I've told everyone about my first WSOP Circuit event cash because that's a fun story to tell. Now lets go to the other side of things and discuss the first WSOP Circuit event that I played in... in Atlantic City. My girlfriend bought me into the event as a gift which is the best present she could have gotten me.
The trip was interesting to say the least. We flew into PA and took a train which was a fun experience...for the most part. It was the first time my girlfriend has ridden a train so that at made it better. First things first though, everything about Philly pretty much sucked. Everyone in the airport was so rude and it seemed like I was causing them an inconvenience to make me a coffee...when it's their freakin JOB!!!! All in all, we had to go to three different shops before we found a place that we didn't leave before they made our coffee. That city must suck. On this train ride, we had to make one connection. Since it was freezing cold out we didn't want to stand outside so we stood right inside of a covered glass area. To keep this part of the story short, the train that we were supposed to get on was in and out before we could get on...in fact, I'm not even sure that it stopped. I think it slowed down to a jogging pace threw some people out, I think one guy jumped as the door was closing at which point they were back up to full-speed. In the end we got to Atlantic City.
We stayed at Harrahs because we heard it was one of the nicer places to stay there and it definitely was. Prior to the tourney my girlfriend and I played around, hit some video poker, wasted some money in some slots for a bit then I got ready for my tourney. What we found is the negative effect that keeping tight slot machines and horrible odds has on everyone in this entire city. We walked around for hours and didn't hear 1 person scream, didn't hear one jackpot being hit, and never heard anyone anywhere happy about anything. Here is how this snowballs down. When players are losing their money ALL THE TIME with no real return to speak of they begin getting bad attitudes to the staff. After hours, months, or years of dealing with bad attitudes, their attitudes then get bad. The blackjack dealers weren't nice or inviting. They never got excited, and they were openly happy to take peoples money. It went a little something like this...4 people at a table and the dealer is showing a 6. One player has 20 and stands, one has 18 and stands...one splits 9's to get 19 on each and one doubles down on 10 to make 20 for the rest of his chips. The dealer never smiles once....until he turns over his other card and sees a 5... when the 10 hits he might as well say 'BOOOO-YAAA, in your face b*tches...I'll take that, I'll take that, awwwww...you're broke, peace out'. Yep, that about sums it up. This in turn has a negative effect on the attitude of generally happy players and the cycle continues. At least I hope this is how it happens and it's not just that everyone in New Jersey is just that unhappy and generally horrible. But then again, that's the back-up hypothesis.
So, that about sums it up. AC was pretty dirty, not a lot of fun, and you could cut the hostility in the air with a knife everywhere you went. Not good for my Qi.
As for the tournament, I made some rookie mistakes like not noticing that the blinds changed once and raising under the minimum because of it. Good learning experience and I missed cash by 20-30 players or so.
Next review will be for Reno I believe. Until then: Good luck in everything that you attempt.
Friday, December 18, 2009
Monday, December 14, 2009
Delayed post and frustration
It’s been a while since I’ve written and the reason is two-fold. I’ve been in Vegas for my friend Ken's bachelor party. That was a lot of fun seeing everyone but lesson learned, no more house/casino games for me. All in all I would have paid for the whole trip w/ poker/video poker but broke even/lost a bit due to blackjack and craps. Craps is not out of the question for the future but I will stay away from all other games. While there I was in a cash game w/ a guy who was dumping money left and right 2-3 seats to the left of me. Everyone was picking up pots against him and he just kept going back to the wallet. Then, he raises to 20 blind on our 1-2 table. I look at QQ from sb… so I make it 60 and tell him, you have to check the cards now bud…. He does and makes the call. Flop comes K37r. He shoves all in which he had been doing all day when he horribly missed. I thought and thought about it and said, “figures you’d hit your 3 outter vs me” before making the call and flipping up my QQ to see his K3 sitting there. Funny thing is that when he made the move he really thought he was behind. I got that back and lifted about 700 more from other people at the table over the next hour and half but sick sick sick. Nicest guy, just not a very good card player. That mixed w/ a good amount of money moving around made it a fun game.
