Poker Jopke

Challenge Update

2006-09-20T11:08:00.000-04:00

I started my SNG challenge last night by firing up two at once. I was playing really well in the start of both of the tournaments and managed to double up early in one of them. After a very long bubble I was able to finish in third place in one tournament while getting a 5th in the other after a donkey call I made losing most of my chips. I am not sure if I will get in any poker tonight as I am likely headed to the Jays/Yankees game with a friend.

Total SNG's played: 2
Money finishes: 1
total profit: -$4

New Challenge

2006-09-19T11:16:00.000-04:00

I have been getting a little bored with poker lately and haven't been playing much. I am thinking I need to give myself challenge to bring back some of the fun for me. I think I am going to try a 100 SNG challenge. I am going to play 100 $10+1/SNG's over the next month and see how I do. Assuming I am an above average player at this level what type of return on investment should I strive for? 10%?

The thing is, my bankroll only has enough right now for about 25 buy-in's so if I don't do very well, I could bust out. I am going to take a shot though and assume that 25 SNG's is enough for me to at least break even assuming I am not running extremely bad. I am a pretty sane SNG player who doesn't take too many chances early, and I usually have a shot of getting at least 3rd place money even if I am not getting many hands.

I used to play a lot of single table SNG's, but thinking back it has not been the area where I have made huge increases in my bankroll. I have made more money in cash games and 3 significant MTT's wins. I have never tried to play this many SNG's in a month, so it should be interesting.

On a unrelated note, I am turning into quite the cook these days. I cooked some fresh rainbow trout last night and it was awesome. I am really looking forward to the leftovers that I brought for lunch today. Only one more hour!

Jopke

Protoge 2

2006-09-13T11:59:00.000-04:00

I have played a little poker over the past week. I played a few of the 180 SNG's on Stars and in both ones I played I was patient and managed to build a good stack by picking up some good hands. In the first one, I got into a raising war with a guy when I had KK and he had JJ. We both got all-in preflop and I flopped a King on a rainbow. The rainbow included a ten and. The Queen on the turn raised my eyebrows and the Ace on the river sealed my fate. It was the worst beat I have taken in awhile and I got a little steamed. After I had calmed down I fired another one up and this time managed to work myself into the chip lead with about 50 remaining. My hands started to dry up and I dropped to about 5th in chips. The leader was at my table and I picked up TT and raised it and was re-raised by the leader. I don't know why but sometimes I just get it in my head that someone is bluffing. I called his raise and pushed to a queen high flop. He insta-called with pocket Kings and I am done and he is now a massive chip leader. I don't know why I do things like that. I was in good chip position and I was out of position on the table, I should have just thrown the tens away to the initial raise.

In other news, because I am a Full Contact Poker Charter member and I played the required 300 ring game hands I now have four chances to qualify for the 20 player tournament that will send the winner to Atlantis in the Bahama's for the Daniel Negreanu Protoge final table. I am thinking that each qualifier will have at the most 400 participants and the top 5 make it to the final. You are also allowed to play in all 4 of the qualifiers. Based on my recent success with smaller field MTT's, I am pretty confident in my game. I am thinking the field might be a little stronger than the Stars SNG's though. The first one is this Sunday, I might be up north but should be able to play.

Random Post: Allergies, Paper St House and Haunting

2006-08-30T14:46:00.000-04:00

Allergies have hit me hard folks. I am pretty sure I have went through an entire box of Kleenex today and I still have two hours left in the day. The last piece of tissue sits on the box waiting for a snot emergency but I am trying desperately not to use it, to maintain a little self-control. Plus, I am sure my co-workers are tired of hearing me blow my nose by now so I will give them a break for a little while.

This is only my second year with seasonal allergies. I remember last year as soon as the first frost came, they were gone instantly so I have got that to look forward to. The crappy thing is that I love fall season, but now it is tainted. I think I am going to have to break down and go get some drugs, my nose is sore and cant take much more blowing.

No poker last night. I did however get down on my hands and knees and scrub down the beautiful old hardwood floor in my new bedroom. I wasn't sure about moving into an old house at first but I am at the beginning stages of love with this new place. It has character. Eventually it will be split into 3 different apartments but right now ours is the first that is finished. Since my roommate hasn't moved in yet, I feel like the guy(s) from fight club wandering around an old house in shambles. All I need is create myself an imaginary friend and start a club of some kind.

I also found my self secretly wishing that my new house is haunted. Not "Poltergeist" haunted, but just scary enough to keep me on my toes.

See what you get when I don't play poker?

Jopke

Waiting for the paint to dry...

2006-08-29T13:10:00.000-04:00

I got home from work yesterday and noticed quickly that the baseboards and radiator in my room were still not painted. One of the guys doing the work mentioned something about how the spray paint wasn't going to work for the radiator and I told him it was no problem, even though all I want to do is start moving stuff in my room.

I was a little pissed off so I went and heated up some leftover chicken and fired up Poker Stars for my first session in the new house. I decided to play a $4/180person SNG. I have won two of these previously but have been in a little slump recently.

In either the first or second orbit I pick up AA in early/mid position. UTG+1 min raises to 40. Sorry, no min raises allowed so I bump it up to 100. Here is where it gets interesting. The guy in to CO pushes and the button calls! It is folded around to UTG+1 (who has been playing like an idiot but won a couple pots so he has me covered) and he calls. I call, not realising that this does not put me all in, but leaves me with 10 so the cards are not exposed for the flop. The flop is good for me, low cards and a rainbow. UTG+1 puts me all in and I call. So here is what the three guys called my re-raise with. CO has AKo. I kind of understand his play here but do you really want to risk your whole tournament here with AK? I wouldn't. I would likely just call here or make a smaller re-raise. No reason to push here. The button cards are KQo! Now I am really confused, he called a three raises with KQ, I guess I shouldn't be that surprised for this buy-in but c'mon! The UTG+1 flips 76o! WOW! So I bet you can tell where this is going, right? Wrong! My aces hold up and I almost quadruple up into the chips lead with almost T6000. Things kind of slow down for a while as my cards disappear.

Here is another situation that I thought was interesting but I am not sure I made a good play. The player on my right is tilting huge after losing a big one a few hands earlier. Since then he has been raising quite a few hands. I wish I had my hand history with me to get the details right but since I am at work I can't get them. Maybe I will correct this when I get home. Anyways, he raises and I call with AJ of clubs. I have position on him but I figure if I reraise he will push me all-in and that is not the type of hand I want to call all-in with even though I think he has nothing. The flop gives me no pair but does have two clubs, giving me the nut flush draw. There are no high cards on the flop. He pushed the rest of his stack which almost has me covered. I thought about this one for a little while. I was fairly certain he was bluffing but he could have easily made a little pair which still beats me. I do have a monster draw though but do I want to risk the rest of my chips? If he wasn't on tilt, I would have thrown this hand away and felt good about it. If I through it away now though it was really going to bother me, especially if he showed his cards to me. I wish I could say it wouldn't bother me, but it would. Another leak in my game. I call and the cards are exposed and sure enough, he no pair, no draw. I hit my club on the turn and he is gone and I am back into the chip lead.

I wont bore you with the rest of the details (too late), but other than that hand I think I played a really solid game. I did get a little out of line with A9 and pushed right into AQ on the bubble. Thank got the board saved me with two pair and a king so neither of our kickers played.
Anyways, I took 2nd for a cash of $144. I should have won the thing, but that is a story for another day.

Bachelor Party Poker

2006-08-28T14:05:00.000-04:00

This weekend I went to a bachelor party after I had spent the majority of the day moving into my new place. It was nice to eat some BBQ, drink some beer and hang out with some buddies for one last hurrah in Guelph before I start a new adventure in Toronto.

The Bachelor in question proceeded to get drunk...like really drunk. I was in fine form as well, but not compared to him. I bought him a cider at the first bar we went to and about 2 minutes later he had dropped it on the floor. I am surprised we didn't get booted. From there, we decided to head to the strippers. We were only inside for about 30min before the groom decided to leave and pass out in a ditch outside. So we were all rounded up (some of us kicking and screaming) and we headed back home. I was just starting to get into the whole stripper experience again, as it had been awhile.

When we got home the bachelor was put safely in his bed and the rest of the guys decided to play poker. We had two tables of 8 going, 40 chips each and blinds of 1/2. Not much time to wait for cards. I was dealt AKs UTG and raised it up and everyone folded. I thought it was going to be an action table but I guess no one wanted to go out in the first hand. I didn't pick up much of anything for the next while and lost a few small ones until I looked down and my M was 3. Man, I was really not paying attention. A few hands later I was UTG and looked and saw A8 of clubs. I pushed and it was folded around to the BB who had an enormous stack and called with TJo. He hit a ten and a jack on the flop and I was done. I joined in on the losers table for the cash game and ended up winning my buy in back by playing some serious donkey poker. I would call every hand and ended up hitting quite a few flops. Just some serious drunk poker.

I have to play more live poker. I guess I need to find some places in my new city.

Jopke

Free stuff from FCP

2006-08-23T14:33:00.000-04:00

I got an e-mail today from Full Contact Poker telling me that because I placed in the top 10 of a Golf weekend with Daniel tournament that I won a free copy of his Stacked PC video game. That is pretty cool! I heard some rumblings about it when I was playing in the tourney but I never figured I would actually get anything. Daniel has hooked me up with a lot of cool stuff over the past few months!

I think I am playing in a golf weekend qualifier this Sunday with the winner going to Vegas to play golf with Daniel and hang out. I would really love to win this and I was even present when the concept was formed by Daniel and his FCP promotions crew. We were at the ESPN Sports Zone for the Oilers/Canes game during my hockey weekend at Daniels. For a hockey weekend, Daniel couldn't get his mind off his new-found passion of golf and was even practicing his swing as we watched the game. He said to one of his promotions guys that they should run a golf weekend similar to the hockey one. I told them that I would do anything to be a part of the weekend and Daniel asked me what I shoot. I told him between 90-100 and he said he shoots around the same. He then jokingly invited me to golf with him and Doyle on Monday.....for $50,000 a hole.

Am I being too greedy trying to win another free trip to Vegas off Daniel?

Jopke

Deep Stack

2006-08-19T11:46:00.000-04:00

I am going to play in the $10 deep stack tournament that starts at noon. I will post here on my progress. I haven't played one of these in awhile.

12:30pm - At the end of the first level I have T6000 when I won a decent pot with KK

1:02pm - first break and I am down to T3610. I am generally playing terrible. Not picking up many good hands and making bad plays with the ones I do pick up. The table is pretty aggressive which is not really good for my style. Time to sit back a little.

1:36 - Doubled up when I bluffed with my AK on a board with two tens. One player picked up on my bluff but called me with...AJ? Huh? I almost doubled up again a few hands later when the board had three queens and I pushed with JJ and a player called with 44. I am sitting with T13,115 starting the 50/100 level

2:12pm - Second break and I am at T17,815 I think I pushed a guy off KK when an ace hit the board and I put him all in on the turn. The thing is, I had KK as well. I am not sure if he was just lying in the chat to try to save face. I was sure he had an ace with a bad kicker and was playing it cautiously so I put him to the test and he folded.

2:28pm - Out. Got really overzealous with AKs and ran into KK. Did not improve and I am gone. I didn't play really well today.

Jopke

Nothing to do...

2006-08-18T12:57:00.000-04:00

For the third day in a row I am sitting at work with nothing to do. Aside from re-printing some maps I made for an upcoming election yesterday, I have literally surfed the internet or stared blankly at my screen, pretending to work. It is really not my fault actually, as all my supervisors are gone there is no one to give me work to do. And since I have been here less than a month, I really don't feel comfortable trying to find work to do or change a process or something. So instead I will sit here and read archives posts from Jason Mulgrew and check and re-check to see if any one has posted anything new on their poker blog. I have about 4 hours until the end of the week, it can't come fast enough.

The highlight of the last five minutes was figuring out the initials of the movie "Snakes on a Plane" spelled out SOAP. God my life is sad

The Colbert Report with Jamie Gold?

