It takes a lot more courage to play live poker than it does to play online for sure. When I play online I can three bet someone with air without batting an eye, I can be stuck $4,000 and not be phased in the least, or I can misplay a hand and immediately shake it off. None of this is easy when playing live poker. Last night I played a hand so miserably I don't even want to discuss it. I'll just say some maniac flopped a set on me and before I knew what happened I had lost everything I had in front of me (about $4600) and I was on my way home. It is WAY more disheartening to lose playing live than it is online, because you have to deal with embarrassment, having a losing image at the table, and trying to recoup your loses at a painfully slow pace (compared to online). I decided that I would try to slow down a bit and maybe only play half a day of poker and just try to book a win today. I played about 1,000 hands online and luckily got a seat in a game where a really bad player was playing 10/20 NL (6 max game). I ended up winning around $2,000 today so that took away a little bit of the sting of the $4,200 I lost playing live last night. So, I have had quite a few days recently where I won $5k+ and even some right around $10k, but losing $4k live feels way worse than those winning days felt good. Oh well, that's just the way it goes sometimes.
My buddy Justin and his girlfriend, Niki, have had a trip planned to Cabo San Lucas, Mexico for a few months now. They half jokingly invited me to go with them a while ago and I surprised them by booking my trip last week when the trip was only 2 weeks away. Molly and I are leaving Vegas on the 17th and getting to Cabo around noon and we'll be back in Vegas on the 22nd. I just booked my flight home for Christmas today and I won't be home until 10pm on the 23rd, but I am staying until January 2nd so I can attend Justin's New Years bash he has planned. I will try and post some pictures on here from our trip. At least this time I can be sure I will have some pictures to post, because I am sure the girls will take plenty.
In case anyone is wondering what to get me for Christmas I want the same thing I asked for last year....if you plan on giving me anything I prefer you either save your money and buy yourself something and/or donate whatever you planned on spending on me to the charity of your choice. The thought of donating stuff got me thinking about something I have always wanted to do....
I always had heard about "The David Letterman Scholarship", but all I really knew about it was that your GPA had nothing to do with it. I just looked it up and "The goal of the scholarshp (haha, brilliant! I just copied and pasted this from the site and the little red line popped up, letting me know that the word "scholarship" was misspelled...so I will leave it like that for you to see the irony of this scholarship) is assist average students who have a creative mind. Winners are selected primarily based on creativity."
I originally thought the scholarship was a little less structured that that, but it still gave me my idea. I never had a shot to win a scholarship of any kind, but then again, why would I? After all, I was a horrible student (Slightly above a 2.0 GPA), I didn't excel in any sports, I was from a wealthy family, I am white, and the most obvious reason....I never even considered applying for one. However, I want to pass on my legacy to some other under achieving, upper class, slacker of a kid. If for no other reason than for the comedic value that will it will bring to an otherwise VERY boring class day. I mean can you imagine when the undeserving class clown gets to walk on stage, shake the principal's hand, and accept his $500 or $1,000 scholarship? I am going to talk to one of my friends that teaches at Central High School and see what I have to do to get this scholarship implemented for this year's Class Day.
Here are the requirements:
-Must have less than a 3.0 GPA.
-Must come from an middle/upper class family.
-Must be attending Indiana Univeristy.
-Must have played at least one varsity sport his/her (can't imagine it ever going to a girl) senior year.
-Must have one letter of reference from a teacher stating his/her level of under-achievement.
-Comedic value of application will be taken into consideration.
It will most likely be a cash scholarship of $500 or $1,000 value.
Can you think of any other guidelines that should be considered for my scholarship?
Saturday, December 13, 2008
Thursday, December 11, 2008
A good day, but some weird hands....
I played a little under 5 hours online and won $4181 and then I went to the Bellagio to play 10/20 I ended up playing there for about 5 hours as well. I won just under $800 there. The games have been pretty bad in general during the tournaments that have been running. It seems like everyone playing in the games plays for a living and there are no soft spots at all. People are 3betting constantly which is so atypical of a normal live passive type of game. Basically, it is just a bunch of internet wiz kids all playing against each other.
Anyway, I want to talk about a couple of hands I played. One of them just because it was unique and one because I want to see if I made a mistake or a correct call.
The first hand an early position player made raised it to $80, one other player called, and I called with 45 of diamonds. The flop was Ad Jh 8c and everyone checked. The turn was the 3d. So now I had a flush draw and a gutshot straight draw. The original raiser checked and the other player bet $180, I called, the other player folded. The river was an offsuit Ten and he checked to me. I contemplated bluffing the river for a moment and then decided I would just give up on the hand, because it felt like he was trying to induce a bluff from me anyway. I checked and he said "you win" and folded his hand towards the dealer and I instantly said "No, you win", but held onto my cards. The dealer quickly grabbed his cards and jammed them into the muck and I kind of just sat there as the dealer started pushing me the pot. I took the pot and as I was handing my cards to the dealer the other player realized what I said and said something like "What? How High?". I told him I had 5 high and and he just smiled and said "Wow!". He clearly folded the winner and I felt kind of bad for taking a pot that I shouldn't have one, but that is how the rules in poker work. Anyway, I won a $630 pot that I shouldn't have and I offered to give him a $60 rebate, because I felt bad. He seemed to think that was a reasonable offer by me and he took the money and that was that.
The next hand, I raised it to $80 from utg with AK of spades, the aggressive Canadian to my left said "I have to raise here" and he raised it to $340 total, and a guy in late position just smooth called the $340. I had a very tight image (obviously) and I decided that I could make both of them fold hands like other AKs or maybe even QQ and I raised it to $1180 total and I had about $3400 more left. The Canadian folded in disgust and the other kid thought for a while before he put me all-in. I didn't like it one bit, but I really didn't feel like he had smooth called with AA or KK although it was very possible he held one of those hands. Anyway, I did some math in my head and estimated there was about $6,000 in the pot and I had to call $3400 more. I thought for a couple of minutes and eventually the Canadian called the clock on me. I ended up calling and he had the AK of clubs...SHEW! They let us chop the pot and we split the Jerky Canadian's money. I ran some math when I got home and if his range was AA, KK, QQ, AKs, and AKos I was profiting about $600 by making the call and if he could only have AA, KK, AK or AKs there I was making about $440 by calling. If he had only KK or AA I was losing about $1200 by calling. Basically, there was just too much money in the pot to fold and I ended up making the correct call, but it wasn't very much fun doing so!
Time to hit the sack...I have an 11am tee time tomorrow (today really, because it is 3:52 am).
Night. Night.
Anyway, I want to talk about a couple of hands I played. One of them just because it was unique and one because I want to see if I made a mistake or a correct call.
The first hand an early position player made raised it to $80, one other player called, and I called with 45 of diamonds. The flop was Ad Jh 8c and everyone checked. The turn was the 3d. So now I had a flush draw and a gutshot straight draw. The original raiser checked and the other player bet $180, I called, the other player folded. The river was an offsuit Ten and he checked to me. I contemplated bluffing the river for a moment and then decided I would just give up on the hand, because it felt like he was trying to induce a bluff from me anyway. I checked and he said "you win" and folded his hand towards the dealer and I instantly said "No, you win", but held onto my cards. The dealer quickly grabbed his cards and jammed them into the muck and I kind of just sat there as the dealer started pushing me the pot. I took the pot and as I was handing my cards to the dealer the other player realized what I said and said something like "What? How High?". I told him I had 5 high and and he just smiled and said "Wow!". He clearly folded the winner and I felt kind of bad for taking a pot that I shouldn't have one, but that is how the rules in poker work. Anyway, I won a $630 pot that I shouldn't have and I offered to give him a $60 rebate, because I felt bad. He seemed to think that was a reasonable offer by me and he took the money and that was that.
The next hand, I raised it to $80 from utg with AK of spades, the aggressive Canadian to my left said "I have to raise here" and he raised it to $340 total, and a guy in late position just smooth called the $340. I had a very tight image (obviously) and I decided that I could make both of them fold hands like other AKs or maybe even QQ and I raised it to $1180 total and I had about $3400 more left. The Canadian folded in disgust and the other kid thought for a while before he put me all-in. I didn't like it one bit, but I really didn't feel like he had smooth called with AA or KK although it was very possible he held one of those hands. Anyway, I did some math in my head and estimated there was about $6,000 in the pot and I had to call $3400 more. I thought for a couple of minutes and eventually the Canadian called the clock on me. I ended up calling and he had the AK of clubs...SHEW! They let us chop the pot and we split the Jerky Canadian's money. I ran some math when I got home and if his range was AA, KK, QQ, AKs, and AKos I was profiting about $600 by making the call and if he could only have AA, KK, AK or AKs there I was making about $440 by calling. If he had only KK or AA I was losing about $1200 by calling. Basically, there was just too much money in the pot to fold and I ended up making the correct call, but it wasn't very much fun doing so!
Time to hit the sack...I have an 11am tee time tomorrow (today really, because it is 3:52 am).
Night. Night.
Tuesday, December 9, 2008
New Record =)
I broke my personal best daily winning record today. I won $4747 online and then went to the Bellagio and pretty much didn't lose any pots and ended up winning another $6831 there. That makes my new record for most money won in a single day $11,578. That is a pretty sweet feeling to win so much in a day, but honestly it doesn't feel like anything out of the ordinary happened. I had to make one tough call (I was right) at the Bellagio and I ran a little above expectation online. Its not like $11K is just another day at the office, but its not like I get the chills thinking about it or it is an amount that is going to change my life. When I won 74K in the tournament that was a very surreal feeling and I was on cloud nine for a few months, to the point where it negatively affected my poker game. I think it probably affected me differently to win so much in a tourney, because I almost felt undeserving of winning so much by risking so little and it was also very unexpected. When you win money in a cash game you have to risk all the money that you end up winning so you feel a little more entitled to it. Also, there is more of a realistic expectation as to how much you could possibly win.
I have been reading a book that was suggested to me by Nick and I find it really entertaining and insightful. The book is "Fooled by Randomness" and it basically just makes you aware of how much stuff that happens in life is a result of chance/variance rather than skill or hard work. I will have more to blog about this book when I am finished reading it, but it hard to re-explain the stuff that he talks about because he writes in a very concise style that isn't easily summarized.
Oh, I almost forgot! Tonight in my 10/20 NL game an attractive extremely drunk woman sat down to play with us. You could tell she definitely had a lot of money somehow and that she clearly didn't belong in this poker game. She then told us her husband was a baseball player so I asked what his name was...Kris Benson. I recognized his name and remembered him pitching for the Pirates and I think it was when he was a rookie. When she said Kris was her husband something was triggered in my memory and I recalled there being some kind of tabloid type publicity involving those two. Of course I immediately google'd "Kris Benson's wife" on my phone and before it had even finished I knew her name was Anna Benson. Anyway, when I got the results and clicked on the first link it told their story and also included some photos of her. There were some quotes of her saying stuff like "I told Kris that if he ever cheated on my I would sleep with the entire Mets organization (his team at the time)". The article also talked about how they got caught having sex in the parking lot in Kris's Tahoe and she talked about all the different baseball stadiums they'd had sex in. She was awful at poker, but somehow only ended up losing about $100 of the $1,000 that she had bought in for. She told us how she had sprained her ankle and broken her toe when she fell as she was running up the stairs, because she was in a hurry to get to Vegas to party. Anyway, she quit playing because her toe started hurting her and she didn't think she was going to be able to make it to her room. She wanted someone to push her in one of the chairs from the poker room all the way to her room, but she would not except the floorman's offer of providing a wheelchair for her. She ONLY wanted to get pushed in one of the chairs from the poker room. Long story short, she asked me if I would help walk her to her room and I obliged. On the way to her room she tried to steal one of those hover-a-round scooters that some handicapped person had left outside of the poker room. When we got to the elevators she obviously didn't have her room key or her any ID so they wouldn't let her up to the room. She first tried to call her husband on the hotel phone and dialed the wrong room and woke someone else up at 3:00am. Finally, she called Kris on his cell phone and I left her at the elevators waiting for Kris to come down and let her up. Just another normal night in Vegas!
Here she is in all her glory:
I have been reading a book that was suggested to me by Nick and I find it really entertaining and insightful. The book is "Fooled by Randomness" and it basically just makes you aware of how much stuff that happens in life is a result of chance/variance rather than skill or hard work. I will have more to blog about this book when I am finished reading it, but it hard to re-explain the stuff that he talks about because he writes in a very concise style that isn't easily summarized.
Oh, I almost forgot! Tonight in my 10/20 NL game an attractive extremely drunk woman sat down to play with us. You could tell she definitely had a lot of money somehow and that she clearly didn't belong in this poker game. She then told us her husband was a baseball player so I asked what his name was...Kris Benson. I recognized his name and remembered him pitching for the Pirates and I think it was when he was a rookie. When she said Kris was her husband something was triggered in my memory and I recalled there being some kind of tabloid type publicity involving those two. Of course I immediately google'd "Kris Benson's wife" on my phone and before it had even finished I knew her name was Anna Benson. Anyway, when I got the results and clicked on the first link it told their story and also included some photos of her. There were some quotes of her saying stuff like "I told Kris that if he ever cheated on my I would sleep with the entire Mets organization (his team at the time)". The article also talked about how they got caught having sex in the parking lot in Kris's Tahoe and she talked about all the different baseball stadiums they'd had sex in. She was awful at poker, but somehow only ended up losing about $100 of the $1,000 that she had bought in for. She told us how she had sprained her ankle and broken her toe when she fell as she was running up the stairs, because she was in a hurry to get to Vegas to party. Anyway, she quit playing because her toe started hurting her and she didn't think she was going to be able to make it to her room. She wanted someone to push her in one of the chairs from the poker room all the way to her room, but she would not except the floorman's offer of providing a wheelchair for her. She ONLY wanted to get pushed in one of the chairs from the poker room. Long story short, she asked me if I would help walk her to her room and I obliged. On the way to her room she tried to steal one of those hover-a-round scooters that some handicapped person had left outside of the poker room. When we got to the elevators she obviously didn't have her room key or her any ID so they wouldn't let her up to the room. She first tried to call her husband on the hotel phone and dialed the wrong room and woke someone else up at 3:00am. Finally, she called Kris on his cell phone and I left her at the elevators waiting for Kris to come down and let her up. Just another normal night in Vegas!
Here she is in all her glory:
Friday, December 5, 2008
Random act of kindness....
It is one of my favorite things to do and for whatever reason it had been a while since I had done it, but I love paying for the person's order that is behind me in line in the drive thru at a fast food restaurant. I had to be awake again today at 8am to let the workers in to continue the repairs on our ceiling that was recently damaged when our roof leaked. Anyway, I woke up early and went to McDonalds to get some breakfast and I decided to pay for the person behind me today. It is so awesome seeing their reaction when they go to hand their money to worker and they tell them that it has already been taken care of by the car in front of them. They always looked so confused at first and then you can tell that you just made their day a little better. Today she looked up at me with a big smile and I gave her a wave just kinda saying "you're welcome". She then waved back and mouthed "Why?" and I have her a shrug as if to say back to her...."Why not?". She didn't stop smiling the whole time I was waiting to get my food...it is always much more fun to do when you can tell they are really appreciative and she clearly was. So, for $4.60 I estimate that I made her day and my day like $200 more valuable. That is a pretty sweet investment....$4.60 turned into $400 (2 x $200) worth of enjoyment. I recommend that you do the same the next time you are given the opportunity.
Tuesday, December 2, 2008
24 hours in the life of Pat....
I woke up for the day at 11pm
11:30-12:00 - Went to Del Taco for "breakfast".
