Pocket 9's

Knowing when to walk away...

2009-08-10T01:55:00.002-05:00

This does it for me, I am pretty sure I will be putting off online poker for a long time. I have concluded over the course of the summer that the games that I play at are too tough for now. I don't seem to have the focus anymore that I did in the beginning of the year, which is disappointing. My goal in poker has always been to make money, and although I have had a winning summer, my results overall have not proven that I am a winning player.

It is discouraging to see so many players do well time after time, and are able to win tournaments on a weekly basis. I myself have not found the magic cure to all of sudden play better, put people on the right hands, and be able to fold when I am beat. This is what separates the good from the great, but right now my confidence puts me no where near good. I don't know why my confidence has dipped so much, I think mostly because I have seen who the winning players are, but haven't quite figured out how. It is this factor that I have concluded that I myself may be the "fish" in the game, and when you discover this out, it is time to quit the game.

It just seems that at whatever stakes I am playing at, I lose focus, play crazy and get put on tilt. I have plenty of experience but yet I feel to immature to use it all. I say this all now as a humbled 19 year old, which could be a good thing that I have decided to end this crazy pipe dream before I even hit 21, but the longer I put off the quitting, the deeper I will go into the spiral of losing and chasing my losses. No now I have decided to change things around, focus on what is important to me in the long run, which primarily is school.

I think I can sacrifice this short term quitting of online poker for the benefit of knowing that my focus will be set on the right place, getting at solid education at a solid school. This choice to quit online poker has come on a day where I lost my last dollar of the summer, a summer which saw my bankroll climb to heights where it has never been before, only to come crashing back down to reality. It is that frustration of losing countless buy-ins and feeling helpless that has driven me to my decision. I leave the game of poker having immense respect for the players that can still make a living doing it, I just don't see myself living that same lifestyle at all.

So with that I will call an end to my young online poker career, it has been a fun roller coaster, filled with the joys of success, but also the lows of defeat. To anyone still wanting to play with me, know that I will still be playing at the occasional live card game. For me the virtual felt is gone, but the real one lives on....

Running good, playing better

2009-07-04T18:46:00.002-05:00

My title says it all, I have been playing and running very well over the past couple days. My bankroll has doubled from about a week ago, and I don't see it going back down for awhile. Let me start by explaining how I have grown my Bankroll. I have been playing tons and tons of heads up .25 .50 and have been absolutely crushing the tables. I have been lucky enough to play against some ATM's who readily give their money away.

Today is actually the only day I had a losing session, and I feel like it was because I chose to play a 6 max table, which I haven't played in awhile. I did happen to get coolered about 3 times in all in pots, once with QQ vs AA on a rag flop, another with AK v KK preflop, and again AQ vs AA on a Queen high flop. With out the coolers I may have done better, but who knows. I shortly won most of it back playing heads up, and my bankroll is back up to above where it was yesterday.

That is my goal everyday, leave the bankroll higher than it was the day before, but I wont go crazy trying to make this happen.

Well that's that I'm going to hit the tables some more and hopefully have good news to report on later.

Mall Michigan

2009-06-28T18:14:00.003-05:00

Well right before I left for Michigan I played against the worst heads up player ever, it was the most ideal situation ever. I made a video of it all to show how to exploit a player like this, but honestly I couldn’t have dreamed of a better situation to be in. I played this guy until he was out of money, which was pretty satisfying, pocketing myself $156 off this one donky player.

As far as Michigan goes I am going to play in the cash game and hopefully do well, the players are always pretty fishy in Michigan. I am going to try to play looser this time around, but idk how well that will go for me, since playing looser means getting in more situations where I will be gambling and therefore leaving it up to luck to win or lose. This is why in trips past I’ve played pretty tight waiting until I had it to win, but I figure if I have this loose image I will get more calls when I have the nuts. The other way, playing tight, allows me to bluff more and keep a solid image. I think the loose image is appealing because I can play more hands, and have a higher percentage of winning a big hand. I think it is important to have somewhat of a gameplan, but be able to adjust depending on the players in the game. I have played before when the players in the game have been really loose and agro, other times tight and weak, so I guess it will depend on the players in the game.

Verrrry Aggresive

2009-06-18T17:13:00.003-05:00

My title says it all, it basically sums up what happened in our cash game on tuesday night. We had about 7 players to start our cash game, and let me say this was one for the ages. I bought in for 30 bucks and never went below my starting stack. The game was juicy with fish, I would say I had the most experience in this type of cash game environment, I seemed to benefit from it in the end.

Let me start by giving you the profile of the players. In seat one was a regular to our cash game his name is Brian and he is a fairly good player, will be willing to gamble, but definitely knows when to execute certain plays. Brian pumped $45 total into the game. In seat 2 was a somewhat regular to cash game play, intelligent player named Zach who plays fairly tight/aggro and is a mediocre player. Zach bought in for $25. Seat 3 is T frank, who has switched up his game a lot, I would classify him at times to be loose/aggro and pretty good at what he does, confuses some players but still keeps up the aggresion. T frank bought in for $15. Seat 4 is the maniac from Russia, Andre, who got a "tip" from a friend to never call a raise, just reraise. Well I'll explain later why the strategy often has it's pitfalls, but it is good against extreme novices. Andre was the big stack at the table with $60. Seat five was me I would consider myself to be loose/aggro and pretty good at switching up my gears. I played somewhat loose in the previouse sessions to set up a loosey goosey image, which worked out perfectly for my opening play in this cash game. Seat six was the host of the game Moose, who is tight/aggro and knows what he is doing. Tourneys seem to suit him well, notes for this cash game is that he was on a consecutive losing session of about 3 and had bought in for $50 for this cash game. Seat 7 was a new player to our game named Nick. Despite being older and maybe a bit more experienced throughout the match Nick played a very weak/tight game, which was the absolute wrong strategy to use at this game we were playing.

