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.

Finished Full Tilt Promo

2005-08-24T15:07:00.000-07:00

Just finished the Full Tilt Promo.

Blast.

I'm down $110 from my original deposit, and I haven't cleared any of their bonus money yet. I'd like to chase the bonus money if it was faster to accumulate at the levels I play ($50/NL), but I've played well over 500 hands there over the past 24 hours and only have $14 of bonus money in my "pending" account. It has to reach $20 before they'll release it.

Besides gwaking at SpiritRock and Phil Ivey go all-in for $20k each, I'd say Full Tilt is by far the worst place a beginner/intermediate player can play.

I was the fish, and I got caught. [frown] I'm not -$110 bad.... Couldn't catch a flop to save my life. Had tons of pocket pairs (99, 77, 33, 66, 55 all at one table), but hit NOTHING on the flop. Had tons of AK, AQ, AJ, A10, and each time, a different over card would hit the flop. I couldn't bet anyone out of the pot, and generally felt bad about each and every flop. When I did hit a flop (A7 - flop brings AAQ, turn 7, river 2), I check to the river and get $2 out of the hand.

I bet all the players there had me tagged "green"!

I'm not going back.

Interesting Strategy for Tournaments...

2005-08-24T15:02:00.000-07:00

Found this while reading some other blogs... Location is: pokerpodcast.blogspot.com

PRE-FLOP STRATEGY

LEVELS 1-3

EARLY POSITION (Seats 1-7), play only a pair or AK 1. With JJ or
lower, limp in.
--for tighter play, fold 66 or lower.
--for more aggressive play, limp only on Level 1; after that, raise or
fold with 77 or better
--If re-raised up to 3BBs, call2. Open-raise 3BBs with AA, KK, QQ, AK;
more if several limpers
--for more aggressive play, bet 200-300. When playing aggressively,
you need to be prepared to also play the flop aggressively as you are
investing more of your stack.
--If re-raised, go all-in (OK to raise all-in with AKo, AKs, but don't
call an all-in with it unless significant portion of stack already
invested and one opponent only)

LATE POSITION
1. Raise at least 3BBs with 77 or better, 200-300 for more
aggressiveness (limping with 77-JJ is always a good option)
2. also limp in with AQs, AQ, AJs, ATs, KQs, QJs, JTs if there are
calls ahead of you, raise if there are not.
--Fold if reraised.
--AQs is marginal in early position but strong later
3. On the button, limping with hands like T9s, 98s, 87s, AJ, and KQ is
an option, but requires experience.

Early rounds: AJo, KQo, ATo, KJo, QJo, JTo (and worse) are generally
big trouble.

LEVELS 4-6
Open-raise (at least 3BBs, more if limpers ahead of you) from all
positions with:
1. 77-AA, AK, AQ
2. AKs-ATs, KQs-KJs, QJs, JTs

LATE POSITION
Raise with KTs, QTs, KQ, AJ, if you are first in the pot
Raise with 2 cards J-A, T9s, 98s, or 87s if you have a good stack, LP,
and no raisers already in pot.
Limp if there are already lots of limpers

DOWN TO 4 PLAYERS
Never enter a raised pot without AA, KK, QQ, AK unless raiser has ½
your stack or less.
If a small raise to you, go all-in with these hands and call with a
few others (AQ, JJ, TT,)
-experienced players can enter pots with less, but good judgment is necessary
-If short stacked on bubble, you want to be first in the pot; bet big or all-in
-If shortstacked, push (if first in) with Axs, A7+, pairs
-When calling down shortstack all-ins, you want to have AT-AK and pairs 77-AA.
-If shortstack has 2BB or less, it is worth calling from BB with almost anything
-When playing with a huge stack, be careful of other huge stacks even
with AK, KQs, JJ, etc….

General Prefop Considerations
-When calling a raise, you need a better hand than you needed to raise
in the first place
-When a raise has already been called, you need an even better hand
-When in the small blind, you can limp with slightly worse hands than normal
-When calling min raises once already in for one bet, almost any
calling hand is still playable

ON THE FLOP

EARLY STAGES
On the flop, raise the amount of the pot with the following, otherwise fold:
1. top pair with a good kicker
2. 2 pair (no pair on board), set, or boat
3. 4 flush with overcards or other possibilities (bottom/middle pairs,
straight draws, etc…)
4. open-ended straight with lots of outs (3-flush, 2 overcards, etc.)

Open ended straights are highly overrated.

Play drawing hands aggressively (you need to have good stack to play a draw)
1. best to act last: bet the pot
2. consider semi-bluff in LP
3. if bet to you on flop is ½ the pot or less, raise to size of pot if
you have large stack
--If re-raised, fold Do not slowplay monster hands, especially when
draws are on the board.

Post-flop, all bets should be size of pot.
If any recommended bet (3BBs, pot, etc.) is 40% or more of stack, go all-in.

LATE STAGES
If short stacked, Level 5 and later, go all in or fold.
--Play only with pocket pairs, AK-AT, or KQs
--On button, aim to steal about 25% of blinds with hands like A7s-A9s, KTs-KJs.
--Play very tight with 4 left, much looser when in money.
--Don't worry about second place: gamble for 1st, settle for 3rd.
--Don't worry about attacking the short stacks. Quickly increasing
blinds and their own loose play will take them out.
--With three players left, any piece of the flop becomes valuable. Do
not be afraid to bet middle pairs if there is no reason to believe
opponent has stronger hand. If there is a raise preflop and an ace or
king comes on flop play cautiously

TURN AND RIVER
--The turn and river should be more easily played. The flop is where
your most crucial decisions are made
--When you think you are beaten on the river, a fold to a small bet is
usually a mistake unless you have no hand at all

GENERAL STRATEGY
-Top pair, top kicker is usually considered risky in NL, but Party's
structure forces aggressive play.
-Experienced players; if flop is rags and pot not raised ahead of you
preflop, bet the pot.-AKo, AKs are good for an all-in bet, but not to
call an all-in. AK or AKs all-in bets work best pre-flop so hand has
full board to work with.
-If any recommended bet is 40% or more of your stack, go all-in.
-When holding middle pair, if flop is checked all around and turn
brings no scare cards (3-flush on board, 3 straight on board, cards
higher than your middle pair, etc…) play that pair aggressively on the
turn. When raised, be prepared to abandon if you suspect a trap.
-Anytime you are prepared to check and call, it is better to bet in
the first place-If you do decide to expand your play to include more
creativity, this plan is tilt protection should you need to fall back
on more straightforward play in rocky times.