12:00-7:00am - played 4,261 hands of online poker and won $3,649
7:30-9:00am - Went to the Maple Tree with Nick and Channing for breakfast (my lunch).
10:00-5:30pm - Played 27 holes of golf and ate lunch (my dinner) at TPC with Jimmy and two of his buddies from Wisconsin and won $41 (-$76 in greens fees).
7:00-9:00pm - Played two hours of trampoline dodgeball and won $120 (-$12 in playing fees).
9:30-10:30 - Browsed the internet and wrote this blog.
11:00pm - Bedtime.
I wonder if I will ever grow up? I sure hope not!
11:30-12:00 - Went to Del Taco for "breakfast".
12:00-7:00am - played 4,261 hands of online poker and won $3,649
7:30-9:00am - Went to the Maple Tree with Nick and Channing for breakfast (my lunch).
10:00-5:30pm - Played 27 holes of golf and ate lunch (my dinner) at TPC with Jimmy and two of his buddies from Wisconsin and won $41 (-$76 in greens fees).
7:00-9:00pm - Played two hours of trampoline dodgeball and won $120 (-$12 in playing fees).
9:30-10:30 - Browsed the internet and wrote this blog.
11:00pm - Bedtime.
I wonder if I will ever grow up? I sure hope not!
Tuesday, November 25, 2008
Swingy swings....
Well, apparently my idea that I wrote about in my last blog isn't as popular with my readers as I thought it would be. I have personally discussed my idea with every single one of my readers either in person, via instant mesenger, or email. That's right....I talked to all 6 of them and only one person agreed with me. Dad thinks public humiliation shouldn't be an option for punishment, Matt says that is a TERRIBLE IDEA, Nick agrees with me, Kevin (not a reader, but we discussed it) says no way (I wonder why?), but he does think that people who fail a driving test (me) should have to use special plates, and Josh says he likes the idea, but the plates shouldn't be permanent.
I think I probably agree with Josh the most of all those people. It would be a little bit ridiculous for someone who had a DUI when they were 21 to still be using special plates when they were dropping their kid off at school when they are in their 40's (assuming they have a clean record since their 1st DUI). So I want to revise my idea a little bit. If you are a repeat offender you get the plates for life....tough tittie said the kitty. First time offenders should have the plates and license for 3 years. If you still disagree with my idea then I hope all your loved ones are killed by a repeat drunk driver (that has the same plates he had the first time he got caught) this holiday season. Ok, I don't really hope that, because some of you that disagree with me consider me one of your loved ones and I don't want to die anytime soon.
Onto poker, The last 7 days of poker have been some of the swingiest days of poker I have ever played. I have either won or lost a minimum of $2100 each of the last 7 days. I ended up down $1915 during those 7 days, but I also ran over $5,000 below expectation during that span. I played over 40 hours online and over 16,000 hands during this time so I should be getting some pretty healthy rakeback for my hard work (probably around $6-700). I sure ended awfully badly by losing about $8,000 in the last two days alone. In fact I had probably the nastiest short term downswing I have ever had in the last two days. I lost almost $12,000 in about 1400 hands. That is impressively horrible and I am really glad I had been on such a nice run prior to the last two days. My last 25,000 hands of poker online have been break even, but it felt like anything but a break even period. There were lots of highs and lows in there, but it is what it is and I can't do anything about it now. I have made lots of improvements in my game and preparation lately and I am going to have much better results in the future from it.
I have lots of crap I have to get done before I leave for home today and there is not one of those things that I want to do....I can't wait!
I think I probably agree with Josh the most of all those people. It would be a little bit ridiculous for someone who had a DUI when they were 21 to still be using special plates when they were dropping their kid off at school when they are in their 40's (assuming they have a clean record since their 1st DUI). So I want to revise my idea a little bit. If you are a repeat offender you get the plates for life....tough tittie said the kitty. First time offenders should have the plates and license for 3 years. If you still disagree with my idea then I hope all your loved ones are killed by a repeat drunk driver (that has the same plates he had the first time he got caught) this holiday season. Ok, I don't really hope that, because some of you that disagree with me consider me one of your loved ones and I don't want to die anytime soon.
Onto poker, The last 7 days of poker have been some of the swingiest days of poker I have ever played. I have either won or lost a minimum of $2100 each of the last 7 days. I ended up down $1915 during those 7 days, but I also ran over $5,000 below expectation during that span. I played over 40 hours online and over 16,000 hands during this time so I should be getting some pretty healthy rakeback for my hard work (probably around $6-700). I sure ended awfully badly by losing about $8,000 in the last two days alone. In fact I had probably the nastiest short term downswing I have ever had in the last two days. I lost almost $12,000 in about 1400 hands. That is impressively horrible and I am really glad I had been on such a nice run prior to the last two days. My last 25,000 hands of poker online have been break even, but it felt like anything but a break even period. There were lots of highs and lows in there, but it is what it is and I can't do anything about it now. I have made lots of improvements in my game and preparation lately and I am going to have much better results in the future from it.
I have lots of crap I have to get done before I leave for home today and there is not one of those things that I want to do....I can't wait!
Monday, November 24, 2008
I just thought of a fantastic idea....
From time to time I will come up with a great idea for an invention or a cool way that something should be done. I almost never do anything about them, but it is still fun to think about them. I have even been disappointed before when I found out that someone else started producing one of my "inventions" before I got around to it....not that I was ever going to get around to it. This time though, I don't care if someone steals my idea...in fact, I hope they do!
I have no idea what made me think of this, but here goes anyway:
I think that anytime someone gets convicted of a DUI they should be given the normal punishments associated with a DUI, but in addition they should also be forever required to use specially marked license plates and driver's license that say "I am a convicted drunk driver". I think it should be very noticeable as well, perhaps an all red license plate or something to that affect. I think it would be a very strong deterrent towards drinking and driving. Here are some of the ways I think it would improve the current drinking and driving situation:
1. Police would be much more likely to pull someone over with specially marked plates so former offenders will be apprehensive to drive drunk again with the increased risk of being caught.
2. It would be pretty embarrassing to have to show a DUI branded drivers license anytime you needed to prove your identity and no one would want the gaudy looking bright red plate on their car either.
3. Other driver's on the road would be made more aware of potential drunk drivers.
Can you think of one good reason this shouldn't be a policy? Me either!
I have no idea what made me think of this, but here goes anyway:
I think that anytime someone gets convicted of a DUI they should be given the normal punishments associated with a DUI, but in addition they should also be forever required to use specially marked license plates and driver's license that say "I am a convicted drunk driver". I think it should be very noticeable as well, perhaps an all red license plate or something to that affect. I think it would be a very strong deterrent towards drinking and driving. Here are some of the ways I think it would improve the current drinking and driving situation:
1. Police would be much more likely to pull someone over with specially marked plates so former offenders will be apprehensive to drive drunk again with the increased risk of being caught.
2. It would be pretty embarrassing to have to show a DUI branded drivers license anytime you needed to prove your identity and no one would want the gaudy looking bright red plate on their car either.
3. Other driver's on the road would be made more aware of potential drunk drivers.
Can you think of one good reason this shouldn't be a policy? Me either!
Sunday, November 23, 2008
Wow, Wow, Wow.....
I put in some serious hours of poker in the last 48 hours. I spent almost 18 of those hours playing online poker and I played over 7200 hands. I don't know what has gotten into me lately, but I have been extra motivated to put in lots of hours playing. Since November 6th, which is the last time I had people visiting I have played over 83 hours of online poker and 30,000 hands. That is averaging over 4.5 hours per day for 18 days. I have also played probably 25-30 hours of live poker during that stretch. I have been reading some of Leatherass' (he is an amazingly dedicated online grinder) blogs recently and I think he is part of the reason for the extra motivation. He just recently topped the $1,000,000 mark for the year. There are many people that make over a million dollars a year playing poker (I am guessing around 200+ in the world maybe?), but the crazy thing about Leatherass is that he does it playing very similar sized stakes to what I play. He also plays about 1.5 million hands in a year and I will probably end up somewhere just under 400,000 hands played for the year. It is really kind of exciting to see names of some of the regulars that I play with everyday cracking the list of the top 50 biggest winners for the year on Full Tilt. It is pretty crazy how much money can be won just at the stakes I have been playing if you are willing to put in the hours. I will be setting some very lofty goals at the start of 2009, that is for sure.
Anyway, my last 48 hours of online poker have been a roller coaster. I started off quickly up over $3,000 than I was down almost $4,000 and back to up $600 all in the first 4,000 hands I had played. I got all the way back down over $4,000 and then within the last 900 hands or so I went on a rush and won about $6,300 straight to finish up somewhere around $2,100. That last rush is what I want to talk about....I had just gotten back from eating with Nick at about 4:00am and decided just to play for a little bit before I went to bed. There is this guy that plays on stars whose playing style REALLY got under my skin and I decided I would fiddle around trying out his playing style to see how it worked. His style is very unique and I found out by playing it for a couple of hours that it is VERY hard to exploit. Anytime he enters a pot he min-raises and is constantly continuation betting the flop for about half-pot. I just found out that it really tilts other players (just like it did to me) to have someone constantly min-raising in their game. It really changes up the flow of the game that they are used to and they fail miserably at adjusting to it. I always found myself trying to make plays at this guy because it seems so weak when he min-raises all the time and these players can't help themselves from doing the same thing to me. It makes the effective stacks at the table play much deeper and gives you more opportunities to make decisions on later streets. They continually try to 3 bet me, but it costs me so little to call their 3bet since my initial raise was so small that it is worth it regardless of my cards most of the time. Everyone plays pretty similar preflop styles and everyone is pretty technically sound as far as preflop play goes. However, people get really lost in the hand when there is so much play after the flop and I love it. It is a really fun style to play and drives the other players bonkers. I am going to continue working on it tomorrow and see if my success rate stays the same....or even improves!
I gotta get to bed. Its about 7:30am and I plan on playing in the Sunday Million tournament on stars that starts at 1:30pm.
In case anyone reading this is wondering...I get into Evansville around 10pm on Tuesday night. See ya soon.
Anyway, my last 48 hours of online poker have been a roller coaster. I started off quickly up over $3,000 than I was down almost $4,000 and back to up $600 all in the first 4,000 hands I had played. I got all the way back down over $4,000 and then within the last 900 hands or so I went on a rush and won about $6,300 straight to finish up somewhere around $2,100. That last rush is what I want to talk about....I had just gotten back from eating with Nick at about 4:00am and decided just to play for a little bit before I went to bed. There is this guy that plays on stars whose playing style REALLY got under my skin and I decided I would fiddle around trying out his playing style to see how it worked. His style is very unique and I found out by playing it for a couple of hours that it is VERY hard to exploit. Anytime he enters a pot he min-raises and is constantly continuation betting the flop for about half-pot. I just found out that it really tilts other players (just like it did to me) to have someone constantly min-raising in their game. It really changes up the flow of the game that they are used to and they fail miserably at adjusting to it. I always found myself trying to make plays at this guy because it seems so weak when he min-raises all the time and these players can't help themselves from doing the same thing to me. It makes the effective stacks at the table play much deeper and gives you more opportunities to make decisions on later streets. They continually try to 3 bet me, but it costs me so little to call their 3bet since my initial raise was so small that it is worth it regardless of my cards most of the time. Everyone plays pretty similar preflop styles and everyone is pretty technically sound as far as preflop play goes. However, people get really lost in the hand when there is so much play after the flop and I love it. It is a really fun style to play and drives the other players bonkers. I am going to continue working on it tomorrow and see if my success rate stays the same....or even improves!
I gotta get to bed. Its about 7:30am and I plan on playing in the Sunday Million tournament on stars that starts at 1:30pm.
In case anyone reading this is wondering...I get into Evansville around 10pm on Tuesday night. See ya soon.
Thursday, November 20, 2008
Advancing my game....
I feel like I work pretty hard on improving my poker game and it is really rewarding when you can tell it is working. The most obvious way you can tell that you are improving is by the amount of money you win (or don't loss for some people). To me it is much more rewarding when my hard work pays off by giving me a clearer understanding of the game of poker in general or when I learn something about myself that helps to improve my poker game.
I was perusing the 2+2 forum yesterday after I had one of my worst losing days online ever. I lost over $5,000 yesterday and I just didn't feel like my normal self when I was playing. I made some errors that I would normally never make and I let one hand early in my session affect my emotions the rest of the day. Anyway, I found a gem of a post by a pretty respected poster on there and I think it is really going to be helpful. He gave some rather non poker related explanations as to why he thought he was able to achieve a higher win rate than most regulars his advice really hit home with me. He claims that in order to win at the rates he wins at you don't have to be more skilled than any of the other typical regular players, but you have to have more self control and better awareness of what is going on while you are playing. I have always thought that most people with decent intelligence and a fundamental understanding of poker should be able to make a living playing poker. There are many factors outside of poker skills that determine what makes you a winning player in the long run and those are the ones that most people fail at. He happens to agree with me, but explains it in a much better way than I could myself.
I am going to copy some excerpts from his post and comment on how I think they apply to me. I am sure this will be pretty boring to the people reading this that aren't interested in improving their poker game, but for those of you that are you should pay attention to what he has to say....its some pretty good stuff.
#1 BW: Your mental, emotional state while playing is 80% of the work, and you can work and take specific steps to get better at that. Being in the right emotional state will allow you to open up your eyes to what you and the other players are doing without being stuck in the previous hand you lost, how much you are up, what you´re gonna eat later, etc.
Combine that with some basic technical steps that can be taken and you got the other 20% to at least achieve enough to live comfortably off poker. I believe that with today’s games and climate, anybody with even mediocre intelligence and some discipline could at the very least make a comfortable living playing this game.
I feel like I have better control of my mental state while playing that most players, but this is an area where I can definitely improve on. I know I have said this before, but no more chatting while I am playing and I am going to work on clearing my mind of outside stuff while I am playing. There is jut no excuse to not make an effort to focus 100% of your energy on poker while you are playing. I realize it is difficult to actually give 100% of your focus, but you should at least try to do so.
#2 The big difference between the average 1-2 grinder and the average 3/6 or 5/10 grinder is definitely not raw talent or God-given natural abilities. It is risk tolerance, bankroll management, game selection, tilt control. All very simple things to reign in with a little emotional control.
These are almost the exact same things I have been working on lately without even really knowing I was working on them. My bankroll management has never been an issue. However, I was always complaining how I wasn't comfortable in bigger games and I felt like my hands were face up when I played them. Forcing myself to play in bigger games has somewhat solved my risk tolerance problem and I have definitely been practicing better game selection lately. Of course I was going to feel like my hand was face up when I previously used to take shots at bigger games without giving any thought to game selection. I always ended up in games with the best players/regulars at those higher limits and they obviously had more experience than I did and outplayed me at will. In my opinion improved risk tolerance and game selection are definitely the two most important things when attempting to move up in limits.
#3 Also, as I mention above, I believe hand reading to be a function of your mental / emotional state at the time more than anything else.
Ever noticed that some days you can put people on hands right and left, other days you´re just fumbling in the dark? They haven´t changed, you haven´t changed, your skills have not diminished. But you are probably not in that same emotional state you were in when playing the first game.
Brilliant! Hand reading being a function of your mental/emotional state is some of the wonderfully written poker advice I have ever read. It is so easy to read hands when you are winning and everything is going your way and sometimes seemingly impossible when things aren't going your way. I think that people almost always write this phenomenon off as "running good" or "running bad" instead of placing the blame/success on their own state of mind. When people are losing and get put in a tough spot they just say to theirself..."Geez, I never get put in spots like this when I am winning, this is just such bad luck piled onto my already bad luck". When in actuality, they do get put in those same spots when they are winning, but their mind isn't clouded with doubt and the decisions are seen with so much more clarity. How many times have you been in a live game where you are not involved in the hand and you are watching someone agonize over what is such an obvious decision to you? It is so easy because your mental/emotional state isn't being bombarded with doubt when you are just observing the hand and have no emotional ties to the result.
