JediHog's Poker Musings

Laak beats computer. World rests.

2007-07-26T14:50:00.000-07:00

It was a hard-fought game, but man just edged it over machine in what was billed as the "First Man-Machine Poker Championship." Phil Laak, also known as the Unabomber, and Ali Eslani battled it out against Polaris, a software program, for a purse of $50,000. Click for a closer view all the details.

http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/not-strip/unabomber-beats-polaris-in-worlds-first-man-v-machine-poker-game-282676.php

Poker Source Online

2007-07-25T21:17:00.001-07:00

MacRegator.com

Poker Source Online

Take a Day Trip

2007-07-23T13:48:00.000-07:00

Take a Day Trip

Poker Source Online

one year later...

2007-07-23T08:15:00.000-07:00

So, one year later I check back into the poker blogging community. It's a shame that I've take this long off, and now that poker in the US is a bit more difficult (online at least), I can't say that I'll have tons to post about. In any case....

Poker Source Online

2006-06-09T08:27:00.000-07:00

Random post:

Jet Engine VW Bug: http://www.ronpatrickstuff.com/

Pretty groovy.

Poker Source Online

Casino Bonus fun - Free $200 to wager with at 888.com

2005-12-01T08:41:00.000-08:00

I found out about this on the PSO forums a few minutes ago, and is working like a charm.

888.com aka Casino-on-Net is offering a 100% signup bonus up to $200 that will immediately be deposited into your account.

Sign up here (even if you've had a pacific poker account, you can still do this).
Click on the banner for 100% up to $200
Deposit $200
Play ONE hand of blackjack for $1
Withdraw you $199 back to your credit card or Neteller account.
Wait 5-7 days to make sure that your Neteller deposit has cleared.
Log back into 888.com and you'll have $200 in your account.

Now, the caveat is that you CANNOT withdraw that $200 until you've wagered 20x or 50x (depending on how you deposit money) of that bonus....

BUT

You can withdraw any amount you win over $200.

So if you wager $50 on blackjack, and win.... You can withdraw that $50 into Neteller and still have the $200 left in your account to wager with.

If you want to read up about it, check out this post at PSO : http://www.pokersourceonline.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=17745&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0

I'd appreciate you signing upthrough me should you do so.

Thanks and good luck!

Junk Snail Mail

2005-11-29T09:45:00.000-08:00

So I've been getting a lot of junk mail at work these days, and have decided to fight back a bit.

Yesterday, I got 5 credit card offers from the same company, all addressed to different people. So I took each offer, shredded the application, and stuffed the shredded application back into the "return envelope". It wasn't pretty as there was tons of shreds hanging out of the envelope, but the great thing is that the credit card company has to pay for these letters because they have pre-authorized it with the return envelope.

The great thing is that they'll have no clue who it's coming from.

I hate all junk mail, but via the internet and the post office.

New Free Money promotion

2005-11-17T08:24:00.000-08:00

Instant Bankroll just added a new room to their site that gives you $75 cash to try out poker. They added Titan poker, and I can attest that Titan is a great place to make some money.

No deposit.
No credit Card.
No risk.

Just sign up here and you're on your way to $75 in cash.

The guys at PSO continue to rock with their promotions.

WSOP Replica chips

2005-11-15T10:00:00.000-08:00

Getting ready to finish my Poker Source Online promo with UB (read: pita), and will be getting an Amex gift card so that I can purchase these WSOP replica chips.

Anyway, if you're interested in buying some, better get in quick. The current pricing for these Chipcos (under $.75/chip) won't last for much longer. www.bostonpokerchips.com (or go to chiptalk.net)

So much for the "challenge"

2005-11-09T19:06:00.000-08:00

Playing with that $10 free from Titan, I increased my bankroll to $72 at one point. This evening I ran into three things:

1. Miserable 1 outer that dropped me from $72 to $39.
2. 6 Max table tonight, everyone left except the big stack and me. So I decided to play heads up for a bit until the table filled back up. BAD IDEA. I dropped $20 of my stack to the big stack (hmmm, I wonder how he got the big stack), and was left with $19 when 4 players sat down to fill the table.
3. Last and not least, AKs in the BB. I raise to $4. MP reraises to $16, puts me all in. I call. I hit a K on the flop, but that doesn't help against AA. Blah!

Just like that, $70 free bones down the drain.