Once I got home I played a couple of nice sized events and qualified for a couple. I got absolutely destroyed in all of them though, same ol same ol. Now on to today and the two hands that will likely lead to me ending poker altogether (when combined with a full month of this exact same stuff). First game is a 75$ buyin. As usual I thought that by stepping up in by buyins the horrible palyers would be gone…not the case…exactly opposite it seems. The hand that takes me out goes something like this. I have KK and get all-in preflop. The flop comes AKJ. He has A9 sooooted. Turn is a J and I’m thinking still good but this seems oddly familiar. You know why it’s familiar? Because now he has 2 outs to take this pot and vs me, that’s all you need…A on the river and I’m out, I say gg, and of course, wp because lets face it, this kind of play should be profitable when my karma debt is all paid up from a past life (apparently I was Hitler). So, pretty bad hand right. Lets move to the next tournament. I mentally saved this one for everyone’s pleasure. Now to set the table. It’s mid/late in tourney, almost bubble time and me and the guy to my left have about 30 some odd BBs when I’m dealt QQ. I raise and get reraised. Playing him based on what I've seen from him I just call as to not get into a race because I know I can get him to ship it light later in the hand. Flop is AQ8 rainbow. I raise him only to see him snapshove over that. Oh yes, I have the second best possible hand…and he has the best, turning over Aces. Seriously? If a Q doesn’t come I have the discipline to get away here and am likely the only player at the table with it but nooooo the ol cooler flop. I say ‘wow’ ‘standard’. And someone at the table says, "standard, no, that was a cooler". My only response is, maybe for you. For me, it’s standard, and it really has been lately. Hence the reason that I’m thinking of hanging this poker thing up for a bit and coming back strong after buying a new house and saving up a new roll. So, a reevaluation after I get some other things in order.
As always, Good luck in everything that you attempt.
Once I got home I played a couple of nice sized events and qualified for a couple. I got absolutely destroyed in all of them though, same ol same ol. Now on to today and the two hands that will likely lead to me ending poker altogether (when combined with a full month of this exact same stuff). First game is a 75$ buyin. As usual I thought that by stepping up in by buyins the horrible palyers would be gone…not the case…exactly opposite it seems. The hand that takes me out goes something like this. I have KK and get all-in preflop. The flop comes AKJ. He has A9 sooooted. Turn is a J and I’m thinking still good but this seems oddly familiar. You know why it’s familiar? Because now he has 2 outs to take this pot and vs me, that’s all you need…A on the river and I’m out, I say gg, and of course, wp because lets face it, this kind of play should be profitable when my karma debt is all paid up from a past life (apparently I was Hitler). So, pretty bad hand right. Lets move to the next tournament. I mentally saved this one for everyone’s pleasure. Now to set the table. It’s mid/late in tourney, almost bubble time and me and the guy to my left have about 30 some odd BBs when I’m dealt QQ. I raise and get reraised. Playing him based on what I've seen from him I just call as to not get into a race because I know I can get him to ship it light later in the hand. Flop is AQ8 rainbow. I raise him only to see him snapshove over that. Oh yes, I have the second best possible hand…and he has the best, turning over Aces. Seriously? If a Q doesn’t come I have the discipline to get away here and am likely the only player at the table with it but nooooo the ol cooler flop. I say ‘wow’ ‘standard’. And someone at the table says, "standard, no, that was a cooler". My only response is, maybe for you. For me, it’s standard, and it really has been lately. Hence the reason that I’m thinking of hanging this poker thing up for a bit and coming back strong after buying a new house and saving up a new roll. So, a reevaluation after I get some other things in order.
As always, Good luck in everything that you attempt.
Friday, December 4, 2009
Blog 2 from WSOP Circuit event in New Orleans: Part 2- Reprint
Sorry about the delay in getting this second part up...I've had some internet troubles and this is the first chance I've had to update. Enjoy the end of the trip:
Up to this point I've been playing solid poker...and am one of the most handsome people in the room...and I saved a mom and a baby from being hit by a train when their car stalled on some traintracks by stopping the train with my bare hands...yep, that about catches you up.
