200NL sucks

I finally played a session today and I ran pretty poor and made a few mistakes. Overall I think it's just varience but I will be dropping back down to 100NL now to rebuild for a while. I'm down to 3100.

We have been doing a lot in Switzerland. I've visited a bunch of cities so far and tomorrow were taking a panoramic train from Montreux to Interlaken. Should be a good time. It's also my birthday tomorrow so I'll probably drink a lot throughout the day. For new years we have a hotel in Geneva for the night so I'll probably party pretty hard then too. Good thing I'll be busy so I can't tilt off my money online. So far I'm - 700 at 200NL over 2000 hands. Pretty gross.

Thats about it because poker sucks right now.

Bienvenue a la Suisse

So here I am in Europe. It's pretty amazing. So much of the area is different. We got in around 10am (their time) or 4am (our time) on monday morning. That led to along day because I didn't sleep at all but managed to keep myself awake for a while. Christmas was pretty crazy. There we alot of presents for my girlfriends siblings, all 6 of them. Then we had a nice big Christmas dinner and I stuffed myself with turkey, potatoes, and wine. MMMMMMM

Today we went riding in the alps. I snowboarded but her brothers ski so I was the outcast. Her sister snowboards too but is still learning. It's totally different from riding in New England. The blue runs here and like black runs back home. Needless to say I had a pretty tough time adjusting to it. On the first run I took out some little kid who decided to carve in front of me while I was whipping down the trail. He was probably about 13 or so but he didn't get hurt which was good. It was an absolute mob scene there with so many little kids going down these big trails but just going from one side of the trail to the other side which made it difficult to manuver around them at times. I fell once down a steep part and slid down the whole steep part, and in turn sprained my thumb. All in all it was an awesome day.

I have alot of pictures as well I want to post but I didn't bring my connector with me so I'm not sure when I'll be able to put the pictures up.

I haven't gotten any poker in yet but in hte next few days I will be throwing in some sessions at night.

Its all over

School is finally done. I'm so very happy about that. No more classes to worry about for a month.

Poker has been unkind to me lately. I took my first shot at 200NL and ran pretty poor. I managed to get 2 large pocket pairs all in against overpairs for 100BB's each but given the circumstances they both ended up being totally standard plays so I'm not unhappy with my play in either of them. I'm playing fairly well at the new limit and if I had to rate my game I think I'm playing about a B game. There is room for improvement but I feel I've been playing solid poker for the most part. Over 1000 hands I'm down 350$ which isn't horrible but it can be disheartening when first taking a shot at a higher limit. One thing I need to focus on a lot is game selection. There are still plenty of bad players at this limit and I need to make a conscious effort to find them and leave games that are unprofitable. But its been tough having no database to find the players. The level jump has some differences and you can tell that the regular players are by far better players then at 100NL.

I have a lot of cleaning and packing to do before my trip. I leave in 2 days and I can't wait to experience Europe. My next few updates will be about that, but I will be trying to get in as much poker as possible.

School is no fun

This one class is killing me. I have a take home exam, assignment, investment portfolio (like 30 pages long) and a final for one class. I'm starting to get really aggravated with the class because this portfolio is insane and he wants so much in it that I don't know how to do. I hope tomorrow morning people will have theirs done and I can take a look at theirs to see what I need to add.

All this work leads to no time for poker. I really wanted to take a shot at 1-2 online today but I had no time getting all this work done. Hopefully everything goes smooth tomorrow, I get all my studying done for my exam on Tuesday and I still have some left over time for poker.

Semesters end

School is winding down now and I have a lot of work to finish up before my finals. I'm really only worried about one class where I have a huge project, an assignment, take home exam, and in class final to do by Monday. WTF!

It's supposed to snow a lot today but it looks now like it's changing over to some sleet for a bit. I might go do some snowboarding either late tonight or tomorrow for a bit. Then it'll be hittin the books all weekend long. Poker is probably going to have to take a back seat this weekend so I can finish up all this work in time.

Europe in 10 days

Awesome Headphones

So on my way down to Foxwoods on Saturday I stopped at a Bose store and picked up a new pair of headphones. I bought then new quiet comfort 3 headphones. They are on the ear noise canceling headphones and I love them. They ran me 300$ which is kind of extravagant but I like them so to hell with the money.

I only played for less then 2 hours that day and made a nice 185$. I flopped 2 pair from the blinds, flopped top set with aces, and backdoored a flush in a decent sized pot as well. Not too bad for only about 40 hands.

I went snowboarding last night which was a bunch of fun. It was raining though and super cold so we were frozen in no time and the lifts were literally blocks of ice from the freezing rain. It was so much fun to get back out there since its been 2 years since I've gone riding. I'm really looking forward to riding in Europe. I'm still a little shaky on the board right now but hopefully I'll get the chance to go one more time before I leave for Europe.

On an online note I only played around 3000 hands last month and ended up making around 700$. But I've transfered so much to my friend who keeps going busto. And I keep using that money to pay all my bills.

Online 3528
Live 1585 (damn that 600 for my flight >=0)

Riding

One of the things I'm very excited for while in Europe is going snowboarding. I just went and picked up some new bindings for my board because I bought new boots last year and they didn't fit in the old bindings I have. I'm going to set my deck up today and hopefully if it doesn't rain tomorrow my friends and I will go and do some local riding. It's been really cold here so the mountains have been making snow all week and they just opened up yesterday.

I'm thinking about going to the casino today as well. I'll probably make it down after I set up the board!!

Been a while

Sorry it's been so long. I've never been in the mood recently to write anything.

Schools almost over which is awesome and I think I might pull out some good grades this semester.

Once school is all done I'll be leaving for Europe which will be awesome. We're trying to figure out where to go for new years eve. Hopefully we figure out something awesome to do. I'd really like to do a few days of traveling while we're over there.

Poker has been better. Online I'm doing ok but have had a few bumps in the road. I'm slowly working my live roll back up as well and I'm at 1460 right now. I was down to 1k at one point so it was nice to put together a few winning sessions this weekend. Unfortunately I dropped a 100$ bill out of my pocket last time I was there when I went to get some food. Great time to just throw money away.

I put a bid on a new pair of headphones on Ebay. They are the Bose quiet comfort 3. I used them at Foxwoods for a little while and they are by far the nicest headphones I've ever used. My bid is at 275$ and I hope thats the winning bid because I don't want to pay any more then that. I figure I have to spoil myself at times with this poker money. If I don't, then why in the hell would I be putting myself through all this annoyance =)

I'll try to be more up to date with my next few posts as well.

Cant get it going

Had another bad session last night. I was totally card dead and the table was playing very loose so there was no chance of me being able to make a play on anyone. I basically call-folded my way down to -300 then played a hand where i had K9hh on the button, 7 handed preflop, with 350$ in the pot preflop. Flop KK2 rainbow and I scoop and end up +15 for the session.

I'm heading to Rhode Island tomorrow for an online session with some friends from 2+2 then I'll be back at Foxwoods in the early evening.

Kinda meh

I haven't made it down to the casino too much recently. I've been getting staked by my buddy when I do go because all my bills are piling up and I don't want my roll busto. I paid 600 for my flight to Europe which was 1/3 of my live roll. I also had to spend some of the money I transfered from FTP on fixing my car. I still have 150$ coming from the guy I've transfered to but my live roll is around 1260 now. Expenses will kill you at times.

I ran pretty well 2 times prior when I went to the casino. I made a river straight against a guys slowplayed pocket aces and got his stack. I ended up 220 for the session but decided to go play 2-4 HORSE with a friend for his birthday. Unfortunately I ran miserably and lost 120 in the game. It was a very dumb move to go play that while I'm trying to rebuild my roll. I also gave my buddy an extra 10 bucks so it left me up 90 for the session. Then next session I ended up down 150 after my flopped straight gets beat by a guys turned full house. Very frustrating. But both nights were very dull and not much action.

I haven't had much time online to play recently but hopefully this weekend I will get some good online and live play in. I'd like to get a room saturday night down near Foxwoods so I can play saturday night, grind some online, get some rest, and back to Foxwoods on sunday. We'll see though.

live 1260
online 3670

Book the win

I finally booked a win. Funny story to go along with the win. This is from 2+2.

So I'm playing a session at Foxwoods last night. 1-2 and I'm pretty card dead for the first 2 hours. The table is pretty calling stationish so I decided to play pretty TAG because people just aren't folding ace high.