Here is some more of his thoughts on results being tied to your emotional state of mind:
BW: Realizing that most regulars actually were not that solid and didn´t have their own game (most just basically have picked up somebody else’s preflop game that they´ve seen on a training video and have no clue why they are doing what they are doing - postflop they are usually spewy as xxxx). When you start zoning in how to scalp the regs, that´s when you start improving and that´s when you start beating the game for more than 1 ptbb / hour. And the basis for all of this was realizing how much of my game was dependant on playing when in the right emotional state, and learning how to maintain that mindframe.
Most of you guys have no basic technical problems when it comes to this game. You understand pot control, way ahead / way behind, position, equity, pot odds, 3-bet equity, etc. The reason you struggle with the more subtle technical aspects is that they usually require a good and clean state of mind whilst playing and analyzing. If you are on constant subtle tilt you will never understand your own image, your opponents projected image vs the way they actually play, what your history with a specific opponent really means and CORRECT adjustments (as opposed to a couple of 3 bets and now you´re waiting to shove any 2), and what all this basically boils down to; hand reading and putting your opponent on accurate ranges, and knowing what to do with those ranges. These qualities will separate a 2 ptbb winner, from a 5 ptbb winner. I believe that although I display a 4,7 ptbb winrate, I could have easily avoided many situations where I KNEW I was making the wrong play and made it anyway, and could easily have had a 5,5 - 6 ptbb winrate. I take responsibility for these results.
#4 BW: I go through a studious prep pregame, and I have papernotes around me that I use whilst playing. I have very specific tradition throughout the day. I always start, for instance, by reviewing yesterdays hands.
As for a check-lists, start small. Whenever somebody calls or raises you preflop, jusk ask yourself about his range of hands. You would not believe how many pros fail to ask themselves this one simple question (which they always used to when they were improving). We all know we should, and yet when we sit down we start autopiloting our usual abc game. We´re on the ball the first 5 minutes, and then go into droid mode. Just start out by doing this every time you have any preflop decisions. Then extend to the flop. Then extend to asking yourself about your perceived range (2nd level). If you have been autopiloting for the last 2 hrs, you will have no idea what he perceives your range to be, because you have no clue about your own image. You can add levels as you go on, but do not overdo it. And the absolute most important thing when faced with a big decision, is to first breathe and relax for a couple of seconds.
Have you ever noticed when you get sucked into a hand? Like you have an overpair and you get raised on the turn, you know you´re beat, and beofre you know it you have called anyway? Or what i call the bluff-vortex, when you start with small flop raise, and before you know it you have fired three barrels and you´re all in and get snapcalled by the nuts? What the hell just happened? A 200 bb pot lost out of nowhere!!? If, at any point, you would have just stepped back, taken a breath and realized how little sense your line makes or how narrow his range must be, you would have saved a stack. When you look at it in retrospect, it is very clear to you. This alludes to my earlier point; most of you guys are fine when it comes to the technical aspects of the game, but you need to hone some of the mental and emotional ones.
This is all great stuff, but he most important part that I took from it was developing a routine prior to playing that gets me in the right state of mind to play. I usually have a small pregame routine that I do most of the time, but I needed to expand on it a little bit. I usually take my adderall and get in the shower before I start a serious online session. Today I took an extra step to help clear my mind before I played. I took my normal shower and then set a 10 minute timer on my computer while I laid on my couch with my eyes closed thinking about the most common mistakes I make when playing and how I could avoid them. I also tried to reenact some situations where I felt I made really clear decisions that sometimes seemed tough to me. I tried to focus on the emotional state I was in when I made those decisions and get myself to be in that same mind frame before I started my session.
#5 BW: I try to live my life in accordance with many buddhist philosophies. The greatest lesson that can be applied to your poker game is the buddhist lesson of being mindful and aware of one´s thoughts and actions at all times. I believe that this is the one single most powerful tool in any game (or profession) and the separator between many of the nosebleeders, the midstakes grinders and the low-limit strugglers. Unfortunately as simple as this teaching is, it is not easy.
I think this is so true of all of the most successful people in any sport. I think a persons mental makeup/approach to a sport is way important to their natural ability. For example: Everyone on tour can hit the same shots Tiger does. Jordan didn't make a higher % of his shot attempts than other shooting guards in the league. Peyton Manning is slower than your average NFL QB and he throws aren't ones that can't be made by the rest of the QB's in the league. However, all of these people just have WAY better control over their emotions than their opponents do and this is what makes them the best at their sports.
I am sorry this was so long winded, but I really needed to get these thoughts down while it was fresh in my mind.
Oh ya, I had one of my best days ever today after my semi-meditation to start my session: +$7,221, Ballin!
I was perusing the 2+2 forum yesterday after I had one of my worst losing days online ever. I lost over $5,000 yesterday and I just didn't feel like my normal self when I was playing. I made some errors that I would normally never make and I let one hand early in my session affect my emotions the rest of the day. Anyway, I found a gem of a post by a pretty respected poster on there and I think it is really going to be helpful. He gave some rather non poker related explanations as to why he thought he was able to achieve a higher win rate than most regulars his advice really hit home with me. He claims that in order to win at the rates he wins at you don't have to be more skilled than any of the other typical regular players, but you have to have more self control and better awareness of what is going on while you are playing. I have always thought that most people with decent intelligence and a fundamental understanding of poker should be able to make a living playing poker. There are many factors outside of poker skills that determine what makes you a winning player in the long run and those are the ones that most people fail at. He happens to agree with me, but explains it in a much better way than I could myself.
I am going to copy some excerpts from his post and comment on how I think they apply to me. I am sure this will be pretty boring to the people reading this that aren't interested in improving their poker game, but for those of you that are you should pay attention to what he has to say....its some pretty good stuff.
#1 BW: Your mental, emotional state while playing is 80% of the work, and you can work and take specific steps to get better at that. Being in the right emotional state will allow you to open up your eyes to what you and the other players are doing without being stuck in the previous hand you lost, how much you are up, what you´re gonna eat later, etc.
Combine that with some basic technical steps that can be taken and you got the other 20% to at least achieve enough to live comfortably off poker. I believe that with today’s games and climate, anybody with even mediocre intelligence and some discipline could at the very least make a comfortable living playing this game.
I feel like I have better control of my mental state while playing that most players, but this is an area where I can definitely improve on. I know I have said this before, but no more chatting while I am playing and I am going to work on clearing my mind of outside stuff while I am playing. There is jut no excuse to not make an effort to focus 100% of your energy on poker while you are playing. I realize it is difficult to actually give 100% of your focus, but you should at least try to do so.
#2 The big difference between the average 1-2 grinder and the average 3/6 or 5/10 grinder is definitely not raw talent or God-given natural abilities. It is risk tolerance, bankroll management, game selection, tilt control. All very simple things to reign in with a little emotional control.
These are almost the exact same things I have been working on lately without even really knowing I was working on them. My bankroll management has never been an issue. However, I was always complaining how I wasn't comfortable in bigger games and I felt like my hands were face up when I played them. Forcing myself to play in bigger games has somewhat solved my risk tolerance problem and I have definitely been practicing better game selection lately. Of course I was going to feel like my hand was face up when I previously used to take shots at bigger games without giving any thought to game selection. I always ended up in games with the best players/regulars at those higher limits and they obviously had more experience than I did and outplayed me at will. In my opinion improved risk tolerance and game selection are definitely the two most important things when attempting to move up in limits.
#3 Also, as I mention above, I believe hand reading to be a function of your mental / emotional state at the time more than anything else.
Ever noticed that some days you can put people on hands right and left, other days you´re just fumbling in the dark? They haven´t changed, you haven´t changed, your skills have not diminished. But you are probably not in that same emotional state you were in when playing the first game.
Brilliant! Hand reading being a function of your mental/emotional state is some of the wonderfully written poker advice I have ever read. It is so easy to read hands when you are winning and everything is going your way and sometimes seemingly impossible when things aren't going your way. I think that people almost always write this phenomenon off as "running good" or "running bad" instead of placing the blame/success on their own state of mind. When people are losing and get put in a tough spot they just say to theirself..."Geez, I never get put in spots like this when I am winning, this is just such bad luck piled onto my already bad luck". When in actuality, they do get put in those same spots when they are winning, but their mind isn't clouded with doubt and the decisions are seen with so much more clarity. How many times have you been in a live game where you are not involved in the hand and you are watching someone agonize over what is such an obvious decision to you? It is so easy because your mental/emotional state isn't being bombarded with doubt when you are just observing the hand and have no emotional ties to the result.
Here is some more of his thoughts on results being tied to your emotional state of mind:
BW: Realizing that most regulars actually were not that solid and didn´t have their own game (most just basically have picked up somebody else’s preflop game that they´ve seen on a training video and have no clue why they are doing what they are doing - postflop they are usually spewy as xxxx). When you start zoning in how to scalp the regs, that´s when you start improving and that´s when you start beating the game for more than 1 ptbb / hour. And the basis for all of this was realizing how much of my game was dependant on playing when in the right emotional state, and learning how to maintain that mindframe.
Most of you guys have no basic technical problems when it comes to this game. You understand pot control, way ahead / way behind, position, equity, pot odds, 3-bet equity, etc. The reason you struggle with the more subtle technical aspects is that they usually require a good and clean state of mind whilst playing and analyzing. If you are on constant subtle tilt you will never understand your own image, your opponents projected image vs the way they actually play, what your history with a specific opponent really means and CORRECT adjustments (as opposed to a couple of 3 bets and now you´re waiting to shove any 2), and what all this basically boils down to; hand reading and putting your opponent on accurate ranges, and knowing what to do with those ranges. These qualities will separate a 2 ptbb winner, from a 5 ptbb winner. I believe that although I display a 4,7 ptbb winrate, I could have easily avoided many situations where I KNEW I was making the wrong play and made it anyway, and could easily have had a 5,5 - 6 ptbb winrate. I take responsibility for these results.
#4 BW: I go through a studious prep pregame, and I have papernotes around me that I use whilst playing. I have very specific tradition throughout the day. I always start, for instance, by reviewing yesterdays hands.
As for a check-lists, start small. Whenever somebody calls or raises you preflop, jusk ask yourself about his range of hands. You would not believe how many pros fail to ask themselves this one simple question (which they always used to when they were improving). We all know we should, and yet when we sit down we start autopiloting our usual abc game. We´re on the ball the first 5 minutes, and then go into droid mode. Just start out by doing this every time you have any preflop decisions. Then extend to the flop. Then extend to asking yourself about your perceived range (2nd level). If you have been autopiloting for the last 2 hrs, you will have no idea what he perceives your range to be, because you have no clue about your own image. You can add levels as you go on, but do not overdo it. And the absolute most important thing when faced with a big decision, is to first breathe and relax for a couple of seconds.
Have you ever noticed when you get sucked into a hand? Like you have an overpair and you get raised on the turn, you know you´re beat, and beofre you know it you have called anyway? Or what i call the bluff-vortex, when you start with small flop raise, and before you know it you have fired three barrels and you´re all in and get snapcalled by the nuts? What the hell just happened? A 200 bb pot lost out of nowhere!!? If, at any point, you would have just stepped back, taken a breath and realized how little sense your line makes or how narrow his range must be, you would have saved a stack. When you look at it in retrospect, it is very clear to you. This alludes to my earlier point; most of you guys are fine when it comes to the technical aspects of the game, but you need to hone some of the mental and emotional ones.
This is all great stuff, but he most important part that I took from it was developing a routine prior to playing that gets me in the right state of mind to play. I usually have a small pregame routine that I do most of the time, but I needed to expand on it a little bit. I usually take my adderall and get in the shower before I start a serious online session. Today I took an extra step to help clear my mind before I played. I took my normal shower and then set a 10 minute timer on my computer while I laid on my couch with my eyes closed thinking about the most common mistakes I make when playing and how I could avoid them. I also tried to reenact some situations where I felt I made really clear decisions that sometimes seemed tough to me. I tried to focus on the emotional state I was in when I made those decisions and get myself to be in that same mind frame before I started my session.
#5 BW: I try to live my life in accordance with many buddhist philosophies. The greatest lesson that can be applied to your poker game is the buddhist lesson of being mindful and aware of one´s thoughts and actions at all times. I believe that this is the one single most powerful tool in any game (or profession) and the separator between many of the nosebleeders, the midstakes grinders and the low-limit strugglers. Unfortunately as simple as this teaching is, it is not easy.
I think this is so true of all of the most successful people in any sport. I think a persons mental makeup/approach to a sport is way important to their natural ability. For example: Everyone on tour can hit the same shots Tiger does. Jordan didn't make a higher % of his shot attempts than other shooting guards in the league. Peyton Manning is slower than your average NFL QB and he throws aren't ones that can't be made by the rest of the QB's in the league. However, all of these people just have WAY better control over their emotions than their opponents do and this is what makes them the best at their sports.
I am sorry this was so long winded, but I really needed to get these thoughts down while it was fresh in my mind.
Oh ya, I had one of my best days ever today after my semi-meditation to start my session: +$7,221, Ballin!
Saturday, November 15, 2008
Minor hiccup, but back on track....
I sometimes get what I call "computer eye" when I play too much online poker or spend too much time on the computer for whatever reason. It is a pain behind usually one eye and sometimes both, but almost always results in a pretty decent sized headache. The only real cure for it is to spend less time on the computer. Most of the time it isn't bad enough that I have to quit playing, but it is really annoying to have to deal with. I have been putting a lot more hours in online recently than I am used to playing, therefore, my computer eye had been acting up a bit. I woke up one morning after playing pretty late the night before and my computer eye was still lingering. I decided to try to play online anyway and I just wasn't in the right mood from the get go. I ended up losing about $2800 in a couple of hours and quit. I won a bit back later that night and then lost some goofing of playing PLO before I went to bed. The next day I decided to take the day off from poker and I went and played racquetball with my buddy, Joe Tehan. There were some decent fish playing that night and I decided to play for just a bit. They were playing 10/20 NL and I ended up getting involved in some big hands with some of the regulars that didn't go my way. I feel like I played well, but it just takes a few hands at those stakes to add up quickly. Anyway, I think I have lost about $4600 online since I last posted, but I have done awesome playing live the past two days.
I won $4200 yesterday and I won $6600 today playing 10/20 NL at the Bellagio. Obviously, I am running very hot in that game, but it is so nice feeling like the best player in the game the majority of the time I'm in it. I am making some big hands and staying out of trouble very nicely. If I can get myself to play like I do online that game seems like a breeze. By that I mean to just always make sure I am in position when I play big pots, keeping the pots small when needed, and picking my spots well as far as not getting tangled up too much with the other solid players in the game.
So despite the minor setback with the loss online I am still on my fantastic heater thanks to my live play success. It isn't an exact figure, but I think I am up somewhere around 31K in the last 10 days or so. So, since I have averaged winning $3,000/day for the last 10 days that MUST be my expected average win rate from here on out. Therefore, I can expect to make exactly $1,095,000 in the next 365 days.....I WISH!
I plan on playing some online tourneys tomorrow including the FTOPS main event. That would a a great tournament for my heater to continue in for sure!
I won $4200 yesterday and I won $6600 today playing 10/20 NL at the Bellagio. Obviously, I am running very hot in that game, but it is so nice feeling like the best player in the game the majority of the time I'm in it. I am making some big hands and staying out of trouble very nicely. If I can get myself to play like I do online that game seems like a breeze. By that I mean to just always make sure I am in position when I play big pots, keeping the pots small when needed, and picking my spots well as far as not getting tangled up too much with the other solid players in the game.
