November 06, 2009
A friend I played poker with took his own life a little more than a month ago...and I really haven't been the same since. I've had quite a few close calls in MTTs with Holdem Rebuys, 6-max, HA, and MANY PLO tourneys but have never been able to close out...I had one sick beat where a player called a half pot bet out of position with nothing but a gutshot straight draw when I flopped top two really late in a rebuy and binked it on the turn...I just really haven't had the heart to take this kind of variance. I will be back up and blogging and grinding in no time but until then GL guys!
August 31, 2009
(Also check out Matisyahu's new song "One Day", I wanted to play that but embedded has been disabled so it can't be played here) Warning: this may in fact be a level, lol. So I was hanging out with some old friends the other day and began talking about how weird in fact my life is to standard people and who I am to them is so drastically different depending on their perspective of life. When I talk about groups of people I only mean people I actually know in person, nobody online or people who know of me. If I haven't met you in person then I don't know you. For most poker players your really just a name and not a person. (Sorry if this seems mean but its true). Also a few people do overlap categories. To many I am a degenerate, bum, gambler who makes money illegally. To these people it was absolutely impossible to play poker for a living until a couple of years ago after the poker boom. Now they think it is so difficult to do that it is essentially impossible to make money and of you can make money playing poker then you are involved in illegal activity. I am even worse as I have been dependent on poker winnings as my sole means of money for over 2 years now and I am still not 21! Most of these people are over 50, friends of my mothers, or parents of friends. To others I am an Internet loser, who makes money on the computer somehow lol. To these people they think that I post to much on twitter, facebook, blog, etc. They all know I haven't worked in years and they really don't understand how I manage to live. They know its poker but they don't even know what blinds are in the game lol. Some envy me and others just think I'm weird. This is usually based around if they have a better job or not. A small group however respects me highly, and even envy my life. This group usually works very hard with marginal success. I can see where this group comes from because as many poker players I seem to have a more laid back, stress free lifestyle. I mean I wouldn't say I work very hard, although my mother would yell at me for saying that as I really have dedicated years to learning the game, but I have/get everything I want/need. All of which without help from anyone, the only thing my mother does for me financially is purchase food and put a roof over my head. I do realize how much that still is and I appreciate it immensely. If I had only realized years ago that it would be physically impossible for me to get a part time job, I would have saved up thousands instead of blowing it all partying and living lavishly. I mean I bought rockband for the apartment I was staying in a year ago and when we five stared the hardest set list, I sang Coheed & Cambria on expert, we raged and smashed everything in true rock band fashion! There goes $200 lol. Obviously I have blown thousands on hats, trips, jewlery, and electronics. All of which are completely destoryed or lost except for my electronics. When I first won over a thousand dollars I went and bought a bunch of assorted fitted hats and had them all embroidered with "Bill Craven" on the back and at one time I had 3 chains and 4 rings, all of which are now gone! lol. All this being said I am happier now than ever, I am healthy, free, and feeling good. I have been having success in every aspect of life and I have found a lot of quality people to associate with. Work hard, take pride, do good, and be happy! I'm out!
August 24, 2009
Haven't been playing too much poker, I have been trying to play live but the games keep breaking. Its tough too keep live backroom games going when a small select few have a fairly large edge and not a lot of people to play lol On the life side of things I feel great! I am in the best shape in over 2 years, have been eating like a king, and I have not had or craved a cigarette in over a week! I really feel like this time is it for quiting cigarettes, as I haven't been smoking regularly in months and my mother bought me Nicorette. My mother has never told me I "have" to do something ever before in my life and isn't well off by any means, so when she told me to quit and paid the outrageous price for name brand Nicorette I knew I really had to do it both out of reason and respect for the woman who has done everything for me. I played poker for the first day Saturday in almost 2 weeks, just a few MTTs and SNGs for iron man purposes and ran bad. Played 2 PLO, 1 Razz, and a couple of NLH mtts all of which I ran poorly in. I got an amazing table draw for every tournament but just couldn't get the run good to go deep in any of them.www.pokerhand.org/ Playing tight I three bet TT and get 4 bet all in by KTo, I get short stacked and 99 < AKs.www.pokerhand.org/ Here a weak player I have notes on min raises again, I flat in position with AJ for value and too keep in a monster donk in the SB who was playing very recklessly deep stacked. On the river he bets out 1/2 pot and on this board texture I fold a lot to this bet as there really are NO draws besides gutters but this player was so out of line and I thought if he was value betting he would just put me all in.www.pokerhand.org/ Really didn't want to shove this as he overbet but folding flopped two pair on a flush draw board in the daily dollar is EV suicide. I still have yet to run good in a razz tournament although its only a matter of time with how weak the low/medium buyin MTTs are. Players routinely capping with an 8 showing on 3rd lol In SNG news I have moved up to the 14s for super turbos and have been doing quite well over the small sample. The games are just as juicy at this level and also seem to have a slightly lower variance style although 30 buyin downswings should still be prevelant. I will post a graph next time. I am also going to be playing more PLO, Razz, and 6-max cash games online as I am very bored with tournaments in general right now. On Sunday I played about a thousand hands of PLO and ran hot as balls LOL and was sitting on over $150 & $100 on two .10/.25 tables. I had position on a player deep stacked who called all three bets, even with paired hands so it wasn't very difficult. I will be updating regularly again as the summer is ending and I will be back on the grind!
