Oh, hi...

I guess it's worth an update here. Poker has been on the back-burner for the last few weeks. I bought a house (too big) and have focused all my attention on that. Loving it. Loving being a homeowner. Loving decorating a new space. Loving that I've got a finished basement worth of man-cave status. I honestly can't wait to host my first poker game here.

I'm in the market for a nice custom round or octagon. Anybody got a lead on a great local table maker? Give me a shout!

Event #30 I WILL CRUSH YOU!

That's right, I'm playing in the WSOP this year. I managed to qualify through our own Chiptalk.net, the place for uber chip geeks and poker aficionados. Event #30 is your standard NLHE $1500 event, and will likely have close to 3000 players. I'm hoping that I can make it through to Day Two. Sounds lame, but it's not as easy as it sounds, and I would be very happy with that as my first performance in a WSOP event. My ultimate goal is (duh) to win the damn thing.

The wife is joining me, and we're staying at the Venetian, my personal favourite. Wifey loves the spa there, and most of our favourite dinner places are either in, or nearby. Everything's booked, first night: Tao. Followed by SushiSamba, Rao, Delmonico's and finally, Taste of Siam. During the tournament, we didn't book anything, as it's considered bad juju. I'm playing the event, and wifey's going to meet me there for my dinner breaks. Too bad the Rio doesn't have any spectacular restaurants and I'm sure that I'll be pretty wound up and won't want to eat a huge meal. We'll see.

My secret backup plan is to hit the Deepstack Extravaganza at the Venetian in the event of an early bustout. Let's hope that doesn't happen.

There's a huge contingent of Chiptalk people going this year, it'll be great to meet some people in person for the first time, and excellent to see some old faces again.

Wish me luck!

WBCOOP Here I come...

Despite the fact that I don't really update all that often here, Pokerstars has deemed my blog sufficiently busy to award me a ticket for the blogger qualifier. So, out of some sort of guilt, I'm updating.

Poker has been quite traumatic for me lately. I'm on an incredible downswing. I just don't seem to care much about it. I've got oodles of new chips that have started to see play, but I just can't win with the damn things. Kinda makes me want to liquidate and get out of this chipping craze. It's not fun anymore. And is a pretty big drain on the bank account.

I say this now, but a few weeks will go by, and I'll have reread a book or two, and win a tournament, and love poker again.

It might be time to try SnG's a stay away from the donkaments. Maybe time for another bankroll challenge on Stars with the Chiptalk buddies...

Oh, and check out my new Blog, "What Should We Have For Dinner". The wife and I are on a kick to never eat the same meal twice. And six months in, it's a rousing success. Lots of variety, nutrition and fun in the kitchen. You can find the link in the right sidebar. Recipes will be posted along with some gorgeous pix.

WBCOOP is BACK!

I have registered to play in the WBCOOP PokerStars World Blogger Championship of Online Poker! You too can Play Poker Online at PokerStars.com and take part in the WBCOOP which is open to all Bloggers by registering on WBCOOP to play.

Registration code: 699593

And I'm all set to do it again! Poker has been slow. Except for the regular games Monday and Wednesday, and one or two home games, I haven't been playing much lately. That should change right about now...

New Chips arrive today.

The chips evar are arriving today. Can't wait to see them in person.

Poker has been quiet this month and last. Work has been keeping me extremely busy and I just haven't been able to devote any serious time to it. Tonight's the 7th (of 20) game of the WSOP qualifier on CT. I'm firmly in first with a 20 point pad. Based on the number of people we've had, another solid month guarantees one entry to a $1500 event with $750 for travel expenses next year. Just have to keep up the focus and nail this thing.

I find when there's something on the line, I play much better poker. I guess that's a no-brainer, but it really makes a difference for me. 15 games count towards your final, so there's still a ton of wiggle room. Enjoying myself though, it'd be awesome to freeroll(ish) the WSOP next year!

Twins

No, not like that you sickos.

My very good friend and his wife gave birth to twins a little over a year ago (forgive me if I'm way off - I'm not much of a kid guy) and he's been writing an excellent blog on the subject. Some very fun reads, and definitely worth checking out. Give it a read when you get a sec. It's in my link section, but here it is for you lazy types. 3dub4dub

Nothing of much interest on the poker front. Although, I am pretty sure that Pokerstars DOES indeed have a doomswitch.

Seneca

Tomorrow I'm off with a few buddies for the first time since the Spring for a roadtrip to Seneca for their deepstack 10am tournament. The structure isn't the best, but it's one of the only games in town, or rather, close to town. I've gone deep a few times, and actually cashed maybe four times out of 10. Not a horrible record. Very well run tournament, and the people are nice. The plan is to make our way over the border, play the tournament, and as people bust they'll make their way back over the border and back to the smelly hole that is Casino Niagara for the cash games.

Should be an interesting crew this time as well. Full report upon my return.

Holy Crap! An Update!

Wowsers.

Has it really been this long? Man oh man. I have been a busy bee. Poker has always been there, but sort of an afterthought. At least, online it has been. I've been bitten by the live play bug, and can't really shake it. There's so much more to be learned once you've gotten past the math.

