I had a deepish run in one tourney last Friday night and started this post, but never got around to finishing it. Figured I'd post a few hands, would love to hear thoughts, they're at the bottom, so you can skip the life stuff in between. :)

Kev set up the Kinect and we played the sports game, but I wasn't too impressed. I tried the dance game and could see myself enjoying it. The main problem was that I was doing the Easy level and everything goes so slowly. I haven't had a chance to play it again, but this weekend Kev will be at his 3 day bach party and I will dance the days away. Lots of people have recommended Your Shape so I may have to run out to Best Buy tomorrow for that.

We watched Social Network (finally) and I was really impressed and pleasantly surprised. I tend to dislike movies that are overhyped, maybe b/c it sets higher expectations, but it totally delivered. The pace and execution were perfect, and although I knew what the movie was about, the story was told in a creative way that never got boring. Speaking of movies, for the first time in ages there are multiple films in theaters that I want to see, but even with True Grit, The Fighter and Black Swan out there I doubt I'll see more than one before waiting for Netflix. I'm also psyched about Waiting for Superman, a doc about education in the US (a subject I am really passionate about), but it won't be out until February 15th.

I will see if I have any fun pics to download from my bach party last weekend, and also post some from Per Se (I know at least two readers will enjoy them. Hi Kara & Astin). Likely over the weekend since I'm not going to AC. I plugged in the camera but the computer wasn't recognizing it, so I need to figure out how to download!

I played a little poker a few nights ago cause it was turbo night on FTP but wasn't playing well. I went ~ deep on Sunday in the 3pm 33k KO but lost my stack when I shoved a CO raiser w/ A7o from bb. It's a spot that for awhile I was really disciplined about, but every once in awhile I make a play that is -EV but occasionally works. It did not on this occasion.

Friday night went better, although I can only recall two huge suckouts, one big flip, and one of the grossest beats I've taken in awhile, for a huge stack with 3 tables left. Only the flip was for my whole stack, but I binked with A8o on AJo when I shoved a limper who had about 13 bbs (oops) and hit a set on an overpair when we had about four tables left. While nothing's certain, barring significant coolers I think it woulda been mine to lose if I win the hand below. Instead I grinded my way back up only to bustout in 11th.

Full Tilt, 2,000/4,000 blinds, 500 ante No Limit Hold'em Tournament, 8 Players
Poker Tools by CardRunners - Hand Details


CO: 138,607 (34.7 bb)
BTN: 88,146 (22 bb)
SB: 119,814 (30 bb)
BB: 115,382 (28.8 bb)
Hero (UTG+2): 208,682 (52.2 bb)
MP1: 100,931 (25.2 bb)
MP2: 27,637 (6.9 bb)
MP3: 149,184 (37.3 bb)

Preflop: (4,000) Hero is UTG+2 with A A
Hero raises to 8,888, 2 folds, MP3 raises to 36,664, CO folds, BTN raises to 87,646 and is all-in, 2 folds, Hero raises to 208,182 and is all-in, MP3 calls 112,020 and is all-in

Flop: (454,512) 6 4 3 (3 players, 3 are all-in)
Turn: (454,512) T (3 players, 3 are all-in)
River: (454,512) J (3 players, 3 are all-in)

Results: 454,512 pot
Final Board: 6 4 3 T J
BTN showed Q Q and lost (-88,146 net)
Hero showed A A and won 59,498 (-149,184 net)
MP3 showed A K and won 395,014 (245,830 net)


Here are some hands. What's your play? I'm getting about 3-1, does that make it a no brainer?

Full Tilt, 800/1,600 blinds, 200 ante No Limit Hold'em Tournament, 8 Players
Poker Tools by CardRunners - Hand Details


MP2: 56,306 (35.2 bb)
Hero (MP3): 42,004 (26.3 bb)
CO: 19,406 (12.1 bb)
BTN: 41,913 (26.2 bb)
SB: 25,921 (16.2 bb)
BB: 15,170 (9.5 bb)
UTG+2: 47,067 (29.4 bb)
MP1: 41,930 (26.2 bb)

Preflop: (1,600) Hero is MP3 with T T
3 folds, Hero raises to 3,333, CO raises to 19,206 and is all-in, BTN folds, SB raises to 25,721 and is all-in, BB calls 13,370 and is all-in, Hero ???


In this hand Villain is playing 12/8 over 50 hands. I almost never fold here, but stats had me thinking twice.

