Merry Christmas Everyone

I'm fresh abck from Mom's with family and food and gift exchange. I got the air jordan sneakers I spotted last time in Denver. I completely forgot about them shoes and was so suprised to open that gift - that was cool >>

That was the most suprising gift I got because I wasn't expecting anything at all and was something I said I ramdomly liked several months ago. I also got the usual socks, gloves, and stocking stuffers that I enjoy.

Pokerwise, I've been playing the $3 KO MTT's on FTP, I won one and took 2nd in the next one. I played $1/$2 cash on Stars and doubled up within like 10 hands. It was too loosey goosey for me so I left with $198 profit after like 20 hands. Still searching for that 4 digit score - I got deep again in the Daily Double on FTP, I think like 40th or so. I hope it's a Daily Double I score big in, hell any 4 digit score from $10 buy in will make me satisfied.

Book Review:

I just finished reading "How to win the Championship" by T.J. Cloutier. It's a good read for me because it's generalistic, and not specific to any style of play or player, TJ preaches to keep an open mind and error on the side of caution. TJ breaks the book down nicely into sections of a tournament that you will find yourself in. Such as shortstacked early, or deepstacked mid-field. He then proceeds to give a couple of styles and strategies that can be useful, and TJ even pulls specific examples from his past play, or oother's, into the book to demonstrate his suggestions.

I think this book falls a lot inline with the "Kill Phil" book by Blair Rodman and Lee Nelson, only it's much more subtle and informative and not so pushy and in-your-face like KP. TJ gives rational and clear thoughts as to why he is making a play and I personally enjoy the thought process in the game of poker. Perhaps the most good I've pulled from TJ's book is to get aggressive before you get into a danger zone and are forced to chase the action versus taking a stand when it means something to others. And somehow Ive managed to learn a great deal on value-betting in MTT"s when I have position. I think it's a combination of the book from TJ and carefully analyzing mr. menlo's vidz on CR.

End Book Review

So, I'm back to MTT's for a while now, sticking to the $3 - $10 buy ins and grinding. I'll keep honing my skills at the $3 KO on FTP until I can get a decent roll. I don't plan to withdrawl or deposit until I get settled in Denver and start working out a good schedule I can keep all year and while traveling for work.

Also, I'm talking to this chick Robin I met on-line, she's from NYC and is a doctor and is moving to Denver the same time I am, or like a month or two aftrer. She seems really sweet and chill and inquisitive at the same time.

So, I'll wrap this up as some friends just got here - Marry Christmas!

Happy day after Thanksgiving, I guess it's called Black Friday where America hordes shopping outlets to save a buck spioling themselves and their children. Cooindientaly it's immediatly following our glutenous day devouring animals that kept our country alive during a depressing time all around. Like I needed a few layers to keep any warmer. Anyways, I'm thankful for online poker in general, I'm not thankful for bad beat and getting deep in MTT only to donk off before FT where ther jiucy money is. I'm thankful for my job and my upcoming move out of the DC area to Denver, CO.

I swear the redneck hippie is in me somewhere, maybe he'll come out when I get settled in, but I hope to have people keep me in check. Speaking of turkeys and redneck hippies, I thought my pic from a recent friends wedding would fit nicely in with this blog post

So after all the bad beats on .25/.50 and my recent trip to Kansas City and how well I played there on 1/2, I decided I would take a shot which I havent done in a long time.

So far things are going well, I've started yesterday and playing today @ 1/2 on FT. I managed to get up 300 and then of course, my AA's get cracked with a 4 outer on the river (typical), and the I lose a flush draw and next thing you know I've lost have my hard earned 300. I have got to find a way to prevent these bad beats when I finally get ahead.