I've taken a stab at improving my game from an implied odds perspective, and I think things have gotten tremendously better from me doing that. Rather than just play so straightforward, I'm willing to make some questionable post flop plays in order to hopefully get paid off. It's working (I think).

Online just doesn't seem to do it for me. I still play the weekly Wednesday games on CT, but that's about it. They're also running a WSOP league, and I think I'm 2nd overall after 4 of 20 games (15 count towards your final score). Some work to do, but consistency has always been my strong point. Also qualified for the WCOOP and the Bloggers WCOOP qualifier. Wish me luck, I'll probably play the PLO event with my ticket.

Work has been incredibly busy (what recession?) and I'm pretty sure I'm one of the top earners again for the company this fiscal year. Nice.

I've been designing a lot of chips for people lately, as one of the mainstays of custom home chips is shuttering on August 31st. Sucks, now that there's only one game in town. My latest design is for BCC, and is my own personal set. Big thanks to MR. YOUKNOWWHO.

4 days and counting...

Played an awesome WSOP warm-up style event over the weekend and took down 4th. The blinds were nice and long, and the structure was very deep. I played a slow, steady and deliberately tight game, just to see how that would work. Lots of post flop play which was nice. However, 5 handed, I think I tightened up too much and it ended up hurting my finish. Found myself folding a lot of medium strength hands that were probably winners. Oh well, $80 invested, and won $220, so can't complain too much.

I'm really looking forward to my trip, and have decided that satellites is a much better way to get into the WSOP this year. I'd much rather play a whole bunch of tournaments rather than blow it all on one longshot.

Been awhile...

Haven't played much poker as of late. Guess I'm saving myself for Vegas, which is fast approaching. I got to Step 4, then blew all three chances I had built up. Mostly coolers, so can't really feel bad about my play.

I've also firmly decided that I'm going to play ONE satellite at the RIO for the PLO tournament. If I win, super, I'll play the thing. If I lose, meh, I'll play all the tournaments I actually want (have some shot at) to play in Vegas and actually spend some time with my wife. My base of operations this year is the Venetian. Love that room, and it's reasonably close to my two other fave rooms, Wynn & Caesar's.

Played a little live tournament/small stakes cash recently with a new group of guys. While the conversation was fun and all the guys were nice, the game played extremely aggressive, and I'm going to need to step it up a little bit if I want to be more successful there. There were some sick hands where I knew I was in a good spot, and just got lucksacked out of some pots. Can't wait to go back though. I think that cash game is crushable.

Somebody hurry up and check out the blog...

The visit count is at 666.

Steps baby, Steps.

I'm once again this year making a run for an WSOP ticket through the Pokerstars Steps program.

I'm using the tried and true method of blowing all my FPP's on Step 1's, and moving up with a bank of Step 2's, rather than trying to go the whole way with one ticket at a time. Keep in mind, the whole idea for me is NOT to play the main event, but take the $12k in prize money that's deposited after a win at Step 6 and play a small event and pocket the rest.

I've heard that the sharks sit around in Step 6's waiting for donkeys like me to register, then proceed to destroy me and hoard tickets. Anybody have any experience with that?

Well that tears it.

I'm taking a break from Omaha altogether. Things just don't seem to be going my way as of late. I'm experiencing a pretty heavy downswing and can't seem to focus on turning that around. My reads are off, my luck is nil, and I can't seem to stop being a sheriff.

I'm even reconsidering playing in event #5 this year. I don't know if I can hack it, and considering that I've only spent say, 30K hands playing PLO, I might not be ready to actually play for teh bigz moniez. I'm going to reevaluate and look at it later.

The thing is, I know what constitutes good play in PLO. I know the starting hands, I know what plays well in a multi-way contested pot, I know how to count clean outs, I know pot-odds and implied odds, and I just can't seem to beat these jokers any more. I was literally crushing the micros a month ago, and now, it doesn't seem like I could win to save my life. It's frustrating.

For kicks I decided to play .50/1 PLO last weekend. I doubled the max buy-in within a 100 hands or so. The table broke, so I moved to a new one and was doing well, doubled it and then lost it all. Felt stupid. Logged off and didn't play until yesterday when I went back to the micros. The play was awful. Suckouts and random 4 cards winning everywhere. As tight as I was, I just couldn't believe that I was beat and still lost a buyin on the session.

Hence the break.

BTW, if you feel like following me on twitter, go right ahead!

TWEET!

Yayz. Back in Black.

Well, that was easy. I'm back on the road to riches and financial freedom. All it took was a little 600 hand session of multitabling last night to restore the bankroll. +5 buyins puts me right back where I started 23000 hands ago. LOL. If I hadn't taken that stab at .10/.25 I'd probably still be on the uptick, rather than in rebuilding mode. Oh well, live and learn!

While multi-ing 5 tables last night, I also played in Chiptalk's Monday Main Event, which was a HOSE mixed game. LHE, LO8, LS, and LS8. Pretty fun to mix it up a bit, and wonder of all wonders, I took it down. If it wasn't for the O8 portion, there's no way I would have won.

