I should do a blog.

...........

So, I was reading online and debating a blog entry, when I came across another blog. In case anyone is unaware Cardplayer magazine has pros and other people associated with poker keep blogs on their site. So, I'm reading the WSOP Main Event update and I come across a blog kept by Jesse May. I'm an admirer of his work, both his novel and poker commentary as he has always struck me as very insightful. This is one of the best things I've read regarding poker in a long time, maybe ever. It probably won't make you a better player or win you more money, but it makes me at least remember why I wanted to be a poker player in the first place. I hope you enjoy this as much as I did.

Worried Blues

-Todd


P.S.

This is the year a name pro wins the ME.

Bleh

Not a lot happening, but just wanted to blog something cause I'm bored. I played online some yesterday and did ok. I played in the Midnight Madness tournament on Full Tilt and got pretty deep. I busted out with AK all-in pre-flop against 44 and JJ. I so should have gotten there. I played some micro-stakes PLO afterwards and did ok. Here's an interesting hand that came up
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1246822, I hate calling a river bet with just one pair in PLO, but I couldn't figure out why he would take the line that he took with a hand that had me beat. I also played some limit Razz and did pretty well there too. I may start playing on a new site, but I don't want to put to much out there about it yet, more to come.

I'm studying for these licensing exams I have to take. It's not exciting, but it gives me a sense of responsibility that I haven't had in a long time. I can hopefully get those knocked out and back to poker. That's it for me kids.

Where am I

Well I obviously haven't posted in awhile, but that doesn't mean there hasn't been shit going on. As far as the pokers are concerned I run bad. That's the bottom line. I've taken some sicko beats and the percentages just haven't balanced as of late, whadda ya gonna do. So, after running super bad this last Vegas trip, I decided to leave for Arizona on no notice, I just needed to not play poker and relax for a bit. I stopped off outside Kingman, Az and went deer hunting with my car, that sucked. To continue my life tilt I was then ticketed by the policia for operating my motor vehicle with only one headlamp, as the other one was lodged in a deer, whatever.

A few other major things along the way. We decided that we are moving back to Vegas, which is great. I'm going to be helping my wife as we start a new business (State Farm), so that will greatly decrease my playing time over the next year or so. Since we'll be living in Vegas, that should still allow me sometime to play. That said I'm going to try and take this time away from the game to do a few things. I have some things that I have to do personally to make this business work, so that's numero uno. I'm also going to blog a lot more about poker, but also about just other random things and thoughts along the way. I'm also going to start posting on numerous poker message boards and try to change the way I think about the game. My sessions will more resemble those of a recreational player, but I'd like to increase my focus and thought process during these shorter sessions. 2+2 here I come. That's it for me kids. See ya soon.

Vegas

I'm leaving tomorrow morining for Vegas, for what should be a great trip. Big Carolina will be in town, in addition to the regular bunch of degenerates.

This week has been crazy for me. We bought a house on Monday out of left field. We had been looking off and on for months now and had been close a few times, but we saw this place and loved it. We close June 4th which is kind of a hassle as the WSOP starts on the 1st and all my focus and energy in June is going in to that. I haven't played at all this week with the exception of a few unmemorable SNG's, that I couldn't make a damn hand in.

I'll try and write up a few trip report updates from vegas, we'll see what happens. We will have some side bets going, so I'm make sure to post on those too.

There Just Isn't Enough Time

So, I stumbled across the biggest waste of my time ever, next to poker. It's a game called "Onslaught" it's free and online and I recommend everyone try it, but be warned I've wasted the past 2 days playing it. If I could just find a way to get paid for it.....Onslaught.

So, I returned from Vegas yesterday and feel great. Highwaytime and I played a decent amount during my week in town and it was a solid week for both of us. We had a few prop bets that he did emerge *victorious in, but it was close and there is still some room for debate. I did however destroy him in a foot race.

The game for the week was built around one player we call Old Navy. He’s about 75 and always wears a denim Aladdin jacket and a Navy hat. The guy was very nice, but Mike and I proceeded to extract every dollar possible out of him. He was very LAG and wasn’t folding once he had money in the pot. During one of our final sessions, I arrived shortly before Highwaytime and Old Navy had about $600 on the table. The two of us sat on each side of him and in a span of about 4 hands managed to get most of his money in to our stacks.

We also went to a 51’s game with the infamous Gambling Duke and his girlfriend, thanks again. I tried to hustle her in prop bets during the game, but alas it turns out she’s smarter than me, so no luck.