So despite the minor setback with the loss online I am still on my fantastic heater thanks to my live play success. It isn't an exact figure, but I think I am up somewhere around 31K in the last 10 days or so. So, since I have averaged winning $3,000/day for the last 10 days that MUST be my expected average win rate from here on out. Therefore, I can expect to make exactly $1,095,000 in the next 365 days.....I WISH!
I plan on playing some online tourneys tomorrow including the FTOPS main event. That would a a great tournament for my heater to continue in for sure!
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
Well well well....
If this is what it looks like around the corner I think I have turned....I LIKE IT! I thought it was a pretty solid heater after winning 12.6k in two days time, but it has only gotten better since then. Yesterday I won around $4500 playing online and then went to the Bellagio and played for over 8 hours and lost $1370 playing 10/20. I could just never get much going for me and it was a struggle the whole time even though I felt like I was the best player in the game for a majority of the night. Today, however, was a different story...I had my biggest winning day of cash games EVER! I won $9,132! I obviously ran super hot and hardly lost any races and didn't get cold decked at all that I remember. Anyway, that brings my 5 day heater to a total of somwhere in the neighborhood of $25,000....so sick to think about.
One really cool thing I have done recently is that I have gotten set up with Jeff's good buddy, Adam Estes. He is a personal financial advisor and apparently pretty darn good at it. He helped me get my Roth IRA switched over to his firm and also set me up an account that acts as a checking account in the sense that I am able to withdraw funds to it DIRECTLY from my full tilt account! That makes saving MUCH easier.
One retarded question that poker novices will sometimes ask me is "what is the best hand you have ever gotten?" or sometimes it is "have you ever made a royal flush?" It is as if they think the better the player you are the more likely it is you will make a royal flush. I couldn't even remember if I had made a royal flush before today until this hand happened:
http://www.pokerhand.org/?3434014
I hesitated for just a second before I called his all-in bet on the turn and typed in "whoops". This was the chat that followed:
rakata: i hate you thakilla
rakata: hope you get raped by 1 big horse
spades42011: only 1?
spades42011: i guess thats all it takes ...
rakata: uhmm... ok maybe 2
rakata: 1 for him and 1 for his mom
rakata: pfff.... floped royal flush! pfff! i never get
one of this and he flop that sick hand
(Mom and Grandma, I'm sorry that you had to read that, but I thought it was pretty funny)
Anyway, it usually isn't going to be very profitable flopping a royal flush since it will be difficult to get much action on it so I was very happy to get the guy to stick all his money in drawing completely dead :)
Also, Jeff played really well after coming back so quickly after having his appendectomy. He finished T18th and T21st I think the past too weeks and ended up finished 118th on the money list which means he will maintain full status on tour next year.
All is well in the land of thakilla.
One really cool thing I have done recently is that I have gotten set up with Jeff's good buddy, Adam Estes. He is a personal financial advisor and apparently pretty darn good at it. He helped me get my Roth IRA switched over to his firm and also set me up an account that acts as a checking account in the sense that I am able to withdraw funds to it DIRECTLY from my full tilt account! That makes saving MUCH easier.
One retarded question that poker novices will sometimes ask me is "what is the best hand you have ever gotten?" or sometimes it is "have you ever made a royal flush?" It is as if they think the better the player you are the more likely it is you will make a royal flush. I couldn't even remember if I had made a royal flush before today until this hand happened:
http://www.pokerhand.org/?3434014
I hesitated for just a second before I called his all-in bet on the turn and typed in "whoops". This was the chat that followed:
rakata: i hate you thakilla
rakata: hope you get raped by 1 big horse
spades42011: only 1?
spades42011: i guess thats all it takes ...
rakata: uhmm... ok maybe 2
rakata: 1 for him and 1 for his mom
rakata: pfff.... floped royal flush! pfff! i never get
one of this and he flop that sick hand
(Mom and Grandma, I'm sorry that you had to read that, but I thought it was pretty funny)
Anyway, it usually isn't going to be very profitable flopping a royal flush since it will be difficult to get much action on it so I was very happy to get the guy to stick all his money in drawing completely dead :)
Also, Jeff played really well after coming back so quickly after having his appendectomy. He finished T18th and T21st I think the past too weeks and ended up finished 118th on the money list which means he will maintain full status on tour next year.
All is well in the land of thakilla.
Saturday, November 8, 2008
I think I might be turning the corner....
I think I am finally starting to get to the point that I wanted to be at where I am comfortable playing higher limit games. I am starting to feel like I have a decent edge in most of the 5/10 NL games I play in online and just recently I have felt really good in the 10/20 NL games at the Bellagio when I have played them. I'll admit I have run really well the past two times I have played the 10/20 game at the Bellagio, but I think that is probably what it takes for me to get comfortable in the game. In the past two days online I have won $8,658 in almost 6400 hands and just over 13 hours of playing. Also, I won around $4,000 playing at the Bellagio. $12.6K in two days is preeeettty sweet if you ask me.
It is scary how much money it is possible for me to make if I can be a consistent winner in 5/10+ games online and 10/20 NL live.....I am definitely looking forward to the increased "salary".
I feel like I have put a lot of work in and made some big improvements in my game and I think Hold'em Manager has a lot to do with it. All the extra stats are really helpful once you get comfortable with them and know the proper way to apply them.
I know myself really well and it seems like everytime I have a boost in my confidence like I am currently experiencing I get cocky/complacent and stop working on my game or caring about the losses. I am going to make an effort to not let myself get out of grinding mode and try to just keep plugging away making solid profits. One thing that I think helps me to do this when I am online is to not check how much I am winning or losing until my session is finished. It unneccesarily affects my mood when I constantly check how much I am up or down during my session.
I am gonna go get a good nights sleep and get back on the grind tomorrow.
It is scary how much money it is possible for me to make if I can be a consistent winner in 5/10+ games online and 10/20 NL live.....I am definitely looking forward to the increased "salary".
I feel like I have put a lot of work in and made some big improvements in my game and I think Hold'em Manager has a lot to do with it. All the extra stats are really helpful once you get comfortable with them and know the proper way to apply them.
I know myself really well and it seems like everytime I have a boost in my confidence like I am currently experiencing I get cocky/complacent and stop working on my game or caring about the losses. I am going to make an effort to not let myself get out of grinding mode and try to just keep plugging away making solid profits. One thing that I think helps me to do this when I am online is to not check how much I am winning or losing until my session is finished. It unneccesarily affects my mood when I constantly check how much I am up or down during my session.
I am gonna go get a good nights sleep and get back on the grind tomorrow.
Sunday, November 2, 2008
Two big days.....
I have had two really good days out of the last four days of playing. There is a notoriously bad player that I keep an eye out for anytime that he is playing. I managed to find him playing twice in the last few days and both times he started right about the time I was planning on quitting. I feel like I am giving away money if I ever quit while he is playing so I try to stick it out. That resulted in me playing two 9+ hour sessions of cash games online. I don't ever remember playing that long before.
Anyway, one of the days I won almost $4800 and the other day I ended up breaking around even. I played in the $550 Venetian Deep Stack tourney today and only lasted a few hours. I built up my stack nicely and then lost an 85K pot when my opponent rivered two pair to knock me out. Oh well, I went to the Bellagio and played 10/20 NL and FINALLY had my first good session ever at 10/20. I ran pretty well in the game, but they also didn't play all that well either. I won almost $4,000 in the game in about 3 or 4 hours time. It is 4:16 am and I need to hit the sack it I plan on playing and of the Sunday tourneys online tomorrow.
My fish tank is coming along nicely...I promise to post some pictures really soon.
Also, Jeff is really putting on quite the display of guts....he is tied for 14th and on pace to lock up his spot in the top 125 with one more round to play. Hopefully he can move up another couple of spots and he'll be able to take next week off.
Anyway, one of the days I won almost $4800 and the other day I ended up breaking around even. I played in the $550 Venetian Deep Stack tourney today and only lasted a few hours. I built up my stack nicely and then lost an 85K pot when my opponent rivered two pair to knock me out. Oh well, I went to the Bellagio and played 10/20 NL and FINALLY had my first good session ever at 10/20. I ran pretty well in the game, but they also didn't play all that well either. I won almost $4,000 in the game in about 3 or 4 hours time. It is 4:16 am and I need to hit the sack it I plan on playing and of the Sunday tourneys online tomorrow.
My fish tank is coming along nicely...I promise to post some pictures really soon.
Also, Jeff is really putting on quite the display of guts....he is tied for 14th and on pace to lock up his spot in the top 125 with one more round to play. Hopefully he can move up another couple of spots and he'll be able to take next week off.
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
I was sure I was on candid camera today.....
Ok, just a little background to preface this blog....When I first moved to Vegas (2.5 years ago) I went to the license branch like a good boy to get my Nevada Driver's License. I was told that since I had too many speeding tickets in Indiana I would not only have to to take the written test, but also take the skills driving test. I passed the written test and then they told me I could make an appointment a month and a half from now or wait in line for approximately 4 hours to take the skills test and even then they couldn't promise me I would get to take the test today. I chose to make an appointment and of course forgot about it when it came time to go. Fast forward about 1 year....I decided I would finally go back to try again. Since it had been so long since I had taken the written test I had to take it again. I rushed through the test and somehow failed the written test and I felt like the biggest failure at life ever after I looked around and saw a room full of white trash people that could barely speak English passing the same test I just failed. Fast forward another year....I lost my Indiana Driver's License (still valid) while I was home last so I decided I had better go try again for my license. This time I aced the written test and I had to make another appointment for the skills test a month and a half in advance. It was still a long shot that I would actually remember my appointment at that point, but I set a couple different reminders on my phone and I managed to make it to my appointment about 15 minutes early.
I gave them my paperwork and checked in for my appointment and they told me to have a seat until they called my name. I already imagined them taking forever to get to me despite me having a scheduled appointment. Surprisingly, they called my name at 11:00 am sharp. I went up to the lady that called my name and she asked me if I was Patrick, I responded "Yes, ma'am". She asked me if I had ever had a license before, I responded "Yes, ma'am". She said "thank God, I will just take you on the short route then". So far, so good.
We got outside and she checked my turn signals, brake lights, and horn. Then she got in the car and sat there for a moment. I thought about asking her where we were headed, but realized my only option was to pull forward out of my parking space so I put it in gear and she stopped me. She said "Aren't you going to wait for me to get my seat belt on?" I said "I apologize" and I waited for her to put her seat belt on before I pulled forward. She said "No, put it back in park and wait for me to get my seat belt on". I obliged and she put her belt on and then said "Did you know that can result in an automatic failure?" I said "No, I did not realize that not waiting for my passenger to put their seat belt on before I put it in gear could result in an automatic failure, I apologize." She then tells me to turn my radio off (it was barely even audible I had it turned on so low). Ridiculous, but whatever...I turned my radio off.
She tells me where to go and I follow directions all while driving with my hands in the "Ten and Two" position. We get to the first stop light, which was less than two blocks away, and I come to a complete stop before taking one hand off of the wheel and rest it on my lap. While we are waiting at the stop light I say to her "Just out of curiosity, is it a penalty if I don't drive with my hands at the "Ten and Two" positions?" She says that it is so I make it a point to always drive with my hands in the correct position. I did take one hand off the wheel on 4-5 occasions throughout the rest of the test....probably 3 times to rest it on my lap again while we were stopped at lights and maybe 2 times to itch my face. I know she is going to be a stickler so I make sure to pay attention to the speed limit and stay comfortably under it so she won't have anything to complain about. I signaled everywhere I should and always checked my blind spot. During the parallel parking portion of the test I pulled forward even with the first barrel, backed in and just as I got close to the curb I pulled forward approximately 2 feet and then backed in the rest of the way. I then pulled forward to get the car straight (or parallel) in the parking spot. At this point I was probably 3 feet from the front barrels and 15 feet from the back barrels so I backed up a few feet so I would be in the center of the parking spot. Flawless performance, in my opinion.
At one point during the test I asked her what her success rate was for people passing the skills test and she told me it depends on the person. I correctly told her that it didn't really depend on the person, she still has to have an overall success rate for all of her drivers combined. She told me then that is was "pretty good".
Now is when I felt like the candid camera session began. I parked my car and we went inside to "discuss my test". She had another co-worker come in and observe out discussion. She asked me how long I had lived in Vegas and I told her "about two years." She said, "So you should be familiar with the roads around here then, correct?" I said "Yes, ma'am". Then she listed some errors that I had made during my driving test.
1. At several times during the drive I was driving 35 MPH when the speed limit was 45 MPH and during some other times I was driving 30 MPH when the speed limit was 40 MPH
2. Often times, I turned my turn signal on too early when making turns.
3. I have a tendency to driving with one hand on the wheel.
4. I didn't allow her to get her seat belt on before I began to drive.
5. There were too many maneuvers in my parallel parking.
She then stated that these were all very vital things. Each time she read off another of my "violations" I could not help myself from smirking at first and full blown smiling by the end of our "discussion". She then told me that I had failed my test and I would need to reschedule an appointment.
I obviously know I will never get anywhere by arguing with her so I was polite and just said OK, and got my paper work back from her and went on my way to reschedule another appointment. Guess what? The next available appointment is on December 10th.
I have no idea why she had it out for me, but she clearly did not want me to pass. I honestly thought it was a joke until the very end when I got up to leave the discussion room....it wasn't a joke.
I gave them my paperwork and checked in for my appointment and they told me to have a seat until they called my name. I already imagined them taking forever to get to me despite me having a scheduled appointment. Surprisingly, they called my name at 11:00 am sharp. I went up to the lady that called my name and she asked me if I was Patrick, I responded "Yes, ma'am". She asked me if I had ever had a license before, I responded "Yes, ma'am". She said "thank God, I will just take you on the short route then". So far, so good.
We got outside and she checked my turn signals, brake lights, and horn. Then she got in the car and sat there for a moment. I thought about asking her where we were headed, but realized my only option was to pull forward out of my parking space so I put it in gear and she stopped me. She said "Aren't you going to wait for me to get my seat belt on?" I said "I apologize" and I waited for her to put her seat belt on before I pulled forward. She said "No, put it back in park and wait for me to get my seat belt on". I obliged and she put her belt on and then said "Did you know that can result in an automatic failure?" I said "No, I did not realize that not waiting for my passenger to put their seat belt on before I put it in gear could result in an automatic failure, I apologize." She then tells me to turn my radio off (it was barely even audible I had it turned on so low). Ridiculous, but whatever...I turned my radio off.
She tells me where to go and I follow directions all while driving with my hands in the "Ten and Two" position. We get to the first stop light, which was less than two blocks away, and I come to a complete stop before taking one hand off of the wheel and rest it on my lap. While we are waiting at the stop light I say to her "Just out of curiosity, is it a penalty if I don't drive with my hands at the "Ten and Two" positions?" She says that it is so I make it a point to always drive with my hands in the correct position. I did take one hand off the wheel on 4-5 occasions throughout the rest of the test....probably 3 times to rest it on my lap again while we were stopped at lights and maybe 2 times to itch my face. I know she is going to be a stickler so I make sure to pay attention to the speed limit and stay comfortably under it so she won't have anything to complain about. I signaled everywhere I should and always checked my blind spot. During the parallel parking portion of the test I pulled forward even with the first barrel, backed in and just as I got close to the curb I pulled forward approximately 2 feet and then backed in the rest of the way. I then pulled forward to get the car straight (or parallel) in the parking spot. At this point I was probably 3 feet from the front barrels and 15 feet from the back barrels so I backed up a few feet so I would be in the center of the parking spot. Flawless performance, in my opinion.