A guy sits down a proceeds to play a sweet 90/50 style and I'm not unhappy being 2 to his left.

About an hour goes by and once again he raises to 12 after a few limpers. I call on the button with Q10o and one limper calls.

Flop (40) J 8 4 rainbow.

Sweet, I flopped 4 outs to the nuts. I bet 1st guy will check, and 90/50 will c-bet like he does every other time with any 2.

check
bet 25
I call
1 fold

Turn (90) K putting 2 hearts on the board.

Great card to bluff at, but hes so station like he will never fold a jack here (I had just pushed him out about 20 mins before in a big 3 bet hand where I actually had aces)

he checks,
I decide free card time and check

River 9 hearts putting a 3 flush on board but I have the nut straight.

he quickly fires 75

I feel hes on a steal or backdoored hearts. He hasn't been making thin value bets so I actually figured him for the nuts or nothing. i opted to just call.

He shows 99 and my hand is good.

Begin berating.

"You [censored] donkey. What the [censored] did you call me on the flop with. A [censored] gutshot. You [censored] suck. You are the biggest fish in this game. Calls with a gutshot, un [censored] beliveable."

Me "Well I actually had 8 outs and what I thought was 4 to the nuts so I also have some impiled odds too" (dumb thing to say)

"IMPLIED ODDS, yeah whatever, you dont know what the [censored] you are talking about. You [censored] donkey. Enjoy your stack while you have it cause youll be broke soon. I dont even know why I'm trying to educate you. I'm not going to help the fish at the table. Queen [censored] Ten. You suck at poker."

Me "Ok buddy well see."

one hand goes by during all of this which I fold.

Next hand he throws out a straddle very forcefully. He hasn't straddled yet all session.

Me :lauging: "I got him on tilt, look hes on tilt. so great."

"I'm not on tilt, us good players dont go on tilt like you donkeys. Where I learned to play poker we dont go on tilt, we just get mad and kick peoples heads in"

I'm laughing inside now

2 folds to me, and what a great time to pick up Aces.

raise to 24
short stack calls
straddle calls out of spite. I know he wants to bust me.

Flop Q 8 3 (75$) (2 diamonds)
he checks
I bet 50
shorty folds
he tanks and finally says, "well just incase" and throws in 50

I puke here and have a good feeling I might be behind

Turn (175$) 5
he checks
I know the money is going in so I just bet 75
he shoves after 10 seconds or so.
I puke and think I'm beat. I table my hand and he sees it and says nothing, just looks towards the middle. After about a minute I finally call and he doesn't table his hand.

River (825$) Q
Me "UGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH"

he is motionless.

Me " did you get me on the river"

him " "

Me "am I good? [pause] am I good?"

villain mucks.

SHIP sir. Thank you for your stack. My buddy is directly to his left and his GF is behind him and saw his hole cards.





83 no good sir. Thank you for playing and calling 6x straddle raise with 83 off.

Good Game.




It comes off kind of dick, but all that stuff at the end I didn't say to him, it's just what I was thinking at the time. I played them kinda poorly, seeing as I should have raised the river in hand one, but being on a downswing will make you play poorly at times, and given hand one I think I have to go broke in hand two. There is no way I can fold after what has happened but I also think betting the turn is a pretty big mistake given his comments on the flop. He was pulling the old, act weak which is really strong. But luckily the hands worked out for me.

Online has been awesome this month so far. I'm running at 10PTBB/100 for a few thousand hands, which isn't much but I feel I'm playing very well and running well too.

Live 1784
Online 3876

Everything falls apart

I've been having a rough few days. Life has just been kicking me in the ass everytime I get down. Poker has sucked miserably. Sunday I lost over 2k combined in pots. IE I won a lot of hands then would lose a monster pot. I'd work my chips back up and lose another big one. I lost my biggest pot to date of just over a thousand dollars. I had middle set and the most loose aggressive guy at the table turned the nut flush after I check raised him on the flop. He gave me a great price ~3:1 on the turn so there was no folding even if he showed me he held the nuts at that point. And by the river my last 220 was going in because I'd seen him stack off with A10 on a ten high flop a few hands ago for a thousand dollar pot as well. I'm only down 800 for the session but that was a huge hit to my roll considering I've been on a downswing and I've lost over half my live roll.

Then my brakes go on my car, I need a passport (which I applied for today), I have to pay money for my trip to Europe in 7 weeks (bye bye more of my bankroll), school sucks (got an 80 on an exam that I thought I got a 100 on, doesn't seem bad but the low grade was a 72) and I'm sick of work/being at home/everything.

At least I still have beer, guess since it's Halloween I'll go get drunk somewhere. If not, I'll go get some tea and grind a few tables online.

Still running bad

Not much new to update hence no update in a while. I've been running pretty bad at poker still. I've been playing online and I'm down about 4 buyins over a few thousand hands. I'm playing well for the most part (I ran some dumb bluffs tonight but I felt the timing was appropriate). But I'm losing alot of big pots.

I've been real busy with school/work and I honestly haven't been thinking much about the game. Hopefully this bad drought will end soon and I can actually pull in some money. I NEED MORE TIME IN THE DAY DAMNIT

Breakeven

With my 400$ loss last night im break even over 12 sessions of poker at Foxwoods now. I ran a 98 into AK on a QJ10 flop for a 450$ pot, and got flushed against my top 2 and against one TPTK. Not a fun night but 2 buyins, meh. I was up 100 to start too so that was a 500$ swing in about two hours. Eh, so is poker sometimes. I felt I played well however so I'm not too upset. The only thing that upsets me is the lack of bankroll progress I've had recently. It's been an up and down seesaw, and I really want to start taking shots at 2-5NL but I don't want to do that until I have 3500+ so it looks like it'll be a while until I reach the next level, unless I go on a heater that is.

That quiz I wrote about that I thought I got a 90 on but figured it would be a 60, I did get a 90 on. My econ exam I had the highest grade in the class and one finance exam grade was second highest. My finance exam I get back tomorrow however, I failed miserably. I didn't know anything on the exam and had to guess at so many questions. Ohh well, as long as I can pull a B in that class I'll be satisfied.

I'm not going to Foxwoods again until Friday, so that will give me some tiem to put in some hands online and do some real thinking about the game. I've had alot of ideas recently about poker and hopefully soon I'll make a couple of theoretical entires here and on 2+2 about my thoughts.

Live 1967 >:O
Online 3607

It's usually the big pots,

that I lose. I was playing awesome yesterday. I was kind of card dead but played aggressive and was willing to fire multiple barrels with bottom pair, or weak draws, because I knew the players were decent enough that they wouldn't call three streets with second pair on a 3 flush flop. Then I opened up with 108cc from MP after a few limpers. I was isolating limpers alot. I get 2 callers behind me and one limper calls. Flop As 10h 8h. (65$) 2 checks to me and I sit for a few seconds then bet 50 because it's a fairly draw heavy flop. One caller folds and the donkey in the hand instashoves for 220$. The other player folds and I have seen him play one hand before and he was really a horrible player. He slowplayed monster hands against me before and given the possible draws out there I obviously called. He showed AQ. Turn 10 and I fill up leaving him with 2 outs on the river and the ellusive Ad peels on the river giving him a higher full house.

He ohhhhhhhh'd in amazement and I said nice hand sir. He kept appologizing to me but in no way was I sorry that he stacked off 110BB's into a 50BB pot with one pair while I was ahead. At this point he rolled his short sleeve shirt up to his shoulders, adjusted his sunglasses, took off his arm band that held his MP3 player, changed songs, and wrapped it back around his exposed bicep.

Tool.

I worked back up to even and flopping 2 nut hands helped in that sense. Right before leaving I picked up a JJ from early position that I raised and we went 3 handed to the flop. I checked it to both other players on a Qh 10h 6s flop. I guess it was being even that made me check here. I don't hate a check but I had c-bet about 80% of my hands. But this flop is so draw heavy I decided to not build a pot out of position because of the overcard, and my silly AQ friend was in there too. Turn was a 4c and I led for 30. One call. River and 8 and I check called a 30$ bet and he took me to value town with his set of 4s. Nice free turn sir.

So I played very well and ended up only dwn 90 over 4 and a half hours. I went Friday night as well and made 259 in 4 hours.

I ended up not going anywhere this weekend but I didn't really mind because I wasn't feeling to hot and drinking wouldn't have helped.

