My Poker Adventures

Revival?

2007-11-09T17:54:00.001-08:00

I am sure I have lost every single one of my readers, if I had any before. Infrequent updating made it seem like I dropped off the earth, but the grind of a PhD forced me to slack off on my poker play.

As of last week I had quite a comeback week with a nice streak where sharkscope labeled me as hot. It took effort for me to lose a sng.

Now, in the last two days, I am officially on "supertilt" with a huge decline in my performance. The money goes in when I am ahead, and then the cards end up with me the loser. One pattern of coinflips involves 3 AJ v. 99 matchups on either side and have yet to win one of them.

So, I could fill this post with a bit of a variance whine, but I am going to stop there. Just felt like time to put some more ink on the internet.

Yay 5-card

2007-06-29T07:58:00.001-07:00

Decided to mix things up and play a game of 5-card (the first poker game I learned; taught by my parents at 8 years old). 200 entries + 3.5 hours determined me as the winner. $4 buy-in became $211 - a modest victory, but knowing that my 5card game is still decent is still reassuring.

Back to the SNGs.

2007-06-25T19:39:00.000-07:00

I think my downswing might be flattening out. I decided to pursue SNGs on the pokerstars. I originally started with the $20 SNG, but realized that my profit/hour was a bit too low and decided to give the $16 turbos a try. I remember doing moderately well on them back when I played on Ongame (Pokerroom), so this might end up well. SO far it has, with a positive ROI% that I had not seen from MTTs. Though the cash are not as nice; I will give these another week and see if its the game I should specialize in and start setting up a goal/program to move up in.

Went to the underground game last night, played 8 hours had lots of ups and downs and ended up with an extra $95 which is roughly half a buy in. Given my past luck there, I am okay with a modest win now. Highlight loss: my KK loses to KJ all in preflop. JJ hits the flop.

Get Cancer?

2007-06-20T12:19:00.000-07:00

I usually am pretty good about holding back my yelling at people for poor plays...and this was a very cheap tournament, but in a downswing I was not too happy with the outcome of this hand that knocked me next to the bubble.

HOw is he even in this hand.

Downslide with one bump

2007-06-18T10:47:00.000-07:00

I have been hit pretty hard both in cash games and big tournaments, barely cashing if I get lucky and mostly busting out. I am trying to recover with a bit more focus and taking only one or two tournaments at a time, but we shall see how that goes.

One good highlight, my live game finish was reported online at the first event of Heartland Poker Tour up here at Turning Stone: http://www.pokerpages.com/tournament/result18601.htm

It was a barely-cash, but it was my best finish in a live tournament that had a buy-in over $200. I have only played two such tournaments - so I am somewhat satisfied...just need to be doing better at low buy-in games.

First Book Review

2007-05-23T12:46:00.000-07:00

Phil Gordon's Little Blue Book: More Lessons and Hand Analysis in No Limit Texas Hold'em

I have been going over several poker books in the last few days as I feel as if I finally have some free time to read non-academic texts and I need to exploit it to the point where I consume much theory and later allow it to develop in my play. In the past week, I killed off both Phil's Green and Black books and am reworking my way through Sklansky's and Miller's NL theory book. The green and black books are decent but nothing serious or overly detailed. They teach some basic, aggressive poker that will benefit newer players. The blue book, however, is a much better treat than the other two. Therefore, it will be my first book review for the blog:

The book is in a decidedly different from both the Green and Black books as this one takes the format of relating actual hands played by Gordon. Each stage of the hand breaks down his reads, stops to allow you to decide what you should do, then goes on and explains his thought behind each action he makes. It weighs the pros and cons of such action and also takes into consideration the mathematical calculations given likely hand ranges by his opponent. This reminds me mostly of Harrington on Hold 'em Volume III as it feels like a workbook where there are multiple examples for individuals to work through and attempt to solve. As I read I can hear Gordon's voice in my head as I have both read the Green Book and have listened to it on audio tape in trips up to Turning Stone (closest casino here about 1.5 hours away).

A newer player learning to play decent poker would greatly benefit from this book as it establishes a decent way to play poker and the thoughts that go behind each move. A more experienced player benefits from reading the book as it gives them practice with knowing the outcomes to many hands. Naturally, any player who has some experience behind them will disagree with Gordon and the dialogue the book provides will give you some room to argue with him. Even Gordon acknowledges that he does not always make the right play.

Gordon can be wrong. He is not arrogant about his approach and has readily put hands in the book were he misread his opponents and made the wrong play. Sometimes he reads his opponents correctly and makes the right play, but the outcome involves a less than happy beat. In all, a good read for practicing and brushing up on your theory while also getting a more standard angle on playing the hands. This is not a rigorous books and not one that focuses on teaching a concept and applying, but relating hands and summing up relevant concepts at the end of each hand.

The book is a pretty straightforward read that can be consumed within a few days if one is familiar with the concepts and is reading every section. A briefer scan can last a day, while I expect a newer reader to give it about a week to a week and a half.

The next book on the docket is is Scott Fischman's Online Ace

Getting some cash game love tonight

2007-05-22T18:24:00.000-07:00

Decided to do little to no work this afternoon and play some cash games instead. While clearing out my PS bonus I have been picking some premium tables and getting paid off with some decent hands.

Good hands?
This is why you don't smooth call with AA He puts a lot of money into the pot, must put me on an okay pocket pair.

I pwn with the wheel in fishing for a flush

I miss a value bet here.

Currently playing in a $50 buy in at AP...will post on that a bit later.

Sometimes I just can't beat people

2007-05-21T17:15:00.000-07:00

This guy felts me in 3 hands...I am doing well at the table, up about $30 then I get 47s on the button and play it aggressively:

He calls both flop and river raises; I fail to fire the third bullet and he takes it down.

Hand Two is the very next hand. I play it a bit more passively than the last one, but I think I am ahead...and I am until the river. I missed a flop bet here.

2nd hand after number 2 - I hate jacks. The flop looks exciting, the turn even better, but his hand is still better.

Binghamton Cash Game

2007-05-21T08:12:00.000-07:00

It has been a month and a half since I have last played at the game in my town and decided that, since school is over, it is time to make a return. They now started to have a 60+2 shootout tournament that I figured I would have a decent shot at given the blind structure. I bought in, received 1200 chips and immediately regretted the 25/50 blinds that would be doubled every 15 minutes.

Out of 16 people, I ended up 8th when my UTG push with AKs got called by the SB's 44 and his gets a set to take me out.

A minor setback but, thanks to the tournament, the cash game started about 2 hours earlier than it used to. I get knocked out and walk over to the main cash table, set down in the last seat that is available and get dealt two cards, both aces. I am in MP, when the UTG person raises it to $10, I repop to $40 after a half minute of consideration, and someone in LP goes all in for $40. UTG calls. Flop is Kh 8d 5d. UTG checks, I reraise her for about 60, she pushes all in for about $20 more and I call. LP flips up KQo, UTG shows TT, and I survive the later streets to have a very nice first hand. The rest of the night allows me to accumulate up to about $500 in chips and then I go pick up my gf as she hears the game is juicy.

I come back and she sits down with $200. The night goes downhill from there. I pick up KJs and raise to $12 in LP, the button and BB call. Flop is K54 rainbow. Check, I bet $20, button folds, UTG calls. Turn is a 3. He pushes for his remaining $26; I decide to call. He wins the pot with a very strong K5o.

My gf gets hit the hardest. She picks up 33 in the bb and calls a $10 raise. There are 3 players and the flop comes out with J38 with two clubs. She raises $40 into a $30 pot and gets two callers. The turn is the 4 of clubs. She checks, the original raiser bets $50, the button pushes all in for just over $100 and Julie folds. The raiser calls and they both show club flushes with the raiser have Ac5c and the button having KcTc. The river is another 8 and Julie regrest the correct fold as she would have tripled up.

I end up leaving the night with about an extra $70 (profit in cash - tournament entry) and Julie gets felted for her buy in. An okay night, I will probably return next week and just play the cash game.

Also, Julie is starting up a blog now that can be found at When Donkeys win...

2007-05-17T07:43:00.000-07:00

Time to start my serious poker training now that I am done with my final paper for class. This will probably be one of the few days that I can go all out as I have to start teaching in a week and have yet to get my lesson plan together. Consequently, it is time to multitable like I have not done in a year.

I am currently doing 2 $20 SNGs on AP and 2 $100NL tables at Pokerstars.

Cash Game Hands
Net: -50

*I smelled weakness I think I was wrong.

*SNG hands
End of Session Results:
net: +70
Losses: 3
3rds:0
2nds:0
1sts:2

Hands of Interest:
*A weird river bet leads me to calling with middle pocket pair. It looked like a value bet, but could have easily been a blocking bet as well. This is the first hand of the sng.

*1st hand of SNG #4 I was getting a little frisky and annoyed here.

(#4 - picked off a river bluff (well, he had middle pair, but it was into a paired board and 3 spades showing) with a pretty good call.

I win number four with these two hands:
*TT. and I have 8k in chips I don't think I could get away from this hand if I tried...Probably would get at least one person out, if not both. River saves me.

*I luck box for the win

I also win the 5th one. So 3 bricks and 2 gold SNGs lead to an okay afternoon. Now I am thinking about going up to turningstone.

2007-05-16T09:01:00.000-07:00

Pokerstars Cash Games

I have been going strong in $50 tournaments and have think I have reached a new peak in my ability to play properly in a tournament. I will be posting more as this week is over. For now however, I am doing a few cash games as the new deposit bonus on Pokerstars makes me want to collect FPPs.

So, as usual, the good and the bad are both posted and open for comment.

Short stacked player passively calling me down I have pocket kings and play them aggressively. Is there some point that I should stop betting? The person I am playing against I do not have too many good reads against but I think I double him up every time.

The Good

KK holds up against an aggressive JT play.

