F**k Presto

Was already on Tilt prior to this hand but presto sucks ass if played like a donk.

Hand #1352012030001415: Amsterdam (6-max) 12030
Seat 1: lSmokRcks (948.00 in chips)
Seat 3: QQ1Cup (783.00 in chips)
Seat 8: turtlehed11 (400.00 in chips)
Seat 9: thoue77 (757.95 in chips)
Seat 10: actyper (362.20 in chips)
lSmokRcks: posts small blind $2
QQ1Cup: posts big blind $4
Dealt to actyper [ 5d 5s ]
thoue77: folds
actyper: raises to $14l
SmokRcks: raises to $46
QQ1Cup: folds
actyper: calls
*** FLOP *** [ Ts Kh 5c ]
lSmokRcks: bets $60
actyper: calls
*** TURN *** [ 8d ]
lSmokRcks: checks
actyper: checks
*** RIVER *** [ Qh ]
lSmokRcks: bets $176
actyper: is all in
lSmokRcks: calls
*** SHOW DOWN ***
actyper: shows [ 5d 5s ] (Three of a Kind, Fives )
lSmokRcks: shows [ Qd Qs ] (Three of a Kind, Queens )
lSmokRcks wins $726.40 with Three of a Kind, Queens

Weekend Recap

Nothing too exciting this weekend. Tried satelliting into the sunday majors, FT million and the UBOC ME, but failed. I dunno how I failed the FT one, was chip leader at one point. I guess with turbo tournies, anything can happen. Not sure why UB didn't run any multiple guaranteed seats tournies. All they had were $10r, $30r, and $75rs. For a premium tournament series they sure didn't give many opportunities to get in through satellites. Final tabled a Betfair $5k tourney, and came 20th in the Cake $100k. Betfair took a nice beat KK <> Adanthar's AA. I was reshoving a lot on the bubble with decent holdings, and this time I got caught. Other than that I don't think I won a showdown after that, pretty much just accumulating chips from steals and resteals. Lost a big chunk of chips QQ < 99. But all that aggressive play got me in trouble late, and eventually out 55 < 77.

Cash game side I was tearing it up. 2/4NL and 5/10limit. I've rediscovered my love for limit. Its so easy, and the majority are just so bad. But went on a total downswing yesterday. At one point I was up a buyin on 2 of my NL games and 10bbs on my limit game, but just swung right back down. Stoopid fn short stackers, they are my nemesis. Always manage to suckout on me.

Got Rockband for my birthday, and it rocks. I can't sing for shit, but can bang the drums pretty good. Not that good though, still on the medium level, hard is pretty difficult. The guitar playing is easier than guitar hero though, I can play the songs on hard pretty good.

Last week of poker for 2007 for me, actually probably only 4 days. Off to Mexico (Mayan Riviera) again for another wedding. Will prob do a recap/goal post later this week if nothing exciting happens in between.

World Series of Poker 2008 Schedule

Harrah’s Entertainment Announces 2008 Schedule For 39th World Series Of Poker® Presented by Milwaukee’s Best Light TUESDAY DECEMBER 11, 2007 6:14pm PT LAS VEGAS

– December 11, 2007 – Harrah’s Entertainment, Inc. (NYSE:HET) said today the 2008 World Series of Poker Presented by Milwaukee’s Best Light and televised exclusively on ESPN will – for the first time ever – begin and end with $10,000 buy-in World Championship events and feature a total of eight $10,000 championships. In addition, the 55-event schedule for 2008 includes a total of eight $1,500 buy-in No-Limit Hold’em tournaments, which traditionally draw the largest fields except for the Main Event. The WSOP has also added a second start day for the first of the $1,500 no-limit competitions to accommodate the expected number of entrants.

“This is our most exciting schedule yet,” said Jeffrey Pollack, commissioner of the WSOP. “Both amateur and professional poker players will have new opportunities to compete for a WSOP bracelet and can choose from the widest variety of games and buy-ins ever offered in one poker tournament and certainly at the WSOP. “We’re holding steady at 55 events this year,” said Pollack. “But, we’ve mixed it up a bit to keep it interesting for our players and fans.” The 2008 WSOP starts May 30 with the $10,000 buy-in World Championship of Pot-Limit Hold’Em and ends July 16 with the Final Table of the $10,000 buy-in World Championship of No Limit Texas Hold ‘Em – best known as the WSOP Main Event.

The six other $10,000 buy-in events – all World Championship competitions – include: Heads-Up No-Limit Hold’Em; Seven-Card Stud; Limit Hold’Em; Omaha Hi-Low Split Eight or Better; Pot-Limit Omaha; and a new Mixed Event. The Mixed Event will feature eight variations of poker: Limit and No-Limit Hold’Em; Omaha Hi-Low and Pot-Limit Omaha; Seven Card Stud; Razz; Seven Card Hi-Low Split; and 2-7 Triple Draw Lowball. The second event of the 2008 WSOP is a $1,500 buy-in No-Limit Hold’em tournament with two starting days – May 31 and June 1. Pre-registration for the 2008 WSOP can be made beginning in February on-site at the Main Cage of the Rio® All-Suite Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas or at http://www.worldseriesofpoker.com/.

In addition to the largest cash prizes in poker, winners of each of the 55 events will receive an exclusive World Series of Poker gold bracelet crafted by the luxury Swiss watchmaker CORUM. Last year, 54,288 entrants who ranged in age from 21 (bracelet winner Steve Billirakis) to 94 (Main Event contestant Jack Ury) competed for the poker world’s largest total prize pool of nearly $160 million. The 2008 WSOP will be staged inside the Rio Convention Center from May 30 through July 16. WSOP officials plan a “soft opening” of the tournament room on May 28 and 29 for players to register early and play in satellite tournaments and cash games. “The poker tent is gone,” said Pollack. “We heard folks loud and clear last year, and there will be no tents used for tournament play at the 2008 WSOP.”

On July 2, and in conjunction with the WSOP, Oscar nominee Don Cheadle and poker professional Annie Duke will host the second annual Ante Up For Africa charity tournament at the Rio. Last year’s AUFA event featured dozens of Hollywood celebrities and poker professionals and raised more than $700,000 for charity. Ante Up For Africa is a non-profit organization founded in 2006 by Cheadle, Duke and Norman Epstein and is dedicated to raising money and awareness for Africans in need.

July 3 is the first of four start days for the 2008 Main Event. Last year, a total of 6,358 entrants competed for a Main Event prize pool of $59.8 million. Players may choose their Main Event start dates as long as seats are available on the selected dates. More information about the World Series of Poker is available at the Web site www.worldseriesofpoker.com. Harrah's Entertainment, Inc. is the world's largest provider of branded casino entertainment. Since its beginning in Reno, Nevada, nearly 70 years ago, Harrah's has grown through development of new properties, expansions and acquisitions, and now owns or manages casinos on four continents. The Company's properties operate primarily under the Harrah's, Caesars and Horseshoe brand names; Harrah's also owns the London Clubs International family of casinos. Harrah's Entertainment is focused on building loyalty and value with its customers through a unique combination of great service, excellent products, unsurpassed distribution, operational excellence and technology leadership. For more information, please visit http://www.harrahs.com/.

The complete schedule of 2008 World Series of Poker events follows:

Date Day Time EV# 2008 Buy-In

1. 5/28/2008 Wednesday 9:00 AM Registration Opens, Live Action & Satellites Begin


2. 5/29/2008 Thursday Registration, Live Action & Satellites


3. 5/30/2008 Friday 12 noon 1 World Championship Pot-Limit Hold'em (3 day event) $10,000


4. 5/31/2008 Saturday 12 noon 2A No-Limit Hold'em (4 day event) Day 1A $1,500 6/1/2008 Sunday 12 noon 2B No-Limit Hold'em Day 1B


5. 6/2/2008 Monday 12 noon 3 Pot-Limit Hold'em (3 day event) $1,500


6. 6/2/2008 Monday 5:00 PM 4 Mixed Hold'em (Limit/No-Limit) (3 Day event) $5,000


7. 6/3/2008 Tuesday 12 noon 5 No-Limit Hold'em w/Re-Buys (3 day event) $1,000


8. 6/3/2008 Tuesday 5:00 PM 6 Omaha Hi-Low Split-8 or Better (3 day event) $1,500


9. 6/4/2008 Wednesday 12 noon 7 No-Limit Hold'em (3 day event) $2,000


10. 6/4/2008 Wednesday 5:00 PM 8 World Championship Mixed Event (3 day event) Limit Holdem, Omaha Hi-Low Split-8 or Better, Seven Card Razz , Seven Card Stud, Seven Card Stud Hi-Low Split-8 or Better, No-Limit Holdem, Pot-Limit Omaha, 2-7 Triple Draw Lowball $10,000


11. 6/5/2008 Thursday 12 noon 9 No-Limit Hold'em / Six Handed (3 day event) $1,500


12. 6/5/2008 Thursday 5:00 PM 10 Omaha/Seven Card Stud Hi-Low-8 or Better (3 day event) $2,500


13. 6/6/2008 Friday 12 noon 11 No-Limit Hold'em Shootout (3 day event) $5,000


14. 6/6/2008 Friday 5:00 PM 12 Limit Hold'em (3 day event) $1,500


15. 6/7/2008 Saturday 12 noon 13 No-Limit Hold'em (3 day event) $2,500


16. 6/7/2008 Saturday 5:00 PM 14 World Championship Seven Card Stud (3 day event) $10,000


17. 6/8/2008 Sunday 12 noon 15 Ladies No-Limit Hold'em World Championship (3 day event) $1,000


18. 6/8/2008 Sunday 5:00 PM 16 Omaha Hi-Low Split-8 or Better (3 day event) $2,000


19. 6/9/2008 Monday 12 noon 17 No-Limit Hold'em Shootout (3 day event) $1,500


20. 6/9/2008 Monday 5:00 PM 18 No-Limit 2-7 Draw Lowball w/Re-Buys (3 day event) $5,000


21. 6/10/2008 Tuesday 12 noon 19 Pot-Limit Omaha (3 day event) $1,500


22. 6/10/2008 Tuesday 5:00 PM 20 Limit Hold'em (3 day event) $2,000


23. 6/11/2008 Wednesday 12 noon 21 No-Limit Hold'em (3 day event) $5,000


24. 6/11/2008 Wednesday 5:00 PM 22 H.O.R.S.E. (3 day event) Limit Holdem, Omaha Hi-Low Split-8 or Better, Seven Card Razz, Seven Card Stud, Seven Card Stud Hi-Low Split-8 or Better $3,000


