Kurt aka Suited_Up

UB Scandal goes deep!

2008-07-15T07:31:00.001-07:00

Hopefully everyone is aware of the ongoing scandal that has developed over the last few months... If you haven't then here is a good blog to catch you up on the early parts and a different formatting of the new info. I will try to keep my post a bit more succinct. Catch up on early UB scandal.

If you do already know the background about superusers etc, then read on....

It appears as though this scandal goes all the way to the top. With former owner Russ Hamilton being right in the thick of things, with email addresses linking him directly to superuser accounts.

The newest revelation involves Nat Arem (Who has done a lot of the legwork on this) being threatened. He didn't give details, except that it was not an implicitly physical threat, but he didn't want to take a chance, and that it wasn't the current UB management that made the threat, though I could possibly assume this means it was the former? management, but that's speculation.

There has also been rumors that Russ Hamilton still owns the company, and essentially sold it to himself, which has yet to be proven because public records on the transaction are very limited, but I wouldn't be surprised if the old and new management are very far removed from each other.

Here is the summary....

(Credit to original writer)

Here is a very short cliffnote of cliffnote summary for those of us who are time-challenged. What follows will be enough for the vast public (even non-poker people) who just want to know what happened. For details, read the entire thread and/or sort through the threads to selectively digest parts which you are interested in. Again, below is the summary of all summaries and (warning) it is short, leaving out details that others in the forum can provide or point you toward.

#1 – A popular online poker site, Ultimate Bet, discovered suspicious activity within its poker site through a combination of internal discovery and tips from poker players.

#2 – Ultimate Bet (herein “UB”) issued a press release announcing that several player accounts were closed as a result of their investigation into the manner. UB called these accounts “superuser” accounts and gave one such account a name – “NioNio.”

#3 – UB publicly stated the method through which the NioNio account (and other accounts involved) practiced unfair play was by gaining access to players’ hole cards. This was possible, UB stated in a press release, through a hole in their underlying software – namely, the audit system functionality built-in to the overall system was misused or abused. UB hired a third party consultancy to investigate. Many people believed that the issue would end there. Initial money refunds were made by UB to players who had lost money to the acknowledged superuser accounts.

#4 – Two unexpected events would draw further attention from the poker community and thus, lead to heightened scrutiny. First, UB stepped up its PR (public relations) efforts to quell or mitigate the damage to its reputation and perception of both cover up and rigged playing environment. Second, an anonymous person posted on a popular poker community forum (2+2) claiming to be a UB employee. These posts (by handle “brainwashdodo”) ignited a firestorm of interest.

#5 – brainwashdodo’s accusations that UB insiders were involved were thinly veiled but for the most part, he/she leaked account data which no one outside of UB’s employment should be able to access. Much of the data revolved around account transactions of suspected “superuser” accounts. It also included movement of money to/from “superuser” accounts and UB account of popular t.v. poker players which aroused even more interest and no shortage of semi-hysteria.This gave brainwashdodo some benefit of doubt and some credibility.

#6 – Poker community at 2+2 began to rigorously dissect the leaked information from brainwashdodo. Further, players began investigating other aspects of the situation such as : a) UB ownership history, b) UB software development and programmers involved, c) statistical histories relating to publicly disclosed superuser accounts, and d) anomalies pertaining to other past and current UB player accounts.

#7 – UB players began to send inquiries into UB about other player accounts believed to have statistically suspicious play and win patterns. Sure enough, UB confirmed many of these submissions. UB would later issue a follow up press release announcing additional superuser account names. With each new superuser account revealed, some I the poker community focused on the expanding refund pool but almost all players would hunker down and focus on the real question … “Who is behind the cheating? And what are the specific implications and broader ramifications?

#8 – UB steps up its PR by deploying its longtime spokesperson Annie Duke to conduct interviews. UB’s position and messages become routinely consistent: all of today’s problems are a consequence of yesterday’s ownership and their blunders. The “new” ownership is working to sort through it all. Again, the PR (as before) seems to have drawn more suspicion and scrutiny to the matter then deflect it. Now, the poker community gets even deeper into its investigation of the ownership structure (it seems to hold the golden keys to everything and provides all answers) AND catching the bad guys (vs. a shared focus on unearthing more and more accounts for the short term gain of cash refunds). The 2+2 community’s threads begin to reflect a sentiment of vigilance, vengeance, ad justice.

#9 – Meanwhile, poker community continues to analyze all of the suspicious accounts. Nat Arem, central to outing the owner of Absolute Poker who cheated his customers out of millions, is again at the center of the efforts to unearth the truth. Nat and rest of gang begin to hone I on a handful of publicly outed superuser accounts. The trail of evidence leads them to a groundbreaking finding!

#10 – The superuser account at the heart of this hub-and-spoke chain of accounts involved in cheating belong to none other than UB owner and poker pro Russ Hamilton. The hard evidence was obtained through UB account records, addresses, and property records. It is discovered that Russ is not acting alone. He has conspirators. Poker community is now following the trails of evidence to identify those conspirators.

There is where things have been left off.

A lot of open questions still remain but many believe that they will all come to light in due time. The investigation is more in-depth and faster than ever now. So, by the time you read this it will already be outdated.

Here are some of those open questions posed in the forums at random times:
Q: Who is Russ Hamilton’s partners in crime?
Q: What is the current UB ownership structure?Q: How extensive and deep is the UB software vulnerability? (note: This is relevant as the underlying software is used in a host of their poker sites in a licensee/licensor model of delivery)
Q: How much total money has been siphoned off the poker public by these crooks?
Q: What are the legal recourse available and should players even seek legal recourse? Could they? Looks like there is recent precedence of racketeering, money laudering, and tax evasion charges with racketeering being the one that sticks but it is all conjecture at this point due to the ext question which is --
Q: Who do we report this evidence backed crime to? FBI? IRS? State AGs? Maistream media? Grassroots outing campaign?
Q: What role did Freddy Deeb, Phil Helmuth, and Annie Duke have? (as of now, there is no determination until more data is discovered)
Q: Is Russ a limb or the head of this ring of fraud or racket? Is he the mastermind or the puppet?
Q: What does this mean for other, larger poker sites that essentially operate under the same rules (that is, not much rules)?
Q: Are the public faces like Annie Duke and Howard Lederer going to “spin” this around to make a case for the regulated, legalization of online poker and in so doing evade the real question of “are YOU directly or indirectly involved in this scandal?” Can they continue on as self-appointed ambassadors of poker and de facto self-appointed representatives of player rights when they are sitting on both sides of the fence? No one has accused either of them formally yet but the perception problem alone brings problems of their visible roles.

The list of questions fall off the page and fill a book.

To end: More is believed to be discovered. All are staying tuned for those breaking news as real life really indeed is better than fiction.

I'm sure I screwed this up as it's based on recall of reading the thread. Save your attacks if I made mistakes and just focus on correctig any. I just figured it was better to summarize than not.

Added by Kurt:

Nat Arem (Who has done a large amount of investigating and legwork) threatened by an unknown party. He has decided to no longer help the investigation.

So basically... If you play at UB, stop. This wormhole goes deeper than anyone imagined. I have removed them from my rakeback site, and will try to update any other big developments.

-Kurt

RakeRobber is BACK!!

2008-04-02T19:36:00.001-07:00

It's back and I think it's looks fucking awesome!

Now I'm offering 11 different sites and the site is pretty badass. I'm excited to see how things go.

Check it out at http://www.rakerobber.com

If anyone needs rakeback or knows anyone who might, it'd be awesome if you used my site or told other people about it. :)

RakeRobber Redesign

2008-03-26T11:23:00.000-07:00

Well, RakeRobber.com is going to be getting redesigned in the next week or two. Found a guy to help me do it and it should be pretty damn snazzy once it's all done. Obviously the old design sucked because I just threw something together as quick as I could, and really had no idea what I was doing.

The new site is going to add in all the other sites that we're gonna offer rakeback for. Quick list of those are Full Tilt, TexasHoldem, Cake, Absolute, UB, SunPoker, Pacific, Bodog, Eurolinx, Poker Heaven and PKR. So it'll be a big improvement both visually and as far as what we can offer.

For right now, if anyone happens to want rakeback at any of those sites, you can just email me at suited_up@hotmail.com and I can do it manually.

Hopefully we get this thing up and running as fast as possible, cause I'm anxious to see how it turns out. I hope everyone is gonna be pleasantly surprised. Obviously I'll make a post as soon as it's ready, and if anyone visits while it's still under construction, just ignore it the mess, lol.

Rake Robber!!!

2008-03-02T22:04:00.001-08:00

I'm super excited! I just launched my own Poker Rakeback site called http://www.rakerobber.com

Right now it's still pretty fresh, only been in public for 2 days, and I have a long way to go as far as the design and features go, but it's a start.

Our first Rakeback offer is with Texasholdem.com. The software is top notch and improving as fast as they can do the programming. Their goal is to be the most player friendly site out there, and they're starting it out with a great software and some really cool and unique features. Not to mention some super soft games.

Anyway, I took the chance and ran with it. I learned enough about web design to throw together the site you see now, which isn't much to look at yet, but trust me, we'll work on that. As of now, Texasholdem.com is our only Rakeback site, but that's something I'm working on as well. Before I start to offer the full gamut of sites, I want to have the website to back it up.

In the process of this, I quit my normal job slinging sushi, and decided to focus solely on this. So I hope it all works out and I can get the support from all my fellow poker players. I'm sure once the people see the software, they'll want to play there.... The key is going to be making sure they come to my site for the rakeback.

But why wouldn't you, ya know? Free money is free money. So tell everyone you know!

This pretty much means big changes for me. I for one am excited and optimistic about it, and things can only go as well as I make them. So wish me luck, and throw a few referrals my way when you get a chance. Thanks ;)

-Kurt

http://www.rakerobber.com (Check it out!)

Rake Robber Rake Robber!!! <<<>

I'm BACK!!!

2008-03-02T21:56:00.001-08:00

It's been more than a year, but I'm back on blogspot.

I have been doing my blogging over at texasholdem.com over the past few months or so. I still don't update as much as I should. But I have a new business venture so to speak, that causes me to not talk about everything I want to talk about. So I'll either post here, or cross post to both places with the content that I can use on both.

As for the big news.... look for the next post! ;)

God Damn you Bears!!!!

2007-02-05T22:15:00.000-08:00

There isn't much to say really. They just didn't play as well as they could. Even with the lopsidedness of the game stats, they were still right in it. No doubt they'll make another run next year. Watch out when Rex gets consistent.

DA BEARS!!!!

2007-01-31T11:13:00.000-08:00

They're going to the SuperBowl!!!!

I can't wait till Sunday to see them hopefully shut up all the so-called experts. Everyone and their brother is picking the colts, and it's pretty sad. I guess maybe knowing the team better than national media, gives you a different perspective. But still, the Rex bashing is getting annoying. He's had a better postseason than your fucking hero Manning. So shut the fuck up!

In fact, if anyone still reads this blog, i'm sure most of you don't agree with me either. But I guess we'll see what happens. If the defense plays like they are capable, I don't see the bears losing this game. If they don't, then it's harder to say. But they've found a lot of different ways to win games this season.

Thankfully I got the day off so I can fully enjoy the game. Still not sure where I'm gonna watch it. Probably either at home in HD, or go to my mom's and sacrifice tv quality for better food, lol. Although they have a big screen too, so it wouldn't be terrible.

Anyway... GO BEARS!!!!

New Poker Bill they just Passed....

2006-10-06T13:17:00.000-07:00

I'm sure you've all heard about it. If you're one of the people who is frantically cashing your money out and screaming about how it's so unfair and scared that something might happen to you, or someone, or whatever the hell you're worrying about...

THEN STOP IT!!

This stupid bill is worthless and it won't make any difference. It's sad enough that Party Poker is already jumping ship without even stopping to realize that this dumb bill will have no effect on anything.

It's there to get votes. That's it. It can't be enforced. Banks and Credit card companies were ALREADY ceasing to allow deposits to poker sites even before this went through. The only difference is that now they HAVE to. So what? How many of you actually use credit cards to deposit anyway? I sure don't. I use Neteller. And if not Neteller, then FirePay... or one of the other offshore companies that are bound to pop up now that it's the only way to fund your account.

These companies are offshore as well. They aren't goverened by this new law and don't have to follow anything. The bill doesn't stop us from funding an offshore intermediary site. And the intermediary sure as hell isn't going to stop us from funding our poker site.

So everything is fine!

Just relax! If you have money at PartyPoker... go ahead and move it to Full Tilt, or FCP, or Bodog, or one of the other 100 sites that aren't closing to American Traffic.

In fact... I'd be bold enough to say that Party might even change their tune before too long as well. It remains to be seen, but they are in this business to make profit, and if they are one of the few sites not allowing US customers... things won't be looking so bright for them.

Everything will be fine in the end. And if you think it's unfair regardless. So do I. So just make sure in the next elections that you actually go out and vote... and put a stop to the sick shit that the Republicans are trying to do with this country. Apparently we aren't responsible enough to play poker, but lottery, horse racing and casino's are fine. But NOT ONLINE POKER!! We're Terrorists!