Full Tilt

2005-08-23T14:58:00.001-07:00

So I started the Full Tilt promo today through Poker Source Online in order to rack up some more PSO points. Plus I wanted to see the "pros" play ;)

The first 200 hands or so kicked my ass. I hopped on the $50/NL tables, and opend 3 of them. Right off the bat I'm thrown QQ . Blind is raised to $2.50, I call. Flop comes 7-10-10. I fire a $3 into the pot, 2 callers. Turn brings a 10. I bet $3 again, one caller, one folds. River is a rag. I check, player bets $12 putting me allin. He flips up 10-6 for Quads.

So I'm down one buy-in. No biggie.

Other table. I get QQ on the button. folds to MP who raises the blinds to $3. I raise to $6 and MP calls. Flop is a 349. He bets $10, I reraise all-in. He flips up KK. Turn or River are of no help to me.

This place doesn't have many fish, at least not while I'm at the tables (hmmmm, I wonder if that means Im the fishey :)).

I'm halfway to my 200 necessary points for the promo, doubtful I'll stick around after the PSO promo.

Full Tilt

2005-08-23T14:58:00.000-07:00

Why I like poker

2005-08-23T07:17:00.000-07:00

This morning, I was thinking about why I like to play poker. In no particular order, here are the reasons that came to my head...

1. Competition. I'm a highly competitive person, and am always looking for a way to compete. Just the other night, my brother and I competed to who had the lowest blood pressure using one of those home jobbers you get from Walgreens. Poker provides a very easy and reliable way to compete. It also has a WIDE range of competition from folks who have no clue, to folks who are 10x better than me.

When I play golf, I tend to play with those who are at the same level or worse than me (because I'm not very good) In poker, I'd rather play with folks that are better than me, so that I can learn and get better.

2. Money. Too often I compete with nothing on the line. Money makes your decisions a lot harder and more important. I'm not playing poker to make money (as an income producing machine, that is), but having money on the table creates a different "high" than that of playing a game for the next "drink" :-)

3. Thinking. In high school and college, I loved to play chess. It made me think, hard. Most of the things that we (Americans) busy ourselves with, do not require thinking (such as television). Playing chess allowed me to think bigger and better than my opponent. In the same way, poker makes me think, and requires me to think bigger and better than my opponent in order for me to win (which is the ultimate goal, right?). Actually, in some regards poker requires more thinking than chess, because you're playing against up to 9 other people and their unknown cards, opposed to 1 person and a known board (chess).

4. People. I like to read people and try to figure out what it is that they are thinking and doing. I also like to figure out why they make the decisions that they do, and what drives them. Poker provides a window into people by how they make their decisions and why. This really only applies to playing live poker.

5. Fun. Poker is fun, period. Throwing chips around over a couple of beers on a table that you built from a couple of sheets of plywood is just plain fun. Getting together with 8 other dudes and taking their money, is fun.

Off Topic - Gas Saver on Ebay

2005-08-22T12:02:00.000-07:00

Gas Saver, Ebay

Check out the questions section!

Wedding Weekend...

2005-08-22T08:10:00.000-07:00

So I just got back from marrying off my younger sister this past weekend...... and I'm flat out tired.

A few hits about the weekend...

- wearing a black tux in 100+ heat flat out sucks.
- chasing my 3 year old around the church in said tux, doesn't make your body temperature go down.
- Sleepling less than 4 hours for 4 straight nights because of allergies doesn't make for a fun trip.
- Speeding ticket when you're not guilty (see explanation below)
- Groom getting duck taped to the hood of a car (naked) and being driven through a carwash during the bachelor party.
- Groom being wrapped in plastic saran wrap with food coloring on the inside from the neck down. That stuff is not coming off for weeks (yes, he's going to the beech for his honeymoon).
- Gas prices at $2.50+/gal.....over 980 miles of driving in my Montero (15-18 miles to the gal).
- 2 kids under 3 in a car for over 16 hours of driving time.
- Cell phone batteries not lasting very long.
- Golfing with fellow groomsmen, and the groom loses a farkel match (rock/paper/scissors) and proceeds to jump in the pond to retreive a golf club.
------
Speeding ticket...

We're coming back from the wedding yesterday, and my family has been sleeping for most of the morning. We're 4 hours into a 6 hour trip, and my family wakes up and starts to get a little restless. I'm cruising along the interstate at a set speed of 76 (70mph speed limit here).

I cross over a bridge, see a cop to my left and keep cruising. I'm well within the speed limit enforcement...or so I thought. Cop spins around and flips his liights on.

I pull over to the shoulder, and he comes bounding out of his car. "license and registration please".

"Sir, was I speeding?" I asked
"Yes"
"How fast"
"I don't know, I'll have to check the gun"
"I had my cruise control set"
"This is a 60mph zone"
"WHAT?!?"
"Yeah, about a half a mile back, the speed changes from 70 to 60, you were speeding."

