...but I'm reclaiming my blog. I'll be posting here as often as possible. Why? I've been granted a slot on the front page of InternetTexasHoldem.com where I'll be talking about anything and everything poker. I'm uncertain if I'll do 100% cross posting.
I plan on using the space on the front page at ITH mostly for announcing new things in the online poker world. Stuff like Full Tilt Poker's new Rush NL tables, Bodog's Beginner SnGs [look for that today] and anything else that jumps out at me. Look for a blog post here and on ITH regarding the upcoming $4 Million Guarantee that PokerStars is running on Sunday, February 21st at 4:30PM EST. This is going to be a huge donkfest. Between the normal $200 buy-in and the absolute insane numbers of satellite qualifiers, I expect a prizepool somewhere around $5 Million. We'll see if this becomes a reality.
Nominally, however, I am going to get back to posting about my experiences in playing online and live. I haven't played as much poker as I had in the past, but I have played most days since my last blog post. I'll post the Bodog Beginner SnG post here and add a few comments about my 6-SnG session in them from yesterday.
I didn't start playing poker until late afternoon. I decided on a £2+£0.25 MTT at William Hill Poker that had 206 players. This figured out to be $4.30. I was doing quite well, getting aggressive at the right times, winning some hands. Ultimately I lost a confrontation with JJ getting called by AK, and I was out in 23rd place. This was good enough to arrive in the money. However, for some inexplicable reason, the final payoff spots [21-30] only paid £2.06! I've seen satellites that have paid whatever was leftover from their awarded seats that had less than the buy-in, but this is just plain idiotic for a regular cash tournament to pay out less than the buy-in at the lowest payout tier. Unreal. So, despite finishing in the money, I lost $0.37
Following this, I decided on a $5+$0.50 HORSE SnG, and didn't fare too well. I missed the change from Razz to 7-Stud High and chased a great low of A234 on a Stud High game and lost my stack. I felt like a donkey.
Sunday's results: -$5.87
After blogging on Wednesday, I managed to clear my $100 bonus at Pokerroom and an additional $12.20 in the process. Nice jumpstart for August.
Thursday, August 3rd. Played the $3, $10K Guaranteed at 11:10AM PST on Stars, and once again ousted with the better hand when the money went in. I am having such horrible luck in MTTs. Played three $5 SnGs, one at Holdem Poker, one at Party and one at Poker Stars. Lost the Holdem one and the Poker Stars one, but won the Party one despite starting headsup with a 16,000 to 4,000 disadvantage. That was a very nice win for me, increasing my return on investment [ROI] significantly.
Thursday's Result: +$1.70
Friday, with no wargame night in San Jose, I went to Casino San Pablo rather than commute all the way to Bay 101, and settled in for day at the $3/$6 tables there. I won a small pot early and was soon on my way to up $80. Flopping a straight I lost a large pot to a player who had KQs and who rivered his flush. He had odds the whole way, so I wasn't upset in the slightest. Just one of those things. Later I lost a huge hand with KK when a players decided his Q7s was worth 4 bets preflop. Uggh. I hung in there. In my final hour I won three really good hands in a row, including 32o on the button [players post a $2 blind on the button] when I got 20-1 to call the extra dollar. Flopped A45 rainbow, and got chastised by the BB who had AA and didn't raise preflop. That's the reason you raise, buddy. Finished up $180 live. After dinner with my wife, I played a $2 rebuy at Paradise, a $5 $1500 Guarantee at UB, and a $5 MTT at Pokerroom, getting nowhere. I did manage third in a $5 SnG at Full Tilt for a $3.50 win.
Friday's Result: +158.50
Saturday my wife, Susan, and I went to a mall in Concord and roamed after eating breakfast at Carrows. We wanted to go to the Bath and Bodyworks and the Select Comfort. My back has been hurting severely for a month now, and my chiropractor isn't doing any good. So we spent an hour at the Select Comfort, having been already pre-approved and receiving our card from them. We ordered our bed, found our sleep numbers and will be in receipt of it after the ITH Convention. We then attended one of our friend's daughter's birthday. Got home around 10:30. Sue settled in to read and quickly fell asleep. I went online. Lost a $10+$1 MTT on Full Tilt when I lost my JJ all-in coinflip against AKs. I always lose coinflips. I played the Riptide $2 R&A on Paradise for the second straight night. I was out after the break in consecutive hands. I called a shortstack's all-in for a third of my chips with AQ. He showed KQ, I had him dominated. Flop was A43, he hit running J then T for the straight. Very next hand, now at about 3500 in chips I again get AQo. This time in the SB. One player limps, I go all-in, BB folds, limper calls with QTo. Yes!, once again I am dominating. He flops a T, and it's over. Two dominating hands, and I lose both. Unbelievable. Having had enough, I go to UB and play at a NL25 table. I play a little over 1.5 hours and leave up $42.87. I hit a straightflush with 87s [losing hand had the nut flush], I hit a set of Qs and stack two players. I was over $60 up until I hit a JT7 flop with my TT and get all-in with another player who just happens to have JJ. Uggh. No worries.
Saturday's Results: +19.87
August Totals: +$304.17

