I am not dead. Therefore I am.

Wow. It's been a long time since I sat here and pounded something out for this here blog. The whole poker legislation thing has had a weird effect on me psychologically. When the law passed I removed about 2/3rds of my BR into a saving account. Since that time my attitude towards the game seems to have changed a bit. I have a feeling like the hayday is over and that has sapped some of the passion out of it for me. I left enough money in my accounts to dink around playing 1-2 games and some sit and go's. I am toying with the idea of 'going for the gold' and risking a good portion of what I left in there playing some bigger tourney's or a 5-10 session. I don't think I'll do it mostly because it's not in my nature. I am a good enough player to win at the levels I play, but perhaps my best skill is that I don't go through large downswings in my BR because I am pretty good about managing my losses.

I had enough FPPs in stars to buy into a couple 215 tourneys, but instead I used a good chunk in exchange for a pretty sweet little digital camera. I think it speaks volumes about stars that they haven't backed out yet and that they are still honoring the VPP program.

Unrelated to poker, I made a visit to Atlanta for a conference a few weeks ago. Atlanta seemed pretty lame to me and everything was overpriced as hell (see 10$ 6-packs of Miller Lite), but the hotel we stayed in had a sweet happy hour from 530-730 with free drinks. Embassy Suites rules.

To quote an old song, the thrill might be gone in terms of me and online poker right now. Never fear. This blog will always be here. 10 years from now I'll probably be blogging about how I used to play back in the 'wild wild west' days of internet poker.

this is where i go off.

Congrats to the A's who have been the beneficiary of 2 horribly played games by the Twins and now lead the Twins 2-0 going back to Oakland. I think Torii Hunter probably stamped his ticket out of town with that play in the 7th. If he isn't a Twin next year, it's a bit ironic that the play he will most remembered for is a defensive miscue. Hopefully, Brad Radke and his broken ass shoulder socket can get us back into this series. Actually, it's on the hitters to get it going; pitching has been good.

So much has been said about this gaming bill already, but I think it's time to call bullshit on some of you republicans who are trying to make this thing sound as if the democrats were equally responsible for the rider on this bill. Wake the fuck up. They (meaning those in control of congress) snuck the rider in and attached it to a bill that no one in their right mind could vote against. Furthermore, it doesn't take a political science degree to realize that the Republicans are in control of congress, and thus, control the agenda. There is NO way in hell this shit gets attached to a bill if the democrats are in control of congress. If you think that I am wrong, you are completely delusional. Let's be clear, the democratic party isn't anything to jizz yourself over, but they would not have pulled this holier than thou, phony ass moralizing crap. It's time to wake up and and take a good hard look at what your vote means when you pull that lever for 'R.'

What a fucking week. Oh, and I turned 30 on top of it. Fuck me walking.

Division Champs

For the 4th time in 5 years the Minnesota Twins capture the AL central crown. They won their last game of the year while the Tigers imploded by getting swept at home by the KC Royals. Yes, those Royals who lost 100 games this year. All this means that the Twins will have homefield advantage the first round against the A's. It all starts Tuesday at noon; kind of a crappy time for trying to watch the game, but it beats playing the Yankees in the first round. Hopefully they will meet up in the ALCS; I don't think the Yanks will have much trouble disposing of the Tigers.

I played poker last night like I was a criminal out for his last night before being sent off to jail. Two or three tables going, bluff raising in limit hold'em, intoxicated. Did ok though. I left enough money in my poker accounts to play comfortably while this whole gambling bill thing plays out. What I removed is going into savings. I have no idea what Frist got up his ass that he had to try attaching this law to every fucking bill that was voted on. He eventually succeeded. He had such a hard on for this online gaming bill that train and bus security was left off of the port security bill. We have a bunch of brain dead morons in office; and I wish I could say the Democrats took a stand against this shit. Of course, there is no way in hell they could, they were trapped politically. 'Democrats block passage of port security bill.' Not a headline they could afford to see. Hopefully we will all wakeup very soon and vote these fuckers out.

Torture ok....online poker not ok.

So, who else has started to transfer their online bankrolls back into their bank accounts?

