damn donkaments

Its 2am and I've been playing a pretty damn good tourney. $50k on stars, $50+5. Got lucky close to the bubble when button decides to open shove, and magically i'm holding AA on the BB to double to 30bb. Made some great reads like this:

PokerStars Game #14568085330: Tournament #73676345, $50+$5 Hold'em No Limit - Level XII (600/1200) - 2008/01/15 - 00:34:07 (ET)
Table '73676345 33' 9-max Seat #4 is the button
Seat 1: Eschilo (15595 in chips)
Seat 2: cheers98 (28098 in chips)
Seat 3: NewPokerKid (55812 in chips)
Seat 4: ZedzDed81 (32083 in chips)
Seat 5: actyper (24615 in chips)
Seat 6: bigcil (30300 in chips)
Seat 7: graslevy (14948 in chips)
Seat 8: acesupyrs (9185 in chips)
Seat 9: TrackStar488 (11146 in chips)
Eschilo: posts the ante 125
cheers98: posts the ante 125
NewPokerKid: posts the ante 125
ZedzDed81: posts the ante 125
actyper: posts the ante 125
bigcil: posts the ante 125
graslevy: posts the ante 125
acesupyrs: posts the ante 125
TrackStar488: posts the ante 125
actyper: posts small blind 600
bigcil: posts big blind 1200
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to actyper [2d Td]
graslevy: folds
acesupyrs: folds
TrackStar488: folds
Eschilo: folds
cheers98: folds
NewPokerKid: folds
ZedzDed81: folds
actyper: raises 1800 to 3000
bigcil: calls 1800
*** FLOP *** [Qs Jc 6c]
actyper: bets 3675
bigcil: calls 3675
*** TURN *** [Qs Jc 6c] [5s]
actyper: checks
bigcil: checks
*** RIVER *** [Qs Jc 6c 5s] [2s]
actyper: bets 3500
bigcil: raises 6500 to 10000
actyper: calls 6500
*** SHOW DOWN ***
bigcil: shows [9c 8c] (high card Queen)
actyper: shows [2d Td] (a pair of Deuces)
actyper collected 34475 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 34475 | Rake 0
Board [Qs Jc 6c 5s 2s]
Seat 1: Eschilo folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 2: cheers98 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 3: NewPokerKid folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 4: ZedzDed81 (button) folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 5: actyper (small blind) showed [2d Td] and won (34475) with a pair of Deuces
Seat 6: bigcil (big blind) showed [9c 8c] and lost with high card Queen
Seat 7: graslevy folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 8: acesupyrs folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 9: TrackStar488 folded before Flop (didn't bet)

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Lost a lot of chips later though with TT when bigger stack decides to check raise shove a K high rainbow flop (stop tangling with the big boys). Continued up and down until I got low.

Out Hand

PokerStars Game #14569296452: Tournament #73676345, $50+$5 Hold'em No Limit - Level XVII (2500/5000) - 2008/01/15 - 02:03:06 (ET)
Table '73676345 106' 9-max Seat #8 is the button
Seat 1: Wabs10 (89244 in chips)
Seat 3: THE BURGLER (55610 in chips)
Seat 4: jasray (115713 in chips)
Seat 5: cguido10 (114392 in chips)
Seat 6: wausau1 (105361 in chips)
Seat 7: herschelw (213328 in chips)
Seat 8: HR_Dub (191232 in chips)
Seat 9: actyper (44898 in chips)
Wabs10: posts the ante 500
THE BURGLER: posts the ante 500
jasray: posts the ante 500
cguido10: posts the ante 500
wausau1: posts the ante 500
herschelw: posts the ante 500
HR_Dub: posts the ante 500
actyper: posts the ante 500
actyper: posts small blind 2500
Wabs10: posts big blind 5000
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to actyper [Td Qd]
THE BURGLER: folds
jasray: folds
cguido10: folds
wausau1: folds
herschelw: raises 7500 to 12500
HR_Dub: folds
actyper: raises 31898 to 44398 and is all-in
Wabs10: folds
herschelw: calls 31898
*** FLOP *** [4d 8s Jc]
*** TURN *** [4d 8s Jc] [7h]
*** RIVER *** [4d 8s Jc 7h] [2h]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
actyper: shows [Td Qd] (high card Queen)
herschelw: shows [7c Qh] (a pair of Sevens)
herschelw collected 97796 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 97796 | Rake 0
Board [4d 8s Jc 7h 2h]
Seat 1: Wabs10 (big blind) folded before Flop
Seat 3: THE BURGLER folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 4: jasray folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 5: cguido10 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 6: wausau1 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 7: herschelw showed [7c Qh] and won (97796) with a pair of Sevens
Seat 8: HR_Dub (button) folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 9: actyper (small blind) showed [Td Qd] and lost with high card Queen

Booo, when you play for 5hrs you except to go pretty deep, at least final 2. Baaah just watched that luckbox knock out another huge stack AT > KK allin preflop. Time to sleep

Limit Post

Been playing a lot of limit short handed cash games lately, and done pretty well, so might as well share what I've improved in my game.

