Just Another Weekend

Friday was a day spent at home because of illness but that didn’t mean I didn’t take care of some business. By Friday afternoon I was felling better so I finished painting the basement and put together the foosball table the kids had received for Christmas….last year. It’s not that I procrastinate but I didn’t want to put it up before the room was done. We now have a place for the kids to go without destroying the house. The Enthusiast wife and I also went out on a date, that is without the kids, at a place called Mia Mori in a near by town. Our realtor gave us a gift card last year after getting the commissions from the house we sold and the house we bought so we ended up getting a good meal for free. I had the veal and it was spectacular. Now don’t go crazy on me about the cruelty involved with veal because it is probably only the second time in my life I’ve had it. I ended the evening playing pokah.

Saturday was a confusing day for all of us. L had a doctor’s appointment, a birthday party, and softball practice in back to back to back fashion. At the same time we had to help my mother move to her new home which was about 35 minutes away. In the end, grandma helped us out with L so the rest of us could help my mother. I still don’t know why we were there because she hired movers and thus my brother-in-law and I had nothing to do for the most part. We ended up making prop bets on who could through a small stuffed animal into various openings around the living room. Most of our time was spent tossing the little stuffed toy at a vase on an end-table. After each throw my son would bring back the projectile for the next throw. I ended up winning by 2 shots when all was said and done.

Sunday is a time for rest except when you have things to do. After church A&M had a Girl Scout thing so I was in charge of the other two kids getting their rooms cleaned. I’m pretty good a directing someone else doing work and they did a great job. As the evening approached I took L to her softball practice and B came along so we played catch as well. When we got home we watch Superman Returns and that was it.

The exciting life of the Poker Enthusiast in a nut shell.

I would have liked to play in the WPBT event but family does have to come first.

WTF Full Tilt

So it's Friday night and I get home after a great dinner with only my wife just in time to fire up Full Tilt and play a Razz Tourney. The only draw back is that their server is screwed and I can't get on. This is confirmed by Waffles and Iak so I have to got to UB. Now this OK cuz they just gave me $10 to play with for free. I used to play there along time ago but I haven't had money there in a while.

I started out earlier today grinding it up to $15.54 playing HORSE and HU RAZZ. SO a $2 tourney is ready to start and I last almost 45 minutes before an idiot thinks A3 is gold and busts my KK. Mean while I start the $1 re-buy madness and chip up really well. I'm at 12K at the add-on and take it to move up a little. Players are fulling and with 200 people left I get dealt KK again. Ass monkey pushes with hoy's favorite hand (AQ) and hits a boat.

Around the same time the $1 tourney started a $5 tourney went off and I signed on. It was a 100 player max with 10 places being paid. It was a thing of beauty the way I stayed in front of the blinds and slowly stayed alive. With 15 players left I get dealt KK and a shorty pushes. I was sitting in 5 place but had to call. I was knocked down to 12 place after that hand cuz a 4 flush is better than KK. I doubled back up when 77 beat A10 and eventually I got here.













I had little table equity but held tight and doubled with 1010. From that point on I stayed tight and got to this position.














I ended up going out in 3rd when my Q5 lost to Q10. But It was nice seeing this.











A nice 670 % boost to my free bankroll. Let's se if I can do something with it.

TheMoooookie and Razz

I played both Mookie events without any fan fair. It started bad in that I had complete crap for the first 3 orbits or so when I get pocket Jacks under the gun. Being the weak tight idiot I am, I limp into the pot and have to fold on the river because I didn’t raise the SB out of the hand. Then I get KK cracked by 63 on a flopped straight by my opponent. He raised from the button and I re-raised 3x his raise. Bad luck there. Anyway, I also played the 2nd chance event and didn’t last very long. It was stud h/l and being without the luck-box action didn’t help.

I also play the regular razz tourney I like to play and went out in the middle of the field. I chipped up early but didn’t get much for playable hands. In this tourney you get to a point that you have to make a stand and I did to no avail. Additionally I played in a $2 tourney and chipped up nice early and held the chip lead for a good portion of the tourney. But then I played 1010 like aces and got knocked out when I new I was behind. It was a $2 tourney and I made a stupid push. Anyway, the idiot winner types some rude comment in the chat box after I get beat and I go off. I’m on dumb-ass tilt and proceed to hit the Razz cash tables for a while.