Once I got moved to a new table it was pretty easy to size it up and make some moves. My next table move was a little (lot) more difficult. The stack sizes at this table were massive and I had a guy to the right of me trying to steal every one of my blinds. It doesn't take much for me to get tired of this so after the third time of raising my blind I shoved him all in after looking down and seeing Ace-Queen. Although I don't feel that this was a mistake I was dissapointed to see him turn up AK after taking FOREVER to call it down. One time for me... the Q flops out there and I double up. It was an up and down battle from there and our table was soooo crazy. I get in to double up w/ Ace-Ten vs. QK. The board comes out 45678, both of us have a straight. Then I try again w/ Ace-Nine and get Ace-Two to call me. The board cards come 55448 se we both have 2 pair. There were about 10 of these hands at my table and it was just getting funny. This madness ended at 2:30 AM.
I figured that the second day would be different but no, the beats just kept coming and I held on until 27th, pulled a new table and then got in w/ about a 40% chance to win...no dice this time. So, out in 27th after about 14.5 hours of play. I've gotta say, it's a bitter-sweet finish since once I got in the money I thought I could surely final table this thing, but then again, it is only my second WSOP Circuit event and I cashed in it. I guess that's not bad considering a met an older genletman who has been doing this for 4 years and hasen't cashed in one...not sure I would continue if that was the case. I'm thinking next year that I'll take a vacation during this period and play as many of these as I can during that week. I'll take it down at some point. All in all the experience gets a rating of 8.5 and I'll definitely do it again. Thanks for any positive thoughts sent to me. They helped.
As for the rest of the trip, it's been great seeing Crystals family and being involved with my first crawfish boil. Definitely good food. Perhaps we'll get some shipped down and have one down in FL sometime (perhaps next year). I'll get some help from Crystals dad and brother to figure out how to boil these things but it's well worth it. Who's coming if I set this thing up? I suggest everyone...at least once in your life.
So, that's how it ended...I met some interesting people had a blast and made a little money. I'll be making more time for live poker as I progress with this little hobby.
To continue this theme of reposting, I'm sifting through some old blog entries from another blog to see what fits here. If they make the cut then they will be worth reading.
Until then: Good luck in everything that you attempt.
Up to this point I've been playing solid poker...and am one of the most handsome people in the room...and I saved a mom and a baby from being hit by a train when their car stalled on some traintracks by stopping the train with my bare hands...yep, that about catches you up.
Once I got moved to a new table it was pretty easy to size it up and make some moves. My next table move was a little (lot) more difficult. The stack sizes at this table were massive and I had a guy to the right of me trying to steal every one of my blinds. It doesn't take much for me to get tired of this so after the third time of raising my blind I shoved him all in after looking down and seeing Ace-Queen. Although I don't feel that this was a mistake I was dissapointed to see him turn up AK after taking FOREVER to call it down. One time for me... the Q flops out there and I double up. It was an up and down battle from there and our table was soooo crazy. I get in to double up w/ Ace-Ten vs. QK. The board comes out 45678, both of us have a straight. Then I try again w/ Ace-Nine and get Ace-Two to call me. The board cards come 55448 se we both have 2 pair. There were about 10 of these hands at my table and it was just getting funny. This madness ended at 2:30 AM.
I figured that the second day would be different but no, the beats just kept coming and I held on until 27th, pulled a new table and then got in w/ about a 40% chance to win...no dice this time. So, out in 27th after about 14.5 hours of play. I've gotta say, it's a bitter-sweet finish since once I got in the money I thought I could surely final table this thing, but then again, it is only my second WSOP Circuit event and I cashed in it. I guess that's not bad considering a met an older genletman who has been doing this for 4 years and hasen't cashed in one...not sure I would continue if that was the case. I'm thinking next year that I'll take a vacation during this period and play as many of these as I can during that week. I'll take it down at some point. All in all the experience gets a rating of 8.5 and I'll definitely do it again. Thanks for any positive thoughts sent to me. They helped.