It's nothing but craziness to get votes from the fucking religious wacko's who think something like this is actually going to help the country. Apparently God and Oppression are the only things that matter.

Make sure you go vote for someone who actually believes that adults should be responsible enough to choose for themselves what they do with their lives and money.

Whether that's Democrats, Libertarians or some other 3rd party. Just do your part. This government is getting out of hand, and we really need everyone's voice to help turn it around.

BTW, I hate politics. Now you can see why. Idiots, they're all idiots.

Will it ever stop?

2006-09-01T14:58:00.000-07:00

I really don't think i've cashed in a tourney in at least 2 months. Granted I haven't played much, but that's really beside the point... I mean... not even a cash.

I was 4 from the money in the FCP Golf w/ Daniel tourney last weekend...

Then I played a tourney today and went out on this gem, just 25 short of the cash....

Full Tilt Poker Game #957784550: $10 + $1 Tournament (6286187), Table 6 - 150/300 Ante 25 - No Limit Hold'em - 17:47:21 ET - 2006/09/01
Seat 1: Hammy22 (2,160)
Seat 2: LintonLions (12,250)
Seat 3: Suited_Up (7,480)
Seat 4: AtownHustler (7,057)
Seat 5: bmqball (1,952)
Seat 7: FITZnipko87 (3,623)
Seat 8: Ol_Dog (4,605)
Seat 9: John Durant (7,585)
Hammy22 antes 25
LintonLions antes 25
Suited_Up antes 25
AtownHustler antes 25
bmqball antes 25
FITZnipko87 antes 25
Ol_Dog antes 25
John Durant antes 25
John Durant posts the small blind of 150
Hammy22 posts the big blind of 300
The button is in seat #8
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Suited_Up [Ah Ac]
LintonLions folds
Suited_Up raises to 600
AtownHustler folds
bmqball folds
FITZnipko87 folds
Ol_Dog folds
John Durant raises to 2,100
Hammy22 folds
Suited_Up raises to 7,455, and is all in
John Durant calls 5,355
Suited_Up shows [Ah Ac]
John Durant shows [Jh Ad]
*** FLOP *** [7s 2c 9d]
*** TURN *** [7s 2c 9d] [8h]
*** RIVER *** [7s 2c 9d 8h] [Tc]
Suited_Up shows a pair of Aces
John Durant shows a straight, Jack high
John Durant wins the pot (15,410) with a straight, Jack high
art nahc sits down
art nahc adds 3,755
Suited_Up stands up
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 15,410 | Rake 0
Board: [7s 2c 9d 8h Tc]
Seat 1: Hammy22 (big blind) folded before the Flop
Seat 2: LintonLions folded before the Flop
Seat 3: Suited_Up showed [Ah Ac] and lost with a pair of Aces
Seat 4: AtownHustler folded before the Flop
Seat 5: bmqball folded before the Flop
Seat 7: FITZnipko87 folded before the Flop
Seat 8: Ol_Dog (button) folded before the Flop
Seat 9: John Durant (small blind) showed [Jh Ad] and won (15,410) with a straight, Jack high

I really have nothing to say. It was that bad. Start to finish. Speechless.

Quick update...

2006-08-29T07:30:00.000-07:00

Sorry, haven't really updated recently. I did find a job though, which is why I haven't come to post. I've been a freakin work all the time. But money is nice.

Working as a server at SushiSamba Rio.... which is a pretty badass sushi fusion restaurant downtown. I'm actually about to leave right now, but just wanted to update.

Haven't played much poker, but when I have, I haven't been too lucky. Whatcha gonna do.

Job Searching Sucks!!

2006-07-25T13:00:00.000-07:00

Still looking for a real job. Things are going really slow and it's becoming pretty discouraging. The problem is that i'm extremely smart, and pretty much able to do anything that anyone else can do, aside from highly specialized positions. Except my experience is so widespread, and nobody wants to give me a shot at anything. I had a great interview with a new restaurant, and he had issues with a liquor license and didn't get to hire a full staff. I could probably get a job there once that's resolved, but who knows when that will be. I'd prefer an office job though, but first of all, i'm not a girl, and god forbid a guy actually work in an office unless he's the head of something. Same shit with the bars is this stupid city too. If you don't have tits, then there's not much point to even bother. I'm getting extremely frustrated. I can do 90% of jobs, and better than the idiots who actually get the jobs... Why the hell can't I actually get hired, or geez... at least an interview! It's so sick how biased the job market is. Equal Opportunity my overly qualified ass!!!

So yeah... Any Chicagoans who read the blog. Let me know if you know of anything I should try, or if anyone works anywhere who might be hiring. Shoot me an email. suited_up@hotmail.com

Cause from my experience, that's the only way to ever get a job, is to know someone who already works there. Even that wasn't enough at one place, and when a friend of mine asked why, they wouldn't even tell her why. She told them the only difference between the two of us is that she's a girl, and I'm a guy, we have the same experience... and they said... Oh No... It's not that! And she's like... well I don't see what else it could be. They had no response. Of course not.

Not much Poker going on lately

2006-07-18T09:48:00.000-07:00

I was running low on cash since I'm still job hunting. I wound up cashing out about 100 of the 2 something I had online. Then the next day I dropped about 5 buyins playing 25NL and lost the rest. I have no idea how I can run so bad for 5 buyins, but it happened. Usually when I lose money so fast it's cause I get tilty, play too high and then lose it all at once, but I actually stayed at a low limit, and just couldn't get paid off if I actually hit a hand, and the opposite when I didn't. Oh well.

So now i'm poker broke, and waiting on another job place to call me back for an interview. He's supposed to call this week, so I hope he does it sooner than later.

And the couch thread is going well. Even when we're not talking too much in there, people are stopping by to check, it's pretty hilarious. They can't stay away!! Bwahaha!!

My New Couch is a Hit!!!

2006-07-11T11:26:00.000-07:00

If you've been on FCP recently... Mainly in Off Topic, then you're bound to have seen my Couch thread. Brigette and I recently got a new couch, I decided to make a thread about it, and now it's like the best thread since sliced bread. (Uhhh... Yeah)

Here is a link to the thread, and a pic of the sweet new couch! I rule!!

Couch Thread!!!

Poker's First WebComic

2006-07-06T15:03:00.001-07:00

It's done by a fellow FCP'er and it's off to a pretty good start I think. It's about time Poker gets a comic, and I think as new, crazy stories come out of the poker world, it will only get better.

Check it out at Life's a Bluff

BUSTOOOOO!!!!

2006-06-28T14:42:00.000-07:00

This is a copy of a post I made on FCP, but I thought it had a good message and I decided to post it here too....

I had been on a break after a horrid run like 2 months ago.

Got $25 from rakeback like 3 weeks ago and put it on a new site. Built that up to like $400 in less than 2 weeks. Obviously playing a bit out of my BR. .25/.50 and .50/1 NL games mainly. Then, had a half hour stretch where I got coolered 3 times for about $300 or something like that.

Eventually cashed out of that site with like $125, went back to Full Tilt. Which I am starting to wonder why I ever do that, cause I get fucked in the ass every time I do.

Well... Up and down a little bit, and then last night, had a good night, worked that up to like $250.

Today, try to continue the run and people hit the most ridiculous shit on me yet again and now i'm totally broke again. So it's basically just a problem of playing too high without the money to back it up, but I was more worried about getting it to a decent amount than grinding micro limits.

It's a good lesson for everyone. One that I refuse to give into when I only have a hundred or two. Do as I say, not as I do. Trust me.

27% Rakeback and other updates...

2006-06-26T09:51:00.000-07:00

I've been playing a bit more lately. The details aren't exactly exciting, but basically I turned $25 into $400 in a week or two. Then ran bad one day, and now i'm closer to $150, it was pretty brutal. Still have a little going though, and not bad starting at $25 though.

Job outlook is looking up. I had a 2nd interview at a new restaurant opening up by me and it sounds pretty promising. GM is super cool, so hopefully I get a call back this week about it.

As for the Rakeback. As plenty of people noticed. Full Tilt isn't converting existing accounts anymore. It's pretty lame, but nobody else does, so why would they I guess?

I also have another site I can hook rakeback up with though. It's where I did the $25 to $400 run and it's absolutely donktastic. Traffic is low, but it's grown pretty much every day since I started playing. The site is Mansion Poker. They're another long time sportsbetting company who decided to switch over to poker, ala Bodog. They're UK based, so you get a lot of UK donks and people from around the world.

As for the numbers, I can get you 27% on Mansion and Full Tilt now. Of course new accounts only, but for anyone who doesn't actually have an account yet. Join on up.

If anyone is interested in rakeback with either site. Shoot me an email at suited_up@hotmail.com and i'll get back to you as soon as I can.

2nd Annual Blogger Championship

2006-05-31T20:26:00.000-07:00

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

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

Registration code: 4691079

Time for a Break

2006-05-16T10:30:00.000-07:00

Well... It sucks, but I think I'm going to take a break, at least for awhile.

I have been running up and down a lot lately, and unfortunately the down has outweighed the up. I've felt like i've been playing good for the most part, with some obvious tilt sessions that pretty much kill me. I found some holes in my NL game, and the NL cash games have been going more well recently than they have in awhile. Except for one hand the other night that wiped out a good chunk of my online BR. I hit the 2nd nuts on the turn against a bigstack who was betting into me hard the whole hand after I raised preflop... well the river was a "harmless" 3, and he pushed on me... Now at this point, 2 hands beat me, on a board of K47T3... I had TT... He... after hard betting on the flop, turn, and then river.... wound up having 56. I make that call in a heartbeat every single time, and unfortunately this time it cost me about $450, and it was hard to come back from that. It pretty much deflated me, because it always seems to be these huge pots when I get totally beat down by the cards.

This is a great lesson as to why not to play outside your BR. I was in a 2/4NL game, which is obviously way outside of where I should have been playing. But I lack some patience to play where I need to, and occasionally will take a shot up higher and try to give the BR a nice boost. Sometimes it works, sometimes this happens. At this point, I had just cashed out $200 for living money, and only had about $200 left... I tried a $20 180-man sng on stars, and was very dissapointed taking 12th. Which is actually my best finish lately, but I was top 5 when I went out and I was upset that I played perfectly up to that point, then went out with 2 pair against a flush I should've been able to get away from. If I win that tourney like I felt I could have, then this blog never happens, but it didn't work out the way I had hoped.

I still feel a strong urge to just get in there and bust up a tournament and take a huge cash home. Recently I have done quite well until it gets near bubble time and I make one deadly mistake that costs me either a cash or better. I had avoided that in the 180 man one until very late, and it wasn't neccisarily a blowup, just should've known better. The skill is there, and I will be making noise before too long.

Right now though, I am running low on money because I quit the last job I had because mainly, I wasn't making enough to justify staying. Figured I could grind out a bit playing online, but after running bad off and on, I haven't gotten on the roll I needed, and not able to build up the BR to the point where it can actually sustain cashing out and living off of right now. So it looks like I have to find another job. This time I hope to find a "real" job, and not something where I am barely making money. I'm kinda tired of not having much disposable money, and poker or not, that would really help out my life situation right now. I'll probably try to find a job, and then save up a real bankroll from that money, not play till I know I can play levels I want without going broke on one hand.

I've bounced back and forth between Limit and NL, and trying to find out which one I prefer. Mainly it depends on my mood. I am fairly consistent in Limit, I can grind it out if I needed to. Just haven't gotten to the level where grinding it out shows a whole lot of profit. When I'm playing NL, I can usually make money in quick spurts... the problem is that I also lose it in the same manner. Tilt is a subtle killer, and if you have it when you're playing NL, be careful because it can cost you a lot of money and heartache.

I'll try to update my situation, and hopefully I am able to play some live games from time to time. I love playing live about 10 fold over online, and have a much better record overall in that realm as well. So I'll probably be doing that when I have some expendible income, but for right now, i'm running low and need to conserve until I know some more will be coming in. I have made this way too long, so that's about it. Good Luck. :)

Vegas Is Awesome!

2006-04-27T22:16:00.000-07:00

I love it more every time. This was my 2nd trip, and I always hate leaving.

It's kinda late right now and i'm heading to bed, but a quick recap, and maybe I'll fill it in more later. I've been back like 2 weeks now, i'm just slow.

Went and stayed at Imperial Palace, mainly for the good location. Room was decent though, and didn't have many complaints. The dealers in their poker room pretty much sucked, but I didn't play there a ton anyway. I spent most of my poker time over at Caesars, which I absolutely love. Their new poker room is awesome. Spacious, good games, and the staff is very good and friendly.

I played in two of the $130 noon tournies, which has a great structure, especially for the price. $80 gets you 1500 chips, and a $50 rebuy gets 3000 more. I took it right away both times. That's about the extent of the good news for these tournies though. I was more card dead than i've ever been in my life both times. The first time, I somehow managed to survive to like 19th even though I probably played 6 hands, without exaggurating. Then when I did finally bust, My KQ got beat my J9... of course. The second time I was just as card dead, but didn't last as long when I made a bad read and called an all-in when I figured I was killed or he was on a total bluff... I just happened to be wrong.. it happens.