This was a bad decision because the chasers were out in full force and hitting their cards. I dropped ¾ of a buy-in playing ½ so I move up to 3/6 to chase my loses for the night. This turned out to be a good move because I won back all my loses for the night plus some. The thing I noticed was that the play was super tight and that a good play could take advantage. In my case I hit good cards but I can see that the game here could be a money maker.

I tried to log on to Full Tilt this morning but couldn’t get on. They must have a server down or something because everything else seems to be working.

This is a Test

This is the hand that killed me the other day. I'm just seeing how it works.

Things to Ponder

No poker last night. I spent my time watching American idol with the family and playing a video game with my son. And if there are donkey singers then they were singing last night. That’s all I can say about that.

I did watch JJ for a while as he played in my semi regular Razz event that I missed. His play was solid and the chaser followed him into a few bad beats but he raised from the felt and was top 10 when I left him at the first break. JJ has been fighting for position in the Razz King Wars and with a few more good showings will be able to stake his claim to the title http://sirfwalgman.blogspot.com/ and I covet. It will never happen because there is only one Razz King but everyone must have a goal.

Yesterday I checked out Click2pay while at lunch and they said I could sign up because I didn’t live in the United States based on my IP address. Now the last time I looked I was sitting in West Chicago at the time and thought maybe I had a teleportation spell cast on me that put me in Timbuktu. But then I saw the snow on the ground and realized I was still here. Timbuktu would be nice but the pay there sucks. Anyway, I figure this is based off of working for a Japanese company or something. I look at it again at home some time.

I was going to watch The State of the Union address last night but felt that playing with my son would be more fulfilling. Hearing people applaud at every other word spoken by President Bush didn’t seem to be all that great a time. It is all the same drivel anyway so I could just find an archive and pull up a previous speech and get the same thing.

Work is nuts as a punch in policy has been put into place for all employees….even managers. We are even required to punch out for lunch regardless of if we leave the building or not. You add this to the fact that there is no comp. time and I feel like a red headed stepchild. I understand that hourly employees should punch a clock but with all the hours I put in and donate i.e. spend the weekend flying to Japan, working long days there, and spending the next weekend flying home while having to use a vacation day the day before I leave is messed up. I’m not asking for the world, just understand that I worked hard to get to a managers position and that I am a grown-up for the most part. I guess I need a job that I can do at home so I can sleep in and lie about the time I work.

End rant.

It's a Long Drive

Well I made my deep run the other day and I’ve played no poker since. The only competitive thing I’ve done is watch the Bears run over the Saints. But I did log on for a while and watch some tourneys and noticed one thing. That many of the guaranteed tourneys had smaller fields. I figure this is based off of the inability of players to move money and thus working within the constraints of their on-line bankroll. The 35K on Sunday had an overlay and I don’t remember seeing that before. Will this continue to be the trend? Only time will tell.

So I went deep and got sucked out on to knock me out of one of the daily doubles. This is not a revelation as many of us have been knocked in a similar way. But the way I moved into position was about the best I could do.

Within the first orbit I held 6500 chips as the ass-monkeys gave me chips early. The first hand saw me flop a straight while holding 108 and doubling up. Two hands later I flop trips and then came over the top of a weak player who folded to any aggression. Now with a big stack I chose to be the aggressor on random occasions and kept building my chip stack. About half an hour before the bubble I went card dead but the chip accumulation from early in the tourney left me with an above average stack and I started buy pots when the bubble got close. After moving deeper into the tourney I became a card rack and got paid. If I hit pocket queens then another player would get jacks. In the final stages of the tourney I hit AA twice, KK one time, QQ twice, and JJ-99 4 times. And they all won. I busted 3 players in a 2 hand stretch when QQ beat JJ and the I get KK vs. AJ and AJ. This put me in the top 3 with under 20 players left.