Full Tilt Poker Game #4147220358: Table Reunion (6 max) - $1/$2 - No Limit Hold'em - 23:02:27 ET - 2007/11/11
Seat 1: trevor111 ($75.10)
Seat 2: JailBirdRN ($200)
Seat 3: Showstopper2007 ($272.70)
Seat 4: Nipper992K ($202.75)
Seat 5: samuelsosa ($152.90)
Seat 6: stoosh ($238.20)
stoosh posts the small blind of $1
trevor111 posts the big blind of $2
The button is in seat #5
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Nipper992K [As Ah]
JailBirdRN folds
Showstopper2007 folds
Nipper992K raises to $6
samuelsosa calls $6
stoosh folds
trevor111 calls $4
*** FLOP *** [4h 3s Js]
trevor111 checks
Nipper992K bets $12
samuelsosa folds
trevor111 raises to $24
Nipper992K raises to $86
trevor111 calls $45.10, and is all in
Nipper992K shows [As Ah]
trevor111 shows [Jh 5s]
Uncalled bet of $16.90 returned to Nipper992K
*** TURN *** [4h 3s Js] [Ac]
*** RIVER *** [4h 3s Js Ac] [2h]
Nipper992K shows three of a kind, Aces
trevor111 shows a straight, Five high
trevor111 wins the pot ($154.20) with a straight, Five high
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $157.20 | Rake $3
Board: [4h 3s Js Ac 2h]
Seat 1: trevor111 (big blind) showed [Jh 5s] and won ($154.20) with a straight, Five high
Seat 2: JailBirdRN didn't bet (folded)
Seat 3: Showstopper2007 didn't bet (folded)
Seat 4: Nipper992K showed [As Ah] and lost with three of a kind, Aces
Seat 5: samuelsosa (button) folded on the Flop
Seat 6: stoosh (small blind) folded before the Flop

So after all the bad beats on .25/.50 and my recent trip to Kansas City and how well I played there on 1/2, I decided I would take a shot which I havent done in a long time.

So far things are going well, I've started yesterday and playing today @ 1/2 on FT. I managed to get up 300 and then of course, my AA's get cracked with a 4 outer on the river (typical), and the I lose a flush draw and next thing you know I've lost have my hard earned 300. I have got to find a way to prevent these bad beats when I finally get ahead.

Full Tilt Poker Game #4147220358: Table Reunion (6 max) - $1/$2 - No Limit Hold'em - 23:02:27 ET - 2007/11/11
Seat 1: trevor111 ($75.10)
Seat 2: JailBirdRN ($200)
Seat 3: Showstopper2007 ($272.70)
Seat 4: Nipper992K ($202.75)
Seat 5: samuelsosa ($152.90)
Seat 6: stoosh ($238.20)
stoosh posts the small blind of $1
trevor111 posts the big blind of $2
The button is in seat #5
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Nipper992K [As Ah]
JailBirdRN folds
Showstopper2007 folds
Nipper992K raises to $6
samuelsosa calls $6
stoosh folds
trevor111 calls $4
*** FLOP *** [4h 3s Js]
trevor111 checks
Nipper992K bets $12
samuelsosa folds
trevor111 raises to $24
Nipper992K raises to $86
trevor111 calls $45.10, and is all in
Nipper992K shows [As Ah]
trevor111 shows [Jh 5s]
Uncalled bet of $16.90 returned to Nipper992K
*** TURN *** [4h 3s Js] [Ac]
*** RIVER *** [4h 3s Js Ac] [2h]
Nipper992K shows three of a kind, Aces
trevor111 shows a straight, Five high
trevor111 wins the pot ($154.20) with a straight, Five high
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $157.20 | Rake $3
Board: [4h 3s Js Ac 2h]
Seat 1: trevor111 (big blind) showed [Jh 5s] and won ($154.20) with a straight, Five high
Seat 2: JailBirdRN didn't bet (folded)
Seat 3: Showstopper2007 didn't bet (folded)
Seat 4: Nipper992K showed [As Ah] and lost with three of a kind, Aces
Seat 5: samuelsosa (button) folded on the Flop
Seat 6: stoosh (small blind) folded before the Flop

Woot Woot!

Not sure why I'm so excited it's my 30th birthday, but it's my birthday nonetheless. Plus it's a Saturday and I took the day off yesterday and partied all night. We played poker too, which I haven't really done in about 2 weeks since I went on a long business trip to Palms Springs, CA; Mesa, AZ to see my Dad and then to Ft. Collins/Denver, CO. I might be going to Kansas City, MO soon so not sure how much more poker I'll be able to play.