25. 6/12/2008 Thursday 12 noon 23 No-Limit Hold'em (3 day event) $2,000


26. 6/12/2008 Thursday 5:00 PM 24 Pot-Limit Holdem/Omaha (3 day event) $2,500


27. 6/13/2008 Friday 12 noon 25 World Championship Heads Up No-Limit Hold'em (256 player max) (3 day event) $10,000


28. 6/13/2008 Friday 5:00 PM 26 Seven Card Razz (3 day event) $1,500


29. 6/14/2008 Saturday 12 noon 27 No-Limit Hold'em (3 day event) $1,500


30. 6/14/2008 Saturday 5PM 28 Pot-Limit Omaha W/Rebuys (3 day event) $5,000


31. 6/15/2008 Sunday 12 noon 29 No-Limit Hold'em (3 day event) $3,000


32. 6/15/2008 Sunday 5:00 PM 30 World Championship Limit Hold'em (3 day event) $10,000


33. 6/16/2008 Monday 12 noon 31 No-Limit Hold'em / Six Handed (3 day event) $2,500


34. 6/17/2008 Tuesday 12 noon 32 No-Limit Hold'em (3 day event) $1,500


35. 6/17/2008 Tuesday 5:00 PM 33 World Championship Seven Card Stud Hi-Low Split-8 or Better (3 day event) $5,000


36. 6/18/2008 Wednesday 12 noon 34 Pot-Limit Omaha W/Re-Buys (3 day event) $1,500


37. 6/18/2008 Wednesday 5:00 PM 35 Seven Card Stud (3 day event) $1,500


38. 6/19/2008 Thursday 12 noon 36 No-Limit Hold'em (3 day event) $1,500


39. 6/19/2008 Thursday 5:00 PM 37 World Championship Omaha Hi-Low Split-8 or Better (3 day event) $10,000


40. 6/20/2008 Friday 12 noon 38 Pot-Limit Hold'em (3 day event) $2,000


41. 6/21/2008 Saturday 12 noon 39 No-Limit Hold'em (3 day event) $1,500


42. 6/22/2008 Sunday 12 noon 40 World Championship H.O.R.S.E. (5 day event) Limit Holdem, Omaha Hi-Low Split-8 or Better, Seven Card Razz, Seven Card Stud, Seven Card Stud Hi-Low Split-8 or Better $50,000


43. 6/22/2008 Sunday 5:00 PM 41 Mixed Hold'em (limit/no-limit) (3 Day event) $1,500


44. 6/23/2008 Monday 12 noon 42 Seniors No-Limit Hold'em World Championship (3 day event) $1,000


45. 6/24/2008 Tuesday 12 noon 43 Pot-Limit Omaha Hi-low Split-8 or Better (3 day event) $1,500


46. 6/25/2008 Wednesday 12 noon 44 No-Limit Hold'em w/Re-Buys (3 day event) $1,000


47. 6/25/2008 Wednesday 5:00 PM 45 2-7 Triple Draw Lowball (Limit) (3 day event) $2,500


48. 6/26/2008 Thursday 12 noon 46 No-Limit Hold'em / Six Handed (3 day event) $5,000


49. 6/26/2008 Thursday 5:00 PM 47 Seven Card Stud Hi-Low-8 or Better (3 day event) $1,500


50. 6/27/2008 Friday 12 noon 48 No-Limit Hold'em (3 day event) $2,000 6/28/2008 Saturday 12 noon 49 No-Limit Hold'em (3 day event) $1,500


51. 6/29/2008 Sunday 12 noon 50 World Championship Pot Limit Omaha (3 day event) $10,000


52. 6/29/2008 Sunday 5:00 PM 51 H.O.R.S.E. (3 day event) Limit Holdem, Omaha Hi-Low Split-8 or Better, Seven Card Razz, Seven Card Stud, Seven Card Stud Hi-Low Split-8 or Better $1,500


53. 6/30/2008 Monday 12 noon 52 No-Limit Hold'em (3 day event) $1,500


54. 7/1/2008 Tuesday 12 noon 53 Limit Hold'em Shootout (2 day event) $1,500


55. 7/2/2008 Wednesday 10:00 AM Media Event


56. 7/2/2008 Wednesday Satellite Day


57. 7/2/2008 Wednesday 2:00 PM Ante Up For Africa Charity Event (1 day event) $5,000


58. 7/3/2008 Thursday 12 noon

• 54A World Championship No-Limit Texas Hold'em Day 1A 2,500 Players $10,000


• 7/4/2008 Friday 12 noon 54B Day 1B 2,500 Players


• 7/5/2008 Saturday 12 noon 54C Day 1C 2,500 Players


• 7/6/2008 Sunday 12 noon 54D Day 1D 2,500 Players


• 7/7/2008 Monday OFF


• 7/8/2008 Tuesday 12 noon Day 2A


• 7/9/2008 Wednesday 12 noon Day 2B


• 7/10/2008 Thursday 12 noon Day 3


• 7/11/2008 Friday 12 noon Day 4


• 7/12/2008 Saturday 12 noon Day 5


• 7/13/2008 Sunday 12 noon Day 6


• 7/14/2008 Monday 12 noon Day 7


• 7/15/2008 Tuesday OFF


• 7/16/2008 Wednesday 12 noon Final Table

59. 7/7/2008 Monday 12 noon 55 Casino Employees No-Limit Hold'em (2 day event) $500

Very early this year, wonder why. I screwed up the count above, supposed to be 55 events. No fn way I'm going to reformat this. Go make your plans!

Abusing the bubble

I wish I could show hand histories on cake, as it would be a great example of how to abuse the bubble. Was approx 25/50. By the time the bubble burst ended up 1/40 and only 1 showdown and not an allin. I raised most hands, made calculated cbets and check raises, and it worked.

Went card dead after it got down to 2 tables, could only gather chips off of blind steals and I think 1 resteal. Got really low and had to shove any 2 on the SB. 84s < TT to deny me another 1k+ score. This tourney takes longer than I thought, gonna be at least 5hrs.

Another close Sunday

This time to a big score

Was playing well, getting my chips in with the best hand, restealing at the right times. Almost bubbled the money after taking some tough beats on the bubble. AK < xx, 99 < 67 (that was to ch0ppy). Lucky they were both shorties. Battle my way to the final tables staying within the median stack but at the end just lost all my flips.

Was seriously abusing the guy to my right, everytime it was folded to me I would shove in the SB. 3 times in a row and on the 4th time he decided to make his stand, with T2s!!!! Bastard hits his river T. Next orbit I do the same thing with JT, called by A7. J on the flop, river A. So now I"m a shorty. Double up with AQ vs A5. Then go busto 99 vs AQ. Turn Q. Finish in 12th, 2 shie of the final table and an extra G payout. I know I"ll hit a bigpayout soon, just have to keep plugging away.

My other tournies were nothing. Went deep in the Cake Aussie again, but just 17th this time, lost a flip to go busto. The cake $10k 3pm turned into a $20r instead of a $30 freezeout. I like that better. Was crushing it then took beat after beat pretty close to the $. Mansion I think I busted within the first 1/2 hr.

November recap, was my best month so far. Also my most hours put in at 65. The two aussie scores helped, but I also had some decent other mtt results, and my cash games were solid. Hopefully I'll run good in Dec as well, so far not bad.

At least I'm improving!

My last 3 finishes in this thing. 5th, 4th, 3rd...

F*** me, so close, and I easily had the table outskilled too.

Started the tourney off on a good note, doubling up within the first 5 hands with KK vs JJ. Continued to play solid poker and chip accumulation. Took a hit when JJ <> avg through to the final table. Then I just ran hot as hell. Can't remember my first double up hand, just remembered my oponent had squat. Put a beat on the guy who sucked out with that K6 hand, KK > AA. Haha revenge is sweet. Then every time I raised pf, I hit the flop hard. Raise JT, TTJ flop. Raise 7Ts, JQKs flop, etc. Most of those times I eliminated others as well. When it got down to 4 handed, my stack was a bit bigger than the others combined.

When it got down to 3handed I started losing chips. Lost A9s <> AK or else I would have gone headsup which I'm sure I would have dominated. The game altering hand was this. Can't remember action pf, I think I was BB and got in free. Flop comes 98x with 2 suits. SB bets out 3/4. Even though I had him pegged as min bet weak, other bet = some sort of hand, I thought I still had the best hand and could get him off of whatever he had, so I shoved with 97o. He used his whole timebank and decided to call with JT. obv Q turn, and I was hurt badly. With about 12bb left in the BB I decided to get cute with AA and just flat call the sb raise. Flop comes 7 high, he shoves, I instacall. Another miracle turn for this guy and I'm eliminated. So gay, I'm pissed. Really want to go play the Aussie, since that was my original vacation plan from last year. I have 4 more chances left, actually 3 since the last week of Dec headed back to the Mayan Riviera (Mexico) for yet another wedding there. I think my stomach can handle Tequila again, don't think my ass can handle the food though. Anal leakage = -EV.

All my PCA sats are done, and failed all my steps, going as far as step 5 a few times. Just choked when it counted. Got deep in a couple other tournies on FullTilt, a $24 knockout, and the $14.5k guar. Didn't get any big money in those though, about $200ish total. I know I'm so due, till next sunday.

WPT Sweetness

Layla Kayleigh + Kimberly Lansing = WPT Hotties

Sweet Video

High Stakes FTP nicknames

Found this on Highstakesdb, supposdly the Full Tilt Poker nicknames of all the highstakes players.

