KLevasseur22

Back To Blogging

2008-11-14T12:40:00.000-08:00

Time to start back blogging again.

After this summer's fiasco, I sort of lost motivation to update my blog. Initially, I was really depressed with how things ended up working out. It was certainly a once in a lifetime type of opportunity and I could have never imagined it playing out like it did. That being said, I learned a lot because of everything I went through. I definitely feel like I'm a more responsible person and I certainly have learned an invaluable, albeit expensive, lesson on accountability.

As for Alex, I know many of u have asked, if I plan on paying him back. I know I kind of trashed him in my post on the forums, but Alex was nothing but generous to me during the entire duration that he was staking me to play. He also taught me a lot about the game and I can say with great certainty that I wouldn't be half the player I am today if he hadnt pushed me to improve. Ive just recently started to pay him back and plan to continue to do so in the coming months until he is paid in full. It kind of sucks in a sense, since im playing full time now and poker money is paying for my rent+all my expenses, but I know it something that has to be done.

The last couple months Ive been rebuilding my roll, playing a lot live at Belmark Lanes in Ann Arbor and Trippers Bar and Grill in East Lansing. The 2/5 game at Belmark has a lot of soft spots and Ive had a lot of success in that game. Im finally starting to think on a higher level and am really starting to focus on exploting the individual leaks that I see in my opponents' games. My housemate Austin has also been grinding these games and being able to talk over various hands and situations with another good player has definitely been advantageous for both of us.

As for online play, Ive taken a break from online cash and really havent played online cash seriously since before I left for France. I will not play online cash a gain until I have 5k that I can throw online. Im also really adamant about not playing online cash without pokertracker. The new PT3 is pretty cool though. Unlike the old PT, it has a built in heads up database and seems to run much smoother than PT2. Im also holding back on online cash due to some of the tilt issues ive had in the past. Im done with crushing the lower limits and then monkey tilting away all my gold at higher stakes. That aint gonna happen any more. Discipline and accountability kid. Its the name of the game.

I have been playing a bunch of online donkaments lately, including several FTOPS events. Ive definitely run really well in the sattelites, and have made it past the second break in every event Ive played. Ive also made deep runs in the daily double, 32k guaranteed, and the $20+2 with rebuys. The common theme in these tournaments is that I run up a big stack early and then end up losing flips late in the tourament. Its all good though. Ive been cashing pretty regularly and have put myself in a position to win, which is all I can ask for.

I dont mean to bore you for too much longer but I have another issue to address and thats with my weight and health. Im up to 196 pounds and my body is soon to resemble that of a South Park character. In order to get in the gym and get motivated again, I am crossbooking a bet with a friend. For every day that I dont work out, I owe him $10, and for every class that he misses, he owes me $10. Hopefully, this will get my ass in gear so that I can get back in shape.

Until next time-
Kyle

Nice Days 4, 5, and 6

2008-06-11T16:41:00.000-07:00

Bleh, so Ive been getting killed at the tables lately. Today, I lost a 4way all in with AA and got pwnsouled by 3s2s. That being said, I couldnt have asked for a better situation. I was in the BB and the pot was limped around to me, so I looked around, counted the number of limpers (in an attempt to make it look like a steal) and raised to 60. UTG calls, a MP limper calls, and the button (young Finnish internet player) gives me a look and announces a raise to 160. I ship it in, and get called by all 3 players and am up against AK, 99, and 23 suited. So i have roughly 57% equity in a pot where I need only 25% equity to show a profit, so yeah thats reasonable to say the least

Yesterday, I lost a 250 euro all in with AQ v TT. The day before yesterday I lost a 350 euro all in with JJ v TT.

