Raising with split aces in 7CS high

This seems like one the most simple questions regarding how to play your hand in 7CS. Let's make a couple of assumptions to set the table for my thoughts on the matter. Say you are playing a 2/4 or 3/6 game on pokerstars, which both have small ante's (.25). The table is fairly loose with 40% seeing 4th street and most pots going to showdown.

Let's say I get dealt (As 8s) Ac two spots to the right of the bring-in and there are 3 players who call the bring-in. Alot of times I will simply call the bet instead of raising in that position. My rationale is as follows: (1) I am disguising my hand by doing so and am more likely to get paid off on later streets. In the case where I pair my door ace or make two pair on 4th or 5th, I am more likely to get called. If I raise in that position, only the worst players would call if I paired my door card. (2) Adding an extra bet in that situation isn't likely to get anyone to fold since they will be getting about 8:1 to call, also raising here also gives drawing hands better odds to chase on later streets.

How do I play the rest of the hand? I always bet on 4th street, and if someone has bet before me I will raise. Betting and raising here is critical because you want to get 1 or 2 of the initial callers out of the pot. I will hardly ever flat call in this situation because it encourages people behind you to call, plus you get no information about where you stand. I might fold if someone has paired their door card and I have notes that they are decent, although I am more likely to raise in this spot. If the person keeps jamming it, I'll likely muck my hand by 5th, if unimproved.

How about if I have the same hand, but am first to act after the bring-in? I will almost always raise in this spot. I give away the strength of my hand, but raising here forces people to put in 2 bets with worse hand when they aren't getting such good odds.

I haven't diligently worked out the math to prove that this is the correct play, and I'm not even sure that is possible. In fact, it might be the exact wrong way to play it. But at the limits I am playing right now, I think it is a reasonable approach. I would like to hear others input.

Sunday Morning

After winning pretty much every time I sat down and played in May, the first week or so in June has been a little dose of poker reality. I dropped about 3 bills playing .5/1 pot limit omaha last week and have dropped back down a level. My SNG play has been good, but the results haven't been there. I've bubbled more times this month already than I did in the previous 2 combined and when I am ITM it's been 3rd most often. I still feel really good about my 7CS game, but I've had a few bad sessions recently. I had 2 pretty bad beats one night playing $5/10 or otherwise I would have been up ab out 25BBs. The table was pretty nuts and some players that I had labeled as decent started playing poorly after getting sucked out on a few times. After losing 2 $160 plus pots in a row I got up and left down a few bets. I also played my first MTT in over a month and felt like I had no idea what I was doing. This bodes well for the big blogger freeroll on stars next weekend.

To make myself feel better about the week I did this:

Dear rgpars,

Thank you for your order from our FPP Store.
This confirms that you have ordered the following:

Apple Video iPod, 30GB
FPP price: 20000
Color: Black

Hopefully I don't drop and break it walking from a metro station in DC like I did with my nano.

Which way to hell?

6/6/06 it is, fockers and cock rockers. There is no better time to talk about predictions, karma, and the like. A few weeks back I mused that the Brewers were in for some bad karma after keeping the roof shut the whole weekend on the visiting Minnesota Twins. Since that time the Brew Crew have gone 4-10 including dropping 8 in a row and look destined for mediocrity again. Lesson to Mr. Yost: Open the roof when it is 65 and sunny or feel the wrath of the shit storm you just invited.

Another prediction I made was that the Carolina Hurricanes would win the Prince of Wales trophy and march to their first Stanley cup. This pick was made with the head and the heart. Carolina was one of the best teams during the regular season and was the #2 seed in the East and a buddy of mine who I grew up playing hockey with plays for the ‘Canes. They managed to storm from behind last night to take game 1. Things look even better for them after Roloson got hurt and is done for the series. It’s a tough break for Edmonton, but the series is far from over. Stay tuned. Playoff hockey is sports at its best, IMO.

SNG weiner

I love looking at data, graphs, and charts. Maybe it's one of the reasons I went into science. I especially like looking at graphs that measure how much I beat the crap out of shitty SNG players on pokerstars over the last 1-2 months. I recently downloaded SNG tracker. Nothing too fancy, but it's a pretty decent little app. Here are some example graphs.



Another tool I started using was sharkscope. Here you are able to look up player names from pokerstars and get pretty much a complete history of their SNG play. They even put little fishy symbols by the really bad players. I've come to learn that there are alot of stiffs out there dropping serious coin in SNGs.





I'm not sure how much I can attribute my success over the last few months to these tools, but I know that sharkscope has helped me on more than a couple occasions.

Memorial Day

My uncle died in a useless war more than 35 years ago now. How many useless wars do we have to fight for us to not have to fight in anymore? What the fuck is the point? No one can look me in face and give me a straight faced reason why we went into Iraq. And if any of you still think we are doing the right thing and this is some noble cause, you better buck up and enlist and get your ass to Iraq. You wanted it, you fight it you fucking pansies. And don't give me the Limbaugh "I was 4F because I had an ass cyst" bullshit. You get up and leave your comfortable life, your country needs you. I suppose you all have "other priorities." It's ironic how the decision makers sending kids to fight in Iraq all had "other priorities" when it was their turn to strap it on and go wandering around a fucking jungle in Vietnam shooting at shadows. If there is a hell, they are all going there.

'Cause we're the Minnesota Twins, aye aye aye

I think it was back around October of '87 when the Twins were making their first run at world series title, when I first heard the song. It was a remake of AC/DC's 'TNT' with different lyrics meant to root on the Twins. aye aye aye.

Name that Twin and I'll stake you in a 10 dollar SNG.

It seems evident now the my beloved Minnesota Twins are going to be resigned to mediocrity this year. They did manage to win 2 of 3 against the Brew Crew last weekend at Miller Park and they should have swept, but the Twinkies blew a lead late in the last game and spoiled a nice debut from BOOF Bonser. I made it to the games on Saturday and Sunday. The Twins were already well ahead by the time I found my seat on Saturday and proceeded to mash the Brewers to a pulp.

I thought it was pretty weak that the roof was closed during all 3 games. It was absolutely beautiful Sunday, yet the roof remained closed. I don't understand. I like the Brew Crew, but they deserve some bad karma for that. I scored great seats on Sunday; 20 rows up, straight back from the Brewers on deck circle. In the 7th inning Torii Hunter came to bat and fouled one back over our heads. A few pitches later he hit another one that seemed like it was coming right at me. And it did. I caught a foul ball!! Snagged that sucker with my bare hands out of mid-air. Before I even really had a chance to look at it, I put it in the glove of a kid who was probably 5 or 6. I don't think I would get much enjoyment out of it, and the kid was wearing a Hunter jersey, so I figured he would get a kick out of having a ball hit by TH.

"You know what I say?... wear what you dig."

Over the last few months the bankroll had taken a bit of a hit. A few emergency cashouts, a poor February followed by a downright pisspoor March and I had taken a bit of a hit. I pretty much broke even in April, but didn't feel that great about my game.

I decided at the beginning of the May to make a few changes. 1) No more omaha high-low split. Not even the 1/2 games. My records for ring games showed that I have been a consistent loser at this game over several months. It's kind of hard for me to admit it, but I just am not very good at this game right now. 2) Play fewer MTTs. My record is ok, but I had reached a point where I was routinely entering $20-50 buyin tourney's and wasn't cashing very often. I have entered 0 MTTs in May. 3) Play in games you can beat. For me, this means playing mostly 1/2 and 2/4 7 card stud, pot limit omaha, and 16 dollar turbo SNGs on stars. I have also dabbled in micro limit NLHE, because there are more stiffs here than there are at the morgue.