Live 2367
Online 3607

Feel like crap

I'm sick so I'm skipping my classes today. Yesterday sucked and I totally bombed my exam, but The day before I think I did very well on my exam. Unfortunately, I'm not going to class so I wont know how I did until next week.

I went to Foxwoods last night (I know it's 4 days earlier then I said I would go), and I ran sick hot. Flopped quads, 2 sets, QQ broken twice for small pots though, flopped trips against trips where i outkicked him. Net 295 in a little over 4 hours. Not too shabby.

I'm not sure what I'm going to end up doing this weekend. I might end up in Atlantic City which I'd rather do then go anywhere else. Well see what happens.

Live 2198 (bought some food and such)
Online 3607

Monday Night Sports

I'm a Yankees fan and unfortunatley they are out of the playoffs. However I'm actually glad that they lost because they did not deserve to win. They left so many runners on base the last game it was sickening. And at least we lost to Cleveland and not Boston.

The Monday night Dallas and Buffalo game was insane. Tony Romo threw 5 interceptions and fumbled the ball once and with 2 seconds to go they kicked a 52 yard field goal to beat Buffalo. If you haven't seen the game I suggest finding a broadcast of it somewhere and watching at least the 4th quarter. The last 5 minutes of the game were amazing.

I still haven't ventured to the casino. One of my friends went Sunday and Monday night and I refrained from going because I told myself I would wait two weeks before going back. I have an exam today and one tomorrow but I have a feeling I'll end up down there tomorrow evening as a reward for the amount of studying I have done over the past few days.

This weekend I was supposed to go to Providence for Oktoberfest, but it was last weekend apparently, so now I have a weekend with no work and nothing to do. A friend of mine is going to Baltimore so I may go there, or just spend the weekend at Foxwoods and on Full Tilt when I'm not at the casino. Next weekend I will be up in Boston with my girlfriend for Saturday night but I'm supposed to be at work Sunday morning so I have to try and get something switched around.

Wish me luck on my exams!

Welcome Back

Well I decided I'd play a little session online today. I played 2 short sessions. The first one I was up 137 over 160 hands. Then I played again and played a little longer on one table because an 82/3 fish was at teh table but he always had a hand when I bluffed and when I was real strong he gave me no action So i ended up down 70 on that table but up 60 on the other table. So I'm up about 125 for today. Not too bad for my first session back.

I think I played well and was very aggressive during my first session. My second one I played tighter due to the loose guy, but didn't get too many good hands either. For the whole day I played 19/13/3 over 373 hands, which is fine for these stakes in my opinion. If not for playing so tight at the last table I'd probably be around 21/16/4. BB/100 today 17.06, sustainable???

Online 3607
Live 1927 =(

Back to running bad

The last two sessions have been miserable. On top of being card dead I've been getting coolered in some pretty big pots. Last night I turned the nuts only to be rivered by a gutshot in a pretty big pot. I'm down about 620$ in the last two sessions.

So I've decided I'm going to take a break from live poker for a few weeks. I'm going to hop back on and focus on my online game. I think this will be good for me because I won't be making 2 hours of driving time while going to play for 4 or 5 hours. That drive kills me making it 3 or 4 times a week.

I also am going to sign up for the gym this week and I don't want to have any distractions or desire to want to go to the casino or I will never make it to the gym.

Sometimes I run like God

I was in the zone last night. I wanted to even make some -EV calls because I just had the instinct that I was going to get there. Of course I didn't make -EV calls because I'm no donkey, and of course I would have gotten there!

Anyways I ran sick hot, flopped a set and was able to check raise and take down a nice pot. Flopped a boat with JJ was led into, I called, was raised behind, and I call again. Check check the turn, and led river for 75 and was paid off. Rivered a boat with KK on JJ4Q board and got paid off on the river. Had A10 suited shoved into me when I held KK and 3 bet him preflop from the BB. KK held up. I also had a few hands I felt like playing but didn't because of the -EV but the gambling in that exact instance would have paid off.

I did make one pretty poor fold with Aces (again) but I felt I was either behind or was going to face a big river bet leaving me with a marginal river call. The flop was Q high with 2 hearts and I'm sandwiched between two players. Check, I bet 32 into ~48 and both call. Turn is a Q and we go check check and last guy bets 40. One fold and I start to think, why would he lead so weak, into 2 other players when top card paired. I really felt I was beat here. Plus if I just call the 40 what size bet am I going to face on the river, and what river is a safe call... I folded face up and he started smirking and so did a few others at the table. He said I wouldnt believe him if he had said what he had after the hand was over. So he either had a silly bluff, or he had a monster like QQ. On the ride home it hit me and I really think he had the same hand as me, AA and was just slowplying preflop and on the flop. Meh

Anyhow, it felt nice to get there a few times after the poor session on Monday. Net $297 in just under 4 hours.

I'm in class now and just finished a quiz that I think I got a 90 on. I'll probably get the score in a few minutes and find out it was more like a 60.


Live 2567
Online 3480

(damn I really need to start playing online more)

Bad night

I ran like diarrhea tonight at the casino. Shitty and sloppy. One decent pot I flopped trips weak kicker and ran into trips K kicker. Every bluff I made was picked off. When I was bluffed I folded the best hand. Very frustrating night to say the least. -364. Tonight sucked and I was tired, but the table was full of moronic people too making me even more frustrated and keep me off my A game.

I bought a new computer desk last week but I have nowhere to put it. I guess I'm going to have to move some stuff around in my room so I can fit it. It's pretty big so we'll see what happens.

I'm only working one day a week at my waitering job now which is great because I really need the extra time to study. I think it will help my poker too because I won't be cramming in quick sessions whenever I can. Hopefully I'll be more rested which will make each session that much better.

Online 3480
Live 2270

Trip after trip

Well I've been back to the casino a few times in the past few days. I went Sunday night, Monday night and tonight as well. Between Sunday and Monday I ended up down 1$ and tonight for a quick 2 and a half hour session squeezed out 61$

Sunday night I played a hand which I misplayed and should have shoved all in and If I do the I have a new biggest pot at 877.

My image is tight and by far the tightest at the table. The table is loose and we see small raises frequently.

My stack, 323

UTG limps
UTG+1 limps
UTG+2 limps
MP1 raises to 6
Hero has AS AH and raises to 31
MP3 folds
CO calls
Button folds
SB folds
BB calls
UTG calls
UTG+1 folds
UTG+2 calls
MP1 folds

5 handed to the flop (164)
flop Qs 10c 7s
BB checks
UTG checks
UTG+2 bets 75
Hero calls
CO folds
BB calls leaving himself 55$ behind
UTG folds

Turn (389)
5d
BB checks
UTG+2 insta shoves
Hero folds
BB calls

River (499)
2C

UTG+2 shows Ks Js
BB shows 88 and scoops the pot with an underpair. UTG+2 was a decent player and i thought he was strong enough by betting the turn knowing the other guy was going to call that my aces were no good at that point. Boy was I wrong. It took me a while to fold there and after some discussion it seems like pushing the flop is best. While I somewhat disagree against this exact player because of how I perceived him. Even if I shove he undoubtedly calls where I only have 55% equity against his hand. If he calls after I push the flop this is the highest equity I could possibly have because from watching him play I know he never calls a shove on that flop with one pair or a hand that I am a substantial favorite. Tough one for me.

School is going to start getting tough. Lots of exams are right around the corner so I have to get my ass in gear and start studying.

I'm going to take some of my winnings from poker and start investing it. Since I'm a finance major it makes sense and will force me to keep up on what's going on in the financial world instead of just studying my texts. Hopefully I can pick a few winning stocks and make a nice little profit during my trial.

Live 2636 ( another 50 transfer to a friend )
Online 3480

Some people suck

People really annoy me sometimes. I had a class reunion to bartend tonight at work. They had a 3 hour open beer and wine bar. It really shocks me how some people can come to a bar/party with an open bar and not tip. About a 1/3 of the peoplpe didn't tip once all night. How stingy can you actually be.

We ended up still making decent money from the party but those people just ballfe the hell out of me.

I'll be heading down to Foxwoods tomorrow after I get out of work. I really need to quit my waitering job. Poker is too profitable plus working 6-7 days a week on top of full time school is leaving me with no time for school work. I can see myself falling behind already and we've only had 2 weeks. Hopefully we'll be real slow tomorrow and I can get alot of work done during the day there.