Highwaytime introduced me to the glory that is Viruta Fighter 4 and I will be entering an intense training regiment to get in to shape for my return trip to Vegas. I still want my $1500.

I also received conformation during my trip that Big Carolina will be making an appearance in Vegas, so I’m clearing my calendar for that. All in all it was a good trip and great to get back in some live action after thousands of online hands.

Just a closing note, if you are ever given the decision to either attend Pathfinder or the Aqua Teen movie, just kill yourself as the it will be a faster and much less painful death that way.

Quick Update

I will soon regale you all with my tales of prop bets and the pokers, but until then I give you
Bea Arthur Fighting a Raptor. Enjoy!

Tilt

Oh how wrong things have gone. I had a terrible run on UB and essentially felted myself. I lost a bunch of 60/40’s in PLO, then proceeded to tilt off the last little bit I had. I was basically broke on UB.

I’m not so much upset about losing the money, which does suck, but I more upset that I allowed myself to get to the point that I could tilt like that. It’s something that I need to work on phasing out and just not doing. Brain Townsend is amazing at it. He can lose pots for hundreds of thousands and not bat an eye. I have a feeling he was like this even playing .25/.50, so I’m going to work on it.

Now, for the good news, after being thoroughly dominated in every random poker game I played with Highwaytime on UB, I managed to make a slightly miraculous comeback and roll $40 into about $320 as it sits right now. The comeback is in full effect. I’m not going to put timeframes or anything like that on it, just going to play my game and see if I can’t get back to even on UB, maybe even win some to donate to Highwatime in Triple Draw. That’s it for me.

Blah....

Feeling a little rundown, not really sure why. Got my money deposited in to UB and I think that is part of it. I don’t really like playing on UB that much and I feel like the bonus is an uphill battle. I need to get my mind right about it, because bonuses at this point add a tremendous amount of money to my bankroll. I just hate clearing them.

I’ve also really been crushing the Full Tilt nlhe games, more so than usual, so I really want to spend my time over there playing. I’m just going to buckle down and get this damn bonus going. I’m sure once I put in a few good sessions I’ll feel better about it.

Also, on a pretty sweet side note they are building this right next to my house http://www.bigleaguedreams.com/, which I think will be pretty cool.

I’m off to play a real session on UB. Later.

Not a lot going on......

I don’t really have a lot going on lately. I managed to finally clear my bonus on Full Tilt and am waiting on them to transfer my money on to Epassporte, so I can then deposit it on to Ultimate Bet to clear their deposit bonus.

I did leave a little money in Full Tilt, so I’m playing over there a little, but mostly just relaxing right now. I tried to play yesterday, but just didn’t have it in me, so I quit after about 5 minutes. I’m really going to log a lot of hours on UB clearing that bonus, but I’m going to try and do it on a more traditional schedule. I don’t want to stay up and play all night, going to try and play during the day and sleep like a regular person at night, we’ll see if it lasts.

Updates and Advice

Well I'm still trying to clear this bonus on Full Tilt. I'm so close and should be done today with a reasonable amount of play. I think I would have been done already, but I was having internet issues. Played in the FT $45oo Guarantee and took 8th. I should have gone deeper, but made a foolish play out of the SB. I need to work on my final table play. I've played 2 large MTT's this month and cashed in both. I may start playing a few more just to see if I can put something together.

I've read some great articles and posts lately and figured this would be a good place to share some of them. This is the first of a few The 2+2 Forums: WAIT!, hats off to Pokey, the author.

Camtasia

For those of you that don't know Camtasia is a transvestite Asian prostitute that I occasionally see in Vegas..........ok so it's just some software for recording crap on your computer, my life is pretty boring. Anyways, I recently purchased it so I could start making videos of my play to review at the end of sessions. I'm also a member at cardrunners.com where you can post your own vids for feedback. The overall goal here is to improve my game.

I made my first vid with along with Highwaytime who also has this setup. It was pretty cool and I was able to show him exactly why my play is superior to his. I'm excited about the whole thing and plan on putting up some vids along with blog entries in the near future.

I've just about cleared my bonus at Full Tilt and plan on going whoring over at Ultimate Bet by weeks end. I'm looking forward to getting to UB so I can continue my dominance of Highwaytime.

My last thought of the day: Where has the Duke gone?

Just Some Random Thoughts

The world of internet poker is always a fun ride. I’m in agreement that games are not what they once were. The games on Party when I first started playing were so soft and profitable it’s unreal. Granted, the issues with legislation and the Republicans have not helped the player pools, but that isn’t the only reason the games are tougher.