Im confident that if I keep playing playing well, I can turn things around pretty quickly. Since arriving in France, I think Ive won one pot at showdown with a set of 7s and that was for like 100 euros so thats pretty lol and all. Meh, at least I watched CTS' new Cardrunners video last night with Taylor and Brymstarr where they played against Mcshove and EC10 at 5/10 HU NL. Learned a lot and enjoyed that a ton. Until next time~

-Kyle

Nice Day 3

2008-06-09T06:24:00.001-07:00

Got rocked in the game today. Was card dead all day and then finally picked up two red Kings that ran into Aces for 400 euros. Played four hands all day-AhQh, 77, QcJc, and KdKh and didn't win a single pot over 40 euros. Lost a total of 500 euros on the day :(

Last night after I got done playing, I came back to the appartment and watched When You Wish Upon A Weinstein- one of my favorite Family Guy episodes ever. That made me feel a bit better

Today, I plan on watching Daut44's 2/4 FR video on Cardrunners and then Ill probably run and get some food before i start playing. Hopefully, I can turn things around and book a nice win today. Wish me luck!

-Kyle

Greetings from Nice Day 2

2008-06-07T20:38:00.000-07:00

Hi guys! My second day in Nice went really well. I woke up at 230pm after having gone to bed at 5am the previous night. Crazy hours I know but that comes with the territory of being a professional poker player, so I guess I better get used to it. I really hope that I just get used to this schedule and sort of stay jetlagged so that I can adjust easily to working long hours at night and sleeping a fair amount during the day.

After waking up, I tried to get a haircut at a local barber that is literally located right around the corner from the appartment, but that didnt work out too well. Supposedly, I cant get an appointment until Tuesday! Seems pretty riddiculous to me, but apparently they take this shit pretty seriously around here.

Bah, so after that, I was locked out of our appartment and I couldnt manage to get my phone to work. Then I tried texting Alex and that failed as well. Finally, I resorted to yelling but apparently no1 could hear me. So I was locked out and thought about asking random people if I could use their phone but for some reason, I decided against it. So what I finally decided to do was search for a payphone. But yeah, that failed miserably as well. Apparently in France, you have to pay by credit card to use a payphone, and since I dont own any credit cards, I couldnt manage to get the phone to work. So finally, I just said Id to have wait a while, and hopefully, someone would come and let me in. Yeah, so luckily that worked out well, and in like 15 mins, I was finally able to get into our building.

So once I got inside, I decided itd be safer not to leave, until I got a copy of the appartment key. For the rest of the afternoon, I pretty much just chilled, went on facebook for a while, and made a few sensless rambles on the forums. After a little while, I had wasted enough time, and the crew was ready for dinner. Dinner was fucking amazing tonight. We went to this little place in North Nice, that looked like a little hole in the wall, but man was the food good. The atmosphere was also really chill, with our friend and temporary housemate Jay working the saxaphone. For appetizers, we had these little lamb sauasages and some calimari that was absolutely delicious. For my entree, I ordered some filet, that turned out to be reallly good.

After dinner, we ventured to the Casino and put our names on the waiting list. The games were AMAZING tonight and I really wish I could have kept playing when the casino closed at 4. I managed to book a small win of 105 euros and I thought I played pretty well all night.

Anyways, Im loving France so far and plan on spending some time at the beach tomorrow. Hopefully, I can meet some girls that will make my stay even more enjoyable. Thats all for now, wish me best of luck in the games tomorrow!

-Kyle

Greetings from Nice Day 1

2008-06-07T09:57:00.000-07:00

Hi all. I know its been a while since Ive updated and I'm sorry for that. Ive been very busy over the last month, with lots of online and live play. Things will continue to be quite hectic, as I will be living in Nice, France getting settled in, while making the transition to playing full time.

As for my trip, I left Michigan on Tuesday the 3rd and made the drive with Alex and his friend Stephano to New York City. I didnt really get to enjoy New York all that much, since I was stuck in my hotel room for the majority of the time. However, the parts of the city I did manage to visit, I really enjoyed.

Anyways, the night of the 3rd, we all ate at a Fuji, a great Sushi restaurant in the city. After dinner, we walked around the city for a while and I managed to see several different parts of the city. My favorite area that we toured was probably the West Village, where NYU is located.