We're gonna win Twins, we're gonna score, we got the guys that knock the cover off the ball....

The Twins came up with a 7-3 road trip at the same time as watching the ChiSox flounder. They managed to clinch a playoff spot Monday, the team's 4th in 5 years. Pretty darn good time to be a Twins fan. Hopefully, they can make some noise come playoff time. It looks like they will be matched up against the Yankees in the ALDS and nothing would be sweeter than bouncing them from the playoffs on their way to the World Series. A quick look at the Yankess lineup and it's like "good luck' you'll need it." However, I think the Twins have several advantages over the Yanks.

Reasons why the Twins will win:
1. THE best pitcher in baseball the last 3 years potentially starting 2 of the 5 games. The best the Yanks can do is throw out a good, but untested Chien-Ming Wang and 2 dinosaurs who have been rocked recently and are both battling injuries.

2. Both teams have dominant closers, but the twins bullpen ERA (2.97) is over 1 run better than the Yanks. It's hard to extrapolate what happened over the course of the season into what will happen in a 5 or 7 game series (probably why postseason baseball is so exciting), but bullpens are critical in the playoffs and the Twins have the best.

3. No arguing the the Yanks have a scary lineup, but the Twins lineup is nothing to shake a stick at either (see best team BA in the majors). This is not your 2002-2004 Twins lineup. These Twins have good top of the order guys in Castillo and Punto, an honest to god scary middle-of-the-order in possible batting champ Mauer, best hitter in baseball over the last 4 months in Morneau, 100RBI man Cuddyer, and candidate for player of the month in Sept in Hunter. Bottom of the lineup is not too shabby either. And yes, the Twins have their own middle infielder batting in the 9th spot with a BA north of .300.

Reasons why the Twins won't win:
1. THAT lineup. It may be hard for the Twins to score enough runs, even against a weak Yankee pitching staff, if the Yanks lineup come through and scores runs like they are expected to. Especially, if Santana is not dominant in his starts.

2. No homefield advantage. They will need to win in Yankee Stadium; something that hasn't come that easy to Twins teams in the recent past.

3. Pitching staff is missing 2 of their top 3 starters. This all changes if Radke is somehow able to throw the ball well today and pitch a playoff game. Radke is the epitome of the word 'gamer,' and if he has anything left in the tank, it could be the difference maker. The other arm they will miss sorely (no pun intended), is the left wing of Francisco Liriano. He was downright nasty until he came up lame twice with a somewhat mysterious left elbow injury. I don't want to engage in too many 'what if's,' but I think the Twins would be WS favorites with a healthy F-bomb and Bradke.

American Sign Language for 'Donkey'

I found myself in Philadelphia over this past weekend; close enough to make a quick return trip to Atlantic City with Johnny Cheng, The Shoeshiner, and newcomer D-Nice (names changed to protect the innocent). We got off the plane, checked into our hotel, hopped in the car, and made it to Atlantic City in an hour or so. We planned on playing at the Borgata and this turned out to be a good choice. The room is buzzing, most likely due to the Borgata Open and WPT main event which was starting the next day. We get to the casino and after we find the poker room we all sign up for a little 2/4 hold’em action. The room at the Borgata is huge and spreads a ton of games at several different limits. They had 7 card stud games going from 1-5 spread all the way to 150/300. Hell, they even had a 2/4 Omaha H/L split game going. In any event, we buy chips and wait for our names to be called keeping an eye on the list. I was having a smoke near the entrance of the room and noticed Men Nguyen walk by wearing a special ‘Men the Master’ jacket. Before we knew it, all our names were off the list and we had not been called. We had to put our names back on the list, but it didn’t take too long to be seated. I found myself at a table full of 9 strangers, but soon enough The Shoeshiner sat down at my table. D-Nice and Johnny Cheng found themselves at an adjacent table.