Not doing my blog, that's for damned sure. Funny how well-intentioned things slip by so fast. Here I promised to update daily and I got side-tracked. My online job requires constantly looking at and reviewing things on the internet. When I'm done and I decide to play a few hours of poker, before you know it, I just want to turn the damned computer off.
The picture above is of a player I ran into during my $100 Party Poker bonus chase last month. This is the epitome of a maniac in all regards. And he kept getting very lucky against me. How lucky? I lost $108 chasing that $100 bonus, and he was partly to blame.
But, that was the low-side of July. I managed to clear [including bonuses] over $700 during the month, including a rather lucrative $50 casino bonus at Party as well as $100 casino bonus at Sand of the Caribbean [Sun Poker's casino].
I won't go into any more details, as it would consume too much time. Hopefully, I will continue to blog away.
Take Care!
...and I am hoping it lasts! Had a very good day today. Spent about 7 hours working at home, had a chance to catch Germany's final preliminary game at the World Cup, plus bits and pieces of the UK/Sweden game, and profited nicely at the tables in my two hours there. Let's just hope the Angels can beat the Giants tonight for a perfect day!
Germany 3 Ecuador 0. Germany played a masterful game and dismantled Ecuador on both ends. Meanwhile Sweden loses a star player to injury and despite a very late goal giving them a 2-1 lead, the Swedes rally and tie it up. All four teams are headed to the elimination round.
Today's results: +$46.25
After blogging on Sunday, I played some NL2 at UB and Paradise. I did quite well at UB, making $3.62 there [almost doubling through twice] as well as $0.64 in bonus. This isn't bad NL-wise. I mean, I don't play the higher NL games yet. I was just playing around without getting hurt. At Paradise, I managed to lose $1.79.
Sunday's results: +$2.47
Today, I managed a bit more than two hours after work. I'll be making dinner shortly, then my team is in town [the Angels] to play the Giants. My wife manages to hoard the remote most nights, but I let her know last week, that the TV is mine for the next three days, lol.
Today's results: +$13.86

Friday was a scorcher! Mercury hit 98, which is quite hot here in the Bay Area.
After work, I played some Holdem, both during the afternoon and on into the sweltering evening. Took a small loss on CD Poker, then got embroiled in a $1250 Guaranteed there and finished out of the money. I played a little at Sun Poker and Pokerroom and did markedly better. Pokerroom continues to be very fruitful to my bankroll. I made 20BB in an hour there. Virtually broke even at Sun, up $3.38. This wasn't a bad result, considering I was behind most of the session.
Friday's results: +28.43
Saturday found me and my wife, Susan, off to the Isleton Crawdad Festival. Yeah. The day after the hottest day of the year, and we're going to go somewhere in the Central Valley [which is synonymous with heat] and mill around a small town with thousands of others. Think mini-Mardi Gras west, except the women aren't showing off their breasts for beads. :( Never been to this crawdad festival before. They, unfortunately, had but one crawdad vendor. You had to wait in a line of about 100 people to buy your crawdad food tickets. Then jump in the food line, numbering another 100 or so, to get your food. In the 100 degree heat. Of the outdoor foodcourt. In the sun. Where propane heat was coming out of every corner of the court. Nope, ended up getting a beer and a smoked hotlink. I think me and Sue will go up there in a few weekends and eat lunch at one of the local establishments and eat crawdads without the hassle. They had lots of beer and soda vendors, lots of other vendors. Not bad, but overrun with bikers, and just too damned hot.
We got home relatively early, and ended up eating dinner out after I got some NL cash game time in at CD Poker. No hands, no flops, and I finished down $17.80 Came home from dinner, house still sweltering, but outside had turned cool. So we opened some windows and doors. Sue took the computer in the dining room to play her latest arcade games on, I went into the office and was delighted I managed to get into a $3+$0.30 tournament on Stars. As soon as it started, I realized it was a Fixed Limit tournament. Uggh. Half an hour in , I decided I needed some NL action, so I started a NL tourney on Royal Vegas. Folks, don't play two tournaments which are on separate break schedules! Especially if you need a bathroom break....Anyway here are my results:
Saturday's results: sigh, -$17.06