2006-08-18T09:43:00.000-04:00

I watched most of the final table at the WSOP on PPV last week but went to bed before it was finished, trusting that my Tivo (PVR in Canada) would take care of the rest and I could watch in the morning. Well apparently the PPV show only went until 5am EST so it missed the final three eliminations and the end of the tournament. Luckily, I was able to piece together what happened by reading some blogs. Like him or not, Jamie Gold played a great big stack poker game. Sure, he got lucky, but isn't that part of it? Anyways, I hope he represents poker well over the next year. I still think he looks exactly like Stephen Colbert. Am I alone on this?
.....................

I played a little NL last night and ended up down $4 or so. Wasn't really into it and I was picking up junk hands. I did switch how I normally play and opened up my starting range of hands, playing almost all suited connecting cards or one-gaps. I even played them to a raise if I had position. I just couldn't connect with the board at all or even pick up any sort of draw when I played these hands. Just one of those nights, I guess. It was good to try something new though.

HORSE is fun!

2006-08-17T10:56:00.000-04:00

Over the past few days I have been playing a little of the 0.10/0.25 $25max NL on Stars because I haven't played a lot of NL ring games recently and I am finding limit poker quite boring lately. I guess I am becoming more of an action junkie.

I sat down and bought in for the max buy-in of $25 and started trying to get reads on the players. I noticed that the player on my left was pushing with a lot of marginal hands and busting and rebuying. He finally lucked out and caught two pair and doubled up to about $50. He was also doing stuff like raising open raising to $6.50 preflop, 26X the BB! I was just waiting to pick up a hand to come over the top of him and either just pick up his over bet or for a chance for him to double me up.

I finally picked up my first decent hand, AQ of diamonds. I was in middle position and decided to limp and hope he would raise, then come over the top. He raised it to about $6 after my limp and a guy in late position called it. I actually thought about chucking the hand but I felt that if I pushed I could at least get the late position guy out of the hand if the aggressive guy called me. Well, it worked. Guy to my left not only called my bet but went all in for about $15 more than I had. The thing about Stars is that they don't flip the cards when people are all-in which freaks me out when the board is revealed and I am wondering what the other guy has. The flop comes king high and the turn and river fail to help my hand. I am sure that he beat me but my hand is turned up first and his is immediately mucked. Sweet! I double up to about $53 or so with A high. In the chat, he said he had a lower suited ace and I believe him with the cards he was playing. I think he had A8 or A9.

The very next hand I am dealt 77 and decide to limp. I get to see a cheap flop of KJ7 rainbow. Very sweet for me. There are about 5 players in the hand at this point. UTG bets $2 so and I am next to act so I decide to raise it to about $6. With bottom set here I don't want to be messing around and I am thinking UTG might have hit a king so he might pay me off. Plus a hand like QT scares me a little here and I don't want to give him a cheap card. Everyone else folds and UTG calls. Turn is a blank and UTG leads again for $2 into a pot of about $15. This bet confused me a little so I decided to raise it a lot because I think he has something but I am pretty sure I still have the best hand. I think he would have raised JJ or KK preflop. I am thinking KQ or KJ at this point. I raise to $18 or so and he pushes the remainder of his stack which is only about another $6 or so and I call. River is a blank and he shows KJ for the flopped two pair and I take another huge pot.

I am really glad I decided to give NL another try because I had all but given up on it. I have been reading a lot lately from other blogs not to overvalue TPTK in NL or you will lose your money. Sets, straights and flushes are the way to go. Now I am a believer.

I also tried something completely new last night. Stars has started offering H.O.R.S.E. and have even put games in the play money section for those of us who have no clue what all of the letters mean. I am still a little confused by the E part of it. I hopped into the play money 20/40 with $5000 of my $50,000 in my play money account. I can't even remember how I build up the 50 grand in there it has been so long since I played for play money. I started a few hands into limit hold'em (there were 8 hands of each at a 8 handed table) and was extremely bored. Next was Omaha Hi/Lo which took me a little while to figure out what made up a low hand but I actually did quite well in this portion of the game. Made a few low's and even lucked into a few high hands. With a lot more practice, I might know what I am doing in a few more years with this game. So much to think about! Razz was fun but quite maddening when you start off with A24 and then get Q-Q-K-T after that. Stud and Stud Hi/Lo were pretty fun as well and I quit once it got around to hold'em again. I think I will try to practice here a little more, then hopefully Stars will spread some micro limit and I can play for pennies to stars. All and all a fun night of playing when I should be packing for my move. I am heading into Toronto after work to sign my lease.

Jopke

Back to my Roots

2006-08-16T10:55:00.000-04:00

Poker over the last month has been sparse at best. I am going through a lot of changes in my life which has kept me away from the virtual tables quite a lot. The biggest change is that I am moving quite soon, most likely into Toronto. I have lived on the fringes of Toronto for most of my life but never lived within the city limits and quite frankly, I never wanted to. What has changed now, you ask? Well, I am not quite sure but now I feel like it is time to give city livin' a try. Since my company contracted me out a month ago to a company quite close to Toronto I figured now was the best time to try.

I went back to my roots last night in between packing up my junk and fired up a single table SNG on Stars. The very first hand I am dealt is kings in the BB. UTG+1 raises it to 60 and two people call before it gets to me so I make it 220 to go. UTG+1 re-raises to 440 and one other guy calls and the other folds. The only hand I am worried about here is AA, right but I just can't lay this hand down can I? I don't think I can get away from my kings here but I would prefer to only be facing on opponent and not give two guys the opportunity to draw out on me. I push all-in and UTG+1 insta calls! Crap! He must have aces, right? The other guys takes a little while and folds and the hands are exposed and UTG+1 has JJ! The board fails to bring a J or anything else that would help him and I more than double on the first hand. I play a few more small pots for the next few levels, but generally try to stay out of trouble. When the blinds go to 50-100 I start to steal a little. I donked off a lot of chips on some questionable draws that didn't hit and made some stupid plays with medium pairs. If there is a zone, I wasn't in it. I ended up pushing with 33 with an M of about 6 and the 1 seat took forever to call with his KK. Why the wait there buddy? The boards does not help and I am out in 5th. Not my best day of poker.

Jopke

Making a Run

2006-07-13T19:28:00.000-04:00

I have about $149 worth of $W money at Stars that is burning a hole in my virtual bankroll. I am going to try to qualify for the Sunday 150 seats guaranteed tournament by playing in a some double shootouts in the next few days. That is if some other damn people sign up. It was stuck at 7 players for the longest time, now it is down to 5! I am going to be waiting for hours! If anyone reads this, come play with me. Unless you are really good of course...

Jopke

My first live blog

2006-07-12T17:54:00.000-04:00

I am going to try to live blog a $4/180 SNG on Stars. Lets see how this works

6:17 - Waiting for people to sign up....

6:20 - Cards are in the air! I am seated in seat 4 and am UTG and fold A2o. That's just the way i roll

6:22 - 52 in the BB. No raise and a check my option. Flop comes with no help to me and I fold to an overbet by the SB

6:24 - K5 on the button? Not today my friend.

6:26 - Pick up QJ of diamonds two off the button and limp along with 5 others. Flop comes rags withone diamond and I fold to a pot sized bet. I am playing really tight right now.

6:28 - New table already! I have T1440

6:32 - No good hands yet...

6:34 - Can I just say that I love that you can re-size the Poker Stars windows now! Also you can pick different themes. I currently have the victorian saloon one or something like that.

6:37 - Blinds up. Still haven't picked up a real hand or won a pot. All part of my strategy....I think

6:39 - 33 in the SB. I complete and check after flop is TT9. I fold to a bet. I was considering leading out here but glad I didn't as the guy to my left ended up having a ten

6:42 - Limp with 66 and flop comes 532. Guy to my right bets and I raise and he calls. turn is a 9, he checks and i put him all-in and he folds. He only had T570 left. I am up to T1610

6:47 - some guy bet 15x BB preflop and no one called. Smart move....?

6:48 - What is with the huge overbets. This time it was 18X BB with AQ...and he got called by J7 and lost! 18x is sitting out now....awwwww

6:52 - 28 hands in and my best starting hand were the sixes. I will hit my rush later when it matters.

6:54 - blinds are up to 25/50 and I have T1550

6:56 - My M is about 20 so I am not freaking out yet.

6:58 - ATo in MP. Still pretty sure fold is the right play here after one player limped.

6:59 - Try to see a cheap flop with 8d9d. It does not happen...fold

7:03 - I raise on the button with A4 and both blinds call. Flop is K high but gives me a gutshot for the wheel. SB keeps min betting so I call both times and miss my draw. Why min bet there? Down to T1100

7:06 - Blinds up 50/100. I am in a little bit of troble here wiht an M of only 7 or so. Need to double soon.

7:08 - 88 players are left....make that 87

7:09 - I get a walk in the BB!

7:10 - push to a limper with AJo on the button and he folds. Next hand pick up 99 and raise to 300 and blinds fold. at least i am picking up some blinds now. Have T1450

7:12 - New table

7:13 - My Q is 0.4 (Can you tell I am reading Harrington?)

7:15 - fold 53o in SB after 4 players limp. Does anyone push here and hope that nobody calls? I thought not.

7:17 - there are some big stacks at my table...I am not one of them. Am at T1300

7:20 - I have AKo and push to his raise. He calls with AK of hearts. He picks up a flush draw on the turn but misses. phew!

7:21 - first break. I am at T1425. Time for laundry!

7:24 - Ok. Blinds are about to go to 75/150 and I have 1425 so my M is going to be a little over 6. My Q is a about 0.35 or something. Time to make a move or die trying....

7:31 - Just waiting for a hand now. I am not playing very agressive today, not sure why. Not good.

7:33 - there are a lot of limpers at my table. Waiting for that right hand to pounce on them.

7:37 - push with 88 UTG and get called by AA. Get a gutshot on the flop but the 7 or 8 fail to hit and I am out in 56th. Just not my night I guess.

7:39 - thanks to the few of you who checked out my site while I was playing. Just didn't get going tonight. Maybe this little live blog experiment hindered my play a little, but I don't think so. I just wasn't getting the cards and didn't adjust properly to some pretty passive play at my table. Until next time...

Jopke

I know, I know

2006-07-05T19:16:00.000-04:00

So just when I start getting some people by here to start reading this humble site, (Thanks DP!) I decided not to post for a few weeks. Smart move.

The truth is I have not had much time for poker over the past few weeks due to some other things going on in my life.

Firstly, I have decided to go out and get a new job. So my past few weeks have been getting my resume together. After several drafts and getting my girlfriend to read it over a few times and make comments (she was brutal), I finally had something that I was happy with. So I sent a few of those babies out there and wouldn't you know it, I got an interview. In fact the job I am interviewing for, I applied to on Wednesday of last week and they got back to me the very next day with an interview request. I am taking that as a good sign. The interview is tomorrow so I am getting ready by finding out a lot about the company getting my references together.

Other than that, the past few weekends have been busy with a Broken Social Scene/Feist/Bloc Party/J Mascis concert on the Toronto Island. Very good show! Although I spent most of the first part of the day drinking overpriced cans of beer in the tent.

This past weekend, I went whitewater rafting on the Ottawa river for a friends bachelor party. It ended up being an awesome time and I would highly recommend the company I went with to anyone, they are called Esprit.

On the poker front, I was able to play a few 4/180 SNG's and managed to place 3rd in one of them. I was the chipleader going into the final table before I lost most of my chips when I didn't hit a huge draw that I had.

I have my interview tomorrow so I will try to play more poker and post here more often after that. Cool? You all still there?

Jopke

Employee of the Year

2006-06-19T18:51:00.000-04:00

So, a few weeks back there was an internet crackdown here at work and I noticed that I was unable to access many of the sites I normally read, including the 367 poker blogs that I frequent. I was using SharpReader to view the blogs but now was being shut out from access them. After a few weeks of boredom and increased workplace productivity I tried the RSS reader that all the cool kids are talking about: Bloglines

Wouldn’t you know it, it works like a charm. I can now see most of the blogs that were recently blocked, which is very cool. Just as I was getting so much work done too.