The table was about what I expected from a 2/4 table; A couple of loose talkative guys to my right, a grandmother in seat 9, a few decent young guys about my age, and a couple of middle age rocks. One of the talkative guys 2 to my right was soon replaced by a scrawny grubby looking dude with a beard and longer hair. This guy looked like someone who got the money for his buy-in by hanging out at the casino all day waiting for chips to fall on the floor or by stealing from 78 year-old ‘slot jockeys.’ The grubby guy sits down and the dealer asks him if he wants to post and he starts to point and is grunting like Marlee Matlin. It turns out he was deaf and mute. The first few hours were pretty uneventful, I was hanging around even and drinking Bud Lights like they were free, which they were. Although, someone at out table spots Antonio Esfandiari as he is walking into the poker room.

Some time later I get 9 7 offsuit in the small blind and call a raise from deaf/mute who was 2 to my right at the time, and we get 4 other callers. Flop come 9 A x and I called deaf/mute’s bet on the flop and turn. We are heads up and the river comes a 7 and I call and show my two pair. He angrily flings his cards toward the dealer, slaps the table, and starts mumbling what I assume to be the deaf/mute version of curse words at me. I figure there is no use to try and explain pot odds to the guy, so I just shake my head and shrug my shoulders at him. A few hands after that the guy to my immediate right accuses deaf/mute of taking a bet back. I’m not sure that deaf/mute knew what was going on, but he seemed pretty cheesed-off at this point and left the table for a while.

I’m chugging along basically using what little amount I was up at the table to tip the dealers and waitresses bringing me beer. The deaf/mute guy comes back and moves to seat 9 after granny had left. He stays there for only a few hands and then moves directly to my left. A few hands later I get Q5 sooooted and complete the small blind. Deaf/mute checks and the flop comes A 2 5. I call deaf/mute’s bet on the flop, as does one other player. The turn comes another 5 and I check-raise deaf/mute and he 3 bets. I call and the case 5 comes out and I bet out and he starts going into a mumbling tirade as he calls and shows pocket 2’s. I had laid a nasty-nasty beat on the deaf/mute guy and he started poking me and pointing at the spot on the table where the cards had been. Again, I had no way to respond and could only shrug my shoulders. Fortunately, I had to take a whiz, because I was about to burst out laughing from all the mumbling and grunting. I come back and the next few hands 2’s show up on the board and after the play was done he would start pointing at the cards and grunting at me. The next hand I pick up is 99 in late position and I raise, putting deaf/mute all in. He ends up winning with pocket queens and flings them in front of me after he turned them up. Some time later I am in the bathroom again and deaf/mute is gone when I come back. I go on a decent run for a while and get up a few bets. At this point I see ‘The Grinder’ and his posse walk by. I felt like flinging him a white chip and saying something stupid, like “why don’t you sit down and see what you got, kid.” I didn’t, but what I did do was ogle Jennifer Tilly’s ginormous cleavage as she waltzed in wearing a rather nice black dress with Phil Laak in tow. The four of us decide is about time to leave after playing for 5+ hours. I gotta say the Borgata is easily the nicest room I have seen, and I didn’t even mention the automatic card shufflers, which really sped play up. And, no, deaf/mute was not waiting for me in the parking garage when we left. Although he was most likely still grunting and flashing American sign language gesture for ‘donkey.’

Stylin' Profilin' Freerollin'

I took part in the monthly 100K VIP freeroll on stars today. I started off by losing 1/3 of my chips on the first 3 hands. A few hands later I pushed with QQ to an obvious overbet with a lower pair and doubled through. From there I was able to stick around average in chips until we hit the bubble. The bubble burst and I felt pretty good to get at least $80 out of a freeroll, especially considering how bad I've been doing at tourneys lately. We got down to around 100 left and was still below average in chips and figured I needed to make a move soon. With about 8K in chips and the blinds 800/1600 I went over the top of a raise with AJ sooted. I rivered a straight and was alive again. I was able to run my stack up to about 30K with about 60 left. I found JJ UTG and raised about 4X the BB. Middle position chip leader comes over the top and I decide to call. He shows KK and I'm in serious trouble. Flop comes A10x, turn K, river, sweet sweet Q. The blinds are up to 3/6K and players are dropping like flies. I can find much of a hand for a while and get run down to 30K with the blinds at 4/8K. Folded around to me I make a 3X BB raise from the cutoff with J9. SB tanks for a long time and I know he has something decent but not great and I'm hoping he reads my standard raise as something very strong. He ends up putting in the rest of his chips (we were about equal) and I have to call and he shows A8 sooted. He hits an A on the flop and I can't pull out another miracle straight. I finish 29th out of 2500+ and pick up $350. Much needed. The quality of play in this tourney actually seemed very good. Much better than the last few Sunday Million's I played. This makes sense I guess, given that these are players who have qualified by playing alot over the course of the month.