August 11, 2009
Sorry for not updating a lot but I have been putting in a lot of hours since my last post and been doing my best to have a social life as well. That being said I haven't played really in almost a week and took a buyout for the bet so I could party with some old friends I hadn't seen in a while. Lol that being said I didn't even get to see them because my ride got wasted real early and I lost my phone, which ended up being in the middle of my driveway. In other life news I'm single, it wasn't working between us, so we went back to being friends. I'm really happy to be single as I really never like doing anything but what I want to do lol that sounds bad but its true. I have freak outs about committing to anything anymore, I mean I couldn't even finish this bet and I was ahead going into the last week! It seems to be two weeks for me and thats when I just need something different. I also haven't been able to quit smoking cigs because I have been out partying too much like usual. I have gone 17 days and 14 days seperately without one and have failed to quit! I have however been eating great, playing great, and feeling great so not complaints from me! On the poker side of things everything is good, I'm rolled for the 7s completely now, and 50nl HU bumhunting! This has become a favorite past time for me. I table select insanely and will only play the worst players and they basically give you money! You couldn't do this seriously as multitabling "decent" players would yield a much higher hourly return, (but also need a much bigger bankroll to handle the increased variance), if your good but its fun to do while playing old gameboy games on your computer bored! I have been trying to play more and more PLO and Razz MTTs, as I believe I have a significant edge at these stakes in these games, but they just don't run enough on FTP at times good for me to put in a decent volume. I have won 3 of 5 PLO mtts on UB and bubbled the UBOC $100 rebuy. Obviously this is running good, but I seriously outplay almost all opponents repeatedly. The second tournament I won however was a complete lucksack I will admit as I was foolishly out played by a reg and hit a two outer in the middle stages, but still I crushed the bubble and chipped up myself. After that win I basically set up in the lab with a range calculator, notebook, computer, and Rolf Slotboom's "Secrets of Professional PLO" and set out to master the early game, bubble, and late stage ranges. There are many insanely profitable moves to make in the early stages preflop that seem so bad but is great with a MTT structure. The bubble is the easiest thing ever if you big as nobody will three bet you without quality aces lol making your life simple! I'm not going to talk much more as I really value the work I put in to learn these situations. When it comes to Razz I have always crushed as it has always come natural to me. Its pretty easy if you can look at the game in the right way. I haven't putten up any serious tournament results yet as you need a lot of run good. Alright thats it I'm off to get my bronze on and jump off a 35 foot cliff into the water! Lavish, check your levels, PEACE
July 26, 2009
{CRYOUTUBE v=IFCY1RIZ-WA} So I have decided to end the day early and only play 5 hours today. I needed to write a blog entry, get to bed early, and FTP software was lagging and not showing the cards. It has been fun riding the MASSIVE swings from super turbos lol. I cannot express how annoying it is to have taken this bet right as Full Tilt decided to epically fail at launching their new software. FT Shortcuts immediately became useless and Poker Shortcuts cannot do anything with SNGs, which is all I used FT shortcuts for in the first place. All this on top of all the bugs the FT client now has. Now to be fair, I did receive a full refund from Windyhill Technology, the makers of Full Tilt Shortcuts. As well as Full Tilt giving out 5 days of Iron Man status as well as another month to clear the midyear bonus, not that I need it with my volume, so it's not like I'm just getting fucked lol. But it does make the 1k prop bet semi hard. Today, I experienced my first real software malfunction causing serious problems while playing since Full Tilt updated on the 9th. I did not play for the first 4 days of the update because all of the reported problems on 2+2 so I probably would have already if I did. I took screen shots and emailed a report to Full Tilt to try and help best to fix it. Here is one of them... as you can clearly tell the cards aren't visible. The only way I could know what I had was to mouse over my name and wait to see in the box that pops up. You can imagine how hard this is to do when this happens out of the blue after 4 hours, while playing more than 12 tables at a time without FT Shortcuts! I didn't even have a time bank because they were super turbos!!! Once I folded it would then show my first card only and it would stay visible for the rest of the hand lol. Also once I got heads up the other player would limp in, I'd have trash and check. We would "see" a flop except I couldn't see it lol! So as far as the bet goes I did exactly 50 hours officially. I probably did another hour or two but only full hour intervals count. This is right on pace although I am not too happy about that as the last week on August 2nd is a very good friend of mines 21st birthday. I will need at least 48 hours away from poker to handle his twenty first. Lets just say he is Irish haha That being said I am getting to bed early to wake up and grind 15 hours on Sunday and get ahead! Do Work, Peace.