"888poker" - Chau Chiang
"$tinger 88" - Brian Hastings
"AaronBeen" - Aaron Been
"ActionJeff" - Jeff Garza
"Actyper" - Sick player
"ADZ124" - Matt Marafioti
"AJunglen7" - Adam Junglen
"AK87" - Alex Kim
"All In At 420" - Matthew Stout
"Annette_15" - Annette Obrestad
"apestyles" - John VanFleet
"Arbianight" - Rami Boukai
"Area23JC" - JC Tran
"BABYHAB" - Tuan Lam
"bacina" -
"bad_ip" - Johnny Lodden
"Ballsrider" - David Benyamine
"barryg1" - Barry Greens
"batoelrob" - Rob Hollink
"BeL0WaB0Ve" - Kevin Saul
"BigBadMomma6" - Chris Gantile
"bigfish" - Johnny Lodden/Tore Lagerborg
"BiggestFish" - Ville Wahlbeck
"birdguts" - Gavin Smith
"BlackMetalHead" - Tommy Rau
"BodogAri" - Ari Engel
"Boosted J" - Justin Smith
"Butch Acidy" Joe Cassidy
"CaseyAtTheBat" - Chip Reese
"ch0ppy" - Matt Kay
"CHUFTY" - Richard Ashby
"cmynuts" - Chris Gentile
"-Colossus-" - Same as "Laaur2". Young Norwegian player
"ComeOnPhish" - Paul Lieu
"CrazyZachary" - ?
"crippoli" - John Persson
"CryMeARiver8" - Patrik Antonius
"DaEvils" - Prahlad Friedman
"dazzy" - Dennis Kobbero
"Devilfish" - Dave Ulliot
"DontBluffMePLZZ" - Jerry VanStrydonck
"Durian" - Janne Juutilainen
"durrrr" - Tom Dwan
"Dustin Dirksen" - Dustin Dirksen
"eastsideslim" - Dustin Woolf
"EazyPeazy" - Abe Mosseri
"ecolico" - Freddy Deeb
"ElkY" - Bertrand Grosspellier
"emptyseat88" - Scott Fischman
"eps" - Eli Elezra
"Erik1223" - Erik Sagström
"Exclusive" - Noah Boeken
"ex_Noose" - Riku Vihreäsaari
"Fakesky" - Daniel Alaei
"Fast_freddie" - Mohammed Kowssarie
"fidelio" - Joe Sebok
"FinddaGrind" - Patrik Antonius
"Fossillman" - Grag Raymer
"Frooodo" - William Thorsson
"funku" - Bengt Sonnert
"GambleAB" - Aaron Bartley
"gank" - Brett Jungblut
"Genius28" - Chris Lee
"GigaBet" - Darrell Dicken
"Gobboboy" - Jimmy Fricke
"Good2CU" - Andrew T Robl
"Green Plastic" - Taylor Caby
"Guguguy" - Young guy from Oulu (Finland)
"Gutshot Hansen" - Ilari Sahamies
"H@££INGGOL" - Fredrik Halling
"Hilary1" - Same as "Guguguy"
"hihhuli" - Patrik Antonius
"Holdem_NL" - Tom Dwan
"HOSS_TBF" - Matt Hawrilenko
"howitfellslike" - Rafi Amit
"Icre84U" - Martin DeKnijff
"IDreamOfJenna" - Same as "Guguguy"
"i_grind_on_you" - Fuat Can
"ILARI_FIN" - Ilari Sahamies
"Imper1um" - Sorel Mizzi
"iMsoLucky0" - Jordan Morgan
"iRockHoes" - Scott Augustine
"Isokala" - Ville Wahlbeck
"jennicide" - Jennifer Leigh
"Jew anda" - Todd Brunson
"JohhnyBax" - Cliff Josephy
"jse81" - Chad Batista
"KaiBuxxe" - Nikolaus Jedlicka
"KidPoker" - Daniel Negreanu
"kiiski" - Jani Vilmunen
"KObyTAPOUT" - Jani Vilmunen
"Kris85" - Kristian Kjöndal
"kwob20" - Kyle Bowker
"Laaur2" - Same as "-Colossus-"
"LadyMaverick" - Vanessa Rousso
"LarsLuzak" - 20-year old guy from Helsinki
"Lars-Magne" - Johnny Lodden
"LEGATO" - Bo Sehlstedt
"LFISGD" - Brad Booth
"lilholdem954" - Chad Batista
"liraerik" - Erik Friberg
"livewinner" - ?
"lolmenot" - Johnny Lodden
"looselots" - David Benyamine
"LrsLzk" - Same as "LarsLuzak" obv.
"luckyULSA" - Christoffer Ulsrud
"Luigi66369" - Patrik Antonius
"Macigpitch1" - David Benyamine
"Mafews" - Rory Mathews
"mahony" - Andreas Hagen
"MavFish" - J.P. Kelly
"mig.com" - James Mackey
"Miss Lulu" - Robert Williamsson
"mjorgensen13" - Isaac Baron
"m8kingmoves" - Chad Batista
"Money800" - Chris Moneymaker
"MrCasino" - Graig Gray
"mrnuts" - Thomas Keller
"MrPoker KDH" - Chau Chiang
"MrSmokey1" - Steve Billirakis
"MUCKEMSAYUHH" - Cole South
"_myst_" - Marc Karam
"Nebuchad" - Jonas Danielsson
"neverwin" - Dustin Woolf
"Newhizzle" - Mark Newhouse
"NEW_YORK" - Bengt Sonnert
"Nizot Skizard" - Joe Cassidy/Tomer Benvenisti
"noataima" - Guy Laliberte
"no it all" - JC Tran
"NoMercy" - Isabelle Mercier
"Noose" - Riku Vihreäsaari
"OMGClayAiken" - Phil Galfond
"omgwhatafish" - William Thorsson
"Operation" - Ben Grundy
"Ozzy 87" - Aurangzeb Sheikh
"Panella86" - Jordan Berkowitz
"PearlJammer" -Jon Turner
"p10ker" - Gary Jones
"pokergirl1" - Morten Erlandsen
"Pokerkong1" - Kristian Kjöndal
"POKERPR0" - James Campbell
"Poltergeist" - Ray Dehkharghani
"Profbackwards" - Ted Forrest
"puculucy" - Tom Dwan
"RaiNKhaN" - Hevad Khan
"RealAndyBeal" - Nikolaus Jedlicka
"Rekrul" - Dan Schreiber
"reloadthis" - Layne Flack
"Riise" - Erik Riise
"Rizen" - Eric Lynch
"sbrugby" - Brian Townsend
"SCTrojans" - Scott Freeman
"secret" - Tore Lagerborg
"serb2127" - Nenad Medic
"Shaniac" - Shane Schleger
"SheFaLLs" - ?
"SirWatts" - Mike Watson
"Son-in-law" - Zupin Patel
"Spirit Rock" - Prahlad Friedman
"StandingWave" - Janne Juutilainen
"stevesbets" - Steven Jacobs
"strassa2" - Jason Strasser
"sunnyCR" -
"SuperMazak" - Mats Rahmn
"susisisu" - Thomas Wahlroos
"SxMxF" - rumoreud Michael Mizrahi
"Tay" - Taylor Caby
"TeeDitty" - Tuan Le
"Terken89" - Norwegian guy. Born is 1989
"TerrorOfSweden" - Mohammed Kowssarie
"TexasLimitKing" - Aleksandros Dalaklis
"tex dolly" - Doyle Brunson
"THAY3R" - Thayer Rasmussen
"THE__D__RY" - Danny Ryan
"TheSalmon" - Erik Sagsröm
"TheSea" - Fuat Can
"TheTerrorist" - Mohammed Kowssarie
"TheWacoKidd" - Jared Hamby
"TiLLerMan" - Ian Girdwood
"Till_I_collapse" - Mikko Pispala
"TiltMeNot" - Bengt Sonner
"tina1" - Tobias Persson
"thecranium" - John Hanson
"Tmay420" - Tim West
"Tony G" - Tony Guoga
"Traheho" - Alec Torelli
"t soprano" - Brock Parker
"tunaeater" - Tore Lagerborg
"twin-caracas" - Jorge Arias
"yellowsub86" - Jeff Williams
"UFPokerStar" - Jonathan Westra
"Ugadabugada" - Finnish players account (Sahamies, Wahlbeck, Vilmunen)
"undercover" - Ram Vaswani
"ulle11" - Kristian Ulriksen
"UltimateButt" - Luke Neely
"vietcong01" - Juan Maceiras Barros
"WaterIntoWine" - Riku Vihreäsaari
"WestmenloAA" - Isaac Baron
"Wetoddid" - Luke Neely
"Whitelime" - Emil Patel
"Who is next?" - Noah Boeken
"Willis Fillers" - Robert Willis
"Woolworths" - Young Finnish guy
"zangbezan24" - Sorel Mizzi
"ZeeJustin" - Justin Bonomo
"Ziigmund" - Ilari Sahamies
"zupp_3" - Peter Jepsen
"Zweig" - Prahlad Friedman

Sunday = Most frustrating day ever

Sundays, where some poker players earn their riches, others go busto, and for everyone else it is the most frustrating day of poker.

Here was my day

1) Betfair 1/2NL. +1.5 buyins
2) WPT satellite. 1 seat. 10th. AQ < A8
3) Ftops satellite. Won a seat but had to shove on the bubble with AJs. doubled up
4) Cake $10k. Built up a good stack, then donked it away. My fault
5) PokerinCanada wpt sng step sat. Heads up even in chips, AK < A7 allin preflop
6) Carbon $20k. Wasn't really paying attention to this one and let myself bleed away
7) Cake 1/2NL. +1/2 buyin
8) Pokerstars PCA Step 3. Won.
9) Pokerstars PCA Step 4. Man there are some star studded lineups on sundays. Was about to register then saw the lineup: Timex, SP Ambrose, mig.com, bigjoe2003, and more. Waited for the next one, Timex and bigjoe were at this one. Was top 2 most of the sng. Couldn't knock anybody out when it counted though. 3 handed bigjoe2003 pretty much went allin every hand. Caught him with JJ once and doubled up. A river Ace saved him from elimination from the other guy. Then I caught him with ATs vs 72o. No not really, flopped a 2 and I'm pretty much out by the hammer. WTF!!!! Replay Step 4 for me.
10) Mansion $150k. Was doing ok. Ran into AA and it was goodnight.
11) Cake Aussie sat. Played pretty good poker. When it got down to 2 tables, turned AA into a nice win and 2nd in chips. Lost a few pots and entered the final table 6/10. Screwed up a hand: JT on KQJx board, and found myself 10/10. Tripled up with 88 not long after and I was back in business. Now remember a few posts ago I bubbled this same tourney in 5th. During the bubble we couldn't knock any of the short stacks out, and eventually I found myself 5/5! Oh no, here we go again.
In the sb I find myself with AQo with about 8BB. UTG bigstack raises, I shove, he and he calls with T8. Flop 558. Turn T. Fuck I'm out. River Q. Slam the desk, curse like Mother Teresa, and turn around. But then I look back at the screen and notice I'm still in. WTF!. Have to check the HH and finally realized what happened. Eventually one guy gets knocked out with donkey full house, and I sigh with relief. I eventually run my short stack KTs vs A5o, flop A and I'm out. Happy about the $1500 score, but still looking for an Aussie trip.
12) Ftops $320. Played pretty solid throughout, small ball strategy. Go card dead after the 3rd break. Out hand was UTG minraise, and I call with J8s. Flop AJ8r. Check raise, and he decides to shove. Already had this guy labeled with the donk tag, so I insta call. He flips over JT. ??? Didn't really have too much fold equity. River A and his T kicker is good. He did apologize in the lobby though. Like I care, fn donk!!!!
13) PSO league. Still playing as I type. Not really playing, just donking it up.

So there it is, 8+ hours of I dunno what I would call it.

I like the winner of the Aussie Seat though, rigged!