100 more

I have another 100 SNGs logged into my SNG tracker software from the last time I reported. I am pleased to say that over the last 100 I have booked about 1K in profit. I moved up in levels from the $16 turbo SNGs to the $27. I don't think the play is even a little bit better. In fact, if I break my results down by entry fee and base my opinion of the play solely on this, the $27 have much worse players. Although my ROI in the $27's are most likely skewed due to a ridiculous streak I went on in July where I won 4 out of 5 and monied in something like 9 of 11. It's good to know that if my bankroll takes a hit, I can go back to playing more SNGs to build it back up. If this all sounds like bragging, I suppose it is. While I am at it then, let me also tell you that I booked a 30BB win playing $5/10 7CS on full tilt last night with my good buddy Keith Sexton. I had some harsh words for his advice he sent out via the full tilt 'learn from the pros' emails, but he played a very solid game. I didn't see him calling raises with middle pairs and the check calling subsequent streets too often, so it doesn't seem like he heeds his own advice.

I lack originality

It seems to be popular these days to fire up the ipod, put it on shuffle, and blog which songs come out. And who am I to go against the zeitgeist. To make this even MORE exciting, I grouped the songs into batches of 5, and bolded my favorite of that bunch.

Jesus was Right - Frank Black
Hey Fuck You - Beastie Boys
New Hampshire - Sonic Youth
Positive Tension - Bloc Party
Putting Shame in Your Game - Beastie Boys
(Not a great song, but the others are pretty weak)

Save a Prayer - Duran Duran
Pennyroyal Tea - Nirvana
Marker in the Sand - Pearl Jam
Bodyrock - Moby
My Favorite Things - Outkast
(A pretty brilliant remake IMHO; DD song tells you I didn't edit this list)

Welcome to the Terrordome - Public Enemy
Punk Rock City - Frank Black
Unite - Beastie Boys
I'm Back - Eminem
Low - Foo Fighters
(Have to go w/PE here; classic)

Sentimental Man - The Dismemberment Plan
Gravity Rides Everything - Modest Mouse
Black Star- Radiohead
Idioteque - Radiohead
Sex Change - Breakbeat Era
(Roni Size side project; Obscure drum and bass circa 1999)

Spaceship - Kanye West
That's My DJ - Girl Talk
Manslaughter - EPMD
Sinister Foxx - The Breeders
99 Red Balloons - Nena
(German version of 99 would win; Kim Deal sounds drunk on the vocals; A+)

Enfilade - At the Drive In
Lightness - Death Cab for Cutie
U-Mass - Pixies
Your X-rays - Jets to Brazil
Swimsuit Issue - Sonic Youth
(Pixies prob are my fav band, but this SY song is too good to ignore)

Readymade - Beck
The Choice is Yours - Black Sheep
Mosquito Song - Queens of the Stone Age
Tuff Gnarl - Sonic Youth
Never mind - The Replacements
(QOTSA song is weak, Paul Westerberg can right a fricken song!)

Horseflies - Call Me Lightning
Skin on Skin - Queens of the Stone Age
I Want You So Hard - Eagles of Death Metal
Time Bomb - The Dismemberment Plan
Million Dollar Question - Radiohead
(EoDM wins! Locals Call Me Lightning are damn good tho)

In the Backseat - Arcade Fire
Trimm Trabb - Blur
Tastykake - Burning Airlines
Argument - Fugazi
Distopian Dream Girl - Built to Spill
(None of the others stick out on their respective records. Sadly, Blur wins)

Daft Punk is Playing at My House - LCD Soundsystem
40' - Franz Ferdinand
Long Goodnight - The Get Up Kids
I Better Be Quiet Now - Elliot Smith
Throught the Window - Seaweed
(Ass shaking LCD song wins by long shot)

Here I go again

Gonna live blog by performance in the Sunday Million on 'Stars. This could be the one.....where I suffer another bad beat and shave my hair into a mowhawk and go all Travis Bickle on everyone.