No more employee of the year, I guess.

Jopke

Blogger Tournament

2006-06-18T14:41:00.000-04:00

Is anyone else playing in the blogger tournament today on Stars? I am thinking there are going to be a lot of no shows because it is fathers day. Might be interesting for the first couple rounds if there are a lot of sitting players.

See you there!

Weekend at Daniels (Part 2)

2006-06-15T18:48:00.000-04:00

I am walking through Caesars Palace with Daniel Negreanu a few paces in front of the rest of the group. We speed past throngs of the “beautiful people” awaiting their entry into the nightclub, Pure. The place is packed and we are making good time, snaking through the crowd. Daniel is walking quite fast so I do a little jog to catch up.

“How often do people do a double take after they see you?” I ask curiously.

“I actually don’t even notice anymore” he replies. “I just look down at the ground when I walk, and go as fast as I can. People don’t seem to notice me as much when I am outside of the element they usually see me.”

I understand what he is saying, but we are in his element, in the casino, pushing past drunken gamblers and starry-eyed tourists. We have just come from the Caesars poker room, where Daniel has just broken up what was surely to be a messy situation. Some drunken poker enthusiast got out of line in the room, and Daniel did his best to play peacekeeper, helping huge security guys escort the guy to the door. Daniel is as nice and congenial, and as genuine as you see on TV, I think to myself as we leave.

“Hey, you don’t mind me calling you a cartoon photographer, right? You know I am just joking around.” He says as he puts his arm around me squeezing my neck the way that a brother would.

“I don’t mind at all” I say truthfully, then add “Do you think it is blog-worthy?” Wondering if I would make it into the on-line journal Daniel keeps, that I read all the time. Kind of a bold move by me, but I have had a few drinks at this point.

“Ya! I will write a note! This is how I write my blog” he says as he retrieves his ever ready blackberry device from his pocket and shows me the various points written on it. He writes “Cartoon Photographer” as we reach the entrance of the casino.

We head out the revolving door into the heat of the Las Vegas night.

Once the hand with Daniel is over I have a good chip stack so I make a decision to only play premium cards and wait out some of the eliminations. That doesn’t last very long when I pick up 86 in the big blind and check my option only to see two eights come on the flop. I check and raise Carlo, who makes a late position bet. He calls and the turn is a blank. I go all in and he goes into the tank.

“You playing A8?” he says with a half smile

“Oh Crap! He has an 8 as well”, I think to myself as I try not to give anything away.

He thinks for a few minutes longer and finally makes the call. He flips up 87 and his kicker is currently in play. The dealer peels of the river and it doesn’t register with me for a few seconds that it is a 6. I hit a three outer. Live poker is so rigged.

Good call Carlo; sorry again about the bad beat.

After that I start to pick up some good cards and win some pretty good pots. In one hand, I pick up AK suited and take out another player who is playing AJ and my stack grows even more. I think even Daniel is eying my stack at this point.

I make it to the final table as the chip leader sitting in the 10 seat right across the table from Daniel who is in the 7 seat. I don’t get involved in any more hands with Daniel as the table turns into an all-in fest.

I look around and take it all in as I am sitting there. In addition to the 10 people from our party standing around the table there are about 15 people standing behind the rail watching the action. Well, really they are watching Daniel but it still feels pretty cool.

“It looks like it is going to be you and I head’s up” Daniel says to me. TO ME!

I say something like “I am going to have to take you down”, but who really knows. I am just going over in my head how the hell I got here.

It doesn’t end up happening. Daniel picks up some 2nd best hands and loses most of his stack finally going out when his weaker ace fails to suck out. He is out in 5th.

We get down to three, and I choose this point to start playing poker like a total donkey, trying to bully the two girls who are left. They are having none of it and start picking up some really nice hands and calling me. Victoria ends up going out in 3rd before Jenn makes short work of me heads up. She consistently gets all-in with better hands than mine, even when I have an ace, she turns over AK. It was sick. I had victory in my grasp and let it slip away, all while Daniel Negreanu is sitting across the table watching me.

Everyone congratulates Jenn, and deservedly so. She played awesome for someone who doesn’t sit at the table very much.

With the tournament over, and the occasional outburst of Shawn Sheikhan behind us, we pile into a limo and head to the ESPN Sports Zone to watch the Oilers/Hurricanes Stanley Cup playoff game.

We are led to our private room with several tables and TV’s and order drinks and food and watch what turns out to be a great hockey game. Despite a questionable call from the ref, the Oilers go on to win the game and give themselves a shot at coming back in the best of 7 series.

After several beers, a trivia challenge, a trip to the arcade, and one hilarious carrot cake eating session (where Ed became $500 richer) we left the ESPN zone with more great memories to take with us. In addition to some great pictures.

Day 2 Coming Later

Weekend at Daniels (Part 1)

2006-06-13T23:06:00.000-04:00

It’s day one of the Hockey weekend at Daniel’s and I meet the rest of the winners at the entrance of Café Lago in Caesars palace. I see Ed, who I had met up with the night before for some pre-weekend drinks, and his wife Victoria. I also see a guy with an Oilers jersey on and instantly know that I am in the right place.

We exchange names and handshakes with the other winners, and their guests, and I instantly forget all of their names. I will spend the next few days messing up their names and re-asking the same questions over and over. Hey, it’s just the way I roll.

I meet Brendan, one of the organizers and we talk about how he lives in Toronto and I quickly discover that he lives about 2 minutes away from the girl I am currently seeing. He seems like a really friendly guy and it is nice to talk to someone else from the Toronto area.

We sit at our reserved table and head up for the first trip to the buffet. Once we are full of Omelets, seafood and prime rib we get into the details on the weekend. Brendan and Jeff tell us that our first challenge was bet $50 on sports and who ever makes the most money wins that challenge. I leave that task to my buddy and team member for the weekend, Jason, while I go check into the hotel.

We head down to the poker room after getting our baggage delivered to the room and I am immediately impressed. I walk into the room and immediately see Shawn Sheikhan and “Eskimo” Clark sitting at the only table being used in the VIP area. They are playing a $400-$800 mixed game I am later told by one of the dealers.

Daniel shows up and immediately ingratiates himself with all of the winners and their guests. He gets to me and I tell him my name and that I am from Guelph, which is a town quite near to Toronto.

“What do you do Mitch?” He says looking in my direction.

“It’s Rich actually.” I say correcting him. “But you can call me Mitch if you want.” I add with a smile.

“I am a cartographer” I say.

“A what?!” says Daniel. “A cartoon photographer?!”

I try to correct him but it is too late he is already telling everyone within earshot that I take pictures of cartoons for a living. Is this happening? Is Daniel Negreanu needling me? I am not mad or offended at all, in face, I think it is kind of cool.

I have my Corona in front of me, the cards fly, and it is time to see how I play against one of the best players in the world.

I start off at the same table with Daniel who is in the 10 seat and I am in the 6 seat. I don’t see too much for many hands to start, but I want to play tight, just to try to feel out the table. Daniel however, picks up many pots early and actually shows some good cards…well…..some of the time at least. I finally get into a hand with Daniel when he limps, and I compete in the small blind with sixes in the hole. I flop a set of sixes and immediately check only to see Daniel bet at the pot.

Oh shit. I think to myself.

Not only am I playing in the Caesar’s palace VIP room with Daniel Negreanu, but now I am about to check raise him. I raise him and Daniel pushes me all-in. I look at the board and realize that even though I am almost positive that I am ahead right now, the cards that Daniel likes to play fit into this board. But I have to call, don’t I? Everything I know about poker is now longer in my brain, but I hear myself say:

“Call”

We flip our cards and I see that he has flopped an open ended straight draw.

Oh shit

I hold my breath at the dealer deals the turn and river quite fast. No help for Daniel and I double up and move into the chip lead.

Did that just happen?. I ask my brain.

Yes it did and it was as was sweet as I thought it would be.

More later

I'm registered

2006-05-23T16:54:00.000-04:00

I have registered to play in the PokerStars World Blogger Championship of Online Poker!

This Online Poker Tournament is a No Limit Texas Holdem event exclusive to Bloggers.

Registration code: 7330476

Back to Back!

2006-05-04T09:52:00.000-04:00

I am fresh off back to back wins on the $4/180 person SNG’s on Stars. Yes, I won two in a row! The first one was on Sunday, and the other was last night. They used to only run these tournaments between the hours of midnight and 5pm which pretty much excluded me from playing them during the week. I noticed last night around 9pm that they were running them around the clock (at least on a trial basis). I reluctantly fired one up after The Amazing Race was over (What were you thinking BJ!?!). I say reluctantly because I knew that if I made it deep in the tournament it would be late and if I bubbled out I would be pissed off for staying up so late with nothing to show for it. This one went very much like my win on Sunday. I played very tight in the first few levels, limping into a few pots cheaply trying to hit a big hand. I ended up doubling up a few times before the break, both where I was a dog when the money went in. Not great, but you got to get a little lucky to win, and to be fair, I wasn’t that far behind in the hands.

I managed to avoid most big confrontations stealing where I could and made it into the money. Then with 2 tables left, I hit a huge rush of cards and got some lucky flops and managed to get to the final table as the significant chip leader. I also made a huge bluff that would have crippled me. I don’t usually bluff in these types of tournaments. I do semi-bluff, but not really much of the stone-cold variety. Here is the scene as best as I can remember it:

Guy on my right has a heathy stack, like mine, about 15,000 with blinds of 200/400 ante 25. He has been doing a lot of raising of my blinds and I haven’t really been defending all that much because I am on a huge dry streak of cards. 84o, 92o, this type of thing. He is generally an aggressive player and I feel like if I push back he will respect it. I am dealt 74o in the BB and it is folded around to him in the small blind. He raises 3x BB and I decide that I am going to make a stand on this one. I re-raise to about 2400 and he thinks for a second then calls. Flop comes AAJ with three suits he fires about 1800 into the pot. I know he likely has better cards than me, but I also know that he is the type of player who if he had an A would check it to slowplay it. I raise it up to 4200 or something, leaving me with only about 6000 or so behind so a call by him would be pretty much the end of my chances. He thinks for a few seconds, then mucks. The pot is pushed my way and I think for a second about showing the bluff to tilt him, but decide against it. I didn’t have this type of play in me until recently, and that thought really makes me happy. I am watching players more and really thinking about what every bet and raise means.

Anyways, back to the final table. I used my big stack a little to push the medium sized ones around and stole some blinds. Some of the guys started playing back at me so I backed off a little determined to have a big hand the next time I raised. Got KK on the button soon after on the button. The cutoff limped and I raised, hoping he would think I was just playing the big stack trying to buy it. He called and the flop came 9 high. He checked, I bet and he pushed. I called almost instantly as the raise wasn’t that much more as the guy was a short stack. He flips up K9 and fails to improve.

After that it was pretty much smooth sailing until it got to heads up. I had about a 2-1 chip lead and started chipping away at him. He was a good player and managed to double through me when we both had small aces but he had the bigger kicker. I managed to get the chip lead back and eventually pushed with A4 vs his 22. I get a miracle J on the river to make broadway and take it down.

I looked up at the clock and it was almost 1am. Crap….at least I won!

Weird things that happened in the tournament:

1) I got dealt A8 and flopped a full house and received no action taking a small pot. For the next three hands in a row I was dealt A9o and didn’t play any of them.

2) I won two all-ins holding AQ while the other guy had the Hiltons.

3) I ended up heads-up with another Canadian. He was from Vancouver. Us Canucks play some mean poker.

Mom is my biggest fan...

2006-04-20T13:43:00.000-04:00

This week has been pretty slow on the internet poker front. My roommate’s parents are visiting which means that I am also caught up in hanging out with them, which I really don’t mind. Pulling out my laptop to fire up a SNG might lead to some funny looks, so I just put poker on hold until the weekend when I head up north to visit with my parents.