HH of my PCA seat crippling by the hammer

PokerStars Game #13184118950: Tournament #66900467, $200+$15 Hold'em No Limit - Level VIII (200/400) - 2007/11/11 - 19:20:45 (ET) Table '66900467 1' 9-max Seat #7 is the button Seat 1: bigjoe2003 (4260 in chips) Seat 3: actyper (5115 in chips) Seat 7: Dapper Dan G (4125 in chips)
bigjoe2003: posts the ante 25
actyper: posts the ante 25
Dapper Dan G: posts the ante 25
bigjoe2003: posts small blind 200
actyper: posts big blind 400
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to actyper [Th Ah]
Dapper Dan G: folds
bigjoe2003: raises 3835 to 4235 and is all-in
actyper: calls 3835
*** FLOP *** [9s Qs 2d]
*** TURN *** [9s Qs 2d] [Kd]
*** RIVER *** [9s Qs 2d Kd] [8s]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
bigjoe2003: shows [2h 7s] (a pair of Deuces)
actyper: shows [Th Ah] (high card Ace)
bigjoe2003 collected 8545 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 8545 | Rake 0
Board [9s Qs 2d Kd 8s]
Seat 1: bigjoe2003 (small blind) showed [2h 7s] and won (8545) with a pair of Deuces Seat 3: actyper (big blind) showed [Th Ah] and lost with high card Ace Seat 7: Dapper Dan G (button) folded before Flop (didn't bet)

NAPC Final Table set

Here are the official chip counts for the nine-handed final table:

Seat 1 - Kofi Farkye - 1,421,000 redsoxsox - banned pstars account)
Seat 2 - Jonathan Little - 2,149,000 (fieryjustice)
Seat 3 - Cheryl Lynn Deleon - 1,321,000 (local Fallsview player)
Seat 4 - "Action Jeff" Garza - 469,000 (ActionJeff)
Seat 5 - Adam Levy - 379,000 (Roothlus)
Seat 6 - David Cloutier - 1,563,000 (local Toronto player)
Seat 7 - Barry Greenstein - 1,226,000 (lol donkaments!)
Seat 8 - Dale Pinchot - 374,000 (decent live mtt player)
Seat 9 - Scott Clements - 1,095,000 (Big Riisky)

Play will continue until three more players are eliminated, setting the six-handed WPT Final Table that starts tomorrow (Friday) at 4:00 pm Eastern

No WPT Fallsview for me

After failing all my online and live sats, no wpt fallsview for me this year either. There wen't too many online sats this year, plus I missed out on all the Party ones. I hate playing Sunday nights. I did well in my live sats but couldn't close the deal. Yesterday was my final live sat, single table 10 seater, 1st gets the seat. I short stacked myself early, but then doubled up when a shoved with T7 on a double belly buster flop. Increased to one of the bigger stacks with a set of Qs vs 2pair. Lucky for him it wasn't all his chips. Stole a few blinds, and then it was all downhill. Raised in CO with AQo. Button hadn't played a single hand yet, shoves. I so wanted to fold for that reason, but it was only 1400 more to me in a 2900 pot. So I called and ran into KK. Didn't win a hand after that. On my outage hand I raised utg with 99. Had 12bb, so was going to call any rereaise. Call from hijack bigstack. Flop 568 so I shove. He calls and turns over AA so goodnight.

Next year I promise not to wait until the last minute to play these sats!!!!

BBT2

Sick Blogger Challenge! Check out



Full Tilt Poker has given us an $18k Aussie Millions package to give away for our next challenge.
$18,000 Prize Package for you and a friend

The 2008 Aussie Millions Main Event begins Monday, January 14th and promises to be bigger than ever. Play for your $18K prize package, including:

* Aussie Millions Main Event entry worth AUD $10,500
* 10 nights stay at the luxurious Crown Casino Resort
* Round-trip airfare for the winner and a guest from Los Angeles to Melbourne
* $3,000 in spending money
* Winner & Pro golf outings, dinners, winery tours, seminars and a bounty tournament
Pretty god damn cool if you ask me and I was stunned when they brought it up. This was the package I really hoped to give away but thought was lost since I started so late on the planning. An opportunity to send a player and companion to the Land of Oz for 10 days with a $10k tournament thrown in there.

During the original BBT there was some positive and negative comments about the point system plus the number of people awarded points. For the BBTwo you won't have to worry about those points. We will be awarding the Aussie Millions package to the winner of a Tournament of Champions. So if you'd like to win the trip, you have to win one of the events during the eight week run. No worrying about making the points. No worrying about who made the most money during the challenge. Win an event and you are in the TOC and a shot at the Aussie Millions package.

So if you are interested in winning the Aussie Millions package, play them to win them.

But only so many people can win an event during this stretch so what about everyone else? We want everyone to play, enjoy themselves, and have a shot at winning something. Full Tilt Poker has given us the Aussie Millions Package but that's not all they're giving us.

FTP is giving us an entry into their weekly big Sunday guarantee tournaments whic we will reward to the Player of the Week. This is where that pesky point system comes in again. We will be using the same point formula as the last Challenge but this time around only the top 25% of players in each event will receive points. Whoever earns the most points during the week will get a ticket into the FTP Sunday Guarantee Tournament.

The point system will also be used to determine players to qualify for an end of challenge freeroll which is still being worked out.

There are just a couple more things to finalize and we'll get back to you with the details. I have an FTOPS Main Event seat to give away and we're just kicking around ideas of what to do with it. I also have an iPod Touch to give away courtesy of the folks at donkit.com. So many things to give away, so little time to figure out how to give them away.

So there you have it. BBTwo is about to kick off and it's time to reload your FTP account, start firing up those Token Frenzies, and strap in for an 8 week, 27 tournament challenge to see what you are made of.

We are going to kick things off on Sunday, October 21st with the big prizepool in Miami Don's Big Game. The rest of the Blogger Schedule will go as planned except now the Riverchasers events will also be weekly during the challenge. The challenge will run for 8 weeks ending on Sunday, December 16th with another Big Game.



Tournaments:





Tournament: Mondays at the Hoy
When: Every Monday. 10pm ET
Game: NLHE Deepstack
Buyin: $24+2
Password: hammer

Tournament: The Mookie
When: Every Wednesday. 10pm ET
Game: NLHE Deepstack
Buyin: $10+1
Password: vegas1

Tournament: Riverchasers Online Poker Tour
When: Every Thursday. 21:00 ET
Game: NLHE Deepstack
Buyin: $10+1
Password: Riverchasers

Be careful what you wish for ...

Yesterday was reading a post on 2+2 about a guy on party who was just throwing his $ away, shoving with complete air, and fluctuating his stack from $600 up to $9k and back down to 0 at 3/6NL. After reading that I thought, damn why couldn't I have gotten in on that.

Well yesterday I found a guy on cake doing pretty much that. I catch this guy on air, but proceeds with a runner runner flush on me. Then I have him AQs vs A6o, catches a 6. Then I have him AJ vs 73 or something like that, and catches a river 3 for trips. Goodbye 3 buyins at 2/4NL. I managed to win a buyin at other tables so was a -$800 loss only.

Tourney side was very frustrating. I know i'm playing well in tournies right now, making +ev decisions. Playing the stars $20r, I would build my stack, then lose it all when I have my opponents dominated. Went like that the whole tourney and eventually I couldn't rebuy anymore. Should have had a top 20 stack with about 200 left, but as was the case the whole night, miracles ...

On the other side of variance, I won my small Titan World Challenge tourney. This is the 2nd round now. I already made it through the first round, top 35 advanced from Canada. I think I only played 5/8 events and final tabled 3 of them and ended up 5th overall or so. In the 2nd round top 5 of the Americas advance to the final. This is match 2/8 or so. In the final round first place gets a Porsche Cayman (or $100k cash), easy decision, and the rest (35 players) play a $55k freeroll with each position guaranteed payout.

This tourney was in the background until I realized, hey I only have 6BBs left! So I shove with A5s in the highjack, and the BB uses almost all his time to finally call with AK. I spike a 5 and laugh at his slowroll. From then on I just hammered away at all the small/medium stacks. Since this is a position based tourney, players care more about placing, therefore even small stacks don't play proper stack size ratio poker. I had a top 2 stack with 3 tables left and never fell under that. 3 handed was my favourite though, I think 2nd place thought I was a donk. I would continously let the 3rd place small stack in the game, giving him walks. In the mean time I would chip away at the 2nd place guys stack. He didn't want to play big pots with me at all. By the time headsup started I had a 2.5:1 edge after being even with him 3 handed. Headsup lasted 3 hands after I raised all 3 hands pf. He ended up shoving K3 on me and my A6 held. The porsche will be mine!!!!

Fallsview

Wife and friends decided to do some cross border shopping yesterday, $1.02 USD = $1.00 CAD!, so I said just drop me off at the casino on the way.

Went there mainly for the WPT sats, but since I got there at 10am and sats don't start until noon, played some 5/5NL. I'm really not that good at live full ring. Live players are so bad, and flushes always hit. And what I find the biggest difference between live and online is actual $ amount. These guys don't care about odds etc. You hear the guys at the table say something like I'll call a $45 bet but not a $50 bet, when in both cases it might be the right odds to call. Or this case when one player made a $100 min raise and berated the other player for chasing his flush. Lost about $100 at that table. I like to play big pots and nobody else wanted to play big pots with me :(

The $90 wpt sats were pretty much super turbos. 10 players, 1000 chips, 10 min blinds, and they last about 1hr. Even though they are crapshoots, theres no reason why I shouldn't be able to win about 50% of these. Most of these guys don't know odds, and they don't understand push/fold strategy. Bonehead play on my part during the 1st sat 4handed. Short stack moves allin utg, fold, in the SB I grab a stack of chips and push to the middle with A7o, then after realizing damn I only just called. BB has an easy call now and ends up taking the pot on a pot i wanted to isolate on. Then i made a stupid call with 22 which i lost a flip on, and made me super short stack and eventually out 3rd.

The 2nd sat I won pretty easily. I pretty much stayed as either big or 2nd stack throughout the tourney and just hammered away at the other guys. Got caught a few times, but pretty easy to reload my stack again. Headsup the other guy, winner of the 1st sat i played, wanted me to buy him out. No thanks, I know i can own this guy 9/10 times. HU only last 2 hands, I shoved on him preflop the first hand with Kxs, and the 2nd hand he tried shoving on me with 86o. I had A8s. Funniest thing about this sat was the hilarious lying about hands. The headsup tool told me he folded QQ when the short stack went allin and I isolated with an allin. Another lie by the short stack when he said he folded TT after just calling preflop to my raise. Problem is there was a T on the flop. These tools, why bother lying about hands when you're not going to be realistic with it and really doesn't accomplish much other than to say you are tools.