Next weekend I'll be in Manhattan on Saturday night for a buddy's party. Should be a crazy night and I'll be sure to post some pics.

Any live poker players check out this site and use this software to track your wins and losses. www.pokercharts.com. It is an awesome site. Check it out for yourself.

Biggest pot ever to date

So I decided to hit up Foxwoods for a few hours tonight since I don't have to work till 11 am tomorrow. When I got down there they opened up a new table for us.

I soon find out that there is one crazy loose player at the table. About 4 hands in he opens for 20$ in late position. I'm on the button with AQ off suit. I call. Flop K 10 4 all clubs he checks, and I look back at my hand to see what I have for clubs, I have the Q of clubs. I check behind. Turn is the A of clubs. I have the nuts. He bets out 30 and I just call him to try and get more on the river. The river comes the Q of hearts and he bets 30 again and I raise to 80. He calls quickly with the J of clubs.

The next hand it limps in a few spots to me and I have JJ and raise to 16. I get 2 callers and the flop comes 984 with 2 spades. one check and crazy guy bets 30. I ask him what he has left and I go all in. One fold and he calls but doesn't turn his hand over. Turn is a K and river is the A of spades. He shows Q4 for bottom pair. Thanks buddy.

2 hands later the guy under the gun goes all in for 16. Loose guy just rebought for 100$ and raises it to 30. Folds to me and I have AK off suit. I go all in and it folds to loose guy who calls. UTG has A2 and crazy guy had A3. Flop J72 (2 diamonds) turn 5 (diamonds so i have the nut flush draw) river 4. Crazy guy back doored the wheel on me for a 220$ pot.

So a few hands go by and I'm back in early position and look down at 89 of clubs. A few limps to me and I limp as well. A guy in late position raises to 15 and there are a few callers so I call as well as do a lot of others. We go 8 handed to the flop

Flop Jh 10s 7s ($120)

Boom the nuts!!! One guy checks and crazy guy leads out for 30. I raise the pot (210) The guy to my left tanks for a while and finally calls off his stack of 140$. One fold and the next guy starts tanking as well. He calls off his stack as well 213$ and it folds to the crazy guy who starts tanking as well. He shows his hand to the kid next to him and folds.

Turn ($713) Jd

River ($713) Qh

I'm sick as the Jack hits the turn but no one turns their hand up. I had mine face up since the action ended. Finally the guy to my left shows J8 of spades for flopped top pair + gut shot + flush draw, and he turned a boat draw, phew. The other guy shows A3 of spades for the nut flush draw and I scoop the 713$ pot. SHIP SHIP.

The kid who hte crazy guy showed his cards to says to me buy you're lucky he folded. He had J10 for top 2 pair, so he would have hit the nut full house on the turn and I would have been out of that one. Case jack on the turn. I don't know how he folded it but I'm sure glad he did. He said later his reasoning was that he thought the spade was going to hit and beat him on a later street. Nothing like a guy who thinks he has the best hand but folds because he scared of cards to come while he's getting a great price. But still not to mention that he didn't even ponder the fact that he might have been behind. He just said I thought the flush was going to come. Man what a donkey.

So I only stay an hour and a half and end up a nice 660$ Nice comeback from the other night.

Online 3521
Live 2528

Yuck

Played a session last night and squeezed out a small 61$ profit, all after flopping the nut straight, beating someone with flush over flush, and getting paid on quads. Needless to say I ran pretty poorly.

I decided to go back down tonight since the rest of my week is pretty busy with school and work. Early on I complete my SB with 10 2 offsuit and we go 7 handed to the flop. 10 3 2 with 2 spades. I lead for 14 folds to the CO who raises 25 on top. I make it 114$ and he shoves. I call my last 65 I have behind and he flopped a set of 3's. I don't hit a 10. Then I ran super poor and lost AK to Q3 KQ to 109 and so on and so forth. Needless to say it was a bad night. down 388 and def made some very marginal probably tilt induced calls.

I was due for a losing session I suppose.

I'll be back down there Sunday night.

Online 3521
Live 1868

So damn tired.

I feel so exhausted lately. Between working my two jobs, school, and poker I'm getting pretty run down. Thursday one of my friends turned 21 so we went out and partied hard all night. Friday I was an hour late to work, out in 4 and a half hours and couldn't even find the motivation to drive to the casino. I really think I need to ;et my waitering job go. Then my weekends would be freed up for maximum poker.

School seems like it's going to be pretty cool. I'm taking 3 finance classes and one econ class. The classes don't seem like they will be hard or time consuming but I think that I am goin to learn alot this semester.

And it looks like I'm still going to be stuck at home for the time being. The guys I was planning on moving in with, one decided that 3 people would be too many. The other one still wants me to move in so he's trying to coax the other guy in slowly to letting me move in. It doesn't really matter much to me either way. If I don't move in i save money I would have spent each month while being in school that I should have saved to pay student loans and such. So unballer.

I'm really feeling the need to travel. My girlfriend lived in Florida for a year and worked for Disney. They allow someone to stay a seasonal worker which means she has to work a total of 2 shifts each year. I'm hoping to go down there soon so she can work and I can get out of CT for a little while. I really like it down there and downtown Orlando is an AWESOME time. Also Florida just legalized no limit poker so while shes at work during the day I can take the rental to Tampa and hit up Hard Rock for some action.

Aside from traveling there I've been thinking about heading down to Atlantic City for a weekend. The games down there are great. I've been once and it was so much softer then Foxwoods games, however I may have just been lucky with a good table.

I keep slacking with the updates but I'm going to try and focus and put one up every day or so. It's just been tough with the busy schedule.

On that note I think I'll go to bed. I'm going to try and get a quick 9 holes in before work tomorrow morning then it's off to the casino all night.

Online 3521
Live 2195

Back on the boat.

I finally played an online session!!!!! It feels like it's been forever since I played last. It actually has been a long time. With the exception of one quick coaching session I did for a friend I haven't played online poker since July 26th. I played about 135 hands and made 150$

Live poker has been going well still also. I went 6 times in 9 days. In those days I am up 670$. Ship Ship.

I hopefully will be moving out of my house soon. My probably roommates are discussing it tonight and hopefully they agree that they want me to move in.

New news

So in the past few weeks I've had a lot change in my life. The biggest change is that I am no longer single.

My now girlfriend and I have been dating for about 5 years now. However we were never actually committed because I hate commitment. It's always been something I told myself I didn't want to have after being hurt by a few women.

So she went along with it for almost 5 years of us just being whatever we were without the commitment. Finally she decided that enough was enough, either we were boyfriend and girlfriend or nothing. I decided I wanted her in my life and she really is my best friend. So I gave in and am going to give the relationship life a go.

Here's a picture of me and her at Planet Hollywood in Orlando


I still haven't played online at all. Live poker is consuming me. I've been going to Foxwoods about 3-4 times a week. So my live roll is going up. However I've still been transfering cash online to some friends so the online roll is down a little.

Online 3367
Live 1820

Quick post

I wanted to get a lot done in these next few posts but I'm out of work early so I'm going to head back down to Foxwoods.

But one of the things I wanted to talk about was my first balla purchase. It's only semi balla but I still love it. I've always wanted a Movado watch and finally said to hell with it I'm going to get one. It was extra nice and easy on the wallet because I used my frequent player points from Foxwoods for most of it. Total cost $740.

Balla stack with the watch

Where have I been?

It's been wayyyyy too long since my last update. I've been super busy. I now am working 2 jobs on top of playing poker. My second job I am helping out with an online Ebay store called cashforgolfclubs.com. I am helping out with cleaning, packaging, and shipping the clubs out. It's a fun job and the owner is real cool. So between doing that in the early morning, then work at the restaurant at night and poker at Foxwoods a few days a week, I haven't had much time to update here.

Poker has been pretty slow. I've hit kind of a live lull, and am only up about 100$ in my last 4 sessions. My 3rd and 4th to last trips I met up with few 2+2ers. The first night I met up with kid named Greg from Providence, he is diamond lie on 2+2. He is a nice guy and we had fun chatting it up at the table and playing some hands out. A funny thing that happened was whenever a person get all in preflop I always wish that person with no chips left good luck. well the kid to Greg's right happened to get all in against Greg 4 times, and each time I wished him good luck, and each time he won. Greg seemed a little frustrated at me for a while =).