The last several months I had been irresponsible with the games I was choosing. I corrected it this month and my bankroll has thanked me. Now, on the other hand, I don't want to resign myself to grinding out 1K a month playing low limit poker. Nor do I want to avoid playing some of the games I am not very good at right now. I want to become a winning player at all games. I want to be able to sit down at any table and feel like I can compete with anyone. I can beat the crap out of the retards who throw down 16 bucks for a quicky SNG, but in the end it's not all that lucrative or satisfying.

I would like to start setting more specific goals for each month or two of my play. I think I am starting to realize that to have any sort of long-term success you need to have discipline.

Freerollin'

I have registered to play in the PokerStars World Blogger Championship of Online Poker!

This Online Poker Tournament is a No Limit Texas Holdem event exclusive to Bloggers.

Registration code: 7330476

A game of 21

Tripjax introduced a few questions. I answered them.

1. What is the biggest mistake people make at a NL table?
I think the biggest mistakes I make are losing a lot of chips with TPTK and playing hands like AJ off, etc out of position.

2. What is the biggest mistake people make at a Limit table?
Not getting max value when they flop hard. I am a big believer in saving my raises until the more expensive streets, particularly when I am last to act or next to last. It’s basic math, you get raises in when the bets double and the pots are going to be larger. People are also less like to fold if they see later streets. This is especially true in my game of choice, 7CS. For example, say I get rolled up Ks and am up against 2 opponents. Happens all the time, right? If I play that hand strong on 3^rd and 4^th, 2 things are most likely to happen. 1) They fold. 2) They go into check-call mode. Whereas, if you get someone to see 5^th or 6^th street, my experience is that they usually like their hand enough that they won’t often fold.

3. Why do you play poker?
I watched the coverage of the 2003 series and thought it looked cool. I continue playing because I enjoy the competition and I can make a little cash.

4. If you weren't playing poker, what would you be doing?
Well, I usually play later at night, so I guess I would be watching more TV.

5. What is your favorite poker book and why?
SSI. Reese’s section on 7CS is excellent IMHO.

6. Who is your favorite poker player and why?
Ivey. He is in total control of his emotions and has total awareness of everything that is going on at the table.

7. Which poker player do you dislike the most and why?
I’d probably say some of the young ‘internet’ pros (Grinder, Zee Justin, et al). They are immensely talented of course, but a lot of them seem to pretty much conduct themselves like jaggoffs. Really, anyone who takes what goes on at the table as a matter of life and death or makes any analogies to ‘war’ or being ‘warriors’ or being ‘courageous.’ I hate all that shit. Let’s tell it like it really is please. A bunch of guys and a few women, mostly with fat asses, playing a game.

8. Do your coworkers know about your blog?
I don’t think so.

9. What is the most you have won in a cash game or MTT (both live and online)?
Live cash game+$200; Online cash game+$350; Live MTT-$0; Online MTT+$350

10. What is the most you have lost in a cash game or in one day total (both live and online)?
Live cash game -$200; Online~$450-$550 (I lost my records for this period when my HD took a crap);

11. Who was your first poker blog read?
I think Tao of Poker

12. What satisfies you more, your aces holding up for a big pot or a bluff working for a big pot?
Bluffing. Finding the right spot to bluff is an art form that takes a lot of experience and even then, no one always picks the right spot.

13. Why do you blog?
(Un)creative outlet; posterity.

14. Do you read blogs from an RSS reader like bloglines or do you visit each blog?
I normally visit each blog.

15. Would you rather play poker for a living than do what you currently do for a living?
What I currently do, for sure. It’s much more satisfying. I take poker seriously most of the time when I play, but I still play for fun. I think if I had to play the bills with what I could scrape from other people’s pockets via the poker table, it wouldn’t be very much fun.

16. Do you wear a tin foil hat on occasion?
Not in anything poker-related.

17. If you had to pin it down to one specific trait, what does a great poker player have (or do) that separates them from an average player?
I’m not going to name any names, but I have seen some people argue that you can identify a set of “personality” traits that translate into superior performance at the poker table. I think this idea is more or less bogus. I think the population of great poker players is actually pretty heterogeneous. But, this is a subject for a future post….

I think it’s mostly about experience (i.e. playing a lot of hands, paying careful attention to your opponents, etc). I contend that you could take any youngster of normal/above average intellectual abilities and if you had complete control over their environment, you could turn them into a ‘great’ player.

18. Is Drizz the coolest person on the planet for naming his baby Vegas?
Absolutely. And he’s a Minnesotan, which makes him double cool.

19. What is your primary poker goal and are you close to accomplishing it?
I would like to play in a small buy-in event at the WSOP. I am contemplating entering the $1500 7CS event. I would like to sat into it, but I haven’t yet. Haven’t even tried that much even. Otherwise, I just want to keep on improving.

20. What is your primary online site and why?
Pokerstars. Service, game selection, etc. I am also a sucker of the VIP program.

21. What site do you dislike and why?
Party. Cards come so fast sometimes that you can’t see them. Although I haven’t had to deal with it, I’ve heard the customer support sucks.

Atlantic City

I was in the Baltimore area for work and made a little vacation out of it. Here's my trip report from AC.

This past Saturday I made a trip with a couple friends for a day of poker in Atlantic City. We had planned to play an 11am tourney at the Showboat, but took a “shortcut” from Baltimore and ended up on a 2 lane highway through south BFE New Jersey. Can you say dueling banjos?

We get into town around 1115am and notice on billboard that the Hilton has 40+10 tourney starting at 2pm. We get to the poker room around 1pm and sign up for the tourney. I grabbed a seat in a 1-5 stud game so I could play a little before the tourney. Play was pretty terrible. The second hand I get dealt I bring it in with (510)5. About 5 limpers come along. I make 10s up on 4^th and bet with 3 people calling. Made 5’s full on 5^th and everyone dropped but one guy who raised me with a paired deuce door card. I popped him back and he called. I caught another 10 on 6^th and led out, and was raised again as a Q came for him on 6th. At this point I am thinking that he might have concealed queens. I call the raise and his bet on 7^th. He showed 2s full and I scooped up a decent sized pot. That was the only meaningful hand for me at this table, but I saw plenty of interesting goings on. One old guy going by the name of 2-dollar Harry twice called bets on 7th when he couldn’t beat his opponent’s board. A black guy sitting next to me wearing more bling than puff daddy played about 90 percent of his hands. He wasn’t too good about hiding his pocket cards and I got to see how he would chase with starting hands like (J3)Q or (27)A. He also got about several phone calls in 45 minutes and I got to hear the MIDI version of Carl Douglas’ “Kung-Fu Fighting” 6 or more times.

At one point a new dealer sat down and had no idea how to deal 7CS. First hand she started to deal 2 cards up. She was burning cards left and right, and wasn’t real certain on where the action should be. It got pretty annoying. Fortunately, our tourney was about to start and I took my $10 in profit and headed out.

I joined my friends, Johnny Cheng and The Shoeshiner. As we got our seat assignments, we decided that we would all buy 20% of each other.

I sat in seat 10 and we were 7 handed to start. The first hand I played outside of the blinds I get AQ off in early position. Flop came all hearts with the Q being the highest card. I called down what I was pretty sure were bets from the ace of hearts. No more hearts came and we ended up chopping as he had AhQc. I chopped one other pot with A10, but didn’t win any other pots for awhile. When we got to level 3, I started putting in some raises when people were limping and I was in position. I stole 3 or 4 pots. Just before the end of level 3, I raised in up from the cutoff with Ah6h. Button called with the 4 limpers folding; flop came K 6 9. I bet about 1/3 of the pot and was min-raised. The pot was laying me damn good odds; maybe 3 or 4:1. I had about 1700 chips left and would have to commit the rest of my chips on bottom pair having 5 outs at best. I folded. At the start of level 4, the blinds were 200/400 with a 50 ante. After a few hands, my stack was below 1500 and I get dealt A9 off from middle position. It was folded to me and I went in for my last 1500 or so. I get called by AQ off and IGHN.