The 3rd sat I pretty much was card dead. I don't think I won a single hand. Out when i pushed on the button with Qxs and Jx won with a rivered straight.

Had the crowd tell me that at least 8/10 of these guys in the sats were pros, though they all counted me as a pro. Not sure if they were all guessing or they've seen these guys before. No way these guys are pros, and if they are, they would last a session online. :) Live players are so baaad.

Have to head back this friday or next to play my $640 sat. 2table winner gets a $10k seat.

So close ... Mansion

Just missed out on final tabling and the juicier payouts. I think I played pretty solid throughout. As always potential for bubble boy as I reshoved with KK right on the bubble. As soon as I built up an above average stack I was easily the tables most active blind stealer. Only got caught twice, but with these blind levels that still hurt. Whenever the "hand for hand" signal went up I turned it on even more. In the end the blind levels rose too fast, everybody 20BB or less, and I shoved on the button with KQs. Ran into JJ and couldn't hit. I was confident on a big score tonight too.

Other tournaments I got deep in were the Betfair $5k rtr freeroll and the Cake WPT. Betfair crashed 4 times throughout the tourney and finally for good with 10 left. I was 3/10 at the time. I believe the table all agreed on 50% share and 50% chipcount distribution. I didn't mind whatever they voted on, with the structure anybody still had a chance to win. The cake wpt event I played solid until late. Going card dead I didn't have the balls to resteal as I saw too many loose calls. Huge stack tried shoving on me twice and I caught him both times with Arag. 3rd time was not the charm though as he finally had a hand as my KJ < AK. Finished 14th I think. 1st paid a seat to the WPT North American championships and 2-4th split about $10k. This is a relatively easy tourney to sat into, and the actual sat has a very nice structure. 10k starting chip style tourney.

Tournies I failed in were cake $10k (close to bubble, QQ
I'm feeling decent about my tourney game again so hopefully Oct will show some good results. Cash game I'm very confident about. I had a 4 buyin loss one day that was frustrating, but in that case had my $ in while I was ahead in each case. Still want to get to Niagara, other than Cake the other options aren't as appealling. Might have to force myself to go down there and play some live sats. Maybe next weekend.

How much have you lost?

For the Canadians out there, how much have you lost due to the exchange rate? With it hovering around 1.03/0.97, I'm just getting killed. Theres always gripes about having to pay an exchange fee when withdrawing, but I would have been way better off paying that and converting back and forth. This is ugly, in Jan 05 it was 1.23. If I sat with $10k usd then, it would be worth $2kcad less now. This is the real bad beat of online poker!

Sept 20: Now its even money!!! Booooo

Dirty Mexican Fun

Heres a quick update of my Mexico trip to the Mayan Riviera. I'm lazy so it will be point form BBV.

Brags

• Very nice hotel, 5 star resort (Grand Sirenis).
• Crazy xrated wedding involving various body shots, and special sausage shots for the ladies
• Muchos Tequila
• Muchos Mohitos. Used to think they taste like ass juice, but when made with sugar cane, yummy!
• Asking bartender to steal us some bottles of Sauza
• Huge pool with with swim up bar. Plus health drink bar which was refreshing (hang over cure)
• Hot Mexican Pepper sauces
• Nice sunny weather. Only spot showers. Felix missed
• Swimming in a cave with waterfall and jump off cliff. Theres a name for it but cant remember

Beats

• Huge resort = lots of walking
• Food was hit or miss
• No poker room :). Had to own at Dominos instead.
• Pretty quiet resort, about 25% capacity due to hurricanes. Also a brag though
• Beach wasn't that nice. Rocky. Highly rated snorkling was overated
• 2hr bus ride to and from the airport
• Seeing a wonder of the world, Chichen Itza, but only being able to climb one of them

Variance

• Mexican food = My ass, my ass, my ass is on fire. We don't need no water let the motherfucker burn!
• Crazy chicks at the discotheque. Including one who wanted to prove to everybody that she had the cutest cooch.
• Iguanas run goot! I couldn't catch them.
• So tempted to tryout a Mexican taco stand while in town. Locals stuffing their faces, looked so good.

Off to Mehico!

Off to do some relaxing in Mexico tomorrow. Mayan Riviera. Buddy's wedding so a lot of tequila will be involved. Good thing, I need a short break from poker, I run not so good. You know your not running good when your sets are losing, a lot. :(

muchos suckouts

So much for Underground Poker

I was actually planning on playing some underground games too, so much for that idea.

http://www.thestar.com/article/250852

Police smoke out gambling dens in industrial malls, charge unlucky 7Aug 29, 2007 04:30 AM
Curtis Rush
Staff Reporter

Police have charged seven people with running illegal gambling houses as a result of a series of raids in Mississauga.

Culminating an investigation begun in December, the OPP's illegal gambling unit and Peel Region police busted two operations on Sunday and one on Monday, following a July 21 raid at another location.

The illicit gaming houses, set up independently in industrial malls, were charging people fees to play Texas hold 'em poker and other games of chance, according to Det. Staff Sgt. Clint Hunter.

The search warrants were executed at Topflight Poker Club at 125 Topflight Dr.; Pockets at unit 10, 6160 Netherhart Rd.; No Limit Club at unit 8, 5500 Tomken Rd.; and Hollywood, at unit 5, 2408 Haines Rd.

The raids also netted a total of 76 players at the locations, but after being interviewed by police, they were released without being charged.

Police noted that the raids did not turn up any drugs or weapons on the premises.

The OPP anti-gambling unit is part of its organized crime section, which along with Peel, is operated in partnership with police services in Toronto, London, York, Windsor and Ottawa.

Vegas Trip Report: Aug 3-6 2007

I guess I better start my trip report while I have a few minutes here.

Friday night, arrive around 11pm. Staying at Harrahs. We decided to choose I nice cheap package, but also stay on the strip. Location wise, I don't think theres a better location. Tried paying off for an ugraded suite, but I guess there were too many people hanging around, and the desk clerk wouldn't go for it. Alltogether we were in a group of 6, 2 were already here and at Tao, and the other couple were due to arrive, but a delay forced their arrival after midnight. We waited for them and didn't do much that night, just walked up to the Wynn and back. Everyone was tired to they hit the sac, I figured I'd hit the tables. Waited 1/2hr and by that time it was 3am, so I gave up.

I woke up about 4hrs later and hit the tables downstairs. Harrahs pretty much only spreads 1/2NL and 3/6limit. Hit the NL table, but it was pretty dry. I think I lost about $20 after sitting down for a couple hours. We then headed out to the outlets to do some shopping. Looking for a nice money clip, but didn't see anything that caught my eye. Went to the Caesars forums after that and did more shopping. Everytime I go there Pete Rose is always in that sports memorbillia shop. Though last year I also bumped into Mini Me, who is > than Rose. After a whole day of shopping, went back to the hotel and played poker for an hour. I think I was $50 or so up this time.

Dinner was at Mesa at Caesars. Ribeye steak was pretty good, needed to fill my stomach because being a cheap drunk is gay. We were going to head to Pure sat night. Walked over there about 9:45 and stood in line. When the club opened at 10:30, the line was just sick. Huge line, and a huge crowd standing in front. We ended up just juicing the bouncer, $150 for 6. Also had to pay cover which was another 30 bones. That juice was pretty cheap, a lot of people offered a bill just for themselves. Pure is a nice club, especially the patio. I'd imagine any rooftop patio on the strip would be nice, the view is incredible. Started the night off with of course a jaeggerbomb, and a few bones later, the buzz was nice. Spent most of the night on the patio as inside was just rammed pack. Can't remember when we left, not that late. Even though I was nicely buzzed, I still decided to hit the tables. Had a decent session, but of course I decided to retun it all to the cursed Wheel of Fortune. Wow did I lose fast!!! Especially on the giant one, I think I dropped $50 straight without a single win.

Sunday morning poker was where the morons come out. I lost big money either when guys hit, or decided bottom pair was good enough to gamble with. My buddy had one had where a dude who limped in behind everyone, ended up stacking him. Dude had AK and hit trips, while my buddy also had trips. Who limps in with position with AK? Screw breakfast poker, time for some In n Out burger! Was good, probably overated, but was still good and cheap.

Later on the afternoon we watched Cirque du Soleil: Mystere at Treasure Island. Wasn't bad, I think I expected more. Crazy stunts, maybe some accidents. There were some annoying parts, some slow parts, and one really gay scene. 2 body builders got awfully close to eachother. Only paid $50 a seat for them, so it was worth it. Theatre was nice, I don't think there are too many bad seats in the house.

Dinner was da bomb ... Rio Buffet. So much good food, takes a bit of time to make your way from one end to the other. mmm Crab legs...

After dinner deciding on whether to hit a club/lounge or hit the tables. Decided to hit a quick tourney, as I had a 6am flight the next morning. Played a $50 + $40 addon at Harrahs. Structure was quick, but not as bad as some others. Some freeroll type players, some other players that think they're good, generally weak. One hand I push preflop with AK. Get called by 75s and A9? Surprised I held. Lost most of my chips when a guy flat called me with bottom pair on a AQJs board. Not sure how I couldn't get him off his hand. I held Ksx. My out hand was against the same player, he limped, I pushed with 10+BB with 55, he called with QT and I'm out in 15th. Top 5 was the payout. Ended up hit the cash tables after that and made some money, no biggie. By that time I was pretty dead tired, and wanted to crash for an hour before I had to pack.

So there was my weekend, nothing major, good times, and as always VEgas is da shit. Next time I promise to play other casinos, and more tournies. Stamp that in my agenda.

July sucks

Had my worst month of the year, actually my only negative month so far. Just ran bad this month. Had one day where I dropped 4 buyins at 500nl on Betfair. Was also my least played month. Was actually about to win a tourney this month but I runner runner flush killed me heads up. Not sure he was doing calling my allin on the flop with A7 on a Kxx board. He loses that I pretty much win the tourney.

Heading to Vegas on Friday, booya!

Doubt I'll be playing much the next 2 days.

August I might take a break on cash games on try out some tournies again. FTOPS, and start satelliting for WCOOP. Still have to get off my lazy ass and play some live games. Also need to start satelliting for WPT Niagara.

Increasing my odds

I think the odds of me winning next year's wsop main event just went up a few points, well at least my confidence did. For the 2nd straight year a lagtard has won the wsop me, Jerry Yang. I do think Jamie Gold is a much better player than this guy though. From what I watched, this guy has no concept of fold equity, player ranges, and who the hell raises preflop 10xBB?

This guy just made Baby Jesus a very rich man!

Hey if I can take home 8.25 mill, maybe you'll see me in God's house on Sundays rather than in front of my computer.