One of the early hands I played was to show that I was going to be playing loose, when I called a raise with 89, I ended up making top pair and check calling each street vs Nick. I didn't want to raise with my hand for several reasons, 1 I don't want to make the pot huge until I know I have the best hand Nick could easily have hit the flop as well or could have a higher pocket pair, also I don't want to give Nick the opportunity to bluff raise me - by keeping the pot small I allow myself to see what he has for fairly cheap on the river. Well my hand was good and I was up right away.

The first big pot I played was with AK suited vs Moose, I raised it in mid position and got a call from moose and one other player. The flop came with a King and some unders, no major draws. I bet out and got called by Moose. The turn is where things got interesting when an Ace came out. I decided to pretend like I was giving up on the hand, and checked it over to Moose. Well Moose did exactly as I wanted when he bet out to try to take the pot, this is where I check-raised him hoping to either get a call or a raise, but alas he folded. The reasons for check-raising as opposed to just calling was so I could get Moose to push with any top pair hand like AQ or AJ or any mid to high king like KQ or KJ. These hands are the ones I am trying to get value from, but I found out later that he just had a pair of nines and was trying to steal.

After that hand we got our russian friend to come to the game, this is where my original strategy hits the fan and we adapt to the monkey at the game. Having Andre on my right had a lot of advantages, and I was definitely thankful for him to be there rather than my left. Andre made some very strange plays when he sat down at the table, losing almost all of his stack right away on a costly bluff. Then not two hands later Andre gets a monster, top set on the flop, and he simply goes all in, into a ~$4 pot. This overbetting of the pot was something that would become a usual thing for Andre, and I would have to find a strategy for how to combat it. For instance our usual pre-flop raising for our .25 .50 game is $2, Andre was opening for $4. It was very unwise to raise anything that Andre bet preflop because you were likely to either get shoved on or a substantial re-raise. This type of behavior is music to my ears when I finally do pick up a hand, but it seemed like Andre was always folding when I did pick up a top hand.

So what do you do when you have an aggressive monkey of a player to your right? Well trap the living hell out of him of course! This was my plan of action throughout the night, as I did a lot of check-calling his bets until I felt like giving him the big re-raise. The only problem I had with this strategy is I didn't want to give him a raise as we got deeper, because I don't know what I would have done if I got shoved on, as our stacks were both high in the $50's and $60's.

With summer brings opportunity

2009-06-02T12:19:00.004-05:00

I have so much to say it is going to be hard to fit this all down. Let me start by saying...I'm baaaaaaaaaaaaaaack, with a vengeance and better than ever. I truly believe taking a break for awhile has tremendously helped my game. I have become such a thinking player on so many levels, I am really happy about where my game is at. If I were to offer and advice for someone stuck in a rut, or possibly a losing streak, it is definitely to take a break for awhile. You will know how much time to take off, but it is indeed worth it.

Well time to explain the title of my blogpost, opportunity. I have entered this summer as an unemployed college student, but you know what I am completely content where things are at with me right now. Although my bank account may be running dry, I do have the promise of 5.4k +interest in a CD account which will mature sometime in the winter. I have taken a loan from my dad for the time being, but it won't be long until I can pay that back, and then some. This is because I have decided to try it out and play a little poker over the summer...

Let me explain. I am back into this blog, but also into online poker. I have changed sites a bit, switching from Full Tilt to Cake Poker. This was simply because I am getting rakeback on my Cake account, which has provided me with another 50 bucks in april and may. Now not only am I doing this because of rakeback, but also because I find the players on cake to be overall a bit easier than the ones on Full Tilt. The game selection is not nearly as good, but when you find a fish, you can latch on and take them for a ride.

If you would like to receive rakeback, sign up through this link and start getting your rakeback!

Case in point this morning I played a horrendously bad player heads up in .25 .50. The guy was a super aggro, think of more aggressive than any player you have ever played, then multiply that by 100. The guy would three bet me out of position with 93os. Now when you are playing heads up and have an inkling for how to play, this is a dream come true. I learned very quickly that this guy will be next to impossible to bluff, so I will have to sit back and relax. I also took the strategy of smooth calling a LOT of his bets. This was not only to keep him betting, but to allow me to catch some of my draws. Normally against a regular opponent I will semi-bluff with a hand, but against this guy it was asking to get it all in with the semi bluff. The only problem is then you have a chance of not hitting and allowing him to win with a pair of twos. Plus I had about a 90% chance of still getting his money when I caught my hand, so risking my stack on a marginal hand was not going to fly. I will try to post some funny hands from this match throughout the next couple days, because they are really hilarious.

So the grand total for playing this guy heads up was 164. Pretty spectacular for a heads up match if you ask me. It just goes to show when you have the right strategy against an aggressive opponent you can use their aggression against them and pwn the shit out of them. (reithinio was his name if anyone is interested)

Now onto live poker. It turns out I have been doing quite well since me and my friends started up our live cash game. I don't think I have had a losing session, maybe a partial losing session our first time out. Last night was something special. I played over at moose's house and won 27 playing in the cash game. Then I got a different player to agree to play heads up best of three matches for $20. We started with 3000 at 25,50 blinds, not bad starting with 60 big blinds. Once blinds got up there though it got to gambling time. Well I won the first match in a dramatic series of all ins, then I dropped the second match which I was okay with since I had won match 1. The final match was completely dominated by me, I used some reads I had developed on the player, plus some tendencies to make it an easy win.

