Last night I went to the Foo Fighters concert at the AAC. Melissa and her Mom are really big fans along with the rest of her family and the told me that I should go. I liked them but didn't really consider myself a fan, but agreed to go. I am very glad I did. It was probably the most entertaining show that I have ever seen. The music was good and it was very energetic. We had really good seats not on the floor but just off of it. I have seen a lot of 311 concerts and while their music might be a little more energetic this show is much more entertaining. Dave Grohl was cracking jokes and whipping the crowd up. I will definitely go again and now consider myself a fan.
The opening bands were OK, I suppose. The first was called Against Me which is a punk style band. I am not a big fan of punk but this seemed more like The Cult to me. It wasn't bad but wasn't great. I might give some of their stuff another listen because it was hard to make out the vocals. The other band was Jimmy Eat World. I have a CD of theirs on my IPOD and thought that I would enjoy them. They were OK, I am kind of indifferent about them. They sounded exactly like they did on the CD which is a good thing. I hate bands that over edit their sound. It was just kind of boring though I guess.
AAC is where the Dallas Stars play so obviously the arena is in the shape of a hockey ring. About halfway through the show a mini stage dropped down and the Foo Fighters went down and played a few acoustic songs on the other end. It was very impressive. I remember in high school when they came out I was not overly into them, I was really missing out. This was one of the best shows I have ever been to, definitely the most entertaining.
OK lets talk about the test. I tested for up to 3rd level blue on Saturday and I really don't think I did a very good job. I am not sure what it was I felt prepared but I guess just nerves. I took Kevin and his girlfriend Lisa and Chad to the test so they can see what I have been talking about for the past 2 years. Sifu does a really good job of explaining exactly what you are seeing at the tests, which is a big deal because Wing Chun can look like patty cake if you don't know what your looking at. My spectators really enjoyed the test and that is really good, they were slightly impressed I think.
After my test Tai Chi Bobby took his test for his first red. This is a really big deal for a number of reasons so we stayed to watch that. Tai Chi before this month never had any testing, you just learned what Sifu told you to. Just recently he has started to build a curriculum for this style and wanted to start having tests for it. Most people think of Tai Chi and think of old people in the park they don't think of it as a fighting art. Sifu teaches it as a combat art and the difference is night and day. Sifu spent a lot of time explaining to us what we were seeing because a lot of people had no idea.
The other reason why it is a big deal is because at the red sash level you are a senior student. You can teach other people on your own with Sifu's blessing. It is also a big deal because the test you take at first red is the last test you will take publicly, after that all the tests are close door with Sifu and students your level or higher. So its a pretty huge deal.
Bobby, this comes to no surprise if you have met him, did amazing. He was taking on multiple attackers and throwing people and it was really really amazing. On part of his test Sifu worked with him because no one else in Tai Chi is able to, that was really cool to watch. Tai Chi is so completely different from Wing Chun, its night and day. Congrats to Bobby for a great test.
Since I tested I am getting to work on some new material. We have been working a lot of the ground fighting. Wing Chun is not a ground/grappling art but because of the popularity of Ultimate Fighting a lot of people are studying that kind of stuff, its important to know how to fight that way as well. I am really enjoying the ground fighting we are learning some really good stuff. Eventually it will be able to be done as one fluid piece but right now we are breaking it down section by section. The sensitivity training that we work on really helps with the ground fighting. I can feel where someone is planning to go its really crazy.
This is turning out to be a huge post I will start to wrap it up. I played some poker yesterday before the show. I played less than 1,000 hands and made 8 buy ins. Hopefully its the beginning of a long time coming much needed heater. It would be very nice to actually get out of my break even stretch that I have been stuck in for quite some time. I will play a little bit more once I get home.
That is really it for now.
Until later.