My parents are much more accommodating of my degenerate habit. I have said it before to many people that I think my parents would be supportive of my making a run at superstar stardom in the poker world, especially my Mom. I think she is hooked on the idea that I would win one of these WPT tourneys and call her immediately from the broadcast to thank her. Truth is, I probably would do that very thing. I also think that my parents don’t really see the whole picture when it comes to the poker world. What they don’t think about is that for every one of those 6 WPT finalists, there are thousands who go broke trying to fulfill that dream. My parents think I am an awesome poker player simply because they don’t hang out with a lot of people who play good poker.

This leads me to my next point: I am probably my only critic when it comes to poker. This is kind of scary. I don’t have a lot of people who are into poker as I am, so I can’t get the type of feedback or analysis that I would like. Maybe I will try to get some sample hands together and post them here, illustrating some of my hands for analysis and discussion from any readers. (I know there are at least two of you out there!) It is at least worth a try, right?

"The Rush"

2006-04-18T10:59:00.000-04:00

No poker to report today as I went to see the Death Cab for Cutie and Franz Ferdinand concert in the big city last night. We walked in a few songs into Franz’ set and sat up near the top of the stands directly across from the stage. You know that old saying “if it is too loud, then you are too old”? Well, I felt old about two minutes after sitting down. It also may have been when I looked to check out some girls dancing in the aisle near us and then realized they were about 13 years old. It was at that point I felt not just old, but dirty. Death Cab was a lot better, sound wise and they even played almost all of my favorite songs.

Now for some minor poker content…

I met up with an ex-girlfriend between bands. It wasn’t a random meeting, but rather orchestrated over MSN about a week previous. We hadn’t seen each other in almost two years and it felt a little weird to see her. I told her about things going on in my life and also about the Vegas trip I recently won. She then proceeded to half joke around with me about how I was totally addicted to gambling and that it was bad for me. I think she was kind of serious and I guess it kind of bothered me a little as I tried to justify myself to her. Not really sure why I felt the need to justify it too her since she really plays no part in my life anymore. I think it was just more about justifying poker as a legitimate activity to spend time. Then I read Dr Pauly this morning. It really hit home with me especially this part:

Gambling is a desperate act. Sure, I get off on it. We all do. But the reasons why we gamble are deeply rooted in self-esteem issues and obsessive compulsive behavior. I'm a known addict and action junkie. Poker is perfect for my degenerate personality because it has some intellectual aspects as much as "The Rush." Whose heart doesn't race when they are waiting for that river card to be dealt to seal our fate or save our ass? For some you lost in your life, the rush of poker is a real feeling. It makes you feel alive in the moment and that's why you do it.

Humans have always sought to get high in one form or another. For some people it's Christ. For others its cocaine. For anyone reading this post... it's poker.

Leave it Dr. Pauly to state the truth about poker.

I don’t relate to everything he says, as I don’t think I am an action junkie…yet. I do think that playing poker is almost like a drug, or a belief in a religion, as it is a way to feel something else, more connected, or disconnected from everything else in your life. I do think I am addicted to poker, as I think it would be hard for me to stop playing. That doesn’t mean that I have to continually play higher stakes to keep feeling “The Rush”. I still get a rush every time a drag a pot. Sure, the bigger ones feel a little bit nicer but the small ones still feel nice. The truth is, I get a rush from losing as well. Sure it is a different kind of feeling, but at least it is an emotion different from how I feel normally.

I don’t know where I am going with poker, but I do know that I would like to keep playing for the time being. I need my fix of “The Rush”

WAD

2006-04-17T11:08:00.000-04:00

I feel like Darren McGavin in the movie “A Christmas Story” waiting for his ’major award’ to arrive, having no clue what the prize will entail.

“It could be a bowling alley!”

Yes, I am still waiting on the details of the Weekend at Daniel’s or as I will now refer to it: WAD

I received an e-mail back from Matt, who was running the pool for Full Contact Poker saying they were going to have the details out to the winners within the week, so now I play the waiting game. The answer that I don’t want to hear is that the weekend will be on the June 2-4th weekend. If it is that weekend, I will have to skip Vegas. Crazy you say? I help run a charity event in and around my city that is similar to the Amazing Race and we are having it on that weekend. I absolutely cannot miss it since I have already put about 3 months of work into it with another month and half to the event. Not really sure how I would react right now if I had to give up a free weekend in Vegas since it started dominating my mind in the past few weeks. I am trying to put this contingency out of my mind for the time and focus on the possibilities of the weekend.

“They'll send the deed for cripsake. I didn't expect them to send a whole damn bowling alley.”

I Won! Vegas here I come!

2006-04-16T20:27:00.000-04:00

So, I entered a hockey surivor pool on Daniel Negreanu's website a couple month's ago and busted out quite quickly on the first try. We were told that we could enter another one later in the season so I waited for my e-mail to come to try it again. About two month's ago the call came. I won't bore you with the details of how I arrived at this last week of the regular season with only one other guy in left in the pool besides myself but a lot of the others in the pool got unlucky with some good times losing at bad times. I managed to dodge a few landmine's and found myself with a shot at the prize. The prize (details are apparently still in the works) will likely involve a trip to Vegas for each of the 8 winners to hang out with Daniel. Pretty cool, right?

Anyways, I picked Detroit this week over St. Louis, which is basically the best team in the NHL going up against the worst. My opponent picked Ottawa over Toronto which suited me just fine as Toronto was still in playoff contention and had gotten points in there last 10 games or something. Sure, Toronto had not beaten Ottawa all season but I really felt like the Leafs had a chance in this one. Well, my boys in blue really came through for me and beat the Sens quite badly with a final score of 5-1. Now all that was standing in my way from a trip to Vegas was the St. Louis Blues. Going into the 3rd period it was tied 2-2 so since the game was not on tv I fired up the computer at my brothers house and listened to the final period. My family was totally behind me in winning this and my Mom even sweated out the game with me at the computer. With 8 seconds left before overtime Henrik Zetterberg scored for the Wings and I may have screamed out a little infront of my family who were all very happy for me.

So now I wait to find out what the prize will entail and when the weekend will take place. I will have more updates when I know more.

And....i'm back

2006-04-16T20:16:00.000-04:00

Lots of poker related stuff going on with me so I really have no excuse for not posting here often.

First off, those $4/180 person SNG's they have on Stars, how awesome are these things. I have only been able to play 4 of them so far (due to the inconvienent starting times for my schedule) and I made the final table in my first two, taking third in the first. The last two I have played I really have played well but ran into some bad luck. I am not going to dwell on these "interesting" plays by my table mates because I know that I made the right plays in the hands. I know in the long run these same plays will pay off for me. Still, it does get a little frustrating. Today I had to get right on the exercise bike to blow off steam after I got knocked out.

In short though, I love these SNG's! I wish I could play more of them.

I am also still doing quite well in the $2/rebuy WSOP qualifiers. I figure I qualify about 50% of the time which is quite a good return on my investment. It is true that I get paid in $W, which isn't really worth anything unless you use it to qualify for the WSOP or sell it at a lower price. I think I am going to keep going on these for a little while, then take my shot

WSOP Fever

2006-03-17T11:33:00.000-05:00

I am a bad poker blogger, I know.

The truth is that I kind of took an unexpected hiatus from the online tables recently as I had some other things going on in my life that had to take a little more priority. Don’t we all go through things like this from time to time?

That is not to say that I don’t think about poker a lot, because I do. I still read my daily poker blogs from my handy RSS reader here at work. You guys are what keep me inspired, so thanks!

As soon as I found out that poker stars were running WSOP main event satellites I hopped back on to check out what the deal was. I quickly found the $2 turbo re-buy tourney’s to the $33R ones and signed up for my first one on Sunday. The is first attempt did not go so well and I ended up dropping $10 in re-buys and an add-on. Not a good start.

I fired my second one up on Tuesday of this week and took a different strategy. I didn’t immediately re-buy to get the extra T1000 chips in addition to the thousand that you get for the initial buy-in. I was determined to force me to wait for a hand and double up against a weaker player who was pushing too hard. I found this was pretty easy to do against a few uber aggressive types and managed to turn that initial T1000 into T4000 by the end of the rebuy period. I took the add-on which made my total investment in the tourney at a measly $4. The first hand back I was UTG and picked up AA so I made a 3xBB raise and got two callers. The flop came Queen high with three suits and I made a continuation bet and one of the initial callers moved in and I called. He had a weak Q and I doubled up immediately which was nice. From this position I was able to chip up by making steals and managed to make it to the top 65 that qualified.

On Wednesday and Thursday I used similar strategy and was able to make it into the money both times, the last time I was even in the top 10 of chips. I busted two of the final “bubble” players myself and I felt kind of bad because they were just trying to hang on to the money. I have been in that position myself and it sucks being one of the last to go but, I just wanted the tournament to end. Some people were still stalling even when hand-by-hand play was in effect, which kind of boggled my mind. Is there something I’m missing? I thought that the whole reason for hand-by-hand was so you wouldn’t have to play slow since every table would start new hands at the same time.

Anyways, I have managed to build my W$ up to $89 after only 4 tournaments so I have started thinking about my options for when I have build up a little more. I am thinking about the $160 double shootouts since it kind of would have a single table SNG feel, since I have a lot of experience in those. I am not really interested in the $33R tourney’s that much but maybe I will check out some of them to scout out the play.

Updates

2006-02-15T13:04:00.000-05:00

had been a little while since I last posted, I know. My bad.

Things continue to go pretty well after trying full limit rings games again. I think I had to just get used to folding most of the time. I also think I am playing drawing hands better and getting out when I don’t have the odds to draw.

My poker class wrapped up last night, with Bernice taking the Valentines Classic title, after a pretty short heads up battle with June (I think). In some side game action, Norm got a straight flush, which was pretty exciting for everyone. It was kind of sad at the end because I likely won’t see any of these people again, but I hope they had fun and I can’t wait to teach it again.

I am going to try to get back into the poker swing of things soon but I am currently “romancing” a girl I met recently so all I seem to want to do lately is talk with her.

I am really looking forward to getting back in on the Tuesday night WWDN tournaments now that my class is over with. Although my bankroll on Stars may have to improve or I might be broke if I don’t cash in one.

I am going to really try to get more into this blog other than random musings on my own poker. After a pretty cool e-mail from Donkey Puncher, I think I might actually try to get readers for this humble blog. It kind of thrills me and scares me at the same time, because I might have to actually put more effort into this if people read it. I think that is a good thing though. DP advised me that if I really wanted to get people to read, I should link up all the blogs I read and start commenting more on them as well. Good advice I think. I just have to figure out how to put one of those fancy blogroll sidebars on the site and I will be off to the races. Maybe I will try to figure it out tonight as I am not sure I can get away with it here at work.

Back to Limit

2006-02-10T09:52:00.000-05:00

I had my first winning session last night in low limit HE last night in what seems like forever. I felt like I was playing well, getting some cards, and making moves in the right spots. At one point I got Aces back to back when I was in the BB and the SB. They held up both times! The first time, I raised my BB when there were a few limpers and folded to my post flop bet taking down a smallish pot. The very next hand I raised and got one guy to call me right to the river on a non-threatening board. Another hand, I called a raise with 89s and ended up picking up flush and straight draws and ended up winning with trips. Things seemed to be going my way, and I was having fun.

Sometimes, I really like playing limit poker. Other times it is the most painful experience ever. I really was trying to reign in my aggression but most of the table was playing really tight so I found that positional bluffs were working for me enough to be profitable. I played for only two hours and booked a 30BB win. It felt pretty good to have a winning session again.

The Hammer: Coming to a Retirement Community Near You

2006-02-08T11:05:00.000-05:00

Last night in my poker class for seniors we talked about slang names for poker cards. I found a list on Wikipedia and printed it out for them to look at during class. When I was going through them I noticed that the Hammer was on there as well so I explained it to them. When we got into playing I was watching one of the tables and Norm dropped the Hammer! I think I may have yelled Hammer a little too loud and everyone laughed at me. It was pretty funny.