Full Tilt, 1,500/3,000 blinds, 400 ante No Limit Hold'em Tournament, 8 Players
Poker Tools by CardRunners - Hand Details


CO: 72,792 (24.3 bb)
BTN: 52,392 (17.5 bb)
SB: 78,480 (26.2 bb)
BB: 50,632 (16.9 bb)
Hero (UTG+2): 120,291 (40.1 bb)
MP1: 108,881 (36.3 bb)
MP2: 80,576 (26.9 bb)
MP3: 43,502 (14.5 bb)

Preflop: (3,200) Hero is UTG+2 with T T
Hero raises to 6,666, 3 folds, CO raises to 72,392 and is all-in, 3 folds, Hero ??

I've been battling a sinus infection for the past week but I hope everyone had a fantastic New Year's Eve and is all ready to play some poker in 2011. I'm not much of a review/resolutions person, so I'll leave that to all the other CR bloggers, save for a brief rundown below. I had a mellow night with some friends in Northern New Jersey, and aside from one glass of sake at dinner (hibachi is a NYE tradition), I didn't even drink.

2011 is going to be a year of major changes for me. I'm getting married in less than a month (zomg) and will be out of the country for my honeymoon. There will be lots of annoying BS paperwork to deal with, like the myriad of places I need to change my name, but I just try not to stress about any of it. I know eventually everything will work out. 2010 didn't end on the best poker note, but 2009 was a terrible year for me poker-wise, so just about anything was going to be an improvement. Thank you September and October 2010!

Per Se dinner was a disappointment, and I don't think it's worth the price tag. After 10 courses I couldn't even finish my pheasant (i'm not a cannibal nor am i living in 15th century, but thanks bayne) or beef, but they made for a terrific lunch break on Tuesday. I was a little annoyed that the people at Per Se had given away my leftovers to someone else in the party, but I went back into the city on Monday for a dinner at Hearth and my sweet friend Jess brought them for me, lol. They were amazing the next day. Hearth was outstanding, though, and I highly recommend it to anyone in NYC. From a cost/benefit perspective, I'd choose Hearth every time. I have a ton of pics on my phone but highly doubt any of my blog readers are that interested in pics of my food from Per Se.

This post was started about a week ago, and I'll just continue along since I never published it. I'm still battling a cold (sinus infection appears to be gone, hurray!), but slept for 11 hours last night, and I'm hoping to be better by Saturday night for my bachelorette party. I was originally going to have it in AC, but my friends aren't really into playing poker and degenning it up for the weekend, and I have zero interest in going to Mixx (the Borgata club), so we changed it to NYC. My maid of honor Meredith planned it all and I'm sure it will be a great time.

I'm super excited to check out the latest Timex/Mement video that was released yesterday, and also Nicolak's latest video (High Stakes Thursday!). I'm slammed right now with work and last minute wedding stuff, so no idea when I'll have time to watch. I finally got an Xbox Kinect, but haven't set it up yet. I was thinking the dance game could provide some exercise going into the home stretch of wedding prep.

I hurt my knee and ankle doing P90X so I had to cut it out, and just haven't found time for the gym. Hopefully the photos will still come out OK. I'll leave you with our favorite photo from the engagement shoot.

Fiance just send me this article, dare you to read it and not cry. Maybe I'm just really sensitive, but I teared up hardcore.

My next blog was going to be about my trip to AC, but I need to vent so instead it's going to be about computers. My laptop was crashing a lot, so I hired someone to look at it, and apparently some backup program that came on my computer took over a whole drive and filled it w/ backups. Should be fixed now, but for some reason I wasn't able to log onto Skype until about five minutes ago, and my computer is now making weird dum dum dum noises every five seconds.

That's not even the real problem. The bigger problem is that I came downstairs today and went to type my password into my desktop and the keys won't work. The computer recognizes that caps lock is on, but hitting the keys does nothing. If I hit backspace or space key, it looks like I'm typing in my password, but I'm obv not. I tried plugging the keyboard into numerous USB ports, and also tried plugging in two other keyboards we have in the house. None of them worked. I enabled the keyboard on the screen, and once again, it will hit Shift and Caps Lock, but won't enter any letters. WTF!?