I was looking forward to getting back into the juicy 7CS game, but it was no longer running. The Shoeshiner busted out about 30 minutes later and we hopped on a 2/4 no foldem table. The Shoeshiner likes to play most every hand and he got hot early. I was able to take down a few nice pots early as well and was up 4-5BB. Our other friend, Johnny Cheng, bubbled out of the tourney with a horrific beat. He called all in from the SB with AhQs. The button had pushed with 108 suited. Flop came Q 10 x, all hearts. Turn was Ac, and the river…..10d. Two freakin’ outered. He was pretty ticked as he joined our 2/4 game. We all donked around a bit, but it wasn’t how we played or any particular hand that was the real story of our table. It was the people. Seated 3 to my left was a Hispanic looking dude with paint on his hands who didn’t say one word for 3 or 4 hours. He was also sick as dog. He was coughing; sniffling, sneezing, and you knew all those germs were being spread all over the table. At one point someone brought him a whole box of tissue and I think he went through them all. Before we started to play, we told The Shoeshiner that playing poker live was unsanitary and that you should wash your hands often and try to keep them away from your face. I even joked to him that you might want to wear a condom while playing. Because, hell, you never know.

I started drinking Miller Lite’s as fast of our waitress would bring them. I decided to see what would happen if I played every hand for one full orbit. I lost the first 7, but won the 8^th. This ended up pulling the size of my stack down pretty good. Not the optimal strategy, I must admit.

The one noteworthy hand I played was against I guy who had been at my tourney table. He was one of the guys who felt the need to narrate the play at the table, so I called him Babbling Bob. I had pocket deuces in LP and hit a set on a rainbow flop. Turn was a blank and I hit quads on the river. Bob folded on the river and proceeded to tell me that he missed his flush draw. I told him that there was no flush draw possible on the flop, and he said “right, but there was after 4^th street.” I just smiled.

A Vietnamese dealer sat down and didn’t seem to know what he was doing. Beyond that, at one point I won decent sized pot and forgot to toke him immediately. And he asked, “wha, no tip?” before even dealing the next hand. I tossed him a white. I momentarily forgot to tip a few of the hands I won, but this was the only prick that pointed it out and held up play in the process. I always tip and I tip well, but if I had won another pot I was going to pull a nickel out of my pocket and give it to him. It put me mini-tilt.

Later on, a 60ish woman sat down in seat 6. One of her first hands she had QQ and made a set that eventually got cracked by a straight. Henceforth, she complained about everything. She had the floor people come over and change the channel on a TV that was directly behind her. She complained about her chair. She complained about dealers who didn’t speak English very well, and she complained about the weather. It seemed like people started to drop pretty quick after she sat down. She took a lot of the fun out of the table. Eventually the 3 of us got up and headed out.

Emo fuckers

Yes, I guess I am a poker blogger.


I almost whizzed my pants from laughing when I saw this Saturday on C-span. If you're a fan of delicious sardonic humor and not a fan of the president and press, go watch the a video of Stephen Colbert's performance from the white house correspondents dinner. If you have no sense of humor, or are a big fan or the prez, forgettaboutit.

I have realized a paradox in my emotional reactions to some things that happen at the virtual poker table. I seem to only get mad when someone lays a bad beat on me. I get it all with with AK vs AQ and lose, and I usually get pretty pissed. Reverse the situation, and it doesn't bother me as much. I can make a poor play and lose and it doesn't affect me as much. It's like I don't understand that you lose with a dominating hand every so often. It is a mathematical certainty. I need to keep this in mind. It will save me plenty $$$ in the future. I wish I could go back and calculate how much $$$ I've donked off after being on the short end of a few beats. My bankroll would probably be double what it is. Maybe I need to start meditating, chanting mantra's, and eating microbiotic rice.

Perhaps I need to read Zen and the Art of Poker again. It was fine read, except for the section where Phillips basically advocates changing how you play if you have been running bad. As if there is some cosmic force that causes repeated suckouts.

Playing a 40K guaranteed on party right now. Trying to parlay the $50 they gave me into something meaningful. 1st pays 11K plus. I'll blog about winning it in 6 hours or so. I am into my 3rd pint of Foster's, so I'm at the top of my game. I think my MTT game is getting better. I've reached that 8.5th level of thinking where I know that my opponent thinks I'm thinking what their thinking about. I am rebluffing the rebluffs. I have no clue what I am talking about.

update: I just doubled up in the 40K when my pocket tens turned a boat. Bet an A55 flop. 1 caller. Checked turned boat. River brought 4th diamond. raised river, called by 2nd nut flush.


I look back at most of my previous posts and realize they are a bunch of half developed ideas. I would like change that. This is how I plan to do that. 1) The first step to writing; compose an outline.


Moving on. NHL playoffs have started. I like the coverage on OLN. Mostly b/c some of the games have been CBC feeds. If you are real hockey fan you understand why HNIC coverage is SOOO much better than it was on ESPN or NBC. And don't even remind me of the disaster that was the Fox NHL coverage. Fucking 'Fox Trax Puck' is all you need to know.

I just donked off 1/2 my chips on a big bluff in the 40K. I called a small raise with suited connectors on the button. Flop comes 8 high and I pop what seems to weak continuation bet. He flat calls???? Turn is a K and he make another weak bet. Any raise would put me all in and he's basically committed. Fold. I suck.

Here are my NHL picks. Carolina in the East and San Jose in the West. Carolina wins.

Just busted in 40K. Lost with 10s to AA. I should bust my party bankroll in a few minutes here.....I am going to let it ride on the 7K guaranteed 7CS tourney. Play is HORRIBLE there.

Done.

everyone wins at poker

I don't think I've ever seen or spoken to anyone that admits that they are a long-term loser playing poker. I lurk on different message boards, read various blogs, dig in the garbage of various poker professionals and no one seems to be losing. If everyone is winning, then someone has to be losing, yet no one is owning up to it where I look. Now, it's probably just the case that the people dumping tons of cash in online poker don't hang around 2+2 reading strategy posts.

Well, I recently found out about an SNG search tool called sharkscope, which tracks SNG play on pokerstars and a few other sites. Recently, I have used it to search for record of people I've been playing with. I ran across the record of a guy who has dropped 8K+ over ~800 SNG's. His stats are pretty amazing to me, take a look for yourself. I wonder who the hell this person is. Seemingly, this person has deep pockets, but has shown no sign of improving over time. Is this person some rich dink who enjoys the rush of super aggro play, shoving your chips all in and hoping for the best? I would guess not. For one, this person seems to be playing alot of turbo SNG's which requires blind aggression, especially late in the match and I would think they would be fairing a little better just due to luck. And the action junkie likes to win. This person seems content with losing, alot.

Is it possible that this person has lost their mind? Maybe this person is a hopelessly depressed 20-something trust fund baby blowing through their inheritance just to feel something. Perhaps, it is an elderly gentleman with Alzheimer's who is aware enough to keep reloading his account, but doesn't remember one hand from the next let alone one SNG from the next. Someone with severe dementia could play SNG after SNG with really no idea what is going on.