The day of the fourth, I didn't really do a whole lot. During the day, I just watched a bunch of movies, while sweating some of the bigger games online. During the evening, I attempted to meet up with my friend George, but he was busy being a flake, so we didn't get to meet up.

I woke up pretty early on the 5th and helped Alex return the car that he had rented. Then Me, Alex, his wife Anna, and son Daniel, headed to the airport to check in our luggage and bags. We waited in the airport for a while, ate some overpriced airport food, and then finally got on the plane at around 530pm. The 8 hour flight went far smoother than expected. I slept like a baby for the entire flight and when I woke up, we were literally 15 minutes from our destination.

Anyways, the city of Nice, looked pretty amazing from the plane and even better in person. The city is absolutely beautiful. The downtown area is located right along the beach and there are these massive hills, along the coast that look absolutely amazing at night. The color of the water here is also pretty crazy and the weather isn't bad either :)

So yeah, last night, I played for about 6 hours and booked a small loss of 225 Euros. I made a few mistakes but for the most part was happy with my play. The game was great and I definitely feel like I got a good feel for the players/game flow by the end of the night. Ill be making a few small adjustments to my play tonight, including playing a tighter range in EP (TT+, AKs), limping all pocket pairs in early/middle position and playing extremely tight push/fold on my first buyin, since I will be shortstacked compared to the rest of the table.

Other than that, I plan on enjoying the city some more and taking a bunch of pictures that I hope to post soon. Wish me luck in the games tonight

-Kyle

Graphz

2008-04-06T15:44:00.001-07:00

Session Notes (BB/100 hands + $/hr etc) (UB)

2008-04-06T15:34:00.001-07:00

This Week''s UB Stats

2008-04-06T15:33:00.001-07:00

Hilarious Interview with TakeChip

2008-04-05T18:21:00.000-07:00

TakeChip is my new idol

http://www.flopturnriver.com/blogs/f...p-dauteuil-431

Live Poker, This Summer, Next Fall, Various Tidbits

2008-04-05T17:36:00.000-07:00

I know its been a while since ive updated my blog and that can be attributed to my sheer laziness. Lately, Ive been waking up at 4 or 5pm, which is just riddiculous. Even though the best games are at night, I really cant keep up with my current sleep schedule. So yeah, gotta change that

On to live poker, grrr live poker has been pretty rigged for me lately. Ive lost 2k or so, playing in various home games around campus, live games at Touchdowns, and a few failed Casino trips. Even though I cant be happy with my results, I am happy with my play (except for a few situations) and the availabilty of games around campus.

My last casino trip was extremely frustrating. By now, Im sure you all know that I dont have a car and Im not resourceful enough to take a Greyhound to Detroit. So basically, every time I want to go to the casino, I end up shelling out 160 bucks, and thats just for transportation! So yeah, that might seem pretty riddiculous, but live games are so soft, that sometimes I just cant pass up the opportunity to play!

So anyways on to some actual hands/results, I buy in at the 2/5nl game with $500 (100bb/the max) and notice the same nitty, weak tight regulars who call themselves pros sitting there rotting away day after day like they usually do. Im literally at the table for like 2 hours, before seeing anything remotely playable. I win a few small pots here and there and manage to hover around even for the next say 6 hours (I lose track of time at the table). Finally, I pick up AA utg, and since the table had been so active, I decided to limp raise and isolate players who had been calling 3bets with weak hands. Anyways, so its limped around to the SB, who pumps it up to 35. SB in the hand is like a 35 year old middle aged man, whos a regular, who doesnt seem to play ALL that bad. Anyways, I make it 135, and its folded around to the middle aged man, who calls almost immediately. At that point, Im like o fuck this dude isnt laying his hand down, I hope he doesnt suck out on me! At that moment, I knew he had exactly one of 4 hands (JJ, QQ, KK, or AA) Heres, my logic behind the hand. My man is tight preflop, i mean i am pretty confident that he wouldnt call a limp/ raise of 100 more dollars INSTANTLY with anything less than this hand range. So that was my read on the hand. Anyways, flop comes 8J9 two spades, and my man leads for 200. At this point, I had like 400 behind, and I decided not to slow play and just shove allin. ARRRRRRR innnnn, since I was ahead of everything except JJJ, and like I said before he cant have 8s, 9s, or q10s, so that takes those 3 hands out of the equation. So my man ends up calling with QQ and spikes a Q ball on the river to send me packing with a net loss of 660 on the day. Gotta love this game!