So, he brings a ticket back to my car for $150. Tells mee that that court will dismiss the ticket if I show up in court. I live 2 hours away from the town where I have to show up in court.

I say thanks and pull away. Not 200 yards down the interstate is a speed limit sign: 70mph.

I was pissed. What a freaking joke.

------
I did get a few games of poker in with my extended family (non-poker players), and a family friend who turned out to be a "hotshot" player who was throwing around poker terms left and right. We're playing $10/NL with 8 at the table, blinds are .25/.50 and hotshot raises to $1. A couple of callers. Flop comes 648 rags, and hotshot leads out for $1. My uncle lays out a couple stacks of chips, then puts another stack out there for $3 total. Hotshot yells "You can't do that, that's called string betting". Everyone at the table peers over to this guy with a look of "are you kidding"? Hotshot folds to the reraise. My uncle takes the pot down.

Needless to say, this was a friendly game of poker, and hotshot was trying to make it into this ultra-competitive game. He left shortly thereafter.

Back to work.....

River Catchers

2005-08-16T08:27:00.000-07:00

Ever feel like you're playing at a table with a bunch of chasers that ALWAYS hit their card on the river?

Just got through playing a S&G, and the guy two seats to my right was all-in against me 4 or 5 times and caught his 1,2,3 outer on the river every time.

JediHog - 74s
Riverman - 10-2s
Flop - 334
Turn - Q
River - 10

JediHog - QJs
Riverman - Q-10o
Flop 34Qx
Turn 7
River - 10

JediHog - K-10o
Riverman - 68s
Flop K-10-9
Turn - 2
River - 7

Over and over and over again. It's tough to play a solid hour of poker, playing really well, to get rivered out of the tourney.

My last hand of the tourney - final 3 at the table:

JediHog Q2s
I call BB of 200
Riverman reraises to 400
I call
Flop A-4-A
Riverman Checks
JediHog bets 1500 (2x Pot)
Riverman calls
Turn - 8
Riverman bets - 1250 (all my chips)
I accidentally clicked the "call any" button while on the phone....didn't realize it was checked. So I'm all in.
River - 3
He flips up 3-3 for the rivered boat

I was on a bluff, but how in the world can the guy call a 2x pot sized bet with 33 when AA is on the board? Amazing.

I finished 3rd despite being in the chip lead until Riverman started his river run.

Absolute Screw Up

2005-08-15T07:04:00.000-07:00

So, I'm completing the Absolute promo through Poker Source Online and it looks like I'm going to get screwed out of 9,000 PSO points. Seems that Absolute has me tracked through another affiliate, which makes no sense to me at all. Not very happy about this right now...

----EDIT-----

PSO just got back with me and confirmed that I did in fact sign up through them. They didn't see that I registered almost 2 months ago for the pomo and found it yesterday. All is well. :D

New home chips

2005-08-11T18:01:00.000-07:00

Just got my Desert Sands chips in the mail today via PSO. They cost me 38,000 PSO points (19,000 per 300 chipset), and they're awesome chips.

Here's a picture of them:

I'd love to have some paulsons or other clay chips, but these will be a HUGE upgrade from the crappy dice chips I've been using for the past 2 years or so. Here's the breakdown of the denom's I got:

175 - $5 (red)
200 - $25 (green)
125 - $100 (black)
70 - $500 (purple)
30 - $1,000 (yellow)

New template

2005-08-11T17:58:00.000-07:00

I'd love to make my own template, a la Trip Jax, but I do not have the time.

So I'll use this one for now, and modify the pictures and colors to my liking later. Some of the blogger templates are so drab.

Happy pokering!

Poker Tracking Software

2005-08-11T09:23:00.000-07:00

So.... Do any of you folks use tracking software such as Poker Tracker?

I've been reading some posts at the Poker Source Online forums from those who use this software....and it totally pisses me off. Having an unfair advantage such as stats when making a decision during play online seems to me to be cheating. If this software has "watched" my betting patters for hours on end, then the person using that information can make bets against me that statistically "make sense".

Is this the nature of online play now? Should I change my expectation to allow for this type of play to enter in to my games? We're all using very fast and smart computers, so I guess it's safe to assume that folks are going to use that it their advantage every way possible.

What are your thoughts, is this type of software cheating?

----EDIT----

Just found a blatant cheating site: http://winholdem.net/

That is total crap.

Thoughts between Online vs. Live play

2005-08-11T09:18:00.000-07:00

When I first started playing poker, 8 or 9 years ago in college, my roommates and I would gather all our change and sit at the dining table and play 5 card draw. At that time, there was no ESPN coverage of the WSOP or any mention of Texas Hold'em at our poker table. The only rule we had: only silver coins, no copper.

5 years ago, my buddy and I decided we wanted to host a poker cash game. Our first game was in my garage with a 4'x4' folding card table. We drank cheap beer and smoked a few cigars. We played a bunch of different games, "Screw your buddy", "black jack", "5/7 card stud/draw", and that game (the name escapes me right now) when you stick the card to your forhead and bet. We had a ball.

Now, 5 years later, I've built my own poker table, have opened numerous online poker accounts, and play in a fair amount of local games.

I prefer live games over online, but have come to appreciate the online play over the past few months.

In live games, I love to watch how people bet and see patterns. The social interaction is also more fun, and gives you something to look forward to should the cards not "fall" in your favor. When my local group gets together, I know how each one plays, and normally place well in our tourneys.

I have a hard time keeping up with the pace of play online, and rarely put betting patterns on more than 2 or 3 folks at my table. Especially with the turnover so high at the $50 & $100 NL tables that I play.

In online games, I play a lot tighter and less aggressive to minimize my losses. This has worked thus far in online play (+$375 off of a $100 deposit), but doesn't really work at live play. Sometimes I get in trouble with my live games, because they go slow. I'll overcompensate for the slowness of play, and will try to open things up. This has backfired on me a few times to the point that I'm the first one out of a tourney b/c I was too loose.