Any background story I can think of seems really sad. How should we (i.e. winning poker players) feel when our bankrolls are likely fed by the emotionally unstable, the deranged, the demented people in our world. Is it wrong? Does gambling by its very nature not involve any sort of moralilty?

nice to see you old friend

Party poker gave me $50 free dollars and now I'm trying to clear 500 raked hands to keep it. I've played 4 SNG's and have finished ITM in all of them. I've played a few multi's also, no luck in them. I think it's been over a year since I have visited my old friend party poker. The first time I played no limit cash games were on party. Oh the .10/.25 tables. Some real rounders there. My first time I had money in party I ran 50 bucks up to about 500 or so in a few weeks. Then over the course of few days I gave most of it back. I was convinced the site was rigged, so I had them send me a check for $78 dollars or something like that. I had no notion of bankroll management or long-term goals. I think I approached poker like I would when I used to play blackjack occasionally. If I won, I had a little extra spending money and if I lost, then oh well.

good things about party poker:
1) You can actually get a limit omaha hi game going. This is pretty rare, even for larger rooms.
I'm sitting here playing right now getting my nut hands paid off by pimply faced college sophomores.

2) The SNG structure has improved, but the games are still soft. Can I squeeze it, Mr. Whipple?

bad things:
1) The turn and river cards come flying in super fast. Next thing you know, the pot's sitting there in front of you, or not.

2) It's not easy to review the action in a hand, especially in split games. You have to scroll back through that little box.

3) The congrats and fireworks for winning a hand. Think if they did this at your B&M. You scoop a pot up and the dealer tosses a string of lit ladyfingers in front of you. I just reminded myself of that scene in Boogie Night when Dirk Diggler, Reed Rothschild, and Todd Parker try to sell of some phony coke and there is a Chinese kid there who keeps lighting off firecrackers. Genius.

addendum:
Thanks to Iggy for tossing up a link to this little blog a few weeks back. I actually I had more than 10 hits that day. Take that fuckers.

blog entry titles are for losers

Come to Milwaukee, the place where off duty cops can beat the shit out of people and get off scot-free. There are alot of great things about Milwaukee, but it's Fucking Embarrassing to live in MKE right now.

Came up two slots short of the final table in $10 MTT with 900+ people in it. I think I had all my chips at risk only 3 times. The last time did me in when my JJ lost to AJ. So, I'm still looking for my first 4 figure score. I'm pretty sure I'd have it if I were able to play more tourneys. The play in these low buyin tourneys is pretty bad, especially early. My best example of the poor play is a hand early where I flopped a set of 7s on a 678 board. There was maybe 200 in the pot and this dude shoved in about 1200 from the SB. I called and he showed 55. That flop is decent for his hand of course, but risking all your chips to pick up 200 is pretty silly.

Other recent poker highlights include finishing first in my last two SNGs and talking a $160+ dollar pot in a .10/.25 pot limit omaha game on full tilt.

I think this (below) is a little more impressive however. And by impressive, I mean shit luck impressive. This will probably never happen to me again. To spare you the chore of looking over the hand history. I Flopped back to back quads......bitches.

PokerStars Game #4574762068: Tournament #22802513, Hold'em No Limit - Level VIII (200/400) - 2006/04/09 - 18:06:34 (ET)

Table '22802513 1' 9-max Seat #9 is the button

Seat 1: Werty83 (3015 in chips) out of hand (moved from another table into small blind)

Seat 2: HarryO44 (1840 in chips) out of hand (moved from another table into small blind)

Seat 3: Sweed12 (1655 in chips) out of hand (moved from another table into small blind)

Seat 4: BorisKarloff (2755 in chips)

Seat 5: lynch0408 (645 in chips) is sitting out

Seat 6: rgpars (8940 in chips)

Seat 7: questing (1780 in chips)

Seat 8: suspectzero (1000 in chips)

Seat 9: smountain (5370 in chips)

BorisKarloff: posts the ante 25

lynch0408: posts the ante 25

rgpars: posts the ante 25

questing: posts the ante 25

suspectzero: posts the ante 25

smountain: posts the ante 25

BorisKarloff: posts small blind 200

lynch0408: posts big blind 400

*** HOLE CARDS ***

Dealt to rgpars [6d 6h]

rgpars: raises 800 to 1200

questing: folds

suspectzero: calls 975 and is all-in

smountain: folds

BorisKarloff: folds

lynch0408: folds

Sweed12 said, "is that KY"

*** FLOP *** [6c 6s As]

rgpars said, "jeebus"

*** TURN *** [6c 6s As] [2h]

*** RIVER *** [6c 6s As 2h] [9h]

HarryO44 said, "me?"

*** SHOW DOWN ***

rgpars: shows [6d 6h] (four of a kind, Sixes)

suspectzero: shows [Ac Kd] (two pair, Aces and Sixes)

rgpars collected 2700 from pot

Sweed12 said, "yea"

*** SUMMARY ***

Total pot 2700 | Rake 0

Board [6c 6s As 2h 9h]

Seat 4: BorisKarloff (small blind) folded before Flop

Seat 5: lynch0408 (big blind) folded before Flop

Seat 6: rgpars showed [6d 6h] and won (2700) with four of a kind, Sixes

Seat 7: questing folded before Flop (didn't bet)

Seat 8: suspectzero showed [Ac Kd] and lost with two pair, Aces and Sixes

Seat 9: smountain (button) folded before Flop (didn't bet)

PokerStars Game #4574768708: Tournament #22802513, Hold'em No Limit - Level VIII (200/400) - 2006/04/09 - 18:07:13 (ET)

Table '22802513 1' 9-max Seat #4 is the button

Seat 1: Werty83 (3015 in chips)

Seat 2: HarryO44 (1840 in chips)

Seat 3: Sweed12 (1655 in chips)

Seat 4: BorisKarloff (2530 in chips)

Seat 5: lynch0408 (220 in chips) is sitting out

Seat 6: rgpars (10640 in chips)

Seat 7: questing (1755 in chips)

Seat 9: smountain (5345 in chips)

Werty83: posts the ante 25

HarryO44: posts the ante 25

Sweed12: posts the ante 25

BorisKarloff: posts the ante 25

lynch0408: posts the ante 25

rgpars: posts the ante 25

questing: posts the ante 25

smountain: posts the ante 25

lynch0408: posts small blind 195 and is all-in

rgpars: posts big blind 400

*** HOLE CARDS ***

Dealt to rgpars [2h 2c]

questing: folds

smountain: calls 400

Werty83: folds

HarryO44: folds

Sweed12: folds

BorisKarloff: folds

lynch0408: folds

rgpars: checks

*** FLOP *** [3s 2d 2s]

rgpars: checks

smountain: checks

*** TURN *** [3s 2d 2s] [9s]

rgpars: bets 400

smountain: folds

rgpars collected 410 from side pot

rgpars said, "un fuclking real"

rgpars collected 785 from main pot

rgpars: shows [2h 2c] (four of a kind, Deuces)

HarryO44 said, "nah Rhode Island"

*** SUMMARY ***

Total pot 1195 Main pot 785. Side pot 410. | Rake 0

Board [3s 2d 2s 9s]

Seat 1: Werty83 folded before Flop (didn't bet)

Seat 2: HarryO44 folded before Flop (didn't bet)

Seat 3: Sweed12 folded before Flop (didn't bet)

Seat 4: BorisKarloff (button) folded before Flop (didn't bet)

Seat 5: lynch0408 (small blind) folded before Flop

Seat 6: rgpars (big blind) collected (1195)

Seat 7: questing folded before Flop (didn't bet)

Seat 9: smountain folded on the Turn

Das ist kaput

HD on my laptop decided to take a crap yesterday. It started with a slight clicking noise coming from the left hand side. Turned the machine off and no go after that. Ran some diagnostic/recovery program and now it sounds like there is a little man in there trying to pound his way out. Like an idiot I had not backed up much of anything on there. So, I lost my last several months of poker records, some pictures, and vids of 'High Stakes Poker.' I've been googling different ways to recover data off a crapped out HD and came across the practice of sticking the malfunctioning drive in the freezer and then reconnecting it. I tried it once, but to no avail. I'm gonna freeze that fucker good tomorrow and see what happens. Maybe I'll toss it in the dryer and iron it out afterwards. Who knows, it might work.