Back to grinding out my UB PSO promo....yes, GRINDING. I'm up, then down, then up, then down, then up... So it goes.

How would you play this diff

2005-11-09T07:20:00.000-08:00

Working off my Poker Source Online promotion at Ultimate Bet, and it's been up and down, up and down.

Here's a big reason it's been down.

NL $100 10 Max.

JediHog posts the small blind of $.50.
scrogfather posts the big blind of $1.

Kolonel-Kurtz: -- --
jcdougl: -- --
JediHog: Ad Qs
scrogfather: -- --
zzzzz5: -- --
golfish11: -- --
SEFT: -- --
TheBakester66: -- --
boggins: -- --
DirtyDeuces: -- --

Pre-flop:

zzzzz5 folds. golfish11 folds. SEFT folds.
TheBakester66 folds. boggins folds. DirtyDeuces
calls. Kolonel-Kurtz folds. jcdougl calls.
JediHog calls. scrogfather checks.

Flop (board: 7d Ts Ks):

JediHog checks. scrogfather bets $1. DirtyDeuces
folds. jcdougl calls. JediHog calls.

Turn (board: 7d Ts Ks Jh):

JediHog bets $7. scrogfather folds. jcdougl raises
to $14. JediHog re-raises to $49. jcdougl goes
all-in for $44.30. JediHog is returned $4.70
(uncalled).

River (board: 7d Ts Ks Jh 7s):

(no action in this round)

Showdown:

JediHog shows Ad Qs.
JediHog has Ad Qs Ts Ks Jh: straight, ace high.
jcdougl shows Js 7c.
jcdougl has Js 7c 7d Jh 7s: full house, sevens full of jacks.

Hand #9173990-26793 Summary:

$3 is raked from a pot of $95.60.
jcdougl wins $92.60 with full house, sevens full of jacks.
----------------------------------------------------------------

Is there anyway I could have played this differently outside of the preflop?

$10 NL Challenge

2005-11-08T14:20:00.000-08:00

One thing I LOVE about certain sites is that if you don't log in for "x" amount of days, they seed your account with some bonus cash, that allows you to play.

I got $10 from Titan today, and decided to hop online and try to see how much I could win.

I had to start at the $.20/NL tables b/c I didn't have enough to sit at my normal $.50/NL table. I promptly raised that $10 into $23 at the $.20 tables, then moved up to the $.50 tables and hit a set of fours to jump up to $37. So in about an hour, I went from $0 at Titan to $37. I'm now going to take that $37 and try something new with it.

Normally I'll stick to my low buy-in No Limit games...mainly the $50 max buy-in. But since this is free cash, I'm gonig to see how long I can make it last, and how many more levels I can progress up with it.

Here's the gig. When I get enough for the 75% of the next limit's buy-in, I'll go to that level. If I drop below the minimum buyin for that level, I'll drop down to the next level.

So I started at $.10/.20 with $10
I'm now at $.25/.50 with $37
Next level is $.50/$1 which has a max buy-in of $100. So when I get to $75, I'll move up to this level.
The Next level will be $1/2 with a max buyin of $200. So when I get to $150, I'll move up.

I have no idea how far I can make $10 go, but I'd expect to get up to the $.50/1 at least, and maybe to the $1/2.

Anyone want to join me in this challenge? How many levels can you turn $10 into?

Poker Questionaire

2005-11-07T06:58:00.000-08:00

High On Poker had a suggestion to answer some questions about poker.

Here goes:

1. What is your favorite poker game to play? NL Hold'Em Ring Games

2. What is your favorite non-poker gambling game to play? BlackJack

3. What is your favorite casino? The Black Door

4. What is your favorite online casino/card room? Absolute

4. Who is your top three favorite poker players? Brunson, Ivey, Gus Hanson

5. What poker player best emulates your style? I'm not that good....yet :)

6. What poker player's style would you most like to have? Brunson

7. If you could play poker with any 5 professional poker players, living or dead, who would they be? Johnny Chan, Brunson, Ivey, Hanson, and Helmuth (so I could lay the smackdown on him ;)

8. If you could play poker with any 5 people (who do not play poker professionally), living or dead, who would they be? Darth Vader, Yoda, The Rainman, Aaragorn (LOTR), and.... hmmm,,,, Winston Churchill

9. How often do you play poker? Once or twice a week onlin, Once or twice a month live

10. Which do you prefer: live poker or online poker, and why? Live poker. Way more fun. Real cards, chips, tables, people. Conversation without spaces between foul language, bluffing.