Quick Pros/Cons for Online and Live poker:

LIVE POKER Pros
- Betting patterns better realized
- "tells"
- More time to make a decision
- Little turnover
- Physical chips and cards (there's something nice about having a large chip stack in front of you)
- Overall, more fun (at least in the games I play)

ONLINE Pros
- Multiple options of what tables to play
- Always a game going
- Ability to play on multiple tables
- Tourneys & Ring games
- Faster play, more $$/hr won/lost
- Fishers
- BONUSES!

Live Cons
- Little to no change in play
- $$/hr is a lot less
- People can read my tells
- Regularity
- Slower play by less experienced players

Online Cons
- Not enough time to get reads on people
- Suckouts galore
- Poker "tracking" software gives advantage to those who use it.
- Loose canons who call allins with 64 suited and catch trips to knock out your pocket KK
- Can suck away multiple hours of your life in what seems like a matter of minutes.

There you have it. My 10 minutes of thought as to the differences of Online versus Live poker play. comments welcome.

Nice oops

2005-08-10T09:52:00.000-07:00

So I'm in a MTT at Absolute, and The following happens.

I'm in the BB, get 4s 6d dealt to me. I click on the "check/call" button instead of the "check/fold" button. I turn around to my laptop to answer some emails, and when I look back at the screen behind me, I see that I was put all-in by someone else. That someone had AKo, he was called by J6c (who was the person that put me all in).

Flop comes 10d, 9d, 7s
Turn 4d
River Kc

I end up doubling up with a pair of 4's, while the AK fellow doubled up (800 in chips) with his pair of K's.

Fellow with the J6 was busted out of the tourney.

I'm sure he was cussing me as he left the table.

6h4h

2005-08-09T15:19:00.000-07:00

In the process of clearing my Absolute promo with PSO. Playing on the .50NL tables, shorthanded (6). Dude to my right is raising with crap, and always raises on the button. We've hit about 10 orbits, I'm up $10 or so on the session. I'm in the SB and get dealt KK. Sweet, I can get some chips out of this guy.

SB bets $1.50, Button raises to $3.50, I reraise to $6.50. SB goes All-in. Button goes into the tank and calls SB's all in. I of course call.

SB flips up AJo, Button flips up 64h.

Flop comes 10Q6
Turn is a Q
River is a 6 for the 2 out effing full house.

Who the hell calls an all-in ($75) with a freaking 64 sooted?

I left that table, and the other table I was sitting at.

I guess the only mistake I made was not shoving when I re-raised. Though the chap would have still called with his 64 suited.

Bastard.

Any suggestions about Absolute?

2005-08-09T07:49:00.000-07:00

I'm about to start another Poker Source Online promo with Absolute Poker. Can anyone give me some ideas on how this room compares to the others out there (bodog, poker rewards, pacific, party, etc).

Thanks!

BoDog

2005-08-06T21:30:00.000-07:00

Played my necessary hands at BoDog this weekend to complete my 4th PSO promo in as many weeks.

Their software is my favorite so far. Much better than any of the Prima networks (PokerRewards, Pacific Poker, Aztech, etc). Anyway, the play wasn't as slick as I was expecting. I didn't feel all that comfortable at the $.50NL tables, but I couldn't find any PL tables open so I had to settle down at NL. First few hands I'm just getting the feeling of the new site and players (this after playing at PokerRewards and their ultra soft PL games). 4th or 5th hand I get dealt QQ and I'm in MP. I raise up to $2, and get a couple of callers. Flop comes JA4 Rainbow. I bet out (I live and die by the pre-flop raise followed by a strong post-flop bet) and get one caller. Turn is a 5. I again bet out, this time quite a bit more to find out if anyone's got an A paired, or two pair. I believe I threw out $10. The guy calls. At this point, I'm putting him on a flush draw or straight draw, but maybe he was playing Aces with a low kicker. River comes an 8. No flush. I again bet, player calls and flips up a 76 offsuit for the river river straight. Unbelievable.

I told myself that this could be a long PSO promotion should the bets continue this way.

Alas, I continued through it and kept on playing. I opened up another .50NL table to help hurry my promotion points along. This table had two loud mouths jabbering on and on about how bad of a player each one is. I sit down with the max buyin of $50, and at one point turn off the chat because these two guys are just unbearable. I start hitting hands at this table, and my $50 buyin raises to $75, and up to $95 and up to $125. At this point I've turned the chat back on to listen in. Both of these guys are still going at it (one had 22 in the hole and called a raise of $2 preflop. he hit his set and took the pot from the other guy).

So I'm at $120, up $70 at this table, but only up $25 or so b/c of my awful bad beat (76off straight) at the other table. I get QQ in the BB and raise it 3xBB. Get a couple of callers. Flop is Qd8dAc. Sweet, trips, I love flopping trips (don't we all). Well, I decide to slow play this to see if anyone's got 2 pair or a pair with a high kicker. One guy bets out $5 or so, likely attempting to steal the pot, so everyone calls, and I raise to $15. Everyone folds but one, he goes allin for an additional $20. I immediately call, and he flips over Ad4d. Turn is a rag, and river is an 8. I get my boat and drag a $68 pot. Boy, that felt good.

So, I've got $175 in chips at this table and this one guy (JRyan8478) starts going off on how bad of a player I am, and how I never bet unless I have a good hand. He tells everyone at the table to stay out of a pot if I'm betting because I never bluff.

It just so happened that the next 10-20 hands, I decided to bluff as much as I could without throwing money away. I must have won 90% of those pots, and each and every time I won the pot, I clicked "show cards". Everyone else at the table was laughing because I was rubbing it in this guys face.