So be careful, there are 16 seniors here in Canada that are ready and willing to unleash the Hammer on unsuspecting poker players.

Stepping back

2006-02-03T13:47:00.000-05:00

Sorry not much poker content this week. I am still stuck in the worst poker slump in my short lived career and I don’t have much urge to hit the tables much these days. I will get back at it soon though.

Honestly I think my bad run lately is part variance but also I believe I am playing way too aggressive and not switching gears enough during the progression of the tournament. I am trying to steal way too much in the mid stages of the tournament and eventually players start playing back at me. I agree that stealing is important but I just think I have to pick my spots better. It just seems that everything I used to do to win these SNG’s is just backfiring on me.

I do think the players are getting better, even at the $10 level. So, since my bankroll is suffering, I stepped back to the $5 level pretty much permanently until I can get something going again. I also think about what I said when I made my first $50 deposit over a year ago. I swore that when/if I busted out with this $50 I would go back and re-read all my poker books before I deposited again. I still haven’t busted with that $50, although I have added more money when I signed up for FCP to get more bonus money. (still haven’t cleared that bonus)

Work sucks, but Friday is here!

Course Feedback and Weekend SNG's

2006-01-30T15:55:00.000-05:00

I just got some feedback from my first class on Hold’em when the program director of the seniors centre e-mail me today. Apparently he has received a couple of comments from a few of the people in my class that they are having a really fun time. So he decided to give me a raise. Weeeeeeeeee! I am by no means doing this for money, instead to see if I could run a successful class. I guess because of this response, I am doing something right. I am pretty happy right now, and my mind is wandering to ways I can add about 15 other classes per week to make this a full time thing. I will have to keep dreaming.

In other poker news, I had some mild success in SNG’s this weekend. I played two SNG’s at about 10pm on Friday night after my date (that tells you how my date went) and got absolutely cold-decked. I reviewed my hand history afterwords and wasn’t really all that surprised to see that I played 42 hands in the first SNG and my best hand was A9o in bad position. Not one single pocket pair. The second one ended so fast, I didn’t get a chance to pick up any cards.

I rebounded on Saturday when I played a micro limit 45 person SNG and finished 5th. The other players were playing fairly terrible and I thought I had a good chance to win but it was not meant to be. After that I fired up a single table SNG and started off a little rocky. It was early in the SNG and I had played tight in the first orbit and already identified a few maniacs. I was dealt AKo on the button and one of said maniacs min-raised in EP. A few others called so I wanted to make them pay to stay in so I popped it up to 200. The EP maniac pushes for his last 700 (he had already donked off most of it in the first orbit). The other players folded and I called almost instantly. It retrospect maybe it wasn’t a great idea calling but I knew he was on tilt and I knew he didn’t have anything. So at worst it would be a race and at best I would have two overs. I called and he turned over j6o. Sweet, right? Until the flop came and there was a 6. No help on turn or river and I have lost half my stack. I don’t usually play this way early and with any other player, I might have considered they would have had a small pair and I wouldn’t race this early. Right before this hand he had been whining in the chat about the site being a joke and rigged and all that so I typed in the chat that he wouldn’t hear me whining about the hand to him. Some guy actually piped in to the donks defense saying that I was only a 3-2 favorite. Sure that may be true, and be all good for a cash game, but in a tournament your main concern is survival and personally I am not really going to go around pushing pre-flop with j6o. I told him to keep playing hands like that and see where it got him.

I build my stack back up to about 1500 by the time the blinds were significant. Got super lucky when my bluff ended up backdooring a flush against a flopped set. It was such a bad suck out I had to apologize in the chat. The maniac before ended up being eliminated in like sixth or something when he pushed with, get this, j6o! I think he was trying to prove something to me by playing it again. I am not really sure why this guy pissed me off so much, because I don’t usually type in the chat to tell people to shut up but I am really getting sick of the whining that goes on. Anyways, I ended up taking the thing down, which made me feel really good after losing half my stack in the first level.

OFF TOPIC LOUNGE: Election, Aristocrats, Music, Korea

2006-01-26T13:12:00.000-05:00

Election

As some of you might know, we had an election here in Canada this past Monday. For the first time in over a decade we have elected the conservative party over the long standing Liberal one. The change was mostly due to the fact that there was a huge corruption scandal involving the Liberals that turned a lot of people off from voting for them again. I am kind of curious to see what this new government can do since they made approximately 1267 promises during the election. It should be stated that even though the Conservatives are now in power in Canada, our version of conservative is slightly less than that of the American counterparts. Plus with only about 20 more seats in Parliament than the Liberals, the Conservatives have not been given a strong mandate from the people. It is more like we are saying we know the Liberals screwed up so we are going to send them to the corner for a time-out for a little while. So…ummm….try not to do anything stupid while we let you have power. I don’t anticipate a lot of changes and once the Liberals get a new leader I expect them to once again regain power. I hope.

The Aristocrats

Some friends and I watched the Aristocrats last night. Pretty darn funny movie, in a sickening type of way. If you are offended easily by people telling truly filthy jokes, then DO NOT watch this movie. The whole premise is that a bunch of comedians have this “in-joke” that they tell each other to try to impress and gross each other out. I have been looking forward to seeing this movie for awhile and I laughed out loud quite a few times, and even laughed so hard I cried a few more. Watch it if you have a sense of humour but without much of a conscience.

Music

I am loving a lot of music these days and most of it happens to be Canadian. I know, I know, I am not just here to plug all things Canadian but I really love a lot of this music that I get from the CBC radio 3 podcast. (God, I freakin’ love my I-Pod) Here are some songs that I really love at the moment:

“Gore Veil” by the Deadly Snakes: I am pretty sure that this song is somewhat about death, but I am also sure it is really awesome. I can’t describe all the ways I love this song. It makes me happy and reflective all at the same time

“Shine a Light” by Wolf Parade: I know it is really fashionable to like this band but I do pride myself on being a hipster wannabe so it fits right? It kind of reminds me of Arcade Fire but the guys voice kind of sounds a little like Beck. Anyways, it is a really cool song that has a great driving beat that always has me stomping my foot at work.

“The Bridge” by Elliott Brood: A great guitar strumming alt-country song. I can picture myself at the bar tapping my foot and drinking when I hear this song. The rest of their album, Ambassador, if pretty great as well.

Korea

I am losing a good friend of mine to Korea next week. Nice work Korea, take good care of her. She is headed there for a year to teach English at some private school. I am really happy that she is happy with her decision to go but at the same time my own selfishness is a little pissed off. I am going to miss the hell out of her.

I have known her for less than two years but in that time, while we are certainly not best friends, have become quite close. We seem to have the same tastes in pretty much everything so we have many inside jokes. People just stare at us and shake their heads when we would get to quoting movies and TV. Plus, she could drink with the best of them. She could certainly out drink me, that’s for sure. I will miss the fun we had, and I hope she makes her way back this way. I get this strange feeling though, that I will never see her again. Don’t know why I feel that way, I just do.

End random post

Teaching and Watching

2006-01-25T11:47:00.000-05:00

I had an absolute blast last night teaching poker. I was really surprised that the class filled up and I had a full 16 seniors to mold and shape into my poker image. I used pretty much the entire class last night to go over basic poker rules and gameplay of Hold’em. I was nervous for the first few minutes but once that wore off I was able to have a lot of fun teaching and even got a few laughs from my jokes. I think they were understanding a lot of what I was throwing at them last night but we will see how it turns out when we get to playing next week.

As for my own poker, I haven’t been able to get any time at the tables over the past few days. I did fire up the WWDN tournament when I got home to sweat a few players that I follow. I was watching Wil’s table until he was eliminated and have to say that he plays a pretty solid game. He may play a little tight at times for my tastes, but it seems to get him pretty deep in a lot of tournaments. I think he could make a few more steal attempts once he builds up his tight image in the early stages.

I really enjoyed watching and I think I could learn a lot from watching a lot of these players. Because of my poker lessons I will not be able to make it home in time to play in any of the Tuesday tournaments until the middle of February, which sucks.

Those who can't do....teach!

2006-01-24T11:14:00.000-05:00

I am starting a new chapter in my poker career tonight. Not only am I a low limit internet player but you can now add poker teacher to the ol’ resume.

A few months ago a friend of mine who works at a seniors recreation centre asked me if I might be interested in teaching Hold’em to seniors. I immediately accepted, despite having really no teaching experience. I am pretty excited to get started and I hope that my students are as excited as I am. Over the past few months I have thought about how I would go about teaching them to game.

I figure the best way is to just start with the basics tonight and see where it goes from there. I don’t want to overwhelm them with a whole bunch of fancy lingo and terminology but if they are up for it, I will certainly throw some terms around.

I will let you all know how it goes later this week.

High's and Low's

2006-01-20T12:54:00.000-05:00

It is true that I said that I was going to be back at the tables and updating here more often. As happens so many times in our lives, something came up and kind of took my life in another direction. In this case, the “something”, is a girl. I met someone and we are currently involved in the courtship dance. It is quite a nice surprise as I really wasn’t expecting this type of thing to happen right now, but it did, and it is good. It is kind of funny that the relationship me is quite healthy right now, but poker me is in the toilet.

I played 2 more SNG’s last night and went out pretty early on both accounts. I am pushing WAY too hard and getting WAY to impatient when I go card dead. I am trying to get too fancy at the table running all sorts of elaborate bluffs that don’t have a chance at working. Not a great way to be playing poker. My bankroll has suffered accordingly with only about $100 left on Stars and $100 on FCP. Honestly I think I need to stop playing online, re-read all my books, then sit back down for a fresh start.

The thing is, I still really love the game of poker. I love talking about it. I love reading all the fantastic poker blogs out there. I love dreaming that some day, all the stars will align, and I will win a big score.

Until then, I am going to see where this girl thing goes, re-focus my game and try to have some fun.

Have a good weekend.

Pub Poker

2006-01-17T11:07:00.000-05:00

I haven’t played since Thursday of last week. I used the time to do a few things I needed to do. One was visiting a very good friend that I don’t get a chance to see much anymore.

We went out for a nice steak, at a nice restaurant back in my hometown. It was great to just hang out with him enjoy good food and good company. Didn’t really think about poker once, until we went to the old hangout bar after dinner. Since I have stopped coming to this particular establishment it has went through a few changes. The bar was apparently bought by a customer who won the lottery and decided he didn’t like the management, so he bought the place and fired the people he didn’t like. A lot of the waitresses who used to know me and my friends by name are long gone, just like I have been, until now. About 3 years ago, I could walk into this place and know about 75% of the staff by name and many of them would know me. When we walked in, this particular Friday, the doorman who we knew quite well was there and he recognized us and gave us a booth with it’s own TV. Ah, just like the old days. It wasn’t really that hard to score this coveted table as the rest of the place was about ¾ empty, probably due to the lack of a Leafs game on that evening.

We sat down, ordered a couple Stella from a waitress who I did not recognize and got a couple gameboards for trivia. Another new change since I have been gone are these new games you can play while you drink, one of them in NL Hold’em. Works like this: You sign in and receive 4000 chips to start. Blinds are 10-20 and the game lasts 4 hours. Sure it is something to do while you are drinking but the game is really ridiculous because if you bust out you can get another 4000 instantly. There is no real reason to fold before the flop.

After busting through a few “buy-ins” I went on a roll accumulating about 122,000 in chips by the time we left. Some funny notes on this game: Standard raise before the flop was anywhere between 200X BB to all-in, pretty much every hand. It was hilarious, but since I was about 5 beers in the good, I played along. I ended up doing well because I was picking up good hole cards and at least making second best hand every time. With about 5 to 6 players all-in on pretty much every hand it made for a lot of side pots. It was so hard to keep track of and since I was a little drunk, hands that I thought I lost I ended up making money because I would win some of the side pots since the winner of the hand usually had very few chips in the first place. I did win one huge hand when I hit a broadway straight on the river.

I can see why the bar want’s to cash in on the Hold’em craze and having 4 hour games keeps people there longer. Longer they stay, more beer they buy. Seems like a good idea to me.