Apparently my computer restarted over the night, and maybe something got downloaded or installed that messed it up, b/c it was working just fine when I went to bed last night. I had been working on a project that I'm praying was saved somewhere, otherwise duplicating all the information I had is going to take some time. I'm very frustrated right now cause it seems like just when things are going well with my computers BAM, something comes in and messes them up. It's almost a year since my Dell died and completely screwed me over before Camp CardRunners, so I guess I was due for another round of intense computer problems. Things could definitely be worse, so I should prob stop complaining, but it's my blog, so deal.

As for AC, I lasted a few hours after dinner in the 1650 then ran JJ into QQ. I made a big mistake earlier when I gave up about 30 bbs shoving AQ into AA in a spot I know with every ounce of my being I should be folding. I can't stand when I don't listen to my gut. I can't figure out what I need to do but my instincts are almost always right, I just need to listen to them. It happens over and over when I play, and until I can plug this leak I can't bring my game to the next level.

No live poker till 2011, and the online year is almost over. I've been trying to play mini FTOPs as much as possible, but am gonna have to miss the 2-day once again. I hope next year when my friends make the res at Per Se it's not the same day as 2-day mini FTOPs, but it's starting to be a yearly tradition. This year we rented the private dining room and my friend Tim designed the menu w/ one of the women there. We'll probably have a little overlap (oysters & pearls seems to be on every menu I've ever seen) but I'm looking forward to it. I almost bailed b/c I don't really have lots of extra $$ lying around for fancy dinners, but then I had a good poker month in September and just said awfuckit.

Hope everyone is doing well at the tables and enjoyed the 5th anniversary promo. We are still waiting to hear back from a few grand prize winners, and they should all be announced over the next week or two. I bought a bunch of chocolate chips last night, so vespino's cookies should be baked this weekend or early next week.

A few thoughts before I head back tomorrow. Live tournaments rule. I love the fresh start, the new (sometimes familiar) faces you see, and the run of hands that make up each experience. I drove down late Monday night after the debacle also known as Monday Night Football. Scarfed some matzoh ball soup before bed and thought about who pays Harrah's $2.25 each for those crappy little bottles of water.

My table was typical Circuit - a few competent players, a few regulars who know everyone whose ability varies, an internet looking kid or two, and a couple terrible players. I was pretty sure I played a year or two ago with the guy two seats to my right, a decent older guy. I defended my bb, hit a few flops, and didn't play too many pots. The familiar older guy raised my sb and I decided to call with 87hh. I put him on a wide range and figured I'd try to take pot away on flop. It came T83 and I checked, intending to c/r. He bet about 2/3 pot, which was larger than I expected, which ~ priced him in. At the same time, my previous experience in these tournaments and play I'd seen up until the hand led me to believe that I could still get a call from two overs, but also some Ts might fold. Now that I'm writing this, I think it was unrealistic for me to think a better hand would fold. I should have folded when he cbet so much, or raised him pre if I was that convinced he was raising light. I shoved, he looked a little tortured and called, and his K8 outkicked my 87. :(

I lost a big flip with AK v. 99 and was left with 7 bbs in the bb. A woman who'd been moved directly to my left opened UTG. She lives in NYC and I enjoyed our brief conversation about hotels in Vegas and her life as a tournament pro. I was prepared to fold through my blinds and try to nit it up, but looked down at 66 and put in the rest of my stack. I won that flip versus AQ, then action folded around to the button. He shoved 10 bbs, and I looked down at A8hh. I figured I was ahead of his shoving range, but discounted the bb, who snap called tabling AK. The button sheepishly turned over Q9o and shouted repeatedly, "I was just trying to steal the blinds." Flop was rags, turn 8, river 9. Dude triples up, I'm left with a decent side pot to grind.

I fold Q7o bvb when Q9 dude raises (I got up to about 12 bbs from shoving a few hands). Next hand I think I made a mistake, and folded A5cc to a lp raiser. He hadn't been very active, and I'd been shoving a decent amount, so I folded, but it may be +EV, and a few friends I talked to after were in that camp. On the button I folded KJo to the same lp raiser as the A5 hand. I was playing TIGHT!

I moved tables right before dinner, and folded a bunch. Then a few hands later I got moved tables, and about four hands in decided to shove KQo over a mp raiser. In hindsight I don't like my shove. I think I was lucky to be flipping, and could have waited for a slightly better spot, esp open shipping. If I can tame my inner spewtard and stay patient I know I can win one of these things. I felt super on my game and took a shot in the $230 the next morning. I think the table was tougher than the $350 the day before. I whiffed every flop and hand, and lost about 3k from the 5k starting early. Then I slowly grinded my way back, hit a two outer and got all in on the turn after I hit a boat v. a guy who flopped top pair. I was having a good time and really enjoying myself when this hand comes.