But the cash games... Ooooh, the cash games. I only played 1/2NL at Caesars, but it was a blast. I played 3 sessions, and I made $260, $270, and $565 respectively. Those were some great games, I hit a few hands, but mostly played well and just had a lot of players call me down with worse hands, mostly kickers. It would've been about $300 more on that last session if Lance (Pupsta on FCP) didn't suck out on me on my very last hand. I had QT and limped, he and another guy to his left got in the hand with me, the flop was AhKhJx... I checked the flop and it checked around. Now I KNEW someone had to have something here, so I checked the turn too... Gets to the 3rd guy in the hand who makes a bet of $25, I make it $50, now Lance only has $130 I think, and pushes. The other guy calls, and I just call here, because I don't know which one of them has the hearts, but I know someone does. Well the river comes a disgusting 2 of hearts, and I check as does the other guy, and Lance shows his JhTh for the rivered flush in a monster pot. Over $350 in the middle I think. I had already said it was my last hand, so I headed out, and still had a nice win on my hands.

I wound up winning enough in the cash games to pay for the 2 tournaments, the hotel room, all the dinners and still have about $200 or so extra to come home with. So that's pretty much an ideal vegas trip. Can't wait to go back.

2 Weeks till Vegas!!!

2006-03-28T23:06:00.000-08:00

I'm starting to get restless. I have a Vegas trip planned for April 12th-15th, and it's coming up, but not nearly soon enough. Going with my girlfriend. Was supposed to be at least one other person coming with us, but she bitched out last minute and came up with lame excuses, even though she's the one who picked this week, cause it's her spring break... whatever. We are gonna be staying at Imperial Palace, mostly for the location and price. Got a nice deal on a Deluxe room, and it's right in the middle of the strip.

I plan on playing at Caesars mostly I think. They have a new poker room that i've heard great things about, and some very well structured daily tournaments that I am just itching to play.

I've been trying to get on a nice little run poker wise, so I can have a good amount to take with me on the trip, but I have been treading water for a few weeks now. Up and down like a yo-yo. The BR is stuck just under 2k and the only time I seem to run good, is right after I've already run bad, lol. I'm trying to fade the runs the best I can, but I am feeling beat up lately. That's poker though. I'm doing my best to keep as level a head as I can, and not get too upset over specific hands. On a good note though... I have been very aware of times i've been getting sucked out on, and getting away for the bare minimum, whether it's limit or NL... so that's a good sign. I'm playing well, I just need a little help from the cards now.

Played a mix of limit, NL, and tournies today... Ran like total crap in the tournies... AA to K2, ya know, stuff like that. Limit was more of the same... I was getting drawn out on left and right, but got away from most of the hands for fairly cheap. Still was down more than I'd like to be, but I hit a few hands in NL, and made $200 or so for the day playing that, and actually came out a little bit ahead for the day. Nothing worth mentioning, but at least it's not in the negative.

Sorry, the point was... hopefully I run good in the next week or so, because I'd love to have a nice chunk to bring to Vegas with me... because I want to play at least one of the Caesars tournies, but possibly more. Plus a mix of cash games. Probably some 1/2NL, but I'll probably sit in some 2/4 or 3/6 to play with Brigette a little bit. Maybe have a few drinks while i'm doing that.

I can't wait though. I hope the next few weeks go by quick.

Late Stage Luck....

2006-03-25T21:05:00.000-08:00

This is what I have had absolutely none of lately.

I've been playing a few tournies lately, and I manage to get deep in almost all of them... Even cashing in about half I would say of the last 6 maybe.

But every time I get through the bubble, I just cannot win a hand to save my life. When I'm the favorite, it doesn't matter, and if I'm behind, I can't win those either. The blinds force you to make moves later on for all your chips unless you got lucky early on, but it seems that I cannot bust a shorstack to save my damn life. The shorstacks especially... Such as tonight... I open raise from MP with 99, blinds are 500/1000, I have about 15k... I make it 3k to go... shorstack button pushes for 6k... I call, as I have no real choice at this point... He has KJ... flop is KK5... Of course it is. It's basically the story of my life lately. I always seem to get to the bubble in at least decent shape, but once we get through, I get a few good hands and wind up losing all my chips because I can't win a race.

Anyway, I'm just venting because I am sick of spending 3 hours in a tourney and not even doubling my buy-in. It's not even worth it... I mean, just let me get lucky once or twice and make a fucking Final table for a change. Is that really to much to ask occasionally?

Another Blogger Tourney

2006-03-10T21:24:00.001-08:00

I am registered to play in the
Online Poker Blogger Freeroll
Win your share of $25,000 and a set
of Nevada Jacks poker chips.
Hosted By: Absolute Poker
Sponsored By: Poker Source Online
Registration Code: 25363557

Not much news....

2006-03-03T01:18:00.000-08:00

Haven't played a ton the past few days, have had work and at least attempted to do something for school, although i'm falling majorly behind and that's not good.

Played the 8k guaranteed on Tilt tonight with Hoosier. We swapped 20% if either of us final tabled, although neither of us were that lucky. We both managed to cash though. Top 36 paid of around 375. It was a total rollercoaster for me, I doubled up with AA on the very first hand and kept building until I hit about 7500 and lost a big pot, but I forget what it was exactly, some shorstack sucked out I think. So then I lost another shortly after and i'm back at 3500, right where I started basically. Hit a few hands from there and got myself back up to around 9k and then AA loses to 77 when the flop was 1072, ugh. So now i'm back around 3k, except blinds are enormous and I have maybe 3M. I think they were 300/600 w/ 50 ante. So then I go completely card dead of course, for like 2 rounds, and finally pick up J9o UTG when i have like 1750 left and push and suckout against AK. Up to about 4500 and I push again with K10, i'm up against Ax and JJ, and the flop is 9JQ and I triple there and i'm right back in it.

Then things go well from there, hit a few hands, and i'm over 20k, and had been abusing the blinds on my button, but I had a hand every time I raised, I just kept happening to get hands on the button and it kept folding to me, so they really thought I was stealing... well right around 20k, with blinds at 500/1000, I make it 4k with 77, the SB has a few more chips than me, and pushes all-in.... now i KNOW i'm ahead here, he's just frustrated with my raising, so i take most of my time and eventually call... He flips A9o... Flop is JJ2.. Turn 5.... River 9!!!!!!!!! WHAT THE FUCK??? So much for my beautiful $2k. Wound up taking 20th, which is basically a waste of time. Hoosier got in just under the bubble, although now he's focusing on a party tourney where he's got a solid chiplead with 15 to go. Wish I had a % on that one!

So other than the tourney, been playing 3/6 and it's been up and down. More up than down though, but that's the world of limit I guess. Been beating it for about 4.5-5 bb/100 so far. So that's not too bad. Hopefully it keeps up.

Quick Update

2006-02-27T00:47:00.000-08:00

Well... Things have been up and down since the nice MTT cash.

I moved my money over to party after they re-did the software and started playing some 2/4. I have enough to play higher now, but i'm getting back into limit so I thought I should warm up a bit. Things went well at first, very well... I was cruising for the first 8 or 900 hands. Then 4-tabled the other day and hit a downswing. I mean, it was nothing major and i'm still over 5bb/100 overall, although a small sample... about 1300 hands I think.

Then this weekend rolled around and I went back and played a little 1/2NL, and just got my ass beat down. There's nothing worse than playing great and still getting fucked. I just kept having donkeys suckout on me. Then I'll make some money back up, and they do it again. I wound up losing about 650 playing NL, and put myself into the negative from what I started the deposit with. Not far into it though.

So then I figure, maybe NL is a bit too volitaile, because it really tilted me and caused a big fight with my gf, because I was hitting the wall, and she REALLY doesn't like that. But I figure, I have enough to play 3/6 with a healthy bankroll, so tonight I gave it shot. I am just ending a session 2-tabling 3/6 and things went very well. At the moment i've played about 2 hours and 20 minutes... a little over 400 hands, and i'm up 11bb/100 or about $280. Pretty damn good hourly rate.

Oh, also... I got 124th in Party's 500k guaranteed last weekend. I should have final tabled it, but 2 really nasty hands put me out prematurely, but I was playing great and felt really good about it. But it's tough to win when your AKs goes down to AQo when the flop is xKx w/ 2 diamonds, and he hits running diamonds for his Ad to beat you. So I was very upset, but it was nice to see that I can get deep in a field of over 3100 and threaten to seriously do some damage in the late stages. Trust me, if that AK hand or one that happened a few before it didn't go the way they went, I'd be at the final table... and once i'm there it's hard to keep me down.

Time for a big cash!

2006-02-14T23:47:00.000-08:00

Things have been going well since I've been at Bodog. Cash games are juicy and tournies are retardedly donktastic, but I got it done tonight.

Took 2nd in the Bodog 15k Guarantee for $2625.

More than tripled my BR and things are looking real good.

Just a brief tourney summary, cause it's late...
But for the first hour, no joke, I probably played 4 hands. I was the most card dead I've ever seen. I managed to hang onto 1000 chips going into the 2nd hour though, and went on a small little tear right after that and got the chips up to like 4500 in the first level of hour 2. Finally gave me a little breathing room and I just hung tight from there on out. Took what they gave to me and busted a stack or two along the way. I had no big hands, even through the end... I had KK once, and that was it. Really, i'm not even sure how I did so well, but I just kept making steals at the right time, especially at the final table. Once the bubble burst, I just stayed patient and picked good spots and the FT kept getting closer and closer till we were down to 12 and I hit a few hands and made a play or two, and all of a sudden i'm 2nd in chips.

The blind structure is complete shit in the later levels at Bodog, but everyone was shorstacked, and I know pretty well how to play a shorstack, so I think it helped me actually. There were very few stacks who could consistently raise without a hand, or without just pushing all-in, so it was right up my alley, I know how to play the low M stack well.

Finally hit the Final Table in 2nd position and lots of people were moving chips around and I pretty much stayed out of the way, and stole some blinds along the way until we got about 6 handed. Then I busted the 5th guy and was still sitting 2nd, as the leader was also playing very cautious and well. Eventually the leader got screwed with KK and busted in 4th after being crippled... then we had a long stint of 3 handed play where I pretty much Pwned both of the other players and managed to take the lead. But towards the end of the 3 handed play I caught a few cards while the other players did, and wisely got out of the way, but lost some chips preflop and eventually the new leader busted the shorstack and we got heads up.

We only got to play one hand heads up.

I had K7s. He limped, I checked it. Flop was K42, he checked, I checked behind, hoping to make a move on the turn. Turn was a 7, giving me 2 pair. I bet 8000 and he called. River 6, and he pushes all-in. I call, and he shows me 5 fucking 3 for the rivered straight. Just a brutal river and pretty dissapointing because I am completely confident I could have taken him HU.

Overall though I'm ecstatic, this is my biggest cash ever actually. If you don't count the WPT entry. So it was good to finally have my play work out the way I want, and I know I can keep playing solid and I should be able to get back before too long.

Change of pace

2006-02-07T21:34:00.000-08:00

I have a bit more healthy bankroll nowadays, sitting just under 800 or so. I decided to deposit over at Bodog, and give it another try over there. I keep hearing how horrible the play is, so I'll try and take advantage. Now first off... I started playing some 50NL. First night didn't go so well, I got stacked one hand and dropped like another 10 after that and finished down about 60 or so. Not too bad, I just couldn't hit anything and when I did, no payoffs. I didn't see the so called donkeys for a while. The second day was another tight table and I was starting to think the donks were a myth. Every table I was on, I'd hit something, and bet the flop and it folds around. It was playing tighter than i'm used to even on full tilt. Then eventually I play last night and things were going about the same, but all of a sudden the table just got lively. People started to call all kinds of preflop raises, then I pick up AA. Get it all-in with 4 others, and somehow the fucking aces hold up! The board was AK610Q with 3 hearts... and I still won the fuckin hand. $150 pot and now i'm back in the black and then some. Finally I reap the rewards of the idiots. In the hand with me was 33, 77, 45s and 56s. WHA??? They said they had to call cause the odds were there, lol. Cause we just kept raising till everyone got all in. But for the most part, the cash games weren't as loose as I was expecting.

But tournaments.... A WHOLE OTHER STORY!!!

I just busted in a $20 tourney, and these people are just insane. Folding preflop is NOT an option to these guys. I was raising 5 and 6x the BB and still getting 3 callers, and getting sucked out on hard. I came back twice but eventually busted with a KJ against some guy who seriously played every hand, he had KQ and hit 2 pair against my one. But just ridiculous. They're so bad I don't even know what to do. It's hard for me to play when logic plays no part whatsoever. But we'll see how things go from here.

I also busted out of the FCPFC in 6th tonight. I was in the lead quite awhile and in the top 3 most of the time, and then teneight slowplays the shit out of AK against my AQ and we get it all in on the river and of course i'm out kicked by one fucking card. Bastard! I guess they were mostly his chips though anyway, he's a major calling station. :)

Back at the Final Table

2006-01-31T00:02:00.000-08:00

It's about freakin time.