My last hand saw me with AJ suited in the SB. It was folded to me and I raise it to 20K (blinds and antes are around 10K at this time). The BB chip leader calls. My read on this player is that he is very solid and we been at the same table for the last hour and a half. I have shown nothing but the nuts for all of this time and have not lost a hand. I put him on AK, AQ, 1010, 99, 88 and maybe 77. Big pairs are out of the question because he has re-raised with these types of hands. He has also shown the ability to push with small pairs and even re-raise with AK or AQ. So the flop come 7J7 and there is 50k sitting in the pot. I’m first to act and I throw a pot size bet. I’m not committed to the hand and with 111K sitting back I’ll still be top ten if I have to fold. He insta pushes and I go into the tank. I’m chatting with waffles as he donked around with freeroll Razz and I ask his thoughts. I don’t have much time so I look at my read and put him on those original hands. He doesn’t have 77 and not very likely to have JJ. My gut says he has a pocket pair but smaller then the J and is trying to push me off AK or AQ. I call. He flips over pocket 10s and I’m counting the chips. I will be the massive chip leader and can play lucko style. Until the turn 8 and river 9 hits.

I looked at the screen with a blank stare for some uncounted amount of time. I reconstructed the car crash that happened before me and tried to make it go away. We’ve all felt that gut wrenching feeling when you’re a game is going and the stars are shining a little more brightly. And then the clouds come rushing in and obscure the twinkling lights and you sit in silence…alone and dejected.

Did I make the right decision here? I’ve always tried to avoid confrontations with the chip leader unless I knew I was way in front. This was a call for my tourney life and I could have gotten away from the hand. My read was spot on but is it a better call to fold to this aggression even if I think I’m ahead? I could have folded to the final table but should I be doing that. No.

Waffles and I talked about the hand for a while after and his thoughts were right down the middle. Either decision could be correct and that folding was a good option because I still had plenty of chips. I still like my call, based on my read. If I had just come to the table I may have folded but I knew what he had.

***************************

L had practice on Sunday and so she got to pitch a little for the first time this year. She was throwing smoke and her ball was diving down like a ball falling off a table. The best part of it all is that I know she’ll be throwing hard as we move closer to the season and with greater command of her pitches. She is so gonna rock this summer.

The Daily Double

I made a deep run in Full Tilt's Daily Double B last night before getting hit by a 2 outer runner-runner style. I will post some more about this later after a review of the tourney but for the most part I got big hands at the right times and got paid off with them. I thought this was my night for a big win but it was not to be. I'll try to post the tourney breakdown on Monday.

Death of a Poker Player

I don’t want to talk about neteller to day so I won’t. Everyone else has said the obvious so my dribble will do nothing other then repeat what we all know.

I didn’t play poker last night. It was a night for my weekly soccer game and it didn’t disappoint. If you remember, last week I played and I thought I was on the verge of death as I laid on the ground gasping for breath as my lung heaved in convulsions. I even went as far as making a doctor’s appointment to make sure that I wasn’t at death’s door. Well I passed all the blood tests and basically I’m just an aging, overweight, out of shape guy trying to act young. So with all this in mind I hit the field running and ready to play. I made it through the whole game without a break and didn’t feel like dieing at any point. I was presented with an endless attack by the other team that didn’t let up at any point. In reality, I don’t think I’ve ever faced that many shots in my life. My defense, can you have a defense if they don’t actually come back, was all but invisible and I’m paying for it today. And other than the sprained/dislocated thumb I have it was a great time.

The discouraging part of this is that we have a lot of talent on the team. One of the players played for Everton in the English Premier League while another player played in the second division and for the Chicago Fire. The rest of the team is made up of former college players for the most part with a few division 1 players mixed in. Maybe it is a pre-madonna thinking by some of the players because many of the guys don’t want to work nearly as hard as I work. I have floor burns and scabs all over the place because I give it my all while other guys make a mistake and hang their heads as the other team attacks with a 2 on 1 break away. Suck it up and hustle you bastards. There is only one thing you can control on the field and that is how hard you play. Nobody can take that from you except your self. I will take 5 guys who never quit over ex-superstars who feel the deserve more. This being said, The Everton guy goes 100% all the time. It’s funny how the guy who went the farthest has a great work ethic. And most of the guys give a top effort but one guy giving up can make a big difference in the outcome.