Grand Totals....
Well my totals for the summer are ~$75 playing live
Cake poker current winnings are $551

That is all I have to update for now, again I will post some funny hands from the match later.

Again if you want to receive rakeback, use this link and you will have no problem!

The LovShak

2009-03-05T18:45:00.004-06:00

Hey just to update this shiz I am doing a podcast! You can find it on iTunes through this link Yea check it out it is totally awesome, let me know what you think about it!

2008-12-10T14:16:00.003-06:00

Not only is the below post false, but actually a bit sad. No I have aborted playing Socom, the addiction never set in due to some pretty terrible design. That being said I do have to account for my absence of new posts. Well I am pretty sure I can break it up into a couple of things. The first part is laziness on my part. Yea I am sure I could have provided some updates throughout the past couple months, but I really didn't feel like writing. It got to a point where I forgot I even had a blog. I guess it has basically turned into a place for me to discuss interesting things that have come up, and I think I should change it from being solely about poker.

After all blogging about poker can be fun, but unless I have some serious questions about my game, it hasn't provided much for me or my game. I think the one thing this has been useful for is to see how I won some of my big hands, and discuss some of the major issues out there. Until I start really providing consistent results this blog will be useless to the general public. After all who wants to read bad beat stories and occasional good luck by a mediocre poker player. There are hundreds of blogs out there that do just that, so I think this blog needs to differentiate itself from all of that.

So now that I have somewhat discussed my laziness of writing in this blog I think I can move onto what I have been up to. I guess I can provide an update to what has been going on in my life. I took a trip up to the casino in Minnesota, where things did not go well for me. I played for at least 3 hours in the poker room, and I ended up losing about 100 dollars. The problem was it was limit poker, and I think I got frustrated throughout the session. I struggled with being patient for much of the game, but it was alright overall. I think my major problem was actually getting dealt some legit hands. If it was a NL game I am pretty sure I would have came up BIG since the hands I did catch were monsters, and always ended up being against a hand like AA or KK. I had one(ish) cooler that did come up, but it was limit so it's not like it costs me too much.

The table games at the Minnesota casino were alright, I felt the dealers were a lot less friendly than the ones in Michigan, so the experience was a bit dampened by that. My friends and I concluded that we liked the casino in Michigan much more than the Treasure Island in Minnesota. I think the only highlight was that Chippendales was in town, which meant plenty of older women everywhere, and a fair share of younger ones too! (Let's just say plenty of MILFS ;) ) So that was in November, and was a good break from school and everything.

After that I started to get back into OP. My results have been pretty good on Full Tilt so far, so I hope to continue to do well there. I figured out that the best time to play is on the weekends and at night. Playing during the day when most people are working is usually a bad idea, unless you are playing against a foreign player. Most of the regulars play during these times, so your EV is much lower during the afternoon.

I guess I can't get by without mentioning school. I have been going to school pretty much full time, so most of my time and effort has been pushed into doing that. I think my grades will be alright for the semester, I have a midterm on Friday, then two finals on Monday. I do have some time off between Monday and Friday, when my last exam is. I think I will use this time mostly to either, 1) Study for last exam, 2) Get drunk and go down bascom hill on a food tray, 3) Play some OP, or 4) Play some World of Warcraft...

Yes I have gotten into the game of WoW, and now that people know I play I see much of the negative attitudes towards that game. A friend recently made this a big deal that I have started to play this game, and I really think he is overreacting. He doesn't understand that I don't spend my whole life on this game and I'm not getting crazy involved with it. It is the type of game that can be easily addicting however. I would compare my time on it in comparison to being at a casino. You don't know how many hours you have been playing, and all sense of hunger goes away. This is how I felt when I actually pulled an all nighter playing on this past Friday night. I actually stayed up playing for many hours, but afterward didn't even feel tired. So if you call that being "addicted" so be it, I just think it was something fun to do in order to kill some time. I will definitely stay off of it this weekend in order to spend time studying for exams, but I can't say I will stay off tues-thurs, since my last exam is in Speech, which is pretty easy to prepare for.

So that is my update for what has been going on. I will try to post some good hands that I have been involved in when the time feels right.

What I will be doing in the next month

2008-10-15T09:59:00.000-05:00

This is it....

Graph For Past Couple Days...

2008-10-01T15:26:00.002-05:00

Here is my results from the past couple days, this is just profits or losses, not what my BR is at...

2008-10-01T10:09:00.003-05:00

Well the WSOPE currently is down to 18 players here's a look at current chip counts...Daniel seems to have taken a hit, but he is my odds on favorite to win this whole thing. Also watch out for Juanda, Townsend, and Boosted J!

In my current poker dwellings I had another up and down day, it was alright though I ended probably even...I think I will try to play some more in peak hours for games, aka when people get home from work, or off school. I think playing during the day will only make it a grind, as mostly tougher players will be online...

Current happenings, related to this blog...

2008-09-29T16:05:00.005-05:00

Well I am going to take this post to first thank any readers that have continued to follow my blog. As always if you have any suggestions for posts, or comments simply email me at Jimbo1167@yahoo.com or leave a comment in a post!