Showing posts with label poker. Show all posts
Showing posts with label poker. Show all posts
Thursday, January 24, 2008
Sunday, August 19, 2007
Fucking Ten on the River
I am telling you now that there is a bad beat story in here so if you don't want to hear it close this now. With that said, here is what happened to me today. I was supposed to deal the big tournament at the "back room" today. I show up ready to work and then the head dealer Trena asked me if I would like to play if the game doesn't make five tables. I had already told myself that I wouldn't play tournaments because they can drain your bankroll, but I had a big win on Thursday so I said yes.
This tournament is a $230 buy-in for which you get $4,000 in chips, there are no re-buys or add-ons or anything of that sort, typical freeze out style tournament. The blind levels are 25 minutes each and they start at 25/25, then move to 25/50, then 50/100, and then 75/150. You get some decent play for your chips, they don't use an ante so you get that much more room. I start out playing very well, I am making good reads and am getting a lot of respect. Some of these players know me from "the basement" and I have a well known image of being pretty crazy pre-flop, but today everyone is giving me a lot of respect. I raised with a suited connector and got re raised and knew that against this played I can raise again and he will fold most of his hands. I re raise and he folds and shows pocket jacks. Later I raise with pocket nines and get called in late position by someone who thought for a while about raising me. The flop comes 7,4,3 and the suits are irrelevant. I bet out hoping to show this guy I have a good hand and that I am not just stabbing at it. He thinks for a long time and then folds and shows pocket queens. He said he just felt he was beat and I, of course tell him that I did have him beat. That is a totally sick lay down on that board I would have called in a heart beat against a player like myself.
Anyway cruising along playing fine picking good spots, we get down to 3 tables and I am still cruising along and then get down to two tables. I am showing my hands after people fold because I am running well and raising a lot. I don't really want anyone to start to think I am fucking around trying to out play me. The blinds at this point are $300/$600 and I have about $7,000 in chips. I don't have a big stack but I am doing better than the majority of the field and I am feeling pretty comfortable, they are paying 6 places and I feel that I can at least slip into the money. There are 15 people left and once we lose a few more I am really going to open up and start stealing because people really want to make the final table they won't play marginal hands because they are so determined to make the final table.
My phone rings and I look down and it's Melissa, my girlfriend, calling from work. I told her that I would call her on a break to let her know how the day was going to work. She usually gets off on Sundays at 8:30 so it is not a big deal if a game runs long or something like that, but tonight she was working overtime till midnight. She couldn't feed the dog on her lunch and didn't want to send her sister over here to take care of the dog if she didn't need to. So she asks how does it look and I explain that I am playing because there wasn't enough people to fill 5 tables. She is instantly irritated I can hear it in her tone as she asks me what time I will be done. I tell her I really don't know that I am doing ok as of right now and we are down to the last 15 people. She asks if I think it will be 7:30 or what and I tell her I don't know I hope not because that will mean I am out of the tournament.
She is really irritated now and just tells me to call her when I am done, I say ok and let her go. I am really pissed now because if I was working it wouldn't be a big deal, but since I am just playing in a tournament that is paying $3,100 for first place as opposed to working to make $300ish she gets all pissed off. If I was dealing I wouldn't have been home any sooner than if I went on to win the tournament. She doesn't really understand that if I want to make money playing poker I have to play, but whatever there is enough there for a whole different blog.
This blog is not about calling people out by name, I am not a big fan of doing that, but I am really irritated about this guy and don't care if he reads this or not, pretty sure he dosn't. There is this guy named Eddie and he plays a lot at the basement and also plays at the back room. He is right at 50 and thinks he is a just God's gift to poker. He is very vocal and makes these shitty comments all the time and can't take a beat at all. One night a guy hit a straight against him when he was all in and he stands up and punches the ceiling and then grabs my arm which pissed me off. I know of no one outside of his home game who actually likes this guy. When a dealer makes the tiniest mistake he throws a fit like it is the end of the world even thought this piece of shit has never dealt a real game or been "in the box" as it is referred to.