Beautiful.

I cashed out of that game up $177, which is by far my biggest single session win yet.

I had QQ 4 times at that table, hit trips 2 times, and a boat twice. I love getting paid off on the nuts.

Changing mid-swing

2005-08-03T09:59:00.000-07:00

I learned a very important lesson the other night while playing at a S&G at Pacific Poker: You've got to know how and when to change your style.

I've read about this, and heard the pros talk about the ability to change betting patterns and styles mid-game. I discounted it as something that really only needs to be applied for the "big gamers" or the "high stakes players". Boy, was I wrong.

Up until Sunday night (the S&G at Pacific), I'd pretty much played all my ring and tourney games the same. Tight, build the pot when I have a made hand, but always cautious when someone begain raising me or betting into me.

Sunday night, I made the final 3 at said S&G, and appeared to be playing against much weaker and inferior opponents. I was right on one account, but wrong on the other. I knocked out the guy I was right about, leaving me against the chip leader with his 2-1 chip lead over me. I'd been watching the way he was playing throughout the tourney, and saw that he NEVER raised, but only called. When he did bet, he bet the minimum and would fold to a strong bet. Seeing that I had him "pinned", I went for the kill. I played every two cards I got, and began making a dent in his chip stack.

He was a calling station. I would bet, he would call. I would bet, he would call. I would bet, he would call. I would win the pot, he'd muck. SO, I figured this to be the easiest heads up match ever, and went on auto pilot. At one point I got the chip lead at 3-2, but that didn't last long.

I began getting frustrated because I could never buy him out of a pot. Therefore, bluffing was not working because he would call, and he was beginning to win the pots with sets, straights, flushes, and quads. It was even more frustrating when I would see his hand (said quads) after losing the pot, and realizing that he only bet the minimum into me after nailing his quads.

Well, change my style, I did not. After 10 more minutues of me betting and him calling, I was out of the tourney in 2nd place. It was obvious he saw my style, and played it perfectly. Slowly and surely chipping away my chip stack until I'm forced to bet with less than premimum hands.

I should have became uber tight and played his game when I had the better hands. When I exited the table, I told myself, "you just got your ass kicked all over the felt". It's one thing to lose a tourney when you just didn't get the cards, or ran into some bad beats....but when you get beat like I did, it forces you evaluate and find a way to change.

So, I've now taken it upon myself to change mid-game how I approach the betting and calling. If I've been playing loose and aggressive, I change and become tight. And vice-versa. Changing your betting patterns will confuse and throw-off your opponents read on your cards. This gives you the advantage in a game where advantages win.

It was a good lesson to learn, and I've alrleady seen the benefits of using it at the tables.

Finally, a good game

2005-08-02T06:13:00.000-07:00

I signed up for the Poker Source Online promo with Poker Rewards this past weekend, and have been having a ball at their PL and NL tables. I don't think I've had a losing session yet, and I've racked up over 500 raked hands in 3 days. Normally the play has been fairly slow, with a few $30 pots here and there.

Last night I ran into some good poker players. I'm not sure what they were doing at the lower buyin NL tables, but I was very impressed and could tell they were not "trying to figure things out". Lots of re-raising on rag flops to see who had the balls to continue seeing cards. At one point my buyin of $40 was down to $23 after a couple of bad flops (my pocket AA vs AQ, flop hits QQxxx), but built it back up to $60 after losening up and playing "their" game of lots of bluffs.

It was a lot of fun. The best player of the group had $75 (from $40 max buyin) when I arrived at the table, and when I left, he had $193. Fish kept arriving in droves, and he'd just easily and simply take their money. I tried to avoid any confortations with him, as I didn't want to felt my chips to him...but you can't avoid it always with 4 at a table. I out bet him a few times, and it felt good to go up against a good player. I cashed out +$7 after 30 minutes of play, which considering the circumstances, I was thrilled.

I then moved over to two PL games to keep the raked hands going. Hit some big hands there. One was pocket 9's and I reraised the raiser. He called and the flop came 392. He bet, I raised, he went allin ($20) and I called. He flipped over JJ, and I got a $60 pot. That was fun.

Hit another set with QQ and slow played them into getting the guy with AQ to go alliln. Called his $15 and won the $40 pot.

Just got notification that my bonus through pokerrewards cleared, so I'm +$160 in this promotion, not to omention the $90 in PSO points that I'll get when I play 40 more raked hands.

Gotta love winning!

New PSO Promo

2005-07-30T19:59:00.000-07:00

I've got my eyes on these chips for my home tourney games. I bought some samples, and they're pretty awesome chips. Ideally I'd like to have a set of some nicer chips, but these will be free by the time I get them.

I just started a new PSO promo with Poker Rewards. I need to clear 600 raked hands to get 9,000 PSO points. Tonight is my first night playing, and I"m already around 200 raked hands. Been playing the $.50PL tables, and have had some good action on there. One guy called me to the river with his J7o, and hit a set on the river to beat my pocket Q's. I lost $20 on that hand....I wasn't too happy.

I'm +$6.63 (due to the crappy J7 suckout above) so far, and should have no problem clearing this within a few more days.

I played a little limit at Poker Rewards, but I'm hooked on the Pot Limit games. I like having the option to bluff, and I don't really feel like I get that option at limit games....at least the low limits that I play. If I've got Q10 and the flop hits the Q with a few rags, I want to be able to run off those that paired their rags looking for a set or two pair. I can't really do that at limit, or at least I haven't mastered that style yet. I learned how to play the PL games at Pokerroom (which by the way is a great place to play. If you've not signed up there, check out their other skin - powerplayer, it's the same rooms. There's a $10 cash "chip" information in my links section. It's cash, no deposit needed to try it out) and haven't gone back to the limit games as much as I did when I first started playing this game. No limit gets a little erratic for me, though I don't mind playing there every so often.