I have hardly played online at all this month. I think I've played about 90 hands total and am down about 25 bucks in that from a horribly played hand for 50bb's. I will be playing a lot more in the near future. It's just impossible for me to play at home with a bad internet connection. I've timed out way too many times.

I will be back in school again Sept 4th. The restaurant will be slow and I will only be working weekends there. This will give me a lot of extra time to play cards. And working the golf job in the morning will give me some extra income as well.

I'm going to make some more posts tomorrow and Friday instead of just making one long one. I'll talk about the 2+2 Foxwoods trip, baller purchases, interesting news in my life, and maybe a few pictures over the next 2 days.

Not much poker lately

Aside from playing live I haven't been playing much recently. I've been doing a decent amount of partying and going to concerts. Yesterday was the first day of Dave Matthews in Hartford so I was up there partying all day. We didn't have tickets and the scalpers wanted 150 per ticket so we didn't end up going into the show. We just partied in the parking lot all day and during the show as well. Today is the second show, which I do have a ticket for.

My online roll is down a little bit more because I've been bankrolling one of my friends every time he wants to play. But this is good for my live roll.

Online 3466
Live 1351

Tough night at foxwoods

I haven't been playing much the past few days. My aunt has been living with us as she just got out of the hospital after a heart attack and my grandmother is at our house from Florida as well. Then my cousin got married over the weekend, a friend who is moving to Utah had a going away party. Needless to say I haven't had a lot of time to get any good poker in.

So I decided to go play some live poker last night. It turned out to be a swingy night at times. At my table I noticed how loose people were calling. Alot of hands, even in raised pots, would go 7 handed to the flop. So a hand comes up and it limps in a bunch of spots to me and I'm 2 off the button and I limp with 57 clubs. one guy raises to 11 and it gets called in every spot in front of me so I call and 3 people behind me call. We go 7 handed to the flop. Flop 689. Bingo. We get a few checks then finally a guy on my right bets out 40. I think for a few seconds and call. This was def a risky play because I'm giving a cheap opportunity for someone to catch up. But I also had a feeling that someone would be raising this hand, especially if I call and get one more caller. With all the calling we all look like we don't have much of a hand and it would be a decent sized pot to steal. So like I assume the guy 2 to my left calls and the guy to his left makes it 190 total. The original bettor folds and I go in for my 168 total. other player folds as well. He has top 2 pair and doesn't improve and my straight holds up for a 500$ pot.

Our table breaks soon after and I move to another decent looking table. Early at the new table too I pick up a great hand. I'm in the BB with 88 and one person raises. I decide to call and try to hit a set. Flop 872 with 2 hearts. Now I have the nuts but there is some draws out there I am worried about. I def want to start getting money in the pot. I usually don't advocate slow playing in small stakes games because most players are so bad that they will put their money in very light anyways. But I decided to slow play this as well because I figure we a getting a bet out of someone. As I figure the button leads out for 10 into 33. I raise to 45 leaving him 97 behind with is just enough to make him put it all in on the turn. The other player folds and he calls. Turn Q spades and I put him all in. He calls and I turn up my 888. He looks disgusted and I think I have him drawing very poorly as if he has AA/KK. River comes and its the 4 hearts and he slams down his AQ of hearts for the flush.

Then I play a 87 of hearts out of position like an idiot and hit a flush but run into a higher one for a 500$ pot. Grrrrr.

I end up hitting a few hands and making some great calls. My favorite hand is one where I posted my missed blinds behind the button. It limps in a few spots to me and I have J3 hearts so I check my horrible hand. We go 6 handed to the flop. Flop 245 with 2 hearts. So I have an openended straight draw and a flush draw. It checks to me and I bet out 10. I get one caller. Turn is a Jack and the caller checks I bet out 25 and he takes a little while before raising me up to 70 total. I had a small read on him that he played with his chips a certain way before running a check raise bluff and assumed he was bluffing so I decided to call. Not to mention if I am behind to him I have alot of wins in the deck. River is a 2 and he bets out 50. It took me a while to call but I finally did. I was getting about 3.5:1 on the call and the 2 wasn't a bad card for me. 45 was just counterfitted. He laid me such a good price to call with top pair so I did and he just said nice call and folded. After showing my hand though he looked sick for about the next 10 minutes. He doesn't realize that his river bet is horrible. It's not that I think I'm ahead there every time. It's that in relation to the pot his bet was way to small. There is no way for me to fold there and if he can read me for a jack then that would be a horrible bet because he knows I HAVE to call that bet.

So after a qucik +300 I managed to hit a quick 500 downswing but then slowly work it back up for a net of 123. Tough night but it's better then real work =)

Back to running well =)

It's very nice to be back in the swing of things and focusing on the game more. Recently when I have been playing it's been in public places because my internet connection at home cuts out from time to time and I can't have that happen in the middle of a hand with a decent amount of money on the line. I've found that playing out in the public is a huge distraction. I use headphones to keep all the noise out but just the visual distraction of people walking by can really cause you to lose focus and get your head right out of the game.

The past few sessions have been good and I have been making great reads and playing well.

I decided when I was running bad and playing poorly that I should make a list of all the things I need to remember when playing poker, as well as when I'm not playing poker. Since I think about the game so much remembering these things will help me stay in tune with my game. Unfortunatley I don't have the list on this computer but the next time I am at home and update I will include the list.

Current Bankroll
Live $800
Online $3,677.60

July has been very unkind

So poker wise I have not had the best month. I think alot of my play was tilt induced but I also have played some close situation hands where I ended up on the short end of stick. I've been playing 4 tables alot and not really focusing on the game enough. I've basically been playing on auto pilot and not thinking about each situation as I should be. My July graph as of 7/21.


As you can see the graph is very choppy with big up and down swings.




Some notable big hands.

Full Tilt Poker - No Limit Hold'em Cash Game - $0.50/$1 Blinds - 5 Players - (http://www.legopoker.com/hh)

Hero (SB): $108.70
BB: $110.25
UTG: $101.50
CO: $103.05
BTN: $106.50

Preflop: Hero is dealt Js Jc (5 Players)
UTG folds, CO raises to $4.00, BTN calls $4.00, Hero raises to $19.00, BB folds, CO calls $15.00, BTN calls $15.00

Flop: ($58) 4h 7c 5s (3 Players)
Hero bets $42.00, CO folds, BTN raises all-in to $87.50, Hero calls $45.50

Turn: ($233) 4s (2 Players - 1 All-In)

River: ($233) 8s (2 Players - 1 All-In)

Pot Size: $233.00 ($3 Rake)

BTN had 8d 8c (a full house, Eights full of Fours) and WON (+$123.50)
Hero had Js Jc (two pair, Jacks and Fours) and LOST (-$106.50)


Full Tilt Poker - No Limit Hold'em Cash Game - $0.50/$1 Blinds - 5 Players - (http://www.legopoker.com/hh)

SB: $119.80
BB: $32.30
UTG: $183.00
CO: $195.95
Hero (BTN): $169.85

Preflop: Hero is dealt Kd Ah (5 Players)
UTG calls $1.00, CO folds, Hero raises to $4.50, 2 folds, UTG calls $3.50

Flop: ($10.50) Kc Kh 4h (2 Players)
UTG checks, Hero bets $8.50, UTG raises to $17.00, Hero raises to $61.50, UTG raises all-in to $178.50, Hero calls all-in for $103.85
Uncalled bet of $13.15 returned to UTG

Turn: ($341.20) 8s (2 Players - 2 All-In)

River: ($341.20) Qc (2 Players - 2 All-In)

Pot Size: $341.20 ($3 Rake)

UTG had 4d 4s (a full house, Fours full of Kings) and WON (+$168.35)
Hero had Kd Ah (three of a kind, Kings) and LOST (-$169.85)


Full Tilt Poker - No Limit Hold'em Cash Game - $0.50/$1 Blinds - 4 Players - (http://www.legopoker.com/hh)

SB: $104.00
BB: $108.50
Hero (UTG): $96.00
BTN: $265.55

Preflop: Hero is dealt Jc Qs (4 Players)
Hero raises to $3.50, 2 folds, BB calls $2.50

Flop: ($7.50) Kh 3s Th (2 Players)
BB checks, Hero bets $6.00, BB raises to $18.00, Hero calls $12.00