That makes we wonder if I've lost some of my skills, I'm down 2 buy-ins (2x $50nl) since I got back and am not proud of that. The losses have all been suckouts against me, which I can normally deal with because you have to be getting in with the best of it just to get sucked out on, but these were pretty bad. The 4 times I've had AA I've lost 3 times, twice all-in pre-flop. There were straights that lost runner, runner to flushes and higher donkey straights, etc. But overall it could be worse, I've made some tough laydowns that probably should have been big losses. My friend Chris went on a tear last night up about 3.5 buy-ins in one marathon session. I saw him hit a straight flush last night and he got paid off on it.

And then today, my birthday, about half an hour into my poker session, I get Q9s UTG and decide to pop it up a lil :

Free hand converter brought to you by CardRunners

Seat 1: DWarrior ($50) -
Seat 2: Nipper992K ($48.50)
Seat 3: 594pc ($4.30)
Seat 4: SushiWarrior ($52.25) -
Seat 5: Jerry Cotton ($20)
Seat 6: mad6066 ($31.35) -

PRE-FLOP:
mad6066 posts small blind $0.25
DWarrior posts BIG blind $0.50
Dealt To: Nipper992K


RAISE Nipper992K ($1.50)
FOLD 594pc
FOLD SushiWarrior
CALL mad6066 ($1.25)
FOLD DWarrior

FLOP:
Pot: $3.5


CHECK mad6066
CHECK Nipper992K

TURN:
Pot: $3.5


CHECK mad6066
BET Nipper992K ($3.50)
CALL mad6066 ($3.50)

RIVER:
Pot: $10.5


CHECK mad6066
BET Nipper992K ($12)
RAISE mad6066 ($24)
RAISE Nipper992K ($43.50)
CALL mad6066 ($2.35)
UNCALLED Nipper992K ($17.15)

SHOWDOWN:
Nipper992K:

MUCK mad6066

Nipper992K collected $60.2 from main pot with a straight flush, Queen high

SUMMARY:
Total pot: $63 Rake: $3
Final Board:


Seat 1: DWarrior big blind folded before the Flop - Net Gain/Loss: ($-0.5)
Seat 2: Nipper992K showed [9s Qs] and won 60.20 with a straight flush, Queen high - Net Gain/Loss: ($28.85)
Seat 3: 594pc didnt bet folded - Net Gain/Loss: ($0)
Seat 4: SushiWarrior button didnt bet folded - Net Gain/Loss: ($0)
Seat 5: Jerry Cotton is sitting out - Net Gain/Loss: ($0)
Seat 6: mad6066 small blind mucked [2s As] - a flush, Ace high - Net Gain/Loss: ($-31.35)

Discussion

Pre-flop, I like the 'decent' value of this hand.

Decent becuase each kicker is, well, decent. Nothing to push with but good enough to use to determine if the oppoents will tend to bluff a little a lot, if he'll back off a bluff, or even 'call a riot' with, etc. It's a good hand for taking the tempeture with and seeing a showdown cheaply - you get the point. I don't recommend alwyas raising with it like I did, but if you have a tight image like I did up to this point, you can use it to exploit that image while getting decent value.

So when the flop comes I'm immediatly thinking about my odds of hitting a 10 for inside straight, and what a decent value to call here would be. I didn't want to bet because I didn't have a had at this point. The turn brings and I like this card. I see the straight possibility is still there and I picked up a flush draw too and not to mention the inside straight flush draw. If my opponent is on another other draw himself it gets even better because I have to only worry about a boat and could get away from a bet representing a full house. I hope.

Thankfully I don't have to worry about that becuase the miracle comes. This is when I recall how Chris got maximum value for his straight flush last night. It was my conclusion that his opponent may be holding the A high flush and was also trying to get paid without seeing the straight flush. Since we don't have to worry about the full houses, we can leave a little room for either to come back over the top. Hence my overpot bet and not the shove, if he is calling $12 into $10, he sees the value to come over the top with A high flushes and full houses which is what I was hoping for, he mucked the A2 spades - brilliant! LOL, that was fun.

I can't think of anything else and that was long enough figuring out how to paste my hand histories. Happy Birthday to Me!

It's Saturday night, October 13th....I just took 2nd in a $10 MTT, 365 people, for about $500. Feels good as I haven't played many MTTs lately. The tourny was not too tough, basically I didn't really get sucked out on often when I was ahead so I was able to go really deep. There were a few hands where I sucked out though! LOL, I'll have to figure out how to use the HH features so I can post the hands and discuss them. Hopefully that will come soon.