2007-04-29T11:31:00.000-07:00

Woo, just made my 3rd Final table in a row for $5 tournaments. This is the tournament that the bluff hands below are from. Unfortunately, the payouts here are not impressive, so there is a good incentive to win this and not care about moving up just one more slot. We will see how it goes.

I entered the final table third in chips. We immediately lost one person.

*down to 7 and I haven't really played a hand yet. The distribution of chips is flat right now, ranging between 20k and 40k.

Break.

Get AK, raise to 6k (1k/2k blinds). One caller. Miss the flop but get a flush draw. Check it down for the win. This restablishes my 3rd place and I am behind 2nd by 600 chips.

This hand happens. My steal knocks it down to 6 players and I am in first.

A turned trips knocks a short stack out. Down to 5.

2-1 chip lead over 2nd after this.

*About here I begin to bully the table and grow my stack. I am up to 105k in chips. 2nd has 41k. Let's see if I can blow this.

I crush 5th place and he later gets knocked out with a smaller stack.

4th places loses with AQ to KK.

top 3 left.

This gets us heads up

The guy starts going all in every hand. I call the second hand with AJ, and lose to 33 that gets quads! I am now the short stack by 10k. This gap increases to 50k.

I lose this hand heads up! I hate AP.

I rebound and build my meager 20k into 93k. Phew, I have a chance again.

Yay, the stacks are even.

Then through some bluffing I get into the lead. It's a very fragile lead.

This is probably the longest heads up session I have been in. I can't be too aggressive as he is not afraid to push and I can't call with half of my hands.

I blew it. I ende dup in 2nd place for $140. :(. I need to work on this game.

2007-04-29T09:13:00.000-07:00

Bluffing and Strategy

I am continuing to work on my tournament games and avoiding my cash games. I have always been a better tournament player than a cash game player and I think part of that is due to my adherence to Harrington-esque style of calculating plays and moves. Given that I want my blog to include more theory and less pure hand history/analysis. I plan to have certain posts deal with particular topics. Given that, I am playing in another $5 MTT (because they love me on AP) and am working on some bluffing techniques.

Now, a fundamental concept of bluffing requires you to both represent your hand and understand what your opponent has. Naturally, a key concept is to determine whether or not your opponent is capable of playing beyond his or her cards. Now, as most of my 2 readers know, there are two fundamental bluffs to consider. The pure bluff where you have no chance of winning except by your opponent folding and the semi-bluff where you are probably behind now, but have chances to improve on the following streets. There is also a third kind of bet that does not quite fall into either of those categories. This is the information bet that can come in a few different forms.

The first is a traditional continuation bet. You missed the flop, say with AK, and do not know if your opponents did or not. You bet 1/2+ of the pot and see where you are. The second can occur on the flop or after and usually occurs when you have a low middle pair. You are in LP with A6s and you call with two other people in the pot. The flop is K62 rainbow. Both the BB and the limper check to you. You can check behind here and hope to check it down or place a bet and hope to win it now. You are probably going to get called by most Kings, even with K7+ being a bit curious. However, many pocket pairs might be folding at this point. 77-TT all have an incentive to fold at this point. JJ and QQ are going to call, but they are probably not in the hand due to the lack of preflop raising.

Hands played in the same tournament

Pure bluffs -

A Representation Hand - I was steamrolling the table at this point and playing a bit more quickly than I should have been. At this point, I had only shown strong hands so I wanted to increase my winning by varying my preflop raises. Here I am representing TT+, and AQs+ given my previous hands. On the flop, I raise representing a continuation bet or an overpair that needs to be protected. The turn gives me one more shot and it is enough to get him out of the pot. One thing I didn't realize is that if he reraised all in, I would have to call on the chance that my draw was okay. Make sure to pay attention to your opponent's stack size.

Semi bluffs -

This is a continuation bet- but I believe my two overcards are both live, so if I hit either here I am probably good.

Information bets that are bluffs.

Information bet - Based on the preflop raise, I think my 6 might be good here. One way to find out is bet, and it is. I don't think this is a bluff as a better hand would almost always call, unless it was a middle pocket pair.

2007-04-28T15:45:00.000-07:00

Final Table

New post for hands at the final table. This is my second one in the last couple of days so woo. I am going to post all of my significant plays.

*Down to 8 players by the 3rd hand. Yay FT tilting.

Betting the ace pays off

I don't know about this handI was tempted to call on the river here with bottom pair. If anything, I should have bet the turn and represented my AQ, but I wanted the free draw. I went into the bank on the river and decided to fold.

*Down to 7.

I get a monster - again people need not to slow play TPMK.

*Down to 6.

A decent bluff to put me back in 3rd.

*Down to 5.

I missed a hand and bet as the sb, get called. Check-bet-fold on the turn puts me in 4th.

*3rd place goes to battle with 2nd place. He gets knocked down to 50k chips which puts me in 3rd for the time being.

*5th places gets kings and doubles up. I am back in 4th.

5 minute break. The chip stacks are 228k, 187k, 90k, 81k, 40k. I am the 81k.

4 left after a set gets runner runner four flushed. I am now in fourth, behind 3rd by 18k.

My play starts falling apart. Two steals are thwarted and I call once with 56s and miss entirely. Down to 40k.

I lose in 4th.

The Hand

2007-04-28T14:41:00.000-07:00

Time to start posting the winning hands that are getting me where I am in this tournament. We are down to 36 players (top 36 are paid) and I am sitting in 1st place with 27k chip lead over 2nd. Here are a few hands that got me where I am now:

When you hit hard and bet they often may not believe you. This can be an effective way to get the money in the middle, especially against a middle stack that wants to double up but would otherwise be cautious.

This contains a decent amount of luck boxing, the preflop call was cake - though I might have wanted to pop the all in. I kept getting odds to call my monster draw and I made both of them.

Notable hands after the bubble:

Switched positions with 2nd place on this hand

Against the chipleader - this puts me back in the lead.

2007-04-28T12:42:00.000-07:00

I ended up in 4th place in the 2k tournament listed in the previous post for a finish near $140. Felt nice to make a FT after this long dry spell.

I played in a pokerstars $30 to play with a friend. The friend gets knocked out hand #1 to a two-outtere on the river. I make it in deep, but bust out in 74th, 20 from the money. I move all in preflop with AT (as my chip stack is getting weak), everyone folds to the BB who calls with K6o. K on the river beats my T on the flop.

Trying the 2k again and having some good plays that pan out, such as this:

When mixing up your pre-flop raising really pays off

This hand was followed by a similar move the next hand but with TT, hitting another T on the flop, and losing to a 4 flush. I am still doing well, we will see how it goes.

This is why you do not underbet the flop

2007-04-26T16:56:00.000-07:00

I am playing some of my worst poker in cash games right now. All my made hands are getting cracked or I am not laying them down. This is quite the downswing I am having this past week and I have already dropped down a level...

On the other hand, I seem to be playing my current tournament correctly.

My good check-raise bluffs in a 2k guranteed tournament:

First hand
The very next hand

2007-04-24T19:00:00.000-07:00

While working on a paper I decided to play in a moderate expensive tournament to work on my game. So, while this happens I figured I would do some play by play and see how I donk out and open myself for criticism. Most major plays will be here.

Information $30 Rebuy, I initially rebuy so I can start with 3k chips.
First table has only 6 players.

First hand Played Way too passive, but his min bets keep me in with middle pair for the win.

The very next hand I have QJs and accidently call instead of raising in the SB with one limper and the BB. the flop is 272, I raise to 60. Button calls. I raise the 10h that comes and he folds.

Hand #6 - So, I am already posting 3 hands and I am only on number 6. I think this was a solid read here. 3x BB made me put him on KK, QQ, or maybe AK. The flop makes me discount AK a bit and want to see his raise. An overraise looks like protection to me, so I put him and he calls!

Hand #13 - Pick up pocket Kings, three limpers, raise to 6xBB of $180, Get one caller (the first limper). Flop is AKJ with two diamonds. I raise to 300, s/he folds.

Shit, I didn't realize this game had a double add-on. Well, that makes this tournament cost $120!

First hand after the break with a small river raise A potential flaw here, but his min betting seemed like he was trying to just test to see if I was on a draw. I think I should have bet the turn here and taken it away from him, but this seemed okay.

Good lay down?

I donk draws to the nut flush. I probably should have bet on the flop, but I would have to fold to a reraise. This was a horrible call, but I thought I had two live cards plus the flush.

My Aggressive Draw Play doesn't pan out.

The min-raise should have tipped me off.

My shortstack push gets lucky.

Maybe I shouldn't push short stacks... but this one pays off.

I make a decent lay down short stacked. Two people go all in, I have AQ and fold. KK wins it.

Go all in with AQ in EP and get called by another AQ. We split the pot.

My final hand. I make the right play, but I bust out of the tournament, 2 away form the money.

2007-04-16T21:58:00.000-07:00

Decided to play in a rebuy tournament and its currently going alright. A list of noteworthy hands:

Good:
Quite the bet to call...

Bad:

Agression on the bubble gets me into a bit of trouble, but I don't see this hand going down any other way given our chip stacks.
The hand that knocked me out...

I ended up in 10th place for $52.44

2007-04-16T15:03:00.000-07:00

Grading Papers tonight, so here is a list of notable hands while 2-tabling on AP and grading:

The Good
Q4s from the Cut-off - Seeing too many limpers made me want to dominate this hand with my position.

Versus DoeRayMe
First Hand that shocked me:This is how a pro plays AA
The following Hand: Slowplay followed by a bluff, I think this was an easy read with a tough call.