July 20, 2009
July 11, 2009
I have decided to put a youtube music video at the top of every blog so you have something to listen to with reading!
July 06, 2009
Since my last blog I've played a lot of Super Turbos, live fuck around tournaments, and started up 6-max cash online since my new computer. I have been playing live with a great group of guys, the usual drinking and cards routine and I feel like I have been put in sooo many tough spots with them. All standard very tough/coolerish type spots and not crazy play. One spot I wanted to make a crying fold with TPTK in a 4-bet pot deep on a KJ4 board but I just couldn't believe his breathing could be sooo calm with such a huge hand in a big pot. I make the call he shows JJ and ships it. Turns out he was on about 6 Vikatin and was essentially melted to his seat...lol owned. On the 4th of July I had a whole list of things to do...various parties etc. It turns out the guy who was supposed to pick me and my girlfriend up gave us the run around for 2 hours and then didn't even show up after we both rushed to get ready! By the time we figured out we didn't have a ride we were both drunk and decided to watch some of Season 1 of True Blood. I LOVE THIS SHOW! If you haven't watched it, don't judge it because the commercials look SO lame in comparison to how the show really is. It is on HBO so obviously they can't put almost anything on. But ya we were both drinking Red Bull and Vodka, which tastes like candy btw, and got drunk quickly. Redbull 4-packs are now only 8.4 floz each! That is almost 30% less and still cost $2 a piece! There goes $17 dollars for mixers! Anyway late night, laying in my bed, my dog got up and sat by my door. This means he has to go outside so I got up, went downstairs, unlocked the door and opened the front door to let him out. For one reason or another I happened to be completely naked and as I opened the door a man was standing there. He handed me my newspaper, slowly turned awkwardly, stopped and stood for a second turned completely around...then finally walked back to his car. lololololol the timing was so perfect and I was drunk enough to not give a fuck at all and just enjoy the awkwardness. I'm not really sure why he was so close to my door and he actually gave me the day befores paper as well that I hadn't even gone outside and seen yet. Either way it should be great next time I'm outside at night and he shows up to deliver the newspaper! ;) So I have been grinding out $3-$7 super turbos (I am a bankroll nit and won't play a super turbo unless I have 200+ buyins on that site. I have been playing good, running average, and crushing the bubble. It is just so great when you get a nit on the bubble in these things, you can basically guarantee a top 2 finish every time if you abuse it correctly! Here is the graph I have from the small sample that I have been able to datamine as a couple of updates in FTP took off saving HH's so I did not get them all. If you want my complete graph, only a hundred or so more you can sharkscope me, billcraven419. So finally I got my HUD up and running once I got ftp to save HH's in the right directory, and I decided to hit up some 25NL. I proceeded to run about as bad as you can over 500 hands. Dropped almost 4 buyins in that amount of time with the most frustrating session I've had in a while. AA once...folded around to me in the BB, limped 99 from sb blind vs blind against an aggressive player I flop top set on a dry board (he insta folded to a min bet), and a lot of 77-TT pps that ran into pps one higher than mine. I did a halfway decent job at the beginning of losing the minimum and noticed a few tilt calls...one may be shown here so once I noticed I obviously stopped. Here are the big losers...lol I'd put a big winner but there weren't any!1) Obviously a gross cooler. I normally don't flat with KK pre but I liked being in position and three betting his UTG open from UTG+1 is very strong and might fold out a lot of hands I dominate. He had AA. Seat 1: Kushington ($26.85) Seat 2: kvo535 ($25.49) - Seat 3: kirillius ($25.10) - Seat 4: Maglet ($25) - Seat 5: Paddymctaff ($59.48) Seat 6: Hero ($28.29)PRE-FLOP: kirillius posts small