Turn: ($43.50) 9s (2 Players)
BB bets $41.00, Hero raises all-in to $74.50, BB calls $33.50

River: ($192.50) 9h (2 Players - 1 All-In)

Pot Size: $192.50 ($2 Rake)

BB had Ah 7h (a flush, Ace high) and WON (+$94.50)
Hero had Jc Qs (a straight, King high) and LOST (-$96.00)


Full Tilt Poker - No Limit Hold'em Cash Game - $0.50/$1 Blinds - 6 Players - (http://www.legopoker.com/hh)

SB: $219.25
BB: $53.00
Hero (UTG): $113.60
MP: $130.30
CO: $89.95
BTN: $102.25

Preflop: Hero is dealt Ah Ac (6 Players)
Hero raises to $3.50, MP folds, CO calls $3.50, BTN calls $3.50, SB folds, BB calls $2.50

Flop: ($14.50) 5c 9d 3c (4 Players)
BB checks, Hero bets $12.00, CO folds, BTN calls $12.00, BB folds

Turn: ($38.50) 6s (2 Players)
Hero checks, BTN bets $30.00, Hero raises all-in to $98.10, BTN calls all-in for $56.75
Uncalled bet of $11.35 returned to Hero

River: ($212) 7s (2 Players - 2 All-In)

Pot Size: $212.00 ($3 Rake)

BTN had 6c 6h (three of a kind, Sixes) and WON (+$106.75)
Hero had Ah Ac (a pair of Aces) and LOST (-$102.25)

Full Tilt Poker - No Limit Hold'em Cash Game - $0.50/$1 Blinds - 6 Players - (http://www.legopoker.com/hh)

SB: $98.00
BB: $248.65
UTG: $98.10
MP: $69.00
Hero (CO): $104.60
BTN: $153.65

Preflop: Hero is dealt Ks Kc (6 Players)
UTG calls $1.00, MP folds, Hero raises to $4.50, BTN calls $4.50, 2 folds, UTG calls $3.50

Flop: ($15) 2c 9s Qc (3 Players)
UTG checks, Hero bets $15.00, BTN calls $15.00, UTG calls $15.00

Turn: ($60) 4h (3 Players)
UTG checks, Hero bets $50.00, BTN folds, UTG raises all-in to $78.60, Hero calls $28.60

River: ($217.20) Ad (2 Players - 1 All-In)

Pot Size: $217.20 ($3 Rake)

UTG had 2d 2s (three of a kind, Twos) and WON (+$116.10)
Hero had Ks Kc (a pair of Kings) and LOST (-$98.10)


So I have totaled about -700 online until tonight where I focused and played well. You will see bad beats like these alot over a short period of time. But the reason that I was still down money was because I was not playing well in the smaller pots. Trying to bluff people out at the wrong times and putting too much money in with modest hands. Essentially I was on tilt and playing poorly. One of the toughest things to do as a player is get through hands like these and also be able to maintain your focus and make money. With tonights win I am only down 481 for the month and hpoefully by the end of the month we can be back in the winning side =)


On a better note I have played a few sessions at Foxwoods recently and am up 800$ from those which helps out alot. It is so nice playing live poker when you pick up a few hands because some people play horribly and basically give their money away.

Last Vegas update. Phew

This trip report seemed like it was never going to end, but alas here we are.

The next day I leave my hotel. I was staying another day but the room rate at the Luxor shot up from 140 to 350 so I went to a place a little off the strip. We actually spend the better part of the morning trying to find it because when booking it online it I saw the name Tropicana. I assumed it was the tropicana hotel so after driving, waiting in line for an hour, finding out its not our hotel, checking out the internet, finding our hotel it's now kind of late. =( After we get settled in around 3:30 pm I hit up the pool with my friend then get ready for the 2+2 meet and greet we had friday night and Red Rock casino.

We go to a BBQ style restaurant called salt licks I believe, and have a nice meal and chat. Some of these guys are degenerate gamblers to the fullest. They feel the need to gamble so much that someone guys and buys a rack of reds chips just so they could gamble at the table while waiting for our food.

At the other end they proceed to do about 10 100$ flips of Omaha Hi with the last one being a 6 way flip. This is where each person in puts 100$ in before getting their cards then the flop turn and river are dealt and the person with the best hand wins the pot.


Finally casino security come into the restaurant and tell them they can't gamble in there and all gambling has to stop.

We eat a ncie meal and head over to ceasars where TT (moderator from 2+2 forums) has reserved us 4 tables for a 2-4 limit mix game of what ever we want. A few people show up there like tuff_fish, and Mason Malmuth. I was too concerned with drinking and having fun in a low limit game though to want to chat it up with others not at my table. We do some shots and pound some drinks.

Vanessa Selbst sits at my table about 1k deep, and she introduces herself to all of us and asks us who we are. I used to play with her at 1-2 games at foxwoods back in the day but she obviously didn't remember me. For those that don't know she played in a NL hoold'em tournament at the WSOP in 2006. She was the girl who shoved all in preflop with 52 of spades against someones aces. A funny hand occured while playing a game called 2-7 triple draw. It's a draw game where there are 3 rounds that you can discard and draw a new one. The object is to make the best 5 card low hand, so the best hand is 7 5 4 3 2. I haven't played this game in over a year but a funny hand happens.

I pick up a 432 with 2 high cards and I get in the action and draw 2 cards. I draw almost the best possible cards for my hand, 85. So Vanessa bets out after the draw and a few people call and I raise. She thinks I'm full of it and I tell her I have a very good low. she calls me and I stand pat (I do not draw any other cards). She calls both other draws where I stand pat as well and after the hand I turn mine up and say well I have the second nuts so it's going to be hard to beat me. I was actually wrong here. Then she proceeds to berate me for my miscalculation of the 2nd nut low and didn't realize my 85432 was not lower then a 76432, but I scooped the pot anyhow with the 3rd nuts.

So we play some exciting badugi, 2-7 TD, double flop Omaha, Double flop hold 'em and finished with a 7 stud hi lo game where you also declared post 7th street where you go for hi, lo, or both. Way to much to try to describe in this post and probably in this blog ever.

2 of the tables break and I decide to just head back to the room seeing as I had to be up at 6:30 am for my 9:45 flight back home.

So unfortunately I did not over sleep and end up staying in Vegas for ever. I was at the airport and hit up a slot machine early in the morning just because it was 7/7/07 and was feeling lucky. I played the wheel of fortune and didnt even get to spin the big wheel. Ohh well.

Anyways the guys at CR put together an amazing trip for me and I had a blast. I couldn't thank them enough for this opportunity, and I'm hopefully going to head back out to Vegas in January. I love it out there and surprisingly the games are very soft out there.

end TR

Vegas part 5

This trip report never ends.

So I wake up the next morning pretty early, (shocked at how I did that) and I make a few phone calls to some friends and let them know about the amazing time I had that night.

I know some people from 2+2 who are going to be out in Vegas this week so I get in touch with a few of them. They say they are going to play some cards over at MGM. I gladly ablige and meet them over there.

On the way over i find this beauty out in the MGM parking lot. Maybach Benz


I hop into a 1-2NL game, and proceed to find every possible 2 in a deck of cards my entire time while playing. I think standard vegas deck have 16 2s in them. So yeah, I run pretty cold and end up down a hundred for the session, which isn't bad considering how poor I was running. But calling down correctly with middle pairs, ace high, and folding KK to someones boat helped me minimize my losses. I felt that I played great poker but sometimes playing your best just isn't enough. After about 10 hours of play I'm pretty beat and decide to call it a night.

Thursday is the gaming and life expo at the Rio where CR has a booth set up where you can meet the pros and learn about the company. The guys tell me to meet up with them over there so I head to the Rio around 1pm. I stop by the booth and say hi, but all I really have on my mind is getting some solid grinding in.

I head over to the poker room at the Rio. Holy hell is it huge. I try to sign up for a 1-2 game but the lowest they are spreading is 2-5. I only had about 1k on me and didn't want to sit with 2 buy ins, so I decide to hit up some other casinos in the area. I just despise buying in to a game on a short stack. I decide to take a taxi over to the Palms, where they have one table of 1-2NL going. So obv I leave there and go to Gold Coast, which also is only spreading one game of 1-2. So I finally decide fuck it I'll go short stack 2-5NL which I really dont want to do, but have no choice if I want to play.