Dealing is harder than most people know and is a totally thankless job. If you do it right no one says, "hey man, nice job," but if you fuck up, watch out because you will have every wannabe tournament director on your ass. Once again that is another blog, lets get back to this guy Eddie. He has this way of talking to people that will make you feel kind of shitty. The first night I worked at the basement I asked him for his name and he looks at me and says, "My name is Eddie see it on the point leader board thats me number 9." I am thinking in my head "wow what a jack off." We have some history from playing in tournaments together so when I get moved to his table he makes some kind of comment about how I won't win this tournament by being a good player. I make a joke about it keeping it good natured all the while thinking in my head about how I would love to beat the shit out of this guy. Ok now that the history has been explained lets get to the hand.
The blinds are 300/600 and I got $7,000 on the nose. I have been playing pretty tight, showing my big hands down and then I look down and see pocket jacks. Jacks are a pretty hard hand to play, because you tend to lose a lot with them. You are obligated to raise and if you get called someone will pretty much always hit an over on you and then you have to fold a really good hand. Anyway, I look down and see the jacks and decide to raise hopefully just take down the pot. Before the action gets to me Eddie raises it up to a little more than 3 times the big blind about $2,000. I decide that I want to play heads up with him so I move in for $7,000 on the nose. There are still like 4 or 5 people behind me who still have cards but as soon as I move in he tells the dealer to count it.
When someone moves all-in in a no limit tournament the dealer doesn't announce the what the raise is until a player asks for it. For him to ask when there are still like 4 or 5 people behind me who still have cards it is basically announcing that there is a good chance that he will call. This is giving away information about what your move will be when it is not your turn, and is a major breach of etiquette. The guy right behind me thinks for a long time and then folds later saying that he had ace king suited. Everyone else folds around to Eddie, and he calls instantly. The call was for the majority of his chips, if he loses this hand he will be crippled and we are getting close to the final table. He counts out the money and says call. I ask him if he has a pair just to see where I am at. It doesn't really matter because since all the money is in and no more action is coming we have to turn the hands up anyway but I still want to know. He looks up at me and says, "I called you so I will be asking the questions about what you have just turn your cards up." I turn up my jacks and he turns up pocket tens and says,
"Your ahead was that so hard?" I ignore the comment and am thinking about the fact that I will have over $14,000 if I win this hand and can coast to the final table.
Lets talk about this play for a minute, I am sure that by now your know that I lose the hand, but lets have an objective discussion here. A pocket pair is a strong hand and tens are very strong there is a lot of value there, but he called instantly with them in a tournament with a stack that would be crippled if he didn't win the hand. Meaning if he lost he would have $1500 or so left and with the blinds being 300/600 and him coming up on the blinds in the next 1 or 2 hands there would be practically no way that he could go on to win this thing. I have a reputation of being an aggressive player and he knows that, but at the same time it is still a risky move. His raise was right around $2000 so it was about $5000 more to him. So he was having to put in $5000 more to win a pot of $9,900 so he is getting almost 2-1 on his money. I guess technically he has to call but just the speed with which he called I know that he didn't even think about the fact that he might now have the best hand.
Eddie doesn't race around too much in tournament especially later on this is pretty much a well known fact by any of the better players. I know that with my raise he pretty much has to call with any big hand so I wouldn't be making this move with a hand much worse than pocket tens. If I have pocket 9's there I would just call hoping to hit a set, but wouldn't re-raise him. With ace king I would make the same move, but even if I have ace king it is basically a coin flip for the majority of his chips. In a cash game I would make the call most of the time but in a tournament I just think it is a little early to coin flip. I think he saw his hand and got excited so any poker thought went out the window. I am not expecting too much from this donkey anyway.
The flop comes Ace, 2, 2 the guy who folded ace king mutters a few choice curse words and I feel much better about his folding pre-flop. The turn is a 7 and a big fucking ten on the river. He looks and says, "You just got unlucky there." I am thinking in my head, "no fucking shit moron." I keep my composure and don't say anything. I am so disgusted, I was well on my way to winning that hand and would have made the money easily. That is how it goes in tournaments, you have to get lucky to win, so I got in my truck and came home. I logged the loss in my books and called Melissa this is basically how the conversation went,
"I am on my way home now."