T- 5 Mins

3:30pm - First hand. 44. folded to EP raise. would have made boat. switched tables.

3:43pm - 5921 runners. My KK lost to Q4 sooted when he limped and called a 5xBB raise UTG and flopped trips. T2070.

3:49pm - T2300. I have 3 players at my table who are really bad. This is good.

3:58pm - There might be more than 3 of them. Lots of limp calling. I've seem people not bet the nuts twice already. T2200.

4:01pm - Fock, I just got moved. That table was weak....didn't have chance to take advantage of it.

4:03pm - Didn't last long. get AK call a raise from MP with AK suited. Big Blind goes over top of everyone for 2K more (big overbet there is almost always JJ or QQ). EP raiser calls after some deliberation. I am getting 3:1 here and am almost positive I am up against 2 pocket pairs QQ or worse, or possibly another AK from the big blind. I figure I'm 40% if my read is right and call with my AK. My read is right....EP shows 99, BB shows JJ, the cards that come out are not 246 5 8.

Probably a bad play to call off all my chips there....although when the EP raiser called off his chips the way he did, I was certain I was not dominated by either hand.

Would of had some nice chips to play with if I can catch a card there. Oh well.

New and in Blue

It seems like I am fond of the color blue..... I spiffed up the look of this here 'blog. I got tired of looking at the old design which had the "I-am-an-eighty-year-old-lady-and-need-a-fucking -magnifying-glass-to-read-the-'Parade'-section-in-the-Sunday-newspaper" font size. I think I need a fancy banner to make it all come together.

I managed to catch myself from the freefall that started earlier in the month, but it's still a little rocky for me. I seem to be falling into the same pattern recently in cash games. I get absolutely steamrolled early in the session and drop about 20-25BBs. I get a little torqued-off, put on my special fish stomping boots, and proceed to get it all back plus about 5-10BB more. Maybe I'm playing too many hands too soon after I sit down, and therefore don't have a read on anyone.

I have been hitting the HORSE ring games on pokerstars pretty hard lately. Changing games every 8 hands is like built in tilt/boredom control for me. Plus, the games are pretty good right now.

Stay tuned. If I get enough work done this morning and early afternoon, I might toss in my 215T$ as a donation to the sunday million on stars. I'll probably live blog it too.

sunshine happy fun cracker milky bottoms

I qualified for the sunday million on 'stars again yesterday, but opted not to play it. I watched the play quite a bit yesterday b/c a few RGPers made it deep. Same sort of donkey crap I saw when I played last week. I might give it a shot next week or use the T$ for smaller buyin events. I missed a chance to sat into the WCOOP 7CS event when my rolled 6s got chased down by split 4s. I had two dummies chasing me all the way, so I would've tripled up and been in the top 3 in chips....things just aren't going right for me in 7CS lately. I was happy as hell to get my money in with rolled 6s of course, so I can't be too bummed. I finally managed to book a winning session in 7cS Saturday night, but it was only after about 10 losing ones in a row and I promptly followed that up with another losing one Sunday. Variance is kicking my azz lately. Must be that deal I made with the devil.

not here, not now

I'll leave my little rant up for posterity...I was half joking (see "can't spell poker" comment), but busting out like that is very disappointing. But, I guess I should be happy to have got it in with the best. The guy that lucked into my chips is sitting with over 50K now and is in the top 20. I would have had about 12K in chips about 300 players off the bubble, which is about to burst right now. I am watching it out of some sort of masochistic need.

I was surprised by how poor the play was. Saw alot of horrendous moves. Calling all in with low pocket pairs, reraising with AJ off, etc. A bunch of all in monkeys. I have no doubt that I could go deep in that tourney some time.

right here, right now

I've been getting killed the last few days, so when I sat'd into the pokerstars sunday million, you'd think i'd be smart enough to take the T$. But no, I'm going at it as we speak.

Over 5400 in this bastard. My chance of making the money, slim to none.

3:48 - Flopped trip aces, got paid off a bit, up to T2600.