So I sit in with my 40BB's (200$) and proceed to play very tight for a while. I ran ok but couldnt get involved in too many pots. After about 2 hours I'm down to 175 and i pick up QQ UTG+1 and raise to 20. After 1 fold I get raised to 55 and everyone folds to me. I get a nasty feeling that he has AA but for 35BB's I decided im going to go with that hand post flop so I call.

Flop J 3 4 dd
I check
Villain checks

hmmmm

Turn 6d
I check
Villain bets 100
I shove for my remaining 20 and he calls

Tables AA

river 9d

I check my queens to see if either was a diamond but those bitches were black. Good game.

I meet back up with the guys at the booth, tell them I lost and didn't feel like playing 2-5 anymore and I'm gonna head back to my room. I strike up a conversation with Townsend before I leave though and we begin talking about a coaching session that the guys are going to do for me. We try to set up a time and I tell them Im leaving saturday morning, and Townsend is playing in the WSOP main event on Friday all day. He decides we should do it right then and there. He says lets go back to my room and well get this going. I happily agree and we head back to the Bellagio. It was really cool to just hang with him for a little while and talk. He really is a cool and down to earth guy. Most people with the kind of money that he has are arrogant and snotty but he was a very cool and relaxed guy.

So when we get to his room I fire up 3 tables and begin to play. I play pretty tight and while hes sitting behind me watching I fold a K7s from MP in a 6max game. He tells me I should be raising this hand and I'm in shock because its just a looser style then Im used to playing. Anyhow we discuss some strategy and he gives me some great advice, which leads to some great calls. I make one sick value overbet all in against a 64/0 fish with the flopped nuts, and he tells me I should have just valuebet him there smaller. I bet about 100BBs into 70. I tell him I'm pretty sure this guy will call with any piece here because of previous hands that we have played this session. Here's the hand.

Full Tilt Poker - No Limit Hold'em Cash Game - $0.50/$1 Blinds - 5 Players - (http://www.legopoker.com/hh)

SB: $132.70
Hero (BB): $136.70
UTG: $98.00
CO: $366.60
BTN: $121.20

CO posts $1.00
Preflop: Hero is dealt 5c 4s (5 Players)
UTG calls $1.00, CO checks, BTN folds, SB calls $0.50, Hero checks

Flop: ($4) 3h 6h 2d (4 Players)
SB checks, Hero bets $4.50, UTG folds, CO calls $4.50, SB folds

Turn: ($13) Kc (2 Players)
Hero checks, CO bets $7.00, Hero raises to $32.00, CO calls $25.00

River: ($77) 4d (2 Players)
Hero bets all-in for $99.20, CO calls $99.20

Pot Size: $275.40 ($3 Rake)

CO had 3c Kd (two pair, Kings and Threes) and LOST (-$136.70)
Hero had 5c 4s (a straight, Six high) and WON (+$136.20)

I just knew the guy was going to call me super light here even if I made a massive overbet like this. Brain commended me on the play. Awesome feeling =) =) =)

So I end our session while trying to get some more last pointers. He tells me I have a solid game and he'd like to see me be more aggressive. I had thought I had been super aggressive this session and upon checking my stats I ran 23/20/6, which I personally feel is a bit much for 100NL. But im going to toy around with it. I try to run between 17/15/3 and 19/17/4 and these stats have given me the most success. So we end the session there and I'm down just a little bit which was ok considering I started the session down about 2.5 buy ins (250$).

I go head back to my hotel now and get ready for the CR/Bluff magazine party. I had a few of the guys from 2+2 head over to the Rio earlier to meet up with me and get passes to the party as well.

In the meantime I ordered a nice meal from room service. Awesome burger and a bowl of soup. also 34$ but still very tasty and filling.

I head over to the party around 10:15. Its open bar till 12 so I proceed to pound as many drinks as possible. I think the vodka somehow was about 12% alcohol because I wasnt too drunk after 12 drinks in a hour and a half period.


While there Ezra introduces me to the infamous tuff_fish. He is an internet player who would make some pretty hilaorious poker videos of himself playing and when he lost he would be very vulgar on the video. His plays for the most part were pretty horrific. If you are curious just search tuff fish in youtube.com. Me and the guys I met up with from 2+2 hang out with him all night.

Me and tuff_fish Cardrunners guest pro and 2+2er tufat and tuff_fish

Me, tufat, and a moderator from 2+2 Ed Mcwilliams (I was checking out a stripper giving a lap dance to someone right next to me mid picture).


All the people I meet up with leave the party to head to a club and I decide instead of paying 10$ for a beer and 9$ for a bottle of water I'll head to the MGM for some late night 1-2 and lots of jager.

I play pretty loose here and run pretty well also, until I flop trips with 96cc and get runner runner flushed on a Q66 board by KQ, but I fold to her river bet and seeing how tight of a player this lady was it was evident I was beat. She would never bet a board with 4 hearts if she in fact didn't have one herself. So I manage to squeeze out a small 40$ profit and head back to the hotel.

I also had some friends come up from Arizona that night so we could spend the next day out doing stuff. They ended up in California after taking a wrong turn which allowed me to play poker till 4:30 am and they arrived at 5am.

This is the last post I will do today. There is a little more left and hopefully I will get to it tomorrow.

Vegas part 4

Phew. Ok so here is part 4.

I get inside the Bellagio around 8:30 and since I'm a little early I decide I'll grab a beer and throw a few bucks in a nickel slot to kill the time. They arrive around 9:10 and I meet Green Plastic (Taylor Caby), Muddy (Andrew Wiggins), Stinger (Brian Hastings), Ezra and they say we need to go get Rugby (Brian Townsend). Not only did I meet some great players but now I'm gonna meet rugby (for those who don't know he is one of the top, if not THE top online poker player in the world). Im PUMPED. Hes playing 500-1k PLO/NLH in bobbys room at the Bellagio. We get to the entrance and they wave him over and he comes out. We tell him were goin to eat a FIX and he says hell stop over in a little while.

So we go back to FIX and start boozin it up and talkin a little poker. A guy from bluff magazine comes over and hangs with us for a while, and Townsend follows suit.

When he gets there he tells us hes stuck about 100k. I shit my pants.

So we eat an amazing meal and booze it up while we are there. I opt out on appetizers but have one of the slider burgers they order and a few chili fries. For dinner I had an amazing NY Strip steak and it was cooked to perfection. We drank a bunch of beer and a tequilla shot during dinner. Total bill 450$, pre tip. Nonetheless the meal was absolutely amazing. Afterwards we head out of the restaurant and hang out at the bar right by the poker room. The guys buy me a bunch of drinks and I'm gettin pretty sloppy now. I leave to take a piss and this is where things get good.

As I'm walking back from the bathroom a few of the guys are yelling "machine machine come here come here" They seem all frantic so I roll over with a whats up.

"Dude we are so fucking jealous right now. Townsend wants you to go into Bobby's Room and sweat him in the game for about 15 mins!!!!!!!" They tell me how they've known him for over a year and have never been invited in the room, or even stepped in it.

HOLY SHIT is all I can think. Again if you are not familiar with this it is a private room in the middle of the poker room at the Bellagio. There is glass in the front of the room so you can see in, but not just anyone can walk in. You have to basically either be invited, or be playing in the nosebleed stake games they offer. Bobby Baldwin has part ownership of the Bellagio and this room is named after him. I get the biggest cheese on my face and I'm also kinda nervous. As I walk to the room I try to keep my composure and not look like a complete loser walking in.

So I go in and get to sit behind Townsend and watch him play for a while. I estimate he had about 700,000 dollars in front of him. When I first got there they were playing PLO. Every hand he played while I was there he won. I must be his good luck charm obviously.

So not to mention am I sitting behind and sweating rugby, but also across from me at the table is Phil Ivey, Minh Ly is on my right, Bobby Baldwin is in the 10 seat, Gus Hansen and David Oppenhiem are hangin out in the lounge area, and Chaiu Giang shows up later as well.

Anyways being able to sweat rugby was one of the most insane things I've ever had happen to me. I'll probably never step foot in that room again for the rest of my life. Before I left the table I asked one thing from Brian. I really wanted to check out one of his many 25k chips, and he gladly abliged. (never held 25k before).

After this we head out and go to a piano bar in New york new york. I briefly meet a few other top online pros and proceed to get wrecked with these guys. But given that im on EST or 3 hours ahead of where they are, I'm absolutely smashed by 115am (415am EST), so I head out of the bar and stumble back to my room. That was a fun walk.