"Sorry about earlier."
"Its fine I am pissed off right now so I am getting off the phone."
"ohh, bye"
"bye." Short and sweet and to the point, I will probably hear about it later but I was too irritated to care right then.
I came home and ran the hands in a program called poker stove. You can put in any number of hands and have the percentages of who will win and who will lose. This is what pokerstove said;
equity win tie
Hand 1: 81.295% 81.12% 00.18% {JdJs}
Hand 2: 18.705% 18.53% 00.18% {TcTh}
Basically I will win this hands 81% of the time or roughly 4 out of every 5 times. I am irritated that I lost but I understand that it happens. I am more pissed off about who I lost the hand to. I will take bets that he doesn't even win the damn thing. So I am at home with the dog and bored out of my skull. I don't think playing online right now is a good idea so I will read or something. I will post tomorrow.
Later
This tournament is a $230 buy-in for which you get $4,000 in chips, there are no re-buys or add-ons or anything of that sort, typical freeze out style tournament. The blind levels are 25 minutes each and they start at 25/25, then move to 25/50, then 50/100, and then 75/150. You get some decent play for your chips, they don't use an ante so you get that much more room. I start out playing very well, I am making good reads and am getting a lot of respect. Some of these players know me from "the basement" and I have a well known image of being pretty crazy pre-flop, but today everyone is giving me a lot of respect. I raised with a suited connector and got re raised and knew that against this played I can raise again and he will fold most of his hands. I re raise and he folds and shows pocket jacks. Later I raise with pocket nines and get called in late position by someone who thought for a while about raising me. The flop comes 7,4,3 and the suits are irrelevant. I bet out hoping to show this guy I have a good hand and that I am not just stabbing at it. He thinks for a long time and then folds and shows pocket queens. He said he just felt he was beat and I, of course tell him that I did have him beat. That is a totally sick lay down on that board I would have called in a heart beat against a player like myself.
Anyway cruising along playing fine picking good spots, we get down to 3 tables and I am still cruising along and then get down to two tables. I am showing my hands after people fold because I am running well and raising a lot. I don't really want anyone to start to think I am fucking around trying to out play me. The blinds at this point are $300/$600 and I have about $7,000 in chips. I don't have a big stack but I am doing better than the majority of the field and I am feeling pretty comfortable, they are paying 6 places and I feel that I can at least slip into the money. There are 15 people left and once we lose a few more I am really going to open up and start stealing because people really want to make the final table they won't play marginal hands because they are so determined to make the final table.
My phone rings and I look down and it's Melissa, my girlfriend, calling from work. I told her that I would call her on a break to let her know how the day was going to work. She usually gets off on Sundays at 8:30 so it is not a big deal if a game runs long or something like that, but tonight she was working overtime till midnight. She couldn't feed the dog on her lunch and didn't want to send her sister over here to take care of the dog if she didn't need to. So she asks how does it look and I explain that I am playing because there wasn't enough people to fill 5 tables. She is instantly irritated I can hear it in her tone as she asks me what time I will be done. I tell her I really don't know that I am doing ok as of right now and we are down to the last 15 people. She asks if I think it will be 7:30 or what and I tell her I don't know I hope not because that will mean I am out of the tournament.
She is really irritated now and just tells me to call her when I am done, I say ok and let her go. I am really pissed now because if I was working it wouldn't be a big deal, but since I am just playing in a tournament that is paying $3,100 for first place as opposed to working to make $300ish she gets all pissed off. If I was dealing I wouldn't have been home any sooner than if I went on to win the tournament. She doesn't really understand that if I want to make money playing poker I have to play, but whatever there is enough there for a whole different blog.
This blog is not about calling people out by name, I am not a big fan of doing that, but I am really irritated about this guy and don't care if he reads this or not, pretty sure he dosn't. There is this guy named Eddie and he plays a lot at the basement and also plays at the back room. He is right at 50 and thinks he is a just God's gift to poker. He is very vocal and makes these shitty comments all the time and can't take a beat at all. One night a guy hit a straight against him when he was all in and he stands up and punches the ceiling and then grabs my arm which pissed me off. I know of no one outside of his home game who actually likes this guy. When a dealer makes the tiniest mistake he throws a fit like it is the end of the world even thought this piece of shit has never dealt a real game or been "in the box" as it is referred to.