At one point during the test I asked her what her success rate was for people passing the skills test and she told me it depends on the person. I correctly told her that it didn't really depend on the person, she still has to have an overall success rate for all of her drivers combined. She told me then that is was "pretty good".
Now is when I felt like the candid camera session began. I parked my car and we went inside to "discuss my test". She had another co-worker come in and observe out discussion. She asked me how long I had lived in Vegas and I told her "about two years." She said, "So you should be familiar with the roads around here then, correct?" I said "Yes, ma'am". Then she listed some errors that I had made during my driving test.
1. At several times during the drive I was driving 35 MPH when the speed limit was 45 MPH and during some other times I was driving 30 MPH when the speed limit was 40 MPH
2. Often times, I turned my turn signal on too early when making turns.
3. I have a tendency to driving with one hand on the wheel.
4. I didn't allow her to get her seat belt on before I began to drive.
5. There were too many maneuvers in my parallel parking.
She then stated that these were all very vital things. Each time she read off another of my "violations" I could not help myself from smirking at first and full blown smiling by the end of our "discussion". She then told me that I had failed my test and I would need to reschedule an appointment.
I obviously know I will never get anywhere by arguing with her so I was polite and just said OK, and got my paper work back from her and went on my way to reschedule another appointment. Guess what? The next available appointment is on December 10th.
I have no idea why she had it out for me, but she clearly did not want me to pass. I honestly thought it was a joke until the very end when I got up to leave the discussion room....it wasn't a joke.
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
Short one...
I lost yesterday about what I won the day before and today I played for almost 6 hours and won $47 or something silly. Playing only 6 tables has actually been kinda fun. I am able to pay more attention to obscure player specific stats and I think it is making me a better player.
I talked to Jeff today and he is planning on leaving Tuesday morning to play in this weeks PGA tourney. He thought he was done for the year, but he only missed one tournament. He said he hit about 30 balls today and was hitting his 8 iron 130 yards (he was hitting it about 175 in Vegas). He obviously won't be 100% for the tournament, but he said he didn't want to look back a month from now and wonder if he could have played. I am actually really excited to see how he manages to play. I think it could actually help him in a sense....it will most certainly have to improve his putting and will force him to think his way around the golf course if he wants to score well without just bombing it on every hole (not that he is reckless when playing).
I am going to be ordering some new fish and corals for my tank tomorrow. I'll post some pictures in here when I get some more stuff added.
I talked to Jeff today and he is planning on leaving Tuesday morning to play in this weeks PGA tourney. He thought he was done for the year, but he only missed one tournament. He said he hit about 30 balls today and was hitting his 8 iron 130 yards (he was hitting it about 175 in Vegas). He obviously won't be 100% for the tournament, but he said he didn't want to look back a month from now and wonder if he could have played. I am actually really excited to see how he manages to play. I think it could actually help him in a sense....it will most certainly have to improve his putting and will force him to think his way around the golf course if he wants to score well without just bombing it on every hole (not that he is reckless when playing).
I am going to be ordering some new fish and corals for my tank tomorrow. I'll post some pictures in here when I get some more stuff added.
Saturday, October 25, 2008
Super busy.....
I have been insanely busy as of late and I haven't had time to do any blogging. Not only have I not had time to blog I haven't had hardly anytime to play poker for about the last 17 days or so. Today was the first time I played any serious poker since then. I played live a few times with friends, but it was either really small limits or I was tired and played short sessions. I played for about 3.5 hours today and I ran well enough to win $1132 which was a nice way to return.
Even though I haven't played much poker lately I have learned some stuff about poker during that time. Mainly, you can't force a rush and monetary goals can do as much harm as they can good. I recently set a lofty goal of winning $20K in 2 weeks and I started out on fire and was on pace to do so. I ended up not even getting close to my goal and I am not even really sure how much I lost back from my peak of being up around $12,500, but I know it wasn't good. I tried to play higher and got really reckless with the amount of tables I was playing considering the stakes that I was playing. I believe I play well enough to beat 5/10 and 10/20 NL online, but I am either not comfortable enough or don't play well enough to beat those limits when I am playing anymore than 6 tables at a time. It is probably pushing it to be playing 6 tables of those limits, especially when I was trying to mix in some 25/50 as well. When you are winning you feel invincible and don't even notice the deterioration of your play by playing two tables. It takes some discipline to realize this type of stuff and isn't fun to admit.
I feel really fresh right now since I have had so much time off from poker, but I am going to take it slow and limit myself to playing no more than 6 tables at a time and I am going to start out playing mostly 2/4 and 3/6 NL until I win 15-20 buy-ins at those levels. Only then will I start to mix in some 5/10 games, but I am going to try to keep it at a maximum of 6 tables for the time being. I think I can focus more on playing differently against specific players and pick up on some spots that offer value that I miss when playing 8+ tables. Taking away two tables will really lower my hands played per hour, but I think it can be made up for with a higher win rate.
So, during my time away from poker I:
Edit: I know alot of people that read my blog follow Jeff's progress too. Fyi, he had an appendectomy on Monday and is most likely out for the season. There is an outside chance he could play in the last tourney of the year. It sucks because he was 123rd on the money list and will surely be passed during the last 3 tourneys of the year while he sits out. He will still retain sis top 150 status, but it is a pretty big deal to be in the top 125 compared to the top 150. I am pretty bummed about it, but nowhere near as bummed as Jeff is.
Even though I haven't played much poker lately I have learned some stuff about poker during that time. Mainly, you can't force a rush and monetary goals can do as much harm as they can good. I recently set a lofty goal of winning $20K in 2 weeks and I started out on fire and was on pace to do so. I ended up not even getting close to my goal and I am not even really sure how much I lost back from my peak of being up around $12,500, but I know it wasn't good. I tried to play higher and got really reckless with the amount of tables I was playing considering the stakes that I was playing. I believe I play well enough to beat 5/10 and 10/20 NL online, but I am either not comfortable enough or don't play well enough to beat those limits when I am playing anymore than 6 tables at a time. It is probably pushing it to be playing 6 tables of those limits, especially when I was trying to mix in some 25/50 as well. When you are winning you feel invincible and don't even notice the deterioration of your play by playing two tables. It takes some discipline to realize this type of stuff and isn't fun to admit.
I feel really fresh right now since I have had so much time off from poker, but I am going to take it slow and limit myself to playing no more than 6 tables at a time and I am going to start out playing mostly 2/4 and 3/6 NL until I win 15-20 buy-ins at those levels. Only then will I start to mix in some 5/10 games, but I am going to try to keep it at a maximum of 6 tables for the time being. I think I can focus more on playing differently against specific players and pick up on some spots that offer value that I miss when playing 8+ tables. Taking away two tables will really lower my hands played per hour, but I think it can be made up for with a higher win rate.
So, during my time away from poker I:
- Went home for a buddy's wedding.
- Ate like a pig at the fall festival
- Flew back to Vegas to caddy for Jeff
- Picked up Matt to have him stay with me
- Picked up Brian and Jason to have them stay with me
- Dropped off Matt
- Dropped of Brian and Jason
- Didn't have one minute of time to relax
- Ate out every single meal
- Bought two new fish for my tank.
- Played pit games about 10X more than I did poker
- Went out to clubs about 4 times (4 more than I told myself I would ever go again in my life).
- Stayed out late about 90% of the nights (past 2am) as the only sober person.
Edit: I know alot of people that read my blog follow Jeff's progress too. Fyi, he had an appendectomy on Monday and is most likely out for the season. There is an outside chance he could play in the last tourney of the year. It sucks because he was 123rd on the money list and will surely be passed during the last 3 tourneys of the year while he sits out. He will still retain sis top 150 status, but it is a pretty big deal to be in the top 125 compared to the top 150. I am pretty bummed about it, but nowhere near as bummed as Jeff is.
Saturday, October 4, 2008
Sigh....
If I believed in jinxes I would say I jinxed myself by talking about not having had any big losses lately. I lost $3,000 playing 10/20 NL at the Bellagio :( I know I have a limited sample size in the 10/20, but I have been amazingly card dead during the times I have played it. They play super duper loose in that game, and there is a lot of money to be made if I could ever get a hand to play. I played for about 5 hours and had KK twice, AK once, AQ once, 99 once.
So, after my stupid set back from playing live these are my new results:
Online: +$12,558
Live: -$3,010
Total: +$9,548
Amount needed to reach goal: $10,452
I definitely have my work cut out for me now if I am going to reach my goal....gonna be putting in some serious hands tomorrow hopefully.
- I folded 99 preflop to a tight short stack that raised it to $100 and I was out of position to the rest of the table (I would have flopped a set).
- The first time I had KK I limped under the gun and it was one of about 10 pots the whole night that didn't get raised preflop. Qd Jd 5h flop, I checked and there was a bet and a raise by two tight players before it got to me so I just folded....one guy flopped Queens and Jacks.
- The second time I had KK I had to chop when it folded to me in the small blind and the big blind was the biggest maniac you have ever seen.
- When I had AK it was a straddled pot and I was in the big blind, about 5 limpers and I raised it to $320, the maniac that straddled just so happened to have AA that hand. He raised to $700 and I called and check folded on the ten high flop. I am not sure how to play this hand...I suppose it could be a fold preflop, because I know he isn't messing around since he knows how tight I am and I probably won't get much action if I flop a pair anyway (unless he has me beat with a hand like AA, which he had).
- When I had AQ there was a few limpers and I raised it to $120 and 4 people called. The flop was AQJ. We got it all-in on the turn and he flopped a straight with KTos. I could have possible gotten away from this hand if I was deeper, but I only had $1600 in front of me to start the hand.
So, after my stupid set back from playing live these are my new results:
Online: +$12,558
Live: -$3,010
Total: +$9,548
Amount needed to reach goal: $10,452
I definitely have my work cut out for me now if I am going to reach my goal....gonna be putting in some serious hands tomorrow hopefully.
The shots are getting more comfortable to me....
I decided that I figured out the secret to feeling comfortable playing higher limits....play even higher! Seriously, then the limits you were wanting to be comfortable at don't seem so big and scary. I took some real shots today and it went ok I suppose. I noticed there was a full ring 25/50 NL game running on Stars today and I thought about maybe buying in short and seeing if I could double up or something. Then I decided that if I wasn't going to play it just like I had been playing the rest of my games I shouldn't be playing it. Therefore, I bought it for the full $5,000 and told myself if I noticed that I was playing scared at all I would make myself quit the game. There is no sense in taking shots if you are totally going to change up your style that has worked to get you to where you are now. I played fine, but didn't get in any good situations and I ended up losing $1600 or so....the good news is that it made me totally comfortable playing in the 5/10 games I was playing in. I also had two 10/20 games that I felt really good in as well. The 25/50 game got short handed and I quit, but I was running very hot and playing well on the rest of my tables. Then all of the sudden I got in a bunch of bad spots all at once and I could feel myself start to tilt a bit so I decided to stop playing. I was up as much as $4200 and I ended up winning $1427 in only about 2.5 hours. The $4200 would have put me on a really good pace to get to my goal, but $1400 helps out too.
I am gonna head to the Bellagio and put in a few hours there since I was feeling tilty online.
New Totals:
Online: +$12,558
Live: -$10
Total: +$12,548
Amount needed to reach goal: $7,452
I am gonna head to the Bellagio and put in a few hours there since I was feeling tilty online.
New Totals:
Online: +$12,558
Live: -$10
Total: +$12,548
Amount needed to reach goal: $7,452
Friday, October 3, 2008
Quick recap...
I played online for the last two days for a total of about 9 hours and I won $2,392. I played live last night for a couple of hours with Clint and Charlie and lost $351....even though I lost playing live I did pwn a guys face by smooth calling with KK preflop and folding on the flop when he check raised me on a QT6 board. He showed a set of queens and I lost the minimum for sure....sometimes I play too good for them :)
Thanks to my dad for pointing out that not only am I a luckbox in poker, but I am also a math retard (see comment for me previous blog).
My new correct progress report loks like this:
Online: +$11,131
Live: -$575
Total: +$10,556
Amount needed to reach goal: $9,444
I only have about a week left to get to my $20K, and it is going to be very tough...I am going to give it my best shot.
I am going to meet Clint, Charlie, and their ladies for dinner at the Bellagio somewhere and then go with them to their national softball tournament game.
**EDIT**
I played the 10/20 NL at the Bellagio for 4 or 5 hours tonight and won $565. I didn't realize I was down $575 playing live up until this point or I would have tried to squeak out another $10 somewhere. Anyway, this is an updated progress report:
Online: +$11,131
Live: -$10
Total: +$11,121
Amount needed to reach goal: $8,879
I have 5 days of playing left and it seems like my goal is within reach, but it is still going to be very tough. I have managed to make it this far without any serious losing days and if I can avoid them the rest of the way I think I have a good shot.
I think most of my readers probably already know, but just in case they don't Jeff Overton is leading the PGA tournament this week after 2 rounds of play. I'll be keeping an eye on him tomorrow while I plug away at my goal.
Thanks to my dad for pointing out that not only am I a luckbox in poker, but I am also a math retard (see comment for me previous blog).
My new correct progress report loks like this:
Online: +$11,131
Live: -$575
Total: +$10,556
Amount needed to reach goal: $9,444
I only have about a week left to get to my $20K, and it is going to be very tough...I am going to give it my best shot.
I am going to meet Clint, Charlie, and their ladies for dinner at the Bellagio somewhere and then go with them to their national softball tournament game.
**EDIT**
I played the 10/20 NL at the Bellagio for 4 or 5 hours tonight and won $565. I didn't realize I was down $575 playing live up until this point or I would have tried to squeak out another $10 somewhere. Anyway, this is an updated progress report:
Online: +$11,131
Live: -$10
Total: +$11,121
Amount needed to reach goal: $8,879
I have 5 days of playing left and it seems like my goal is within reach, but it is still going to be very tough. I have managed to make it this far without any serious losing days and if I can avoid them the rest of the way I think I have a good shot.
I think most of my readers probably already know, but just in case they don't Jeff Overton is leading the PGA tournament this week after 2 rounds of play. I'll be keeping an eye on him tomorrow while I plug away at my goal.
Thursday, October 2, 2008
Well, maybe there is hope.
The administrator at the hold'em manager forums says that they are having issues with the calculations of the all-in equity stat. I am not so sure I believe him, but it does get a little confusing sometimes so we'll have to wait and see.
I played last night and not very well....probably because I have finally realized I am just a huge luckbox.
New update on my challenge:
Online: +$8739
Live: -$224
Total: +$8515
Amount needed to reach goal: $10585
I played last night and not very well....probably because I have finally realized I am just a huge luckbox.
New update on my challenge:
Online: +$8739
Live: -$224
Total: +$8515
Amount needed to reach goal: $10585
Well, I got the worst news I have gotten in a long time today....
Warning: This will most likely turn into a long boring blog unless you either find humor in my misery or you are into poker stats.
I recently purchased and downloaded the newest poker database software, Hold'em Manager. They have a very cool new feature in this software that calculates your all-in equity. For those of you that don't know what all-in equity is (Don't worry mom and dad, I am sure there are several of my poker friends that need this explanation too) or how to figure it out I will do my best to explain what it means.