Back to the point. I am going to hit the tables tonight after the self imposed break and I am kind of looking forward to it again.

blah

2006-01-12T20:39:00.000-05:00

I have heard that when you get on a losing streak you start to feel like you are never going to win again. This is how I feel right now.

I dropped a few more buy-in's tonight on some SNG's. I bubbled in one and went out pretty early in the others. I'd like to say that I got in with the best hand each time but that was simply not the case.

I am heading out of town tomorrow so I won't be at the table's until Saturday likely. I am fine with that. I need a little break to compose myself, start thinking clearly again. Plus, I started reading "Angels and Demons" the other day and I can't put the freakin thing down.

I will win again....I will win again....I will win again...

Pareto Poker

2006-01-11T19:45:00.000-05:00

Over the past few nights I haven't had a lot of time for poker. So instead of playing two SNG's one after the other, I have fired up both at once. So far it has been a complete failure. Out of the 4, I have only one money finish. I know, I know, WAY too soon to push the panic button, but I am just not feeling too good at the table. I feel like my progress as a player is stagnating. It reminds me of a post I read somewhere of someone relating Pareto's Principle to poker.

Pareto's 80/20 rule basically said that 20% of the population has 80% of the wealth. You can also apply this principle to pretty much anything. Relating this to poker, I have heard it stated a little differently. You can learn 80% of poker situations with only 20% of knowledge. In that it is quite easy to become an average player, but to really be good you have to study. It is this last 20% of poker situations that you must really try to grasp in order to become a great player. This is where I am stuck right now. I am not putting enough time in at the table, reading enough books, and thinking critically about my play enough. I am simply not doing what it takes to get better.

I am a little troubled by this because I want to get better. I am just not sure I want to invest the time that it takes to be a serious student of the game. I already think I have no life, why spend more time in front of the computer? I want to be playing for my whole life, but I am at a little bit of a crossroads right now. How much time am I really going to invest in this?

Stuff I have to think about, I guess.

No Vegas....this time

2006-01-06T21:10:00.000-05:00

Haven’t been playing too much poker lately, but when the invite for the Daniel Negreanu Super Bowl Vegas Weekend came I was ready to play. Almost 500 people registered and 4 people would win a trip to Daniels place in Vegas for a Super Bowl party. I REALLY wanted to win this because it sounded like such a good time.

I started off really well limping in with KQo and flopping an inside straight draw. Even better was it being checked around and even better than that was making my nut straight on the turn and getting some action. I think I played a pretty solid game staying among the chip leaders for most of my time in the tournament. I still was getting used to the software and accidentally min raised a few times but that even ended up paying off for me. I did pull a major suck out on a guy when my all in 88 got called by TT. 8 on the turn was great but it also gave him a flush draw. The river gave him the flush and I thought I had lost, the chips pushed my way and I re-checked the board and sure enough, the river paired the board giving me the boat. Sweet!

I played well after that, stealing a lot of blinds and managed to chip up to about T20,000. Then it all came to a crashing halt when I made a steal attempt with J7 of hearts. I got one caller who also had an above average stack. I didn’t catch anything from the flop except one heart. I was first to act and I checked, intending to cut my losses when he bets. Surprisingly he checked behind me and the turn brought another heart. I checked again and he once again checked behind me. River made my flush and I am not really sure why, but I checked again, hoping he would bet. He did bet, about T2500 and I decided to raise for value to T5000. He immediately pushed his remaining T10000. This should have made me stop and think for a second to review the hand but I called pretty fast and he rolled over his AK of hearts to take a monster which moved him into the chip lead. I played the hand like a chump, I know it. I was feeling a little bit on tilt so when the very next hand brought AA when I was UTG I made too large of a bet with my remaining 4000 in chips and I merely won the blinds.

Play well for almost two hours and it is all gone in a minute. No limit is great, isn’t it?

I busted shortly after in 56th. No Vegas for me…

I am going to play another FCP freeroll in the next week or so. This one is a stage one qualifier for seat #1 for Daniels Protégé contest.

My MTT win is on the way, I know it.

Need Harrington Vol II...

2005-12-31T18:40:00.000-05:00

I played in a $5 + .50 MTT this afternoon on Stars to kill some time before the New years festivities began. I started off a running a little bad when a couple of my hands didn't pan out. I was dealt QQ in the SB, blinds were 15-30 and the table was playing pretty tight. A big stack in middle position raised to 120 and two people in late position called. I decided to re-raise to see where I was. I was kind of unsure about how much to re-raise and I made it 640 to go. As soon as I raised, I thought it might be a bit much since there was only about 500 in the pot at that point. I even said to my self as soon as I got the queens that I didn't want to go broke with this hand, this early. I was hoping with my large raise that the three of them were playing small aces or QK or something and that they would fold. The original raiser called and the other two folded. Flop comes A33. He pushes and a am about 90% sure I am beat so I fold. I wasn't too upset that I had to throw away QQ, but I was upset that I feel like I gave a little money away.

After that I really think I was playing my 'A' game and managed to make it above average by the first break. I easily made it into the money with a stack that was just below average. Here is where I have struggled as of late. How to move up once you are in the money. I have read Harrington's first book and found it quite helpful, I think I need the second one now as aparently I have no clue how to play it as we approach a final table. If I ever got to a final table I think you could treat it as a single table SNG, but I am not really sure. Time to pick up the book I guess.

Anyways, hope everyone has a happy start to the new year. See you at the table's in 06'

FCP Freeroll

2005-12-29T22:28:00.000-05:00

I played in the Full Contact Poker Charter Members Freeroll tonight and just busted out in 43rd a few minutes ago.

There were 493 players at the start and 60 places paid. Sweet, I made a free $22.50! I was actually on the bubble for a long time then when the 61st person busted, people kept dropping like flies and I was able to fold my way up a pay level. I am generally happy with the way I played, I got some good cards early and there was some donkish play from my first table that allowed me to double my stack early without having to push all-in. I went card dead for the precious few levels before the bubble and had my stack blinded, almost completely, off. I was looking for a spot to re-steal but everyone was just throwing chips around and was sure I would get called by one or more players if I tried to make a play.

Even though, I paid $0 to enter and made money, I still have to complain about this FCP site, which is a skin of pokerroom. First off, I got disconnected about 20 times through the tournament. I am aware that it could have been a problem on my end, but apparently others were having the same problem. Plus, I never have come close to having the same issues at Stars. It was pretty ridiculous and I even had to restart the software a few times. One time, I was reconnected for long enough to see two kings in my hand. The action came around to me and I tried to raise but the system had frozen again. NOOOOOO!!!!!! When I got reconnected my lovely cowboys were no more.

Another thing is that blind levels go up so fast and by larger increments than the structure at stars. At least we still had T1500 to start! You pretty much had to catch cards if you wanted a chance since it became an all-in fest when the blinds got high.

Despite those problems, I still feel like my MTT game is improving. I am seeing the game differently and playing back at people (though not much tonight) when I feel like they don't have it.

Thanks for the tournament Daniel!

No chance in hell you are reading this!

"Good Call"

2005-12-27T19:59:00.000-05:00

I just busted out of the WWDN tourney after taking quite a bad beat. I should be really upset,
but actually I am really happy with the way I played. I made correct decisions, I believe, pretty much the whole time.

The final hand, I called a raise on the button with AJ of diamonds and it was just heads up. Flop comes A high with two small cards and three suits. If he has an ace, I only have to worry about his kicker. He bets half the pot and I raise him to see where I am at. He pushes all in after a few seconds and now the decsion is mine for all my chips. If I call and he is playing AA, AK, or AQ, I am virtually dead. Plus, I am sitting to the right of Pauly and other bloggers I respect are at the table so I risk looking like a donkey in front of them.

My opponent makes a comment into the chat "I am think I am dead". I first think that he wants a call and it is his way of suckering me in. For some reason though, I think my hand is good. I think for another 10-15 seconds and I make the call.

The cards get revealed and I now see that I am ahead. He has AT. Sweeeet. Turn brings a 4 and pairs the board, so now we split with a 4,Q,K or A and he wins with a ten. Since I already told you this was a bad beat, you can guess what the river brought.

The important thing is that I made the right call and I got all-in with the best of it. Alas, lady luck was not on my side tonight. Next time it will be.

I truely feel like I am improving in my tournament poker. I feel great right now.

Would have been nice to be the chip leader right now though.....

Poker over the Holidays

2005-12-27T16:58:00.000-05:00

Had some fun at the tables over the past 4 days while staying at my parents house. I played a few small buyin MTT's and had my brother and mother sweating me for a lot of the time. I managed to make it to 91st out of about 2000 in a $2 tourney which gave me a little more confidence in my MTT game. I really felt pretty good about how I played, that is, until I made my typical mid stage mistake. I think this time I just picked the wrong time to make a bluff.

I played a $3 tourney yesterday and early on and managed to hit my second Royal Flush in my life. The other one I had was in a ring game, but this one managed to triple my stack thanks to to other players that actually made hands. Here is the history from Stars:

PokerStars Game #3443460143: Tournament #16921729, Hold'em No Limit - Level I
(10/20) - 2005/12/26 - 19:10:12 (ET)
Table '16921729 59' Seat #7 is the button
Seat 1: jesus527 (1480 in chips)
Seat 2: Roadkill_8 (1460 in chips)
Seat 3: speedyb (1540 in chips)
Seat 4: jadb (1470 in chips)
Seat 5: blujean2 (1470 in chips) is sitting out
Seat 6: paspat (1490 in chips)
Seat 7: mason1196 (1620 in chips)
Seat 8: Glenn soup (1430 in chips)
Seat 9: leafs31 (1540 in chips)
Glenn soup: posts small blind 10
leafs31: posts big blind 20
*** HOLE CARDS ***Dealt to leafs31 [Ah Kh]
jesus527: folds
Roadkill_8: folds
speedyb: calls 20
jadb: folds
blujean2: folds
paspat: folds
mason1196: folds
Glenn soup: calls 10
leafs31: checks
*** FLOP *** [Qh 6h 8s]
Glenn soup: bets 40
leafs31: raises 40 to 80
speedyb: calls 80
Glenn soup: calls 40
*** TURN *** [Qh 6h 8s] [Th]
Glenn soup: bets 100
leafs31: raises 160 to 260
speedyb: calls 260
Glenn soup: raises 160 to 420
leafs31: raises 1020 to 1440 and is all-in
speedyb: calls 1180 and is all-in
Glenn soup: calls 910 and is all-in
*** RIVER *** [Qh 6h 8s Th] [Jh]
*** SHOW DOWN ***leafs31: shows [Ah Kh] (a Royal Flush)
speedyb: shows [Qd Tc] (two pair, Queens and Tens)
leafs31 said, "wow"
leafs31 collected 220 from side pot
Glenn soup: shows [Ts Td] (three of a kind, Tens)
leafs31 collected 4290 from main pot
*** SUMMARY ***Total pot 4510 Main pot 4290. Side pot 220. Rake 0
Board [Qh 6h 8s Th Jh]
Seat 1: jesus527 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 2: Roadkill_8 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 3: speedyb showed [Qd Tc] and lost with two pair, Queens and Tens
Seat 4: jadb folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 5: blujean2 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 6: paspat folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 7: mason1196 (button) folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 8: Glenn soup (small blind) showed [Ts Td] and lost with three of a kind,Tens
Seat 9: leafs31 (big blind) showed [Ah Kh] and won (4510) with a Royal Flush

I think I played it alright, no? I thought they both had sets and knew my nut flush was at risk to them making full houses but all you can do is get your money in with the best hand, right? The river was just so sweet to see come down. I got my other royal a few monthes ago and it was also in hearts. Can't wait for my next one...

The rest of the tourney went pretty well until my KK ran into AJ. Flop was JJ4... I actually think I might have been able to get away from the hand if I would have just stopped and thought a little more before calling his all-in raise to my continuation bet. Sometimes I think I just need to slow down a little.