As for the rest of the trip, it's been great seeing Crystals family and being involved with my first crawfish boil. Definitely good food. Perhaps we'll get some shipped down and have one down in FL sometime (perhaps next year). I'll get some help from Crystals dad and brother to figure out how to boil these things but it's well worth it. Who's coming if I set this thing up? I suggest everyone...at least once in your life.
So, that's how it ended...I met some interesting people had a blast and made a little money. I'll be making more time for live poker as I progress with this little hobby.
To continue this theme of reposting, I'm sifting through some old blog entries from another blog to see what fits here. If they make the cut then they will be worth reading.
Until then: Good luck in everything that you attempt.
Wednesday, November 25, 2009
One hand...Busting Chris Moorman
I don't have too much to say right now so I'm just gonna talk about 1 hand tonight. In the 50-50 on FullTilt I had the pleasure of busting out Chris Moorman, who I believe is on of the best poker players out right now. The hand went like this:
Seat 1: BARNIBUS (2,770)
Seat 2: Hewitt46 (3,290)
Seat 3: JokingJaded (4,680)
Seat 4: SARAH03 (7,765)
Seat 5: str8upnutz (2,370)
Seat 6: MoormanI (1,975)
Seat 7: FTvball9 (1,900)
Seat 8: Givemeyochips (4,830)
Seat 9: DevilsBankroll (3,705)
BARNIBUS posts the small blind of 40
Hewitt46 posts the big blind of 80
The button is in seat #9
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to DevilsBankroll [Jc Ah]
JokingJaded folds
SARAH03 folds
str8upnutz folds
MoormanI has 15 seconds left to act
MoormanI raises to 240
FTvball9 folds
Givemeyochips folds
DevilsBankroll calls 240
BARNIBUS folds
Hewitt46 calls 160
*** FLOP *** [5d 7h Ks]
Hewitt46 checks
MoormanI has 15 seconds left to act
MoormanI checks
DevilsBankroll checks
*** TURN *** [5d 7h Ks] [Jh]
Hewitt46 checks
MoormanI checks
DevilsBankroll bets 480
Hewitt46 folds
MoormanI raises to 1,735, and is all in
DevilsBankroll calls 1,255
MoormanI shows [Qd Jd]
DevilsBankroll shows [Jc Ah]
*** RIVER *** [5d 7h Ks Jh] [7c]
MoormanI shows two pair, Jacks and Sevens
DevilsBankroll shows two pair, Jacks and Sevens
DevilsBankroll wins the pot (4,230) with two pair, Jacks and Sevens
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 4,230 | Rake 0
Board: [5d 7h Ks Jh 7c]
Seat 1: BARNIBUS (small blind) folded before the Flop
Seat 2: Hewitt46 (big blind) folded on the Turn
Seat 3: JokingJaded didn't bet (folded)
Seat 4: SARAH03 didn't bet (folded)
Seat 5: str8upnutz didn't bet (folded)
Seat 6: MoormanI showed [Qd Jd] and lost with two pair, Jacks and Sevens
Seat 7: FTvball9 didn't bet (folded)
Seat 8: Givemeyochips didn't bet (folded)
Seat 9: DevilsBankroll (button) showed [Jc Ah] and won (4,230) with two pair, Jacks and Sevens
I definitely don't play this hand like this every time but against Chris, and the way he was playing tonight, it was the right move.