The Bad
I donk gutshots

2007-04-09T22:16:00.000-07:00

Was doing alright in a tournament where I went from 500 chips to over 3000 within a few rounds of good solid bluffs and general plays. Then this hand came:

http://www.pokerhand.org/?983434

I believe I made a few mistakes. First, I should not have bet into the empty sidepot unless I was willing to fold my hand to a significant reraise. My initial raise should have been a probe and since my hand was vulnerable, checking it down might have been better. Also, the call on the river was obviously wrong here, it might be in the longterm too. The guy initially raised and the hand I am hoping he is preflop raising and calling with here with AQ. KK and AA might also be nice at this point in the hand.

2007-04-08T18:34:00.000-07:00

How to win a $450 pot

My luckfest hand

2007-04-08T17:18:00.000-07:00

My first Royal Flush after playing the game for a looong time and it was dirty:

http://www.pokerhand.org/?979430

2007-04-07T15:10:00.000-07:00

It's been almost 5 months since I have posted and I think it is time to revive the blog. My game has been decent where I have cashed in multiple tournaments including a $1100 win at turning stone last Thursday. However, my cash game has been flagging a bit. The poker club I frequent has led to 4 very bad sessions in the row and I am not sure I can return anytime soon until I figure what is going on. Variance has smacked me in the face while I have been making some truly attrocious plays.

So, I plan to play more online cash games to figure out where I am standing. It seems like I am best at tournaments when I can completely focus on the game in front of me while cash games require some form of distraction as there is no clear end point. Consequently, I think I require a healthy mix of online cash games and live tournaments to operate correctly. I will be mostly be playing online, but going to play tournamens will receive a priority over cash games in the future.

2006-11-13T14:03:00.000-08:00

Three hands, same tournament, same table...all within 25 hands of each other.

Hand One with AK
Hand Two with AK
Hand Three with AK

All to the same person.

2006-10-23T19:48:00.000-07:00

An update

Dearest Readers,

As some of you may know, I am currently a graduate student in a quantitative political science department, and much of my time has been taken up with working on that, but in between writing papers, trying to come up with game theoretical models of civil conflict and terrorist activities, and replicating statistical analyses, I am able to sneak in a few games.

In the Poker Source Online League, I finally made it to the final table for the first time and took a fourth place victory. While this only moves up to 20th in the league, the league has now officially paid for itself. The prize was only $50 (I made a small cashin in the top 16 before), but I also won a side bet that generated another $70 on top of what I won. While my play was okay, I received lots of love from my KT and KQ hands. Both of them cracked AK, and I played KT against a reraise against my steal and got very lucky flops.

I also attempted to play in the Pokestars $1 million tournament and was reading and playing quite well. Built myself a comfortable stack past the half way mark and ended my run in 2,400th place when I misread a player horribly. I have learned a bit more about my reading ability and I think I may attempt the $200 buyin as the payouts are relatively ridiculous if I get far enough. While it is an expensive tournament, it will be good overall experience.

I want to write a game theoretic article for twoplustwo.com, but I need a break before I can do that. I have officially found out that I will be going to Vegas for an academic conference, so time to both study my ass off and look into at least one good tournament for the weekend.

2006-10-01T08:03:00.000-07:00

Wooo!

Had the Poker Source Online free roll on pokerroom last night. 300 entrants, $10,000 guaranteed. With a large amount of luck (my pocket 7s cracking pocket aces, back to back aces near the end to knock out 4th and 3rd places), I ended up in 2nd place. This is my largest tournament finish yet (my previous largest was the $1,550 from Dream, followed by the $1,306 at Turning Stone). It is slightly bothersome that my two largest finishes were in free rolls, but I am still moving on up.

Prize: $1,600

2006-09-25T12:10:00.000-07:00

Pokerhands from the day:

My sets have not done well lately...
Quickest Freeroll today, again, my set is no good.
Kings hold up finally. This guy had been going all in pre-flop way too often, so I figured that I had him. However, the entire board was way too scary.
Queens hold up on Pokerroom?!

2006-09-24T08:41:00.000-07:00

I dream of bad beats...

In my latest dream, I am playing on a bad beat table and I have pocket 9s. I call preflop and two other people call, I am first to act on the flop. The flop is 9c8d9d. woohoo. So I check, Guy in the middle checks, and the guy in last position bets $2. I raise to $4, the guy in the middle reraises to $25, third guy calls, I reraise a final time to $50. Call. Call. The Turn is a 8c. I check, all in. all in. I call. I am hoping, "please have pocket 8s, please have 8s." If I win against 8s, I would win about 15k from the bad beat jackpot.. The River is the Jd. I lose the hand...I am confused until I see that the third guy has Qd10d. I win 30k instead! Dreams can be so cruel.

2006-09-23T11:53:00.000-07:00

The last two days have been a different downslope. Have had Aces busted by Queens and Kings. Had my Kings killed by Aces twice. I just busted out the first hand of a MTT with Kings versus Aces. So now I wait for the next one.

I am going for the dream tournament again and hope to net a few more dollars along the way. This time, if I win it, I hope to get the superbowl tickets and sell them for several thousand a piece (I have been told by a few people that I can do this).

I did place 7th last night in a 400 person $10/1 MTT, and got $100, but that has made up for the other losses on the $100NL tables...

2006-09-19T08:07:00.000-07:00

My Play of the Week:

I am in late position and the limpers come around to me where I raise for $10 with AQ. Everyone folds to Jeff and Matt (in front of the button) who both call. The flop is A66. He bets out for 10, I call, and Jeff folds. A 4 comes out. He bets $15, I call, and a 7 comes out. Matt bets out $13, and knowing this guy, it seems to be a very weak bet. I reraise to $40 and he sits and thinks. He flips up an ace and I continue to just stare at the board. He flips up his second card, a J. I think for a second, and then announce “Oh you folded?” I pause for a one second to let people begin to protest and say that he didn’t fold, and then I say “Well, Good. You had me beat.” As I enunciate the word “beat” clearly, he announces “call.” I smile, flip up my AQ, and take down a larger pot.

I have read many threads that have talked about live play where a particular local player will flip up his/her cards against an unsuspecting tourist, the tourist…thinking that the hand is dead, will make some comment like mine above. The local player will then take the appropriate action, either go all-in or fold. Now, if Matt really thought I was that dumb, he should have gone all in, but he merely called. I am not sure if that was the right time to make that play (as it only gained me $30) and I probably can never use it again there. Matt smiled once he figured out what I did and a few people looked at me and said “That was a good move.”

For those keeping track, Matt was the villian in this hand.

My General Update

I promised an update this weekend and failed to deliver; however, I hope this will make up for it. My weekend activity has been very minimal:

I dropped 2 buy-ins on pokerroom at the $100NL over the last week (on 9/13) from overplaying a few hands. The biggest loser was my pocket jacks losing on a QQ3 flop to pocket aces. I should have either had a clue much earlier from the preflop betting/calling (I was hoping too much that he had AK) and either went all in on the turn to push him off (he was heavily contemplating folding on the river to my $22 bet, and if I had a full buy in, he might have folded then), or just have given up much earlier. This is slightly messing up my pokertracker results as I play on two different computers and the dreampoker results always come out horribly messed up with other hands. Sio I am showing to be a loser at this level despite being several buyins up over the last two weeks.

This weekend, I made some of the money back by tournament play (played two $5 freezeouts and placed in both of them, but both of them short of the final table, so I only made a $30 profit) and made half a buy-in back from NL play, all my play has been extremely short session.

I played at the $200NL club and left with $75 extra dollars. I was up over a full buy-in by the first two hours, but the last hour killed me with trips being killed by a higher kicker (Q v. K), and making some bad plays, however, my best play of the week (the one written above) occurred there.

I just didn’t do well at the dreampoker tournament, no cards combined with bad plays and lots of aggression allowed me to wither way in 31st.

2006-09-13T09:39:00.000-07:00

Dearest Readers,

My recent updates have slowed down a bit with the restart of the school year. As some of you may know, I am a graduate student on route to obtain his PhD in political science (focus on international relations, comparative politics, and quantitative methods), and the school year has offered a busy start that has lead to a decrease in my ability to play and post.

This Weekend, I plan on taking a bit of time to do a proper update with plans for the future. Right now I think the challenge is on hiatus as I am not able to ride my rushes to higher levels given to the low amount of time I get to play daily or on the weekends...however, I have moved comfortably up to the $100NL level both online and live, and am consistantly cashing out with money at the $200NL level at a club I play at once or twice a week. So, the new goal/project will probably be to build a bankroll that allows a move up to the $200NL level for online play and start merging my online bankroll with my live bankroll.

So, this blog will not be neglected for long and has not died...and I am still able to read all of those who I kept up with over the summer.

2006-09-10T14:55:00.000-07:00

I just came across my notes from last Spring on 2 stage least squares models (a particular kind of regression in econometrics that I may have to be using in a month or two for my latest paper) and about half the page is covered in odds calculations (done by hand) as the previous night I got busted out in a tournament when my aces were cracked by AQ (the AQ flopped a straight, we were all in pre-flop). I learned a lot from that class.

2006-09-07T21:25:00.000-07:00

Been a busy school week so I have only been able to play two poker games this week. One at the town club I play at and I left with $125. Played a short $20 tournament before I went to bed (100 person), cashed out in 6th with $133. I have been running great lately...but I think I have studied and played enough to elevate my play to a level higher than it was before...and it is paying off.

2006-09-04T17:16:00.000-07:00

Description of my prize: Welcome to Sin City, the worlds capital of 'anything goes and anything's possible'. VIP status will welcome you everywhere you go; from the moment your fully paid international flight or 2 fully paid domestic flights land till you move into your luxury suite for 3 nights. Brace yourself for a weekend you won't forget!

Brace yourself for a weekend you won't forget!

2006-09-04T17:12:00.000-07:00

Great Weekend

Alright, I was going to make a second post about my big tournament finish, but the last 3 days have been great to me, so let me just post the summary as I reflect upon my recent plays:

Tournament at Turning Stone: Chopped Pot; +$1,306.
Online $100NL: +$250
Local $200 NL at a club: +$135 (an okay win for the evening).
DreamTournament: 2 paid flights, 3 nights stay at a luxury suite and VIP status at the Bellagio.