If you like vampire type movies, or if you saw the original "Underworld", believe me when I say, Kate Beckinsale is the most drop-dead gorgeous vampire ever! Unlike many other undead/vampire/werewolf movies, these two movies are very well put together, fun-to-watch and visually exciting. Unfortunately, there is a rumor going around that Kate Beckinsale won't be in the third one. Meaning quite probably that it won't be as good as it's predecessors.
After I posted in my blog on Monday, and after dinner, etc., I ventured to Empire and played a $5+$1 SnG, which I placed third in for a $4 profit. This made me feel a little better. Well, until Tuesday...
Tuesday. Played exclusively at CD Poker. I had 3 tables going, and got clobbered once again. My Showdown/Won percentages took a beating as well. How can I put a donkey on 63, on an A75J4 board when the putz had to have voluntarily called three-bets cold preflop? Set losing to garbage, K-high double spade flush lost when A of spades hit on the river. Flopped two straights and lost to a 3 and 4 outer river fullhouse. I cannot afford to leave here. Ultimately their hideously good luck will even out and CD Poker will turn into an incredible goldmine.
Tuesday's result: -$96.00
Wednesday. I decided to move some money out of Pokerroom after reloading for another $100 bonus. I did markedly better. After losing two $2+$0.40 "Dirty Dozen" SnGs at CD Poker, I settled down to play some cash games there. I was about 2BB up, when I got dealt J4o in the BB. Three people limped in and I saw a flop of A44, two clubs. I checked, and one player bet, while another raised. I re-raised, and the man who had checked behind me, capped it. Uh-oh, I'm thinking, do you have the case 4, with a better kicker or did you limp with AA? All of us call the cap. Next card off is another club. Great! Going to lose this big pot to yet another flush. I check, flop capper checks. Whatthe...? Guy behind him bets, fold, I raise, re-raised by guy behind me. Call, call. The last four hits the river. I bet, called by guy who kept raising, fold by other guy. I scoop a huge pot. Guy next to me didn't even have a flush. He had ATo. With the two SnG losses, but up on the cash game table, I finish up almost $16 at CD Poker.
I venture over to Sun Poker to work some hands off towards their $40 monthly bonus. What a weird session this turned out to be. First off, I play there only about 1 hour. I only manage, in this hour, to earn 10.25 points towards my bonus. This is way below the norm for $1/$2 there. However, I kept getting dealt good pocket cards. What happens is that I am well ahead preflop, my opponent outflops me, but I have a hand I have to stay with, and I end up outdrawing my opponents. Again and again. In an hour I manage a $38 profit.
Wednesday's Result: +$54.20
Today being Thursday, I haven't played any poker. I go to breakfast with my Dad every Thursday morning [unless he has a doctor's appointment], and then go to work. I'm working for an online company, so my poker playing time is affected. I still usually manage a few hours daily. Perhaps I'll play tonight. If I do, I'll make another blog post tomorrow.
May there always be a road - Louis L'Amour

All the signs are there. Good starters missing flops. Good starters hitting monster flops and losing. Big pocket pairs losing to utter rubbish. Nut straights and flushes losing to fullhouses. I;ve been down this road three times before. There is damn little I can do about it, but fight through it. I've looked at my stats these last few weeks and notice no glaring leaks. I'm simply getting beat while having the best of it. Now I know today my stats show me as not having raised enough preflop, but I had one of those days where preflop raise opportunities were few and far between. I was on some aggressive tables. Tables where I was hitting all kinds of great flops and losing anyway.
Today's results: -$60.87
There is also the problem with today's World Cup results. The American team played flat, disconcerted and lackadaisical. The Czech Republic destroyed them 3-0. Add to this a Ghana loss to Italy [a tie would have been a good result here], and the US is already on the ropes. They have to beat both Italy and Ghana for any hope, but losing 3-0 hurts with regard to tie-breakers. At least the German team [my pick on the Pokerroom reload bonus] won their first game against Costa Rica. Perhaps they will light the way?
Take Care!