Seat 1: BARNIBUS (2,770)
Seat 2: Hewitt46 (3,290)
Seat 3: JokingJaded (4,680)
Seat 4: SARAH03 (7,765)
Seat 5: str8upnutz (2,370)
Seat 6: MoormanI (1,975)
Seat 7: FTvball9 (1,900)
Seat 8: Givemeyochips (4,830)
Seat 9: DevilsBankroll (3,705)
BARNIBUS posts the small blind of 40
Hewitt46 posts the big blind of 80
The button is in seat #9
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to DevilsBankroll [Jc Ah]
JokingJaded folds
SARAH03 folds
str8upnutz folds
MoormanI has 15 seconds left to act
MoormanI raises to 240
FTvball9 folds
Givemeyochips folds
DevilsBankroll calls 240
BARNIBUS folds
Hewitt46 calls 160
*** FLOP *** [5d 7h Ks]
Hewitt46 checks
MoormanI has 15 seconds left to act
MoormanI checks
DevilsBankroll checks
*** TURN *** [5d 7h Ks] [Jh]
Hewitt46 checks
MoormanI checks
DevilsBankroll bets 480
Hewitt46 folds
MoormanI raises to 1,735, and is all in
DevilsBankroll calls 1,255
MoormanI shows [Qd Jd]
DevilsBankroll shows [Jc Ah]
*** RIVER *** [5d 7h Ks Jh] [7c]
MoormanI shows two pair, Jacks and Sevens
DevilsBankroll shows two pair, Jacks and Sevens
DevilsBankroll wins the pot (4,230) with two pair, Jacks and Sevens
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 4,230 | Rake 0
Board: [5d 7h Ks Jh 7c]
Seat 1: BARNIBUS (small blind) folded before the Flop
Seat 2: Hewitt46 (big blind) folded on the Turn
Seat 3: JokingJaded didn't bet (folded)
Seat 4: SARAH03 didn't bet (folded)
Seat 5: str8upnutz didn't bet (folded)
Seat 6: MoormanI showed [Qd Jd] and lost with two pair, Jacks and Sevens
Seat 7: FTvball9 didn't bet (folded)
Seat 8: Givemeyochips didn't bet (folded)
Seat 9: DevilsBankroll (button) showed [Jc Ah] and won (4,230) with two pair, Jacks and Sevens
I definitely don't play this hand like this every time but against Chris, and the way he was playing tonight, it was the right move.
Friday, November 20, 2009
Casino's: A review of my experiences: Harrahs New Orleans
Although I haven't played all over the world, I have had the pleasure of traveling to a number of places around the US to play cards. The four trips that I've done the most or stuck out in my mind (good or bad) are New Orleans, Las Vegas, Reno, and Atlantic City (in no specific order). Here is a story or at least some words that I've jumbled up together to discuss my experiences in each.
New Orleans
This place holds a special place in my heart since it is where my girlfriend is from as well as the first place I cashed in a WSOP circuit event (see earlier blogs). It's an awesome place to play cards (Harrahs) and you get an interesting mix of people there. One of the most fun trips that I've had to New Orleans was during Mardi Gras. This was the most profitable trip for me to go there as well. I made tons of money there from drunk 'guests' to the city. The only real drawback is that when I was leaving I contemplated hard about taking a cab no more than 2 blocks to the hotel that I was staying at because there was a group of guys watching me from the rail once I started collecting a nice stack and were quick on their phones when I went to cash out (at 4AM!!!). It was no coincidence that they left the casino the same time I did...At which point I headed right back in. So, I took a cab the 2 blocks. Awesome place but not always the safest. My only real dislike of New Orleans is that they have toned down their food because the tourists say it's too spicy. Give me a break, New Orleans is about spicy food. If you don't like it, go to subway (which I think should also spice up every sandwich in there).
Next review will be Atlantic City. Until then: Good luck in everything that you attempt.
New Orleans
This place holds a special place in my heart since it is where my girlfriend is from as well as the first place I cashed in a WSOP circuit event (see earlier blogs). It's an awesome place to play cards (Harrahs) and you get an interesting mix of people there. One of the most fun trips that I've had to New Orleans was during Mardi Gras. This was the most profitable trip for me to go there as well. I made tons of money there from drunk 'guests' to the city. The only real drawback is that when I was leaving I contemplated hard about taking a cab no more than 2 blocks to the hotel that I was staying at because there was a group of guys watching me from the rail once I started collecting a nice stack and were quick on their phones when I went to cash out (at 4AM!!!). It was no coincidence that they left the casino the same time I did...At which point I headed right back in. So, I took a cab the 2 blocks. Awesome place but not always the safest. My only real dislike of New Orleans is that they have toned down their food because the tourists say it's too spicy. Give me a break, New Orleans is about spicy food. If you don't like it, go to subway (which I think should also spice up every sandwich in there).
Next review will be Atlantic City. Until then: Good luck in everything that you attempt.