11. Which do you prefer: tournaments or cash games, and why? Live I like to play tourneys. I have too high a value on money, and thus tourneys are easier for me to disconnect the money I'm "risking". Online I like to play ring games....because they clear bonuses faster :)

11. What is your favorite poker book? Don't read'em.

12. Describe the following in one word:

a. Limit Texas Hold'em- Boring

b. No Limit Texas Hold'em- Money

c. Stud- poker

d. Omaha- not-smart-enough

e. 5-Card Draw- Westerns

f. Crazy Pineapple- luck

-----

Effing Tilt

2005-11-05T20:17:00.000-08:00

10 Man $.50/NL table at wonderful UB.

I'm not catching jack-shit all night, but am still at break even.

Tilt Hand 1.

KK in middle position. bet is $2.50 to me, I reraise to $5. Get two players, one goes over the top of me for $1.40 more and is all in, I call.

Flop:
AKA
Turn
A
River
10

Player 1 turns up Ax for quads
Player 2 turns up 56s

.... I'm not too pissed after this, because it wasn't that much money... I'm only down $10 or so on the hand. Move on.

3 hands later, I get A9s on the button. Raise to $2 preflop, get two callers.

Flop is 9d 6d 9h

I check, Player 1 bets $2, I reraise to $5, player 2 folds, player 1 calls.

Turn 5d

Player 1 bets $8, I reraise allin to $30+. He thinks, and calls.

River
10d

Dude flips up a freaking Qd Jh for the rivered four-flush.

I'm so effing pissed. Good grief, jack-ass play like this is what sends me to bed on a fun night of poker.

Rant over, I'm done for the night....I'd lose my whole bankroll if I log back in.

Dammit.

Ultimate Bet

2005-11-04T10:51:00.000-08:00

So I finally bucked up and started playing at UB. It's one of the two rooms I've not yet done that PSO offers. I've got the day off, so I played a little this morning while the kids were napping (3 year old, 1 year old), and got my ass handed to me.

I think it's the "new room" effect where you have to get used to the graphics, players, and etc. Anyway, quickly lost 1/3 of my bankroll.

This place reminds me of Full Tilt with the quality of players. Need to regroup, and get back on the winning side...

Todays show...

2005-10-31T07:52:00.000-08:00

Hello, My name is Samuel, and I'm a donkey. I'll be your host today's show where we're going to talk about the NFL, the "donkey" paradox, and .... um ... the teleprompter looks like it's saying "why do men have nipples". Ahem, excuse me for just a moment.

...

Ok, today we're going to talk about the NFL and the donkey paradox. You'll have to figure out for yourself why men have nipples.

----

So, the NFL is just a bunch of showboaters who want to get on ESPN. Does every wide receiver have a small johnson? I mean, c'mon. Can they not score a touchdown without doing some lame celebration in the endzone?

I was sent this excerpt from "The Sports Guy" (column).

brought up the topic, "What touchdown dance would cause the biggest possible fine?"
You would think it would be Adam Carolla's idea for the "Touchdown Poop," which I described two years ago -- basically, the guy scores a touchdown, then squats like he's on the bowl, stays there for a couple of seconds, turns the pages of an imaginary newspaper and finally "pushes" the ball between his legs. We figured that if Randy Moss did that, he would get suspended for a game and fined like $150,000. Plus, Joe Buck might start crying on the air.

But I think this one would be worse: "The Delivery." What if Moss scored a TD and immediately fell to the ground on his back, with his legs up in the air like a pregnant woman, and two receivers stood on either side "cheering him on," and Randy pretended he was pushing, and finally the QB leaned over him and "pulled" the football from Randy's loins, then held the football to his shoulder like a baby for a few seconds before Moss stood up, gingerly grabbed the "baby," cut an imaginary umbilical cord, then spiked the ball as hard as he possibly could? I think that would be like a three-game suspension and a $500,000 fine, right? Plus, Buck would be more distraught than Walter Cronkite after JFK's assassination. Let's hope and pray that Randy reads ESPN.com.

While the above would be hysterical, it would spawn even more lame-ass attempts to "one up" the next celebration.

I'm more of a college football fan anyway, but this just solidifies my disdain for the NFL.

-----

So, I'm a donkey....and I hate it. Over the last 3 hours of online play I've managed to make way too many calls in some rather lame pots online.