Since I started playing poker this is probably the most inspiring and influential experience I have had to date

Vegas part 3

So when I got settled into my room I called up Ezra from Cardrunners, told him I was all settled in and was ready to go!!! He told me that they were going to take me out to dinner that night and I was game for whatever they wanted to do.

I started some ironing so my clothes would be nice and fresh for the trip. I got about halfway through them before I decided not to do anymore.

Ezra gets in touch with me again and tells me the deal. They decide to take me to a restaurant at the Bellagio called FIX. Anything sounds good to me at that point so I tell him I will meet them over there whenever they are ready. Reservation time is 9pm.

I decide I want to walk and check everything out at night in Vegas and get a little familiar with the area around my hotel. I took a few pictures on my walk to the Bellagio.


MGM

Plantet Hollywood

The Bellagio

Ballys and I'm not sure, lol.
Now before going in I caught the beginning of the Bellagio fountain show.


Geez so many pictures. Ok most of the rest will be stories so I will start the 4th installment of the trip report.

Vegas part 2

Sorry for the lack of updates. I've been working alot and playing alot of poker as well. So I'll get on with the rest of the Vegas trip.

I land in Vegas around 3pm PST. Quickly grab a cab and I'm off to the Luxor. I get there around 4ish and go to check in. The line is about 45 minutes long. Apparently there are only 4 people who work the front desk at the Luxor to check in the over 100 person line. So after waiting for a while i finally check in and head up to my room. They set me up on the 21st floor. The views were awesome.

View of the pool from my window.


The bedroom

The bathroom
Dusk from my window



I have a bunch of pictures of when I left the hotel and I will make a new post now and include those so that this post isn't filled with a ton of pictures.

Where have you been????

Well it's been a while since my last update. Vegas was amazing and I am going to do multiple posts to cover the trip report. I've been sleeping so much recently. Vegas really drained me. I've also played a decent amount of poker and worked a few hours as well, so I haven't had much time to update.

In this post I will tell you about the flight.

I left Bradley Airport tuesday Jul 3rd at 8:40am and had a lay over in Baltimore before my flight to Vegas. We landed in Baltimore about 50 mins later. I decided it would be a great time to start the party so I went to the bar for a few cocktails and breakfast.

While there I figured I'd get some hands in as well. Unfortunatley, in this airport the wi-fi isn't free and I didn't feel like paying for a day long subscription when I would only be there for about 2 hours. So I picked up some weak connections from others and surfed 2+2 as well as I could. We were off by 11:10am.

I didn't take too many pictures until we got out to the desert. It was a real shock to actually fly over the desert. (I've never seen the desert in person) It was shocking to see how desolate it was. The few random houses I felt horrible for being lost in the middle of nowhere.

I did manage to grab a few pictures of the Grand Canyon and what I think was the Colorado River, but I'm not positive on that.


Now heres a few of the awesome river we flew over



Tomorrow I will post my first night story, as well as some interesting hands played online from this week.

Leaving for Vegas

So I leave tomorrow morning at 8:40 am. I have a 3 hour layover in Baltimore then i should be in Vegas by 2:20 PM PST. I'm hoping with all the new added security I don't have any problems and none of my flights are delayed. Stupid terrorists.

Anyways, I've been working a lot and haven't had much time to play poker. That will be changing very soon and I will have some good updates, hands, strat, and obviously information on how the trip is going!!!

Card Runners recognition

I'm getting so psyched about my trip and it's still about 10 days away. This was posted on the CardRunners.com website today. Click the pictures to view in full size. I'm hoping to get alot of poker in while im there but I have a feeling I'm going to be partying way too hard!!!!

IM GOIN TO THE WSOP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Well its been a while simnce my last update and I actually was going to write a life based post tonight but I'm way too excited to even consider much rational thought right now.

I planned on going out to Vegas for the WSOP this year with some memebers from twoplustwo.com but couldn't come up with enough funds while staying on top of my bills. But since I became a cardrunners member (poker tutorial site) I entered one of their promotions called CardRunners fantasy league by filling out a survey.

After working a long 12 hour day today I decide to play some poker but before doing so I decide to check my email.

CR Fantasy Camp‎

From: Ezra Galston (ezra.galston@gmail.com)

Hi Patrick:

I'm excited to inform you that we have randomly selected our winner for the CR Fantasy Camp, and the name randomly generated was yours :)

I know it's short notice, but we would have to fly you out around July 4th. It is a 3 days/2 nights trip with a $750 cash allowance which you are welcome to use to extend your trip or play at the tables.

Please get back to me ASAP as we need to move on this quickly to get you plane tickets and a hotel.

Please confirm that you will be available during these dates, and also your phone number so that I may get in touch with you.

Best,

Ezra Galston

--
Ezra Galston
Director of Marketing

Cardrunners.com

OMG I won the trip to Vegas and I'm so pumped. I don't even have it in me to do any playing right now because I'm just overly excited and am not even close to the right frame of mind to grind out at the tables.


I'll keep this updated with new information and a new post to follow soon, hopefully tomorrow.



SHIP THE TRIP

Running good is so nice

So online has been good to me since I started back up at 100NL. A few pots I lost to some suckouts but I've been focusing on just playing solid positional poker. However at times it's been hard to play a decent amount of hands and play them aggressively. I tend to play tables where alot of people are putting money in to see the flop. That way I can play a tighter game and exploit them by playing strong hands while they are playing a wide range of hands. Now my strategy can be exploited here because if my opponents know I'm playing a small percentage of hands it will make it easier to determine what hands I have at certain times. So I also throw in a decent amount of semi-bluffs to keep them guessing, while appearing to play a very tight game. The money I put into the pot in the cut off or on the button is double what I put in from the first position to act preflop. Also given that this is a small stakes game alot of the players are very bad.

On 2 different tables tonight I was running even tighter then normal, some due to bad cards, and some due to people playing very aggressive thus minimizing the hands I would be able to play. Even still through this I had these 2 hands play out where between the 2 tables I had been puting money in preflop about 10% of the time (extreeeeeeeeeemely tight)

Full Tilt Poker - No Limit Hold'em Cash Game - $0.50/$1 Blinds - 5 Players - (http://www.legopoker.com/hh)

Hero (SB): $98.50
BB: $83.70
UTG: $104.30
CO: $102.60
BTN: $127.00

Preflop: Hero is dealt Ad Ac (5 Players)
2 folds, BTN raises to $3.50, Hero raises to $11.50, BB folds, BTN calls $8.00

Flop: ($24) 6c 7c 2c (2 Players)
Hero bets $17.00, BTN raises all-in to $115.50, Hero calls all-in for $70.00
Uncalled bet of $28.50 returned to BTN

Turn: ($198) Qd (2 Players - 2 All-In)

River: ($198) Td (2 Players - 2 All-In)

Pot Size: $198.00 ($3 Rake)

BTN had Qc As (a pair of Queens) and LOST (-$98.50)
Hero had Ad Ac (a pair of Aces) and WON (+$96.50)


Full Tilt Poker - No Limit Hold'em Cash Game - $0.50/$1 Blinds - 5 Players - (http://www.legopoker.com/hh)

SB: $152.75
BB: $99.10
UTG: $80.45
CO: $77.45
Hero (BTN): $105.10

Preflop: Hero is dealt Ah Ac (5 Players)
2 folds, Hero raises to $3.50, SB folds, BB raises to $11.00, Hero raises to $29.00, BB raises all-in to $99.10, Hero calls $70.10

Flop: ($198.70) 3d 4h Ks (2 Players - 1 All-In)

Turn: ($198.70) 6d (2 Players - 1 All-In)

River: ($198.70) 2c (2 Players - 1 All-In)

Pot Size: $198.70 ($3 Rake)

BB had Qd Ad (Ace King high) and LOST (-$99.10)
Hero had Ah Ac (a pair of Aces) and WON (+$96.60)


Both villains here had stats around 20/16/4 where 1st is % of times they put money in preflop, 2nd being % of times they raise preflop, and 3rd is the aggression factor calculated by the number of times the bet+raise all divided by the times they call.

So with these villains stacking off very lightly to me, especially while running as tight as I had been just goes to show how beatable the games still are.


Heres my stats and wins since I moved back to 100NL May 17th. (Not alot of hands for one month)