2006-09-03T07:42:00.000-07:00

Turning Stone Report Part One: The General Report.

The school year has officially started and that makes it possible for my graduate student direct loans to be deposited into my bank account. My girlfriend, being someone who loves to play poker, but has not gotten much live play, insists that we go to Turning Stone for the weekend and play one of their daily tournaments. We decide on Saturday for their 11pm $85 MTT. It was actually about $90 as an extra $5 goes as a dealer tip and you get $500 extra in chips (starting stack is 4k). Entries: 205. Top 16 pay.

Julie ended in 31st as her pocket 10s get rivered against KQ. A really good showing for her first live tournament and I was excited to see her go so far. When she came over to tell me she got knocked out, one of the guys at my table said, “Wow, you are both in the tournament, you must be an amazing married couple.” When I told him about our relationship he apologized and advised me not to go out and buy a ring on his account.

So, I made the final table. When we got there, there was an immediate push to chop the pot and everyone, but me, had agreed to it. I checked the prize pool, and a chop would give everyone a better pay out than 4th place and I was in about 4th or 5th in chips, so I agreed to the chop. I took home $1,306, my best finish. Since I was in seat one, I was recorded as coming in first place, hopefully that doesn’t mean I got reported as taking home 4k…as the taxes would be horrendous.

Part Two will discuss the specifics of tournament play, where I got lucky, and some of my table tricks that worked out.

2006-08-26T10:59:00.000-07:00

My best win with the hammer, though it is not a true one since I played it from the blinds. I was a bit happy after my flopped trips lost to an overset.

2006-08-23T07:57:00.000-07:00

The Morning Rebound

After taking three painful hits last night, I had a pretty good rebound this morning that involved doubling up at the two $100NL tables I was playing at(I either had a below buy-in stack or my opponents did, so I left both tables with $175).

The first hand was with QcQh. I raised 4x the BB and had a caller or two until it go to the blinds with a guy raising it to $18 (he started the hand with $200+). I thought for a bit and figured if I hit my set I would make a bit of cash, so I called and everyone else folded. Flop was Js10S3h. A pretty dreadflop as I am losing to AA-TT now, AK and AQ just got a gutshot draw and spades just recieved a flush draw. The SB raised to $25. I think a bit more and have a feeling the guy is trying to buy it so I call.

Turn: 9s. One of the worse cards possible (the others being A,K, maybe a Q). Straight and flush draws both just made their hands. He pushes in $43. The right bet for a made hand, though I think he would check it to me if he made it and let me pay him off instead of scaring me off the hand. I call the rest of my stack dreading the outcome hoping at the very least I hit a straight to beat an overpair.

River: 7s. Another really horrible card. Any spade, 8, pocket pair AA-99 beats me (QsQc beats me because of the flush, 8s because of the straight, the rest all have trips). There are very few starting hands that I can beat at this point.

We flip our cards up. He holds QcTh. I win a huge pot and am amazed that I got extremely lucky and called his bluffs both times. He promptly left the table.

----
The second hand involved pocket aces. I slowplayed by calling a simple 2xBB raise in the SB against two callers. Flop was Ad9h5d with raising action between the other two so I called and waited. Turn was a heart. I check, SB raises to $4, MP raises to $20, I raise to $45, SB folds, MP goes all in. River is a low club and he shows pocket 5s for trips to be crushed by my aces.
----

Both hands were not my best plays by any standard, but I am quite happy with the results.

Challenge Bankroll updated: $324.40

2006-08-22T19:52:00.000-07:00

After my tournament bad beat, I get delivered another one on my challenge game. I flop a flush and bet aggressively the entire time to lose to a runner runner full house:

** Game ID 907070188 starting - 2006-08-22 22:05:56
** Bad Beat Table 4 [Hold 'em] (0.50|1.00 No Limit - Cash Game) Real Money

- IWE sitting in seat 1 with $106.45
- troutfisher sitting in seat 3 with $196.24
- Uturn sitting in seat 4 with $118.15 [Dealer]
- Syphos sitting in seat 5 with $90.60
- takingithome sitting in seat 6 with $231.62
- bowler56 sitting in seat 7 with $9.50
- glava sitting in seat 8 with $16.45
- KuReshtin sitting in seat 9 with $68.94
- Soobroke sitting in seat 10 with $56.85

Syphos posted the small blind - $0.50
takingithome posted the big blind - $1.00

** Dealing card to Syphos: 6 of Spades, 7 of Spades
bowler56 folded
glava folded
KuReshtin folded
Soobroke raised - $2.00
IWE called - $2.00
troutfisher folded
Uturn folded
Syphos called - $2.00
takingithome folded

** Dealing the flop: Jack of Spades, King of Spades, Ace of Spades
Syphos bet - $4.00
Soobroke called - $4.00
IWE folded

** Dealing the turn: Ace of Diamonds
Syphos bet - $7.00
Soobroke called - $7.00

** Dealing the river: 8 of Diamonds
Syphos bet - $10.00
Soobroke went all-in - $43.85
Syphos called - $43.85
Soobroke shows: Ace of Hearts, 8 of Hearts
Syphos mucks: 6 of Spades, 7 of Spades
Soobroke wins $113.20 from the main pot

End of game 907070188

After this I get crushed for another $40 when my flopped trips run into a bigger set. My Challenge money went from about $300 to $175, I will update the side bar later....

2006-08-22T18:53:00.000-07:00

In the top 20, top 40 pay, I lose in 61st after a wellplayed hand delivers a bad beat:

Hand 889953000, Started at 8/22/2006 9:43 PM
Table 'Port Louis': 20-20 No Limit HE (TournamentChips)
Seat 0: syphos (15,340 in chips)
Seat 1: SHLADE (5,715 in chips)
Seat 2: JasperisOK (16,050 in chips)
Seat 3: hammer124 (15,237 in chips)
Seat 5: stickman5 (11,703 in chips)
Seat 6: Monkey800 (17,456 in chips) (on the button)
Seat 7: dreemtim (5,800 in chips)
Seat 8: -Widow Maker (7,970 in chips)
Seat 9: 8spiderman (4,110 in chips)
*** Blind Bet Round *** :
Dealt to syphos: 9s
Dealt to syphos: 9d
dreemtim : Post Blind (300)
-Widow Maker : Post Blind (600)
*** Pre-Flop *** :
8spiderman : Fold
syphos : Bet (1,800)
SHLADE : Fold
JasperisOK : Fold
hammer124 : Call (1,800)
stickman5 : Fold
Monkey800 : Fold
dreemtim : Fold
-Widow Maker : Fold
*** Flop *** : Qs 9c 2s
Dealt to syphos: 9s
Dealt to syphos: 9d
Dealt to hammer124: Qc
Dealt to hammer124: As
syphos : Bet (3,000)
hammer124 : Raise (7,000)
syphos : Raise (10,540)
syphos : All In (13,540)
hammer124 : Call (6,437)
hammer124 : All In (13,437)
*** Turn *** : [ Qs 9c 2s ] 5s
*** River *** : [ Qs 9c 2s 5s ] 8s
Dealt to syphos: 9s
Dealt to syphos: 9d
Dealt to hammer124: Qc
Dealt to hammer124: As
syphos : Show Cards
hammer124 : Show Cards
*** SUMMARY ***
Pot: 31,477 | Rake: 0
Board: [ Qs 9c 2s 5s 8s ]
syphos bet 15,340, collected 103, net -15,237 Shows [ 9s 9d ] (a flush, Queen high)
SHLADE lost 0
JasperisOK lost 0
hammer124 bet 15,237, collected 31,374, net 16,137 Shows [ Qc As ] (a flush, Ace high)
stickman5 lost 0
Monkey800 lost 0
dreemtim lost 300
-Widow Maker lost 600
8spiderman lost 0

2006-08-18T11:47:00.000-07:00

The last couple of days have been hovering around the previous bankroll without much improvement, however, today I was able to catch a set and slowplay someone to an all in that gives me enough to move up a level.

Current Cash Challenge Bankroll: 213.24

Overall, with a bonus from playing backgammon on party poker, I am up to $1410 for my total bankroll.

2006-08-18T07:56:00.000-07:00

I am waiting to get into a meeting at my office and decided that I should off the bookshelf right behind me. All my political science and academic books are on areal bookshelf near my office, but I make sure the important books (those on poker and chess) are kept right behind me for all (professors and peers alike) to see.

2006-08-15T12:21:00.000-07:00

Almost ready to move up to a new level as I am standing at 179.61. Time for me to take a break for the day.

I've only played one $50NL table today and that was enough to add $80 to my challenge total.

I initially moved up to $75 dollars within the first half hour of play after I win a decent hand and outplay someone on another. After another hour or so my stack fluctuates between $60 and $75. Finally, two hands make my day and they occur within a 3 hand period.

First, I get AdQd on the small blind and there are 5 limpers, I raise to $2 and 4 of them call. The flop is AcKsQh. I am first to act and throw out a $5 bet into the $9 pot. First person folds, second person goes all in for 20. Fold Fold. I think about it for a few seconds, tell him that he probably has me and I call with my two pair. He shows K4 and I take the pot down. This bumps me up to $95-100

Second hand I win with J10 with a flop of QT6, no one bets and I take down a small pot.

Third hand. I get dealt pocket aces, raise to $2, get two callers and the flop is T9blank. I am first to act and I lead out with my standard $5 bet. The guy to my left goes all in for $10 and the third person calls the bet, I can only call. The third person has $6 and I don't even look at the turn as I put the rest of his stack in, he calls and my hand holds up versus QQ and an open ended straight draw...which was nice as the QQ killed two of the third players outs.