Johan the man.....

Watching the opening day game for my beloved Minnesota Twins. Johan looks pretty sharp and Tony Batista already grounded and flied out once. An out-machine for sure. Gleeman is right.

Last night I played in the blogger WSOP satty organized by Iggy. My first table had DoubleAs and pokernerd among others. Joe Speaker moved in at some point. I know all these guys have had some success and I figured I needed to get lucky and play smart to get far in the event. I got lucky some, but didn't play all that smart. It was a deep stack event and had 30 minute levels. I've always avoided deep stack events simply because of time concerns. I don't often have 8 hours to play a tourney. The first major hand I had I was dealt AA in the big blind. There was a standard raise from UTG and I popped it back and got a call. Flop came Q high I got a call on my flop bet and was reraised all in on the turn. I went into the tank and decided the guy either had QQ or KK. I made the call and saw the bad news, he held QQ. I hit my two outer on the river to double up. I started raising more pots after that and had minimal success. The table was stocked enough to realize what I was doing and I started to get played back at more, but I still hovered around 10K in chips and was in the top 10. Somewhere around the second hour I got KK in the cut off and got a call from a someone who limped UTG. Flop came 7,8,2 and I got checkraised. Tanked again. I realize 77 and 88 are possible holdings here, but I figured I was just as likely up against 99-JJ(I guess 27 is even possible in a blogger event). I put the player all in and saw I was up against top set. No two outer this time. Went out around the end of hour 3 with AK to AA. The competition was good though, and that is refreshing after playing against donks most of the time in cheap ass SNGs and ring games. In a very classy move Iggy kicked in an extra few hundred to get the prize pool high enough to send two bloggers.

Twins update: Johan just gave up a bomb to one of the 24 Molina's who play catcher and have the least athletic looking frames in baseball. Suuuper excited to see the Twinkies when the come to MKE in May. The experience of watching games at Miller Park is 100 times more enjoyable than going to a game at the Metrodome.

Why?:

Seats all face homeplate.
Tailgating at Miller Park.
Outdoors (mostly).

out.

no cigar......

Played in a winner take all satellite for a seat in a 1K buyin wsop tourney organized by MissT. Finished 2nd :( . I got lucky twice late when my A7 outflopped A10 and when I rivered a Q with AQ to take down AK. Went out when I missed my flush draw to middle pair. When we were down to 4, my play seemed to draw the ire of a couple of jerks cheering on the eventual 4th place finisher. They were upset that my A7 beat A10 and that I called with KQ after I had been reraised. My KQ took down JJ and crippled their buddy. It was winner take all fellas.

The heads up match lasted about 15 mins. The first hand I get KK and push to his raise, hoping it would look like a huge overbet. He goes into the tank and starts to chat and like a total fucking moron I type "tired." He folds realizing I am strong there. He said he had KQ. He had earlier called 2 of my all ins with KJ off. Shoulda kept my mouth shut. At one point I had a slight lead and found 109H in the BB. I called a small raise and the flop came down 3QJ, I called a small bet, and 3h came, giving str8 and flush draws. He pushes on the turn. Now, it is obviously a donk play to call here, but it was tempting as HELL when he threw all his chips in there. One push of the button and I might have won the seat.

untitled #5

I haven't played much poker lately. Working on throwing together a few publications and qualifying examinations. Despite the fact that I don't have anywhere near the roll for it, I did play my first extended 5/10$ stud session about a week ago. I ended down about 10 BB, but I felt good about how I stacked up to other players. I wouldv'e been up if not for a few misreads and 1 hand where someone caught their gutshot on me and scooped up a $180 pot (whine, whine, whine).

I now have 17K+ FPP's on pokerstars. I could buy a 4GB Ipod Nano, an entry into the 200+15 sunday tourney, 13 copies of 'Poker Champion Chris Moneymaker' by Chris Moneymaker and Daniel Pasner, or 34 stainless steel pokerstars coffee mugs.

I plan on playing some smaller wsop sat's in the coming weeks organized by some folks at RGP and, possibly some blogger events. Iggy set one up at paradise. I might crash that one even though I'v never played there.

RIP Kirby.

I choose to ignore personal responsibility.

I am a scientist. Speaking in very broad terms, I study how the brain influences behavior and vice versa. It's a branch of psychology typically called 'behavioral neuroscience.' The goal of psychology is to be able to describe, explain, predict, and control behavior. Surely some would argue, but to be able to make cause and effect statements about the behavior of an organism we have to assume that behavior has a natural cause and is not the result of the 'free will' which resides mysteriously tucked away somewhere deep inside all of us. Yes, I said 'us.' If we are going to pursue a science of human behavior, we cannot explain behavior as the result of free will. This is a hard pill to swallow, even for those of us who are studying it. We don't chose anything. Someone might say, "what made you study the brain, surely it was your choice." No, it wasn't. I didn't choose to study the brain. There had to have been an utterly complex arrangment of factors and circumstances that led me here. Behavior is so complex that I think the notion of free will is simply a cloaked way of saying "it's too hard to understand it." Free will is the lazy way out. Strict determinism throws notions of morality and personal responsibility out the window. Is this not dangerous? Take the actions of a serial killer. If they didn't choose to kill 30 people, then how can they be punished for it? My answer is simple, it's true that they didn't choose to do it, but they need to removed from society to protect others.

The buzz lately in the poker world has been about a couple of ultra successful teenage poker players got busted cheating in tournaments. As these events transpired some bloggers have noted that these kids are not taking responsibility for their own actions. As if it would be all better if ZeeJustin said, "you know what, my fault, I did it just because I chose to do it." To me that's a lazy way of thinking. To truly understand why this happened we need to discover the circumstances. What reinforcement was he getting from cheating? What maintained this behavior. Money, more money, recognition. Q: Why aren't we all cheating then, you might ask??? We all like winning money; certainly a main reason why we play poker. A: circumstances. we don't cheat at poker because at some point along the way we were taught or told not to. I got caught cheating in 9th grade physical science class (oh, the irony). Being a naive little turd, I though I could take a test in front of the teacher with a 3 foot long cheat sheet. He caught me after about 15 seconds, berated me in front of class, and gave me an F for the test. 0/185 pts. This test was worth about 35 percent of total grade and I had to bust my ass to get D- in the class. The sense of gratification I got from that D- was worth way more than any of the classes I breezed my way through and got A's. I bet alot of you have had similar experiences. That's why you and I don't cheat at poker. These experiences didn't endow in us some sense of personal responsibilty. That's not what I would call it. I don't cheat because when Mr. Holm berated me in front of class I felt like the biggest dink in the world. Simply put, it was aversive. And organsims avoid repeating things that are aversive. We are hard fucking wired to do so.

this things i believe

Took down a stud tourney on stars this afternoon. First time winning the 20+2. I had the chiplead for the last 1.5 hours only losing it for a few hands.