My Mom has been playing online for about a year now and I have been bankrolling her a little money here and there for a few monthes. I have been trying to teach her to be more aggressive and to raise more ofter, and more than the minimum. She played in a 45 player SNG last night for $1 and she took it down for $14. It was her first "big" cash and she was so happy, and I was happy for her. (now she won't need money for awhile :)) I watched her play when it was down to 4 and gave her some tips. She was the chip leader at that point and I tried to tell her that she had done it all herself to that point, that she didn't need my help. She insisted that I stay, and the first thing I noticed that the table was playing very tight. I even coached her into throwing in a few bluffs because the table was so tight. She played it amazing and even lost the chip lead when it was heads up but won it back again with some good play. I think she is hooked now. I am happy that I can share poker with my family.

More later.

Leak 3 - I suck at MTT's

2005-12-22T20:44:00.000-05:00

Played a $3 MTT tonight on Stars. I got on a really good table to start with a healthy mix of loose passive and maniacal players. I managed to build a rather large stack early without taking to many chances. My free card plays were working and I was hitting my cards and my value bets were getting called. I was never getting dealt premium cards, I think my highest PP was sevens, I was just hitting the flop a lot. After the first break, I was well above average.

After the break, the cards went dead and my typical middle-stage-of-tournament-donkey-plays or MSOTDP started to happen. I lost a big pot when I got a piece of the flop from the big blind, but my major MSOTDP was when I raised with AJo in middle position (I told you it was a bad play).

I guess I was getting restless since this was the best hand I had seen in a while. I get one caller and the flop comes TT9 with two clubs. I bet at it again hoping to take it there and get called. The turn comes another club, so now I have the nut flush draw as well. I push with my last T1700 and he insta-calls. Crap! He has QQ and I miss my flush. I had him covered and still have T500 left.

A few hands later I push with K9 and double up but then very nesx hand I push again with A6 and get two callers. Up against QT and AQ. Great...i'm done. Flop comes, and I hit my six but QT gets his T and I don't get anything else. The guy with the AQ must have been pissed.

Well, I have one more day at the office then I am off to my parents for 4 solid days of getting drunk with my parents. Good times.

Happy Holidays everyone.

Fixing Leaks

2005-12-21T21:02:00.000-05:00

Leak 1 – Married to the Hand

As soon as I look and see that I am holding a group 1 hand (AA, KK, QQ, AKs) all I can think is how much money I am going to win with this hand. I does not even enter my mind that these hands are still quite vulnerable. If I have AA I basically commit myself to taking them to a showdown. I can count on one hand, maybe even with one finger, how many times I have decided to lay down AA because I knew I was beat. It is just that hard for me to do. I need to think more about these hands after the flop comes and not be so quick to call an all in bet when I am sure I am beat.

As for KK and QQ, I think I am getting a little bit better at chucking them when an ace hits the flop and I get check-raised as at the limits I am playing, people LOVE to play Ace-baby. When an Ace hits, they think they are gold and they refuse to let it go. Sure this is nice if I am holding AK but with KK and QQ you are virtually dead, unless they are a good player, as they will take their top pair with no kicker to showdown.

AK suited is one of those hands that you see people taking too far when they miss. It is a fantastic hand pre-flop, but it really is a drawing hand, isn’t it? If I don’t get a piece of the flop I usually try a continuation bet (if I was the pre-flop raiser) and if I am called or raised, I usually slow down or just muck it.

Leak 2: Not having the balls to push at the right time

Here is a hand that I played in last nights WWDN tourney which I ended up winning, but not sure if I played correctly:

I am dealt AK of spades in early position. Blinds are 25-50 and my stack is below average at T1320. I raise 3XBB and get two callers, one in middle position and the SB. Flop comes 6s 7d 4s. I figure it is a good flop for me as I have to nut flush draw and overcards. The pot is now T150 and I have about T1000 left. I am first to act and I make a continuation bet of T250 hoping they missed and I could take it right there. I get one caller and the turn is a 9 of hearts. So now there are more straight possibilties out there. Here is where I should have pushed in my opinion. Instead I bet 550 and he called instantly. The river brings a 4 of hearts and I miss every one of my outs. My only play is to push the rest of my chips in and hope. I am positive he is going to call and I will be out, looking like an idiot in the process. Instead he thinks for awhile and mucks. I show him my Ace high (it was a friendly game, I would normally not do this) and he tells me that he was on the flush draw as well, I am thinking QJ or QT. My push of my last few hundred was really stupid because it was not enough to push him off any sort of hand (except the one he had). Honestly, I was just waiting for him to call so I could shut down the window and slam my laptop shut before I could see the comments of how badly I played the hand. When he folded, I was shocked. I think a push after the turn would have been much better. Either that, or check and fold. I ended up getting lucky that he was playing a smaller draw, but I learned of yet another leak in my game: Don't be afraid to put them in.

Word from the Doctor: I am an amateur

2005-12-20T21:04:00.000-05:00

I just finished playing in the Wil Wheaton tournamant. Had a great time and played all right I guess. I even got to sit next to Wil himself for an orbit or two. (and had position on him) It was at that point that I went completely card dead so I never got to use that position. Another highlight was sitting at a table with DrPauly and him calling me an amateur after I pushed when he raised UTG. Pauly, if you ever read this (which you won’t), I had QJ sooted. Maybe not the best hand to push with but my stack was dwindling. When I busted out, Wil even mentioned me in his cardsquad live blog…and…ahem….got my name wrong. Maybe he was just calling me a leafs fan. Anyways it doesn't matter but here is the quote:

5:39 PM - They're dropping faster than a frat guy's pants at Mardi Gras. We just lost leafsfan when he ran into xkm1245's pocket aces with 33.

I don’t expect anyone on these tournaments to know me and I am happy to donate to those you have taught and are currently teaching me this great game. I am placing higher now though so I am not sure how much longer I am going to be donating.

Really, it just fires me up to write more on here. I really think that if I keep playing in these tournaments and keep reading the blogs I will be a better player.

Also, thanks to DonkeyPuncher for commenting on the blog. (my 1st) It is nice to know that bloggers that I read everyday might happen upon this little site and read a little.

Oh, I almost forgot, I flopped quads early in the tourney! Didn't win a huge pot though. Even though no one knows me at the table I still said: "dems quads beetches!" It was pretty much met with silence...

Change of name?

2005-12-20T08:14:00.000-05:00

Did you ever wish you could change your screen name on a poker site?

I am wishing I would have thought about my online moniker a little more before I signed up. Alas, back in 03’ I didn’t realize the importance of picking a good screen name. I didn’t think that I would be playing poker for this long. I was too eager to hit the tables with my $1000 in play money. These factors made me make a rash decision and pick leafs31 as the name I would play under. I picked it because a) The Toronto Maple Leafs are my favorite hockey team and b) when I played hockey myself my number was 31. Yes, I was a goalie. I played under 31 as my idol, Grant Fuhr did when he was playing with the Oilers.

I wasn’t always a Leafs fan. I moved to the Toronto area when I was 5 years old from Edmonton, Alberta. I pretty much cheered for the Oilers throught the 80’s. I wasn’t just cheering for them because they had an amazing team and won a almost a dozen Stanley Cup’s, I was actually from Edmonton so I felt like I was better than any other casual fan. In the early 90’s my loyalties started to change. I was a teen and all my friends were big Leaf fan’s. I think I finally switched in 1993 when the Leafs made their spectacular run at the cup before falling short by losing to Wayne Gretzky and the Kings. They had previously beat out both the Red Wings and the Blues, with both series going to 7 games. Since then, I was hooked.

The reason why I would like to change my name now is for a few reasons. The first is that the name has absolutely nothing to do with poker. Also, I am an easy target, especially to other Canadians and hockey fans since the Leafs are sucking large this year. I also recently found out that Wil Wheaton hates the Leafs as well. This actually makes me want to keep my name because when I finally get play with him at the same table for one of his Stars tournaments I will give him the chance to bust a Leafs fan. Maybe tonight will be his opportunity.

Still here

2005-12-15T09:41:00.000-05:00

Sorry I haven’t posted in awhile (yes, I realize that I am talking to myself) but I have been working on a poker story that I am going to post here when I can get it out of my head and on to the screen.

I actually haven’t been playing too much poker lately, instead reading all the wonderful reports from the latest poker blogger get together in Vegas this past weekend. Honestly, I wish I just had the balls to go to one of these events on my own and get to meet all of these people who’s insights I read on a daily basis. Maybe next time, if I can get this blog up to a respectable level that is.

I did play in one SNG the other day but went out in 6th place. I seem to remember calling a huge overbet preflop with KJ suited. I called it because the person who raised out of the small blind was kind of a maniac and I thought he was on a steal of my precious $150 blind. I called off most of my stack and he had A-10 and there was an ace on the flop. After that I tripled up when I hit trip jacks. I had about T500 left and moved all in with AJ of clubs. Big blind called with K-10 of diamonds. Flop had an ace…Sweet….of wait, it’s the ace of diamonds! The other two cards, also diamonds. I am virtually drawing dead and go out in 6th.

FCP

2005-12-06T22:29:00.000-05:00

Can I just say that the new Daniel Negreanu website is really freaking cool. I am really glad I signed up to be a charter member there as they are offering a 100% bonus on the first deposit for up to $300! I am also wondering if you can use that in conjuntion with the 10% bonus on Neteller deposits.

Sure, it will likely take me years to clear the bonus, but it is $300, for free!

Also the protege contest looks super cool, although I know I don't have a hope in hell of winning the thing.

$22 sng's

2005-12-05T19:56:00.000-05:00

Decided to move up levels in the single table SNG's. Tried my first $22 one tonight and ended up taking the thing. I found the players a little tougher than at the $11 level but not much better. I found that I could bluff a little more as players were able to lay down hands. I was actually 5th in chips with 5 left but managed to build up a big stack without ever putting all my chips at risk. When I was heads up the other player was playing a little too tight so I raised quite a lot of hands and he never really had much of a chance, despite him doubling up when he turned quad aces.

Might try another later.

It's been a bad day...

2005-12-03T14:59:00.000-05:00

Some times at the table, I feel like I am close. Close to breaking through from becoming a good player to a great player. I am making good decisions at the table, laying down when I have to and pushing harder when I feel like my cards are good. Today was not one of those days.

I signed up for a 180 person SNG. Spending $22 on one tournament is still pretty significant to my bankroll but I felt like I was playing good, so I would have a good shot at making it into the money. I made a couple bad decisions early and was a little unlucky. The first real bad decision was I raised with JJ on the button and was called by the small blind and two other players. The flop came QQ4 with 2 diamonds. I bet 3/4 of the pot as a continuation bet hoping really to just take it right there. SB called me and the other two folded. I should have heared alarm bells right there, but since there were a couple of diamonds out there I thought he may be on a draw. Turn comes a 5 and I bet 3/4 of the pot again. If I truely thought he was on a draw, I maybe should have bet more here but it was early in the tournament and I didn't really want to risk too much this early. He just flat calls me and I knew that he had a Queen. River comes another blank and there are no flush or straight possibities, he checks and I decided to keep my remaining 700 chips and check behind him. He rolls over KQ off and takes the pot. I am not really sure where I would have folded if I were to do it again maybe just checking on the turn and letting him take it if he bet. That seems like a pretty weak play to me also. I bust out a short while later in that one.

I decide to fire up another SNG and try again, hoping that the first was just a fluke. I play tight at the beginning but double up pretty early when my KQ flops the nut straight and get the other guy all in when he turns two pair. After that, I make a bad play with A9, twice! I end up pushing with KQ suited and get called by AJ and I fail to improve.

I was really not happy with the way that I played today, plus the players were tighter that usual. Maybe I have to try one later in the night when people are all drunk. I am headed out for the evening so maybe I will try another tomorrow. Maybe....