I'm expecting to hit a slump anytime soon, but right now the cards are treating me well.

Once I move up to .5/1, I can start playing the badbeat tables, anyone know if this is a good idea (the Jackpot is 116k, 70% gets shared, 50% to loser, 25% to winner, and 25% amongst the remaining players remaining in the hand).

2006-08-14T20:59:00.000-07:00

Starting my NL Challenge and have moved up a level on Day One. Played a bit of $20NL and found way too many people who are willing to just call when I have top pair and they have something much worse. Also, My pocket Queens cracked aces by hitting a rivered flush after a flop all-in, so that definitely helped my progress.

wee, $50NL next up.

2006-08-14T18:57:00.000-07:00

I deliver such bad beats that people post them on forums:

http://forum.hollywoodpoker.com/showthread.php?p=70101

*in short, I had bottom trips someone had mid-trips, I hit quads on the river.

2006-08-14T11:04:00.000-07:00

As noted by my sidebar, I am lifting the cash game challenge from Curatio's blog (in which he dominated his cash goal by over $700) and figured to give myself a hack at it. I figured I might as well try to clear the dreampoker bonus at PSO while doing it since it is the last one challenging me and then maybe switching over to rakeback at Aztec when I am done. I have ordered Sklansky's and Miller's No Limit book and hope to put it to good use. If I fail my goal before finishing the book, then I will go for a second try at it after the book has been completed. I hope to finish the book by this weekend as I am going to join an undergrad's game of $200 NL and try to walk away with some cash on Sunday.

2006-08-12T09:11:00.000-07:00

I was planning on being out all night Friday, so I figured I would play a quick tournament in the afternoon, hoping to complete within 3.5 hours. Looking at the games, there was only one that really appeared to be of interest and within my price range: 10/1 rebuy, PL 5 card draw.

Now, 5 card draw was my first poker love. I first learned how to play the game with my parents when I was about 8, and my friends and I would gamble random things with them, mostly baseball or Magic cards. So when decent five card game comes along, I am down to play in it.

This ended up being a 108 person tournament so only 10 places paid out. I was doing alright, playing a bit aggressively and my stack fluctuated until I busted out near the top 70and decided to rebuy, thus costing me $20. After that, I built a respectful 4k stack by the break (1.5k starting stack) and added on for another $10 at the break. By that point I was in the top half of players.

I continued to be aggressive and trying to play people's betting habits/draws and had decent success. One of the weird things is that the average pre-draw raise was only 2x the big blind. At some point one of the dogs puked on the carpet and I had to clean it. So I did that while playing.

I got near the bubble when I realized I had only an hour left, play slowed down and I picked up a few pots...but then one of the dogs pissed on the carpet. So I had to punish her while cleaning up the mess, watching the clock, and playing the game.

Finally I clear the bubble and we are in the top ten, but my time to get picked up is nearing and I have to take care of the dogs one time before I leave. So I run downstairs and feed them, run back up and don't miss anything. Then the 3rd break comes and I run the dogs downstairs, take them all out to the bathroom, then put them away to come up and only miss a hand I would have folded anyways.

I have 10 minutes left and there are 7 people left, so I have to up my bluffing and moves. Number 7 drops and then I am left as short stacked, I pick up a few pots, but then I become pot committed, forced to bluff, get called, and I end up losing to a marginal hand with a busted draw.

6th place netted me $110, so not a bad showing for a game I do not play as much (but have studied a bit and have known most of my life).

2006-08-10T20:40:00.000-07:00

Quick update:

Hosted a pokergame at home last night, 7 people played, only 3 rebuys (no one added on) and I was one of the rebuys as one of thenewer players made an amazing call on my bluff with an ace high. I came back to win it for $25 first place finish. The home games do not get calculated into my bankroll (nor do the entry fees) as these games are more for fun (but I still love my chips).

I decided to hit a casino as the monthly 100% match up to $100 (25xB) bonus on intercasino was available. So I depostied $200, and by the time I played $2500 worth of hands, I was at $400. So this evening earned me $300. That puts my bank roll at $1080. It is quite the nice bounceback and I was worried for a bit when my blackjack cash went from $200 to $300 and then dropped to $140, after that I hovered around $200 prior to hitting a $200 jump in the last 150 hands.

:)

2006-08-08T07:28:00.000-07:00

To all those who keep up on this post, I achieved my August goal in mid-July, but then proceeded to drop way below that back to my starting due to some casino runs gone poorly. However, thanks to my recent touranment success, I am up to about 800-850 in my bankroll, and hope poker can keep my head above water...and achieve what my bankroll was for about a week.

2006-08-06T17:13:00.000-07:00

3 tournaments and I knew it was time to call it a night.

5/.50 - First hand played, Aces, one guy pushes in preflop, I call, a third calls, I show my aces, 2nd caller has jacks, the guy who pushes all in has 4h5h. Hits two pair on the flop.

5./50 RB/AO. Aces get cracked by j9o (hits trips). Rebuy and end up losing trips to a 4 flush followed by TPTK to trip kings.

10/1.5 - Go all in with pocket kings, guy with 4s calls. 4 appears on the flop.

=/

2006-08-03T20:45:00.000-07:00

Two more late night tournaments for 8/3

2/.25 Tubro rebuy/addon. Total spent: 6.50. 230 people, top 30 pay. 18th place paid out $16.

$5/.5 freezeout. 447 Entrants, top 40 pay. 84th. The last hand I was a 36% favorite against 2 others. Hit my King (KQ all in), then the guy got a runner runner for a four flush to take me down.

Still +$4 for the latenight adventures.

2006-08-03T15:23:00.000-07:00

Tournament Report for 8/3/06:

$10/1.5 6 Figure Free Roll 10 person SNG, 3rd Place $20 payout
-First hand pocket queens, My two big MTT last night involved getting pocket queens the first hand and tripling up (4.5k) and getting pocket jacks to triple up(3k).

$7/1 MTT Qualifier to a 50/4, 56 entrants. Top 9 pay. Top 7 get a ticket, 9th is less than a buyin and 8th is about a dollar more.
- First hand I got pocket aces, more than doubled up, which put me in first from the get go. 4 winning, high pocket pairs in a row.
-Result, 8th place, $9.80. Had pocket kings and someone went all in behind me, his AJ wins. I forgot Harrington's rule on qualifiers and called where he said he wouldn't call with Aces.

$5/.5 Freezout, 521 people. Top 60 pay. 19th place, $26.05 prize.
-No pocket pair first hand.

$10/1.5 6 handed Six Figure Freeroll Qualifier, 1st place, $42 prize.

$10/1.5 10-handed Six Figure Freeroll Qualifier, 3rd place, $20 prize.

Net run from tournaments this evening: $69.85

2006-08-02T20:47:00.000-07:00

MTT placings for 8/2.

$5 Freeze out 56/500, top 40 pay.
$5 Freeze out 129/497, top 40 pay.
$2.5 Rebuy/Add on 21/214, top 30 pay. $11.40

2006-08-02T08:40:00.000-07:00

Often, the best skill can overcome bad luck and, similarly, the best luck can overcome the poorest skill (though when these two things are contention, Phil Hellmuth loses). However, when you are in a Multiple Table Tournament, you need a combination of skill and definitely some luck to win your coin tosses and the occasional 34/64 underdog situation (any worse and you probably should have laid the hand down...especially if you are a 20/80 underdog with your jacks against someone’s queens).

Last night, I decided to tempt my luck with another $5/.50 rebuy/addon since the last one went so well. This one was doing well and my luck carried me through some rough/poor decisions - probably the best was when I was small blind, everyone folded to me, and I called. The big blind raised it the minimum amount up to 1.6k, and I decided to punish him for being obnoxious. I call with my 4c 5c. Flop is 464 and I ended up winning after all the money goes into the center, his A9 post-flop bluff did not hold up.

By the end of the second break, there are 30 people and I am 16th with about 14k in chips, top 10 pay out (Even though there were 200 to start with). Shortly after this, I get dealt AQo in late middle position and raise 3x the BB, the chip leader calls and everyone else folds. Flop is JJ4, I bet half the pot (4k into 7k pot) and he calls. At this point, I should lay the hand down and give up as the only hands that can call me there are pocket pairs, a jack, or maybe AK. However, I bluff again, and a third time in the river putting it all in. The CL turns over pocket Jacks for quads...his method of smooth calling each time paid off.

So, afterwards, I realized my mistake and flagellated myself over it as I running good and made a bad bet. However, 29/200 was an acceptable showing and at least gives me some consistency is placing deep into the tournament.

2006-08-01T12:32:00.000-07:00

Given that I ran well last night, I wanted to play a bit more this afternoon to see if my luck/game would continued. While surfing on the Pokerroom website, I cam across a tournament-based freeroll that will be having on the 20th of August. Basically, to get a ticket to it, you have to win 5 different sit n go tournametns that are running daily from the end of July until August 11th. Given that I spend most of my poker time playing these low-limit SNGs anyways, I figured this might be worth my time.

The six SNGs that need to be cleared are:
5/.75 20 person
10/1.5 10 person
10/1.5 6 person
20/3 10 person
20/3 6 person

Given the formats, I figued that the 20 person would take the most time to fill up and actually play out. Also, my likelihood of winning would be the lowest since there are more competitors. So I played that one first and just cleared it 5 minutes ago ($40 for first). Given that it ought to be the hardest, I can now continue on my track to the freeroll and hope that my ITM placing will outpace any losses I have. I am a bit worried about the 20/3 since I have not played too many SNGs at that level (only a few, and have won once or twice), but my win from last night might cover me through those trying times.

2006-07-31T22:37:00.000-07:00

I ended up third in that tournament after I blew my lead as chip leader. Not bad though, a $15 investment netted me over $271! This might be my 2nd best ITM finish.