I played in a $10 single rebuy tourney on FCP tonight. I was back on my game and didn't make any donkey mistakes that are so easy to make. I was amazingly card dead after the first level, and when I did pick something up, I was mainly just picking up blinds, but it kept me alive. The pay structure sucked, it only paid 10 out of 166, but I managed to limp my wounded ass to the final table in 10th place. I came in with just over 9,000 in chips and blinds were at 1500/3000. But once I'm there I just need a hand or two and I am in decent shape.

Comes around to my BB and I pick up 10-7o for 1/3 of my stack, and the button pushes on me. I figured, Hey, it's FCP, maybe DN's hand will come through for me, so I pushed in the rest. The Button had 22, and the flop came 7-3-10, and another 10 on the river for good measure! Looking much healthier now. After that I picked up a few hands and stole some blinds and a few people limping in. Managed to get up to around 30k, good for about 5th while we had 8 left. Another player busted and now i'm around 4th of 7 and I get into a hand with QQ and bust a shorstack with around 20k. Feeling real good at this point. I'm up to about 56k when I pick up AJ on the button. 5 handed now and I make it 10k. SB folds and the BB makes the call. Flop is 8-3-J and he checks to me. I bet 20k and he raises to 60k which is enough to put me in. I called pretty quick and he flips over QJ. SWEET! Or so I thought.... The turn was a 9, and the river was a 10, and he makes his fucking straight!!! I am just fucking sick! The pot was like 128k and I would have been just under him for the chiplead and well ahead of 3rd, and could have fucking won the damn thing had he not hit runner runner on me. Just sick.

So I wound up getting 5th and taking home $240, which feels like nothing when I knew I had a shot to win. But it's still a nice boost to a hurting bankroll. So I will take it. Also nice feeling to get back to a final table. I haven't been playing many tournies lately, but have not been totally focused, or just been getting beat down by the cards lately. So it's sure refreshing.

Back at Blogspot

2006-01-23T23:30:00.000-08:00

I took a long hiatus from blogspot and had temporarily moved my blog over to jaysonweber.com- Which is now dead. It's still there, but Jayson is MIA and the site isn't drawing much traffic. If you want to see recent blogs, you can check over there though. We're gonna start fresh here again though. I will leave the old ones up, but keep in mind they're from months ago.

I get a lot of requests to update my blog more often, and hopefully I can keep up on that. I just don't have a ton of poker shit to talk about lately. So maybe i'll start mixing in some real life stuff too.

I started back at school last semester and aced both my classes, and am just starting another semester this week. I am taking both classes online though, because the drive to school is a bitch. I am taking English 102 and Philosopy something or other... Which is Ethics. So lets just say ethics. I am behind on my reading, so hopefully I get going on that soon, but I have a work xmas party to go to tommorrow night. (I know, it's late january, don't ask me why it's so late cause I don't know.) But it's free food and booze, and I should have a long night of drinking ahead of me. Hopefully work the next day at 5pm isn't too difficult.

I also started working out recently. A new years resolution I guess you could say. I got a gym membership for christmas from my dad, and am trying to do the best I can to get my ass in there as much as possible. This week was the first week I really got it going and was in there 3 or 4 times. I am insanely out of shape compared to how I used to be, and can already see an improvement after just 3 days or so. Not weight or looks wise, but just endurance and heart rate. Hopefully by summer I can take my shirt off and not look like a big fatty. That would be damn cool.

A little poker update, after my angry rant on my other blog. I lost what I had on Full Tilt, which wasn't a ton, but it's gone... at the moment I have around $200 to play with, and should have another $300 or so by the end of the month, with rakeback and the referral contest at the rakeback site. So that will be a nice little boost and maybe I can get back on track. I've just been playing outside my bankroll lately because I can't stand playing micro limits, because honestly, winning a $3 pot just doesn't do it for me. I'd rather take a little risk if I can boost my bankroll by a lot more with the limits i've been used to. Taking a few days off right now though. I took some harsh beats this week, so I'll just stick to the protege freerolls at FCP for right now. I was cruising in the one tonight until Jon (hoosieralum) flopped trips on me and trapped me real nice. I knew it was coming too, yet I bet anyway. Well, that's about it for now, and this is getting long, so I'll end it. Later.

"Big Deal" Tournament coming up....

2005-07-21T22:10:00.000-07:00

I put a little money over at PowerPlayer (PokerRoom skin basically)... Just because I was at my dad's and only have a Mac over there, so I wanted to play. Well, after having more bad luck at the ring games over there, just like I did at PokerRoom a month ago, I decided that I'm gonna use my money for sattelites and/or decent tournaments, so hopefully I can make some good money if I hit.

Well, I played a $5 sattelite for the Big Deal Weekly Tourney. This gets you into the $40 sattelite, and you need to place in this one to get into the Big one. Well, the first one went pretty well after a very rough start. It was Donkey heaven! Calling bets and re-raises with Ace-4 high and then hitting running aces just for good measure. Things like that. But after I lost the minimum on that hand, I got absolutely no cards for a very very long time. But I stayed tight and didn't force anything, and eventually I got AA and had a 4-way All-In that payed off huge. Busted 2 people and took a nice chunk from someone else, and I was the leader. This was after being down at the bottom of the rankings. At that point I just played my normal game, and only had to get lucky one time with 55 vs 99. So I made it into the next level, which I played today....

This one started out just as rough. Just terrible cards for quite some time, and when I did get a hand, it didn't pan out on the flop. There was only like 29 people in this one, and 1/8 get a seat, so it was only 3 spots, and 4th gets the remaining cash. So I was stuck at the bottom for a couple levels early on, but then I managed to double up with A10 against 10-10 when the blinds caught up to me. Then my game got going back to normal. Prior to that I was just waiting for hands to push with, cause I was in the Red Zone. (HOH2) After that I jumped up into the top 10 and then hit another hand or two and I was in the top 5 pretty steadily after that. But by the time we got to the final table, I was 2nd to last. Blinds just got big too fast, and the cards were just brutal. I couldn't even steal with the junk I was getting. So once again I was getting pretty deperate, but didn't want a big stack to bust me just because they could. So I waited a bit and picked good spots to steal a few chips here and there, and slowly gained. A few busted and I got my stack more healthy until I finally got into the top 4 out of about 6-7. Everyone was essentially shorstacked at this point though. I think only 3 of us were over 10M and not by much.

We finally busted a few more people and were 4 handed, thank god! I hate bubble time, because it's so slow and nobody wants to play. I stole what I could when a big stack didn't try to do it first, and stayed alive. But now that we're 4 handed anything goes... because $120 is fine, but really I wanted the seat. Well, I picked up JQ on the button and made a raise to 1500 with blinds at 300/600. The SB called and 2 of us saw the flop. It came xJx and the SB checked and I bet about 1/3 of the pot. He raised me the minimum, and since I had him covered by about 2k, I put him all-in and of course he turned over JK. So I'm literally sitting here screaming for a Queen so we can get our seats and end this already.... Turn blanks off, and then the river answers my request, the Queen comes off and we're now 3 handed!

I won the seat, and just to top it off....I pick up QQ the next hand and push, and of course everyone calls... My QQ holds up and I win the tournament, even though it didn't matter, it's still a first place, lol.

So now I have the $300 Big Deal Tournament on Saturday, and the last tournies 2 have gone well, and I'm hoping I can have a similar showing in this one, because I would really prefer to win some actual money out of this. I'll let you know how it goes.

Another Bonus!

2005-07-15T12:56:00.000-07:00

It's time for another PSO Bonus! This time it's at UltimateBet (UB).

And for those people who haven't tried PSO yet.... Might I highly suggest you do. It's just flat out free stuff. My new Ipod is on the way from Amazon as we speak.

If you haven't. Go to http://www.pokersourceonline.com and sign up.
You can use "Suited_Up" as a referral. Thanks if you do.

And feel free to email, or pm me with any questions about it. The key is to always get the PSO points, and use an upgrade code if they have them. There are a few for certain sites every month. Listed on a link off the homepage. Then you can use the points for Amazon GC's, or PartyPoker money or whatever. I've always gone for the Amazon stuff.

Anyway... Off to UB to try and clear the bonus. It's pretty cool, at UB, you clear your deposit bonus as you play. No waiting for a certain amount for them to deposit it for you... every time you earn Ultimate Points, you get some of your bonus. And I got a 50% bonus up to $250 with PSO. You'll see it when you sign up. So far the games are pretty tight and tough. And I have tried a few SnG's since they have the best tournament structure. But I have gotten screwed on both of them. Once my A10 lost to KJ. Then just now my 77 lost to 66. Board was 479..8..10 So the fuckin 6's runnered a straight. I'm so sick of that shit, seriously!

But I think I can beat this site, I just need a good card once in awhile. It's mostly bad cards, not really super tough games. I have seen 93o like a billion times so far. So hopefully things turn around a bit. I did manage to come out of PokerRewards with $150 profit. Plus cashed out of PokerStars. I am quitting that site for good. They aren't getting any more of my money with that fucked up RNG.

So that's about it, back to this boring ass library again. I can't get on any poker sites, so I guess I'll just try to clear some bonus here at UB.

100k Guaranteed Tournament!

2005-07-10T16:30:00.000-07:00

Well, Yesterday I won a sattelite into the 100k guaranteed tourney on Prima. $50 entry, but it also has re-buys. I had no intention of re-buying though. I don't have a ton of time to go through the whole tournament. But I ended up more dissapointed than I probably should be.

I finished 103rd. Out of 1100, and 130 got paid. But I was in the bottom rung of the payout structure, and I took a brutal beat to get there.

I was pretty short stacked with 11k chips and blinds at 1k/2k when I picked up QQ in the BB and there was just one early position limper. So I pushed the rest of my stack into the middle. His cards flip up and he's got 33 against my QQ. Flop is all blanks, turn is another, but the river is the dreaded 2 outer. The 3! I was so pissed off. Because if I win that, I am back up to 22k, and I have at least a few more chances to double up and make a run. But instead I got out 103rd, just 3 spots from another jump in the money, when some clown calls 9k more with 33!! Which is what I wanted, but come on... what is he beating there? Not a whole lot!

Granted, I had to get lucky a time or two myself to get to that point, but it doesn't make it any better. At least when I got lucky, it's cause I was like a 45/55 underdog. Not 95/5 with one card coming! It's pretty frustrating going out like that, but at least I know I played well.

I just really wanted to make a run for the final table, because even 10th got over 1k, and first got over 27k. I might not have caught them, but I have done it in the past, so I know it's possible.

On another note. My performance in the sattelite was even better. With the bubble being at 30th, and 1 more to be eliminated before we all won our seats... I had 64k in chips, and the guy in 2nd had 37k. Boy do I wish it was always that easy. But this big tournament played a big more aggressive and it was much harder to find spots to steal blinds with lots of shortstacks re-raising all-in a lot. Not to mention, I had absolutely no cards to play for at least the last hour. I somehow got just enough to stay alive, but if you give me just a few more good hands, I could have been a force. But getting 93 every blind really hurt.

But again, the main point is that I am playing well again in the MTT's and hopefully I can hit a big cash before too long.

Party Poker Code Update

2005-07-04T18:18:00.000-07:00

The old codes I had listed expired. So here is a new one for anyone who hasn't yet played on Party Poker.

20% Deposit Bonus up to $100. (First timers)

Bonus Code--"SUIT100"

Stupid Library!

2005-07-01T11:49:00.000-07:00

Well I'm sitting at a library waiting for my girlfriend to get off of work, so I can pick her up. Since she works out in the burbs, I came out here, and figured I would just go onto FCP and maybe play a bit on pokerstars or something till she's done. Well this stupid library put up some filter, and now I can't get on to FCP. WTF is that about? I have been here tons of times before and they never blocked anything. How gay is this? So now I have nothing to do for another 2 hours except write this blog about how stupid this is.

I guess I can still go play some poker over at stars, which I hate. But I put some money there for the Negreanu Open's and now I have to make all my money back, because Tuesday after the tournament I decided to play a little bit. Well I could not win a freakin hand to save my life. Doesn't matter what my hand was either... It still got beat by the river. Then I would play some HU matches. Get the guy all-in with AJ vs. A9 and of course lose that too. So now I have like $43 of the original $100 I put in there, and I gotta go try to grind some profit at the .25/.50 tables or something. Since 1/2 didn't quite cut it for me the other night and I lost about $30 in like 5 minutes. If I did that again it would all be gone. So I guess I should play a bit lower. I have the BR for 1/2, but it's all in Neteller right now. I'm waiting for the new PSO upgrades to be announced to see if I can get something extra on my next bonus-whoring adventure over there.

Also, OrcaPoker.com asked me to do a review of Harrington on Hold 'Em 1+2 for the site. So those are forthcoming as soon as I get around to it. I need to look at vol. 1 again to refresh my brain about what was in there.

Back on the board finally!

2005-06-25T23:44:00.000-07:00

I finally managed to cash in a MTT tonight after quite awhile without much of anything. I guess I haven't been playing a ton of them, but even when I did, I just was either not focused and made a dumb play that cost me, or I just took some ridiculous beat that put me out or crippled me. Today went much better though.

Played a normal $20 MTT on GamingClub tonight. 47 total entries, and only 5 spots paid.