Write your congressmen now. There is a bill sponsored by Rep. Bob Goodlatte, R-Va. that is designed at putting the kabosh on online gaming and making criminals of us all. If you don't know who represents you, it's time to find out. Unsatisfied with all the gaffes at home and abroad, it appears that now the republicans want to strip the simple pleasures of many average joe's and average jane's away by preventing us from gaming online. well done. how many months 'till november?????????

untitled #5

I was positively giddy last night before going to bed. I had just played about 200 hands on THE most loose 2/4 7CS table I had ever played on. There was stretch where our table had 3 pots that were $130+ each. I won one of those when my rolled 6s made a full house. The betting was capped 3-way on every street except 7th. One player showed 10s up and the other Ace high (no shit). Mr Ace High was a lunatic who capped with anything. He eventually dropped about 300 and left. I swear he was on some sort of drunken megatilt where he was happy to give away his money. Mrs. 10s up was also crazy and capped with pretty much any pair. I think they had both taken some sort of booze and trucker-strength speed concoction. When you get two of those people on the same table it turns into a some kind of deranged poker fantasy. 6-way capped pots on third. 3-bets with split 5s. calling 3 bets cold with a two gap inside straight draw. Everyone wants to get a piece of the action, so they start playing crap cards. I tried being ultra-selective only pushing when I made a good hand. It worked for the most part as I left up ~40BB. Usually I only see this sort of action when all the drunks come donk off money Friday and Saturday night. It was spendipulous!

untitled #4

I don't like to post hand histories, but I need to publically chastise my play in order to get better. Here a critique of the hand I busted out on in the freeroll. As you can see, I was doing pretty well. These are the sort of hands that get me into trouble. I'm a fish who can't fold TPTK. I fold on the turn there and I still have 6K in chips which is about average for the table. Instead I managed to tangle with the only person at the table who could knock me out. numbskull. i might as well walk around drooling, dragging my knuckles, and eating what I can kill with by bare hands.

PokerStars Game #4095850860: Tournament #18733039, Hold'em No Limit - Level VII (100/200) - 2006/02/25 - 16:41:10 (ET)
Table '18733039 328' Seat #3 is the button
Seat 1: mwp74 (6630 in chips)
Seat 2: pandelirium (4008 in chips)
Seat 3: HarryO44 (3213 in chips)
Seat 4: Hawkdog1 (4023 in chips)
Seat 5: alex328ci (10210 in chips)
Seat 6: ztrain44 (6834 in chips)
Seat 7: rgpars (8921 in chips)
Seat 8: SLIME51 (5566 in chips)
Seat 9: pdk01 (1895 in chips) is sitting out
mwp74: posts the ante 25
pandelirium: posts the ante 25
HarryO44: posts the ante 25
Hawkdog1: posts the ante 25
alex328ci: posts the ante 25
ztrain44: posts the ante 25
rgpars: posts the ante 25
SLIME51: posts the ante 25
pdk01: posts the ante 25
Hawkdog1: posts small blind 100
alex328ci: posts big blind 200
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to rgpars [Qd Ac]
alex328ci said, "u ain't even gonna cash"
SLIME51 said, "its ok i take u out with me"
ztrain44: folds
rgpars: raises 400 to 600 (ok move to start with)
SLIME51: folds
pdk01: folds
mwp74: folds
pandelirium: folds
HarryO44: folds
Hawkdog1: folds
alex328ci: calls 400
*** FLOP *** [3h 8d Qh]
alex328ci: bets 600
rgpars: raises 1600 to 2200 (let's see what he has)
alex328ci: calls 1600 (must be something; probably a flush draw)
*** TURN *** [3h 8d Qh] [2h]
SLIME51 said, "ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhh"
alex328ci: bets 1400
rgpars: raises 4696 to 6096 and is all-in (wtf are you doing??????)
alex328ci: calls 4696
SLIME51 said, "yeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa"
*** RIVER *** [3h 8d Qh 2h] [9c]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
alex328ci: shows [4h 7h] (a flush, Queen high)
rgpars: shows [Qd Ac] (a pair of Queens)
alex328ci collected 18117 from pot
alex328ci said, "whatever u say captain"
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 18117 | Rake 0
Board [3h 8d Qh 2h 9c]
Seat 1: mwp74 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 2: pandelirium folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 3: HarryO44 (button) folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 4: Hawkdog1 (small blind) folded before Flop
Seat 5: alex328ci (big blind) showed [4h 7h] and won (18117) with a flush, Queen high
Seat 6: ztrain44 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 7: rgpars showed [Qd Ac] and lost with a pair of Queens
Seat 8: SLIME51 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 9: pdk01 folded before Flop (didn't bet)

untitled #3

I am about to sit down and play the 100K freeroll on stars. Just folded the first hand....

The winter olympics is coming to an end. I had the misfortune of watching the US hockey team play a few games. They were awful. Explain to me how Finland, a country the size of my homestate Minnesota, fields a hockey team that leaps and bounds better than the US. And apparently, the US has not produced a defensemen worth a damn in the last 15 years as Chelios and that albatross Hatcher logged most of the ice time.

Here is Felicia Lee's 'Part One' of a multi-part post on 7CS. I am loving it.

On president's day I was within ~50 ft of our president with my middle finger extended at his motorcade. I don't care if I looked like a kook, it felt good. He was in town to talk about his energy policy, which now is apparently focused on developing technologies to wean us off fossil fuels. Excuse me if I am a little skeptical, but I tend to get that way when a former Texas 'oilman' starts talking about ways to make better hybrid cars.

untitled #2

lmao. stats

During current Stud session you were dealt 59 hands and:
- saw fourth street 18 times (30%)
- saw fifth street 12 times (20%)
- saw sixth street 9 times (15%)
- reached showdown 9 times (15%)
Pots won at showdown - 9 of 9 (100%)
Pots won without showdown - 1

untitled #1

I keep plugging away on pokerstars, even though I'm still in a bit of a downswing. Somehow, I managed to have a -50BB session of limit O8 yesterday playing the 1/2$ tables. It was loads of fun. I was also down about 20BB playing stud, but managed to get that in the black before I quit. It's hard not let the shit bother you. Although, I was able to make myself feel better by thinking back about year ago when I had a 200 dollar bankroll and was trying to build it up playing 5 dollar SNGs. Now, thanks to this little hobby, I can take my girlfriend out more and buy a few things that I wouldn't be able to otherwise.

I am in the middle of a good session at O8. Just got back to back quads. pretty nuts.


time to go have a drink....

Millionaires shooting millionaires

Not all that often does one millionaire shoot another in the face by accident. This one involves VP Cheney. Tough week Dick.

The sunday 750K guarantee is running right now on pokerstars. 5500+ people are in it. Can you believe that? So many people entered that the software wasn't equipped to give the proper payouts. Doesn't seem like the "fad" is going away to me.

Speaking of pokerstars, I've made it up to 10,000 FPPs. At this point I can opt to name 4 stars after someone(s), or but a lettermans jacket. I think I'll hold out for something better. Only 83,000 more FPPs and I can enter in at $1500 buy-in event at the WSOP.

Got killed again on stars last night. I think I am going to give 7CS a break for awhile. The last few weeks have been brutal. I have played probably 1500 hands and have been rolled up ~10 times and won only once when I made quad Kings. Problem with giving it a break is, it's the one ring game that I have consistently made money on for the past year. But after losing my final hand last night with rolled 6s, I am taking that as an omen and taking a few days off.

retrospecticus

Had some rough sessions this weekend. I don't think I've ever had this bad of a run in 7CS ever. I also managed to tilt off a fair amount after getting reamed in the initial 7CS session. One day I'll learn to logoff when running bad. I dropped down in limits and played some yesterday and had a nice session ending up about 40BB. I also played pretty well in 2 multi-table SNGs yesterday, but I still have alot of ground to make up due to Friday's debacle.

Rapid-fire thoughts:
superbowl sucked. mick jagger has flabby arms. car is loud. nights are cold. total paranoia.

Another doozy

Played 200 hands over the last 24 hours. Zero wins at showdown. Un-f**king-real.

During current Stud session you were dealt 60 hands and:
- saw fourth street 18 times (30%)
- saw fifth street 13 times (21%)
- saw sixth street 8 times (13%)
- reached showdown 4 times (6%)
Pots won at showdown - 0 of 4 (0%)
Pots won without showdown - 6

Apparently, the proper stategy is avoid playing big split pairs, 3 flushes, and big concealed pairs.

pokerstars is rigged

During current Stud session you were dealt 100 hands and:
- saw fourth street 22 times (22%)
- saw fifth street 16 times (16%)
- saw sixth street 10 times (10%)
- reached showdown 8 times (8%)
Pots won at showdown - 0 of 8 (0%)
Pots won without showdown - 2


lost with rolled aces, queens full, and every other possible way u could imagine. Didn't show down anything worse than Qs up. Lost EVERY one.