Your equity in a hand is equal to the amount of the pot that you are supposed to win considering the chance of your hand winning the pot. For example if you and your opponent both put $1,000 into an otherwise empty pot it would contain $2,000 to go to the winning hand. If you were holding pocket Aces and they were holding pocket Kings you would have about an 80% chance of winning the pot and your opponent would have a 20% chance. Therefore, your equity in the hand is $1600 and that is how much you you would get back if you got what you deserved. However, it doesn't work like that in poker you either get the entire pot or none of the pot. So, if your pocket Aces held up and you won the entire $2,000 your winnings would be $1,000 for the hand, but you would have profited $400 more than you deserved to. Basically your all-in equity stat disregards the actual results of the hand and keeps track of how much you should win by calculating your equity in all the hands were you got all your money in with more cards to come.
So, analyzing your all-in equity stat is one way you can somewhat measure how lucky you have been in the past. You compare the actual amount of money that you have won to the amount that your all-in equity says you have won. If you have won more actual money than it says you should have one then you are getting lucky more than your fair share of the time. For example: Maybe your pocket aces have held up when you were up against pocket kings 90% of the time instead of the 80% they are supposed to during the last year of your poker playing. This would result in you winning more money than you deserved to and your actual winnings would be higher than your all-in equity says you should be.
So onto the bad news....I had to let Hold'em Manager run all night long so that it could import the almost 350,000 hands I have saved on my computer. This all-in equity stat was the main reason that I switched to this software. I swear I had dreams about what my graph was going to look like when I finally got to see it. So, when I got up this morning it was done importing and I fired up my graph and MUCH to my dismay my database showed me that I had actually won around $77,000 and my all-in equity said that I should have won around $55,000. You may be thinking to yourself....Congratulations, you were lucky to have won more than your share! While it is true that I did get lucky over the last year of playing online that is devastating to my confidence. I was already a little bummed out over my win rate being as low as it was, but now come to find out I have just been getting lucky all along just to keep my win rate where it was! I mean what if I would have gotten as unlucky as I got lucky? I would have actually won about $33,000 over the last year. That is some scary stuff. People always discuss how many hands it takes to get a true win rate. Well, I am here to tell you that the number is somewhere way above 350,000. I am always the first person to discount anything someone says when they are complaining about running bad, because everyone has been through tough stretches of poker. This new discovery has me reeling though....maybe I haven't really ever run bad compared to other poker players?
I feel like I could never do a good enough job of explaining how discouraging finding something like this out is. I feel like I have been duped into thinking I am a great poker player (I don't even think I am great) by just having a lucky run of cards over the last 350,000 hands when in actuality my stats show that I should be considerably less successful than I have been. I have put in a lot of work on my poker game in invested a lot of time and feel like I deserve all of the results I have gotten, but apprently that just isn't the case.
I think this would be the equivilant of someone training for a marathon for one years time with a specific time based goal in mind. This time goal of theirs would be one that would be very well respected by their running peers and impressive if accomplished. Imagine that they trained on the same marathon course by theirself for the entire year and they had mile markers set up along they way so they could keep track of their time splits and their progress throughout the year. Finally, near the end of their year of training they were getting very close to reaching the time goal and they were ready to run in the big race the following weekend. Then just to be sure that everything was on the up and up and to be safe they measured the course and mile markers they had been training on all year and as they measured them they realized that every mile marker was only .9 miles away from the next one and their entire course was only 23.5 miles instead of the normal 26.2 miles!
How do you think their ability to perform in the marathon would be affected? I don't think they would even be able to run the first 23.5 miles as well as they had been running it during training. They would have no confidence in theirself and they would be worried about being outed by their peers as being a fraud.
This is getting retardedly long so I am going to stop writing and maybe write more about this tomorrow or another time. It is safe to say that my confidence is slightly rattled and I am not too happy that my results didn't deserve to be as good as they ended up being (and to think that I was disappointed with my FALSE win rate!).
Sigh...bed time
I recently purchased and downloaded the newest poker database software, Hold'em Manager. They have a very cool new feature in this software that calculates your all-in equity. For those of you that don't know what all-in equity is (Don't worry mom and dad, I am sure there are several of my poker friends that need this explanation too) or how to figure it out I will do my best to explain what it means.
Your equity in a hand is equal to the amount of the pot that you are supposed to win considering the chance of your hand winning the pot. For example if you and your opponent both put $1,000 into an otherwise empty pot it would contain $2,000 to go to the winning hand. If you were holding pocket Aces and they were holding pocket Kings you would have about an 80% chance of winning the pot and your opponent would have a 20% chance. Therefore, your equity in the hand is $1600 and that is how much you you would get back if you got what you deserved. However, it doesn't work like that in poker you either get the entire pot or none of the pot. So, if your pocket Aces held up and you won the entire $2,000 your winnings would be $1,000 for the hand, but you would have profited $400 more than you deserved to. Basically your all-in equity stat disregards the actual results of the hand and keeps track of how much you should win by calculating your equity in all the hands were you got all your money in with more cards to come.
So, analyzing your all-in equity stat is one way you can somewhat measure how lucky you have been in the past. You compare the actual amount of money that you have won to the amount that your all-in equity says you have won. If you have won more actual money than it says you should have one then you are getting lucky more than your fair share of the time. For example: Maybe your pocket aces have held up when you were up against pocket kings 90% of the time instead of the 80% they are supposed to during the last year of your poker playing. This would result in you winning more money than you deserved to and your actual winnings would be higher than your all-in equity says you should be.
So onto the bad news....I had to let Hold'em Manager run all night long so that it could import the almost 350,000 hands I have saved on my computer. This all-in equity stat was the main reason that I switched to this software. I swear I had dreams about what my graph was going to look like when I finally got to see it. So, when I got up this morning it was done importing and I fired up my graph and MUCH to my dismay my database showed me that I had actually won around $77,000 and my all-in equity said that I should have won around $55,000. You may be thinking to yourself....Congratulations, you were lucky to have won more than your share! While it is true that I did get lucky over the last year of playing online that is devastating to my confidence. I was already a little bummed out over my win rate being as low as it was, but now come to find out I have just been getting lucky all along just to keep my win rate where it was! I mean what if I would have gotten as unlucky as I got lucky? I would have actually won about $33,000 over the last year. That is some scary stuff. People always discuss how many hands it takes to get a true win rate. Well, I am here to tell you that the number is somewhere way above 350,000. I am always the first person to discount anything someone says when they are complaining about running bad, because everyone has been through tough stretches of poker. This new discovery has me reeling though....maybe I haven't really ever run bad compared to other poker players?
I feel like I could never do a good enough job of explaining how discouraging finding something like this out is. I feel like I have been duped into thinking I am a great poker player (I don't even think I am great) by just having a lucky run of cards over the last 350,000 hands when in actuality my stats show that I should be considerably less successful than I have been. I have put in a lot of work on my poker game in invested a lot of time and feel like I deserve all of the results I have gotten, but apprently that just isn't the case.
I think this would be the equivilant of someone training for a marathon for one years time with a specific time based goal in mind. This time goal of theirs would be one that would be very well respected by their running peers and impressive if accomplished. Imagine that they trained on the same marathon course by theirself for the entire year and they had mile markers set up along they way so they could keep track of their time splits and their progress throughout the year. Finally, near the end of their year of training they were getting very close to reaching the time goal and they were ready to run in the big race the following weekend. Then just to be sure that everything was on the up and up and to be safe they measured the course and mile markers they had been training on all year and as they measured them they realized that every mile marker was only .9 miles away from the next one and their entire course was only 23.5 miles instead of the normal 26.2 miles!
How do you think their ability to perform in the marathon would be affected? I don't think they would even be able to run the first 23.5 miles as well as they had been running it during training. They would have no confidence in theirself and they would be worried about being outed by their peers as being a fraud.
This is getting retardedly long so I am going to stop writing and maybe write more about this tomorrow or another time. It is safe to say that my confidence is slightly rattled and I am not too happy that my results didn't deserve to be as good as they ended up being (and to think that I was disappointed with my FALSE win rate!).
Sigh...bed time
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
Short day, but a good one.
I only played about 3 hours today, but I still won a decent chunk of money. Our cable internet was finally supposed to be ready today, but of course when they came to set it up it couldn't go as planned. Our cable modem was linked to the account in my name and our account at our new house is under Josh's name so I had to be on the phone for about an hour getting that straightened out. Then once I got the modem working I couldn't get the router to work. I decided to take a break from fooling with that to play for a bit and I promptly got disconnected twice in about 15 minutes so back to work on the new internet I went. I finally got it working and played a fairly short session. I decided that I was going to give poker stars a try since they always have more full rung games running than full tilt does.
The games seemed pretty good there, but I suppose it could just be because none of the players on stars are used to the way I play. Then again, I don't know how they play either, but there seemed to be plenty of bad players on there.
On full tilt I lost $945, but I won $3689 for a total profit of $2,744. I need to get some poker tracker issues resolved with poker stars so I can just use that to see how much I won/lost each day.
Update on my challenge progress:
Online: +$9,508
Live: -$224
Total: +$9,284
Amount needed to reach goal: $10,716
That is some pretty good progress if I do say so myself! I still have about 8 or 9 days left to reach my goal. It will still be very tough, but I am really in the groove as far as my poker game and my willingness to put in the hours.
Time to go get some dinner and find something entertaining to do tonight.
**EDIT**
I couldn't think of anything exciting to do after dinner and I was bored so I decided to watch a cardrunner's video while I played two tables of 3/6 NL. I ran pretty well and won $734 in only 72 hands. I also goofed around and played some 30/60 Stud Hi/Lo with the intent to hit and run. I am definitely not a favorite in this game, but I thought it would be fun to goof around in. I ante'd off about $50 before I made a flush on my first 5 cards and he folded. I won $44 playing that a quickly left the game. So, I made an additional $778 to add to my challenge results.
They now look like this:
Online: +$10,268
Live: -$224
Total: +$10,044
Amount needed to reach goal: $9,056
Over half way there!
The games seemed pretty good there, but I suppose it could just be because none of the players on stars are used to the way I play. Then again, I don't know how they play either, but there seemed to be plenty of bad players on there.
On full tilt I lost $945, but I won $3689 for a total profit of $2,744. I need to get some poker tracker issues resolved with poker stars so I can just use that to see how much I won/lost each day.
Update on my challenge progress:
Online: +$9,508
Live: -$224
Total: +$9,284
Amount needed to reach goal: $10,716
That is some pretty good progress if I do say so myself! I still have about 8 or 9 days left to reach my goal. It will still be very tough, but I am really in the groove as far as my poker game and my willingness to put in the hours.
Time to go get some dinner and find something entertaining to do tonight.
**EDIT**
I couldn't think of anything exciting to do after dinner and I was bored so I decided to watch a cardrunner's video while I played two tables of 3/6 NL. I ran pretty well and won $734 in only 72 hands. I also goofed around and played some 30/60 Stud Hi/Lo with the intent to hit and run. I am definitely not a favorite in this game, but I thought it would be fun to goof around in. I ante'd off about $50 before I made a flush on my first 5 cards and he folded. I won $44 playing that a quickly left the game. So, I made an additional $778 to add to my challenge results.
They now look like this:
Online: +$10,268
Live: -$224
Total: +$10,044
Amount needed to reach goal: $9,056
Over half way there!
Meh...
I had another good day online winning $1330 in about 3,000 hands, but I lost $1468 playing 10/20 at the Bellagio. The game wasn't very good, but I told myself I was going to try to get more comfortable in that game so I played it anyway. I hate the feeling of thinking that other people in the game are better than me and it is no fun when they are the one applying the pressure to me. I don't really think they are better players than me, but it will just take some time before I get used to playing in a bigger game with deeper stacks. I had a few cooler hands today online, but I am sure I was on the good end of some that I am failing to remember. I am definitely feeling more comfortable playing the 5/10 games online. Full Tilt has a limited number of full ring games running at 3/6 and higher so I got some money on stars, because I noticed they have WAY more full ring games running than full tilt does. It will suck not getting rakeback while playing on there, but the FPP's you earn make up for that a little bit. Hopefully, the ability to play more higher stakes full ring games will more than make up for the lack of rakeback.
I need to hit the sack so I can get up and own some more people online tomorrow.
So far this is how my challenge is going:
Online: +$6,764
Live: -$224
Total: +$6,540
Amount needed to reach goal: $13,460
Today was my first losing day of the challenge. I won't be able to have too many of those if I am going to reach my goal. I suppose if I am going to have a losing day one where I lose $150 isn't so bad.
Sorry the content of my blogs has been painfully boring lately, but I am writing them more to keep myself motivated to reach my goals than anything else at the moment. I promise to post some cool stories or something entertaining soon.
I need to hit the sack so I can get up and own some more people online tomorrow.
So far this is how my challenge is going:
Online: +$6,764
Live: -$224
Total: +$6,540
Amount needed to reach goal: $13,460
Today was my first losing day of the challenge. I won't be able to have too many of those if I am going to reach my goal. I suppose if I am going to have a losing day one where I lose $150 isn't so bad.
Sorry the content of my blogs has been painfully boring lately, but I am writing them more to keep myself motivated to reach my goals than anything else at the moment. I promise to post some cool stories or something entertaining soon.
Sunday, September 28, 2008
I had a very up and down day.....
I ended up winning $1759 and I played a really long session online (about 6 hours). I increased the limits that I played and unfortunately I did the worst at the highest limit that I played. I played some 10/20 NL and lost a little over a buy-in there, but did very well in the 5/10 and 3/6 NL. The good thing about being uncomfortable when playing 10/20 is that it makes 5/10 and 3/6 not seem nearly as big and I am much more comfortable playing those. I am not quite sure that is the way it is supposed to work, but I guess whatever it takes to move up in limits will have to do.
I never was really down today, but I was up almost $4,000 at one point and I had a lot of other fluctuations along the way.
So after 2 days of really solid grinding this is what my 2 week/$20K challenge looks like:
Online: +$4,746
Live: +$1,224
Total: +$5,970
Amount needed to reach goal: $14,030
Just as it always seems to happen when I am in the mood to do some serious grinding I have a visitor in town tomorrow so I am not sure how much playing I will get to do tomorrow. One of my fraternity brothers, Ben Hendren and his wife Hope, are in town and we are going to go to Red Rock to hang out in the sportsbook and watch some NFL football.
**Edit**
Just as I was going to bed I had a message pop up on my computer that said I my seat was open in a game I had been waiting on. I had been on the waiting list for about 2 hours and one of the biggest fish online was still in the game. It was a 10/20 NL 6max deep table. I immediately got stuck $1400 while laying in bed and then I put an amazing cooler on the fish to end up winning $688. Real quick: I raised with KQ, he called with 66, the flop was QQ6 and I turned the 4th Q. Somehow he still paid me off about $1400 additional once the 3rd Q hit the turn....I don't know what he planned on beating, but it was still unlucky for him. In the 15 minutes I was in the game he went from having around $7K in front of him to being busted and off the site. Glad I got a little bit of it.
New challenge update:
Online: +$5,434
Live: +$1,224
Total: +$6,658
Amount needed to reach goal: $13,342
I never was really down today, but I was up almost $4,000 at one point and I had a lot of other fluctuations along the way.
So after 2 days of really solid grinding this is what my 2 week/$20K challenge looks like:
Online: +$4,746
Live: +$1,224
Total: +$5,970
Amount needed to reach goal: $14,030
Just as it always seems to happen when I am in the mood to do some serious grinding I have a visitor in town tomorrow so I am not sure how much playing I will get to do tomorrow. One of my fraternity brothers, Ben Hendren and his wife Hope, are in town and we are going to go to Red Rock to hang out in the sportsbook and watch some NFL football.