3:56 - been getting a 2 in almost every hand.

4:10 - I've got 2 really loose stiffs at my table. I want to bust one of them bad. Still around T2600.

4:26 - raised in MP with AK. UTG limper calls with 99. He flops set with my pair of Ks. Down to 475. I really thought he had a weaker K. He's been putting chips into the pot in real bad spots.

4:31 - With 600 chips left I raise to 400 from the cutoff with 33. Big blind puts me all in. He shows AJ. Flop comes A67. Turn 5. River 4 and I double through on a nasty runner runner. T1300 at break. I really want this table to break. I don't have much of a feel on anyone.

4:48 - Double up with 1010 versus AK. T2100

Played 1 hand of 33 PLO tourney. Flop 66A with me holding A64J. EP leads out on the flop. I smooth call. K falls on turn. Money goes in. He shows KKQ6. Yep, that's how it's going lately.

This just happened. I slow played, then bet the pot on the river, guys shoved in with trips to my boat.





5:10 - table just broke. I started to like that table. lol. T4800.

5:28 - been stealing a bit to keep up. T4500.

5:32 - I haven't had crap for cards. Highest pair was a 10, and I've been dealt AK and AQ once each.

5:40 - basically getting blinded off. Had to fold AJ in late position to EP raises twice. T3100

5:41 - 2nd break. T3000. About 1700 left.

5:59 - T5000. 1360 left.

6:03 - still waiting for that big starting hand that looks like it might not come. T4400.

6:10 - folded to me on the button where I push with AQs, SB reraises with A10. Flop comes A J 5, turn 10, river bullfuckingshit. I am steaming right now. Fucking donks can't even spell poker.

Apparently it's to much to ask for a fucking hand to hold when I'm ahead 6:1.

untitled #12

What's been going on in my poker wasteland, you ask? Any decent sized pot I seem to play in 2/4 or 3/6 7CS, I lose. In fact, since I just started that last sentence I lost a hand when I started with (KJ)KK. I was called all the way by 2 players and someone rivered their 3 outer. Yummy. As much as it sucks to lose these pots I realize that donks are needed to keep the game profitable. Conversely, I have been hammering the 2/4 6 max limit hold em game on stars. I have booked 6 or 7 25BB wins the last few weeks. I cannot seem to lose. And I'm not very good at limit hold em, but the players here suck so bad that's it's hard to avoid these games. I have become a little bored of the SNGs, even though these are a serious money maker for me. I am a big believer in mixing things up, so I'm not hitting those as hard as I was the last few months.

The Minnesota Twins have turned into a freaking juggernaut. Despite a disappointing series this weekend against DET, they completely destroyed the ChiSox in Chicago last week. (Wait, I have to lose this hand first with concealed KK). I seriously hate Bud Harrelson's guts. I remember watching the pennant race in'03 or '04 and having to watch WGN broadcasts of a late August series between the Twins and Sox. I got so annoyed by Harrelson that I tried finding a way to email him and whoever does the play by play to gloat after the Twins throttled them. I hope to be in the same situation at the end of this year, I want to chase that feeling. (Hey, I won that hand! I raised when I made 2 pair on the river (his board showed nothing) and the guy folded to that extra bet when the pot layed him 10:1).

I am gay for pokerstars

Taken right off pokerstars blog....I would like to play a couple of these at least. I played the 300+20 7CS event last year and was bounced out with about 30% of the field left. That stiff Noah Boeken chased me down a few times during the 2nd hour of play and hit his draws on 7th 2 tackle my 2 pair. I'm still bitter.....

I also noticed that under the 'Events' tab on Pokerstars there is a mysterious tab for 2.5M Freeroll. Sounds pretty good to me.

Breaking News: WCOOP schedule

One of the great things about having an ear to the ground at PokerStars is knowing things like this before almost anybody else. I'm proud to give you a first look at one of the coolest PokerStars World Championship of Online Poker schedules in recent memory. It looks like PokerStars is guaranteeing $10,000,000 for the tournament series this year. What's more, you'll have the chance to play Razz and HORSE by the time WCOOP rolls around. There are some amazing events this year, kicking off with Razz and ending with a $5,000 HORSE event and a massive $3 million guaranteed main event. Please note, this schedule could be modified before the launch of the 2006 WCOOP. Still, this should give you a good idea of what you're going to see in September. Enjoy.