Republican she-male wants to kill liberal judges

Yep, Ann Coulter wishes someone would poison Justice John Paul Stevens. But, it's okay since she said she was only joking. Riiiiight. Ok then, I wish someone would put a poisonous pubic hair in Clarence Thomas' coke. Oh, I'm only kidding.

10 to 500 in 2 days

I started playing poker online about 2 years ago on PokerRoom.com. Play money for awhile and then threw in 50 bucks. That didn't last very long as I decided that I was good enough and had the bankroll to play 2/4 limit hold'em. I have the bankroll now to play 2/4 hold'em, but still ain't good enough (i'm dead serious). I ended up dropping a few hundred and didn’t play there for about 1 year. This fall I threw in a few hundred to take advantage of a bonus. I withdrew what I earned after a month or so. A couple of days ago I got an email saying that they want my business back and have put a free $10 bucks in my account. I played a few SNGs over the last few days and got the account up to $30. I decided to “let it ride” and played a 5+rebuy today. I start the tourney very quietly. No good cards to be seen. I re-bought about 30 mins in to get my stack up to T2700. With about 15 mins left until the break I am still getting crap and decide to gamble with pocket 2s. I lose that race and am down around T800. I go into the tourney lobby to rebuy and notice that it is a 1rebuy +1add on tourney. So, I am sitting there damn near in last place waiting until the break so I can add on. I made it to the break, added on, and looked to double up. A little later I get 77 in the BB. A minimum raise is made and one caller. I decided to push. Both of them called another 1.5K in chips. Board read 10 high and I won the hand. I got lucky once not too long later when my AQ flopped a Q against AK. Don’t remember too many hands after that. I was able to get my stack up very quickly and was 1^st or 2^nd in chips when it was bubble time and had about 5x the chips of anyone at my table. I raised about 30% of the hands for 3-4 orbits and I didn’t get played with once. It really is amazing how passive people become just to be able to win back their buy-ins. I make it to the final table 5^th in chips. Survive some races and get down to 3 handed with 100K in chips with the other two having ~300K. Fortunately one of them was a total donk and he doubled me up and then called my all in with K6 (I held AK). Made a pretty shitty play HU. I had A2 suited, and called a raise. Flop came 2 7 10 rainbow. Called his bet w/ the hope that he would slow down and fold to my turn bet. Turn was 10s, giving me 2 pair and flush draw. I lead out/raised all in. He had K10 and it held. I think I should have raised his flop bet to see if he actually had something. By waiting to the turn I didn’t have necessary information and I was already committed to the pot.

I wish I could quit you

Yep, saw brokeback mountain last night. It was pretty good, not anything all that special. It was pretty subdued and I could only understand about 35% of the words that came out of Heath Ledger's mouth. He sounded like Billy Bob Thornton in Sling Blade. "Yep, I reckon Jack and I are fishin' buddies. mmm hmm."

Placed 4th in 20+2 stud tourney a few days ago on stars. I was in real good shape on the bubble with about 11K and the chip leader having about 15K. My table was 4 handed and we had 3 of the top 4 stacks. I've been in this situation a handful of times and it has been a great time to steal, especially if you have a good sized stack. I made a couple of steal attempts early that failed. I tightened up a bit until I caught (K4)K. I raised it up and was popped by the bring in who had an 8 showing. I called and popped it on 5th when I made kings up and was reraised with 8Q3. 6th was seemingly rags for both of us and I called his turn and river bets. He hit another Q on 7th and made Qs full. That sucked. I had to put special gloves on to prevent myself from cursing in the chat box. Anyhow, if I win that hand I am top dog and in good shape to take that thing down. Anyhow, it took a LONG time for the bubblel to burst and the big stack at our table was running over people. I was able to stay aggressive though and get my stack around 6K at before the final table. I went out with (7K)7 to the bring ins concealed 10s. Neither of us improved and I was done.

Went to the Bradley Center on tues to catch the T-wolves play the Bucks. The wolves looked like hell and lost. They have been playing like absolute hell lately. Hopefully the wins over Chicago and Denver get them back on track.

i hate thinking of titles for blog posts

I keep on getting sucked out on during pokerstars ring games, tourneys, and sit n go's. A bad streak that happened to coincide with cashing out 1K. Cashout curse? Probably not. Just a few bad decisions to go with a good amount of bad luck. Fortunately for me, I have been killing the games on full tilt the last week. I even had several winning sessions at limit holdem, which for me, is a rarity.

Full tilt is running an interesting promotion. Play for 28 straight days in January and get into a 10K freeroll. Sounds like a pretty good deal. I am up to 8 straight.

Pokerstars announced the VIP club thing. Finally a site where players can get something other than a t-shirt and a hat for hours of playing.

Did a big end of the year number cruching for my play in 2005. Pretty happy with where I have been able to get. Discovered that I can consistently win at the lower limits in stud and pot limit omaha. Still trying to figure out limit holdem and omaha h/l. I would like to improve my tournament play, but this is kinda difficult given that I don't play that many. I still managed to end up in the black on tourney play thanks in large part to several high finishes in stud tourneys and a few in no limit.

I don't really have any huge goals in 2006. If the circumstances allow it, I would like to play the $1500 7 card stud event at this year's wsop. We'll see what happens.

ought 6

Back from 'le vacation extraordinaire.' went from milwaukee to fargo to las vegas to fargo to milwaukee. here are some highlights:

-got Ali G show, seasons 1 and 2 on DVD, for xmas.
-met girlfriend of 4 years' family.
-had 6 sam adams, got a str8 flush (which netted me a $50 food comp), and ended up 50 bucks ahead in a 2/4 limit game at Imperial Palace.
-played roulette for the first time. won 15 bucks.
-chinese food at barbary coast.
-went to Bellagio pokeroom, where I was basically ignored and made to feel like an ass when I inquired about the 1-5 stud game (wasn't running). however, caught a peek inside Bobby's room and saw Jen Harmon and the back of Doyle's head.
-read half of 'zen and the art of poker' on the flight back to fargo.
-sat in the plane for 45 minutes after landing. both of the gates at hector int'l were occupied.
-got a cold, watched the movie 'hitch' on new years eve.

Tata for now

View of the Flamingo from our room at the IP. Witnessed some of the worst poker ever today in my life while playing 2/4 holdem here. Will have more to say later.

Quakers are responsible for 9/11

Yep. You heard it here first. And I am not the only one who thinks that Quakers are a threat to the United States. Apparently, the US government agrees with me.

The government also considers gay groups a potential threat to national secutiry (via dkos) and have been routinely spying on their activities. I think we are all familiar with those violent gay fringe groups. Like the 'Pink Panthers' and their dual security teams dubbed the 'burnt sienna' and 'mauve' shirts. Or the equally deadly Fanny Pack brigade. Purely lethal. More dangerous than Amanita bisporigera, the poisonous mushroom known as the 'Death Angel.' Beautiful, but deadly.


If only we had the powers of the Patriot Act earlier (right Dick?). We could have stopped gay terrorism dead in its tracks. But it's not too late. Call or email your congressmen NOW! Tell them to put a stop gay and gaywad related terrorist activities.