I said before, that 5 tables seems to be my max. What I liked about adding in a 6th table, specifically a tournament table, is the limited amount of time I have to make decisions. I find that if I don't have the nuts by the river and haven't invested a ton, it's pretty easy to get away from.

As I approach the 25k mark, I'd like to have someone review my stats. 1. Is there an easy way to present all the data without sending someone the entire database, and 2. Does anybody want to take a gander?

22K = -$45

Blurg. Cold Deck. Lost all my profits after moving up to PLO25. Time to start back at the bottom. Need to tighten up and focus more.

Also, to all the guys who complain about rake after a split pot where we get it all-in:

STOP YOUR WHINING, I'M NOT A MIND READER AND THE OBJECT IS TO GET YOUR STACK. I COULD CARE LESS ABOUT ANOTHER DIME WHEN THE POT IS $50 AND I'M HOPING TO WIN IT ALL.

/rant.

My rant on Starbucks

So, I go to the bank machine today, and it's only dispensing $50's. No big deal, I need some change for the subway, so this'll work out. I go to Starbucks to get my afternoon Tall London Fog and go to pay with my $50.

The girl goes "oooh, do you have anything smaller?" And I say no, because I don't, and she says that she doesn't have change. Not a big deal, I have some credits left on the Starbucks card.

I pay her, but at the same time I say "It's amazing that you don't have change for a $50 here!" half joking, and she says "Uh, we're a coffee shop sir." in a tone I don't find all that friendly.

So I retort, "Yeah! A coffee shop that sells six dollar coffees!"

She has no response. I call bullshit on not having change. After I got my coffee, I see her signing out as her shift is over. Not having 2 $20's and a $5 is ridiculous. Maybe it's some "don't take $50's or higher from nice people" rule.

I came in 10th in the CT game tonight, meh, and dropped $100 in the cash games - mostly at .10/.25 where I flop 2nd nuts and get stacked. STUPID.

Blurg. I'm taking a break for reals.

Just call me mister butter fingers. I've managed to let a large number of buyins slip through my fingers. No PLO for a while methinks. These micros are killing me.

Here's a fantastic Youtube musical mashup for you. It's all real, and amazing. As an editor, I can appreciate the sheer volume of work behind this. Well done, sir. Well done.

WSOP Event #5

Not sure if I mentioned it here or not, but I've decided to donk off $1500 by playing the PLO event at this year's WSOP. I'll likely be a fish out of water, but I've been thinking about making a run at one of these events for a few years now, and figured now was as good a time as any. PLO seems to be my best bet, as there's typically less people compared to the HE events. I'm hoping that my exploits at the micros are going to pay for it. If they do, super, if not, I've got the cash. I've also got a few thousand FPP's that I want to throw at satellite qualifiers for the big one. If they're run like they were last year, if you win, they make a $12k deposit in your account and I don't think you're obligated to enter the ME.

Looks like a nice structure:


They posted the structure recently, and one thing that kinda weirded me out was the fact that this was supposed to be a no re-buy/no add-on tournament, but at the bottom of the structure sheet, is says the following:

Players begin with $1,500 in Tournament Chips. Players may receive (2) additional Add-ons for $1,500 in tournament chips each, anytime during the first three levels. Any player that has not taken their add-ons by the end of the third level will automatically receive them.

Huh? Does this mean that I'm entitled to an additional $3k in chips for my initial $1500? Someone explain it to me.

The wife has agreed to join me under a few criteria. All of the following must be met:

Hotel must be nice, central, and have an awesome pool.
I must have dinner with her each night.
I must go to at least one show.
I must spend at least one day with her.

That last one might be tough...

Hrm, well... Uh. Wow.

Okay, seriously taking a break after dropping another 10 buyins yesterday. What a rollercoaster the last few days have been. NOT playing today, or in tonight's MMN on Chiptalk, nor playing tomorrow, or possibly even Wednesday.

After some quick analysis, I think that I was pushing too many hands on the flop or turn. Even though I was ahead, people were still calling their entire stacks on draws. Mostly flushes that made it, or flopped sets improving to boats on the river to beat my made straight or flush. Pretty sick to lose that many coinflips in a night. The poker Gods were clearly not with me. Time to watch some more videos on DC and hopefully the Gods will move on to some other shlub.

Something new (to me anyway) was the Pokerstars anti-bot defense. I had never seen it before, and it was a welcome bit of tech. Keep making it harder for those cheaters 'stars!

Also, tried my hand at PLO25. Let's just say that I'm not quite there yet. Got it all in on the flop with an overpair and a flush draw and missed against opponent's obvious Aces.

WOOOOOOOOOTTTTTTTT!!!!!!!!111111one

Went on an amazing run over the last two days.

Made back all 9 of those buyins and that many times over. It was some kinda crazy mojo. Went back down to four tabling and that seems to be the sweet spot for now. Crazy happy for the uptick.

Celebrating my buddy's birthday tonight, having a fun-ish tournament. No hopes of winning it, because there's a lot of non-poker players playing tonight.