The Plan

2005-12-02T12:55:00.000-05:00

I have a new plan, play $10+$1, 9 person SNG’s on Stars during the week and profits made from that can be used in tournaments on the weekend. I feel like my SNG game is really good right now and I keep feeling this itch to try some MTT’s because that is where the real money is at. In particular, I want to play more of the 180 person SNG’s they have now. I really get the feeling that I can win one of these, based on the play I have seen so far. I just need to improve my MTT game a little more. I really feel like I have a good strategy for the beginning stages of the tournament, it is the middle part I really have to work at. If I ever make it to a final table I can sort of treat it like a SNG so I think I should be fine there. I just need to get over that hump of the middle of the tournament while not doing anything stupid in the process.

So far this week I have played 6 single table SNG’s with one win, two 2nd’s , two 3rd’s and a 6th. That adds up to a nice profit of $69 for the week. This profit is likely going to be spent of three 180 person SNG’s this weekend. I am heading out to dinner tonight with friends so I might fire one up tonight after a good meal. As long as I haven’t had too much to drink of course…

My SNG Strategery

2005-12-02T11:25:00.000-05:00

The following is the way I usually play single table low limit SNG’s on Poker Stars. If you are unfamiliar with the structure of these blind levels increase every 10min, and you get T1500 to start.

Early Stages

In the early stages of the tournament, with blind levels at 10/20, 15/30 and 25/50 you want to play very tight, waiting for good starting hands and raise with them. You can also play small or medium pairs if you get in cheap, but if you don’t hit your set, you don’t want to throw away much more trying to draw. You want to build up a tight table image which will pay off for you later in the tournament when blinds are higher. You don’t want to invest a lot of your chips on weak draws or pairs with weak kickers. If the opportunity arises where you can double up early when you are 99% sure you have the nuts, then obviously you take it. You will be showing down a premium hand and thusly will not sacrifice any of your table image. Doubling or tripling up from weak plays by fish makes the later stages of the tournament even easier. If you are fortunate to double up early, you can also play more speculative hands like suited connectors, but if you don’t get a favorable flop, don’t chase after a miracle. If all I am seeing is junk for the first stages of the tournament I still should have between T1000-1200 left when the blinds hit 50-100

Middle Stages

This is where the fun begins. At this stage of the tournament, it is likely that between 2 to 4 players are out of the tournament leaving 5 to 7 left in it. Obviously this is not always the case but from what I have seen most nights, it is usually in this range. At this stage of the tournament everyone is starting to think about making it to the money and may tighten up a little. Now is the perfect time for you to start stealing blinds. You have spent the first 30 minutes building your table image and hopefully the other players have noticed that you have not entered many pots. You have also spent a lot of this first stage watching the other players, finding out how they play, what cards they raise with, etc. Stealing blinds is a great way to build up your stack and maybe even making a big score along the way. Here are a few things to think about when deciding to steal:
Position: Being on the button or cutoff is ideal for stealing as you have been able to see most of the action up to there. If there are a few limpers already in, chances are your position raise might get called by one of them so you want to make sure your cards are decent enough to continue if called. If you think you can make a larger raise to win the blinds and the limpers money, then you can as well. This is a little more dangerous if you don’t have a lot of chips because if you get called, you are pretty much pot-committed.
How much to bet?: Standard rule of thumb is 3x the big blind. While this is standard, don’t forget to vary your raises from time to time so people don’t start to think you are too predictable and play back at you. Sometimes bet 4x, and sometimes even 2x will get the job done depending on the player.
Pay attention to stack sizes: Be careful when trying to steal from short stacked players. They are in desperation mode and are looking to take a chance and get lucky. If you raise to 300 and they only have 400 after putting 100 in the BB and they push all-in, then you pretty much have to call the remaining 200 with any two cards. You are getting the chance to eliminate them but you are also risking them doubling up and making you a short stack.
If you are re-raised: Eventually someone will play back at you and re-raise you. No you have to consider the situation before deciding how to proceed. You have to go on your read of the player, your cards, your position and what you will do if you don’t hit your flop.

Late Stages

By the later stages of the SNG there are usually about 2 to 4 players left and blinds are in the 100/200 and 100/200 ante 25 range. This is where things really start to get interesting as you will be playing a lot more hands now with a lot being won without a flop. Players are now usually divided into the big stack and the short stack.
If you have a big stack:
Winning the blinds is a big deal now, especially from the short stacks. The goal is to eliminate them, so while stealing their blinds is good, you usually need a hand to back it up because if the short stack pushes, you don’t want to risk doubling him up.

If you are on a short stack:
If you have 10X the BB or less it is time to push with almost any decent cards. Push with any pocket pair, any ace, kings with decent kickers. Suited connectors might even be worth pushing with because chances are, if you are called, both of your cards will be live. You goal here is to double up and stay alive.

Heads up play
Once you are down to the final two players, the name of the game is aggression. Almost any hand worth playing is worth raising with. If you get big hands like AA, KK, QQ or AK it might be worth playing them slow to try to conceal them. Just don’t wait too long as you don’t want them to catch up to your big hand. You want to chip away with your decent hands to try to win the blinds and try to win big pots with your good hands. Don’t be afraid to call some all-in bets as well if you feel like your opponent is bluffing.

Dont be a coach

2005-11-27T19:53:00.000-05:00

I am getting pretty sick of people whining at the tables. Specifically, people whining because their aces or kings failed to hold up to an inferior hand. They then type in the chat, “How could you call with 98” or some other hand that they deem to be not worthy. Also, people saying that the site in question is rigged, or that their aces never hold up for them and the site must be against them. Guess what people? Your aces WILL be cracked. Your kings will be beaten by a runner-runner flush. It is going to happen, so accept it and quit whining at the table.

Going along with the whining, there are also the “coaches”. You know these people. They like to tell everyone that they were stupid to call the raise and then start spouting off percentages to try to make them seem superior. These people think that the stronger hand pre flop should ALWAYS hold up. Sure, if every hand I went in with held up I would be the WSOP champion right now. Poker does involve a lot of skill, and knowing the math is extremely important. I am currently at a point in my own game where I am starting to think a lot more about the percentages and making my decision partially based on the numbers. What these coaches fail to consider is that they are playing against people, and not robots (hopefully), that will always make the correct play based on probability. They are not considering the fact that the player they are trying to make this move on, will likely not lay down their cards if they even have a small piece of the board. They are failing to watch the player, and play the man, not only the cards. When the bad beats come, which they eventually do, I try to take it all in stride. That sounds simple to say, and I still do get a little upset if lose, but I will NEVER blame someone for playing their cards by typing in the chat box how stupid they are. Sure, I would normally never play that way, but I can’t stop someone for playing their cards any way they want. I will never do this because I know that in the long run these players are my bread and butter. They will keep playing these bad hands and eventually lose all of their money, hopefully to me. If they are smart, they will learn the “correct” way to play, if there is such a thing.

So if you are any of these players who berate others in the chat box, I give this simple advice, don’t tap the glass. As hard as it may be to do, you should simply type “nh” in the chat and make a note on the player to remind you for next time. By being nice and making it fun for these players they will be more likely to pay you off in the future.

Saturday at the Tables

2005-11-27T02:13:00.000-05:00

Interesting day at the tables. I tried another deep stack tourney on Stars and made it in the money and finished 88 out of 1100 or so. I ended up losing most of my chips when my AQ ran into JJ. The flop was AAJ….talk about teasing me!

I then played a little $25NL on Party and quickly made $10 so I decided to try my first 180 person SNG on Stars. I played a great tournament, was patient, avoided losing many chips to the many bad players, and I finished 19th. 18 places were paid. The short stack on the other table was all-in with 87 against AK and the flop came 88x. The next hand my A6 ran into AA. Not too sure why I even bet, but I just couldn’t sit back and wait anymore.

I think I am going to try to play more of these 180 person SNG’s, even though my bankroll really isn’t big enough. I fell like I have to try because the players are soooo bad in these things. I really didn’t make any major moves in the tournament except a few times where I raced when I didn’t really have to. I stole some blinds but never really built up a stack where I could feel comfortable with a lot of post flop play.

Time for sleep now.

Strike two

2005-11-22T19:36:00.000-05:00

You gotta love Party Poker.

I fired up 2 table of low limit HE on Party tonight and played for a about 30min or so. Managed a pretty big win on one table and a pretty small loss on the other for a nice little profit. I had forgotten how bad some of the players are out there. You can usually count on one or two people at least calling you down until the river. Only got sucked out a few times.

I also tried another PCA sattelite but I went out early when one guy raised about 15 times the big blind with me staring at AK sooted. I thought it was a good spot to push and he would fold rather than risk most of his chips on a race early. What I didn't remember is that it is pretty much impossible to make players fold in these type of low buy in events. I read a couple things recently about how AK is better to make an all-in bet rather than call one with it. The reason is fold equity. The player likely has a middle pair and would not want to risk his tournament on a race or be dominated by AA, KK, or QQ. Well, I played it like I learned the other day, but I forgot to play the player and not just the cards. He called with his black JJ and I failed to improve. I have to start thinking a lot more in these situations rather than just call and hope for the best.

First Crack at WPT-PCA

2005-11-21T21:21:00.000-05:00

I tried my first Poker Caribbean Adventure satellite tonight and I came in 140th or so out of 340. I wish I could blame it all on the cards but in reality I took a stab at the pot at the wrong time. I think I rely too much on people laying down hands that I would lay down in the same spot. Or maybe I am just playing too tight.

I still haven't quite figured out these MTT's so I think it is time to read Harrington again. I read it a few months ago but I definitely think it is time for a review, especially if I think I am going to be playing for of these satellites.

Introduction and PCA

2005-11-21T11:18:00.000-05:00

INTRO

I have decided to give a poker blog another try. There are a few factors that have reignited my interest in writing about poker. The main reason is that most of my friends don’t think or talk about poker nearly as much as I do. I think I am really start to bore them when I go on endlessly about “getting sucked-out on” and “hitting a two outer”. The usually just smile and then ask me to tell them again what a suck-out is, but not really listening. I needed someplace to write down all my thoughts about poker, where I may get some constructive criticism, if anyone should happen upon this journal of course. Another reason why I am starting this now is because I have played in a few of Wil Wheaton’s Poker Stars tournaments and I see how cool the other poker bloggers are with each other and I instantly want to be part of that community. I figured the best place to start would be to start up my own poker blog. So here goes.

The first thing you should know is that I am no writer, so this will likely be filled with many grammatical errors. I will try to post 2 or 3 times a week to start and see where it goes from there. I am sure I will get really eager at first but I will have to see if I can maintain my enthusiasm. I am using my name, Leafs31, on here as my pen-name. I can’t think of anything better at the moment and that is my screen name on Poker Stars and Party Poker. I got the name of the blog from the infamous story about Phil Hellmuth which has kind of become an inside joke to many bloggers and poker players. If you don’t know the story you can read about it on Paul Phillips site here.

The majority of my poker experience thus far has been playing on-line at Poker Stars and Party Poker. I started at ring games on Stars and moved to the single table SNG’s. I now play most of my ring games on Party at the .50-1 level. I have also been trying more MTT’s and even have a recent (albeit small) cash on a 10+1 deep stack tournament.

PCA

I really want to win my way into the Poker Stars Caribbean Adventure. I am just not sure how to best go about it given my limited bankroll. I saw that they have satellites to qualifiers for as little as $3 or 100 FPP’s so I think this is going to have to be my route for now. I did have about 1000 FPP’s before last week when I decided to take a shot at qualifying for the Sunday 200+15. I don’t want to go into it, but I went out 8th of 27 when my trip jacks fell to a turned full house. I was running really well until then and that hand would have put me into second for chips, plus the guy who sucked out on me ended up winning the thing and qualifying.

So I figure I have about 4 or 5 shots at qualifying using the 100 FPP tourneys. Hopefully I can get into the weekly tourney with one of those entries. I am also going to try some of the $3 tourneys and maybe even an $11 double shootout or two. Honestly I think I would have the best chance to qualify using the double shootouts, since most of my online play these days has been in single table SNG’s.

The reason for all this PCA fever is that they just broadcast last year’s event up here in Canada on the weekend. The Atlantis resort looked amazing and it would be so great to escape winter here in Canada for a week in January. I will let you know how my first stab at it goes tonight.