I'm going to hit a few S&G's at Pacific before hitting the rack. Hope you've had a profitable evening at the tables.

Shout Out...

2005-07-30T12:50:00.000-07:00

Thanks for the warm welcome into the blogging community Trip Jax and Low Limit Grinder .

So far I'm really enjoying getting my thoughts about poker on paper. It's nice to have a place to cheer and vent.

If you're not listed on my blog, I'm more than happy to put you on there. Just drop me a line.

Happy poker-ing.

Power -- OFF

2005-07-29T15:22:00.000-07:00

Sit and Go this afternoon at Pacific Poker. Check out my first 30 or so hands:

Q4o; 96o; 67o; 10-3o; 3-Qo; 23o; 46o; 73c; 92c; 73o; 92o; 10-3o; 27o; 39o; 10-6o; J3s; 68o; 47o; 25o; 85d; J6o; J5o; 89o; Q7o; Q5o; 7Qo; 7Ko; 10-2o; A4.

Ok, I didn't get an Ace until hand 29, and it wasn't until hand 39 that I got my first legit playing hand, AK.

So, I weather the "cold card storm" and make it to the final 5. I start loosening up a bit, and it's working well. I steal the blinds from the guy behind me at least 5 times. He never called my raise.

5 handed play continues for 30 minutes, no one wanted to win or lose. I got down to 100 in chips with the blinds at 50/100, and worked my way up to 3500 in chips with some nice luck. I lost most of that 3500 to the guy on my left when he went all in with QQ, and I called with my 66. Flop came AQA. Yeah, that sucks.

Another guy busted out, and now at 4 players I get chipped down to 125 in chips. 3 or 4 allins later, I'm back up to 2nd in chips.

4th guy busts, and we're all in the money -- wahoo.

Blinds are at 200/400 and I've got 2800 in chips, leader has 5000, short stack has 400. I'm thinking a 2nd place finish is guaranteed. So we play a few hands, I lose a few blinds and am still in 2nd place with 2,000 in chips. I sit back in my chair, and ZAP. My foot hits the power cord under my desk. NOOOOO.

I quickly plug it back in, restart my computer, get logged in and back into the tourney. Phew that was close.... Wait, crap, I've only got 78 left in chips!! ARGH. That sucks.

So 3 hands later, and I'm out in 3rd.

Talk about a bad beat...

Spades

2005-07-28T19:50:00.000-07:00

For some reason, I get excited when I see a spade/spade dealt to me. I don't know why this is, but I think I overplay spades too often. Rarely do I win with them (flushes, that is), and too often I get beat by them.

Tonight, 4 players left at a S&G -- I'm 3rd in chips. My hole cards come around QJs. Sweet, I fire a raise of 3BB into the pot. Short stack calls. Flop comes AQ4 rainobw. I put the short stack allin. He flips up A6. I hit my J on turn and he hits his 6 on the river. Instead of making the money, I'm now crippled and am down to 2BB in chips. Stupid spades.

2 hands later. A9d. Allin. 4 callers. Flop AsJsAc. Sweet 3 of a kind, i'm back in the tourney. Turn 6s. River rag. Someone has KQs for the nut flush. I'm out.

Piss, I hate losing.

Overvaluing Pocket Pairs

2005-07-28T08:34:00.000-07:00

Ok, I'm sitting at a S&G last night, 5th or 6th hand of the night. So far, nothing spectacular has come down for me (besides the Ax that seem to frequent my hole cards). I'm UTG and I see KK hit my hand. Sweet, nice way to start off the tourney. I raise it to 100 (blinds were 10-20). UTG+2 calls, and 2 other callers. Flop comes 10s 4h 3d. I bet 200, UTG+2 calls, the rest fold. Turn comes a Js. I bet 350 (leaving me with 275 in chips), UTG+2 calls. I have no idea why he is calling, unless he limped with a 44 or 56. Turn is a Qs. I go all in, he calls and flips over A3s for the rivered flush. I'm out of the tourney in 7th place.

I have a hard time with pocket pairs likee JJ, QQ, KK, or AA. I know they are great hands and I want to get the most money I can for them...but too often I don't make sure I win the pot regardless. Case in point above. Had I made a bigger bet on the flop, say 500 (3/4 of my and UTG+2 chipstack), UTG+2 likely would have folded . But when that spade hit on the turn, it was almost a given that he was going to call any and all bets I made in hopes of hitting his flush. Unfortunately, he hit his flush, and I'm sent packing.

How did I lose the hand?

First, my pre-flop raise was not enough to get rid of someone with A3 suited. Sure that's a good hand with 3 or 4 players, but not with 10 players. I didn't have time to figure out if this guy was a wild caller, so there's no way for me to know that he's going to call my pre-flop raise. I think I should've raised more to isolate the overcard players, and should there not have been any of those, I take the blinds and move on. Instead, I get greedy thinking that my KK is a dynamite hand that only loses to Aces. So instead of being up a few blinds, I'm out of the tourney.

When the flop hit, my 1/2 pot sized bet was too weak, and didn't tell my opponent that I had a strong hand. If anything it told him that I had a middle to high pair, and wasn't that confident in it. I should have thrown out a 500 bet at the flop to get rid of someone who did hit their flop/draw, and move on.

Once the turn hit, my opponent was pot committed and was going to see the river regardless. SO I lost my hand on the flop.

Overvaluing a pocket pair is easy to do because seeing 2 of the same in your hand just looks so good. But, at the end of the day a pocket pair is just that, a pair. Statistically you have a 1 in 8 chance of hitting a set on the flop-turn-river, so it's a good idea to play that hand, but don't play it to bleed folks out of money, play it to win.