Blinds 100/200. I have 12k. Guy who flopped set of 6s on Qs and doubled early limps (he has me covered by a lot). I raised to 900. BB (older AC regular guy) thinks for awhile and calls, limper calls. Flop T high with two hearts, I want to say Th6x2h. BB checked, limper checked, and I cbet 1750, thinking to myself, man I hope he didn't flop a set of 6s again. He raises to 5k, and I just didn't feel like I could fold. He's repping something really strong, a set, or a flush draw, and maybe best case scenario he is playing KK weird, but I hate bet/folding AA, and couldn't give him credit for a set. I shove and he starts to have them count it, but then realizes he can't fold and calls with his 56hh for middle pair and flush draw. Turn is offsuit 9, but river is offsuit 5 and I go home.

I was a sad panda but took solace in the micro cash tables with some CR instructors when I got home. Thanks to everyone who played and participated in the promo. I'm going to AC tomorrow afternoon for our engagement photo shoot, but should be back a few minutes into the Fifth Anniversary Tournament - 3pm on Full Tilt Poker, tourney ID 198366030.

If you bust me, pvanharibo, I'll send you a batch of double chocolate white chocolate chip cookies. I'm going to play the tournament from a hotel, then play the $1650 WSOP Circuit on Sunday. If you're gonna be down in AC and you read this, say hi! Bummed to miss the ladies event, but we need to get some decent pics of us, plus it's a good chance to work with one of the photographers ahead of time.

No cashes in MiniFTOPS so far. I've gotten unlucky a few times and impatient a few times. Built up a nice stack in PLO then tried to bluff AA. Ooops. Tripled up early in the first event, but was really tired and my heart wasn't in it. One of my December goals was to not play if I am too tired, so I'm failing one. I still have more than half the month to turn it around.

As for workout update, I got on P90X like mad for a few days, then let a few days slide, and now it'll probably have to wait until I get back from AC. I've been good about only having one Spree candy cane per day though. They are so good!

I won the HORSE super turbo last Tuesday, and my fiance won the $11 turbo. Rigged, right? :) Bluff reporter Kevmath took down the inaugural teamwillow snack-a-thon. HORSE was a nice change of pace, but the next Spewday on December 28th will be back to NLHE turbo. Thinking about six-max.

In case you haven't heard, starting tomorrow CR is waiving its sign up fee for one week, so you can save $100 and join for only $30/month. We're giving away five grand prizes, one each weekday. Such a bad beat that I'm not eligible for them as an employee. Macbook Air, WSOP entry, Digital SLR camera, iPad and Xbox Kinect. There's also going to be prizes available on Twitter, including a leakfinder w/ Raptor.

I'm driving down to AC tomorrow and playing a WSOP Circuit event on Tuesday. Initially I thought about going down for the first event and staying all week, but I had a Hanukkah party and it's also a busy week with the anniversary promotion. I'll head back down on Saturday either before or after the anniversary tournament (more on that in a sec) and play the $1650 on Sunday. Last time I played live I felt really sharp, and if I can just kick this playing like crap that I experienced the past couple Sundays I'll be good to go.

On Saturday December 11th there's a special tourney to celebrate five years of CR. About 15 instructors are already registered in it, and there is a bounty on their heads. A bunch of instructors also offered to schedule some times to play cash with members, many at lower stakes than they normally play. There's a full list of bounties and a schedule here. It's on FTP at 3pm EST on the 11th. The password is in the forum post I just linked to.

Since Bachelder asked, I'll put a bounty on my head of homemade cookies shipped to person who busts me. My specialty is double chocolate white chocolate chip cookies.