WSOP Main Event Final Table Tonight!

The final table is set and here are the participants:

Seat 1: Jon Kalmar – 20,320,000
Seat 2: Lee Childs – 13,240,000
Seat 3: Philip Hilm – 22,070,000
Seat 4: Jerry Yang – 8,450,000
Seat 5: Raymond Rahme – 16,320,000
Seat 6: Tuan Lam – 21,315,000
Seat 7: Alex Kravchenko – 6,570,000
Seat 8: Lee Watkinson – 9,925,000
Seat 9: Hevad Khan – 9,205,000

Prize Pool Below:

1st: $8,250,000
2nd: $4,840,981
3rd: $3,048,025
4th: $1,852,721
5th: $1,255,069
6th: $956,243
7th: $705,229
8th: $585,934
9th: $525,934

You can catch it on ESPN PPV today at 3pm EST. I'm probably not going to pay for it, hopefully it will leak out again.

Personally I'm going to cheer for Tuan Lam. Asian dude from Kitchener, represent!

Brief Update

Hey an actual post! I guess like everyone else, summer season is pretty slow and we all get pretty lazy when it comes to blogging. I wanted to play less online poker during July and try to enjoy some sun. Also wanted to tryout some underground live games, but have yet to do so.

In terms of online, this is what I've been up to.

Played Sunday tournies for the first time in July yesterday. I wish I hadn't, its just damn frustrating. Most of my tournies I built up a nice stack early, and just can't win the big pots later on. I'm making the right reads, making the right plays, just not winning the flips or the favourites. No real bad beats, but often just winning the right pot at the right time becomes a tournament altering situation. One play that is really a major pet peeve of mine are those who still love Ace rag! These guys are calling off stacks without odds or stack ratios with that crap, and just seeing that Ace hit on the board makes me cringe. I guess if these guys weren't around a wouldn't have built my stack up anyways.

A couple of those put me on tilt in another tourney. So pissed that I hit the wrong button, ended up minreraising a pot with Q3o. I wish that site had an allin button instead, probaby would have gotten that guy to fold, he only had 55 but it held. At that time I had a decent stack and good read on the table, and could have taken it down.

No more MTTs until august. Nothing major this month anyways, might as well regroup for FTOPS.

For those Canadians with time to kill, check out www.scorepoker.com Easy freerolls to win a trip to Vegas. I usually have it in the background when I'm playing or doing something else. Don't really need to think, just shove when you have something and you'll often get called.

On the cash games side, I've pretty much been on Party working off a bonus. They're not really as soft as I was hoping, probably because its bonus time. I really got to stop chasing bonuses and just play one site and build it up. A free $100 bonus or whatever is fine, but playing against weaker oponents is greater EV. After this party bonus is done, going to stick to Betfair and nothing else. Hopefully I stick to my plans this time. I think I said I wouldn't play any tournies in July = X. I think I also said no more Limit = X.

Still in the red for the month, but hopefully I'll turn it around the 2nd half of the month which should only be cash games. The only other tournament I believe I'm going to play is some Titan world challenge where you can win a Porsche. A $5 league. Already missed the first 2, but you only need to be top 35 to move on. Should be relatively easy. Mondays at 10pm est I think. I missed last weeks because it shows Tuesday on the Titan site. Stupid me forgot Tues 3am BST = Monday night.

Noooooo Limit

I will not play limit ... I will not play limit ... I will not play limit ... I will not play limit ... I will not play limit ... I will not play limit ... I will not play limit ... I will not play limit ... I will not play limit ... I will not play limit ... I will not play limit ... I will not play limit ... I will not play limit ... I will not play limit ... I will not play limit ... I will not play limit ... I will not play limit ... I will not play limit ... I will not play limit ... I will not play limit ... I will not play limit ... I will not play limit

June has definately been my worse month so far. My only positive has been my no limit cash games. Limit is just killing me, I have no luck in that game. Even lost to a straight flush last night! I'm down in my omaha cash games, though my last couple of sessions I'm pretty sure I'm making the right decisions, I'm just not benefiting from them yet.

ex)
Preflop: ep pot raise, mp call, I call on the button with AKxx ds
Flop: 985 ep pot raise, mp call. I flop top 2 with nut flush draw.

easy allin?

Omaha is fun, and I do want to improve on it. Still have the Slotsboom and Ciaffone books sitting on my shelf I have to read though. I definately to get more practice on this though.

I'm down on my mtts as well, though its mostly from wsop sats.

Doubt I'll be playing much more with the long weekend coming up, maybe watch some videos, haven't watched as much as I planned to.

Book Recommendation - The Full Tilt Poker Strategy Guide : Tournament Edition

I hardly ever do book reviews, better yet I never to book reviews before I have finished a book, but this book deserves a recommendation. I guess its mostly because I thought it would just be nothing more than a "shill" book, not sure why I got it in the first place. I've only started through the first few chapters, but I can honestly admit that Andy Bloch writes one of the most resourceful sections I have ever read in a poker strategy book. His section is just sick full of wisdom.

Here are the authors in this book:

• Andy Bloch
• Richard Brodie
• Chris Ferguson
• Ted Forrest
• Rafe Furst
• Phil Gordon
• David Grey
• Howard Lederer
• Mike Matusow
• Huckleberry Seed
• Keith Sexton
• Gavin Smith
• and edited by Michael Craig

I have just started the Chris Ferguson section, and so far so good. I'd definately recommend picking up this book if you want to improve your tournament game.

Chokage Sunday

So yesterday was WSOP qualifying Sunday. Played the Full Tilt 100seat and the Poker Stars 150 seat guarantees. I'm pretty sure if I qualified, I would have just taken the cash, but I guess no decision was necessary, I choked.

I believe I played very well in both tournies, at least until the end. Continuosly building my stack and not looking back. In both cases though I know where my problem was. When I turned off the aggressive switch, I forgot to turn it back on when required. When I played aggressively, I won chips easily. I even dropped the hammer once! I barely lost chips from confrontations, I lost them cause I bled them away. I let my stacks drop to the 10-12xBB range, and pretty much played push/fold mode till the end. In this type of satellite tourney, I can't get those bets called though unless I'm up against legitimate hands, so all I could pick up were blinds.

I eventually lost on Stars on a blind protection from the cutoff stealer with A9s. Had about 12x BB at that time. Villian had stolen from me before, but this time wokeup with AK. 420/6200
Full Tilt I got knocked out 1min later. Another CO steal attempt, but my stack, 9xBB was not big enough to resteal. 33 vs KJ and I couldn't hold. 300/1700? So I made it deep in both tournies, but rewarded with nothing.

I did a minor cash in Mansion though, 58th for $200. Same problem as above, plus a miscue on my part when I folded AJ to a shove after I made an MP raise. Left myself with 7-8BB. I should have shoved myself. I also managed to finally qualify for the ipoker $500k freeroll. I probably played that about 7 times, top ten qualify. Usually about 500 players. 900mpp to enter, figured I might as well use my points.

On that note I think I'm done with Sunday tournies for a while. Weather is nice outside, and hate being stuck indoors. I'll stick to weeknight cash games, and watch a ton of videos. Paying for it might as well watch them. I'll prob even read a book or two!

Hey, an actual satellite win!

Finally after feeling like years between satellite wins, I actually finally won one. Its actually probably only been a couple weeks, but feels like a while. I am now entered in the $500 100 WSOP seat guaranteed on Full Tilt this Sunday. I've given up trying to qualify on Stars, because I suck. The double shootouts there are good value, but they are turbos. Instead I just bought some W$ for about 90% and I'll just buyin. Now if my plan runs accordingly, I'll have 2 seats by monday morning. :)

May Recap

Feels like I haven't made a post in forever. Not much to say, just grinding away. May isn't over yet but i doubt I'll be playing tonight, family wants to come over for some Mario Party 8 action on the wii. Haven't tried it out yet, looks fun though.

Recap
Cash Games = I run goot! I'm finally playing my cash games at a consistant level. Other than a couple of days this month, I'm pretty much positive for the day. Had it not been for a -$1,700 2 day downswing, would have looked even sweeter. That damage was done mostly at the $500NL tables so I've held back and deciding not to play more than 2 of those at a time. What I think I've improved on now is adapting my style to the table. I don't always need to turn on the extra aggression, if others are willing to bet for me, go ahead, I'll call down the rest of your chips if I think I'm holding the best hand.

What I need to work on though is my limit game. Played some hands at 5/10, and after each hand I always question why I played it that way. I'm not raising/folding at the right times, and I think I'm calling too much.

Completed the Pokersourceonline GNUF poker promo. Easy stuff, 4-5 hours 4 tabling 1/2NL 6max (of course). Made about $1200 after a $50 bonus, plus i'm in this Sunday's wsop satellite. Should be less than 100 players.

MTTs
I still suck at satellites. I'm not sure whats wrong with me, I can't win them. Even last night I went 0 for 2 and the $24 double shootout 6max to the 150 wsop seat guaranteed. Went out like 1st hand in one of them when I slowplayed top 2 (KQ), and let dude catch up with a straight. Then went out 3rd overall when I tried to steal the blinds. Not sure what the chip leader was doing. Called the short stack for 1/2 his chips with 45o? I don't think it was collusion, probably misclick as he didn't play like it before. That put the other 2 tied and me as the short stack. Lost a flip earlier that would have eliminated the other player. Will still keep playing these, relatively easy.
On the regular mtt side, I'm playing decent, just not running good late in tournies. Losing dominated hands where it would make me amongst the chip leaders had it held up. Probably had about $1100 in tourny winnings this month, but could easily have been more. Didn't do any damage in the majors this month though.

June
- continue cash games. Mostly on Interpoker/Sunpoker, and Betfair depending on the bonus/rakeback situation
- might do Hollywood Poker PSO promo
- WSOP sats:

• Pokerstars 150 seat guaranteed is June 17. (Where I won last year!). Will continue playing $24 6max double shootouts
• FullTilt one is this month as well
• Online Forum Challenge is this June 3
• Hollywood Poker has one June 3
• GNUF PSO Freeroll June 3
• Pokerroom $30 WSOP subevent sats

- Usual sunday tournies (Mansion $100k, Prima $200k, Cake $20k, Poker.com $20k, other deepstack tournies

- Some sats: Stars million, Titan $500k fpp, other sunday majors

Thats about it. Wanted to book vegas for Aug long weekend. Waited a day too long and price jumped +$200! Will have to look for another deal. Also remember to visit www.worldseriesofpoker.com for your chance to win a free WSOP ME seat!

New WPT Hostess!