Only thing that's really changed is that I broke down and redeposited $1K across FT & PS. So far I'm up and it's all good, and at least in on sites without Blackjack. I couldn't stand playing so low limit and besides I can afford to player higher than I am playing at the moment. I've managed to save a few thousand dollars over the last few weeks from my paychecks and actually $2K of that is from my last withdrawl from poker. I'm hoping to build that savings into $10K by the end of the year through my comission at work and additional poker withdrawls.

I'm a few chapters into The Theory of Poker by David Sklansky. I'm liking this book so far. It's SO fundamental and is reminding me of the basic thinking processes that should be happening. I knew about them mostly from Harrington and Doyle books and this is a fantasitc reminder for me to buckle down and play my best.

I'm traveling to Palm Springs, CA on Monday for a week for work, then going to Arizona to visit my Dad and another weeks worth of travel for work. I will likely be in Denver, CO, and Kansas City, MO that week too. Work is getting crazy and they're still talking about moving me out west to replace someone I work with. I'm not sure how much poker I get to play upcoming, but next week I am staying at a Hotel/Casino resort so I hope to squeeze in some live play too. I'd like to play SNG's live and see how I do. I've only played one SNG live before in Atlantic City and finished on the bubble with a stupid call with 67sooted. I think I can do well with my reads and would like to cash live other than live cash games.

My current roll:

Full Tilt - $984.17

Poker Stars - $567.90

It's Columbus Day 2007, a Monday holiday and I'm watching some CR vidz from my couch. This is my first poker blog (my first blog, period) and I hope to accomplish a few goals through the use of this writing exercise. I hope to use my blog as a place to reflect upon the game and to help refine my theory, play, skill and gain larger profits from this game I love.

Pokers been a real grind for me lately, the last 2 months or so I've taken about a $1000 downswing. Before that I was crushing MTT and doing very well in Cash games from $25nl buy in to $100nl. It all seems to have changed when I started cashing out my winnings, maybe it's psychological or maybe just a down swing at an odd time. But regardless, I've dropped down a few (several) levels to recoup. Right now I'm grinding $10nl, that's .5/.10 cents. I feel horrible but I'm not willing to redeposit until I can prove my ability to build and maintain an online poker bankroll. I've cashed out several thousand, and then proceeded to lose about $800 of the $1000 I left across 4 sites.

To be honest, I need to keep away from UltimateBet, and PlayersOnly sites. They have BlackJack links on the poker table and I've lost a lot of my Poker roll that way, pathetic. I did the same thing on Bodog, but the link is not on the poker table so it's not so bad. Besides, I've done very well on Bodog and wouldn't hesitate going back once my roll is big enough to spread out again. But for some reason, steam begets steam and if it wasn't for BJ I'd likely still be rollin on those sites.

So for now it's just FullTilt, with a pathetic stack and low limit grinding.

I think my goals for poker at this point (in no specific order) are:

- win @ lowest limit (.5/.10 - .25/.50) until $500 roll

- move to low (.5/1 - 1/2) until $2000 roll

- read 2 addtl books (Theory of Poker, Slansky & Hold'em Poker for Adv Players, Slanskly/Malmuth)

Book Reviews:

Kill Phil - I don't like this book. I started my downswing right after I started reading this book. It's like a "How-to for Dummies" version of a bad strategy book. There are no advanced concepts, very little thought provoking, intellectually stimulating theories or demonstrations of abilities to out-maneuver opponents. True to the books words early on, Kill Phill is not a book for developed players, but rather what someone could read 30 minutes before their first ever time playing.

Take Me To The River - by Peter Alson. I really like this book - a non-poker-strategy, but poker related book. The author reminds me of myself on this average dude's journey through what seems to me now, a far off dream. The books is his tale of him and his buddy's experiences throughout the 2005 World Series of Poker. At the same time, he makes that dream feel so close, as if I really am living my WSOP dream through his words. Basically, I can relate to his results, and in some way relate to where he is in life. I also like it because it's not a poker strategy book, well written, and helps take my mind off my play.