**Edit**
Just as I was going to bed I had a message pop up on my computer that said I my seat was open in a game I had been waiting on. I had been on the waiting list for about 2 hours and one of the biggest fish online was still in the game. It was a 10/20 NL 6max deep table. I immediately got stuck $1400 while laying in bed and then I put an amazing cooler on the fish to end up winning $688. Real quick: I raised with KQ, he called with 66, the flop was QQ6 and I turned the 4th Q. Somehow he still paid me off about $1400 additional once the 3rd Q hit the turn....I don't know what he planned on beating, but it was still unlucky for him. In the 15 minutes I was in the game he went from having around $7K in front of him to being busted and off the site. Glad I got a little bit of it.
New challenge update:
Online: +$5,434
Live: +$1,224
Total: +$6,658
Amount needed to reach goal: $13,342
Saturday, September 27, 2008
Predictions....
So last time I set a goal it was to play 30 hours online and win $5000 in a week. It has been two weeks since I set that goal and I am just now to the point where I have profited $5,000 online. I don't know how many hours I played in that time, but I am sure it was more than 30 and it took me longer than the week it was supposed to.
Recently, I have been talking to a few different really successful poker players whose approach to the game I respect a lot. We discussed a lot of stuff that was very interesting to me, but I was really surprised at how much money these guys claimed to have won and also how much they said they had spent on unnecessary things during their poker careers. I like to spend my fair share of money, but I have nowhere near the spending problems that these guys have. I feel like these players that I have been talking to are all great players, but I don't feel like they are THAT much better than I am. This line of thinking raised a few questions for me.
1. Why have they won so much more money than me?
2. How can they still have so much money despite outlandish spending habits when I have relatively low spending habits?
3. What makes them so much better than me?
Thinking about all of these questions made me realize that my work ethic and/or desire to make serious money is way lower than all of theirs. When I say serious money I mean the kind of money that goes above and beyond what it takes to live the very comfortable lifestyle that I currently live. These guys are all grinders that play way more hours than I do and at higher stakes. I feel like I am certainly good enough to beat the stakes that they are playing, but I don't want to put in the time to get comfortable playing those same stakes. I have moved up in limits since I moved to Vegas, but it has been an amazingly slow progression (in my opinion). I remember feeling incredibly uncomfortable when I was trying to move up and become a regular 2/4 NL player online. I felt totally exposed and as though I was playing my hands face up. I felt the same way when I tried to move up by taking shots at the 5/10 NL live games. I played so tight that it was almost impossible for me to book a winning session without putting a huge cooler on one of my oponents. Now I feel like I am the best player in any 2/4 NL game online or 5/10 NL live game that I play in and couldn't be more comfortable than I am in either of those games. This is getting to be a bit of a ramble, but it boils down to the fact that if I want to make serious money I need to make a serious effort at putting in more hours at higher limit games. I simply have to get more comfortable playing these higher stakes to make the kind of money I know I am capable of. Hopefully, I am going to start playing some more 10/20 NL live and a lot more 5/10 NL online.
Today, I felt like I played really awesome online and had some good results to show for it. I ended up winning a little over $3,000 online and over $1200 live. It feels good to have a $4,200 day and I think that shouldn't be too uncommon for me if I am able to get comfortable playing these higher stakes.
I predicted to Matt today that I can feel a big 2-3 week heater coming up and that today was going to be the start of it (this was predicted early in my online session today). I am really going to try to cram as much poker as I can in for the next two weeks solid and see if I can put up some of the types of figures these guys were talking about making. I am setting a lofty goal for myself of making $20,000 before October 11th. It will be very hard to get there, but I feel like it can be done. I always set goals that I know are very attainable, but this time I am purposely setting one that is very difficult and should I reach it I will feel a real sense of accomplishment.
So if I count today as my start this is how my progress towards $20K in 2 weeks looks:
Online: +$3,051
Live: +$1224
Total: +$4,275
Amount needed to reach goal: $15,725
Recently, I have been talking to a few different really successful poker players whose approach to the game I respect a lot. We discussed a lot of stuff that was very interesting to me, but I was really surprised at how much money these guys claimed to have won and also how much they said they had spent on unnecessary things during their poker careers. I like to spend my fair share of money, but I have nowhere near the spending problems that these guys have. I feel like these players that I have been talking to are all great players, but I don't feel like they are THAT much better than I am. This line of thinking raised a few questions for me.
1. Why have they won so much more money than me?
2. How can they still have so much money despite outlandish spending habits when I have relatively low spending habits?
3. What makes them so much better than me?
Thinking about all of these questions made me realize that my work ethic and/or desire to make serious money is way lower than all of theirs. When I say serious money I mean the kind of money that goes above and beyond what it takes to live the very comfortable lifestyle that I currently live. These guys are all grinders that play way more hours than I do and at higher stakes. I feel like I am certainly good enough to beat the stakes that they are playing, but I don't want to put in the time to get comfortable playing those same stakes. I have moved up in limits since I moved to Vegas, but it has been an amazingly slow progression (in my opinion). I remember feeling incredibly uncomfortable when I was trying to move up and become a regular 2/4 NL player online. I felt totally exposed and as though I was playing my hands face up. I felt the same way when I tried to move up by taking shots at the 5/10 NL live games. I played so tight that it was almost impossible for me to book a winning session without putting a huge cooler on one of my oponents. Now I feel like I am the best player in any 2/4 NL game online or 5/10 NL live game that I play in and couldn't be more comfortable than I am in either of those games. This is getting to be a bit of a ramble, but it boils down to the fact that if I want to make serious money I need to make a serious effort at putting in more hours at higher limit games. I simply have to get more comfortable playing these higher stakes to make the kind of money I know I am capable of. Hopefully, I am going to start playing some more 10/20 NL live and a lot more 5/10 NL online.
Today, I felt like I played really awesome online and had some good results to show for it. I ended up winning a little over $3,000 online and over $1200 live. It feels good to have a $4,200 day and I think that shouldn't be too uncommon for me if I am able to get comfortable playing these higher stakes.
I predicted to Matt today that I can feel a big 2-3 week heater coming up and that today was going to be the start of it (this was predicted early in my online session today). I am really going to try to cram as much poker as I can in for the next two weeks solid and see if I can put up some of the types of figures these guys were talking about making. I am setting a lofty goal for myself of making $20,000 before October 11th. It will be very hard to get there, but I feel like it can be done. I always set goals that I know are very attainable, but this time I am purposely setting one that is very difficult and should I reach it I will feel a real sense of accomplishment.
So if I count today as my start this is how my progress towards $20K in 2 weeks looks:
Online: +$3,051
Live: +$1224
Total: +$4,275
Amount needed to reach goal: $15,725
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
I finally did some grinding....
I had planned on really grinding when I got back to Vegas and while I was playing quite a bit it was more gambling than grinding. I was playing mostly PLO and playing a little higher than usual and trying to win a lot of money quickly. My swings were pretty big both up and down with yesterday being a pretty big downer. I lost almost $5,000 yesterday, but I was up pretty good before that so it didn't hurt too badly. That is part of the problem...it never seems to hurt when I lose anymore, because I have so much money in my account and I know I won't really miss the money if I lose.
Well, today I really got back to the grind and played some of my bread and butter full ring no limit. I played mostly 2/4, but also included some 3/6. I played abut 3 hours and was up around $200 when I noticed myself not playing my best. I took a break, ate some lunch and then started playing again. I played much better and won some big pots in the next 3 hours. I ended up winning $2,221 in just over 6 hours of playing. I ran a little better than I can expect in the long run, but it wasn't too out of the ordinary to win that much in 3500+ hands.
Josh and I then went to the Bellagio and played 5/10 live for a couple of hours and I was in one of the best games I have been in a while. I won $710 there.
So for all the ups and downs I have had this week I am up about $1200 total. It could be better, but it could also be much worse.
Oh, before I went home for my reunion I was down to 212 lbs. I ate like a total pig while I was home and when I weighed myself just 2 weeks later I was at 221 lbs. This morning I was back down to 216. I have been eating great (except tonight I did eat some In and Out on the way to the Bellagio), but I'm having trouble getting my swimming done. Hopefully I can get back into the swimming again soon. I want to get to 200 or maybe lower, but I don't have any time frame to do this in.
Well, today I really got back to the grind and played some of my bread and butter full ring no limit. I played mostly 2/4, but also included some 3/6. I played abut 3 hours and was up around $200 when I noticed myself not playing my best. I took a break, ate some lunch and then started playing again. I played much better and won some big pots in the next 3 hours. I ended up winning $2,221 in just over 6 hours of playing. I ran a little better than I can expect in the long run, but it wasn't too out of the ordinary to win that much in 3500+ hands.
Josh and I then went to the Bellagio and played 5/10 live for a couple of hours and I was in one of the best games I have been in a while. I won $710 there.
So for all the ups and downs I have had this week I am up about $1200 total. It could be better, but it could also be much worse.
Oh, before I went home for my reunion I was down to 212 lbs. I ate like a total pig while I was home and when I weighed myself just 2 weeks later I was at 221 lbs. This morning I was back down to 216. I have been eating great (except tonight I did eat some In and Out on the way to the Bellagio), but I'm having trouble getting my swimming done. Hopefully I can get back into the swimming again soon. I want to get to 200 or maybe lower, but I don't have any time frame to do this in.
Saturday, September 13, 2008
One week goal....
I am starting small. I want to get back into the groove of making money on a steady basis.
I want to play 30 hours of online poker by next Sunday night (September 22) and I would like to make $5,000.
Sorry for the low content, but I just want to get something written down before I start playing.
I want to play 30 hours of online poker by next Sunday night (September 22) and I would like to make $5,000.
Sorry for the low content, but I just want to get something written down before I start playing.
Thursday, September 11, 2008
I'm ready to get back into my "routine"
I hardly have anything in my life that resembles anything that could be confused with a routine, but believe it or not I am ready to get back into my routine. I always do a lot of traveling and am constantly having friends visit me, but I usually manage to mix in some pretty decent stretches of hardcore poker playing between these times of leisure. However, since I did so well in my tournament I have been rather unmotivated to buckle down and get back to my routine. It seems like I haven't played any serious online poker during this entire time. I have had people come visit me, gone to visit other friends on several occasions, and gone home to visit family and friends for what seems like a month straight. I have spent lots of money on random stuff, lost considerably more than I have won playing poker, and eaten like a pig all while failing to exercise outside of the one time I swam in the lake at home.
I am really looking forward to getting back to Vegas and going grocery shopping for some decent healthy food. I don't want the stupid whole-foods type of healthy stuff, I just want to buy a ton of healthy choice/lean cuisine frozen meals and some applesauce and/or carrots type of snacky food. It sounds so boring, but I can't wait until my days consist of: getting up around noon, going for a swim, doing some push-ups and sit-ups so I can rationalize not going to the gym to really work out, weighing myself and charting my weight loss progress, eating some healthy frozen meal, taking a shower, playing 5-6 hours of hardcore online poker, winning lots of money and playing increasingly sharper for everyday that I stick to my routine, eating something else pretty healthy for dinner that I can make at home, watching some TV, maybe going to play some live poker at night, avoid doing any chores that can possibly be put off until a later date, not receiving or making one phone call for an entire day, and getting in my own bed with my own TV playing the same episode of sportscenter over and over all night long once I fall asleep about 3 minutes after getting into bed. I always claim that I don't like sticking to schedules, but I am pretty excited about getting back to this one and I think it is about the only kind that I am capable of enjoying. I believe this to be true because it is one that I chose, has virtually zero accountability to anyone except me, and is full of stuff that I think are fun/rewarding. Even with a schedule that is so non-demanding I am sure I will again grow bored with it and get burnt out sooner than I thought possible which will result in me searching for my next vacation stop along the way. Until then I look forward to getting home and making the most of my fresh start and clear mind.
I hope to get some moderately short term goals posted in here before I get back to to work so I have something to shoot for.
I am really looking forward to getting back to Vegas and going grocery shopping for some decent healthy food. I don't want the stupid whole-foods type of healthy stuff, I just want to buy a ton of healthy choice/lean cuisine frozen meals and some applesauce and/or carrots type of snacky food. It sounds so boring, but I can't wait until my days consist of: getting up around noon, going for a swim, doing some push-ups and sit-ups so I can rationalize not going to the gym to really work out, weighing myself and charting my weight loss progress, eating some healthy frozen meal, taking a shower, playing 5-6 hours of hardcore online poker, winning lots of money and playing increasingly sharper for everyday that I stick to my routine, eating something else pretty healthy for dinner that I can make at home, watching some TV, maybe going to play some live poker at night, avoid doing any chores that can possibly be put off until a later date, not receiving or making one phone call for an entire day, and getting in my own bed with my own TV playing the same episode of sportscenter over and over all night long once I fall asleep about 3 minutes after getting into bed. I always claim that I don't like sticking to schedules, but I am pretty excited about getting back to this one and I think it is about the only kind that I am capable of enjoying. I believe this to be true because it is one that I chose, has virtually zero accountability to anyone except me, and is full of stuff that I think are fun/rewarding. Even with a schedule that is so non-demanding I am sure I will again grow bored with it and get burnt out sooner than I thought possible which will result in me searching for my next vacation stop along the way. Until then I look forward to getting home and making the most of my fresh start and clear mind.
I hope to get some moderately short term goals posted in here before I get back to to work so I have something to shoot for.
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
Not much to blog about....
Since I got my big tourney score I haven't done a good job of setting short term goals for myself or keeping track of how much I have won/lost. I honestly don't even know if I am up or down money since then which is really bad. I haven't played very much, but I know I have had some big swings when I have played.
These are the swings I can remember:
Lost about $2500 in a live session.
Lost about $4500 one day online.
Lost 3,000 online and won $4500 live in the same day.
Lost around $1000 live
Won 1200 online
Won 2200 today playing online.
If these were the only swings that had happened I would be down around $3100 since I got back from Louisville, there are other wins/losses that I am forgetting. I am sure I am down a little bit over this time, but I need to do a better job of keeping track for sure.
Andy Liedolf gets in town tomorrow afternoon so I am sure I won't be playing much while he is here and we are going home on the same flight on the 31st.
I probably won't play very much while I am home either, because I will be pretty busy seeing all my peeps and visiting with family. Eric and Kelly will have already moved to California by the time I get home so that will suck not having them in Evansville when I go back to visit. I could always count on Eric to keep me entertained while I was home and I was always a favorite to sleep in their guest room a few times during my visit.
So, I guess my new short term goal will be to enjoy my upcoming time off and to make sure I set some goals before I get back to playing once I am back in Vegas.
I like visiting home and I am excited to get there, because I haven't been home since Christmas. I think this is probably the longest stretch of time I have ever been away from Evansville in my entire life. I will be home on the 31st and am staying until the 9th. Then I will be back in October for Kyle and Natalie's wedding. I will also for sure be back for Christmas. I usually end up staying for about a month around Christmas time, but I don't know if I will do that this time. My brother, Nat, is trying to convince me to come home for Thanksgiving and then co-hosting a bonfire party with him the Friday after Thanksgiving. I don't know if I want to come home 4 times in 4 months though. I guess a lot of it depends on if I have any other travel plans come up or not.
Sorry for the boring blog, but I thought I should post something before I got too far down the slippery slope of not blogging for a while.
These are the swings I can remember:
Lost about $2500 in a live session.
Lost about $4500 one day online.
Lost 3,000 online and won $4500 live in the same day.
Lost around $1000 live
Won 1200 online
Won 2200 today playing online.
If these were the only swings that had happened I would be down around $3100 since I got back from Louisville, there are other wins/losses that I am forgetting. I am sure I am down a little bit over this time, but I need to do a better job of keeping track for sure.
Andy Liedolf gets in town tomorrow afternoon so I am sure I won't be playing much while he is here and we are going home on the same flight on the 31st.