2006-07-31T20:23:00.000-07:00

In the middle of a rebuy tournament and getting close to the bubble, this hand helped make it possible that I actually might cash in. The min raise was the result of the situation and my overbet (All-in) on the previous hand, so I wanted to make it appear that I was extremely strong and was underbetting. I was quite happy with my read on the situation:

Hand 788139687,
Started at 7/31/2006 11:12 PM
Table 'Medellin': 20-20 No Limit HE (TournamentChips)
Seat 0: pe66te (8,715 in chips)
Seat 1: syphos (6,400 in chips)
Seat 2: donkieley (10,715 in chips)
Seat 4: richardrorty (46,200 in chips) (on the button)
Seat 5: meistral (8,599 in chips)
Seat 6: Ruippa (5,530 in chips)
Seat 7: KurianMan (14,411 in chips)
Seat 8: tjb10 (14,900 in chips)
Seat 9: 1L.A. RAY (9,030 in chips)
*** Blind Bet Round *** :
Dealt to syphos: Qs
Dealt to syphos: Js
meistral : Post Blind (400)
Ruippa : Post Blind (800)
*** Pre-Flop *** :
KurianMan : Fold
tjb10 : Fold
1L.A. RAY : Fold
pe66te : Fold
syphos : Bet (1,600)
donkieley : Fold
richardrorty : Fold
meistral : Call (1,200)
Ruippa : Call (800)
*** Flop *** :
10s 10h 8c
meistral : Bet (1,000)
Ruippa : Fold
syphos : Raise (4,800)
syphos : All In (4,800)
meistral : Fold
*** SUMMARY ***
Pot: 10,600
syphos bet 6,400, collected 10,600, net 4,200
meistral lost 2,600
Ruippa lost 1,600

2006-07-26T20:18:00.000-07:00

I knew it was a bad night...and I now hate my internet connection. It has been stable for 3 months and now it started dropping all night. Lost two games because of it. My second game ended like this for the night:

2006-07-25T10:40:00.000-07:00

8/9 for placing in the money for my SNGs (6/9 for 1st), broke my streak on game 8, but I will continue the count since game 9 was probably my luckiest and most aggressive SNG yet.

The numbers that made it interesting:

Number of hands played: 101
Number of hands won: 33
Percentage of showdowns won: 100%

At some point I knocked out 6th place with K4 (he had J9 and got tired of me being aggressive and stealing his blind). After that, the next 7 rounds people would fold to my bets or my blinds. I knocked 4th place out with 3/4 offsuit beating his AKo. The final hand of the game, I raise 3.2 times the big blind, the big blind went all in (for 2k more, I had about 12k to his 3k), I called and he shows K4. My A5 wins it.

About 4/5ths of the way done with Harrington on Hold 'em 3 and 1/2 way done with Caro's Book of Poker Tells. So far, it feels as if I do better if I study poker while playing poker. The questions keep my mind sharp and make sure I am playing the game as I should instead of getting lazy or falling into patterns.

2006-07-23T13:07:00.000-07:00

I was on a one-week losing streak for the previous week and lost nearly $200 in SNGs and various MTT. However, in the last two days I have placed in the money in 6 of the games I have played and have won 4 of those.

Also played heads up against Julie twice last night before she left for Michigan. The first game has had one of the worse bad beats I have ever delivered:

Syphonhail (10:14:13 AM): She always forces me to play heads up with her
Syphonhail (10:14:24 AM): I am always reluctant, but she just wants to beat me
Syphonhail (10:14:42 AM): For the first game we decided to play with deep chip stacks (10k) and start with 5/10 blinds, going up every five minutes
Syphonhail (10:14:56 AM): Which might be better or worse than being forced to play poker :p
Syphonhail (10:15:09 AM): When the blinds reached 200/400 with 75 antes, I get dealt pocket kings, I raise 2x BB and she calls
Syphonhail (10:15:18 AM): The flop is 3 K 3
Syphonhail (10:15:28 AM): I think sweet, but I have the deck crippled (a la brunson) so I check and she checks.
Syphonhail (10:15:48 AM): The turn is a K. I, again, check, she checks.
Syphonhail (10:15:55 AM): The last card is a blank, and I check one more time hoping to induce a bluff
Syphonhail (10:16:06 AM): She bets 400 (min bet), I min raise to 800
Syphonhail (10:16:18 AM): She thinks for a bit and throws in the $5000 chip.
Syphonhail (10:16:29 AM): I raise all in and she calls.
Syphonhail (10:16:31 AM): calls, and for some reason she shows first...turning over the pocket 3s.
Syphonhail (10:17:00 AM): ...I reluctantly show her that her quads are no good and fear that I am about to get wrath for "getting lucky" once again.

I'm in love with my new chips still.

2006-07-18T07:54:00.000-07:00

Last night was our last pre-ICPSR game (as one or tow regulars are leaving for a month), and I finally got to use my new set of Nevada Jack clays. Some pictures of the beauties:

Everything but the 5k chip.

And my stack at some point in the game. More pictures are at my photoblog on syphonhail.blogspot.com.

While I won a few beginning hand, my stack went to under 1k before the rebuy period; however, after rebuying, I was able to build my stack into a decent 2nd place lead and won the game after a couple of dominated hands.

The final hand of the game, I look down at ks2d, the flop is:

Kd10d5s. Connor bets 1000 (Blinds were 500/1000 with a 200 ante). I move all in and he quickly calls. He flips over Kc7s. I say shit. The river is a Jd. I think "please another high card" as the final card is flipped over to reveal a 9d. I think yay, I get to split the pot while Connor announces "wow, the 2d takes the flop" and I am delighted that a 4 flush had hit the board. The suckout takes it!

2006-07-11T09:09:00.000-07:00

Decided to play for some higher cash on pokerroom by entering into a qualifier for a $100 ticket.

Lesson #1
See what tournaments the room offers before trying through a qualifier. Pokerroom only has one regular game at 100+8, and it's a rebuy...which will not help me with only one ticket. So, since they no longer run their 100+8 WSOP qualifier, the only real recourse I have is sit and gos.

Lesson #2
When playing at high stakes, play at night and not in the early morning/afternoon. The people there tend be tighter and more skilled then your after-work or weekend crowd.

Overall, I was doing well and was in third place into the blinds hit 50/100. I spent too much money trying to buy a pot from the CL and then subsequently lossed my stack to a min-raiser. I looked down at 99 versus the guy right behind me raising it to 200. I reraised all in to 1k, he called and showed his aces. Maybe next time.

2006-07-09T21:31:00.000-07:00

Quick update: I made $280ish playing at bet365 ($200 bonus plus $80 in winnings), but I am close to busting my $100 in pokershare...so I am within a breath of achieving my goal...time to start thinking about a new one.

2006-07-08T20:48:00.000-07:00

Decided to go back to party with my own money for the first time in forever (prior to this, I have been using their random $50 bonus to play some quick and loose no limit). The huge playerbase leads to some relatively soft tables and, consequently, some decent runs. I checked my account (due to a welcomed suggestion) and found a 15% deposit bonus. I didn't have much in my account due to some of my money being tied up into sunpoker and various casino bonuses, so I deposit the remainder of my Neteller account for a healthy $330 (about $50 bonus).

The hands went by quickly (I forgot how quickly). I played 3 tournaments, placed in the money in all three (one satellite tournament landed me one off of the token, but for $24 which was 2.4x the buy-in...a net gain). Beyond that, I only two-tabled $50 NL. As of two minutes ago, I cashed out $487 dollars - a nice gain.

On my 1k bankroll progress, I am sitting around $790-800. I am dreading completing the sunpoker bonus as it a slow one to pick up and I haven't really touched it since I waded through a quarter of it. That leaves about 370 MPP or over 1k in raked hands at $50 tables.

2006-07-06T12:43:00.000-07:00

Further lessons from Casino Play

Lesson #2: 888/21.com sites do not like me. I have gone on prolonged bad streaks enough that I imagined taking screenshots of my BJ tracker and posting, but declined in my madness. Since I am done with both of those sites (with a substantial loss at both), I may be hard pressed to return.

Lesson #3: Don't play while tired. Though this is a no-brainer in poker, in mechanical games like slots or BJ, you can make a mistake and make the wrong move. Thoughts like "crap, I had 16 with a 10 showing, I meant surrender not hit!" start to go through your head as the cards become a blur.

XXXXX

Well, I am on the Goldenpalace promotion. I have to wager 8k in bets and am currently at 2.81k. However, I am happy to announce that I am staying even at 400 (100 depost + bonus), we will see ohw that fluctuates over the next 5k in bets (as I have already swung from 460 to 300).

2006-07-05T13:26:00.000-07:00

Now that I have posted a few random tournaments and a narrative to accompany my gambling career (whatever that may be), it is time to set a goal. As a graduate student, the largest I have built my bankroll up to is $800. That was from a $200 deposit back in February and through poker only. Now, with some recent hits at various sites, my bank fell to $550. With my Casino adventures yesterday, I have bumped that up to $680.

Thus, the July goal will be to break the $1k barrier. For many out there, that might be peanuts, but I figure it is a noble goal and I have the oppurtunity to do that through various casino bonuses and such. Increasing my current roll by less than 1/3rd should be possible if I continue to make +EV venutres. If I am able to deposit to Golden Palace for their casino bonus, that might be enough to put me over the edge, but I will look into.

So, current promotions:
Waiting to cashout tonight at Planetluck and Starluck casinos: $530
In play at Sunpoker, attempting to clear their July $100 (25% done) Bonus: $150.

2006-07-04T20:15:00.000-07:00

Casino Bonuses...

I have always been wary of any casino bonus or casino play that is not poker. All the games are designed to have a house edge; otherwise, the casino would not be in business. However, after consulting with a friend, he informed me that he has made a few dollars (several K) in getting online bonuses. After reading part of a 50page thread on pokersourceonline.com, I figured to give it a try.