Layla Kayleigh

http://www.laylakayleigh.com/

Curtousy of Pokernews

And the New World Poker Tour Hostess is ... Layla Kayleigh
May 23, 2007BJ Nemeth

Rumors recently surfaced that Season V WPT Hostess Sabina Gadecki would not be returning for Season VI. For whatever reason, the World Poker Tour would be turning to its fourth hostess in four years. So far neither Courtney Friel or Sabina Gadecki have been able to fill the high-heeled shoes of Shana Hiatt. The poker world would have to wait until the final table of the Mirage Poker Showdown before seeing the new hostess, but PokerNews caught up with her a day early as she taped her first segments for the WPT. We are pleased to announce that the new hostess is -- drumroll, please -- Layla Kayleigh. The first question on the minds of most fans

-- how does Kayleigh compare to those who came before her? Shana Hiatt (Seasons I-III) was the incredibly-hot-but-seemingly-accessible girl next door. Courtney Friel (Season IV) was the attractive broadcast journalist. And Sabina Gadecki (Season V) was our sweet and innocent younger sister. Layla Kayleigh (Season VI) creates a new category of WPT hostess -- one that radiates sex appeal. Not just with her looks, but with her attitude and personality. Born and raised in London to parents with a diverse ethnic background (she is a mix of Caucasian, African, Mediterranean, and Middle Eastern ancestry), this beautiful brunette will bring a bit of international flair to the World Poker Tour. While Layla is young (23 years old) and petite (5'3" tall), she's not innocent or naive

this is a girl who knows who she is and can take care of herself. She can be sexy without going too far, and vivacious without being an airhead. She also has plenty of on-camera experience, serving as a host on MTV2 in Britain, and as a correspondent for ABC Football and "The Best Damn Sports Show Period." Layla currently hosts a segment called "The Feed" on the G4 network, where she reports on the latest tech news, and she can be heard weekly on the "Covino and Rich Show," which broadcasts on Sirius Maxim Radio. If that's not enough, she has a role in the upcoming film, "A Simple Promise," set to be released later this year. In late 2005, she was tapped to be a political correspondent on Al Gore's fledgling cable network, Current TV. But when Current TV learned she had posed for a sexy spread in Maxim magazine, she was promptly fired. She later told Maxim that she had no regrets, pointing out that the network wasn't as progressive as it claimed, and that hers was "the voice of women who can be sexy, smart, and intelligent while posing in lingerie."

Layla's introduction to the poker world came in the summer of 2006, when she was invited to play in (and report on) a charity tournament sponsored by Stuff Magazine. She was a true poker rookie at that point, but after interviewing Jennifer Tilly, the actress/WSOP bracelet winner would spend three hours teaching Layla the basics of the game. Once the tournament began, Layla found herself seated next to the legendary Johnny Chan, and he took her under his wing that night and taught her some of the finer points of the game. The Tilly-Chan system served her well, and Layla played her way to the final table. The World Poker Tour recently contacted her about potentially hosting their sixth season, and Layla went through five separate auditions, feeling less confident about her chances each time.

To her surprise, she was offered the job, and she happily accepted. WPT Executive Vice President Robyn Moder calls Layla "energetic, intelligent and strikingly beautiful -- the perfect combination to engage WPT fans." Taping her first segments out in front of the Mirage Tuesday night, Layla is definitely comfortable in front of a camera. She thinks quickly on her feet, and seems to have a bit of an edge to her. If Sabina had a flaw at all, it was that she exuded purity and innocence

and poker isn't an innocent game. It's dark, and it has an edgy quality that makes it much cooler than games like chess or backgammon. Layla can tap into that edginess. Tonight will be her first test as the new hostess, presiding over the first WPT final table of Season VI. Will she be able to crack Phil Ivey's media-proof shell? Can she get online pros Cory Carroll and Darrell Dicken to open up? Will she draw more viewers to the show when it switches to GSN? Ultimately, we won't know the answers until her episodes air, sometime in 2008. Layla knows that the previous two hostesses were let go after a single season, and she plans to work hard so she'll be asked back for Season VII. Nobody will ever be able to fill Shana's shoes -- she was one of a kind. But Shana has moved on to another show, so it's time we moved on as well. If we let Layla be herself, she could potentially do more for the show than even the return of Shana Hiatt.

Mother F*cker Part 2!

18 damn hands away from $10k guaranteed, and $100k if I won the hand with a decent hand.

PokerStars Game #10000000018: Hold'em No Limit ($0.01/$0.02) - 2007/05/19 - 16:51:41 (ET)
Table 'Ursa III' 6-max Seat #5 is the button
Seat 1: actyper ($2.35 in chips)
Seat 2: BoogeeMan2 ($4.97 in chips)
Seat 3: Mishcalu73 ($2.08 in chips)
Seat 4: jfg1234 ($0.98 in chips)
Seat 5: KSfoldorall ($0.99 in chips)
Seat 6: Joroy70 ($2.77 in chips)
Joroy70: posts small blind $0.01
actyper: posts big blind $0.02
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to actyper [Jh As]
BoogeeMan2: folds
Mishcalu73: folds
jfg1234: folds
KSfoldorall: folds
Joroy70: folds
Joroy70 is sitting out
actyper collected $0.02 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $0.02 | Rake $0
Seat 1: actyper (big blind) collected ($0.02)
Seat 2: BoogeeMan2 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 3: Mishcalu73 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 4: jfg1234 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 5: KSfoldorall (button) folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 6: Joroy70 (small blind) folded before Flop

Stars 10 Billionth Hand

Go log onto Stars approximately 5pm EST today! 10 billionth hand should arrive +/- 1 hour of that time.

I was so close on an earlier hand, 4 hands off!

Mother F*cker!

This guy stole my jackpot

World Record Online Jackpot Win!
Our world famous ‘Millionaires Club Slot’ has done it again and this time in record breaking style!InterCasino player Obaesso was crowned our latest multi millionaire after he landed the world’s biggest ever online casino jackpot on Tuesday 15th May 2007. We spoke to him late last night and he was understandably still in shock but ecstatic about winning over $8million! Obaesso is a factory worker and along with his wife decided to play Millionaires Club for the first time yesterday. At first he did not believe he had reached the jackpot so he phoned us to get confirmation. When we gave him the news he jumped for joy and couldn't believe his luck! Obaesso has never travelled more than 50km from his home town but is now currently planning his trip to London to receive his huge check!Congratulations to both him and his family!

Degree Poker 2007 Details

Canada's Most Watched Poker Tournament Returns to TSN for Third Season
Toronto, ON (April 19, 2007) – Armchair poker players from across Canada have the opportunity to showcase their card playing talents in front of a national TV audience once again, as TSN and Degree Men today announced the return of Canada's most watched poker tournament, the Degree Poker Championship. Now in its third season, the TSN original production will air in September in seven, one-hour prime-time episodes on TSN, TSN HD and TSN Broadband.
A group of 72 contestants (see contestant breakdown below) will compete in this annual Texas Hold 'Em event. This year's smaller playing field allows for a more intense atmosphere, as participants in the Degree Poker Championship compete for the grand prize of $100,000 as well as a chance to win an additional $1 million (all figures Canadian), and a paid seat at the 2007 World Series of Poker.
The 72 participants will play in one of two preliminary rounds for a limited number of seats in the tournament's televised playoff and championship rounds. Each of the six playoff broadcasts features a table of six players, with the winner of each table moving on to the final championship round.
"The success of the 'Degree Poker Championship' has paved the way for the type of tournament activity we see in Canada today," said Adam Ashton, Vice-President of Marketing, TSN and TSN Events. "To have this original Canadian programming property flourish the way it has would not be possible without our devoted team of partners."
Last year's Degree Poker Championship was the most watched poker tournament in Canada, attracting a national average audience of 126,000 viewers per premiere telecast. The show attracted an impressive 247,000 viewers per episode when the premiere and two encore broadcasts were taken into account.
This year's event will be held June 25 to 29 at Casino Rama, a world-class casino-resort located 90 minutes north of Toronto. Casino Rama is Ontario's Favourite Casino*, a first-class entertainment facility specializing in gaming, concerts and production shows.
"At Casino Rama we're known for dealing big-time excitement and this tournament is exactly the edge-of-your-seat, thrilling event we love to be part of," said Jeff Craik, Vice-President of Marketing, Casino Rama.
New to the event this year is the return of past Degree Poker champions and finalists, creating the potential for a repeat champion. This year, the event also welcomes Bic Inc. as a new sponsor and official lighter of the Degree Poker Championship.
Contestant Breakdown:
The following is an outline of how the group of 72 players will be determined:
Last year's winner Jim Rich of Sarnia, ON, and 2005 inaugural champion Liam Greig of Vancouver join nine other finalists from the past two tournaments (11 players)
Casino Rama will be giving away five seats to winners of a select in-house poker tournament (5 players)
Degree is giving away a pair of seats through contests associated with its products sold at retailers Pharma Plus and Safeway (2 players)
The remaining players will be randomly selected in an online draw on May 29 (54 players)
Registration for the online draw is free and open to all Canadians over the age of 21 (excluding residents of Quebec). Those interested can visit www.degreepoker.com to enter the contest.
"The Degree Men brand is a natural fit for the guy who isn't afraid to take a calculated risk. And going 'all-in' on a national stage against Canada's best poker players, what could be more exciting?" said Izabela Kvesic, Brand Manager, Degree Men, which is the title sponsor of the event for the third consecutive year. "Our consumers are into playing poker with their friends and always get into the game. Combine that with Degree's commitment to providing men with the protection they need to take on risk and challenge, not to mention the chance to partner with TSN, and it was something we just had to do again."
A general overview of the tournament, photos from previous years, poker strategy tips and trivia, and Degree Men product information are also available on the Degree Poker Championship's designated website at www.degreepoker.com.
TSN Events owns the Degree Poker Championship broadcast, which is managed in conjunction with Segal Communications acting on behalf of Unilever, Degree Men's parent company. TSN has retained the services of WhistleStop Productions to handle TV production for the event.
Casino Amusements Canada (CAC), a registered, non-gaming related supplier with the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario, continues its valued partnership with the event by once again managing the championship component. CAC is the developer and implementer of this world class event in Canada and, this year, the sponsor of the $100,000 first place prize.
TSN has been televising poker since 1998 and viewers can look forward to more than 150 hours of poker coverage on the network in 2007. TSN has a full slate of poker on the schedule in addition to the Degree Poker Championship, including such high profile tournaments as the World Series of Poker, Poker Million, U.S. Poker Championship, as well as the Legends Cup of Poker and European Poker Tour.

Thank goodness I can learn from my mistakes

Nothing big yet, but this will get my mtt confiedence back. Listened to my self and regained my composure by playing with patience, and taking time before making moves.