blind $0.10 Maglet posts BIG blind $0.25Dealt To: HeroRAISE Paddymctaff ($0.85)CALL Hero ($0.85)FOLD KushingtonCALL kvo535 ($0.85)FOLD kirilliusFOLD MagletFLOP:Pot: $2.9 BET Paddymctaff ($1.50)RAISE Hero ($3.75)FOLD kvo535RAISE Paddymctaff ($10)CALL Hero ($6.25)TURN:Pot: $22.9 BET Paddymctaff ($20)CALL Hero ($17.44)UNCALLED Paddymctaff ($2.56)RIVER:Pot: $57.78 2) Here I make a hero call as his line looks sooo much like a missed draw. He had quad 5s lol. Seat 1: Hero ($26.94) Seat 2: clownytwo ($16.52) Seat 3: fluoro ($10.07) - Seat 4: JohnWillis ($11.10) - Seat 5: SmirnovEV ($25) - Seat 6: stopper35 ($67.26)PRE-FLOP: JohnWillis posts small blind $0.10 SmirnovEV posts BIG blind $0.25Dealt To: HeroFOLD stopper35RAISE Hero ($0.75)FOLD clownytwoCALL fluoro ($0.75)FOLD JohnWillisFOLD SmirnovEVFLOP:Pot: $1.85 CHECK HeroBET fluoro ($0.25)RAISE Hero ($2.50)CALL fluoro ($2.25)TURN:Pot: $6.85 CHECK HeroBET fluoro ($1.50)CALL Hero ($1.50)RIVER:Pot: $9.85 CHECK HeroBET fluoro ($5.32)CALL Hero ($5.32)3) Here I raise a weak lead in a multiway pot on the flop. On the turn I bet/call off my flush draw + over trying to fold out JJ/AT, I had previously checked behind a draw against this villain so I thought this line would seem very strong. He had 9h7h for a turned pair that he decided to get it in with on the turn. Seat 1: RorschachTest ($110.53) Seat 2: Hero ($25) Seat 3: birdmAAn88 ($52.91) - Seat 4: Moreira007 ($23.55) - Seat 5: dunne1jj ($28.15) - Seat 6: realdeal27 ($27.72)PRE-FLOP: Moreira007 posts small blind $0.10 dunne1jj posts BIG blind $0.25Dealt To: HeroRAISE realdeal27 ($0.75)CALL RorschachTest ($0.75)CALL Hero ($0.75)FOLD birdmAAn88CALL Moreira007 ($0.65)CALL dunne1jj ($0.50)FLOP:Pot: $3.75 CHECK Moreira007CHECK dunne1jjBET realdeal27 ($1.50)FOLD RorschachTestRAISE Hero ($4.25)FOLD Moreira007FOLD dunne1jjCALL realdeal27 ($2.75)TURN:Pot: $12.25 CHECK realdeal27BET Hero ($8.25)RAISE realdeal27 ($22.72)CALL Hero ($11.75)UNCALLED realdeal27 ($2.72)RIVER:Pot: $52.25 4) Here I put the BB on a weakish ten with timing tells. My plan was to bomb the turn and river to get him off it but I turned top pair. I value towned the turn and river just to have him show me JTo. Frustrating... Seat 1: SERG27 ($4.65) Seat 2: AEKK ($28.32) Seat 3: Abroadessay ($21.72) Seat 4: swats41 ($34.15) - Seat 5: Hero ($26.68) - Seat 6: prohibo ($27.82) - PRE-FLOP:Hero posts small blind $0.10 prohibo posts BIG blind $0.25Dealt To: HeroFOLD SERG27FOLD AEKKFOLD AbroadessayFOLD swats41CALL Hero ($0.15)CHECK prohiboFLOP:Pot: $0.5 BET Hero ($0.25)RAISE prohibo ($1.25)RAISE Hero ($3.25)CALL prohibo ($2)TURN:Pot: $7 BET Hero ($3.75)CALL prohibo ($3.75)RIVER:Pot: $14.5 BET Hero ($7.75)CALL prohibo ($7.75)5) Here I have been very active and decide to call the three bet in position. I raised the turn to try and control the amount bet out on the river. I kind of like turning my hand into a bluff on the river, but with his weak bets I kind of thought I could be good. He shows JJ and ships it. Seat 2: AEKK ($27.83) - Seat 3: Abroadessay ($20.40) - Seat 4: swats41 ($24.17) - Seat 5: Hero ($35.98) Seat 6: prohibo ($28.36)PRE-FLOP: Abroadessay posts small blind $0.10 swats41 posts BIG blind $0.25Dealt To: HeroRAISE Hero ($0.85)FOLD prohiboFOLD AEKKFOLD AbroadessayRAISE swats41 ($2.45)CALL Hero ($1.60)FLOP:Pot: $5 BET swats41 ($2)CALL Hero ($2)TURN:Pot: $9 BET swats41 ($2.25)RAISE Hero ($6.75)CALL swats41 ($4.50)RIVER:Pot: $22.5 CHECK swats41CHECK Hero Well I took Sunday off to recover after not eating almost anything at all on July 4th. It's really tough for me to keep up with eating sometimes as I really don't ever get hungry unless it is clearly effecting me physically. And that really isn't getting hungry like a normal person, the grumbling that normal people get, I don't. I just understand the necessity of consumption and make consious decisions to eat. I know that sounds very weird but you have to understand I have Celiac disease and am latose intolerant so I don't get to eat like normal people in any way. The only time I overwhelmingly love what I am eating is when I have the munchies...speaking of which I have to go eat! Good day and Good luck! Heres a sick old rap music video!