I probably won't play very much while I am home either, because I will be pretty busy seeing all my peeps and visiting with family. Eric and Kelly will have already moved to California by the time I get home so that will suck not having them in Evansville when I go back to visit. I could always count on Eric to keep me entertained while I was home and I was always a favorite to sleep in their guest room a few times during my visit.
So, I guess my new short term goal will be to enjoy my upcoming time off and to make sure I set some goals before I get back to playing once I am back in Vegas.
I like visiting home and I am excited to get there, because I haven't been home since Christmas. I think this is probably the longest stretch of time I have ever been away from Evansville in my entire life. I will be home on the 31st and am staying until the 9th. Then I will be back in October for Kyle and Natalie's wedding. I will also for sure be back for Christmas. I usually end up staying for about a month around Christmas time, but I don't know if I will do that this time. My brother, Nat, is trying to convince me to come home for Thanksgiving and then co-hosting a bonfire party with him the Friday after Thanksgiving. I don't know if I want to come home 4 times in 4 months though. I guess a lot of it depends on if I have any other travel plans come up or not.
Sorry for the boring blog, but I thought I should post something before I got too far down the slippery slope of not blogging for a while.
Sunday, August 17, 2008
Don't let them fool you....they are scurred!
The guy that that owns Cirque Du Soleil is super rich and loves to play poker. He plays the biggest games online and he is by far the biggest loser in the history of online poker, but he is a billionaire and doesn't mind one bit. Every time he plays the the waiting lists get insanely long with people wanting to take a shot at him. The list was 11 people long at both tables that he was playing on, but when I sat down with $40,000 at an empty table not one of those people waiting for his game wanted to play against me...an unknown nobody with $40,000 to give to them. I don't blame them at all considering that if I did actually play them I would most likely end up not being a nobody and would be one of the regulars in the game playing on a friends account.
I can now say that I tried to sit with the best players in the biggest game offered and they were too scared to play with me. Look...see for yourself!
Edit: A player named Urindanger ended up sitting with me and bought in for $8,000, but it took anyone about 15 minutes before they sat with me....wusses.
I can now say that I tried to sit with the best players in the biggest game offered and they were too scared to play with me. Look...see for yourself!
Edit: A player named Urindanger ended up sitting with me and bought in for $8,000, but it took anyone about 15 minutes before they sat with me....wusses.
Bored blog....
I am about to start playing for the day, but the first tournament of the day that I will be playing in doesn't start for an hour. I played my second FTOPS event yesterday and made another decently deep run. It was the $100 PLO with rebuys and I was in for $309. I ended up getting 64th place for $849. Its really a pretty big waste of time to play in tournament unless you are going to make the final table and hopefully get top 3, but that can't happen unless you play in them. So today I am playing the $215 Sunday Million on Stars and the $535 FTOPS main event along with some PLO cash games on the side. Hopefully I will get top 3 in one of these, but don't hold your breath.
I am trying to get back into swimming everyday again. Watching the Olympics got me re motivated to start working on my form again. In case you have never tried it let me just tell you that the little move that they do during the freestyle stroke where they flip around and push off in the opposite direction when they get to the wall is HARD! I am about 50 times more likely to get a nose full of water and be unsuccessful in my turn around than I am to successfully turn around when trying this move. Actually, I am a much bigger underdog than that to be successful considering I have tried it about 50 times and haven't done it correctly yet. However, if I do ever get that trick down I'll be in good shape, because I have a mean dolphin kick! I worked on that this morning too....I dove in and dolphin kicked it ala Micheal Phelps and I was shocked at how fast I had gotten to the other end of the pool with out taking a single swimming stroke. For some reason my dolphin kick angles me towards the bottom of the pool instead of back towards the top....I'll work on fixing that tomorrow.
This is pretty much what I look like when I swim. The move I am talking about is at about the 1:40 mark right at the end of the video.....so sick.
Well, they disabled this video from being embedded so you'll have to click the link if you want to see it. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ax77_hHq9Dc
Speaking of the Olympics....I have an issue with the female marathoners. Basically, I don't think that they are dedicated enough to their sport or their country for that matter. These women probably weigh 100 pounds (if that much), but for some reason I see some of them sporting huge pony tails of hair sometimes half-way down their back! You say who cares huh? Well a marathon is 138,435 feet in distance and if you assume they average 6 feet per stride (just an estimate) that is over 23,000 steps per race. Some of these huge pony tails have got to weigh 2-5 pounds. I challenge you to do anything 23,000 times with something that weighs 2-5 pounds. I just can't believe that these women train their whole lives to be the world's best marathoners and yet they carry around a 2-5 pound weight on top of their head while running in the biggest race of their lives. Seriously, it is the Olympics, if you want to turn in the best possible time you can...shave you head! The part about them being 100 pounds is the worst part of all...they are carrying an extra 2-5% of their body weight around. If I had to do that it would be like running a marathon while having a gallon of milk strapped to my head....please tell me you see my point now!
I am trying to get back into swimming everyday again. Watching the Olympics got me re motivated to start working on my form again. In case you have never tried it let me just tell you that the little move that they do during the freestyle stroke where they flip around and push off in the opposite direction when they get to the wall is HARD! I am about 50 times more likely to get a nose full of water and be unsuccessful in my turn around than I am to successfully turn around when trying this move. Actually, I am a much bigger underdog than that to be successful considering I have tried it about 50 times and haven't done it correctly yet. However, if I do ever get that trick down I'll be in good shape, because I have a mean dolphin kick! I worked on that this morning too....I dove in and dolphin kicked it ala Micheal Phelps and I was shocked at how fast I had gotten to the other end of the pool with out taking a single swimming stroke. For some reason my dolphin kick angles me towards the bottom of the pool instead of back towards the top....I'll work on fixing that tomorrow.
This is pretty much what I look like when I swim. The move I am talking about is at about the 1:40 mark right at the end of the video.....so sick.
Well, they disabled this video from being embedded so you'll have to click the link if you want to see it. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ax77_hHq9Dc
Speaking of the Olympics....I have an issue with the female marathoners. Basically, I don't think that they are dedicated enough to their sport or their country for that matter. These women probably weigh 100 pounds (if that much), but for some reason I see some of them sporting huge pony tails of hair sometimes half-way down their back! You say who cares huh? Well a marathon is 138,435 feet in distance and if you assume they average 6 feet per stride (just an estimate) that is over 23,000 steps per race. Some of these huge pony tails have got to weigh 2-5 pounds. I challenge you to do anything 23,000 times with something that weighs 2-5 pounds. I just can't believe that these women train their whole lives to be the world's best marathoners and yet they carry around a 2-5 pound weight on top of their head while running in the biggest race of their lives. Seriously, it is the Olympics, if you want to turn in the best possible time you can...shave you head! The part about them being 100 pounds is the worst part of all...they are carrying an extra 2-5% of their body weight around. If I had to do that it would be like running a marathon while having a gallon of milk strapped to my head....please tell me you see my point now!
Thursday, August 14, 2008
Tough to get motivated.....
I didn't play any poker for about 5 days after my tournament score partly because I was at Landon's lake house with no internet, but I was also weary of playing unmotivated poker which can be very dangerous. I felt like I wouldn't have my edge of being really patient and able to grind knowing that I had just won so much money and I was playing to try and win such a small percentage of what I had just won. I have played two really short sessions since then and thankfully I ran really well although I could tell me motivation and focus wasn't at its best...just as I thought it would be. I have probably only played about 2 or 3 hours total and I am up around $2500 which is very nice. I am trying to force myself to play a little higher than I am normally comfortable playing and hopefully I will become more comfortable since my bankroll is much more healthy these days. I have been playing some 3/6 and 5/10 cap PLO instead of mostly 2/4 and some 3/6. Of course the players are better there, but I still feel like players play PLO much worse in general than they do Hold'em so I think I will stick with PLO for the time being.
I am having fun thinking about what I am going to do with my new found money, but I want/need so very little that it is almost like I have to force myself to find things to spend it on. So far I have come up with a few ideas. I am considering lasik eye surgery, a new king size bed, a new cell phone, putting some money in my online stock account in case I get some random tips down the road and I want to take a shot, and putting a pretty good chunk of money in my retirement accounts. If you have any other ideas that you think I might be interested in please feel free to share them with me.
I must say....it is a pretty sweet problem to have when you can't think how to spend your money
I am having fun thinking about what I am going to do with my new found money, but I want/need so very little that it is almost like I have to force myself to find things to spend it on. So far I have come up with a few ideas. I am considering lasik eye surgery, a new king size bed, a new cell phone, putting some money in my online stock account in case I get some random tips down the road and I want to take a shot, and putting a pretty good chunk of money in my retirement accounts. If you have any other ideas that you think I might be interested in please feel free to share them with me.
I must say....it is a pretty sweet problem to have when you can't think how to spend your money
Friday, August 8, 2008
Always a bridesmaid and never the bride.....
But this time being a bridesmaid is pretty SWEET! I finished 3rd in the FTOPS Event #4 a $322 entry with one rebuy and one add-on allowed for a whopping $74,658. It hasn't really sunk in at all to be honest and I have no idea what to do to celebrate. I am at Landon's house by myself waiting for Jon and Whitney's flight to get in so I can go pick them up. Landon and Brittany are still at the wedding. Thanks to everyone that sent me good luck wishes during and after the tourney.
In other news I beat Landon in the $500 prop bet where I had to use a baseball mitt and throw the ball and he got a racket in a tennis match. We agreed to play a 3 set match and I won 7-5, 6-3. I was down 5-2 in the first set, but made a roaring comeback. He has since won $350 of that money back by beating me in golf and other tennis bets. A special congrats goes to Landon for beating me STRAIGHT UP at golf. I shot 91 and he shot 82 I think. In my defense I was using a rental set of clubs and the clubs seemed like they had womens shafts in them which made it feel like I was swinging a belt. I hit it all over the place and that is not good at Lake Forrest (literally out of bounds on the left AND right side of EVERY hole).
What in the world am I going to do with the $74,000 that I didn't have when I woke up today?!?! I have no idea, but I am sure I'll enjoy it whatever I choose to do with it!
In other news I beat Landon in the $500 prop bet where I had to use a baseball mitt and throw the ball and he got a racket in a tennis match. We agreed to play a 3 set match and I won 7-5, 6-3. I was down 5-2 in the first set, but made a roaring comeback. He has since won $350 of that money back by beating me in golf and other tennis bets. A special congrats goes to Landon for beating me STRAIGHT UP at golf. I shot 91 and he shot 82 I think. In my defense I was using a rental set of clubs and the clubs seemed like they had womens shafts in them which made it feel like I was swinging a belt. I hit it all over the place and that is not good at Lake Forrest (literally out of bounds on the left AND right side of EVERY hole).
What in the world am I going to do with the $74,000 that I didn't have when I woke up today?!?! I have no idea, but I am sure I'll enjoy it whatever I choose to do with it!
Friday, August 1, 2008
Quick Update....
Caddying is going great and Jeff is playing awesome. He shot a 7 under 65 yesterday and has a 2 shot lead going into the second round. It seemed like he never had to hit a tough shot and could have made a lot more putts than he did. He only missed one fairway and one green all day and that was the hole he bogeyed. He was never anywhere close to making another bogey. I am not sure what the longest putt he made for par was, but it couldn't have been much more than 2 or 3 feet. So basically he either made birdie or a tap-in par on every hole. It was pretty cool to watch.
Oh yeah, something else that people might find interesting is that we played 9 holes of our practice round with Michelle Wie. I thought she would be a little stuck up or arrogant, but she was very cool and really nice.
Its time to go crush some IHOP before our round today.
I just thought I would let you all know that I officially (actually really unofficially) have the lowest first round scoring average for caddies in the history of the PGA Tour....Jeff shot 65 in the first round when I caddied for him in Vegas too.
Oh yeah, something else that people might find interesting is that we played 9 holes of our practice round with Michelle Wie. I thought she would be a little stuck up or arrogant, but she was very cool and really nice.
Its time to go crush some IHOP before our round today.
I just thought I would let you all know that I officially (actually really unofficially) have the lowest first round scoring average for caddies in the history of the PGA Tour....Jeff shot 65 in the first round when I caddied for him in Vegas too.
Friday, July 25, 2008
Its official....
I am the worst friend/person ever. Landon has been looking forward to me playing in his member/guest golf tournament for about 3 years now I believe. I used to never be able to play in it because it corresponded with the Evansville City Golf tournament. Landon was secretly (not very secretively I might add) happy that I got disqualified from the City tourney last year because that meant I would be able to play with him in his member/guest golf tourney. In order to play in it you have to have a GHIN handicap card and it is apparently a pretty big deal with all of the extra stuff that goes along with the tournament such as a calcutta and banquet. There is also a really long waiting list to get into the tournament. After quite a bit of trouble I finally got my GHIN handicap card in working order and we were one of the last teams to get into the field. Once we found out we were in I booked my flight. Finally, all of the pieces were in place for Landon and I to play in his Member/Guest tourney.....
I played online all day and left my phone in my bedroom. When I finally looked at my phone I had 3 missed calls and a text message from Jeff saying that he needed a caddie for this week in Reno! The last time Jeff called me at the last second to have me caddy for him Derek and Joey were in town and I decided to be a good friend and turned Jeff down. I instantly regretted it and while I had a great time with Derek and Joey it is a sickening feeling to pass up such a great opportunity. Before I called Jeff I called Landon to tell him the position I was in. He was very understanding and said something like very fatherly like "I won't be mad at you if you choose to caddy for Jeff...I know it is a good opportunity for you...I'll just be dissapointed". Thats my favorite quality of Landon as a friend is that is totally honest with you and is probably the most rational person I know.
So, its official, I am the worst friend ever and I let Landon down by telling him that I couldn't play in his tournament that we had been planning on on playing in for so long. I know he was looking forward to this tournament a lot and I feel like the biggest jerk ever for backing out. I feel like one of my best qualities as a friend is that I'll never let you down under any circumstances. As my buddy Clint likes to say..."If I say I am gonna go fishing with you, you might as well start the grease". Well, I this time I left Landon stranded with a pan full of hot grease. I feel like I have a pretty good reason and I think he understands.
I'm sorry Landon :(
The good news...I'll be caddying for Jeff in the Reno/Tahoe Open July 31- August 3rd when he wins his first PGA Tour Event!
I played online all day and left my phone in my bedroom. When I finally looked at my phone I had 3 missed calls and a text message from Jeff saying that he needed a caddie for this week in Reno! The last time Jeff called me at the last second to have me caddy for him Derek and Joey were in town and I decided to be a good friend and turned Jeff down. I instantly regretted it and while I had a great time with Derek and Joey it is a sickening feeling to pass up such a great opportunity. Before I called Jeff I called Landon to tell him the position I was in. He was very understanding and said something like very fatherly like "I won't be mad at you if you choose to caddy for Jeff...I know it is a good opportunity for you...I'll just be dissapointed". Thats my favorite quality of Landon as a friend is that is totally honest with you and is probably the most rational person I know.
So, its official, I am the worst friend ever and I let Landon down by telling him that I couldn't play in his tournament that we had been planning on on playing in for so long. I know he was looking forward to this tournament a lot and I feel like the biggest jerk ever for backing out. I feel like one of my best qualities as a friend is that I'll never let you down under any circumstances. As my buddy Clint likes to say..."If I say I am gonna go fishing with you, you might as well start the grease". Well, I this time I left Landon stranded with a pan full of hot grease. I feel like I have a pretty good reason and I think he understands.
I'm sorry Landon :(
The good news...I'll be caddying for Jeff in the Reno/Tahoe Open July 31- August 3rd when he wins his first PGA Tour Event!
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