It just pisses me off how I can play so solid for a full hour, and in a matter of 30 seconds, be looking at the felt.

I've had AK at least 20 times in that time span, and have yet to hit a flop. I've lost on at least 80% of those hands.

To top off my donkey play, I've been rivered for the tune of $40, and that just makes life worse. So I'm not on tilt, and have actually laughed off all the cash I've blown through.

Just needed to let you all know that I'm a donkey today.

No hand histories for you all to laugh and point your finger at me.... You can do that anyway, and get the same result.

I'm out.

Off topic: Pointless and stupid...but funny for a moment

2005-10-28T08:23:00.000-07:00

Click here.

Most likely won't find this funny, but for some reason I laughed my ass off at this.

A good link to pull up if you're tilting.

It's ben....Ages

2005-10-27T09:03:00.000-07:00

Good grief. I feel like it's been ages since I had a chance to play some online poker.

Mostly because I'm a bonus whore or Poker Source Online whore, and since I've done all but two (UB and Carribean Sun) PSO promos that they offer, I've not been online lately.

Also, it's been a while because my family has been so blasted busy during the week, that the last thing I need to do is get online for 3 hours.

So, I took advantage of Absolute's 25% reload bonus yesterday, and started working off the bonus.

Started off really hot at the $.50/NL tables, and decided to play $1/NL fold'em for the points to accumulate while I hammered out the $.50/NL tables for profit. I slow play my pocket rockets after a $3 raise ($.50/NL) pre-flop, and hit my A on the flop. I raise on the flop, and get called. Same thing on the turn. River gets a check from the other guy, I bet $10, and he goes allin for his remaining stack of $25. I insta-call and flip AA to beat his 88, which also tripped up on the flop.

Over on the $1/NL tables, I'm folding everything except AA, KK, QQ, JJ, 10-10, AK, AQ, AJ. This table was psycho loose with folks raising to $6-10 preflop. Getting $30 pots easily before the flop. I pick up AJh in the BB, and flop gives me an A. I bet $5, get raised to $15, and call. I made a bad read here. I really thought this guy was thinking I was trying to bully the table, and he was trying to buy me out of the pot. I felt like he had KQ, or pocket pair of some sort. Turn is a Q, I bet $10, and he pushes. I think for a bit and make a terrible call ($20 more). He flips AA, and I"m dead.

IT was fun to get back on the tables again. I love the rush of seeing a $50 pot sliding my way. Conversely, I loathe a $50 pot going another way :)

Looking for more Desert Sands chips -- Nevada Jacks ceramics

2005-10-12T13:21:00.000-07:00

I got 1100 chips through Poker Source Online , but somehow managed to screw up my demons and have left myself a cash game set enough for 10 people and a tourney set for 12-15 people. I need more for the tourney set.

Unfortunately, most who participated on the PSO promos got the Nevada Jacks skulls chips, and I don't need/want that style.

Anyway, if you've got extra DS chips and want to sell/trade, let me know.

Peace.

Massive Email Hold'em tourney

2005-10-11T08:36:00.000-07:00

Just got dealt my first hand in the WRGPT email poker tourney. I have no clue what I'm doing, or how painfully slow this tourney will be.

http://www.quizkids.com/wrgpt/

Seems pretty cool, all your commands are sent through email, and there's table talk, etc. I'll post more updates as the tourney goes on.

Anyone else in this tourney?
-----

I've gotten a few comments/questions about my poker table posts. If you're interested in building your own table, you need to visit Scott Keen's forum - www.scottkeen.com

Anything and everything table building related is on that site.

Good luck.

My 2nd Home Table

2005-10-08T22:58:00.000-07:00

Just got through playing the first game on my new table. I enjoyed it as I won! Didn't have the "table curse" when playing for the first time on a new table.

My home table

2005-10-03T14:19:00.000-07:00

Here's my first home table. I'm in the middle of building two more, one exactly the same as this with stainless cup holders, and one with a burgandy playiing surface and stainless cup holders.

Free 300 Set of Nevada Jacks Ceramic Poker Chips

2005-09-02T19:30:00.000-07:00

Poker Source Online is offering a 300 piece set of Nevada Jacks ceramic chips for signing up for one of these poker rooms:
Absolute Poker
Titan Poker
Party Poker
Pokerroom
Pacific Poker[/b]

The set retails for $200 on nevadajacks.net, but you can get it through PSO for free. Pretty sweet deal.