First came 888. Deposit 200, 200%, clear after playing 10k worth of hands (due to my use of neteller). I was up $100 last night and decided to go to bed. I should have waited a few more days before playing. I woke up this morning and gave it a go with some betting variability. At one point I was up $800 (including the bonus) and with an hour I lost it all trying to recoup minor losses. Since I didn't wait for my deposit to get returned to neteller, I had to play that...and I was on tilt.

That was a bit too much to lose.

So...I learned a lesson and tried two more casino bonuses. This time my play was consistent and level headed. With both bonuses (on the starluck and planetluck sites), I am up $336. With the $200 loss, I am still up 136.

So, money lost, a lesson (or two learned) and I think I shall cash in on more of these bonuses.

2006-07-02T12:55:00.000-07:00

A play conducted in 3 updates.

Update #1
Blogger: Dear sir, we think your blog (specifically, syphpoker) is a blog full of spam. Either respond to us or we will delete your blog. Until then, we cannot allow you to post.
Syphos: Gwa?
Blogger (a few days later): Feel free to post.
Syphos: yay!

My blog was shut down for a few days, so that is the cause of failure to post. Others must have tried to get some referral cash using blogspot in the past (or used bots to generate lame sites like this).

Update #2
I have finished my final PSO promotion and will soon own some of the clay Nevada Jacks, I cannot wait until that is cleared and I get to update my skulls. Consequently, I have cashed out all my current sites and am looking for places to start playing again (maybe bonus whore to rebuild my bankroll).

I have hit a slump. At one point I had $30 sitting in my pokerrewards account, and over a week, I built that up to $200 playing sit and goes and a few MTT. In the last 2 days, I blew all 200 playing just $10 SNGs. Some I can attribute to bad luck, maybe a few to bad plays, but I need to sit down and re-evaluate why I am getting crushed at what were such soft games.

Update #3
Played a home game on Thursday with 10 people ($5 buy-in with rebuys and add-ons). The pot swelled to a decent $85, and we decided to pay out to 4 places (not my decision, but I agreed since it made the math easier). As per the previous trend, I ended up first and the girlfriend second ($40 and $25 - $15 and $5 for 3rd and 2nd). We will see if I am on a lucky streak or if I know my colleagues too well. A new game should happen on the 4th with a BBQ.

2006-06-27T11:30:00.000-07:00

My top hand of the day!

My hand
Holdem No Limit
$0.10/$0.20
[Jun 27 14:21:26] : Hand Start.
[Jun 27 14:21:26] : Seat 1 : lbigdunc has $15.54
[Jun 27 14:21:26] : Seat 2 : janusmarine has $30.78
[Jun 27 14:21:26] : Seat 3 : emulator has $6.35
[Jun 27 14:21:26] : Seat 4 : jorkay has $10.15
[Jun 27 14:21:26] : Seat 5 : lomaski has $19.49
[Jun 27 14:21:26] : Seat 6 : skmcc has $3.20
[Jun 27 14:21:26] : Seat 7 : johnfl has $9.54
[Jun 27 14:21:26] : Seat 8 : Toad21 has $9.60
[Jun 27 14:21:26] : Seat 9 : syphos has $50.39
[Jun 27 14:21:26] : skmcc is the dealer.
[Jun 27 14:21:27] : johnfl posted small blind.
[Jun 27 14:21:27] : Toad21 posted big blind.
[Jun 27 14:21:27] : Game [32003] started with 9 players.
[Jun 27 14:21:27] : Dealing Hole Cards.
[Jun 27 14:21:27] : Seat 9 : syphos has Qs Qc
[Jun 27 14:21:34] : syphos called $0.20 and raised $0.60
[Jun 27 14:21:37] : lbigdunc called $0.80
[Jun 27 14:21:38] : janusmarine called $0.80
[Jun 27 14:21:39] : emulator called $0.802
[Jun 27 14:21:40] : jorkay called $0.80
[Jun 27 14:21:48] : lomaski called $0.80 and raised $3
[Jun 27 14:21:58] : skmcc folded.
[Jun 27 14:21:58] : johnfl folded.
[Jun 27 14:22:05] : Toad21 folded.
[Jun 27 14:22:22] : syphos called $3
[Jun 27 14:22:28] : lbigdunc called $3
[Jun 27 14:22:30] : janusmarine called $3
[Jun 27 14:22:36] : emulator folded.
[Jun 27 14:22:37] : jorkay folded.
[Jun 27 14:22:37] : Dealing flop.
[Jun 27 14:22:37] : Board cards [Qh 5h 7h]
[Jun 27 14:22:53] : It's your turn.
[Jun 27 14:22:53] : syphos has 10 seconds to respond.
[Jun 27 14:22:58] : syphos bet $10
[Jun 27 14:23:08] : lbigdunc called $10
[Jun 27 14:23:09] : janusmarine folded.
[Jun 27 14:23:11] : lomaski called $10 and raised $5.69 and is All-in
[Jun 27 14:23:11] : Under-Raise rules are now in effect.
[Jun 27 14:23:13] : syphos called $5.69
[Jun 27 14:23:17] : lbigdunc called $1.74 and is All-in
[Jun 27 14:23:18] : Showdown!
[Jun 27 14:23:18] : Seat 9 : syphos has Qs Qc
[Jun 27 14:23:20] : Seat 1 : lbigdunc has Ah Ac
[Jun 27 14:23:20] : Seat 5 : lomaski has Td Tc
[Jun 27 14:23:20] : Seat 9 : syphos has Qs Qc
[Jun 27 14:23:26] : Board cards [Qh 5h 7h 9s 5d]
[Jun 27 14:23:26] : Seat 5 : lomaski has Td Tc
[Jun 27 14:23:26] : lomaski has Two Pair: 10s and 5s
[Jun 27 14:23:26] : Seat 9 : syphos has Qs Qc
[Jun 27 14:23:26] : syphos has Full House : Queens full of 5s
[Jun 27 14:23:26] : syphos wins $7.51 with Full House : Queens full of 5s
[Jun 27 14:23:26] : Seat 5 : lomaski has Td Tc
[Jun 27 14:23:26] : lomaski has Two Pair: 10s and 5s
[Jun 27 14:23:26] : Seat 9 : syphos has Qs Qc
[Jun 27 14:23:26] : syphos has Full House : Queens full of 5s
[Jun 27 14:23:26] : Seat 1 : lbigdunc has Ah Ac
[Jun 27 14:23:26] : lbigdunc has Two Pair: Aces and 5s
[Jun 27 14:23:26] : syphos wins $49.71 with Full House : Queens full of 5s
[Jun 27 14:23:31] : skmcc : nh
[Jun 27 14:23:40] : emulator : vnh
[Jun 27 14:23:40] : janusmarine : had KK
[Jun 27 14:23:41] : Hand is over.

Janusmarine claims he had KK that hand which means pocket aces, kings, queens, and tens were all dealt.

2006-06-26T14:23:00.000-07:00

Decided to hit the daily 19k 10/1 rebuy tournament at Pokerrewards again. At the rebuy period, I had 3xbuy-in (4.5k) and was in need of a rebuy, putting me at 6k. After the first hour, I was able to push a few marginal hands and go up to 7.2k or so. After that I hit a hard dry spell, and nothing decent came up for several hands. No suited connectors, no pocket pairs, or a pair of face cards (well, JK once which allowed me to push all in and gather a few blinds). I am currently down to 2.7k (4xBB) and am waiting for a hand to push in with.

---
Pushed in with q/9 and stole a few blinds to help for another round. Currently ranked 171/184. The tournament started with 698 people, and 70 places payout.

Pushed in with j/10 suited and hit a flush...doubled up to 8k! Ended up beating A/10 and Q/Q in the hand. The flop gave me a straight draw and the turn gave me a flush draw...so the river was quite nice.
--

Finished 159th. My K/Q got destroyed by A/Q...

I was in first position and was dealth K/Q of hearts. I called the blind (800, close to 1/10th of my stack) and have one more caller in 5th position. 6th position raises to 2400(3x BB). This guy has been aggressive and lose. Everyone folds to me, and I push all in (hoping I caught him in an attempt to steal blinds + limpers). He turns over A/Q and the flop contains both a King and an Ace. I lose.

Thoughts: First, I have seem him raise a few limpers pre-flop and then give up the hand later. Usually, however, he raised it just 2xBB. So that might have been my first clue that my hand was less than stellar. Also, I just moved from the Red/orange zone to the Yellow zone, so I should have back off the marginal hand. A lesson learned for $20, but 159/698 was an okay performance. I should have been able to trek on further.

2006-06-25T13:19:00.000-07:00

The home game was smaller than usual (only 4 people showed up - including me) so we decided to play 2 full games, 3k in chips and 15 minute blinds (10 for the second game). Due to the shorthanded tournament style, I played a bit looser than normal and aggressive. I won both games and Julie (my poker addicted girlfriend) ended up 2nd both times. I hope the next game has a few more people. A fun evening with an encouraging result.