Friday, November 13, 2009
Blog 1 from WSOP Circuit event in New Orleans: Part 1- Reprint
For this post and the next I'm going to be reposting the story of my second WSOP Circuit event (the first that I cashed in). I'm breaking it up into two blogs because it's a bit long for a blog and how else will I generate repeat visitors...other than putting 'to be continued' at the end of a story. Admit it, you always see the sequel no matter how bad you think it's gonna be. In my case, the SAW series is a perfect example of this...it sucks at this poitn but I see every one of them in hopes that they will turn it around. So, part one of the story:
"Crystal (My girlfriend) and I flew out Thursday after work and made it into New Orleans. The flight was good, got a nap in. I was surprised to find out that there is no shuttle service to Harrahs casinos once we got to the airport, no big deal though. So after a cab ride, we check into the hotel and make a plan for what we're doing on the first night. After a vote we decide, Buffet and play some video poker. After playing a bit we checked the line at the Buffet and it was not anything that we were in the mood to wait for, so back to the video poker machines. No luck this time on those machines so after some time we went back and waited for about 20 minutes for the Buffet. Once we get to the front of the line we realize that we have the wrong months coupon for free Buffet and the right one was back at the hotel. Thank goodness for the nice lady working that line. She said that we could go back to the room and get the right coupon (because I am NOT paying 60$ to eat dinner, no matter how good the food is if I canget it for free). We get back to be pleasantly siurprised to see that the woman didn't go directly on break after we left (which we thought would have been kinda standard in this situation). So, one word to describe the Buffet, great...except the rolls kinda suck there. After that some more video poker, hitting up the ol slot machines and then to bed for us. The next morning we had breakfast at a little place called Mothers which was a real dive but the food was good and it was PACKED. Good for them in a bad economy. Crystal then headed home with her brother to surprise her mom for mothers day weekend (since she didn't know we were coming).
After breakfast I headed over to the casino and got registered for the event. I was surprised at how small everyone expected this tournament field to be. In Atlantic City there were over 1000 people signed up for almost this exact same event. When I asked people if they thought there would be more than 1000 people in this one the looked at me like I had three heads or something. They were kinda right, although the field size was bigger than they have ever had here, it ended up being a field of 572. That equates to 54 people getting paid and a first place finish of a little over $40,000.
On day one I feel that I played well and the great thing was the structure of the tournament was set up so good players made the money, not the lucky ones, which suites me just fine as I don't fall in the lucky category too often (although I did once in this tournament-you'll see later). I did get knocked around a whole lot by people catching 2 and 3 outters early in the tourney and found myself super short stacked. To be exact I had 800 of fmy 7000 starting chips with about 250 people to go when the blinds were at 100. **I'll write a blog to explain this stuff because I know some of you that read this have no idea what I'm talking about.*** To come back from that I trippled up by getting all in w/ AJ against A9 and some 2 trash cards (which I thought was odd). After that I made a call to a min-raise (worst play in poker...EVER), and caught a set of nines. From there, it was easy to get the guy w/ AA to ship those chips on over. Once I had some chips it was pretty standard play to get back into the running although I only got 3 or 4 really good hands all tournament."
To be continued...
"Crystal (My girlfriend) and I flew out Thursday after work and made it into New Orleans. The flight was good, got a nap in. I was surprised to find out that there is no shuttle service to Harrahs casinos once we got to the airport, no big deal though. So after a cab ride, we check into the hotel and make a plan for what we're doing on the first night. After a vote we decide, Buffet and play some video poker. After playing a bit we checked the line at the Buffet and it was not anything that we were in the mood to wait for, so back to the video poker machines. No luck this time on those machines so after some time we went back and waited for about 20 minutes for the Buffet. Once we get to the front of the line we realize that we have the wrong months coupon for free Buffet and the right one was back at the hotel. Thank goodness for the nice lady working that line. She said that we could go back to the room and get the right coupon (because I am NOT paying 60$ to eat dinner, no matter how good the food is if I canget it for free). We get back to be pleasantly siurprised to see that the woman didn't go directly on break after we left (which we thought would have been kinda standard in this situation). So, one word to describe the Buffet, great...except the rolls kinda suck there. After that some more video poker, hitting up the ol slot machines and then to bed for us. The next morning we had breakfast at a little place called Mothers which was a real dive but the food was good and it was PACKED. Good for them in a bad economy. Crystal then headed home with her brother to surprise her mom for mothers day weekend (since she didn't know we were coming).