Dealing is harder than most people know and is a totally thankless job. If you do it right no one says, "hey man, nice job," but if you fuck up, watch out because you will have every wannabe tournament director on your ass. Once again that is another blog, lets get back to this guy Eddie. He has this way of talking to people that will make you feel kind of shitty. The first night I worked at the basement I asked him for his name and he looks at me and says, "My name is Eddie see it on the point leader board thats me number 9." I am thinking in my head "wow what a jack off." We have some history from playing in tournaments together so when I get moved to his table he makes some kind of comment about how I won't win this tournament by being a good player. I make a joke about it keeping it good natured all the while thinking in my head about how I would love to beat the shit out of this guy. Ok now that the history has been explained lets get to the hand.
The blinds are 300/600 and I got $7,000 on the nose. I have been playing pretty tight, showing my big hands down and then I look down and see pocket jacks. Jacks are a pretty hard hand to play, because you tend to lose a lot with them. You are obligated to raise and if you get called someone will pretty much always hit an over on you and then you have to fold a really good hand. Anyway, I look down and see the jacks and decide to raise hopefully just take down the pot. Before the action gets to me Eddie raises it up to a little more than 3 times the big blind about $2,000. I decide that I want to play heads up with him so I move in for $7,000 on the nose. There are still like 4 or 5 people behind me who still have cards but as soon as I move in he tells the dealer to count it.
When someone moves all-in in a no limit tournament the dealer doesn't announce the what the raise is until a player asks for it. For him to ask when there are still like 4 or 5 people behind me who still have cards it is basically announcing that there is a good chance that he will call. This is giving away information about what your move will be when it is not your turn, and is a major breach of etiquette. The guy right behind me thinks for a long time and then folds later saying that he had ace king suited. Everyone else folds around to Eddie, and he calls instantly. The call was for the majority of his chips, if he loses this hand he will be crippled and we are getting close to the final table. He counts out the money and says call. I ask him if he has a pair just to see where I am at. It doesn't really matter because since all the money is in and no more action is coming we have to turn the hands up anyway but I still want to know. He looks up at me and says, "I called you so I will be asking the questions about what you have just turn your cards up." I turn up my jacks and he turns up pocket tens and says,
"Your ahead was that so hard?" I ignore the comment and am thinking about the fact that I will have over $14,000 if I win this hand and can coast to the final table.
Lets talk about this play for a minute, I am sure that by now your know that I lose the hand, but lets have an objective discussion here. A pocket pair is a strong hand and tens are very strong there is a lot of value there, but he called instantly with them in a tournament with a stack that would be crippled if he didn't win the hand. Meaning if he lost he would have $1500 or so left and with the blinds being 300/600 and him coming up on the blinds in the next 1 or 2 hands there would be practically no way that he could go on to win this thing. I have a reputation of being an aggressive player and he knows that, but at the same time it is still a risky move. His raise was right around $2000 so it was about $5000 more to him. So he was having to put in $5000 more to win a pot of $9,900 so he is getting almost 2-1 on his money. I guess technically he has to call but just the speed with which he called I know that he didn't even think about the fact that he might now have the best hand.
Eddie doesn't race around too much in tournament especially later on this is pretty much a well known fact by any of the better players. I know that with my raise he pretty much has to call with any big hand so I wouldn't be making this move with a hand much worse than pocket tens. If I have pocket 9's there I would just call hoping to hit a set, but wouldn't re-raise him. With ace king I would make the same move, but even if I have ace king it is basically a coin flip for the majority of his chips. In a cash game I would make the call most of the time but in a tournament I just think it is a little early to coin flip. I think he saw his hand and got excited so any poker thought went out the window. I am not expecting too much from this donkey anyway.