September 16: Razz ($200+$15) $100,000 guaranteed
September 17: NL Hold 'em ($500+$30) $1,500,000 guaranteed
September 18: PL Omaha (rebuys) ($300+$20) $400,000 guaranteed
September 19: NL Hold 'em Match Play ($200+$15) $300,000 guaranteed
September 20: Limit Omaha High/Low ($500+$30) $300,000 guaranteed
September 21: NL Hold 'em (rebuys) ($200+$15) $1,000,000 guaranteed
September 22: Limit Hold 'em ($200+$15) $200,000 guaranteed
September 23: HORSE ($200+$15) $100,000 guaranteed
September 23: PL Hold 'em ($500+$30) $400,000 guaranteed
September 24: NL Hold 'em ($1,000+ $50) $1,000,000 guaranteed
September 25: Seven Card Stud ($300+$20) $100,000 guaranteed
September 26: PL Omaha8 ($300+$20) $200,000 guaranteed
September 27: PL Hold'em ($300+$20) $400,000 guaranteed
September 28: Seven Card Stud High/Low ($500+$30) $200,000 guaranteed
September 29: PL Omaha ($500+$30) $300,000 guaranteed
September 30: HORSE ($5,000+$200) $100,000 guaranteed
September 30: Limit Hold'em ($1,000+$50) $400,000 guaranteed
October 1: NL Hold 'em ($2,500+$100) $3,000,000 guaranteed


Cardplayer has a radio show called 'The Circuit' that is available on Sirius, Itunes, and I believe through cardplayer.com. They had a 2 part interview with Chip Reese that was excellent. Itunes also has quite a few shows archieved. Matusow used to cohost the show and as you can imagine some of those are pretty funny. Give the first one a listen. Negreanu was the guest.

meh...

Played my monthly allotment of MTTs yesterday. I cashed in one, but not in the other 3. I think I was feeling left out of the tourney bonanza with all the WSOP events going on and the blogger event.

My MTTs included a 50+5 7CS on pokerstars yesterday. I finished 21/24. I think I made 2 pair once and was drawing pretty much dead after 6th. It's stuff like this that makes tourney play so unbearable to me. Lose one or two hands early and you're scrambling. It also makes me hesitant to try and win my way into larger events like $1500 WSOP buyins. It doesn't seem like there is alot of play when you start with 1.5K in chips.

tourneys suck, or more accurately, I suck in tourneys.

most people get to my blog by googleing "punched in the balls"

On the poker front;
*I think I made more money this past week playing poker than I have for a weeks worth of pay from any job I've ever had. I should mention that despite the fact that I am 29 years old I've never held a real job, so this isn't as impressive as it might sound.
*Right now when I play 7CS it's as if I am pushing down on the table in front of me causing everyone's money to funnel its way into my stack. It is a good feeling, I'll have to remember it when my good hands start to get sucked out on and it feels like I am getting buried.
*I am also doing well with the SNGs. I think I am starting to realize that the play in the $25 turbo's on stars is every bit as the $15 turbos. Donks galore!

Other stuff;
*Via Iggy's most recent post, I found this link from Jacks R OK and his Lite-Brite inspired blog. It's about first blog posts from various poker bloggers. It's funny to go back and read the stuff, but I also think it also demonstates that most of the poker blogs, even the "world renowned," came from very humble beginnings. I think people should keep this in mind when making snooty comments about newer blogs, because, you know, chances are your blog sucked too ;-)

*I feel like I am going to jinx it by mentioning it, but the MN Twins are fucking awesome now. It's amazing what happens when you replace a proven stiff at SS and fat Jesus-freak at 3B with 2 guys who can run and field and hit. Oh, and Santana, Liriano, Mauer, and Morneau are playing some decent ball too.

*Good luck to RGP regular 'Brewmaster' today. He is at the final table of the $1500 PLHE. I mostly lurk on RGP or get into silly political arguments, so basically I am a waste of space there, but it's nice an RGPer doing well.