If you do sign up, throw a little love my way and tell them you were referred by demoflauchy.

Poker Source Online

Click above, then click on the Nevada Jacks banner. You'll be asked to create a new account with PSO, do that and then begin your promo. Good stuff.

Good luck![/b]

Crazy, Hurricane, and Worst street?

2005-09-02T14:42:00.000-07:00

Haven't posted in a while because things have been crazy lately. Wedding two weeks ago, Hurricane affecting my wife's hometown (Hattiesburg), and countless other things... HOpefully it'll slow a bit.
-----------

Can I just say that I'm am sick to my stomach with all that is happening in New Orleans. I cannot stop watching the news, and cannot get over how brutal it is down there. I'm reminded of the book I read in High School, "Lord of the Flies". Amazing how in a spam of 24 hours how primitive that area has become, and how "strong" our nations resolve has been obliterated.
----------

Played some new poker the past few days, Titan poker. Feels a lot like Absolute to me, and actually has some really good players online. The first 3 hours I played, I lost 35% of my bankroll due to HORRIBLE play by yours truely. I was catching ZERO cards/flops. I check out my stats at one point yesterday and saw:
Hands won - 1% (1)
Flops seen - 17%
Fold pre-flop - 85%

I cannot tell you how miserable it was seeing 8-2o, 9-4o, J-7o for 3 hours. It just reeked of misery.

Last night and this morning was a totally different story. I was catching good cards, and seeing great flops. At one $100/NL table, in a stretch of about 50 hands I got these hands:

AA - board - 78AK2 --- doubled up against the guy with pocket 8's....ouch.

AA - board - JA448 -- doubled up against the guy with a flush.

K7 (BB) - board - K7Kxx -- made $10-15 on this hand.

K4 (SB) - board - KKKJ8 -- made $40 on the guy trying to make me think he had the other K....ooops :D

AQ - board - K-10-Jxx -- flopped the nuts again.

Countless other AQ, QQ, AJ, A10 hands that lead me to quadruple my buyin. It was nice.

One painful hand I has was 10-10 on the button. Preflop, MP raises to $4, 2 callers (including myself). Flop cane 4-6-7. EP bet $4, MP raised to $12. So $12 to me with top pair, but a straight draw is on the table. I fold here because EP bet out on the flop indicating 2 over cards. He gets reraised by MP whom I'm guessing has a top pair or something (QQ, JJ). The turn is my 10, MP fires another large bet, and EP calls. River is the other 10. MP flips up 99 for two pair.

Argh, I folded quads! Did I do anything wrong? This is where my tightness cost me a good amount of cash.
-----------

Throughout my time at Titan, I began to wonder what the weakest street of my game was, and I realized that it's the River card that I get in the most problems with:
- raise too much
- not betting enough
- check when betting would win it
- missing flushes, and etc.

Unless I have a really good hand, I have a really hard time getting folks to lay down their hands on the river....or worse....laying mine down on the river.

Any advice?

Variance Sucks

2005-08-26T11:47:00.000-07:00

So I started my 7th Poker Source Online promo this morning at Paradise Poker. After getting my ass kicked at Full Tilt, I wanted to play a little tighter until I got the feel for the tables.

Well, I started off pretty hot. Getting some great cards and dragging some nice pots. I open up a couple more tables and am playing 2 $50/NL and a $100/NL. At the 100/NL I'm there to rack up the promo points, only playing hands from the top 2 tiers of Sklansky's ranking system. I get AQ on the button, and see the flop of QQ7, turn is an A, and I win the $45 pot. Sweet, I've doubled my buyin. On the other two $50/NL tables, I'm up and down, nothing really fancy.

So I'm up at the $100/NL table, and get AA dealt to me in the BB. I raise to $10 and get one caller to my left. Flop comes KJ8. I fire a $20 bet into the pot, and guy to my left goes allin for $20 more. I call, and he flips up KJ for two pair. Turn and river are no help.

So I'm now down $30 from my buyin and a bit later (after bleeding blinds and calls) I'm dealt KK on the button. All-in for the rest of my stack. I get called by a guy with A2 spades. Flop comes - spade, spade, spade. I"m dead after the flop and I'm out of the table.j

I told the guy it was a great call with A2s, he said thanks. I told him that was not a compliment.

As the title says, Variance sucks.