So the doctor said my results were good for the most part. My cholesterol is 185 and both the good and bad are where they should be. My triglycerides (the level of fat in the blood) is a little high and my blood pressure still needs to be chemically lowered to a safe level. Basically get in shape you fat bastard.

Poker tonight will consist of a few tourneys and maybe some chat-box action but nothing to wild. I may play the token Razz tourney but we shall see. The daily double may also be in store but it is a little early so I may have to leave it for now.

Have a great weekend everone.

Poker is Still Fun

Dear pokerenthusiast,
As you may be aware, NETeller has announced that it will no longer accept transfer requests from U.S. customers to online poker sites or allow withdrawals from online poker sites to your NETeller account, effective immediately.
As a player who used NETeller or Instacash, we want you to know that any money you currently have on deposit with Full Tilt Poker remains completely safe and secure, and is available for play or withdrawal. If you are interested in withdrawing your money from Full Tilt Poker, please click here to find out how.
Rest assured, we remain committed to providing you with access to all of our games and tournaments, and these developments will not change your day-to-day playing experience at our site. Furthermore, any monies that you deposit with us - through any of our approved payment processors - will remain completely safe, secure and accessible at any time.
Sincerely,
Full Tilt Poker




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I got this message this morning. Great news for us all.

I started off the evening with my usual Razz tourney at 8:45 and The Mookie at 9:00. As I have been writing about this Razz for a while I’ll start with the Mookie today.

Early on I got involved with hoyazo and bdidde. I raised from early middle position with 9T suited in hopes of using my tight image early. The flop comes 784 so I have an open ender and plan on check calling but it is checked around. The turn shows another 8 and I know that either of these guy can make a play at the pot. I don’t think they have a hand and I will check raise any bet here. Hoy comes with a pot size bet of 285 and I raise it to 630. This number is important because I’m trying to show that I want a call while not being completely committed to the hand. Bddide folds and hoy lets it go. Now even though I’m behind here I have outs if he calls and I know that my image is such that I must have a hand.

A few hands later I wake up with pocket aces on the cutoff. SteelerJosh raises to 120 and I re-raise to 360. Don Morris pushes and I’m hoping for a SteelerJosh call but he folds. I call and we both have aces. Unlucky there but that’s OK.

I lost a big hand to tripjax when I hit TPTK vs. his KK. He made a bet after the flop and I raised to but him all but in and he called. I figured I was going to call any raise after that so let’s move all the chips in. That dropped me to 1075 chips but some room to work.

Later, sitting on the SB I called for 40 more with K4 suited with three others in the hand. The flop gives me a king and with only 705 chips left I make a bet of 240 into the 320 pot. I may have been behind just about any other king but putting in that bet showed I was committed and got the folds I was looking for.

I bought 4 blinds inside of one orbit to get me back to starting chips before this hand happened. I’m in the SB and hoy calls 100 from middle position. It’s folded to me woth T7 and I call the 50 to see a flop. The flop hits me dead in the face as in two 10s and a 9. SO now I have trip 10s from the small blind and I slow play them into waiting for the hoy raise to come and he pushes. Now I know that the push is the new slow play but I’m only scared of a few hands here and I need chips so the there is no question about the call. His pocket 3s were no good and I chip up to 2500 chips.

I lost some chips on a steal attempt to put me back to 2200 before I got involved with Iak. I raised preflop with AK to 480 and he calls. The flop comes 2d10c7c and he insta-pushes. Now I going into the tank and try construct his hand. He could be playing any two cards from that position but he has to have my hand defined. He is on a draw, probably the flush draw and if it is AK of clubs then he is free rolling. I eventually realize that it has to be the draw so I make the call with 1 second left on the time bank and see his 89 of clubs. I have the best hand and I’m way behind. I get lucky and dodge all of his outs (like 21 outs) and double up. Terrible call here but I like his play because he was way ahead. My read was bad and good in that I had him on the draw but not that draw.