The flop comes Ace, 2, 2 the guy who folded ace king mutters a few choice curse words and I feel much better about his folding pre-flop. The turn is a 7 and a big fucking ten on the river. He looks and says, "You just got unlucky there." I am thinking in my head, "no fucking shit moron." I keep my composure and don't say anything. I am so disgusted, I was well on my way to winning that hand and would have made the money easily. That is how it goes in tournaments, you have to get lucky to win, so I got in my truck and came home. I logged the loss in my books and called Melissa this is basically how the conversation went,
"I am on my way home now."
"Sorry about earlier."
"Its fine I am pissed off right now so I am getting off the phone."
"ohh, bye"
"bye." Short and sweet and to the point, I will probably hear about it later but I was too irritated to care right then.
I came home and ran the hands in a program called poker stove. You can put in any number of hands and have the percentages of who will win and who will lose. This is what pokerstove said;
equity win tie
Hand 1: 81.295% 81.12% 00.18% {JdJs}
Hand 2: 18.705% 18.53% 00.18% {TcTh}
Basically I will win this hands 81% of the time or roughly 4 out of every 5 times. I am irritated that I lost but I understand that it happens. I am more pissed off about who I lost the hand to. I will take bets that he doesn't even win the damn thing. So I am at home with the dog and bored out of my skull. I don't think playing online right now is a good idea so I will read or something. I will post tomorrow.
Later
Thursday, August 16, 2007
bored...
Well this morning ended my run at the heads up event that I was playing online. I am kind of irritated my opponent lives in Australia and time is much different. We were coming up on the deadline we had to hurry up and play I waited around on him for about 2 hours yesterday so we could play. He logged in and said, "Hey I can't play tonight lets do it tomorrow." So I woke up this morning and shuffled over to my computer barely awake to play these matches. I lost the first match won the second and lost the third, I am not saying that I for sure would have won if the games had taken place at a time more of my choosing but who knows. I am going to post links to a few hands that were interesting to me, take a look see what you think.
This first link takes you to the last hand of the first tournament. It is pretty much a cold deck, on the turn I have top pair and I am open ended.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1378629
This second hand is just kind of weird in my opinion I am not sure how else to really play this. He played it very passively and I have to think I have the best hand on the river.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1378626
This next one is right after I lost the first match we were playing 2 matches at the same time and this hand came up. He had been playing slightly more aggressive, but this is a bad spot and I was frustrated with myself for losing the first match.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1378614
This last hand is the last hand of the third match once again kind of a cooler. I remember thinking on the turn that the only real hand I was worried about was the exact hand he had but I decided to commit myself.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1378611
So all in all I was not getting overly lucky, but that shit happens when you play cards. I think I handled my loss pretty well, that is one thing that has always been a problem with me. I will lose a big pot or a pot I should have won and then go on massive tilt. I am working on taking my ego out of my playing so hopefully that won't happen anymore, but its a long process. The good news is that my friend has to win his match to win our bet if he gets knocked out in his match then we are even.
I was going to make myself go to Winstar today but didn't really feel like it immediately after getting my ass handed to me. I took a long shower and then played some online and did very well surprisingly well. Its still at a ridiculously low level but profit is profit. In 41 hands I won close to 3 buy ins which is a pretty good win rate, not one that is sustainable but its nice to run well once in awhile. After that run I decided I would go up to Winstar but am still having stomach issues and don't know if i trust myself on an hour drive. There is a local room that is having a $1/$2 game tonight that I think I might check out, from what I have heard the action is really good and it plays more like a $2/$5 game.
I keep trying to think of other things to talk about in here that will be of interest to other people who don't play poker, but so far I haven't come up with anything. I saw the movie Breach the other night it was very good, very intense throughout the entire movie. It isn't one that I will buy but it was very good. I am reading a book by Michael A. Stackpole it is called The New World it is the 3rd in a fantasy series that I have been reading. Fantasy novels are not for everyone but I have been reading them since I was a little kid so I enjoy them. Anyway that is it for now.