Payouts looked something like
1st. $375
2nd. $225
3rd. $150
4th. $110
5th. $75

Well, I got started off well, when I had 10-10 and called a button raise. Flop was 848 and I check raised the preflop raiser and he folded and got a few hundred off the bat. Managed to stay in the top 15 or so for the rest of the tourney. Unfortunately never hit any real big hands and got a lead or anything. Actually by the time we were near the final table, I was one of the short stacks. But being the short stack wasn't as bad as it appeared. Only compared to others. Because I still had enough chips to play a bit without too much danger. Something like 4k in chips with blinds at 100/200. Pretty good for one of the short stacks.

Well I made the final table without a ton of risk. Although I definitely added in some of my new tactics learned from "Harrington On Hold'Em vol. 2". Which was a great book. Maybe I'll make another post about the book. But here's an example of what I mean. As the short stack, I had about 10 rounds I could play without going broke. But once you get to 5 or less you need to start pushing and stealing blinds or doubling up... depending if you get called. The key for me was doing it with as good a hand as I could find, and against opponents who could be hurt if they lost a showdown with my stack. So I never got called. Which is exactly what you want. It kept me alive long enough to double up at the final table.

From that point on I just stuck around, hoping others would bust out, cause only 5 get paid. But when I had a good hand, I pushed it super hard. I figured I either had to double up or steal the blinds. No giving chances for anyone to hit a good flop against me. Well it worked, I stole enough to build slowly, then people started busting out. Finally got into the top 5 and it was all gravy from there on. Well, I felt much more comfortable shorthanded. I could get a good feel for the players and adjust accordingly. All of them were quite good actually. Which surprisingly helped. Because I knew some of my steals would work better. Not that I needed to steal a ton, but once we got down to 4 handed it became more important. Although I really didn't do it with any bad cards. I usually got something decent enough once every round or two to keep my head above water. Then I managed to bust the 4th place player and took the chip lead. Which was pretty amazing, because I was the shortstack the whole time 4 handed. So from that point on I just leaned on people enough to keep my stack healthy, but was not calling any all-ins with mediocre cards. I had a good stack and I'm not giving it up unless I have a real good hand to risk it with.

Finally got heads-up and I had about a 2-1 chip disadvantage. Plus the other player was pretty good. 3 handed he was real close to busting and doubled up and went on a tear to get the lead. Well, he wouldn't let me double up when I did hit anything, which is exactly the way I would play with a lead. So finally I hit middle pair, and I was trying to trap, because I figured I was ahead since he limped in on the button. Well, we came alive on the turn, getting all-in. And it turns out he was slowplaying top pair against me too, and he hit a straight on the river just incase.

So I took 2nd. Which I'm happy with. Because as you know, it's been awhile since I had any cash at all. But to get 2nd was very nice, especially because I was the shortstack at the final table most of the time, and just stuck around and picked all the right spots. I love when it works out the way you want it to. Maybe Harrington's book re-focused me. In fact it's hard to say it didn't. Because things were much more clear and relaxed for me today. Sometimes I am antsy and anxious in tournaments. Acting like I need some huge lead to do anything. But I proved to myself again tonight that it's just not the case. Hopefully this can keep up.

Guess I need to update....

2005-06-20T22:12:00.000-07:00

Sorry it's been so long since I've updated anything. I hit a bit of a downswing while I was trying to clear the bonus over at PokerRoom and went into hiding a bit, lol. I was playing 2/4 over there, slowly slowly trying to clear that impossible bonus and had a night where I lost almost $200. Which is alot, because I don't really have the BR to play 2/4, but it was just too hard to clear at 1/2. Well after that I said fuck it, and cashed out what I had left. That site was just way too aggressive to even bother with. I told someone else, it's like I'm playing 3 or 4 of myself, and then 3 or 4 of me (But playing bad cards)... super aggressive and relatively tight also. Just wasn't a moneymaking venture over there. So I got my PSO bonus and moved on down about $180 unfortunately.

The tournament troubles continue as well. Today I was playing in a Limit tourney. Take quite a few rough beats, because in these limit tourney's, it's like, bet, raise, re-raise, cap.... every round, with as much as bottom pair or a gutshot draw. It's ridiculous. Anyway... I double up late to get around 1k from being on the verge of busting out. Then I get JJ, and I figure I'm going for broke here, with blinds 50/100 and betting levels 100/200. So I raise, get like 5 callers, and the flop is J-10-x... I bet out, and get raised, so I just call so I can raise it up on the turn. I check raise the turn, then bet out and get all-in on the river when it's an Ace. Well guess what... The winner stuck around with QK. There ya go, and I'm done again.

Also played a lil $10 SnG at Gaming Club... which is the current bonus I'm working on for PSO. Well... I took a beat after I built up a pretty good stack. So I'm back down around 1200, from a high point around 3k. Blinds are ridiculous at this point... (worst structure ever)... so it's 80/160 blinds and I get QQ UTG. Well someone was all-in almost every hand, so I limp and as I suspected the guy behind me goes all-in. Everyone folds and I call. He flips up 66 and my QQ has him dominated. That is until the board comes 3457x.... and I'm out in 5th. It really is getting frustrating, because I'm playing pretty well, but I'm getting just killed by the cards. I also went out of some other tourney with AK.... board was Kx7Ax... well he had 77. I mean, what can I do with top 2 pair and a stack as big as the pot after I raised it preflop?

PSO Update:

Well, I am about halfway through the PSO bonus on Gaming Club, which is going pretty fast, but they only let you clear a certain amount of BRP's (Bonus Redemption Points) at each level until you get to 2/4. So you need 2400 of them to get the PSO bonus. But you can only do 400 at .50/1.00 and then 800 at 1/2. Those went super fast, but that's only half of what I need. Once you're at 2/4 or higher, it's unlimited, but still out of my BR range. But what choice do I have? So I am done with levels below 2/4 and I gave it my first shot over at this site tonight. Wound up ahead $40 for a fairly short session, maybe an hour or so. I didn't want to blow it, and I know I cleared another $20 in bonus money, so I cut it short and will take the profit for tonight. I am now ahead almost $100 on gaming club, with the bonus and what I won tonight. Oh yeah... I didn't mention... for every 300 BRP's you get... they release $20 in bonus money. Which ends up being every 100 raked hands (.25 or higher). It's a pretty nice system. Although at 2/4 it's actually harder, cause they don't rake less than $1. So if the pot doesn't hit $20, you don't get a rake. But down at 1/2 and lower, anything over $5 gets raked, so it goes super fast. Well now I'm babbling, but I think things are going a little better at this site than PR. Other than the occasional retarded beat that you will get everywhere. Hopefully I clear these next 1000 BRP's pretty quick and come out nicely ahead, cause I'm not a fan of Prima, but I must say, I like this software better than Royal Vegas.

Fantasy Team Update:

Well... today was a great day in Fantasy land. The Pot Limit Omaha event gave me 4 players in the top 16 and over 1,300 points alone for this event. As it stood through 17 events, I was in 86th place with close to 3,200 points. (Top 100 get prizes, so I'm doing pretty well) Then today I add over 1,300 to that. I am now at 4,548!! I still don't know what place that leaves me though, because the updated standings haven't been done. But I sure hope some of the people ahead of me didn't have all the players I did in tonights event. We will see though.

Amazon Update:

I finally got one of my shipments from Amazon today!! I had to wait forever for it, because of Harrington on Hold'Em Vol.2 and waiting for that to ship. But today I got 2 packages. Here is a list of all the books I got.

Harrington on Hold'Em vol. 2
Small Stakes Hold'Em
Caro's book of poker tells
Inside the Poker Mind
The Making of a Poker Player (matt matros)

I still have another 3 on the way I believe. Plus Fight Night round 2 for PS2! I can't wait till everything gets here. Although I dunno when I'll find time to read all these freakin books, lol. I have read a few already, but some need to be re-read over and over. SSHE for one.

So that should bring things up to date for the most part. Sorry this thing is long as hell.

Tournament Woes

2005-06-11T21:46:00.000-07:00

I've been giving some tournaments a try lately. Not that I haven't in the past, but every couple days I might give one a try, and I have not been able to cash for the life of me. Before I went to the WPT I was killing every tourney I was in for a few weeks. Not that I made a ton, but I wasn't in any big ones either, and then I won the seat. Since then I have been having some serious troubles with them. All the donkey's keep screwing me.

I played the $50+4 MTT tonight at PokerRoom, and couldn't get a hand to save my life, but I picked up enough little pots to keep my head above water. There were 174 entries, and top 30 got paid. I was basically bouncing between 35-40th place for most of the time past the mid point in the tourney. Just couldn't catch a hand to jump any higher though, I would lose some and then get a few back. Steal a blind, then get mine stolen cause my cards were horrid.

Finally with blinds at 100/200 and about to go up. I get AJo in the BB. It folds around to the SB who raises me to 400. I figure they might do this with a lot of hands I have beat. In fact I was pretty certain I had them killed. I only had about 3,000 left, so I went over the top All-In, hoping they could let go of whatever mediocre hand they raised with. Well I was wrong. They turned up A8 against my AJ.

Flop was 993 (And i'm thinking... here it comes... please no 8, please no 8)
Turn is of course a big fat juicy 8!!!

So it leaves me with like 150 and I'm out shortly thereafter in 51st place. It's just so frustrating. I know in the past few tournaments, I have played a bit overagressive and cost myself a little too much trying to make plays on people who were unplayable donkeys! So in this one I decided for $50, I can't fuck around and be a crazy guy. I need to go back to my old style that was working for me before. Which I did, and things were going fine... Even being fairly shortstacked most of the time, I felt comfortable that I was playing well and making all the right decisions. I only had to be all-in one time before that AJ fiasco. I had AK and doubled up against 66. Which is the way I like it, to minimize my All-Ins, and try getting the most out of the hands I do get. Then of course, I go up against a hand I have completely dominated, and they outrdaw me and I'm back on the rail again.

I guess I can be happy that I played well. Probably better than I have the past few weeks, but still... I hate busting out of tournaments more than anything. Talk about a downer. I really hope sometime soon I can make something good happen again. Because I was doing so good in tourney's before the WPT, and I figured I could actually turn some good profit from them after that nice run. But I don't think I have cashed in one MTT since I got back. Plus I have been focusing on my limit game more, which is going fairly well. I actually paid for most of the entry to the tournament tonight from a 2/4 game earlier. Which is why I could justify even paying $50 for it. So here's to new focus, and stop donkey'ing around in tournaments. I played well tonight and just need a little help from the cards next time. Please!

VINDICATION!!!

2005-06-07T20:07:00.000-07:00

Ha!

Well it's what, less than an hour since I posted all my bad beat woes. So I went over to that 2/4 table, and started off just as bad as before... was down about $15 or so, then one betmonkey in particular started playing ever hand... even when I raised, they loved cold calling. So I managed to take about $120 off this table... I'd say 75% of it came from one player though, cause they were in every hand with me.

Lets look at this delicious example!

I get 77 on the button. The monkey raises, so I just call on the button with one other caller.

Flop is 833. I like the flop as long as they dont have a pair.

Monkey bets, other player calls, and I raise. WELL... The monkey decides to 3-bet it! Now I'm a bit worried, but I had a backdoor flush draw too, so I called and the turn was a 6 of clubs. Which was one of the suits I had.

They bet again, and I think the other guy calls and I call again.

River is a 10, and they bet again, other guy folds this time, and I call because the pot was pretty big, and none of those cards really scared me.

Well, the betmonkey has AK0 and I win with my lowly pair of 7's! What a douche! But thank you whoever you are for all this beautiful money!

Now... I was down $40 from all my stupid beats at 1/2, and managed to take $120 off the 2/4 table. So I'm up $80 for the day, not to mention I made up all my losses on PokerRoom, so I'm actually up $40 from my initial $500 that I put on.

And much closer to my PSO bonus! Although to clear my $200 bonus it's like 2k raked hands, which is freaking ridiculous! I have been playing about 5 days or so and I think I'm up to 125 of them. 2k? are you kidding? Luckily I only need 400 for my PSO points, so I can go shopping again!

Wow am I getting it up the ass today!

2005-06-07T19:37:00.000-07:00

I just cannot win a hand today. Yes, this is a bad beat story... well not a story, just me bitching about the countless times it's happened to me today. I'm playing 1/2 over at PokerRoom (Oh yeah, I moved there for another PSO bonus)... anyway, I am getting cards just fine, AA, QQ, AKs, JJ, and so on! Not like I'm tilting and playing K9o or crap like that... I'm playing some serious premium shit here, and I am just getting my ass handed to me by a bunch of morons! I expect it to some point, it always happens, but I just had a stretch of at least an hour, where I lost pretty much every big hand I had. Let me explain...

So I get AA, raise and bet it all the way down to the river, while the board is 7 high. Something like 10-4-5-7-6... Well guess what wins? 88 of course!

Then I get AK, and I hit an Ace on the river. I bet and get raised, wtf, so I re-raise! Gets capped and that one has AA.

Then I have QQ, and it's just me and the BB, of course... Board is something like 693 with 2 spades. Turn is another low spade, and I get re-raised. So I call down to see the flush with 52s or some shit like that! Mind you it's not like I didn't raise the blind, I did!