Poker has never really seen a boom like the one it just went through. The exposure in the media and the acceptance by the general public brought an unprecedented amount of new players to the game. Just think that at one point in time Doyle Brunson himself was ashamed to tell people what he did for a living. They would walk across the street so as not to walk by him, cause (gasp!) he was a gambler.

What we are experiencing is a natural progression of the game. Players that were once new have become better by playing and making a conscious effort to improve their game. There are other players out there, that while aren’t bad players, have not improved and have been surpassed by many of the formerly new players. So, in short poker has become a perfect Darwinian diagram for the theory of evolution.

Online poker is no longer setup to be something the average American can do in their spare time. The issues of getting money in and out are enough to keep the casual player away by themselves. What that leaves us with then is a player base that is made up of fewer new players, that are committed enough to go through the hassle of depositing, so they are serious about playing and with the already existing players that are either improving or staying the same. This means that games will continue to evolve and get tougher.

The question has now become what are you going to do to keep up with the ever evolving world of poker? This player is a dying breed and the extinction level of players will continue to rise without new players to fuel the games.

Trip Reports and Promises

So I’ve attempted a few blog entries and just haven’t been happy with the results of them. This is in part due to the fact that I haven’t been pleased with my play. There are so many things going on in my life that it’s easy for me not to blog, but I’m not going to use this as an excuse anymore. This means more blogs more often.

Things have been turbulent as of late. My last Vegas trip was short, pretty much a break even or slightly down affair, and I just really didn’t want to be playing live. I headed back to Arizona after a week and having not played to many live sessions. When I did play I was bored out of my mind, partly due to the fact that I had been playing a ton of Pot Limit Omaha online, so live NLHE felt like an Amish interstate (no offense to the Amish, Mike). I continued an on going trend of getting stuck early by running bluffs and over playing hands or just playing really poorly, basically. I did log one live PLO session with a group of guys that were visiting Vegas together and they were pretty solid I was up and down a lot, but finished stuck $60 overall, not great. I went right in to a NLHE game that was going and proceeded to run the game over in about 45 minutes. I ran $200 up to about $900 and cashed out a winner on the day.

The WTF was that guy thinking hand of the session was my 2nd hand at the table. I call with T-8 suited from middle position with one caller in front of me. I don’t like to open limp, but can get away with it in this game. After two other players call behind me a very loose aggressive older man makes it $8 out of the big blind. I know most the players will call so I call and get the expected odds behind me. The flop peels of 5 T T and our friend makes it $20 in to a $38 pot. This seems like a pretty weak bet to me so I pop it up to $60. It folds to him and he thinks and asks me why I made it so much. I tell him that “I dislike money” and his bet “seemed pretty damn weak.” So of course he goes “well I’m all in then”, I insta-call and wait for him to show me his hand…….. (drum roll)………..K7os for a whopping no pair and no draw. So, I was like “WTF”, and drag the pot with my flopped trips.

I’ll run up another post about my online sessions in a bit. Meanwhile you can also enjoy this Baffled, thanks to Highwaytime.

Catching up, in more ways than one!

Wow, I'm way behind here. I made it back Arizona alive and well. I've been pretty laid back, just doing a lot of reading and playing online.

I picked up Rolf Slotboom's new book on PLO (at Highwaytime's suggestion) and have been reading that, while logging some session's on Full Tilt. Most of my sessions have been uneventful, but profitable.

My main focus has been PLO at small stakes .25/.50 or .50/1. For those at home that don't know PLO plays bigger than no-limit and you can get some pretty decent pots in a .50/1 game. It plays similar to a 1/2 no limit game.

I really enjoy PLO and really have a fire and excitement for it that I haven't had for Hold'em for quite awhile. I love Hold'em, but PLO is really a nice change. I'm learning a lot and hope to climb the PLO ranks in the coming months.

Now, lets cover the rest of my catching up. I was playing a 1/2 NL game on Full Tilt and was really catching the worst of it. I had two flopped sets chased down by runner runner with all the money in. I kept getting everything in right and just couldn't win. A flopped straight losing to a backdoor flush from a guy that flopped middle pair! I was frustrated.

