do you absorb the information? Most of the good poker books require several readings and some of them might be used as a resource for many years.

My suggestion on tackling a poker book is to first read it all the way through. Then play for a couple of weeks thinking about how some of the concepts might apply. Then go through the book a second time highlighting the important concepts. Thoroughly evaluate the hand examples and think through clearly the explanations. If you don't understand something, go to a poker forum and post a question to get feedback from others. Now go and play a few months applying the concepts you have learned. Eventually, come back to the book a third time and concentrate on those areas of the book which you feel you still haven't got a good grasp on. You should find that with each subsequent reading you will start to understand more and more of the book.

Magazines – Magazine articles are great in that they cover very specific topics. At cardplayer.com you can find their entire archive of articles. This enables you to go back and read all of the articles ever written for Cardplayer by your favorite authors. Again, be an active reader and absorb the concepts.

DVD's - Some people learn by reading while others learn better from visual stimuli. There have been some very good instructive DVD's which have come out the last couple of years. Be sure to go to a poker Forum and ask for recommended videos.

Poker Forums - Poker forums are a great way to improve your game. If you play a hand and are not sure of the best play, post it in a poker Forum and ask for feedback. There is no doubt that my involvement in reading and posting in a Forum has been essential in my development as a player. Like books, an active approach is better than a passive one. Sure, reading a forum can help improve your game, but actually posting ensures that you start to articulate various concepts that you are learning.

Poker Tracker – Poker tracker enables online players to build a database of every single hand they have played. Which starting hands are profitable? What percentage of the time do you win on the river in a showdown? How aggressive are you preflop? How much do you win or lose when calling a check-raise? The questions are endless and can provide powerful insights into your game.

Online videos – Online videos allow you to watch top online players in action. Choose ring games or tournaments, limit or no-limit, or any variation. One of the best ways to learn is to emulate experts and these videos are great instructional tools. The best way to gain value from these videos is to pause them and think through what you would do and then listen to what the instructor did.

Poker Coach/mentor – Find someone you respect to help you with your game. It is critical to be able to discuss strategies with someone you trust and who understands how you play.

Simulations – Poker odds calculators are great ways for you to develop a better mathematical sense of the game. These can run millions of simulations of the same scenario.

Experience/Self-analysis - Of course there is no substitute for experience. The day after your session, be sure to evaluate all of your problematic hands and determine if you made the best choices. If you still have questions, post it in a Forum or contact your coach or mentor.

my girl crush

aka neko case

video by jen (from the concert we went to a couple weeks ago):



picture by jen:



a new pornographers video:



video of her solo on letterman:



and another one of her from austin city limits:

drinking on an empty stomach

is never recommended. i did that last night and it led to numerous negative outcomes. first, i said a few things to my drinking companion that i probably would not have shared had there been food in my stomach. then i ran into someone i knew when i stopped to pick up my sushi, and made silly/stupid remark that would not have come out of mouth had i not been drinking. i'm crossing fingers that it was either not understood or shrugged off. i also did not even remembering running into said person until just now when i saw a picture of someone who looks sort of like her.

following dinner pick up i played like a tard and ended my math when i re-raised chad all in with 22 and he called w/ AQ. of COURSE he flopped an A, and then another one came on river for good measure. i'm not even sure he folds T9s there to my jam, it was stupid, horrible, unnecessary play. wait, i lost w/ a pocket pair? SHOCKING. very next hand i picked up 44 and jammed right into QQ. bye bye lj. on the bright side i won a last longer w/ ck and wadzilla, but ck gently reminded me that i still owe her money for yankees tix earlier this year.

i then made a string of silly stupid comments in girlie chat to various friends/bloggers, that also would not have come out if i was not drunkie empty stomach lj. so moral of the story is by no means to stop drinking, it is merely to stop and eat before drinking commences.

stupid fantasy football

i suck. i had first claim today, and set up a claim for lee evans two days ago. then this morning i decided to add a back up request for david patten. only apparently i fucked it up, and had patten first. so even though i had first dibs on a wr to replace welker this week, i am now stuck w/ patten instead of evans. and to make things even worse, ALAN got evans. with the FOURTH pick. ARGH. i am hating him right now even though it's not his fault. his team already has an amazing record, his tards win practically every week, he got curtis a few weeks ago when something for real messed up the claims process (unlike this week, where i admit there was some user error going on) and now he has MY PLAYER EVANS. GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR.

ten silly things

i hate these. i was tagged by alan to do 10, and kaja (congrats on math win!) to do 7, so i am rolling the 7 into the 10, and voila. bayne, you can stop bugging me.