Manic Monday

Had some time to think about the tourney yesterday. I was card dead for a good bit during the second hour when I was hoping to accumulate more chips. For the 150+ hands I was dealt, I only saw a flop in about 10% of those. That's seems a little low. Like I mentioned, part of that was being card dead, and some of it was probably due to being too timid. For the most part I made good decisions, so I am happy about that. The hand I went bust on, I am still not sure about. I raised with AQ in third pos, and the BB popped it up 1K. I pushed at that point figuring I am in real trouble if he had AK, KK, QQ, or AA, but would be flipping a coin against other pocket pairs and would have a reasonable chance to double up. Normally, I wouldn't reraise with AQ, but I thought I might have some fold equity. And if I would have folded to his raise I would've been left with about 3K and with the blinds at 300/600, would've needed to make a move soon anyhow. Oh well. I look forward to giving that tourney another shot sometime.

Random link; possilby the best thing I've seen on SNL for quite some time.

Cards in the air

3:30 pm- First hand: AKs raise 3xBB; missed. called someones river bluff with A high. not a bad start.
3:40pm- I have had 67off like 4 times already. T2620. 3 to my left are sitting out including 1 dude who has won the tourney before. Guy to my right is raising alot.
3:50pm- I think I've used up most of my checkraises. Better have a BIG hand next time I do it. T2955. Former winner is now playing.
4:07pm- Over 10% of the field is gone. Took one decent pot with A9 vs A6. T3260.
4:20pm- Blinds now 50/100. Action will probably step up a bit now. 1st knockout. Table change. shit, was getting used to that group. T2960.
4:30- First break. not much in the way of cards lately. 1000+ people out. T2800. Average ~T3600.
4:44pm- Fired up the ipod with some death cab for cutie. ready to focus and fold very carefully now. zero playable hands in the last 3 orbits. need to mix in some raises.
4:58pm- LCD soundsystem now. BIG HAND ALERT. ALL IN WITH AA VS AK. king on the flop he picks up flush draw outs on the turn. misses, whew. T5335.
5:02pm- hands still shaking from that hand. back down to T4100. 77 raised. 1 caller, hand to fold on turn with possible str8 and flush draw out there+3 overs.
5:08pm- another table change. 83 off in BB. flopped 3 of a kind. back to T5100.
5:20pm- 2000+ gone. T3860.
5:23pm- done. raised with AQ in EP. BB pops it. I push with 2500 more. Calls with 1010. missed. 1347/3600.

T minus 10 minutes......

Will be staring down 3000+ other poker players in my first go at the pokerstars 200+15 sunday tourney. I will be making a lame attempt at live blogging this thing.

54 degrees

I have to wear a damn sweatshirt to bed because it's so cold in our apartment. My girlfriend and I don't especially enjoy sending large chunks of cash to WE Energies, so we "suffer" during the winter months.

Threw up a few more links of sites that I read pretty much everyday or find useful in some way.

I qualilfied for the big Sunday tourney on Pokerstars. As of right now, I just took the 215T$, but I might re-register and give it a whirl. See if I can get my ass handed to me by people who actually know what they are doing. If I do play in the tourney, I might live blog it. Not because I think anyone cares or will read it, but just to take up some space here :)

Inalienable right

First of all, kudos to this site for mentioning the results of the investigation into voter fraud in MKE. I had mistakenly pegged them as ignoring the news like so many other local republicans did.

Nonetheless, the republicans in here in Wisconsin are still pushing this Voter ID bill thing. Why? Is the system not working here in our own state? Let's take a look at some of the problems that occurred on election day and whether or not they would be fixed by the ID law.

* Reports estimate about 200 felons being allowed to vote in the 2004 election.
A: Not likely, given that these people used their actual names and were registered.

* One county showed 100 votes mistakenly given to Bush.
A: No.

* Tires slashed in GOP GOTV vans
A: No.

















A: Wouldn't fix this either.


* Record keeping problems.
A: No


Why do we need the law then? What is it fixing/what does it prevent?

What is the most reasonable solution? There are several ideas that would fix the small problems, yet not put up another hurdle in the voting process.

Voting should be as democratic as possible. What does this entail?
A system that is inclusive, rather than exclusive.
A system that is private.
A system that is transparent and varifiable (I'm looking at you Mr. no paper trail voting box).

Widespread Milwaukee vote fraud in 2004......not.

Interesting item from yesterday's Journal Sentinel. This coming after some of the wis-pol right wing bloggers professed the 2004 election was stolen in Wisconsin. I haven't seen any mention of the recently reported FACTS on any of these sites that, 6 months ago, were so quick to say there was organized voter fraud in Milwaukee. They used this as fuel to argue for the passing of a law requiring every person to present a photo ID in order to vote. Without mentioning the fact that this law would have done nothing to prevent the few isolated cases of voter fraud that were found in Milwaukee, what it would do is require hundreds of thousands of Wisconsin citizens who don't carry a state issued photo ID to get one to allow them to vote. Who are these people who don't have IDs? Mostly the poor and senior citizens, exactly the type of people republicans don't want voting. Ahh.......democracy.

Punched in the balls - BAHH

I love losing hands when I am 95% to win when the money goes in.

Full Tilt Poker Game #321160318: Table Commodore Cove - $0.25/$0.50 - Pot Limit Omaha - 23:05:34 ET - 2005/12/04

Seat 2: Sylvain ($25.15)

Seat 4: train406 ($10.90)

Seat 5: TPrince22 ($17.75)

Seat 6: bbann230 ($19.50)

Seat 7: Angelina Summer ($41.90)

Seat 8: rgpars ($188.25)

Seat 9: than51 ($46.40)

Sylvain posts the small blind of $0.25

train406 posts the big blind of $0.50

The button is in seat #9

*** HOLE CARDS ***

Dealt to rgpars [6c Tc Td 8s]

TPrince22 folds

bbann230 folds

Angelina Summer folds

ThisJesus sits down

rgpars calls $0.50

than51 calls $0.50

ThisJesus adds $10

Sylvain calls $0.25

train406 checks

*** FLOP *** [4c 3s Ts]

Sylvain checks

train406 checks

rgpars bets $2

than51 raises to $8

Sylvain folds

train406 folds

rgpars raises to $26

than51 raises to $45.90, and is all in

rgpars calls $19.90

than51 shows [3c 3d 8d Ks]

rgpars shows [6c Tc Td 8s]

*** TURN *** [4c 3s Ts] [Kd]

*** RIVER *** [4c 3s Ts Kd] [Kc]

than51 shows a full house, Kings full of Threes

rgpars shows a full house, Tens full of Kings

than51 wins the pot ($90.80) with a full house, Kings full of Threes

rgpars: ha

*** SUMMARY ***

Total pot $93.80 | Rake $3

Board: [4c 3s Ts Kd Kc]

Seat 2: Sylvain (small blind) folded on the Flop

Seat 4: train406 (big blind) folded on the Flop

Seat 5: TPrince22 didn't bet (folded)

Seat 6: bbann230 didn't bet (folded)

Seat 7: Angelina Summer didn't bet (folded)

Seat 8: rgpars showed [6c Tc Td 8s] and lost with a full house, Tens full of Kings

Seat 9: than51 (button) showed [3c 3d 8d Ks] and won ($90.80) with a full house, Kings full of Threes

This is where I make a post out of linking to other shit 'cause I got nothing original to say

My hometown has decided to sell soccer fields so Menards can build a store full doorknobs, screws, nails, and lumber. Nice job! All grassy areas should be replaced with giant hardware stores. This coming after only months after the city bulldozed Ralph's Corner bar, the city's oldest bar and favorite hangout of mine. Now, I don't think getting rid of a few soccer fields is as bad as levelling a bar that had been around prior to prohibition, but it's this same spirit of "urban renewal" that makes me want to break into the mayor's office and drop a big one (sans the flush) in his personal toilet.


In better news, I suppose, the Twins picked up gold-glove second baseman Luis Castillo from Florida. This should help patch up a giant hole in the middle infield (NO MORE RIVAS, TYVM) and give them someone who can hit for average and has a good OPS. Now, if they can sign a big bat, I think they will be contenders.