A good lesson to learn.

Upcoming Posts...

2005-07-26T11:11:00.000-07:00

I'll be posting on the following topics in the coming days/weeks...

- My opinions/thoughts on the difference between online play and live play.
- My thoughts on calculating odds and how I make my decisions
- Poker Tables
- Home Games
- Where is poker going to be 5 years from now?

Stay tuned for those, and ongoing posts about poker.

Low Limits

2005-07-25T13:04:00.000-07:00

So I made the switch to $.50/$1 Limit from .25PL this weekend....just to see how/what the action was like.

I was up $20 in about an hour due to getting some nice hands.....but I couldn't help but realize that you're just not going to make much cash while playing limit games.

For one, you can't bluff your opponents as easily as you can in PL or NL.

Secondly, check-raising is a lot tougher. I was in EP with Top Pair and Good Kicker. Turn is a rag. It's heads up between me and the Button. I check on the turn, hoping to raise when he bets out (he raised me on the flop)....but he checks and the river brings an A. I bet, he raises, and I make the crying call knowing I'm beat b/c he hit his A.

I didn't feel bad from that play because I realized he was going to call whatever bet I make on the turn, regardless.

So I went back to .25PL this morning and promptly lost my buyin to a flush on the river. My Set didn't hold.

Oh well...

Off Topic - Finger Nose Trimmer

2005-07-22T07:45:00.000-07:00

Finger Nose Trimmer

Free $10 from Power Player -- No Deposit Required

2005-07-21T07:28:00.000-07:00

No deposit required, get a free $10 deposited into your account for signing up at Power Player

Step 1: Click here.
Step 2: Setup a "Real Money Account"
Step 3: When it shows "deposit options" scroll to the bottom where is says "enter bonus code or powerplayer code.
Step 4: enter code 20125 for a free $10 deposited into your account. No other deposit needed to start playing for real money.

Enjoy!

Instant Bankroll - $75 free to try out Party Poker

2005-07-19T12:41:00.000-07:00

I heard about this a few weeks ago, and wanted to point this out. Instant Bankroll is operated by Poker Source Online .

Here's the gig. If you've never played at Party Poker before, (which likely means that you've never played online before) then you can sign up through Instant Bankroll and they will make your first deposit of $75 into your account. No strings attached. This way, you'll get $75 to play online to see if you like it, or if you're good at it. No risk.

You're not going to get a better opportunity to play online than this. If you do sign up with these guys, thorw a little love my way and tell them that "demoflauchy" referred you.

Happy Online Pokering!

Sit & Go at Pokerroom

2005-07-19T12:22:00.000-07:00

Just finished playing a S&G at Pokerroom. There was a playing at our table named "jackass62". He fit the name. Kept telling the whole table to call me when I bet because I was bluffing. Everytime I won a hand, he said I got lucky and that I didn't deserve to win the hand.

I was playing loose and was bluffing low cards every 5-7 hands or so. It actually worked really well, because folks were calling my bets later in the tourney when I had good cards. Went all-in a couple of times, and got one suckout on the river to stay alive (my A10o vs 99 -- caught the A on the river). I ended up knocking out the jackass in 5th place.

I finished 2nd after trading lots of bets/folds in a headsup match. the final hand I was the button with AJo. Flop comes 10c-Jh-8c. I bet the pot, he calls. Turn is 5s. I check, hoping to draw a bet from him. He obliges and bets a small amount, and I chk/raise him 3x his bet. He calls. River is a 5c. Board now shows: 10c-Jh-8c-5s-5c. I bet 1,000 and he reraises me all in. I look at the board and think that he's betting on the pair of 10's. I call, and he flips up 73c for the flush.

Tough way to lose b/c he never should have called my chk/raise on the turn, but he took the gamble and won. It was a good headsup match. I'm learning in headsup that you've got to make a LOT of blind bets on the flop and turn trying to convince your opponent that you've got a good draw or a good pair. There's a lot of folding going on in headsup play.

Golf and Poker

2005-07-18T09:23:00.000-07:00

Played golf Friday afternoon, boy was it hot. Shot an awful 52 on the front nine that included a 10 on hole #1 (duffed my first 2 shots), and a 9 on hole number 8 (after losing my ball in a tree 3 yards from the fairway - that pisses me off to no end).

But....my back nine was awesome.

Hole #10 - awful tee shot into the trees next to the driving range. 2nd shot from 215+ landed about 20 yards from the gree, pin high. 3rd shot was a duff chip shot (ball was on a downhill lie, couldn't get my club underneath the ball). 4th shot was a good chip to 3 feet from cup. 5th shot - in the hole. +1 on back nine

Hole #11 - Par 5: Huge tee-shot down the middle of the fairway. 2nd shot, huge shot to the edge of the green. 3rd shot, chipped to 2 feet from hole. 4th shot, birdie. Even Par thru 2.

Hole 12 - Par 3 - 170 uphill into the wind. Mojo trees/OB on left. Missed my 4 iron to 30 yards from green. 2nd shot, chipped to 6 feet from hole. 3rd shot, missed putt. 4th shot -- screwed around and missed my 12 inch putt....was trying not to stand in someone's line, and didn't get set. PIss. Double Bogey. +2 thru 3.

Hole 13 - Par 4. Gret drive to 155 yards from green. approach to the fringe pin high. putt to 6 inches, Par. +2 thru 4

Hole 14 - Par 3. Awesome iron shot to 30 feet from hole. Thought the ball was going to be closer. Hit a great putt that would've gone in had I hit it....alas, par. +2 thru 5

Hole 15 - Par 4. Monster Drive, 260 yards. 80 yard approach to 12 feet. Lipped out my birdie putt, par. +2 thru 6.