And lots more of the exact same situations for about an hour straight. Probably more like 2, and I'm still playing as we speak. Although I moved up to 2/4, one because I'm on tilt and trying to win it back, but second, because I want to clear this stupid bonus so I can leave this crappy site. It's taking forever to do it though. Much easier at 2/4. Right now I'm up $8 at this table.

Sorry for the bitch session, but I'm really frustrated, because I'm playing completely fine and just getting sucked out on, or having the cards just really fuck me.

Oh my, I just had AK and actually won a freaking hand when the board was KJ10 and 3 hearts on the turn. Luck must be changing, yay me! (sw)

WSOP Fantasy Team

2005-06-03T15:06:00.000-07:00

Well the WSOP kicked off today with the $1500 NL Hold'Em event. And as most of you FCP'ers know, we are involved in Daniel's Fantasy Pool. So I thought I would post my team here, as much for me to be able to see as for everyone else. So I don't have to go dig through the entries to find it every time, lol. This way I can also keep updated on how I am doing.

I wish I had more time to think it though, because there are some changes I would have made, but didn't really think about it till after it was submitted. But hopefully my picks do well regardless. I didn't pick The Grinder though, and he is so hot right now, it might have been worth having him in the 20 spot just for hold'em events. But oh well. I also regret taking off Jenn Harman, I had her on, but moved her off to make space for somebody, I forget who. The main thing is that my top players do well, so hopefully the big guns come through.

Here is my team.

1. Phil Ivey
2. Chris Ferguson
3. Daniel Negreanu
4. John Juanda
5. Men Nguyen
6. Hasan Habib
7. David Pham
8. Barry Greenstein
9. Chau Xiang
10. Erick Lindgren
11. Erik Seidel
12. Tuan Le
13. Scott Fischman
14. Dan Harrington
15. Phil Hellmuth
16. Johnny Chan
17. Toto Leonidas
18. Howard Lederer
19. TJ Cloutier
20. Ted Forrest

So far on day one, about half of my team is gone in the first 2 hours... was a total bloodbath to start things off. Although everyone's horses went down. So I'm not losing a ton of headway. I gotta hope some of my sleepers come though. The Chau Xiangs and Hasan Habib's of the world.

Grand Slam of Poker -- Tournament

2005-05-30T21:39:00.000-07:00

I was recently invited to participate in this event called the Grand Slam of Poker. It's partnered with the Poker Millionaire Challenge, and this year they are freerolling a lot of players into the main event with an estimated $2.5 Million dollar prize pool. There are tons of ways to get into the main event. It's held in Mid-December at the Plaza in Vegas.

One catch though.... To be able to freeroll into it, you have to be referred by an existing participant. So here is a link and referral code for everyone to use, and hopefully we can get a ton of people into this thing.

Follow this link and look around. Click the freeroll tab to fill in the info to enter, and if it doesn't already put in the referral code. Fill in "1066" for the referral code.

Grand Slam of Poker 2005

EDIT: Looks like some people are having trouble with that link now. If it doesn't work for you. Just go to http://www.gsp2005.com and when you click freeroll to register, use the code 1066 in the referral code area. Sorry about that, not sure what happened to the link.

Here is an additional excerpt from the email I got about it:

"The Grand Slam of Poker will immediately follow the Bellagio Five Diamond, WorldPoker Tour Event. This will mean that Vegas will be hopping with all the toppros and will make the event stronger. Currently, Phil Helmuth, T.J. Cloutier,Annie Duke, Chris Ferguson, David Williams, Johnny Chan and Daniel Negreanu havecommitted to participate."

Looks like it will be a pretty nice event and hopefully I can make my way into it.

Back to the world of Limit!

2005-05-26T22:58:00.000-07:00

Well obviously I had my little run with Heads-Up SnG's. But after I left Bodog I stopped that. Too much up and down for me right now. Although I do like it and may play some at some point. But after I went to work on this bonus over at Absolute I went back to the limit game, which I had abandoned for quite awhile now.

Before I got away from it, I had mixed success. Not sure why really, I felt I was playing well, but just couldn't really get anywhere with it. But I'm sure there was something I was doing wrong but not sure what. Possibly being a little too agressive and overplaying some hands. But since I started back up again after the hiatus, things have been going really good. When I deposited at Absolute I put in $365. Well tonight I ended my session with $505. So I'm up $140, and only $30 of that is bonus. So I'm doing quite well on my own. I went to the 1/2 game, and it's going real good.

I mentioned the play was tight there, which at first glance it is. But it seems that there is just enough bad players to make it profitable. When you see flop percentages no higher than 45% it's a little scary, when at some places you can get up in the 80's sometimes. But it has worked out well. Aggression preflop narrows it down just enough, but not so much you aren't making any money. As long as you don't get sucked out on too much it works out well. I must say though... I have never had so many monster draws on the flop. I have flopped 3 Royal draws, and a straigh flush draw or two. None of which I hit, but I have never seen so many draws to huge hands before. I know sites aren't rigged, but you definitely notice differences in the RNG's when you go from site to site.

Anyway... Things are going well, so I imagine I'll work off my bonus before I leave Absolute. Then I can go get some more PSO points and go shopping! *Still waiting on delivery for my initial 9,000* They say it might take 3 days to process... not sure why, because it's all online... but whatever.

Absolute Update

2005-05-25T16:14:00.000-07:00

Well, I finished the required hands to get my PSO points over at pokersourceonline. But have only cleared $30 of the bonus. But the tables there are pretty tight, so I'm considering just cashing out since I got my points, and moving somewhere else. I have made money in the time I was playing, so I wonder if it's worth waiting till I clear the whole bonus?

I'm kind of thinking as I type, sorry about that. But maybe I'll give it a few more sessions and see how those go and then decide what to do. If I can still manage to win, then maybe I'll keep working the bonus. Only problem is, that my BR in there is only good for .50/1.00 - But I clear the bonus a whole lot faster at 1/2. I was playing the 1/2 today and having fairly decent success. So maybe I'll just play a little high and see how fast I can do it. Takes 100 raked hands per $10. Which is good, but since it's so tight... you don't get a raked hand every hand.

Anyway.. Now I have 9000 PSO points on the way. Which is basically worth $90. I can get that much worth of Amazon GC's if I want, or Best Buy, and a bunch of other stuff. But I'll go with Amazon probably, because they have everything!

Sorry this entry is pretty boring, but nothing exciting has really happened lately. But I'm still determined to keep this updated more that I have before.

Orca Poker!

2005-05-22T18:26:00.000-07:00

Well, I have some cool news for me. My blog is being featured over at www.OrcaPoker.com

There is a whole profile page and a link to this blog. (Maybe you are looking from that link right now, lol) But it's pretty cool, so I will try and keep the blog much more updated. So hopefully everyone enjoys my babbling. If you haven't seen the site yet, go ahead and check it out... lots of cool poker news and articles, and also a forum over there.

Moving around again...

2005-05-22T18:15:00.000-07:00

Well, after a short stint on Bodog Poker, I decided to pack up and move again. There are almost no limit games there, and I took some pretty bad beats in those Heads-Up SnG's and decided to cut my losses before I blow everything. It's tough taking beats in those, because either you're up the buyin, or you're down. 50/50, you can't get a 2nd and make up for a few losses like a normal SnG. Either you win or you have to play another just to break even. So I took some advice from Aseem (Akishore) at FCP and checked out PokerSourceOnline.com

I can get tons of free stuff by playing at new sites. And who am I to pass up free stuff. So I took the first step, and signed up for Absolute through them, and upgraded the bonus, and got 9000 PSO points to put towards the store there. Which can get quite a bit of stuff as it is, but I am gonna save them up and see if I can get something really big. Just to give you an idea how cool it is. I have 9k points right now... at 10k, I can get a $100 GC from Amazon. So after I'm done with Absolute, I sign up for one more, and I have $100 free. Sweet huh? If you check it out, feel free to use my name as a referral. "Suited_Up" *As usual*

So I'm over at Absolute at the moment. Have only played once so far... about 50 hands or so, and lost a couple bucks by getting rivered 3 times. No biggie though... I think I lost 3 dollars or something playing .50/1... But I'm working bonus off also, which means I probably broke even... The site is decent, but nothing special... The tables are kind of loud for me... I like a more simplistic look so I can just focus on the cards and actions of the other people... But I'll work off my bonus and see what's next. Hopefully I can come out with a nice profit, plus my 9000 points.

Heads-Up SnG's

2005-05-16T20:57:00.000-07:00

Well, I just discovered the gold mine that is, Heads-Up Sit N Go's. I just recently started playing on Bodog and after blowing a good amount on MTT entries, I found the HU SnG's and have made almost everything back. These people really just have no idea what they're doing, and if you know what you're doing, it's just a goldmine. The play from the $10 to $30 ones never seemed to change. Although I have a majority of my play down at the $10's.

I haven't kept track of my record, but the most I have ever lost was 2 in a row, and always for a silly reason. One of them the other guy went all-in on the first hand, and I had Ax and figured I might have a chance to catch a retard trying to be stupid. Well he had KJ and caught his King. Oh well. I was right about him being a retard though.

Other than that, the only trouble I have had is when the flop comes paired, I end up getting screwed on those a lot. It seems like anytime the flop is like 99K, and I have K5 in my hand, the other guy has 92. No joke, I have gotten screwed like that a few times. Either that, or I have a pocket pair, and figure my pair is good on a board like that, but the other guy would have either the trips or the other card on the board that happens to be higher than my pair. But I have made a mental note of it, and won't go broke on those too much anymore.

That's what's great about Heads Up tourney's. Your mistakes are highlighted and you can correct them much easier. You know whether you made the mistake or your opponent did. It's only 2 of you, and as much as a coin flip as it may seem like, if you know what you're doing, you can win your fair share. I have come up with a system to beat the types of players I come across on Bodog. *Mostly overagressive* and it works very well for me over there. Although if I ever moved limits, or even changed sites, things might change. It's hard to say if that's true, but that's fine.

I can play however I need to. Another reason HU is so great. You can change your game up at any point. Of course you can do this in other games, but it's hard to win unless you play a certain way in a certain game. But heads up it depends on your opponent and you adjust accordingly. Which allows the cream to rise to the top. If you only have one gear, you might not do so well playing heads up. But if you're well rounded and can read the play of your opponents, it might be right up your alley. So give it a shot. Just don't play me, plenty of fish for everyone.

My Las Vegas Experience and the WPT!!!

2005-04-22T00:31:00.000-07:00

It's every young poker players dream to one day play in one of the big tournaments with all the pro's. Sitting across from poker greatness. This dream came true faster than I would have expected for me. All thanks to Poker Mountain.

It's a new poker site run by some great people, and sponsored by Daniel Negreanu and TJ Cloutier. I am a member of the Full Contact Poker forum, which is Daniel Negreanu's personal site, and it's the best forum on the internet in my opinion. Well being a member I was priveledged to get a lot of information about his ventures before most people. Well Poker Mountain was one of them. He said it's a great site, and although they are still growing, they are run by some of the best people, and will be huge if you give them time. Trusting his opinion, I went to sign up there during beta testing and thought the software was nice. Sleek and fast, and less busy looking than so many places you see. Finally they opened up for real money play, and I deposited a little bit to try it out.

Well when you first deposited on the site, they gave you a 100% deposit bonus as well as an entry into a $25 Road to Bellagio Sit N Go tournament entry. If you won this tournament, you would win entry into the $200 buy-in final. This was a final to gain entry into the World Poker Tour Championship at the Bellagio, with a $25,000 entry fee. Arguably one of the two biggest tournaments in the world. Well I managed to win the Sit N Go. Daniel Negreanu was even in it with me. He got 9th I believe after he bluffed off all his chips with AQ. After that, I had to wait about 2 months for the big final. I got in plenty of play between the tournaments, and had improved quite a bit in this time, but I was still pretty nervous about the tournament, because only one person was going to win the seat. When it finally came time to play, there was 133 people I had to contend with to win. Somehow though, I managed to make a comeback from 2,500 chips with blinds at 250/500 and actually make the final table. I was surprised to hear they were going to pay something to the whole final table, and it was a nice extra, considering they didn't tell us they were going to pay anyone else. Once I made the final table, I had about 15k in chips, but 2 chip leaders had over 60k. Lucky for me they were being very agressive with them, and even getting into big pots with each other. After I doubled up and won a few pots, and a couple people busted out, I was down to the final 4 or 5. One of the big stacks busted to the other, and they were still playing recklessly. I knew I just needed a few more chips, and to make it heads up with anyone who was left. Then I did. I started heads up with about a 2-1 chip disadvantage, but I felt fine about it. I slowly wore him down and took a lead, and I think eventually he got impatient and tried to make too much happen without good cards. I ended up winning with 2 pair over his one, and won the tournament. Talk about shock! I thought I was going to be gone much earlier when I was the shortstack in the tournament, yet somehow I came back to win. It was unbelievable.

Not only did I win entry into the WPT Championship a week later. I won airfare out to Vegas, and got to stay at the Bellagio. Even better than that; I got a strategy session with Daniel Negreanu and TJ Cloutier!! This was just surreal. Two of the biggest names in the poker world. One having won more tournaments than anyone, and the other who in his lifetime will probably compete for that title.