After breakfast I headed over to the casino and got registered for the event. I was surprised at how small everyone expected this tournament field to be. In Atlantic City there were over 1000 people signed up for almost this exact same event. When I asked people if they thought there would be more than 1000 people in this one the looked at me like I had three heads or something. They were kinda right, although the field size was bigger than they have ever had here, it ended up being a field of 572. That equates to 54 people getting paid and a first place finish of a little over $40,000.
On day one I feel that I played well and the great thing was the structure of the tournament was set up so good players made the money, not the lucky ones, which suites me just fine as I don't fall in the lucky category too often (although I did once in this tournament-you'll see later). I did get knocked around a whole lot by people catching 2 and 3 outters early in the tourney and found myself super short stacked. To be exact I had 800 of fmy 7000 starting chips with about 250 people to go when the blinds were at 100. **I'll write a blog to explain this stuff because I know some of you that read this have no idea what I'm talking about.*** To come back from that I trippled up by getting all in w/ AJ against A9 and some 2 trash cards (which I thought was odd). After that I made a call to a min-raise (worst play in poker...EVER), and caught a set of nines. From there, it was easy to get the guy w/ AA to ship those chips on over. Once I had some chips it was pretty standard play to get back into the running although I only got 3 or 4 really good hands all tournament."
To be continued...
Friday, November 6, 2009
My poker diary...entry #1
As you may well have realized, A lot of what will get posted here will be about my life and my background playing poker. Concurrently, I have started keeping a Poker Diary. For those of you who care, this first entry should get you up to speed on my life. Enjoy:
OK, so I’ve decided to keep a poker diary. Since I’m not that interested in presenting my progress to others, this is for my own good, I can skim through potentially learn a few things (haha, then I post it online within a week of writing it). Lets summarize my poker ‘career’ up to this point. I started on Bodog. I think I deposited $300 or so in order to get the maximum bonus at the time. I played and I played bad (which is typical on Bodog IMO). I played down to under $10 and that was the end of my frustration. I vowed never to reload, if I couldn’t figure it out then don’t waste the money. I read one book to get me started (Super System II of course). I skimmed it really but it must have set something off in the ol thinker because I didn’t have to redeposit…ever (knock on wood). I built that up slowly grinding penny cash and single table SNGs, and I mean GRIND. When I finally made enough money I took that original 300 out, so, I’m playing w/ other's money so to speak. To sum it up, so far I’ve made about 35K in profit or so, played w/ some of the best in the world, and had fun doing it. Do I play for the fun of it, no, do I play for the thrill, no, I play for money. Luckily, I don’t depend on it, but I set goals and I want to hit them. My most notables include:
This kinda catches me up with where I am now although I'll post my an entry from an older blog about my first WSOP Circuit event cash next week.
Until then: Good luck in everything that you attempt.
OK, so I’ve decided to keep a poker diary. Since I’m not that interested in presenting my progress to others, this is for my own good, I can skim through potentially learn a few things (haha, then I post it online within a week of writing it). Lets summarize my poker ‘career’ up to this point. I started on Bodog. I think I deposited $300 or so in order to get the maximum bonus at the time. I played and I played bad (which is typical on Bodog IMO). I played down to under $10 and that was the end of my frustration. I vowed never to reload, if I couldn’t figure it out then don’t waste the money. I read one book to get me started (Super System II of course). I skimmed it really but it must have set something off in the ol thinker because I didn’t have to redeposit…ever (knock on wood). I built that up slowly grinding penny cash and single table SNGs, and I mean GRIND. When I finally made enough money I took that original 300 out, so, I’m playing w/ other's money so to speak. To sum it up, so far I’ve made about 35K in profit or so, played w/ some of the best in the world, and had fun doing it. Do I play for the fun of it, no, do I play for the thrill, no, I play for money. Luckily, I don’t depend on it, but I set goals and I want to hit them. My most notables include:
- My first 4 figure score: 1400 or so- Jan 2008- Don’t quite recall the feeling but followed it up 2 days later w/ a 900 win and moved forward from there.