I'm posting this to show how poorly my June at the Cryptos [Sun Poker and PokerPlex] has been. I realize my PFR% is low, and I am probably not playing optimally. This is as much an exercise in playing around with pictures in my blog as anything else. My losses here have been extreme. Elsewhere, like Pokerroom, I am doing better.

Yesterday, 6/10, I sat down to play the CD Poker New Member freeroll. I got hammered pretty hard. Not in the mood for ring cash games, I decided to play a bunch of MTTs:
Saturday's totals: -$10.86
Sunday, 6/11. I have decided I want to take a crack at the PokerStars $15K Guaranteed $3 R&A every day. I think I'll do a buy-in each day, and if I am still around by the break, make an add-on. I don't want to go over the $6.30. Average prizepool in this is over $3K. Bottom payout is usually at spot 198, which usually is double the $6.30 buy-in I will make.
Today's results: -$24.70

I four-tabled CD Poker yesterday, 6/8/06 and completed more than the 500 CD Points I needed for my 3 free books. I also claimed my first $10 in bonus. I was up about 20BB, but only finished up around 8BB plus the $10 bonus.
Yesterday's total: +25.75
Today, I decided, after watching the German soccer team beat Costa Rica, to play some more hands at PokerPlex and CD Poker, playing one table at each for about five and a half hours. What a horrendous result. Players calling raises with hands like T8o. Raising with 42o. And even when I caught flops or started with big pockets, I was getting beat severely. I just cannot understand how other players that play as well as me can have their hands hold up against these fish, when I can't.
Although I may play more today after dinner, or perhaps play a few SnGs or a tournament, I'll report my huge ring-game losses, nonetheless.
Today's results: -$103.64
That trashes yesterday's results, and means I have lost money this month so far.
...and had a rotten first day. I managed to get beat by some gawd awful hands early, and was quickly down half my buy-in at $1/$2. I righted that ship and built it up by 11-13 BBs, when I caught AA in EP. I lost that hand to a BB calling a capped preflop pot with 99 and spiking his 9 on the flop. I heard an earful for how bad I played the hand. The player on 99 capped a turn early with A-high. I could not know he had a set considering how poorly he played earlier and throughout the session. Later, I lost Q9 on a QQx flop to QT. I tried to steal the blinds with KQs [which isn't really a steal attempt considering how goo dthat hand is late], and lost to 64o hitting his straight. I managed to clear 192 CD Points. I need 600 CD Points for each $10 of this $300 initial deposit bonus. Once I hit 500 CD Points, I get to claim 3 free books from ITH.
Today's poker results: -$62.00.
I really wish I had more time in the day to keep this up-to-date. Between my new part-time job and playing poker, the recently completed WiFCON, trying to get into the gym daily and everyday chores and family commitments, it's hard to maintain a blog. But, not being a quitter, I really am going to try to update my blog at least 5 times a week. If I can keep my posts down to smaller sized jam-packed posts, I will be able to fit it in. This post will probably be longer than I really want, but I want to keep everyone up-to-date!
I got back from WiFCON West on Sunday the 28th, right before Memorial Day. WiFCON stands for World in Flames CONvention. World in Flames, for my non-wargaming readers, is a WWII Strategic wargame. Encompassing the entire world and war, it is truly a game that plays out like a labor of love. Anyway, I placed second at the Con, with my teammate winning first. Two things I learned there [and you non-wargaming poker players can skip this part!]:
OK, poker players, you can turn your attention back! I missed poker for those 11 days I was away. And with my new part-time occupation, I'm having to squeeze it into the time I have allotted. Here's a quick rundown of my results since I have been back:
How's that for a crappy return to poker?
Is that short enough for you? Hopefully, I will see you at the tables. Oh, and by the way, I ran into chillrob from ITH today. Not sure if he knows who I am though! Shhh! Keep it between you and me! ;)
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