In non poker news, I started P90x and really like it. I'm woefully out of shape, but loving the workouts I've done so far. I think I'm five in. Plyometrics kicked my ass. :( There's maybe 10% of the exercises that I can't finish and I don't feel bad about those. I would like to incorporate some swimming next week, but it's hard enough fitting in an hour, and the yoga was almost 90 minutes. That said, I love that I save the driving/locker time at the gym, which is a huge plus. We've also been trying to eat better, which has been successful. There's a farmer's market fairly close to our house that I discovered recently, and it makes buying fresh produce way easier. I'm addicted to Spree candy canes but have been limiting myself to one a day, which seems like a reasonable compromise. :)

I just finished gambler's latest blog post, and realized how much I was missing this past weekend. I took a bunch of shots over the past couple weeks in larger tournaments, and it culminated in me losing focus and confidence, and thus losing a bunch of money this weekend. I played the 530 USA COOP final, which had a sick structure, but wasn't trusting my reads and just kept spewing chips to players who I perceived as better and outplaying me. Definitely not the right mindset for a great structured deep tournament that I should be +EV in, no matter how many "ballers" are registered. Congrats on a side note to Gaucho2121, who won not one but TWO USA COOP events, a heads up NLHE and PLO 1r1a - awesome that both his wins came in different games and styles.

Tuesday Spewday this week is going HORSE, as requested by nomo. My biggest WSOP cash is in HORSE, but that doesn't mean I won't enjoy donking it up in this week's turbo 9pm HORSE tourney. teamwillow, a regular in the Swamp forums, requested a lower buy in tournament (yes, some people only play lower than $5 buy ins, apparently), so there is a special teamwillow snack-a-thon tournament at 9:30pm, a $2 super turbo NLHE.

Find all the tournaments on the Full Tilt Poker private tab, or just search for me, pvanharibo. These are for tomorrow, Tuesday, November 30th.

Tournament #201493162 (21:00 ET) - Turbo HORSE $11
Tournament #201493422 (21:15 ET) - Super Turbo HORSE KO $6
Tournament #201493881 (21:30 ET) - Super Turbo NLH KO $2

The password for all of them is spewday.

Kev and I had a blast overall in Florida, but it's amazing how time flies and even though it's only been a week it feels like FOREVER ago that we were there. We got the digital camera the day of the Dolphins/Bears game, so here is a photo trip report. Special thanks to Kev for uploading them and passing me the links, made this way easier.

We hit mad traffic on the way to the stadium, then about 4 miles before the exit all the traffic miraculously cleared up. LOL Florida. This was taken when I was getting mad frustrated at the traffic, mostly cause I hadn't eaten and get super crabby when I'm hungry, but also cause I'm impatient.




Game pics



Cutler to Forte screen pass



Ozzie Guillen was three rows in front of us (White Sox manager, and no I obv did not recognize him) and talking shit to some Bears fans who I think were with him. His son is in the Dolphins jersey and looks JUST LIKE HIM. If only I was a better photog, they would be in focus and the crowd would be blurry.



A better pic of him, since augie is such a big fan.



Hester mid return



Cutler scrambles



wildcat (no, I did not realize this was formation when I was taking pic, but it came out well if i do say so myself!)



and some for the boys...



so much cleavage!





Thought this cheerleader was by far the most naturally cute, too bad the photographer can't focus.



Gotta work on framing and focus



Don't forget to play Tuesday Spewday, and keep your eyes peeled for all the details of our 5th Anniversary Promotion starting on December 6th. Clear off a few days/nights that week to play some cash with instructors and enter our Fifth Anniversary Tournament with money added to the prize pool on Saturday December 11th. More details will be coming soon on my blog, the CR homepage, and Twitter/Facebook!

i was hoping this would be an epic brag post, but yesterday was one of the worst sundays i've had in awhile. i took more shots than normal (despite previous blog posts citing the contrary) and played all the ftops. i built up a great stack in the brawl and then lost w/ KJ to KT when he hit 2p on the turn to cripple me, and then got in w/ A6 v. KQ, flopped an A only for him to four flush me. in the 150r i was in for 750, which i was not unhappy about, but then lost two flips to go from a decent stack to out post rebuys. in the main event i built up a nice stack and blew it all w/ JJ < QQ aip in a spot that better players probably don't go broke. so yeah, not a happy sunday. the best part of the day was winning a seat to the main event, which helps a little financially.

i took thursday and friday of last week off from work so kevin and i could try to enjoy florida a bit more, so today is a big day of catch up and also working on a lot of things that need to be done in the next week or two. we are going to be celebrating the fifth anniversary of CR the week of december 6th, so i'm finalizing a bunch of details related to that. it should be announced officially shortly after thanksgiving, and i think members will be happy.

we bought a new (amazing) digital camera, so my next blog post will be a photo trip report from the miami/bears game, but no time for that now. my main goal is to get through the next few days without getting sick. i woke up with a sore throat on saturday morning and am just trying to get mega amounts of sleep and kick it before i have to start baking like a mad woman on wed night. changes in weather absolutely kill me sometimes and i don't understand it! anyone out there in CR land hosting t-day? if so, good luck! glad all i have to do is bake some cookies, it seems like crazy amounts of work!