So, Highwaytime was on playing PLO too and said he was going to call it a night. I was at my ropes end, so I threw out that I may take the little I have online and sit at like 5/10 NL and just say screw it. He was down to watch the carnage, but did appropriately try to discourage this terrible idea on my part. So, I sit down at a 4 handed 5/10 game with the bare minimum of $200 and quickly realize that the standard raise is 25% of my stack and everyone has at least $1k on the table, uh-oh. I post the blinds and fold, fold, fold. I get to my button and the cutoff makes it $40 to go. Now, I have no read on this guy as this was my 4th hand, but the terrible, evil, Filmaffian donkey in me said I think A9 off is good here, I'm all-in for $185 and my proverbial online life. He insta-calls with AQ, this looks pretty bad for me, Mike is silent on instant messenger. Then a funny thing happens the flop rolls off like a thing of beauty 5 9 9!!! Trip 9's and my friend with AQ is almost drawing dead. I double up, immediately sit out, and proceed to quickly inform my opponents "You guys are shitty" "9999999 look at all of 'em" "eat it".

So, there you have my first foray in to 5/10 NL. Highwaytime was kind enough to inform me, after he stopped laughing hysterically, that I now average $4k an hour at 5/10 NL. So, just remember the next time you look down at A9 and a 4xBB raise is staring at you from a guy who has 6x your chip stack, "I'm all-in" cause you just might catch up.

Freeroll Final!

I'm about to head out the door to drive back to Phoenix, but wanted to blog my last little bit for awhile.

I didn't get a lot of sleep last night thinking about the freeroll and poker in general. I woke up this morning a little nervous, but more excited for the freeroll. So, things get underway and I'm folding a lot of hands and trying to get a feel for my table. The first hand I play is my small blind. The level is 25-50 and the cutoff makes it 150 to go. I look down at 10-8s and call, we go 3 ways to the flop. The raisers was the big stack at my last session so I have a decent read on him and I know he is pretty aggressive. The flop is a thing of pure beauty 8 10 2 rainbow. I'm a little shocked, but I like where this is headed. I check he bets 200 and I call. The turn is amazing, 10d. I value check my boat. He bets out 400 and I call. I know he isn't going to be the river, so I let out 600 and he folds, but what a way to start.

A few other interesting hands come out I flopped bottom set in a raised pot on a 6 4 2 flop and the raiser pushes his 2500. I think for a second and even stand up and tell Highwaytime that I think I might have just been set over set. I make the call and he flips up 3's for a gutshot draw, he thought I had big overs. I hit a 2 on the river for quads. I also snapped a guy with AQ when he checked bottom set on the flop and I hit a J on the turn for broadway. I check he pushes and I beat him into the pot with my chips.

When we broke to 2 tables I had almost 1/5 of the chips in play, but I got a little frisky with 22 and lost about 6000 chips.

We make it to the final table and before the first hand is dealt we decided to chop 10 ways with the big stack taking 10k and the rest of us 6k, my 52os in the showdown hand for the trophy was no good. Once formal agreements were fullfilled I still had a great time and made some cash.

All in all it was a lot of fun and I made money logging my hours and during the freeroll. The mentioned that they were going to run another one around April, so I'll be on board for that.

That's it for me for awhile.

-Re-bet

Profit: $1385
Hours: 7
Rate: $198

Thank you tourney cash!!

Heads Up & In The Hole

Started my day by going to Caesars to checkout the Heads Up tournament, but it was such a long wait for seats that Highwaytime and myself bailed. We headed off to Planet Hollywood to get in the action.

This was my last live session this trip and my goal was to book a win however minor without getting in to the hole to start. I start out in a 1/2 game with Boston Eric. The game was your average 1/2 game and I was pretty card dead to start. The first hand that looked decent was KQ of hearts. I called a $10 raise from the cutoff and we saw a 4 way flop. Flop comes down J 9 3 with 2 hearts. This is a pretty solid flop for me. A player that I don't have a read on leads out for $15. The action folds to me and I re-bet it to $40, he flat calls. The turn and river are both checked to me and I miss on both streets, but continue to fire bullets at the pot. I bet out $75 on the river after my $50 turn bet and he thinks and calls. I muck my cards and tell him I missed. He shows down A9os. I was like wtf this guy calls me down with middle pair. So, yet again I'm in the hole from trying to bluff a calling station. It's not a very interesting hand, just frustrating to me.

The table decides to change to a 2/5 game which is fine with me, but I just can't seem to get anything going and end up down $300 in about an hour. Time to change to a 1/2 game again.

I change back and hit the nut flush against a Q high and get doubled up. I picked up some other minor pots along the way and book a very minimal profit for the session.

Tomorrow is the Final day of the Monte Carlo Tournament, so hopefully I can take it down for the 1st place $50k prize.