In poker news, Daniel Negreanu is doing very well in the WSOPE ME! He did a video interview where he basically said he has been playing some of the best poker of his life. Daniel said that when he actually 'pays attention' he does well in these large tournaments...Of course Daniel will do better, he is one of the best "people readers" out there!! His ability to assign a person a hand range, or even more specifically a particular hand, is uncanny. Many pros will call out an obvious hand that a novice may have played, but Daniel can read both the noobs and the pros! I think if he continues to play his brand of poker, small ball, he will be in great position to make a final table, and even win the whole thing!!
(Picture courtesy of pokernews.com)

If you like Daniel, or want to learn more about his strategy I would suggest you go to http://pokervt.com to check out his new training site! Also Daniel does a great strategy show for PokerRoad that can be found on http://pokerroad.com Check out both of these sites for insight into the great mind of Daniel Negreanu.

I also have seen that CardRunners pro Brian 'sbrugby' Townsend has amassed a lot of chips, and is also in great position to make a deep run at the WSOPE! If you haven't ever seen a CardRunners video from Brian, or a CardRunners video at all, I suggest you go to cardrunners.com to check out this awesome training site!

What is a roller coaster...this is a roller coaster!

2008-09-27T19:16:00.001-05:00

I always talk about going through intense roller coasters when I play cash game, especially HU cash game. Well here is a graphical presentation of how the roller coaster ran for me today...

As you can see I started off well, I doubled up on a complete noob. Well then the donk reloaded, and I tried bluffing at the wrong pot, back down to almost even. I then play one random guy, get it all in with JJ and it holds up...I leave.. Then I play another random and take him for like 8 bucks...

Getting Back in the Saddle

2008-09-27T18:24:00.005-05:00

Well I have certainly gotten back into the saddle, if you will, with my online poker play. I have gone to the site that I have had a lot of success at, doylesroom.com. I don't know what it is, but I always have found some success at this poker website. I started going back here because I got an email about a week ago telling me that my account has been dormant, and that I was a valued top player from May. They then offered me a free seat to the 250k guaranteed tournament, which is a $165 value. All I had to do what deposit at least $75. Well I deposited some money and ended up getting put into this tourney for free. The tournament was supposed to happen today, but due to problems with their servers the tournament has been postponed to next Saturday.

Anyway time to dedicate some time talking about noobs like CoachKbauer24 and 12341235, this guy seriously lost all his money on set over set. I mean clearly you have to fold with a set knowing that the other guy has a set, I mean wtf?!! Haha in all seriousness my buddies have had a tough time out there, they are getting the taste of the swings of cash game play! It is ok though because ik this player can do well in the long run, he/she just needs to keep on playing well and the money will continue to flow in!

Well the only other news that is happening right now is the WSOPE. Right now day 1a of the Main Event is going on over in London, England, and many top pros have been sited already! Here's good ole mikey!

Woooaah

2008-09-19T16:15:00.003-05:00

What happens when you play heads up, but leave once you win a big pot? You are up for the week of course! Sure this strategy won't get you action long term, but right now I have only been able to play for a little while, so I kinda do the dine and ditch scheme. This probably pisses off the players but o well.

So now I have the option of either, moving up with the money I have to play like a 6 max table, willing to lose everything I have in order to win a bunch, or play in a tourney and win more money if I place well. Of course the smart and safe route would probably be to keep building my roll, but I don't feel like grinding it out right now. I want to take some risks, and I am willing to go back to even in order to do it.

So time to play for maybe an hour, get some rest, and party it up college style.

peace!

Well WTF?!

2008-09-06T09:03:00.002-05:00

Wow, I have totally forgotten about writing anything in this blog. I knew this might eventually be a problem, but a lot is happening all around me. College is here and it is very difficult to find a time to play online where it will be +EV for me. I feel like the times I do end up playing I am either A) Half-Drunk, B) Extremely exhausted, or C) I am just crunched for time and can't focus on the game as much as I should.

This all being said I will still try to put in some hours online, and continue to learn how to become a better player. I can't really put out a good/bad hand that I played because I actually lost a bunch of my database since my computer's HDD broke, and I lost all of my hand histories.

Well right now I am off to get wasted one more time before another college football game, all I have to say is go Wisconsin Badgers!!!

Whirlwind

2008-08-10T11:05:00.002-05:00

well I have been looking for something positive to write and looking back I have a lot of material to write about. I would first like to say congrats to my good friend who has been doing very well in the online tourneys lately, taking two cashes for over 1k! He has really been consistant in cashing and remaining focused throughout the tournaments he plays. He recently dipped his paws in some higher cash games and got a taste for the swings that often accompany cash games. Ok this will be the only bad beat story of this post, but it really does illustrate the swings. I raise with KK get two calls in a 50NL 6 max game. Flop comes 884 and I lead out and get 1 call. Turn is a blank and I check and button checks. River is a King. Now most/all of you can see this bad beat. Obviously I get it all in with the second nuts only to be beat by the nuts...Quads!! So sick but I did make some money back and only lost 27 at that table. So I also dipped my paws in some higher HU cash games and actually faired quite well. I won two huge pots where I stacked each of my respective opponents, which has my BR reserected from the ashes. This blog will probably get finished later since I am on my iPhone andthis is getting long

Update to the last couple of weeks/month

2008-07-23T11:00:00.003-05:00

Well I would like to apologize for the lack of any type of post in over a month. This past month has really been an interesting one. I actually hadn't played online poker for about 4 weeks. I think it was a good break for me, since now I really don't have that extreme desire to play online poker, I just play when it feels right for me. That might be one of the best decisions I have made in awhile because before I would play whenever and where ever simply because I wanted to try to grind out some small winning session, and I would end up playing too long and lose my profits.