July 01, 2009
So I have been kind of depressed lately. Being in so much pain 24 hours a day, 7 days a week wears on your utility (happiness), especially after 2 weeks of it! The worst is how it feels to ask someone to open a heavy or stuck door, reach something, or help me. Grabing and holding anything over 5lbs hurts, and literally putting popcorn in the microwave that is above my head is painful. It makes me feel less than others which bothers me sooo much. I always prided myself in using logic at all times but I find myself "toughing it out" aka hurting myself because I for some reason feel inadequate as a person not being able to do simple things in public. Literally laying with my girlfriend is EXTREMELY PAINFUL, and she even once jokingly hit me in the chest pretty hard. The whole next day I was miserable because of it. I know it is an honest mistake and don't want to make anyone feel bad so I "tough it out". Well after 2 weeks of "toughing it out" I am drained, and I'm not even halfway through how long it takes! I would take a prescription to deal with the pain but pain killers fuck me up and the only thing the doctor would prescribe me is Oxycodone, which...sadly, at one time in my life I had a serious problem with and I have sworn off heavy pain killers without absolute necessity because of it. Also I needed to grind out my Iron Man for FTP everyday for 10 days in a row so I needed to be consious. I think I am just going to listen to Michael Buble & play internet poker for a couple of days straight to try and clear my head. So it is officially July and FTP has incorrect information on their promotions page as usual. It shows no mention of prior months qualified for, has an incorrect amount of Iron medals, and has no mention of my mid year bonus. I figure this will be fixed within a day or two, I just hope I don't have to email support, because it sucks for Full Tilt. So last night I spent the whole night watching the 50K HORSE Final Table. You could send them emails and they selected some to say and at 2:10AM I got them to say "Bill Craven from CardRunners says, hey guys great job commentating, love the quality of your side talk! Also your knowledge of Razz and various games is impressive, many players seem to forget poker isn't Texas Hold'em!" I rep CardRunners real hard hahaha
June 30, 2009
So I am still in horrible pain from my ribs. It is constant and never goes away and I still have about another 2 weeks of pain...FML I ended up finishing this month up for Iron Man which is great since I didn't have a computer for 2 whole weeks! I am 6 months into Iron Man for FTP and will be keeping that going for a while. I really won't be playing much online at all, only enough for Iron Man on FTP and thats it. It is tough to stay concentrated when your in so much pain. Well now for my 2nd half of the year goals! 1) Continue with FTP's Iron Man promotion and qualifying at least for silver every month. Also to play as much on Sundays as possible! 2) Play a lot of juicy live cash games and crush them! Also to leave if the games aren't good as it really hurts to sit and play poker at a poker table with broken ribs! 3) Stay healthy, continue working out regularly building muscle, go out to eat less, and to stay relatively safe. 4) Keep all social/family relationships healthy and not isolate myself like other internet grinders. Don't want to become the next Captain Zeebo! 5) Continue to update my blog regularly, between 1-3 times a week. 6) Get out and tan, safely, before the summer is over so I'm not opaque in the winter lol. Make sure you wear sunscreen when tanning as scientists now say there is no such thing as "healthy" sun rays. 7) Starting in September I want to start an intense cardio workout until I turn 21 in April to be in optimal shape for the 2010 WSOP and long days playing live. 50K HORSE EVENT LIVE STREAM - http://channelsurfing.net/watch-world-series-of-poker-us.html Well guys thats it for now. I should be buying Holdem Manager in July finally so I'll be playing internet cash games again and I'll keep you updated!
Contact Us
Services
FAQs and Terms