Poker Mountain was nice enough to let my girlfriend Brigette come along with me and even come to the dinner with Daniel and TJ. Which was a nice surprise and very nice of them. We flew out of Chicago on saturday afternoon, and got into Vegas around 4pm. Paul Westley picked us up from the airport and took us over to the Bellagio. We got checked in and went up to our room which was great. The whole hotel was amazing, you couldn't beleive it if I told you. It's the type of place you just need to see. Once we got there we met Diego Cordovez, who is a poker player himself, but also the organizer for the whole promotion to give me this great experience. He helped me make sure that my buy-in for the tournament was all set, and I got my table assignment and was all set for monday.

That night was the dinner with Daniel and TJ, so we went up to get ready and put on some nicer clothes. The restaurant we went to was unbelieveable. A very nice place within the Bellagio called Michael Mina. Once we got there, we met up with Paul and Diego, as well as Daniel. TJ was still involved in the super sattelite to gain entry into the tournament I would be playing on monday. We had an unbelievable dinner, and I got to chat with Daniel about some key concepts to keep in mind during the tournament. We also had some great conversations about poker and some of the characters in the poker world. Daniel is quite a character and it was a real pleasure to be able to have this experience. TJ managed to win a seat in his super sattelite and joined us in time for dessert. He was also a great guy. As was his wife who made it for dinner as well. He had some good stories to tell, and made the night a great experience. We ended dinner and were taking a few pictures together outside of the restaurant in the Bellagio garden. As we were taking the pictures, there must have been 5 or 6 people in the background taking pictures as well. It was pretty funny seeing all the flash bulbs off, and then Daniel says "welcome to my world". I can't even imagine going through that every day, but it's pretty exciting, and as strange as it may be, I can still hope that I will be on that level some day.

I had sunday to roam around and explore Vegas a bit, and that's what I did. I met up with Dale, a fellow member of FullContactPoker and he showed us around a bit, and we found a poker game to play over at the Flamingo. Just a little 2/4 game, which was pretty insane. If you play online and think the players are crazy, just try playing some 2/4 at the casino. You had better be ready to see 8 players to every flop and forget about raising someone out, it's not going to happen. Had a good time though, and ended the day up a little bit. Enough to pay for the buffet at least. After that we headed back to the hotel and I wanted to make sure to relax and get plenty of sleep before the tournament.

I woke up monday morning feeling good, but also pretty nervous. I still wasn't sure who was at my table and could only imagine who it might be. We had breakfast and I made my way over to the tournament. Finally got into my seat after exchanging some good luck's with TJ and only half the table was there. A few showed up late and it ended up being a pretty tough table. The first reconizable face was David Oppenheim, who was on my immediate left. Talk about a bad draw. Then Mickey Appleman was sitting 2 to my right. Alan Boston sat down a minute later on his right, and across the table was Robert Mizrachi, the brother of "The Grinder", Michael Mizrachi, both of whom are great new up and coming players. This was a tough enough table as it was, then walks in Gus Hansen. What a table. Definitely exciting though.

The tournament started out pretty well though. I won a few hands early and got in the positive and was over my 50k starting point, which is all I could hope for. Then just before the 2nd break I took a nice pot off Gus and one other player when I turned a full house. I missed a bet on the river, but it was still a pretty nice pot. Put me just over 60k and I was feeling real good. Then David Oppenheim came along. He took two pretty large pots off of me, once I had AQ, flopped top pair Queens and he was holding KK. The other he check-raised me on nothing but a flush draw, and hit it on the river. Took me down near 20k in chips going into level 4. Ante's and blinds were starting to get a little damaging to my stack, and I figured once I was down to 18k, I needed to find a good hand and try to double up somewhere.

Then I found it. I picked up J10 in the big blind. A middle position player limped in, as did Boston behind him, the small blind folded and I checked to see a flop. The flop was QKA rainbow. Talk about a good spot!! I couldn't have wished for a much better flop. I was first to act so I checked, as did the 2nd player, and Boston bet out about 1200. I called as did the other player. No need to push them off a hand at this point. The turn is another Ace though. Now this card is good and bad. I am quite sure they don't have AK or AQ. Either one would have raised from the position they are in preflop with those hands. But I check again to see what happens. Boston bets it again, this time a little over 3000. He seemed a little confused why we checked again, and didn't seem to want to play his hand slow, which made it pretty apparent it wasn't a full house. I decided I didn't want to risk him improving his hand any more, so I pushed all in for my last 16,500. The second player quickly folded, and Boston thought about it for awhile. I knew I had the best hand at this point and didn't want to mess around with it anymore. Finally he makes a call, and David Oppenheim asks me if I have the straight, which I did and I turned it over. Boston turns over A9 for trip aces, and needs help on the river. Well the river brings another King, and he fills his boat. Knocking me out of the tournament in the process. Definitely not what I was hoping to see. To say the least.

It was pretty tough to swallow this outcome. I felt I was playing pretty well, and just ran into a few tough hands where I lost a few too many chips. Then I flop the nuts, and runner-runner takes me down. Depressing is probably not a strong enough word. I was numb for awhile after that beat. Wasn't sure how to react really, but I had to keep in mind that I made the right play, and there wasn't anything I could do about it. Eventually I got my head straight again, and decided I need to go out and enjoy Vegas while I could.

It was a pretty tough beat, and I really wish I could have come home with some money, which I really thought was possible. But this was still one of the greatest experiences I've ever had. How many people dream of playing in a WPT event? Much less the championship. I have only been playing poker for 7 months now, and really who would expect that I could make it to something this huge so fast? Some players have been playing for years and can't say they have played an event this big. I just hope that I can return sometime soon, to a similar event, but come home with some money. Maybe win one someday even. But you can be sure I won't stop trying. If you think you have a poker bug now, just try sitting across the table from Gus Hansen for a few hours, mixing it up with the best. Then see how much more you really want it. It's a taste of greatness, and it leaves you wanting more. I definitely will be back, and I will have learned from everything along the way. All you can really do is continue to learn, and improve. That's the beauty of poker. Even someone like me can do well at it. All you need to do is want it bad enough. Trust me though, nothing makes you want it more than an experience like this. The first time you get re-raised by Gus Hansen, or the first time you check-raise David Oppenheim. These things will stay with you, and feed the hunger to get a chance to do it again. But next time with the intentions of coming out on top.

Big News!

2005-04-14T16:19:00.000-07:00

Well if you look down a couple posts, you will see the screenshot from the Bellagio Prelim SnG that I won, putting me into the final on April 9th.

So I played the final on the 9th. 133 people entered, only first place wins. Winner gets a seat in the WPT Championship at the Bellagio. $25,000 entry and airfare and hotel. Not to mention a strategy session with Daniel Negreanu and TJ Cloutier. Two of the best players in the world.

Guess who won? I DID! Insanity!! How did I manage to beat 132 other people, exactly when I wanted to, and somehow won the biggest tournament I've ever been in.

Well, I went in knowing that only 1 person wins. So it was a necessity to get the chips early and often. There was no room to sit back and watch people jump ahead of me. I wanted a lead, and I wanted to keep it. Of course my cards were going to help or hurt that plan.

I managed to move my way slowly up, never had any big hands where I doubled or tripled up early... that would have been to easy. But I just kept plugging away and making my way up the leaderboard. Then halfway through the 133 people, I finally took the chiplead. Wasn't going to last long though. There were about 4 of us who were very close in chips, so we were just bouncing in and out of 1st-4th.

Then this happened:

I'm in the SB with about 12k in chips. (still top 4) I get dealt 10-10 and the whole table folds to the button. Then the button goes All-in for about 7.5k!!
Well geez... that seems like a gross overbet in my mind... Why would you go all-in against the blinds, with a real good hand? Well I called only to see his 2 Queens!

UGH! Why did he play them like that? Well now I have 4.5k and I'm back down at the bottom of the list. It was brutal. Very discouraging, and really made things difficult as the blinds were at 200/400 at this point.

Then the worst thing starts happening. PokerMountain keeps freezing up on me. First it happens at random times... and I quickly log off and come back, but I usually lose about 2 hands before I can get back, so it's making me pay blinds even quicker than normal with my short stack. THEN! I get AKo... Raise it up pre-flop, and get one caller. Flop comes Axx and I am pretty sure I have this hand. Well it froze again! AHHHHHHHHHHH WHAT THE HELL! Now this cost me a ton of chips, because the pot was already quite big after my preflop raise, and could have been huge if they had a worse ace. I was pretty upset. I emailed support while we were playing and was getting pretty frustrated... it had done it like 5 times in the past 10 minutes or so. Right at a crucial time, because my stack was shrinking fast and blinds were getting big.

At this point, the blinds are 250/500 and I have 2,500 left. That's 5/BB! Desperation time with a stack like that. So now I'm just waiting for something halfways decent to push with. I get UTG and pick up J9s and decide that they're probably live and suited, so it's a good spot. I push all-in and get called by AKo! Ugh.. not a good spot, but I managed to hit my 9 and double up, plus pick up the blinds. Now I'm up to like 6,500 or so, and have at least a little room to breathe.... But not much.

Now I go on a tear. If I pick up a hand worth playing, I am not giving the pot up. I raise preflop and steal plenty of blinds, and get up in the 7-8k range. Then I pick up J10s. I raise trying to steal but I get a caller anyway... uh oh. But it's still a decent hand. Well the flop is QKK... well that doesn't help me right away does it? I do have a nice draw, but that's a scary flop. Well they check and I decide to check behind looking for my straight. Turn is a blank though, and this time they bet at me. But they bet pretty weak, so I call, still looking for the right card. River blanks again though... But this time they check it. Uh oh... now I know they aren't that strong. My call had them worried. Well the pot is huge at this point, maybe 4k+ and I can't afford to lose it. So I push all-in! They pause a second, and type in the chatbox... "I know you don't have it, but good bet" and then fold. Ha! Thank you... Just what I was hoping for.

Well now... somehow.. I'm back up to like 12k... Right back where I was before I lost with those 10's. Blinds are 300/600 and I have 20/BB and feel much more comfortable now. During that previous stretch I didn't lose one pot... I either stole the blinds, or took the pot away post flop, it was amazing nobody took me out. Now I feel like I can wait for some better hands. So I do.. I think we're down to the last 15 now, and I am in the top 10 in chips. More like 7 or 8 probably. So when I get a good hand, I push hard, and wind up stealing plenty of blinds, and since they're so big it's great. Final table is just around the corner.

I managed to come into the final table in the top 4 or 5 in chips. But the chipleaders have over 60k. I still have around 15k. That's a lot of work I am gonna have to do. Honestly, I don't remember a whole lot from the final table, I was just focused on getting chips without having to risk all of mine. Stealing some blinds along the way, because nobody else wanted to bust either, so it was pretty easy. The two guys with over 60k were splashing around like a couple of moron's and losing chips all over the place. Calling with plenty of mediocre hands and I knew that if I got some chips they had no chance playing that way. Well I had a few big hands and ended up busting one player with 2 separate hands. Took most of his chips in the first, then busted him a couple hands later. I managed to move into 3rd, but a more comfortable 3rd. Probably about 25k in chips. Then one of the chipleaders goes all in against the other with a complete junk hand and loses almost all his chips, so now there's only one big stack really... which is fine with me.

After everyone busts out... bigstacks included, we finally get to heads up play. Ended up against someone who I took a big chunk off of earlier, but he got the majority from the bigstacks. Everyone else was short and busted pretty easily. Well, right from the start I knew I could handle this guy heads up. He had the lead, but I managed to take it shortly afterwards. But we bounced back and forth for quite awhile. Lead kept changing and we were close to even most of the time. But I think he was getting frustrated with me.. because I was taking every spare pot he didn't bet at. I got all the scraps and he was only winning when he had a hand. He even called a big re-raise all in from me with K2. Gave me a good amount of chips at that point. Then I picked up 83o. Managed to flop 2 pair, but I didn't even realize it. I bet on the flop and he called. But at that point I only saw one pair! Then as the turn was coming I noticed I had 2, lol. Oops. So then I decided to check on the turn to make it look like I was bluffing. He bet pretty big and I re-raised him all-in (Had him covered)... He hesitated for a second, but then he called with his middle pair on the flop. My 2 pair held up and I won the tournament!

Now I make it sound like no big deal, but trust me, I was in complete shock. When we got to the final table they had announced that 4th-10th would get $100... 3rd-$200 and 2nd-400. Well I was pretty excited just to hear that... because with those big stacks it looked like I wasn't gonna be able to pull this off. But I somehow stuck around awhile. Then after watching awhile, I said... I just need to double up or get some chips, and then get heads up. I knew I could beat anyone there heads up, so I just needed the chips to get me there, and then I was confident I could do it. But still.... When I did, I couldn't believe it. I am going to vegas? I'm playing in arguably the biggest tournament in the world? WOW! Seriously unreal! WPT and Bellagio, here I come.

Well... I leave saturday. Having dinner with Daniel and TJ on saturday night, and hopefully I will be able to add another good story to this very soon.