I also sucked out when my pocket kings busted the hammer to move me to the 6000 chip level. This is when card deadness hit and I got slowly bled to death. I bought a few blinds to stay alive but got knocked out on the final table bubble when I open pushed with JJ and got called by Krazybangs 44. You know the outcome from here.

Overall I played well and got very lucky one time. If that last hand holds up then I’m in a great position but it was not to be.

******************************

Razz returned to the fore front as I made a nice run only to be knocked out on the final table bubble. There were two hands that made the difference for me as a whole. I had a made 8 on 6th and I was drawing to a 56 and/or 7 while my opponent had a higher made 8. I pair the board and he makes a 7 to beat me. The other two hands of note were calling down what appeared to a losing board for me but ended up a winner. A player had changed his betting pattern and after he had made a pair on the board I felt that he was trying to push me off my hand instead of trying to get my chips from me. My read was correct as he held three pair for a crap hand. I was sitting well again but with 9 left and the final table holding 8 it was going to be work. I was the small stack with 8000 chips and blinds were huge. 1 bad hand will cripple a player and it did. I’m happy with my play and will continue to play this event.

I also played the PL Omaha 2nd chance event and ended in fifth when my AKQQ was no good vs.7766. I don’t play this game much but it was a nice change of pace.

***********************
No poker tonight as I have to go and try to stop my heart again playing soccer. I have not heard from the doctor yet about my test results so that must mean I’m OK. If you fail to see any updates ever again then you will know what happened.

Here Fishy

Am I losing the mystic draw of poker? I’m not sure but I think that in some ways I am. I relate it to catching a fish. The pond of life is poker in this instance and we are just fish swimming around playing our games and having fun. Some of us grow to be big fish and grow to legendary size while others of us get big slowly and though we try to grow we only get so bog. Then there are the baby minnows and fish that have had their growth stunted. They try to get bigger but just don’t have what it takes to take the food from the big boys.

So now we have a poker ecosystem, relating to the fish pond. The muskies are on the prowl. They need food and will attack any unsuspecting fish around. The bass and walleyes are trolling about, trying to avoid the muskies and make their own little place in the pond. The rest are just trying to survive. The dodge and dip and hide in the weeds to stay alive for their chance to live in the pond of poker.

Along comes a fisherman. This fisherman can be symbolic of anything in life so you make use anything you like. He casts his bait and the meal looks inviting to some and is while others look away. The fish takes the bait and a struggle ensues. Back and forth the fish fights for its life while the fisherman slowly brings his prey to the boat. After a while the fish gets tired and is carried by the line to the boat. And as the fisherman grabs for the fish, the fish fights and gives a last effort to get lose and back to his home in the pond.

Looking at my poker life I know I am a small fish in a big pond. I swim with the sharks and have avoided death by ingestion so far. But I think that I may be on the fisherman’s line. I enjoy my life in the pond but I’m wondering what is trying to pull me away. Is this an early struggle or am I trying to keep from being brought into the boat?

The real question I must ask my self is what am I doing? Is this just a degenerate habit that eats up time? Time that I could be spending on other more useful things. Or is this something that I feel can bring me to another level of understanding. Does walking away from poker make me a quitter? I’m not the type of person who gives up on things. But maybe this wouldn’t be quitting. All things have a beginning and an end so maybe the time for poker in my life if concluding. I don’t really know.

I love the game and have seen many improvements since I started this blog last year. The real problem is that without the proper bankroll and without the staying power to build it up, I’m becoming disenchanted with the game. I’ve many nice runs in tourneys and I know that I can do it a the higher levels. But one of the rules was to stay with the original plan and keep from putting any of my own money into it. I can play this game forever and not go broke. That is a fact. There are small enough levels of play that anyone with any skill can tread water indefinitely. But that is not for me. I will give the game another 2 or 3 months before I make a decision but as of right now I am on the clock. I’m caught on a hook and trying to spit it out. We’ll see if I can.