Hole 16 - Par 4: 425 yards. Tough hole with a 40 gulch between fairway and green. Actual green is 6 yards deep by 15 yards wide.....very hard to hit in regulation. I hit a great drive, and a decent approach, but the ball rolled to the base of the green. Hit my chip to 4 feet... thought I had a straight downhill putt, but it broke 2 inches to the left...didn't see that. Settled for bogey here. +3 thru 7.

Hole 17. Par 4: 380 yards. Great tee shot (notice a trend here?), ok approach. I should've hit more culb on the approach. Putt was online, but short. Par. +3 thru 8.

Hole 18. Par 5: 490 yards. Water in play for all three shots. Tee shot over water. Layup over water. Approach with water to the right of the green. Managed a 10 foot par putt that edged the hole. Would've shot a 39 had the putt dropped. + 4.

Ended up with a 92, which is normal for me....but I played incredible golf on the back nine to get to 92.

As for poker....well, I didn't have tons of time this weekend to play. Hit a few S&G's, but didn't finish in the money in any of them.

Played a MTT today, and finished 180th when my AQ went up against AK. He hit his K on the flop and turn to bust me out. I can't fault my play, just didn't get enough breaks on the flop.

Freeroll Scratch

2005-07-16T14:09:00.000-07:00

I thought I signed up for a freeroll at Party Poker, but alas, my registration never made it through. Bummer, there were only 232 folks who signed up for this promo through Poker Source Onlin (see link to the right or bottom of page) with $6K in cash for the top 30 place finishers. Oh well, I'll live to see another freeroll...

Pacific Poker Promotion - $75 Cash from me

2005-07-15T09:13:00.000-07:00

Ok, here's the gig. If you sign up withPacific Pokerthrough this link and deposit $100 and play 1 raked hand, I'll paypal or neteller you $75, cash. Period. this is not a "bonus" through Pacific, this is cash from my Paypal or Neteller account.

I'll need your Pacific Username and email address to confirm with Pacific Poker. And, I'll need your method of payment (paypal or neteller).

Sounds easy, right?

Step 1: Open a Pacific Poker through this link. You must be a NEW Real Money Player through Pacific Poker.
Step 2: Deposit $100
Step 3: Play 1 raked hand
Step 4: Send Email to: nashvillehogfan@yahoo.com with:
- Pacific Username and email address you signed up with
- Method of payment
Step 5: Get $75 in your Paypal/Neteller account!

Please allow me two weeks to verify your information with Pacific. Email me with questions

Pokerroom Bonus

2005-07-15T07:09:00.000-07:00

So I finally cleared my raked hand requirement at pokerrom yesterday. Got the $40 deposited into my account last night.

I played at least 400 hands that were raked more than $.50, which likely equates to somewhere around 8-900 total hands played where the rake was greater than $.50. If that's the case, then Pokerroom made a KILLING on me. That's roughly $400 just from the tables I was playing --- and I only got 10% of that in a bonus. Argh.

I was tilting yesterday as my small $30 buyin at a .25 PL ring rose to $60, and then down to $0. I was not happy. I lost a set to a straight-oneouter on the river. Lost a number of other big hands on the river. Frustrating. Overall, my $100 deposit at pokerroom has turned into $223. I'm pleased thus far. That PLUS the 9,000 PSO Points that I'm hoping to use to buy a set of these.

Sit and Go's

2005-07-15T04:23:00.000-07:00

So I played in a few S&G's last night. I wanted to play really loose to see what kind of impression I could make on folks. Sure enough, they realized that I was throwing "free money" into the pots, and began to call. Of the 4 I played, I won 1, came in 3rd in one, and 5th+ in the other two. Not a great night, but I had fun.

.25/.25 PL

2005-07-14T12:24:00.000-07:00

Just played 50+ hands on this level, some good action. I got paid nicely when my flush hit on the river twice, once netting a cool $30 and the next time netting a nifty $18. Interestingly enough, both flushes were Ace high of diamonds.

The .25/.25 PL game at pokerroom has some nice action at it. Mainly I'm playing here to clear my 400 raked hands to pick up my promotion item at Poker Source Online. In case you've not checked these guys out, you need to. They give away TONS of stuff (poker chips, cards, tables, gift cards, etc). Good stuff.

Overheard in nearby bathroom - Off Topic

2005-07-14T12:05:00.000-07:00

Mother to son "Wipe your own butt"

Bag full of Lucky Charms - Off Topic

2005-07-14T10:39:00.000-07:00

Ok, this is hysterical.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=1467&item=5596448774&rd=1&ssPageName=WDVW

This guy is selling a 1 gallon bag full of Llucky Charms Marshmellow's.

MTT Tourney at Pokerroom

2005-07-14T08:54:00.000-07:00

So I'm fairly new to the whole internet poker world (despite my illustrious blogspot domain name). I've been playing mainly at pokerroom.com because I'm on a Mac.

This morning I entered their $1+0 MTT with $500 added to the prize pool. Seems to be a fun tourney for cheap.

I couldn't catch a flipping card all morning. Doubled up twice with A-4o when I was all-in with less than 600 in chips. I was short stacked all morning and didn't catch any flops that I saw. I think I drug 4 pots the whole morning, but never made my stack above the starting chip count of 1500.

Finished 119/582. Not bad for not catching cards, but that's only because I was playing premium hands b/c of my short stack.

I think I've played in 12-15 of these $1+0 tourneys, finishing in the money once.

I'll keep playing, hoping for a final table at some point.

Dash Blog Test

2005-07-14T08:45:00.000-07:00

Testing DashBlog from my OSX widget section

We'll see how this goes...

2005-07-14T08:12:00.000-07:00

I know there are a thousand blogs out there about poker, but I thought I'd share a bit of my poker life. Who knows, maybe it'll help folks out.

La la la :-)