Have been playing more $40 NL and my best hand of the day looks something like this:

Holdem No Limit
$0.10/$0.20
[Jun 25 15:39:32] : Hand Start.
[Jun 25 15:39:32] : Seat 1 : corytv has $64.78
[Jun 25 15:39:32] : Seat 2 : Rocky_MG has $51.88
[Jun 25 15:39:32] : Seat 3 : DubacedaN has $7
[Jun 25 15:39:32] : Seat 4 : syphos has $39.60
[Jun 25 15:39:32] : Seat 5 : vjulysse has $9.60
[Jun 25 15:39:32] : Seat 6 : bigdopey has $39.57
[Jun 25 15:39:32] : Seat 7 : dooby84 has $2.93
[Jun 25 15:39:32] : Seat 8 : DIAMANT08 has $4.46
[Jun 25 15:39:32] : Seat 9 : MrCoakley has $37.95
[Jun 25 15:39:32] : syphos is the dealer.
[Jun 25 15:39:33] : vjulysse posted small blind.
[Jun 25 15:39:34] : bigdopey posted big blind.
[Jun 25 15:39:34] : Game [36131] started with 9 players.
[Jun 25 15:39:34] : Dealing Hole Cards.
[Jun 25 15:39:34] : Seat 4 : syphos has 7c 5c
[Jun 25 15:39:36] : dooby84 called $0.20
[Jun 25 15:40:24] : DIAMANT08 folded.
[Jun 25 15:40:25] : MrCoakley folded.
[Jun 25 15:40:33] : corytv called $0.20
[Jun 25 15:40:34] : Rocky_MG folded.
[Jun 25 15:40:34] : DubacedaN folded.
[Jun 25 15:40:34] : syphos called $0.20
[Jun 25 15:40:35] : vjulysse called $0.10
[Jun 25 15:40:35] : bigdopey checked.
[Jun 25 15:40:36] : Dealing flop.
[Jun 25 15:40:36] : Board cards [5s 5d 9c]
[Jun 25 15:40:39] : vjulysse checked.
[Jun 25 15:40:42] : bigdopey checked.
[Jun 25 15:40:45] : dooby84 checked.
[Jun 25 15:41:00] : corytv checked.
[Jun 25 15:41:07] : syphos bet $1
[Jun 25 15:41:12] : vjulysse folded.
[Jun 25 15:41:14] : bigdopey called $1
[Jun 25 15:41:14] : dooby84 folded.
[Jun 25 15:41:15] : corytv folded.
[Jun 25 15:41:15] : Dealing turn.
[Jun 25 15:41:15] : Board cards [5s 5d 9c 7h]
[Jun 25 15:41:19] : bigdopey checked.
[Jun 25 15:41:26] : syphos bet $2
[Jun 25 15:41:28] : bigdopey called $2
[Jun 25 15:41:28] : Dealing river.
[Jun 25 15:41:28] : Board cards [5s 5d 9c 7h 3c]
[Jun 25 15:41:35] : bigdopey bet $4
[Jun 25 15:41:37] : syphos called $4 and raised $4
[Jun 25 15:41:39] : bigdopey called $4 and raised $28.37 and is All-in
[Jun 25 15:41:52] : syphos : bigger full house?
[Jun 25 15:41:54] : It's your turn.
[Jun 25 15:41:54] : syphos has 10 seconds to respond.
[Jun 25 15:41:57] : syphos called $28.37
[Jun 25 15:41:58] : Showdown!
[Jun 25 15:41:58] : Seat 4 : syphos has 7c 5c
[Jun 25 15:42:00] : Seat 6 : bigdopey has 3h 5h
[Jun 25 15:42:00] : bigdopey has Full House : 5s full of 3s
[Jun 25 15:42:00] : Seat 4 : syphos has 7c 5c
[Jun 25 15:42:00] : syphos has Full House : 5s full of 7s
[Jun 25 15:42:00] : syphos wins $76.74 with Full House : 5s full of 7s (7 kicker)
[Jun 25 15:42:09] : Hand is over.

2006-06-22T07:30:00.000-07:00

Last nights game ended up being a pretty decent tournament for me. 600 entries. $10 with rebuys. At some point, the game had an error that started to insist that everyone was disconnecting when few people were (if anyone at all). This error persisted into the rebuy period and prevented me from being able to actually rebuy! While I was a bit annoyed by this (and immediately emailed support), I was sitting at over 12k in chips (starting stack and rebuys were 1.5k) and was in the top 80 or so. Several times I came close to the edge of going bust, but was saved by a few miraculous draws.

First, I went all in with pocket 4s (when I was down to about 5k in chips) and an A/K looked me up. The flop was AK3. I was ready to shut off my computer and go home for the day when a 4 came on the river to double me up.

The other save came after I cleared the money (top 60) but would lose in the bottom rung of the payout bracket. As SB I raise a large stack 2xBB (didn't want to seem like I was trying to buy his blind with an all in and wanted to seem serious - both of which might have been a mistake). He calls and I am holding 8/9. The flop is 2/5/8. Great flop for me, I push all in. He calls and is holding 8/5. I get ready to turn off the computer and a 9 comes on the turn! It was a good time for me sucking out.

My last hand was with pocket 8s. I push in my chips in middle position. The cutoff calls me with AK and a K hits on the flop. 36th place with a payout of 76.50. Not my biggest tournament payout ($300 from winning a 100 person tournament), but getting that deep was a bit reassuring (though a few 2 card and 3 card suck outs certainly helped).

I doubt I will get too much poker in the next two days, so the next planned events are a $5 home game Friday night and plenty of small stakes no limit on the weekend.

2006-06-21T12:59:00.000-07:00

My adventures in no limit appears to have some moderate success at winning small amounts mixed with some huge disappointments. The most frustrating problem I have had is when I have the best hand and another individual is able to draw out on me after we both go all-in.

My worse hit in the last week was last night. I have K/10 and the flop is A/Q/10. I flop the nut straight. The shortest stack goes all in for less than $20, the next player calls, and I reraise to about $40. He reraises and goes all in. This is another $40 in the pot, costing $80 total. Naturally, I call. He turns over A/Q (two pair) and the small stack has K/10 (so I will split the main pot with him/her). As you may have guessed, the turn brought another Q giving the 2nd player a full house and a pot of $180. That hurts.

This is not as bad, but has been indicative of some of the draws I have seen:

Holdem No Limit
$0.10/$0.20
[Jun 21 12:34:00] : Hand Start.
[Jun 21 12:34:00] : Seat 1 : ThangLoi has $9.92
[Jun 21 12:34:00] : Seat 2 : B-Wha? has $0
[Jun 21 12:34:00] : Seat 3 : mannysid has $23.10
[Jun 21 12:34:00] : Seat 4 : syphos has $32.96
[Jun 21 12:34:00] : Seat 5 : fastdan2 has $22.43
[Jun 21 12:34:00] : Seat 6 : Mike1941 has $7.39
[Jun 21 12:34:00] : Seat 7 : jayred22 has $23.69
[Jun 21 12:34:00] : Seat 8 : mavrick79 has $8.70
[Jun 21 12:34:00] : Seat 9 : kev4 has $2.36
[Jun 21 12:34:00] : mavrick79 is the dealer.
[Jun 21 12:34:00] : kev4 posted small blind.
[Jun 21 12:34:01] : ThangLoi posted big blind.
[Jun 21 12:34:01] : Game [41634] started with 8 players.
[Jun 21 12:34:01] : Dealing Hole Cards.
[Jun 21 12:34:01] : Seat 4 : syphos has Kd Qc
[Jun 21 12:34:06] : mannysid called $0.20
[Jun 21 12:34:15] : syphos called $0.20
[Jun 21 12:34:15] : fastdan2 folded.
[Jun 21 12:34:18] : Mike1941 folded.
[Jun 21 12:34:18] : jayred22 called $0.20
[Jun 21 12:34:18] : mavrick79 folded.
[Jun 21 12:34:22] : kev4 called $0.10
[Jun 21 12:34:25] : ThangLoi checked.
[Jun 21 12:34:26] : Dealing flop.
[Jun 21 12:34:26] : Board cards [Jd Tc 8d]
[Jun 21 12:34:29] : kev4 checked.
[Jun 21 12:34:43] : ThangLoi checked.
[Jun 21 12:34:45] : mannysid checked.
[Jun 21 12:34:47] : syphos bet $1
[Jun 21 12:34:50] : jayred22 called $1
[Jun 21 12:34:56] : kev4 called $1
[Jun 21 12:35:00] : ThangLoi folded.
[Jun 21 12:35:02] : mannysid called $1
[Jun 21 12:35:02] : Dealing turn.
[Jun 21 12:35:02] : Board cards [Jd Tc 8d 5h]
[Jun 21 12:35:08] : kev4 checked.
[Jun 21 12:35:10] : mannysid checked.
[Jun 21 12:35:12] : syphos bet $3
[Jun 21 12:35:21] : jayred22 folded.
[Jun 21 12:35:22] : kev4 called $1.16 and is All-in
[Jun 21 12:35:29] : mannysid folded.
[Jun 21 12:35:29] : Showdown!
[Jun 21 12:35:29] : Seat 4 : syphos has Kd Qc
[Jun 21 12:35:31] : Seat 4 : syphos has Kd Qc
[Jun 21 12:35:31] : Seat 9 : kev4 has 2s 9h
[Jun 21 12:35:36] : Board cards [Jd Tc 8d 5h Qd]
[Jun 21 12:35:36] : Seat 4 : syphos has Kd Qc
[Jun 21 12:35:36] : syphos has Pair: Queens
[Jun 21 12:35:36] : Seat 9 : kev4 has 2s 9h
[Jun 21 12:35:36] : kev4 has Straight QJT98
[Jun 21 12:35:36] : kev4 wins $6.96 with Straight QJT98
[Jun 21 12:35:44] : syphos : of course
[Jun 21 12:35:46] : Hand is over.

Right now I am in a $19,000 guranteed tournament ($10 buy-in with rebuys). My last two tournaments have placed me either in the money (20/180) or on the bubble (22/150). So I am hoping good things for this one. Right now I have more than quadrupled my starting chip stack to 6,400. The cards have been good to me, but its a solid start regardless.

2006-06-21T07:24:00.000-07:00

Given that I have now played poker seriously for the last six months (while playing it for years off and on), I figured it was time to start noting my adventures in the world of poker. This would be a journal to reflect on my wins and losses, and give me some perspective (besides the monetary one) of my progress as a player. Traditionally, my games have been micro-limit hold 'em and $10 sit n gos, but sinc eI am testing out new waters and playing styles, I expect to play a mix of games in the future.