On to what has been happening in the live games, I have continued to do well at the Island Resort and Casino in Harris, Michigan. I won another $300 in our two night trip to the Michigan casino. I really played pretty tight aggressive with blinds at 2-4 and made a killing just sticking to this strategy. I didn't have many interesting spots come up, just a couple where I got it all in with the practical nuts and got paid off. Again I think it is very fair to compare this game to 25NL and 50NL online.

I would like to throw a huge congratulations to my good friend CoachkBauer24, this guy continues to impress me with his tourney results. While in Michigan he ended up taking 2nd (he got the scared older gentleman to chop it up) and took home $330 for his finish. This good friend has done even better in the online tournaments, and I think it is very fair to say that he is ahead of me when it comes to tournament play, as his results over the past couple of weeks speak for themselves. He played in the Full Tilt million dollar guarantee and took down ~$1,018, but he also managed to cash in many of the other tournaments that he has been playing. I actually watched him play in the 50 50 last night, while I took part in the $28K guarantee. We both ended up finishing around the same place in each respective tournament, but his cash was obviously higher for the bigger buy in tourney.

I had a pretty good tournament last night for many reasons. I was quite pleased with my finish since it was one of the first tournaments I have played since getting back on to playing online poker, and yet I managed to mass a bunch of chips and cash in it. I also managed to win a $75 token off of a 11 + 1 sit n go, which was awesome. My friend wants me to play in the FTOPS series via a satellite, but I have yet to decide where I am going to use this token. Anyway this blog is getting kind of long, but I will try to start updating this blog with any noteworthy information I have.

On that note I think I will start discussing the problems that UB has gotten into, and some of the mainstream issues that are going on in the poker industry in my next post.

Playing alright, BR staying steady

2008-06-19T14:11:00.005-05:00

Well I have been doing so-so in the cash games, which means I am so-so with my BR, neither up a lot or down a lot. I took some time to move back down to 25NL to try and fix some leaks in my game, which has helped a bunch. It is actually funny how much worse the players are from one level to the next. 50NL plays pretty strong now-a-days, but I think the 25NL games are still crushable.

I watched an interesting video on CardRunners the other day, which basically compared 25NL and 50NL to the live games of 1-2 and 2-4, which I totally agree with. In those live games you have recreational players who limp in with 73 off-suit and will raise with very marginal hands. I need to remember this again and again when I travel to Michigan, because the first time I felt like I was playing against Superstars. The fact is fancy plays do not need to be made at these live games, getting three streets of value for your hands is the ultimate goal. I look forward to playing those live games again since I have a good idea of the players I will be playing against, and I feel I have a significant edge against them. I think I may start to try to read the opponents and pay close attention as to what tells they give off when they are strong and conversely when they are weak.

That is basically all I have to say on those fronts, I might try and take another shot at a bigger buy-in tournament, but only if I win a satellite to one of them.

Feeling Snake Bit

2008-06-16T00:13:00.003-05:00

I really have run into a sick run of cards, not in my favor though. I can't seem to have a hand hold up, or get my money in vs a dominated hand. I wish I could get past aces one time when I get QQ on a flop of 7 4 2, but no can do! Even in tournaments I am getting worked. I showed one hand that I played in a tournament, total hands played in tourney, 1!!!! So sick...I also managed to run my set of aces into a strait, and needed to pair the board to stay alive, but no dice! So sick, I wish poker wasn't such a streaky game for me, but I keep coming back for those big cashes, and the chance to win it big!

That was quick....

2008-06-16T00:08:00.001-05:00

Free hand converter brought to you by CardRunners

Seat 1: EricWright_2EZ ($3,000) -
Seat 2: bigbossman2007 ($3,000) -
Seat 3: badoonga ($3,000)
Seat 4: Americano55 ($3,000)
Seat 5: missybabe59 ($3,000)
Seat 6: PkrEnthusiast ($3,000)
Seat 7: James Bond 0014 ($3,000)
Seat 8: Keith Sexton ($3,000)
Seat 9: GWRX ($3,000) -

PRE-FLOP:

EricWright_2EZ posts small blind $15
bigbossman2007 posts BIG blind $30
Dealt To: Americano55

FOLD badoonga
RAISE Americano55 ($105)
FOLD missybabe59
FOLD PkrEnthusiast
FOLD James Bond 0014
CALL Keith Sexton ($105)
FOLD GWRX
CALL EricWright_2EZ ($90)
FOLD bigbossman2007

FLOP:

Pot: $345


CHECK EricWright_2EZ
BET Americano55 ($210)
CALL Keith Sexton ($210)
FOLD EricWright_2EZ

TURN:

Pot: $765


BET Americano55 ($570)
RAISE Keith Sexton ($1590)
RAISE Americano55 ($2685)
CALL Keith Sexton ($1095)

RIVER:

Pot: $6135


SHOWDOWN:
Americano55:

Keith Sexton:

Keith Sexton collected $6135 from main pot with three of a kind, Sevens

SUMMARY:
Total pot: $6 Rake: $0

Final Board:


Seat 1: EricWright_2EZ small blind folded on the Flop - Net Gain/Loss: ($-105)
Seat 2: bigbossman2007 big blind folded before the Flop - Net Gain/Loss: ($-30)
Seat 3: badoonga didnt bet folded - Net Gain/Loss: ($0)
Seat 4: Americano55 showed [Ac Qs] and lost with two pair, Aces and Queens - Net Gain/Loss: ($-3000)
Seat 5: missybabe59 didnt bet folded - Net Gain/Loss: ($0)
Seat 6: PkrEnthusiast didnt bet folded - Net Gain/Loss: ($0)
Seat 7: James Bond 0014 didnt bet folded - Net Gain/Loss: ($0)
Seat 8: Keith Sexton showed [7h 7s] and won 6,135 with three of a kind, Sevens - Net Gain/Loss: ($3135)

Seat 9: GWRX button didnt bet folded - Net Gain/Loss: ($0)

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Shawingg Me into the Green

2008-06-05T20:37:00.002-05:00

I had been playing a pretty extensive heads up match, over an hour of heads up, and I was battling back and forth with this maniac. The guy was ok in the beginning, but once I was up around a buy in, he started raising to 3 every hand. I just sat around and waited on a hand, but got screwed on a couple of hands. I finally made another comeback, and had this amazing hand come up.

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Seat 1: AmoriousV2 ($207.45) - -
Seat 2: Americano55 ($125.30) -

PRE-FLOP:

AmoriousV2 posts small blind $0.25
Americano55 posts BIG blind $0.50
Dealt To: Americano55

RAISE AmoriousV2 ($3)
CALL Americano55 ($2.50)

FLOP:

Pot: $6


CHECK Americano55
CHECK AmoriousV2

TURN:

Pot: $6


BET Americano55 ($6)
RAISE AmoriousV2 ($16)
CALL Americano55 ($10)

RIVER:

Pot: $38


BET Americano55 ($106.30)
CALL AmoriousV2 ($106.30)

SHOWDOWN:
Americano55:

MUCK AmoriousV2

Americano55 collected $250.1 from main pot with a straight flush, King high

SUMMARY:
Total pot: $250 Rake: $0.50

Final Board:


Seat 1: AmoriousV2 small blind mucked [8d Jd] - a straight, Jack high - Net Gain/Loss: ($-125.3)
Seat 2: Americano55 big blind showed [Qs Js] and won 250.10 with a straight flush, King high - Net Gain/Loss: ($124.8)

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Interesting Spot

2008-06-01T19:00:00.001-05:00

I had an interesting spot come up in my session at 50NL, what would you guys do on this river??
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Seat 1: foolishus ($83)
Seat 2: EazY_418 ($46.25) -
Seat 3: nevada1929 ($41.10) -
Seat 4: Cashugh ($99.30) -
Seat 5: haffi_thegreat ($418.90)
Seat 6: Americano55 ($100.75)

PRE-FLOP:

nevada1929 posts small blind $0.25
Cashugh posts BIG blind $0.50
Dealt To: Americano55

FOLD haffi_thegreat
RAISE Americano55 ($1.75)
RAISE foolishus ($3)
FOLD EazY_418
FOLD nevada1929
FOLD Cashugh
CALL Americano55 ($1.25)

FLOP:

Pot: $6.75


CHECK Americano55
BET foolishus ($2)
RAISE Americano55 ($6.50)
CALL foolishus ($4.50)

TURN:

Pot: $19.75


BET Americano55 ($16)
CALL foolishus ($16)

RIVER:

Pot: $51.75


CHECK Americano55
BET foolishus ($57.50)

Results will be posted later

What a session of 50NL HU

2008-06-01T11:42:00.003-05:00

I just came off making a killing against one guy playing heads up. The whole time was sick, this guy had around $356 when we started playing, so I figured he would be pretty good. Well either I ran amazing, or this guy wasn't as good as I thought, because I completely owned him today. Some hands of interest will be posted, the first is a standard play by me, I like calling his three bet just because I have such a masked hand, and I got a good board for it.

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Seat 1: Americano55 ($171.15) - -
Seat 2: REYMATO ($233.15) -
Player Notes: Has been re-raising me different amounts, called to see what he might have

PRE-FLOP:

Americano55 posts small blind $0.25
REYMATO posts BIG blind $0.50
Dealt To: Americano55

RAISE Americano55 ($1.50)
RAISE REYMATO ($5)
CALL Americano55 ($3.50)

FLOP:

Pot: $10


BET REYMATO ($10)
CALL Americano55 ($10)

TURN:

Pot: $30


CHECK REYMATO
BET Americano55 ($18)
CALL REYMATO ($18)

RIVER:

Pot: $66


CHECK REYMATO
BET Americano55 ($46)
CALL REYMATO ($46)

SHOWDOWN:
Americano55:

MUCK REYMATO

Americano55 collected $157.5 from main pot with a straight, Eight high

SUMMARY:
Total pot: $158 Rake: $0.50

Final Board:


Seat 1: Americano55 small blind showed [6h 5h] and won 157.50 with a straight, Eight high - Net Gain/Loss: ($78.5)
Seat 2: REYMATO big blind mucked [Kh Jh] - a pair of Jacks - Net Gain/Loss: ($-79)

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This next hand showed me that this guy really was a donk....