Mansion I played a strong aggressive game for the first couple of hours. Then I lost some chips when I went card dead and stayed passive, but patient. :)

Tripled up late with AA vs KK vs KQ.

Down to 21 folds to me in the SB, I shove and am called by the BB. A8 vs A7, and the river 7 sucks me out.

FT I knew I would do decent since it was a deep stack tourney. I'm pretty sure the added patience with especially help me in the deeper stack tournies.

I remained as a shorter stack during the late stages and prior to the final table, but I played great short stack poker. I shoved at the proper moments, and never left myself as a huge underdog. 87 was my favourite shoving hand! Except for my out hand though, 4 handed I shoved with A5s and was caught by AJo. 2 spades on the flop, but I couldn't suckout. GG Me!

Turning point of the day though was my first tournament. CAke poker $25 - $8k guaranteed. 3 to the money, folded to the SB who shoves on me. I'm holding 55 and for some reason called. I wasn't in great shape but I could have found a better moment to shove. He flipped over AA, and an A on the flop sealed the deal. Right after that I picked up a yellow sticky note and wrote:

PATIENCE!!! THINK!!!

and stuck it on my monitor. I think it worked!

Getting back on track MTT wise

Wow i'm sucking at mtts right now. Though I took a break in April from them, I still played a few with 0 cashes. The few that I've played this month, next to nothing in cashes. Though I do realize what my problem is...

NO PATIENCE!

I'm making too many moves, playing too many pots, trying to win too many pots! I'm also lacking focus, and making decisions rather quickly. I don't remember the last time I've gone into extra time, and its unusual for me to use more than half my time allowance.

The fix

• Take more time making decisions
• I don't need to win every pot
• I don't need to risk my stack in winning a pot
• I don't need to win a tourney during the early stages
• I might cut down on multitabling for now.
• Not everybody is bluffing me!!

I'll try this out on Sunday, see if it helps.

50k milestone!

Finally hit the $50k career profit mark last night! woohoo!!!

This is from the period starting Jan 1, 2005 to present. I did start my online poker play mid 2004, but I never kept track of anything, and it was only minor profits, break even plays just to get comps from Pokersourceonline.

I actually thought I was almost there a couple weeks ago, but then I realized I overstated by $1k, so I was really $1.5k off. Then came an ugly downswing and I was almost $2.5k away. But the past couple weeks have been pretty profitable.

I have enjoyed playing strictly cash games this month. I've played maybe 5-7 mtts, nothing major. Played a few satellites but I suck at those now. Cash games I'm playing 1/2nl, 2/5nl, 2/4nl, and 5/10 limit. All shorthanded. Getting more comfortable at the 2/5nl limit now so I should be fulltime there soon.

I have also realized that my numbers on weekends is far worse than my weeknight results, for cash games. Therefore my schedule will be Mon-Fri night = cash games. Sun = mtts. Fri will also be sats and smaller mtts. I don't usually play saturdays at all, and usually just 4/7 days in total. The one stat I wish increased more though was my hours, I don't play enough as I would like to. With cash games I can only sit and play them for 2hrs max then I just don't feel like it anymore. Usually I only play for 1-1.5 hrs per session.

lol banaments!

This is Real L. from the Operations Department at Cassava (Gibraltar) Ltd. Cassava (Gibraltar) Ltd operates "Pacific Poker".This Email is to inform you of the blocking of your accounts owned and operated by 888.com.Routine checks of your account revealed that your are attempting to abuse our IAF bonus scheme.In the event that the Company believes a user is abusing or attempting to abuse a bonus or other promotion, or is likely to benefit through abuse or lack of good faith from a gaming policy adopted by the Company, then the Company may, at its sole discretion, deny, withhold or withdraw from any user any bonus or promotion, or rescind any policy with respect to that user, either temporarily or permanently, or terminate that user's access to the Service and/or block that user's account. Therefore, as per our Terms and Conditions, we have permanently blocked your accounts with our sites. Your membership is no longer welcome at the sites owned by 888.com. Please refrain from opening any new accounts with our sites, as any deposits made on new accounts will not be refunded, and any cashout requests made will not be honoured.

Unbelievable. They send me a bonus to promote their site, and then they ban me! Glad I opted for 1 shirt and 1 $30 bonus so I'll at least get something. Fuckem! But I'll still continue to promote them as I want everyone to whore the crap out of them.

I guess they forgot I've actually recently deposited on Pacific and play real $ poker there. That account better not be blocked, I want my $.

Fallsview Report

Decided to head down to Fallsview on saturday, put on some gambool. Had to go down to hamilton at night for some party, so might as well make it an afternoon at niagara.

1.5 hr wait to get on a 2/5NL table. Was also on the 5/5NL list but by the time I got called for that, I was already comfortable in my seat and too lazy to move. I had no problems waiting that long, the only problem I had was the unobservant casino hosts. There were 3 seats open at the 2/5 table for about 20mins. The lady kept calling the same 3 names over and over again, duh they're gone, move on.

Was on a pretty timid table. Players would rather limp than raise preflop. After noting the good players at the table, pretty much just picked on the weaklings. No real big pots for me, just some average ones, and left after only 1.5hrs. Was hungry and the buffet was calling my name. Left with a modest $130 so pretty good hourly rate. Was outearned by the wife though, she made $320 on wheel of fortune slots in 15mins!!! Whose the casino whore, me or her? :)

After about a 45mins wait for the buffet, was kind of disappointed. Food was good, but was looking forward to the crab legs that everybody was raving about. For some reason there was none. Oh well, still left with a belly full.

End of Session Blues

Ever happen to you?

Your up a nice amount of money and figure you've had enough. Last orbit coming up. You get a good starting hand but just get a nasty feeling that you might end up blowing some money on that hand.

AQs < 45s vs a guy that I completely owned during the session. Q36 flop. He ended up catching the straight and I lost some hard earned $.

Bastard!

Getting owned with big pairs

Most normal people were hunting for eggs on the weekend, I was hunting fishes and donkeys. I did not find any, thus I was the donkafish.

I lost 4 buyins in total with the big pairs: AA & KK. One AA allin preflop against a smaller pair, one KK allin preflop against AA. Another AA I limped squeezed but still got called with 78s By that time the pot was too big to lay down. The other KK I lost to AA again with a paired flop.

I still can't laydown KK preflop, even though I know the other guy has a good chance of AA. At this level I still see a lot of AK, QQ, JJ etc allin preflop.

I used to be able to keep the pot sizes containable with these big pairs, but lately I've gotten paid off big time with the big 2, so I didn't mind the big pots.

I guess I should have said a prayer before playing this holy weekend.

I'll post my updated action plan later tonight. Still have a few hundred sitting in neteller, not sure if I'm going to deposit it somewhere or just cash it out.

Post Neteller Plan of Action

So here is my plan of action. I am keeping all my funds in play for now. I'm going to use 2 ewallets, moneybookers and click2pay. Neither currently funded, they will be used just in case I need to use something. Below are the sites I will continue to play on, or have potential. I think this is the end of bonus hunting and promo comps for me. Time to play some good pokah.



Cash/Rakeback are my cash game / rakeback rooms. If cryptos make their no deposit reloads the same as their deposit ones, then they will be my main cash game sites. If not it will be Betfair through RaketheRAke RTR03416 :). If you haven't signed up for raketherake yet, please use me as a referrer. My interpoker rakeback jumps to 40% if I get a referrer. Same for you if you refer somebody. I'll ship a nice gift back. Fast loose european action there. I've seen 1/2 SH games with average pots over $70, even over $100, though I think there might be something wrong with their calculations. Mostly short handed games but there are a couple full rings for each level.

MTT will be primarily my major tournament rooms, cash games on those sites are definately possibilities. This also includes Paradise where I'll do the reload bonuses and one day thinking of actually clearing my outstanding bonus. Pokerstars will be my homebase, and Full Tilt #2. Absolute will be used with the PSO League and other promos they might have.

I plan on keeping some funds on each of the major networks. About $300 on each. This includes Pacific which should have some new tourney promos when the new software is released. I might change my mind on funding Full Contact, I don't have too much faith that it or the network will ever grow.

"Playout" are the rooms where I have some money on that if I bust, I'll just simply uninstall. Some of these I have < $20 on, so no worries.

I'd like to hear everybody elses action plan. Also if you think I'm missing something please let me know, and preferably by Friday! I think that will be my actual action date.

Screw neteller and Party for jumping the gun!!!!

EDIT: April 6

Changed a few things around..

- withdrew 1/2 of my paradise funds. Still planning on doing the reloads. Hasn't hit my neteller yet though.
- signed up with pokerheaven through raketherake. Wanted a rakeback on Boss in case it goes good.
- signed up on CDPoker through pokersavvy Man is this room easy. 3 table 1/2NL SH for 45min and I'm 1/2 way done the promo. Over $100 in extra gifts. Average pots are pretty big on these tables.
- ended up adding a couple hundred to Cake poker with their new bunny reload, just in case.
- thinking I should have taken some $ out of sun poker, probably too late now.
- still undecided on full contact funding

Reminded to start moving on your action plans. Rooms like stars have max daily deposit limits!!!

Plan of Action tonight, I promise...

Wanted to put together my plan of action yesterday, regarding the relocation of funds. Ended up picking up Guitar Hero 2 for xbox360, so that took up my time instead. Great addictive game. I'm not even a big fan of rock music, but who can't appreciate a nice Nirvanna tune.

My plan of action though is pretty much complete, just wanted to confirm a few things before I actually do it. Though cake poker denying my request to switch to rakeback helps clear one of my options. Should have it all posted by tonight.

Moneybookers

If you need a Moneybookers account, feel free to signup here.
Referal code 2533033

Canadian eWallet Discussion

The most up to date thread on Canadian eWallet Option is here on 2+2. Thanks to user BoboFett for starting it up.

Neteller - NO
Firepay - NO
myCitadel - NO

Moneybookers - AP, b2b, Party, UB, Everest, iPoker, Microgaming (some), OnGame, Pacific, WSEX
Click2Pay - AP, UB, Crypto (some), Everest, iPoker, Microgaming (some), OnGame, Boss (some), FT
ePassporte - AP, Stars, UB, FT
ATMOnline - UB
EcoCard - iPoker, Microgaming (some)

Credit Cards:
No - Royal Bank

Notes:
Click2Pay is Canadian funds only but there is absolute no exchange fee.
Moneybookers requires some sort of Swift# to withdraw, but I would just use moneybookers to deposit into Party. Then use Party to withdraw to my bank account because of its favourable exchange rates. There might be some problems with depositing into a moneybooker account via credit card though. My moneybooker account was originally setup i think when I withdrew from Best Casino.