- Breaking the 5000 mark- March 08, took a 44$ tourney for 5500. That was a real rush.
- My first big cash on FullTilt- July 2008- Took it down for 5400. Needed that because I was pretty much starting over w/ the grinding small stakes on that site. The next day I finaled an Omaha Hi/lo w/ Jon Turner and some other pro who are mad lucky… I was learning as I went.
- My first (and only) 5 figure score- May 2009- 2nd in the Bodog 100K. Talk about a rush. I think I may have misplayed 1 hand QKs that cost me the tourney and 10K though. Learned form that one.
- Finaling the 100K again the very next time that I played it...taking down 4th and 7K...as always, feel like I should have won it.
- Busting Huck Seed in the FTOP event- nothing special, AA vs KK. Should have went on to final that one but alas…a cold run of cards ran me over.
This kinda catches me up with where I am now although I'll post my an entry from an older blog about my first WSOP Circuit event cash next week.
Until then: Good luck in everything that you attempt.
Friday, October 30, 2009
The backstory- Poker
In order to give you a little background on this blog and me I'm going to do a comparison. I'm going to do a comparison of an insanely popular game of skill, called poker, to myself. Pretty standard comparison, right? I thought so too, so lets get started.
Age
Poker: Not quite sure but some variation dates back to 969 A.D. (or before). So pretty old.
Me: Slightly younger. I just had my 28th birthday this month...I wonder if poker feels like it's 2081 years old since I feel twice my age.
Origin
Poker: Part Chinese, part Egyptian, part French, part Canadian (eh), with an American influence.
Me: Similar, I'm a mutt too...minus the French influence. Originally from VA, currently living in Central Florida.
Variations
Poker: Hold-em, Omaha, Omaha hi-lo, Stud, Stud hi-lo, Razz, 2-7 Lowball, Badugi, Chineese Poker... I think I'll stop here for the sake of not sounding like Bubba Blue from Forest Gump.
Me: Don't be silly, I'm one of a kind.
Connection with New Orleans
Poker: When French-Canadians founded New Orleans, they brought poker with them. Then thanks to the mighty M-I-crooked letter-crooked letter-I-humpback-humpback-I, it spread all throughout the country.
Me: My beautiful girlfriend is from New Orleans as well. It's also where I cashed in my first WSOP Circuit event. Never been on the Missisippi though.
As I continue to introduce myself and develop this slice of history for you all I'm sure I'll draw other connections between these too. For now I'll sign off and fill this in more a bit later.
Good luck in everything that you attempt.
Age
Poker: Not quite sure but some variation dates back to 969 A.D. (or before). So pretty old.
Me: Slightly younger. I just had my 28th birthday this month...I wonder if poker feels like it's 2081 years old since I feel twice my age.
Origin
Poker: Part Chinese, part Egyptian, part French, part Canadian (eh), with an American influence.
Me: Similar, I'm a mutt too...minus the French influence. Originally from VA, currently living in Central Florida.
Variations
Poker: Hold-em, Omaha, Omaha hi-lo, Stud, Stud hi-lo, Razz, 2-7 Lowball, Badugi, Chineese Poker... I think I'll stop here for the sake of not sounding like Bubba Blue from Forest Gump.
Me: Don't be silly, I'm one of a kind.
Connection with New Orleans
Poker: When French-Canadians founded New Orleans, they brought poker with them. Then thanks to the mighty M-I-crooked letter-crooked letter-I-humpback-humpback-I, it spread all throughout the country.
Me: My beautiful girlfriend is from New Orleans as well. It's also where I cashed in my first WSOP Circuit event. Never been on the Missisippi though.
As I continue to introduce myself and develop this slice of history for you all I'm sure I'll draw other connections between these too. For now I'll sign off and fill this in more a bit later.
Good luck in everything that you attempt.
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