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Seat 1: Americano55 ($119.40) - -
Seat 2: REYMATO ($285.40) -

PRE-FLOP:

Americano55 posts small blind $0.25
REYMATO posts BIG blind $0.50
Dealt To: Americano55

RAISE Americano55 ($1.50)
RAISE REYMATO ($4)
CALL Americano55 ($2.50)

FLOP:

Pot: $8


BET REYMATO ($8)
RAISE Americano55 ($24)
CALL REYMATO ($16)

TURN:

Pot: $56


CHECK REYMATO
CHECK Americano55

RIVER:

Pot: $56


CHECK REYMATO
BET Americano55 ($25)
CALL REYMATO ($25)

SHOWDOWN:
Americano55:

MUCK REYMATO

Americano55 collected $105.5 from main pot with a flush, Queen high

SUMMARY:
Total pot: $106 Rake: $0.50

Final Board:


Seat 1: Americano55 small blind showed [Ac Qd] and won 105.50 with a flush, Queen high - Net Gain/Loss: ($52.5)
Seat 2: REYMATO big blind mucked [9s 4s] - a flush, Jack high - Net Gain/Loss: ($-53)

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In total for the session I won $197!!! Propelling my BR to $944!

Oh What a Night, plus some WSOP Action!!!

2008-05-31T16:13:00.001-05:00

Oh What a Night

I have been playing pretty well these past couple of nights at 50NL, which has contributed to a major plus to my BR. I have been making some tight folds recently that seem right. Today I threw away my A2 on a board of A 6 J Q after my bet of 4 got raised to 18. It was such a large re-raise that I was kind of confused. The person who did it had a big stack, so I wasn't sure what to think, but my gut told me that this guy was way ahead, so I threw my A2 into the muck. Yesterday I had an awesome float on a guy who was playing very aggressive. This guy had bluffed many times that I thought my read on when he was strong and weak was pretty solid. My first awesome call was calling down with Ace high, but i think it was standard on a double paired board. This made the call down super easy and I won a nice pot. The second play I had against this guy came when I floated him with King high. He raised preflop and I called to see a flop of A Q 4 I checked, and instead of his standard line to bet pot he checked behind. This sent off a trigger in my mind, so I wasn't planning on going crazy with any pair that I would catch on the turn. Well a 9 peeled off on the turn and I was playing it safe and checked once more. He bet out pot of 2.25 and I called with my implied odds, meaning if I did hit a Jack I would probably play for stacks. Well the magic card hit the river, the Jack, and with no flush opportunity I had the stone cold nuts. What to do in this spot? I decided the best play would to go for a check raise, that way I did give him the chance to bluff me and get some value from a bluff, or I could get him to overbet shove my raise. Well right on cue I check and he bets pot again. Now I had bluffed him before which I think helped my re-raise look suspicious, because I made it like 30 to go, sitting behind with about 27 more. Well he min raised me and I shoved. His hand...A A! Such a tough beat for him, I can't see him ever folding in that spot, especially since I had shown that I am capable of a check-raise bluff.

So that pot had me up a nice chunk of change at the table, and I was loving my play. I think I would be pretty pissed if I were that guy, but he did play his aces pretty bad. I think I would have bet for value every street, since he had been doing that with every bluff. His line there was a little unusual, which made me want to chase for 2.25 with the implied odds of getting a whole stack out of it.

WSOP Action!!

In other news it is officially WSOP time!! Even though that I won't be playing at all in the series do to my age, I am still very excited about the next couple of months. I really think the WSOP is great for poker as a whole, a lot more recreational players get into poker around this time, plus there will be a ton of poker related entertainment coming out almost every day. This includes great shows like Poker Road Radio, which is coming from the Rio Monday through Friday. I really like this show, Ali Nejad, Joe Sebok, and Gavin Smith provide a good blend of comedy, game strategy, and smoothness that makes the program enjoyable show after show. I wonder how everyone will be at the end of the WSOP, they will probably all be burnt out. I always hate the end of the WSOP since there will be a decline in poker news, poker shows, and poker hype. I think this will be a little different this year due to the Main Event being postponed for a couple of months. I can't wait to see and hear from all of the different pros on PRR, I am thinking pros like Negreanu, Brunson, Ivey, Greenstein, Eugene Todd, and many other well known players will be included on the show. It is always nice to know what the vibe is at the Rio from three guys who know what they are talking about. Plus I love watching the live updates on pokernews.com.

I have a special dream that I have had about the WSOP a couple of times. The funny thing is I wasn't even playing in the WSOP, mostly just watching from the sidelines. I think this would be an awesome thing to do, just go to the Rio and watch some poker action go down. I think you probably have to be 21 in order to watch the action in the Rio, but don't quote me on that. My dream is to one day play in a WSOP event, even if it is a $1000 buy in, I think it would be fun to sit down to a bunch of known professionals. I almost get goosebumps thinking about the WSOP, but who knows, maybe all of you will see me playing on TV one of these days!