1) i have strawberry blonde hair

2) i wish i had a brother or sister -- there are advantages to being an only child, but i feel like i'm missing out on never knowing the bond that exists b/w siblings. plus unless i marry a guy w/ at least one sibling i'll never be an aunt.

4) my favorite sodas are dr. pepper and dr. browns black cherry soda. both are two of the only sodas that i can also stomach diet, even though i always prefer "regular"

5) i do not call white bread "regular." this is b/c of my visit to hampshire college when i was in high school. i was in the cafeteria with my mom and when they asked me what kind of bread i wanted my sandwich on, i replied regular. the woman said, what do you mean by regular? i said, um, white bread. she said i can give you white bread, but around here, wheat bread is more popular than white bread, so really, regular would refer to wheat bread, not white bread. white is not always the norm. and even though it appeared hyper politically correct, even to my 11th grade high school mind which did not yet know what politically correct meant, i still always specify what type of bread i want now. (which is always white or rye, since i do not "get" wheat bread)

6) similarly, i learned at vassar, the college i eventually decided to attend, not to call young women girls, but women. i did this religiously through college and for about two years afterward, but now i call chicks girls all the time.

7) i love me some new jack swing. although my current favorite band is new pornographers, and i have a pretty varied music taste (bruuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuce), i still go nuts when i hear johnny gill or keith sweat.

8) my freshman year college roommate and i had nothing in common, but we figured out several months into the year that we had both written that we did not want to be placed with someone who listened to country. shortly into my junior year i was riding to the mall with some kids on the lacrosse team and heard "wild angels" by martina mcbride. i've been a country fan ever since.

9) when i was studying abroad in amsterdam my junior year of college i met trisha yearwood's then husband, some dude in the mavericks (robert) at a wallflowers concert. i'd already bought a ticket to trisha's upcoming concert, but he hooked me up w/ a backstage pass, and i got to meet trisha after the concert. then i walked around the red light district w/ her and her band for hours. definitely a highlight of my study abroad time.

10) when i was in sixth and seventh grade i played so much super mario bros on nintendo that my dreams used to be going through all the worlds. about a year ago i had a "flashback" dream, and even though i haven't played it in years, my dream involved me going through world 1-2, and eventually warping to some other world (i think 4, the one w/ all the flying thingees). yes, i was and still am a total video game dork.

i'm not tagging anyone, but if you want to make a list of 7, 10 or even 12 things about yourself that nobody knows, go for it! i'll read it!

sigh, was just busted by fuel, the first person who noticed that i left out 3. i had trouble thinking of ten things.

3) i LOVE the movie elf. it's one of three pieces of media that i can rely on to lift me out of a bad mood. the other two are: (1) any clip of special ed from crank yankers, but especially "you've got mail" and "i peed in your pool" and (2) the episode of arrested development where michael finds out that rita's tarded. all three ALWAYS make me laugh. i think i need to go watch one right now, am still steaming about losing lee evans to the short bus in ff.

yay last week is over

not much time to write, but last week generally sucked. it had its high points, but the lows were low. life decisions were festering, and the worst part was that my mom was rushed to the hospital cause her heart was beating over 240bpm. she is still undergoing tests (though out of hospital) and now that this has happened once, apparently it can happen again, at any time. it could be three weeks, could be three months, etc.

not sure what kind of work week this is going to be, but hope to make math tonight.

nyc poker club shooting

i'm late to blogging about this, but for those who haven't heard, nytimes article here, and good daily news article here.

i had planned to check out this "new" club one of these days, and have friends who have been. i haven't been going to the clubs much lately, and this cements my decision to stay away in the future. my heart goes out to this man's family (he has a 16 year old daughter!). the sickest part to me is that he wasn't even shot b/c he was resisting, or giving the robbers a problem. he was shot b/c one of the robbers was a complete moron, dropped his sawed off shotgun, and couldn't control it when he picked it back up. disgusting.