I like my chances in the field as we all start with 2000 chips and I really feel like I'm leaps and bounds beyond the talent I've seen so far. Now, I just have to dodge some bullets.

Hours: 4
Profit: $85

Freeroll

Highwaytime, The Duke, and myself had all logged hours in early February for The Monte Carlo's Freeroll Tournament. Highwaytime and myself both played today and it went pretty well. I made it down to the final 10 and move on to play on the final day (Sunday). Highwaytime got pretty deep, but ran in to Ace's and didn't survive.

The structure was tough as you only start out with 1500 chips and 20 minutes levels. I was able to pick up a few pots early, but took a hit and was down around 800 chips when I flopped top set with 10's vs AK. I checked my set on a rainbow board and a king hit on the turn I checked then re-bet my stack for the double up. It was all downhill from there. I'm looking forward to Sunday. I'm going to go check out the Duke's session in the AM, then head over to Caesars to check out The NBC Head's up Championship.

I played a pretty uneventful quick session at Planet Hollywood lost my first buyin, but picked up some pots after that. My heart really wasn't in playing after the tournament. I also have an outstanding $33.33 profit from the freeroll so far!!!!!!!

Hours 1.75
Profit -$5

Only way to go is up!

TGFO

Thank god February is over. This has been the worst month I've ever had playing. After careful review I didn't end up a loser this month, but it's damn close. I'm sure if I hadn't deposited money when I was in Arizona, I would have been down.

Tuesday played out much like the rest of the month, but I did book a win @ +$142. The whole thing was pretty uneventful.

Wednesday was a day of madness. The Duke had been telling me about Aussie Millions (AM), a guy that he played with a day or two earlier and how crazy he was. I get a text when I roll out of bed at 2 that the Duke and Highwaytime are at PH playing with Aussie Millions, go go gadget wardrobe.

I show up to a full game and I see this guy losing his mind. Some minor convincing from the Duke and AM is making it $60 dark, I know this is going to be a good game. I get in the game and I'm catching great cards.

I made one play that against a player in their right mind would work, but a crazy old Asian man that looked like a beta called me down. I make it $17 pre-flop with 7d-7h he calls and the flop comes K Q 10 all hearts. I bet the pot and he calls, turn is another heart I lead out again cause it just seems like he doesn't really know what he's doing, $75 to go and he flat calls. Now I'm in trouble. The river is a rag and I toss my last $40 or so in there and he calls with As-8h!?!?!? Wow, no pair on the flop and an 8 high flush and he gets all his money in there, unreal. Needless to say I made a play against the wrong person and my 7-high flush was no good.

The remainder of the session was brutal I had my AA cracked by AKos in a $500 pot when a K hit on the flop then another on the turn. I later had AA cracked by K7 in a $600 pot when AM calls my $60 pre-flop re-raise and flops 2 pair with it. Typical February crap.

I pulled a short buy after the K7 debacle and managed to nurse my $100 back up to $700. The day ended as a loss, but it could have been much worse with the way the cards were falling. Thank god February is over.

The name February is believed to have derived from the name 'Februa' taken from the Roman 'Festival of Purification'. The root 'februo' meaning 'I purify by sacrifice'.

Day Off

Wow, my days are really run together. I played with Highwaytime at Planet Hollywood on Monday. The entire session was pretty much like the rest of the week has been for me, bad. I did catch some decent hands, but didn’t make anything on them. This is really starting to make me wonder why. I feel like I may be playing my big hands to strong, as I feel I’ve been drawn out on a lot recently. I may try giving everyone just a little more rope to hang themselves with.

We ended the night with a ragged 3 handed game with Highwaytime, myself, and what I can only describe as a poor man’s Nelly. I was in several pots with him and he owned me. I make 2 pair he had a flush. I have him dominated and he made 2 pair. I end up tossing in my last Benjamin to make about $50 back off of him, but the guy really was a total card rack, unreal.

Didn’t play any live action on Tuesday, but logged some time on Fulltilt. I wanted to play some PLO, as I wasn’t happy with my feel during some recent live sessions. I was +$150 playing some SNG’s and a ½ PLO game for about a half hour, very tight. Starting in March I’m going to post a running total of my sessions and MTD results, lets hope it looks good. Hitting the tables hard tomorrow refreshed.

-Re-bet

Opening Day

So, I’ve toyed with the idea of a blog for awhile, here’s the start. My thought process here is that it will give me a reason to track my results, which I’ve been terrible at to date. The other obvious concept is improving my game, but I guess the main reason is just to record this wild ride that I’m on. Here goes.

Re-Bet