I named my dog Keith

"Seventh Street Decisions in Seven-Stud"

I got this doozy in my email a few weeks ago. No offense Keith, but come on. There is better 7CS advice in Hellmuth's book.

A few weeks ago, I offered some pointers for playing fourth steet in Limit Seven-Card Stud (http://www.fulltiltpoker.com/proLessons.php?lesson=62). For this tip, I'm going and show how you might improve your play on seventh street.

My first suggestion for playing on seventh street is that you need to look at your pot odds when facing a final bet. When playing $5-$10 Stud, for example, you'll often need to call a $10 river bet while looking at a pot of $70. In this spot, where you're getting 7:1, if you have any suspicion that your hand is good, you really ought to call. The odds are so favorable that throwing away a lot of marginal hands would be a mistake. This is very different from no-limit poker, where you'll need to make some big laydowns late in a hand. If you're making the transition from No-Limit Hold 'em to Limit Stud, keep this very important point in mind.

This is okay enough advice, but if you have been playing for more than a few weeks and don't realize that, it's time to fire up the ice cream truck and start selling rocket pops to 8 year old kids again.

Some of the tougher decisions on seventh street arise when you're holding one pair. Let's say you start with a pair of 6s and your opponent open-raises with a King as his door card. He bet all the way, representing a pair of Kings, and you called. Neither of you seemed to improve on fourth, fifth or sixth streets, and he bet out on the river.

If you make a habit of playing hands like split 6s for raises and calling all the way on 4th-7th when you don't improve, I can guarantee that you will lose money. Especially if you are playing pots head up most of the time, which is likely in a 5/10 game. Furthermore, he is giving no consideration to what your 3rd card is. If it is an ace and none of the aces are dead, it is a much better hand of course. If it is a 10, this should be an easy fold.

At this point, you can be fairly certain that he doesn't have a pair of Kings. Most people don't have the heart to bet one pair on the river. So, in this case, you're likely up against something like Kings up, some sort of hidden hand, or a total bluff. Given this range of hands - and knowing that a bluff is a possibility - you should make the final call. You'll pick off a bluff enough of the time to make the call profitable.

Well, you should almost never find yourself in this situation, but yes you should call the final bet.

I want to point out here that, since it's proper to call with a lot of marginal hands, betting with one solid pair on the river is often a good idea. If you start with something like a pair of Kings and your opponent doesn't seem to catch anything, don't be timid on the river. Oftentimes, you should bet, knowing that a lesser hand is likely to call.

I don't really like this advice either. I think you're going to get raised enough by a made hand or called by a weak 2 pair to make this a poor play.

Now, let's look at another river situation. Let's say that after the river has been dealt, you have Q 10 9 8 with three clubs showing. You made a straight on the river after your opponent has been aggressively betting his hand the entire way, showing Ad Kd 9s 6h.

After betting into your hand on sixth street, he again bets into your hand on seveth street. In this situation, you have to think about what your opponent is betting into. Most players will not bet into such a scary board with one pair or even two pair.

We have to assume that our opponent is either bluffing with a weak hand and is unconcerned with our hand, or has a huge hidden hand and is hoping to get three bets on the river. This could be a situation where you might just call, especially if there is a third hand behind you who might over-call with a marginal hand that he would fold if you had raised.

I raise here every single time. A flush or a full house has to be perfectly hidden to be able to beat your hand and a higher straight is unlikely given your hand. It's much more likely that your opponent is still betting his aces or aces up because you haven't put any raises yet. You NEED to raise here.

When playing Limit Stud, be sure that you're making enough value bets and crying calls on the river. Keep the pot odds in mind and you're likely to make the right play.


--Keith Sexton

Honestly, after reading this again I think he is intentionally giving out bad advice here in the hope that you will take this new found "knowledge" and come play the 5/10 game at fulltilt with him.

Schwag

The 30GB video ipod I ordered from Pokerstars in exchange for 20K FPPs arrived last week. While it said that it would take 4-6 weeks to arrive, it only took 2 weeks. Here are a few pics. Look how small that bastard is!









Fits right in the palm of my hand.