Having a blast so far down in Florida. Unfortunately tourney did not go very well for me. I busted on the second to last level of Day 1. It was at the Hard Rock in Hollywood. It may be the sketchiest place I've ever played poker. For the first time ever I asked for a deck change, because the cards seemed like they were being bent a lot. Everyone knew each other and it was sort of an intangible feeling, but it just felt like the kind of place where people would collude. I saw a sb and bb who were friends check down where I'm positive neither one would have played the same against anyone else bvb. Early on I was told I couldn't be on the phone or text at the table, but one guy played multiple hands while on his cell phone, and was constantly making the table wait while he finished texting before looking at his cards. He is, of course, a regular. Kevin also saw collusion at his table, but his dealer seemed way more on top of things, and even told a guy to stfu when he started talking to another player with a third player still in the hand.

I had people openly making fun of me at the table and being rude, although that is obv not why I felt it was sketchy. That's just basic rudeness. I am so glad I live in NJ and have way better local places to play poker. I raised KJdd at one point from lp and got called by a guy in the blinds. He bet a 9 high two diamond flop, and I called. He said, I have a set, and when I called said, oh, you must have a flush draw. Then when the turn was another raggy card he bet again and as I thought he said, why are you thinking, I told you I had a set. He gave me a decent price, and was being such a prick I was just hoping I'd hit my flush (prob not great mindset). Unfortunately the river was another 9, and as I was trying to figure out wtf I was going to do, he OPEN FOLDED his hand. He sent his cards into the muck and I hesitated, and everyone said you win and the dealer said I had to show, so I showed. The guy started in on me saying how can you call me down with a K high flush draw, that's so awful, etc. and then talked to his end of the table about how bad I am several more times until he busted.

One guy gave me crap for not having my larger chips where he could see them, even though all of my stacks were easily visible to him. Then I asked another guy a few hands later how much he had behind (his chips were hidden behind another stack) and he refused to tell me or show me. I then got badgered for asking people their stacks and asking how many 10k chips they had, which is sort of awesome. One guy told me he wasn't going to tell me anymore because I asked too often, and I was going to ask him every time he raised when it got to me, but he busted soon after and I never got my chance. :(

Overall the players were terrible and I'd love to play most of them every day of the week, but they were clearly more experienced live. They also took some very strange lines, so more than a few times I had trouble putting people on hands. At one point I folded second pair on the river after a bet and a call, and was stunned to see that I folded the best hand. Kevin had similar experiences at his table. People were calling with bottom pair in spots where they should never ever be good given the action, but sure enough they were getting shipped the pot. People play kinda weird at the Borgata but at the WSOP Circuit events and most tourneys I've played on the East Coast people don't play quite that strangely.

I hovered around the starting stack moving up and down after missing and hitting some flush draws. I lost some chips to a guy who called oop w/ T8hh and called my turn bet on a KTxAx no heart board when I had 99, and I later decided to four bet ship him when he three bet me. He had AA as everyone at the table was quick to tell me was soooo obvious, but I obv hit a 9. Weeeeeee. There was a lot of limping, and a ton of show downs with hilarious hands.

In the first level a guy c/raised on a 976 flop, bet big on the turn and got called, and they checked the river. The raiser turned over 33 and was GOOD!!! At one point I three bet JJ then bet out all rag flop and this massive limp/call station folded TT face up, sigh. He limped almost every hand, esp utg, and I limped behind him and a few others w/ 77. Flop came J7xhh, i donked, 33 guy called, TT guy squeezed, I shoved, 33 guy snap folded and the utg limper snapped his KK. I held and had a nice stack for a little while. 33 guy pounded the table and cursed a bunch b/c he would have hit a straight lol. I also had a guy bluff huge against me on the turn and river when I had trip Qs on a KxQJQ board. I was genuinely afraid of AT, but the way the hand played I was never ever folding trip Qs to him. He showed a 6. Um, nice bluff sir!