Later
This first link takes you to the last hand of the first tournament. It is pretty much a cold deck, on the turn I have top pair and I am open ended.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1378629
This second hand is just kind of weird in my opinion I am not sure how else to really play this. He played it very passively and I have to think I have the best hand on the river.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1378626
This next one is right after I lost the first match we were playing 2 matches at the same time and this hand came up. He had been playing slightly more aggressive, but this is a bad spot and I was frustrated with myself for losing the first match.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1378614
This last hand is the last hand of the third match once again kind of a cooler. I remember thinking on the turn that the only real hand I was worried about was the exact hand he had but I decided to commit myself.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1378611
So all in all I was not getting overly lucky, but that shit happens when you play cards. I think I handled my loss pretty well, that is one thing that has always been a problem with me. I will lose a big pot or a pot I should have won and then go on massive tilt. I am working on taking my ego out of my playing so hopefully that won't happen anymore, but its a long process. The good news is that my friend has to win his match to win our bet if he gets knocked out in his match then we are even.
I was going to make myself go to Winstar today but didn't really feel like it immediately after getting my ass handed to me. I took a long shower and then played some online and did very well surprisingly well. Its still at a ridiculously low level but profit is profit. In 41 hands I won close to 3 buy ins which is a pretty good win rate, not one that is sustainable but its nice to run well once in awhile. After that run I decided I would go up to Winstar but am still having stomach issues and don't know if i trust myself on an hour drive. There is a local room that is having a $1/$2 game tonight that I think I might check out, from what I have heard the action is really good and it plays more like a $2/$5 game.
I keep trying to think of other things to talk about in here that will be of interest to other people who don't play poker, but so far I haven't come up with anything. I saw the movie Breach the other night it was very good, very intense throughout the entire movie. It isn't one that I will buy but it was very good. I am reading a book by Michael A. Stackpole it is called The New World it is the 3rd in a fantasy series that I have been reading. Fantasy novels are not for everyone but I have been reading them since I was a little kid so I enjoy them. Anyway that is it for now.
Later
Wednesday, August 15, 2007
Friends Game > me
A really good friend of mine and someone who is responsible for me playing better poker and getting me to take it more seriously has decided to get a job. After like 2 years or so of playing poker full time my friend has decided to get a job, the decision was made for a lot of reasons that are not mine to discuss. He has taken a job at a newspaper down in Waco which is about an hour or so south of Fort Worth where I live. So last night we decided to have a going away poker game for him, really just an excuse to hang out and bullshit.
This is a group of guys who I have played poker with since the beginning. These guys taught me about outs, and odds, and how to put someone on tilt, back in the day when I didn't know what tilt was. We all pretty much know how each other plays and there is a lot of bad play just in the hopes of busting each other. I did not play well but also I ran horrible, never hit a set, never hit a straight of or a flush. I think I won 2 big pots all night, sick. I dumped off a good deal more than I should have but what the hell, no big deal. I am not going to talk about any individual hands, lets just say a few times I got drawn out on, a few times I got cold decked. No big deal, would much rather have it happen there then in Oklahoma.
I was going to get up semi-early and go play a session in Oklahoma and then be back in time to go to kung-fu but my stomach has been messed up since last night and the idea of an hour drive is not appealing at all. The plan is to go tomorrow and play a long session and also probably go on Friday and Saturday when the money is really easy. Really need to get into the habit of making the drive to start making money.
I have been skipping more kung-fu than I should be but I don't know if I should be going tonight with my stomach being messed up. We are still working on catching the leg when your being kicked and throwing the opponent. Very cool stuff but with an upset stomach probably not the best idea. I will probably skip but try to work my forms at home so I will have done something.
I am in the middle of playing a $250 buy in heads up tournament with a bunch of players from the 2plus2 forums. For those of you who don't know 2plus2 is a publishing company that puts out some of the best poker books around. They have a forum on their website that has a ton of really good information and has really improved my game 1000 fold. You can access the forum here http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/ubbthreads.php. If you read these posts and read the different ideas you will get better. Anyway in this event you play a best of 3 format against each opponent so the luck factor isn't as big. In the semifinals and the finals its a best of 5. I won my first round draw and I am going to be playing my second round this evening or tomorrow morning.