Tournament Leak

2005-03-06T17:00:00.000-08:00

This isn't exactly what it sounds like it might be. I don't neccisarily think I have a leak in my tournament game. But I'm saying that playing tournaments, seem to be a leak in my bankroll. I really love the draw of the big payouts that tournaments give. I have gotten better recently at staying away from them, but not good enough I don't think.

I played in the Poker Mountain $1000 added tourney today for a Buy-In of $30+3. Only had 73 entries, so I liked my chances, especially after my 2nd in the last tourney I played at PM. Well I was going along nicely after a completely cold deck in the first 2 levels, and was in the top 10 for a good amount of time. Unfortunately the big stack was at my table... 3 seats to my left, and he was insane. Playing every single hand, and raising with anything. Not even raising a lot, but enough to be a pain. At one time he even raised from the BB with 72s. Hit a wheel on the turn and busted another player. Luckily I got out with my Ace, which was top pair. Eventually the blinds took me down about 1000 from my high point and put me around 1400... I picked up 77 and of course the big stack raised. I called, and the flop was A25. Frankly, I didn't think he had the ace, he was playing every hand. We got all in... and he beat me with A3o. Yes, junk. Raised preflop junk.

I really think if this maniac big stack was at another table, I would have cruised into the money, as I was playing very well. Making good decisions and up to this point hadn't made any mistakes.

Basically... I took a nice $33 hit to my BR, and then with only $15 left on PM I went to the low limit NL room and lost in there. For the record, I am done with ring games at PM until some fish show up... too tight, and completely a waste of time to try and win money. Getting back to the main point, I need to stop the tournaments that have buy-ins that I shouldn't be playing. If not tourney's all together. Other than the Negreanu Open of course... which by the way I got 2nd today in Limit Stud.

I've been fairing pretty well in the PartyPoker $25NL rooms... and I am hoping I can have the discipline to just stick with those until I can make some decent money. Will be hard though, because I feel that right now my tournament game is the best it's ever been, and may be on of my biggest strengths. But back to the fish at Party for now.

New Party Bonus Codes

2005-02-27T23:32:00.000-08:00

New codes now. Old ones expired in February, so here is the new ones, good till late May.

Free $25- SUIT25
Extra 20%- STAR20

Just use the bonus code SUIT25 when you sign up, and when you deposit money, you will get a free $25.

Or use STAR20 and get a 20% bonus up to $100 when you deposit.

2005-02-12T23:26:00.000-08:00

Bellagio Prelim I played with Daniel Negreanu... If you can't make out the results... I got 1st... Daniel came in 9th. :)

First Big Win!

2005-01-12T09:27:00.000-08:00

Just had my first big tournament win yesterday. It was a small buy-in...$5+1 Multi-Table Tournament. 1700+ entries though... and the prize pool breakdown was something like this... 1st-$1820 2nd-$977 3rd-$735 4th-$640 5th-$550 (estimates)... Well Guess what place I got?

FIRST!!

I couldn't believe it. I just wanted to try and make a little profit, I mean I had every intention of trying to win it, but with 1700 people I figured I was a long shot... Well I just trucked along until I hit the money at 180th... slowly built up from then on and people were dropping out fairly quickly at this point. Every bad hand I folded I was moving up in the money. We got down to about 3 table and my stack was getting pretty big. Catching decent cards at good times and stealing some hefty blinds by this point. I got the chip lead with about 20 left... sat on that for awhile when someone who had about half my stack went all in and gave me a huge hit... I was now halved... still above average, but barely now. Battled back a little bit, but by the time we hit the final table I only had 95,000 with the big stack having around 400,000. I had to double up with 11 left just to get to where I was. We hit the final table and I was really excited... now every place I can move up I get around an extra $100... which is huge for me, since the most I ever won has been $80 at once.

I sat tight and folded quite a few hands... 9 people left and nobody wanted to gamble for awhile, blinds just kept getting passed around. One player finally busted, so I moved up a little, but my stack eventually got down around 40,000 when I got 10-10. I moved all-in and got called by one of the bigger stacks who had something like AJ... I doubled up and was back up to 90,000 or so. About 2 hands later I got 10-10 again...Moved it all-in one more time, and got called by the same player... Doubled up Again!! Now I was feeling like I could really do a little damage...Players slowly busted out with dwindling stacks and I was in the Top 3 in chips now. 4th place was about 200,000 below us in the top 3. Figured I'd wait for a good spot to play, cause I was making money by staying out of it.

Finally made it down to 3 players and I caught KK and took the chip lead with around 750,000... other players had around 350,000 each. Eventually one other player was eliminated and I'm guaranteed $900. I can't even believe it... I figured with my short stack at the final table that I would be happy with the $180. Heads up I slowly built up my chip lead, and then lost it momentarily. Got it back by staying aggressive with lots of raises... Then I get 99. Flop comes out with another 9... I bet small, get re-raised so I go all-in. He calls with 9-10 and hits 2 pair to my set. I have a massive lead now with 1.5mil to his 100k. He goes all-in next hand, and I wake up with AK. Flop comes Q-4-7 turn a J and river another 4. He has A8 and my King kicker wins the tournament.

$1800 added to my account, and I don't know what to do but laugh. I can't believe I came back from 40k at the final table to win this thing... or even that I got through 1700 to get to that final table. Just shows that you are never out of it, just make the most of the cards you get and above all, don't do anything stupid.

Craps at the Poker Table

2004-12-19T13:53:00.000-08:00

All I can say is WOW! This table I played at last night...Bad! I went to something called the Rockford Charitable Games. I didn't expect a whole lot, but let me tell you about some of this. Me and my girlfriend sat down at the $1-3 table. Meaning, bets can be anywhere from 1 to 3 bucks each. Blinds are $1. I was playing pretty well at first... within about a half hour, I turned the $30 I sat down with, into almost $60...57 maybe. Then this asian woman sits to my left. 35-40yrs old maybe... well as soon as she gets dealt a hand she tosses in the money... I had folded, and the flop came out... and she shows me her cards, I don't even remember what they were, but they weren't good... she missed the flop I think, so she wanted to show me that she needed a 9 or something (by needed, I mean to get a pair at least). This was just the start... she played every single hand... didn't matter what she had, she was here to gamble. I've heard about this before, but seeing it with my own eyes was something else. She had to see every flop, then she would decide, even for $6 pre-flop she'd go right in there to see what came out. If she missed, she'd go ahead and chase her Ace to the end, might fold on the river, but usually it was worth the extra $3 she usually had to pay to see if she won anyway. Wait.. that's not all... half the time, she was yelling out to the dealer what she needed. Then when he put down a different card, she's day, "Oh shit, I missed it". I kid you not... I think she thought this was a craps table, where maybe yelling out what you need might bring you some luck... then she would get a hand, and be like..."I hate aces, I never win with one." Then go ahead and pay the blind. One time she was even fumbling in her purse and it was on her... she threw in $3 (opened the raising)... without even looking at her cards... she said, "Oh, I don't care what I have". It was insane. I would say great, she is just what I want... but not this time... she was so bad that she changed the whole dynamic of the table. I'm pretty sure her play made everyone else play extra loose, so people were winning on rivers all night... Hands went all the way down every time and most hit the river to win. I didn't get any cards after that really, and it didn't help I missed all 4 flush draws I tried for. It messed up the whole table and I lost my $30... Luckily my girlfriend only lost $5, so I ended up leaving just down $35 instead of $60... which I couldn't afford in the first place. But I will go back... the play was bad all around, which is good, but this got to be a bit extreme. I had a good time though... and next time I'm leaving with a profit.

Aces Everywhere!

2004-12-15T15:22:00.000-08:00

Ok, now I don't want to sound whiney... but how often does this happen to everyone? I'm playing the PL Room at PartyPoker. .25/.50 blinds. I get AK.... position and what not doesn't matter much here, I don't remember really. But it gets to probably 3 players pre-flop. Flop comes AKx (rainbow)... I can't be beat at this point im figuring. So I make a good size bet, get the 3rd player out... and get called by one other. Turn comes with another K.... ok, now Im in great shape... Bet a little more this time... Get another smooth call... I am thinking I have to be up against A with a high kicker, or maybe a K.... and he hit his set... but I'm leaning toward the A with a lower kicker since I just got called there. So the river comes with a blank, and he goes all in... I'm like WHAT? Best hand I could put him on was a lower full house, or a set of kings.... I make the call, and he turns over AA!! Now what are the chances of this? I have an Ace, another Ace flops, and this guy has the last 2! To make it even worse, It happened like an hour later with Kings.. and me and my girlfriend were joking about how he probably has KK and has us beat again. AND HE DID! (different guy). But seriously... does this happen to everyone a lot or what? Cause it sucks, and just seems unlikely to me. There are only 4 Aces, and 2 people use all 4 of them on one deal. I know it was possible, but can anyone say they actually would have put him on that hand? I really doubt it!

I think I'm rusty

2004-12-01T19:32:00.000-08:00

Well... Happy December! Now as for my poker game... yeah... I think I suck again or something. I haven't played online in a couple weeks cause I've been broke, and since I busted on party poker, I haven't had money to start up again. But I played the cardplayer freeroll tonight, and it just kinda sucked. No bad beats, but no good ones either. Just nothing good to play... and when I got something decent... someone hit the flop harder than me, and I had to fold. Bunch of crap! I think i'm just rusty though.... All I've played recently have been the amateur poker league games... which you start with 3440 in chips... which is more than the 1000 I got on UB tonight. So i'm used to having a little room to play a hand or two and miss it. Tonight I was killing like 10% of my stack every time I played a hand. Plus the APL games are live... and i'm starting to get a little more comfortable with live games than online I think. People are more honest, and if they're playing tricky, you can usually sniff it out. You just never know online, although I think I made all the right reads tonight... they just were never in my favor... I actually laid down AQ.... when I flopped an A, and hit another A on the turn. Cause I got raised on the flop, and I was pretty sure he had the full house. It was brutal, but he said it was a good laydown. Doesn't help my chips though ya know? Oh well... I just wish I could get in the money so I could start to build up a little bankroll on the low limits. Cause I'm going nuts not being able to play lately. Reading gets old after so long with no action.

Are you Kidding me?

2004-11-14T15:12:00.000-08:00

Wow, I'm in shock right now. I was just playing a freeroll on PokerChamps. I have played them before, and combining my experiences with this one, I think I can safely say they are the worst players in the universe! I don't know about the real money, but the freerolls are just terrible. Listen to this hand I just busted out on. I had AQ in the cutoff and make it 250 to go (bb is 100) I get about 4 callers of course, the flop comes 567 (two diamonds). Gets checked to me, and I'm pretty sure nobody hit that flop, so I bet out 150 just to test the water. Maybe a smallish bet on my part, but I don't want to get commited with nothing yet. Get 2 callers, I figure, gotta have some draws or something... a 2 comes on the flop, no diamond and can't help anyone. But the first position bets 100, seems very weak, 2nd player calls... So I say here's a good shot to take it down, I bet the pot which is 1,100... both players would have to go all in to call... first player actually CALLS ME! Second folds, and the flop comes a rag. I can't even imagine what he has, and shows a pair of fucking 2's. He bet 100 on the turn hitting his 2, and then called 1100 more, with nothing but bottom pair, when I raised preflop, and never stopped betting along the way!!! What the hell are these people thinking? Go all in with 2's?? Every single freeroll I play there I get busted in some bullshit like that, but usually I have a hand, AA or whatever it may be. But seriously, I can't say I played it great, since I had nothing, but I was pretty sure they didn't either... and I WAS RIGHT! 2's??? Come on!! This is getting to be rediculous.

Welcome!!!

2004-11-13T18:04:00.000-08:00

Welcome to my new "Blog". Looks like a website to me, but everyone gets to comment on it... works for me. I just thought I'd use it to comment on things I feel like talking about. So read/comment as you see fit.

Party Poker

2004-11-13T17:08:00.000-08:00

So I like to play poker online, hopefully some of you who might actually visit this blog are in the same club. Not sure what sites you play on, but just incase... here are a few bonus codes to get you started if you want to play on http://www.partypoker.com. I use it more so than any others, and it's the only one so far that I have a real money account going. Nice loose games if you can stand to play with retards all day. But when it comes down to it, wouldn't you rather play them? So yeah, here are the bonus codes, which should work until early February...

20% Bonus up to $100 - APL20 ($500 gets you up to $600)

$25 cash bonus with the code - STAR25 ($25 regardless of deposit size)

Occupational Categories

2004-11-13T17:01:00.000-08:00

So I was just filling out my profile for this thing and came across the question for occupation. Now I know what I do, but having to fit into one of their preconcieved categories doesn't seem to work that well for what I do. They didn't have a "Gambling or Gaming" category, which upsets me. Haven't they gotten the memo that poker is huge now? I went ahead and picked the entertainment category, since what I do is actually host a free poker event, which seems to be entertainment if you ask me. But it wouldn't hurt to add the Degenerate Gambling category to the list, as it really would fit in there better than entertainment. I mean what would Daniel Negreanu or Annie Duke use for a category? They aren't exactly playing a sport, or in the entertainment industry... well not until recently I guess. Either way though, poker is their top source of income, and the world should start to see us degenerates for what we are... Hard working people just like everyone else.