In the worst hand of the day, 33 guy opened once again, a new Eastern Euro looking guy who'd played almost every hand since he sat down three bet, and I decided to four bet AQo. In hindsight I think I should have just mucked, b/c people really hated to fold, but EE guy five bet shoved and I decided to fold. I blew 1/4 of my stack on that hand, and after raising a few times and having to give up after my cbets got called I basically folded for two hours. On my last hand I picked up A8cc from the hijack and raised, and the 33 dude (who I saw show three different turned sets, and had just beaten JJ w/ AK when he went runner runner b'way on the turn and river) called on the button. Flop came A high w/ two raggy diamonds, I cbet, he called. Turn was another raggy diamond and I c/shoved. Versus other players that might not have been a bad line, but in hindsight I was not beating very much, and prob shoulda c/folded the turn.

I joined Kevin at Hooters, where I was amazed to count at least seven kids. Who the hell brings their 7 year old daughter to Hooters?! Apparently lots of people in Florida. Apart from busting the tourney 45 min before the end of the day, our anniversary turned out very fun and Rutgers won so Kev was happy. I was kinda glad I didn't have to go back to the casino the next day and we could drive back to Lake Worth, although obv a 20 something grand first prize would also have been sweet! edit: LOL rutgers didn't win, guess he was just in a good mood cause he had fun on our anniversary. :) edit 2: apparently first prize was about 40k

Wooz said he liked the pics I posted in my last blog, so I will try to work in more of them. I have enough trouble finding time to blog, much less also uploading pics to photobucket and resizing, but pictures sure are fun. I love jcl's blog in part cause of all his amazing pics.

We are hoping to stop at a Best Buy or some similar store tonight and get a nice digital camera. I'll try to take some pics to post at the Heat and Dolphins games we're going to later in the week.

Poker yesterday was terrible for tournaments. I started drinking toward the end of the Jets game, and in hindsight I should have stopped regging. I busted the big FTOPS when I went broke w/ JJ on a 9 high two heart flop and the villain had 99. I spewed a big stack in a $50 rush turbo b/c I was too busy having a conversation with a friend who came down to Lake Worth to watch the games. :( Not sure I even cashed in anything, but it was still a fun day.

Later in the evening I played some cap NL and heads up cash and had one of my best sessions ever. Kevin has been giving me lessons, and they've definitely helped. I'm three betting a lot less, and learning to read my opponents and improve my bet sizing. I am going to try and watch some of Markuis and MasterLJ's videos when we get back to Jersey, as I still have a TON of room for improvement. I was all proud of playing 1472 hands so far in November and Kevin laughed at my thinking that was any sort of large number. It's probably more cash hands than I've played in any month in several years, though. Here's my graph from last night's 2/4 cap (most hands were HU, but eventually it was six-max) and .50/1 HU session. I lost two huge pots at 100 HU, one with an oesd and flush draw that I bricked, and one with a flopped set of Qs to a guy who flopped bottom pair, turned an oesd, and got there on river, or I'd be up even more!

Once again I've had blogging on the mind, only for it to lose out in a sea of work and wedding planning.

I was in Las Vegas last week to meet the three guys who wore CardRunners at the WSOP Main Event final table: Filippo Candio, John Racener and Matt Jarvis. Pics of them sporting CR here. My Vegas trip was spent mainly at the Aria, where I interviewed the players, had meetings and watched PAD, and the Gold Coast, where I slept and played $5 Pai Gow with some poker media. I wish I'd gotten a pic with PrincessDonk on the PAD set, who was there railing Annette. The best part of the short trip was Brian Hastings getting an invite to play a PLO cash game on PAD that will air sometime next year. The lineup is sick: Dwan, Ivey, Antonius, Phil Galfond, Brandon Adams and Jared Bleznick (harrington10). Here's a blurry iphone I took on the day Annette, Esfandiari, Hellmuth, Justin Smith, and Andy Bloch were filming.




I flew back on Friday night so I could make my uncle's surprise bday party, but turned out it was my bridal shower! Overall it was super fun and I still haven't had time to process the whole event. A few of my friends came to Jersey from NYC (it's always a challenge) so that meant a lot, and a lot of family and friends showed up. My aunt and bridal party did an amazing job. The concept of sitting in a room with everyone focused on me while I opened gifts was really weird to me, but everyone seemed to enjoy it and obv I got some great gifts. Apparently you're supposed to have someone make you a hat with all the ribbons from your gifts. My friend Diane did an impressive job. Here is me, wearing my styling headpiece w/ my bridal party (minus third future sister in law who lives in LA).