Most important rule: Preflop = Raise or Fold
Pretty much always either raise or fold preflop. If you are the blinds it is ok to call, and sometimes in a 3bet pot, but the main idea is that if your hand is not good enough to raise then its probably better off left unplayed.

Building pots
If you have a good draw, always build the pot. Don't take free cards, take them if you have a crappy draw.

Don't get sucked in
If your pretty sure your beat after the turn comes out, just give up on the hand. The 4th/5th street hands are expensive, and trying to beat bluffs all the time is -EV. I'm not saying to lay down all the time, just don't think A high or mid pair is always good.

Checking rivers to induce bets
If oop and you figure our oponent has air, check to induce the bluff, they will bet 95% of the time.

Thats all I can think of for now.

2007 Recap / 2008 Goals

2007 Goals
1) Better tracking. I was going to make my own tracking spreadsheet, but I a am pretty lazy. Done. New 2008 version available at VPIPoker.com
2) $ Amount. I'm not going to set a $ amount goal this year. I'll express it this way. Cash games I want to move up to $1000NL by the end of the year. I'm ready to play $400NL now anyways so its only 1 more step higher. Limit I'll stick with 5/10. Don't really want to play higher yet. Tournament goals below.
Boo. Still at $400/500NL after not doing as well, dropped back to $200NL. Very confident at that level. Went back to 400/500 end of the year with mixed success. Limit at 5/10 but didn't really play too much.
3) Qualify for another major event. WSOP/WPT/CPT. Due to vacation time, I don't think I'll be able to take that much time off work. So no week long ones such as Aruba, Atlantis, WPS, Aussie. WSOP will be tough. I need more vacation time, or just go pro.
Boo. No sat entries won, came close many times though.
4) Tournament Cash winnings. First goal is to get to $2k, then take home $5k, then $10k+. Going to try and play at least 1 $50+ tourney a week. Will continue to improve my tourney skills. Maybe rejoin pokerxfactor, though I probably won't have time to watch the videos again.
Boo. Had a few 1k+ cashes but highest was $3800. By november though my tournament game was pretty "on" so I'm confident for 2008.
5) Omaha/Horse. Learn and get better. Seems like more and more players are enjoying Horse games. I might as well join in the fun. I guess I'm an average Omaha/hi or lo player, I know I have a lot of room to improve though. Maybe I'll buy a book.
Boo. Didn't play much of any other games, prob even less than before.
6) Read. I have books galore that I have yet to read or finish yet.
?. Read a few more books, but joined pxf and watched card runner videos which are way better than books.
7) More Live Poker. Port Perry is only 45mins away. Fallsview/Niagara/Brantford are only 1.5hrs away. Yet I don't play much live poker at casinos. I should. Plus more home games as well. Maybe hit some undergrounds.
Boo. Pretty much only played live for WPT Niagara satellites and Vegas. Undergrounds are pretty much out of the question now since too many gone busto.

Even though I failed most of my goals, I had a successful 2007. Made more than any other previous year. Maybe too hard on myself, but I do like to push myself further. I know I've gotten a lot better, so hopefully that continues onto 2008.

2008 Goals

1. Hourly Rate. I finished at an approx $50/hr rate. Had a losing July and a couple of sub 1k months which screwed it up. I'm setting my goal for $100/hr. I averaged 48hrs per month in 07, I should have that up to at least 60.
2. Cash Games. Same as last year, get to $1000NL. Limit $10/20 which should be no prob.
3. Tournaments. Definately should be able to get a 5 digit score.
4. Satellites. Qualify for WSOP ME, WPT Niagara, Aussie or PCA Jan 09.
5. Live Poker. Honestly not much, would rather play online
6. Education. Continue learning and improving.

In summary I would like to be able to step into this full time if something should happen to my regular job either voluntarily or not. Time to make some serious money.

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.