Legalization of Online Poker; A Must

2008-05-27T19:18:00.000-05:00

The game of poker has been around in America for hundreds of years. Poker is a game where players will compete for a growing pot of money, earning the pot by either bluffing or having the best hand, ranked according to a certain hierarchy. Online poker takes the game and has a computer randomly shuffle and deal cards to different players from across the world. The fact that the game has moved from the kitchen table to the personal computer should have little effect on the legality of playing, but our Congress has tried to make this very act illegal. By passing the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA), Congress is effectively keeping many Americans from doing what they have been able to do since the dawn of the 21st century, play poker online. This bill is intended to prevent financial institutions, like banks, from accepting payments from the online casinos. The UIGEA takes away many personal freedoms, and has many faults with the bill itself. Using the argument that poker is predominantly a game of chance has granted Congress the right to make playing poker online illegal. There is substantial argument that poker is more of a game of skill, and for this reason should not be made illegal. Congress has also blinded their sights to the many benefits that come out of the poker economy, and instead look only at the negative parts of the game. For all of these reasons online poker should be made legal.
The UIGEA bill was sneakily put on the SAFE Port Act, and has been addressed by many as ineffective and nearly impossible to enforce. The bill was attached to the back of a bill that was necessary to increase the security on the nation’s ports, and was passed by Congressed by a substantial margin. The bill itself, the UIGEA, had little to no open debate on it, This bill has led many online casinos to withdraw business from U.S. customers, making it very difficult for a person to find a way to play online. Many critics of the bill say that it places too much burden on financial institutions to stop transactions from players to online casinos. Wayne Abernathy, executive director of the American Bankers Association, says the UIGEA places “an unprecedented delegation of government responsibility [on financial institutions] with no prospect of success” (Huisman). Mr. Abernathy also comments that the bill puts the financial institutions as “not only the police officer, but also the judge and jury, forced to make a sentence, with the sentence being your payment will not go through” (Ackley). Mr. Abernathy is commenting on how the UIGEA has placed too much pressure on banks to make the whole decision on their own, without any help from the government. Another problem with the UIGEA is the confusion that the bill has brought with it. John Pappas, an in-house lobbyist for the Poker Players Alliance, says that that in the bill Congress did not “…define what unlawful internet gambling is. You need to rely on existing state laws. No one knows what all the different state laws are. It really throws things into a muck” (Ackley). The bill has managed to confuse many of different players and online casinos, leading both players and online casinos to withdraw their business in poker. The UIGEA has also taken away many personal freedoms. Rep. Barney Frank has this to say about the legality of the UIGEA, “The ban on internet gambling infringes upon two freedoms that are important to many Americans: the ability to do with their money as they see fit and the freedom from government interference with the internet” (King). This infringement of rights makes the bill unconstitutional, and therefore should be repealed.
The argument that poker is a game of chance has rallied a wide range of people to prove otherwise. The argument is simple; is poker predominately a game of skill or a game of chance? By including online poker in the UIGEA Congress has effectively answered this question for all doubting Americans; however those in opposition to this claim are not sitting idle. Ms. Duke, winner of over $3 million in poker tournaments, contends that in poker, unlike other games of chance like the lottery or sports betting, one can purposely lose, or in essence have an effect on the outcome (King). This argument is clear; in other games of chance what the person does can not affect the outcome of the game significantly. In poker one can bluff, leading the player to win without having the best hand. Howard Lederer, a professional poker player, argues that the vast majority of hands in poker are decided without showing anyone’s cards. Mr. Lederer wonders without having seen the cards “can you legally argue that the outcome was determined by luck?” (King). In other games of chance the luck factor obvious, but without any knowledge of what the other player has it is impossible to make an argument that luck was involved. The arguments that these two players make does have a legal case to support that poker is more of a skill, citing a case in 1989 when a California circuit-court judge ruled that poker was in fact a game of skill (King). Many who argue that poker is a game of talent do not look past the luck aspect of the game. Mr. Lederer concedes that in the short run luck can certainly be a factor in deciding the outcome; however, he argues it is in the long run that a player who can calculate odds and have a feel for the psychology of the game, such as bluffing, will overcome the luck involved in the game (The Economist 36). By making these arguments that poker is indeed a game of skill rather than luck enthusiasts hope to overturn the UIGEA and make poker legal.
Politicians need to look at the positive aspects of the poker economy in order to make a complete decision on whether or not online poker should be legal. Charles Nesson, a professor at Harvard, has many positive reasons for why online poker should be legal. He contends that poker provides valuable skills in patience, money management, and strategy, as well as improving cognitive skills (The Economist 38). Mr. Nesson uses poker as a teaching tool for risk-management and would like to be able to play online to teach other students. Another benefit to players of online poker is that if the game is to be legalized, it can be more readily taxed and enforced by the government. It is estimated that $3.3 billion can be gained from taxing online poker annually, providing a huge amount of revenue for the government (Grimaldi, Shailagh). Another motive for legalizing and enforcing online poker is the present scandals happening in the industry. One such instance had a person using a super account on an online site that could see everyone’s hole cards, cheating out all other players at the table (Levitt). This could be easily stopped if Congress were to make a bill to regulate and tax the online casinos running the virtual poker tables. One more positive part of the poker community is that it runs events that are used to help support a variety of charities. These events are normally run in a live casino, but if online poker were to be made legal the possibility for more online charity events is great. The benefit would be that the charities would not have to worry about buying cards, hiring dealers, or buying chips (like they would in a normal poker charity event), they could simply set up a charity event online and have a great deal of money generated for their charity. Congress needs to see that there is a variety of benefits from making online poker legal and regulated.
Current projects to get online poker to be legal again involve support from inside and outside of Congress. Steven Levitt, co-author of the book Freakonomics is attempting to settle the debate of luck vs. skill. His project, titled “Pokernomics” has him sifting through millions of Texas Hold’em hands from user hand histories to determine as Mr. Levitt puts it “what makes a person a good or bad poker player” (King). The goal is to show that luck is less of a factor than skill, which may take a lot of time to scientifically prove. If he does manage to show that skill is more predominant over luck then poker will have to be removed from the 2006 bill. Other measures being done include a bill from Rep. Barney Frank to overturn the UIGEA, which has gained support from 11 cosponsors (Ackley). His bill is gaining support, and will be a valuable tool to many online poker players if passed. There are more and more examples of people who are concerned with their right to play poker online, hopefully for them the right will be returned sooner rather than later.