My life right now is pretty much work and wedding. Every time I lock something in for the wedding it seems like 20 more decisions have to be made. Getting a little sick of it all, but still massively excited for the actual event. I've been neglecting the gym as life has been so hectic, so I ordered P90X yesterday. One of my excuses for not going to the gym is the travel time, so no excuses anymore. I should be able to find an hour a day in front of the TV to exercise.

As for poker, I made a huge mistake playing the first FTOPS a couple nights ago. I was super tired and should not have been playing, and made a bunch of mistakes. Busted around 11 or 11:30 and was in bed within minutes. Overall poker hasn't been going super well since my last big score, and apart from a few reasonable shots going forward I'm going to try and stick to smaller stakes. I shoved a hand in a satellite when I was nearly guaranteed a seat, and I can't be playing $75 sats if I'm going to make such horrific mistakes. I've had very little time to play and instead of trying to squeeze it in b/c I have a free 30 minutes, I need to try to set aside a longer block of time to seriously play a few tourneys. I did play the HORSE rush last night, which was awesome, but I bluffed (yeah, I know, it's limit) into quads (second time this week!) and busted somewhere in the 200s.

I played a very short cash session at the Venetian while in Vegas and lost about a hundred bucks. I was not playing particularly well, but got in w/ a flush on the turn. I called a raise pf w/ QTcc and overcalled a bet on an A93cc flop. Turn was a club and it went bet, raise, then I shoved and the raiser called. River 3 and I sighed. He hesitated and for a few seconds I thought I was good. I showed my flush and then he kind of paused and turned over 99. Guy to my left called him out for taking so long, and I jumped on the bandwagon a bit, but I would always wait to see my cards too.

Tonight I'm leaving with Kevin for Florida and I am so excited!! It's our anniversary tomorrow so obv we're going to play a tournament in Hollywood. If any members live close or might be there, holler! We're both going to work from Lake Worth during the week, and then Wed night we're going to see the Heat play the Suns (my first time seeing LeBron live), and Thursday night Kev got tix to a Dolphins/Bears game. The only NFL team I've seen live is the '49ers. Back when I worked for the Earthquakes my co-worker was a Gold Rush cheerleader and hooked us up with tix. :)

Good luck to everyone at the tables, esp FTOPS! Would love to see a member or instructor take one down this series!

Lots of people update their blogs at the end of the month with pretty (or ugly) HEM graphs, a recap of the month, etc. That's not really my style, mostly because I just started using HEM regularly and don't play much cash. I've never figured out how to track my tourney results in HEM, but October ended well thanks to the Sunday Second Chance final table last weekend. I did take a graph of the limited cash I played in October. I'm such a grinder.


I didn't get to play much poker yesterday, and took some stupid beats reminding me what it's like to run bad. I had one really weird hand where i misclick shoved 5k with KK into a 1200 pot cause I thought I was heads up with a guy who had 1300 total on a T87 flop. Then I realized there was someone else in the pot who had me covered and tank called with 99 and hit his straight. :( Whenever I make hero calls like that they never work out.

Other than poker my weekend was absolutely awesome. On Saturday morning I took advantage of a discounted lesson offer that mindcirkus recently made on his blog. We had an hour session at PLO, where I learned I overvalue one pair hands, like to raise too much trash, and run really bad.

I hopped a train to Brooklyn and hit up a delicious bar called Clover Club. I think it's run by the same people who own Flatiron Lounge in Chelsea, and they make fantastic cocktails. Headed over to a restaurant called Chestnut for dinner, then a Halloween party thrown by CR instructor Matt Matros. His wife is an amazing hostess and made a million baked treats, which were sooooo yummy. I crashed with friends on their pull out couch and slept with two cats, a first for me. They only woke me up about 10 times, which I guess is better than 20. Sunday was brunch and football. Got to see a few friends from law school I hadn't seen in awhile, check out my friend's new apartment in Ft. Greene and even got some mac n cheese w/ bacon to take home.

Fantasy did not go well this week, looks like I'm finally gonna be handed my first loss in the CR 14 team league. I was so hoping for 8-0 but it wasn't meant to be. Most of my teams looked crappy this week, so I haven't even checked the scores since the 8:00 game started.

Hoping to find some time to play poker tonight, and also watch the new MDoranD video where he's leakfinding my favorite Swamper Team Willow. Check it out.