I am really pumped to play the match and think I have an edge on my opponent, we have chatted a bit trying to set up times and he seems cool and probably a better player than I am but I think I have an edge in the heads up department. First place in this tournament is $5500 dollars which would be a nice little bump to my online bankroll. I still have awhile to go so its not like I am spending the money already. A friend of mine is also playing and we have a little side bet as to who lasts longer. He also won his first match so we will see how it goes.
I was putting in my notes about the game last night into my log of my poker games and figured some of you might want to know where I stand. Keep in mind that I haven't played a whole lot because I was broke in the beginning of the year and then was working a lot. So far for the year in cash games I am ahead $2243, that is my profit. In tournaments I am ahead $885 that is after buy ins and such. Not a huge number but your tournament profit is a lot different than cash game profit. For satellites I have won one seat worth $400 and have spent a total of $405 playing them so only -$5 there, not too bad.
So on the agenda for today. I am going to watch a couple of card runner videos then play an online session work in my forums and make a final decision about kung-fu tonight.
Later
This is a group of guys who I have played poker with since the beginning. These guys taught me about outs, and odds, and how to put someone on tilt, back in the day when I didn't know what tilt was. We all pretty much know how each other plays and there is a lot of bad play just in the hopes of busting each other. I did not play well but also I ran horrible, never hit a set, never hit a straight of or a flush. I think I won 2 big pots all night, sick. I dumped off a good deal more than I should have but what the hell, no big deal. I am not going to talk about any individual hands, lets just say a few times I got drawn out on, a few times I got cold decked. No big deal, would much rather have it happen there then in Oklahoma.
I was going to get up semi-early and go play a session in Oklahoma and then be back in time to go to kung-fu but my stomach has been messed up since last night and the idea of an hour drive is not appealing at all. The plan is to go tomorrow and play a long session and also probably go on Friday and Saturday when the money is really easy. Really need to get into the habit of making the drive to start making money.
I have been skipping more kung-fu than I should be but I don't know if I should be going tonight with my stomach being messed up. We are still working on catching the leg when your being kicked and throwing the opponent. Very cool stuff but with an upset stomach probably not the best idea. I will probably skip but try to work my forms at home so I will have done something.
I am in the middle of playing a $250 buy in heads up tournament with a bunch of players from the 2plus2 forums. For those of you who don't know 2plus2 is a publishing company that puts out some of the best poker books around. They have a forum on their website that has a ton of really good information and has really improved my game 1000 fold. You can access the forum here http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/ubbthreads.php. If you read these posts and read the different ideas you will get better. Anyway in this event you play a best of 3 format against each opponent so the luck factor isn't as big. In the semifinals and the finals its a best of 5. I won my first round draw and I am going to be playing my second round this evening or tomorrow morning.
I am really pumped to play the match and think I have an edge on my opponent, we have chatted a bit trying to set up times and he seems cool and probably a better player than I am but I think I have an edge in the heads up department. First place in this tournament is $5500 dollars which would be a nice little bump to my online bankroll. I still have awhile to go so its not like I am spending the money already. A friend of mine is also playing and we have a little side bet as to who lasts longer. He also won his first match so we will see how it goes.
I was putting in my notes about the game last night into my log of my poker games and figured some of you might want to know where I stand. Keep in mind that I haven't played a whole lot because I was broke in the beginning of the year and then was working a lot. So far for the year in cash games I am ahead $2243, that is my profit. In tournaments I am ahead $885 that is after buy ins and such. Not a huge number but your tournament profit is a lot different than cash game profit. For satellites I have won one seat worth $400 and have spent a total of $405 playing them so only -$5 there, not too bad.
So on the agenda for today. I am going to watch a couple of card runner videos then play an online session work in my forums and make a final decision about kung-fu tonight.
Later
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