As for this summer, Ive decided to stay in Ann Arbor, as opposed to moving out to Oakland/Sanfran, which was my original plan. The thing is, I can sublet a place in AA for really cheap and make a shiton of money this summer. If I were to move out to SF, i would still probably make a lot of money, cuz im a baller and thats what i do, but rent would be much more expensive. Thus, its Ann Arbor for one more summer.

If all goes well, I plan on moving somewhere outside of the US next fall. I would be living in a SSNL house with a bunch of other poker players. The players who are living there now keep us all updated with constant trip reports and photo albums and they all seem like theyre having a great time. The great thing about living outside of the US is that you can live like a king for relatively cheap. Add that to days of grinding on the beach and the great food and Im soooo there!

Other than that, Ive been grinding a lot lately. Im more overrolled now (As far as buyins) then ive ever been and its feels great. I emailed UB support for my hand histories, so once I get those imported into PokerTracker, Ill post those soon.

Until then
Holla

Session Notes (BB/100 hands + $/hr etc)

2008-04-02T23:06:00.001-07:00

Stats

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

Some recent HU stats

2008-03-24T10:00:00.000-07:00

My heads up game is progressing nicely, thanks to the likes of CTS and CR'S newest pro MasterLJ. Heres a graph of my recent results. 1/2 of this is 50nl hu while the latter half is 100nlhu. All on FTP.

Ive been playing a ton of UB too. Running pretty good there but unfortunately, no PT :(

Recent Shot at 5/10NL

2007-10-18T09:57:00.000-07:00

So I decided to take a shot at 5/10NL against The Ogrrre. Here's how it went :(

I came into the match as an unknown, so he probably assumes that I play poorly. During the beginning of the match, I had been 3 betting him pretty liberaly in position. Out of position, I was playing fairly straightfoward, folding most hands and electing to check raise most flops when I did continue. The match had been playing pretty slowly, until this hand came up---

FullTiltPoker Game #3885471993: Table Mare (heads up) - $5/$10 - No Limit Hold'em - 18:44:53 ET - 2007/10/17
Seat 1: Aboutmypaper ($390)
Seat 2: THE OGrrrE ($389.50)
Aboutmypaper posts the small blind of $5
THE OGrrrE posts the big blind of $10
The button is in seat #1
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Aboutmypaper [Ac Qc]
Aboutmypaper raises to $35
THE OGrrrE calls $25
*** FLOP *** [3d Th Ah]
THE OGrrrE checks
Aboutmypaper has 15 seconds left to act
Aboutmypaper bets $48
THE OGrrrE has 15 seconds left to act
THE OGrrrE calls $48
*** TURN *** [3d Th Ah] [3s]
THE OGrrrE checks
Aboutmypaper has 15 seconds left to act
Aboutmypaper bets $100
THE OGrrrE raises to $306.50, and is all in
Aboutmypaper calls $206.50
THE OGrrrE shows [7s As]
Aboutmypaper shows [Ac Qc]
*** RIVER *** [3d Th Ah 3s] [2h]
THE OGrrrE shows two pair, Aces and Threes
Aboutmypaper shows two pair, Aces and Threes
Aboutmypaper wins the pot ($778.50) with two pair, Aces and Threes
THE OGrrrE is sitting out
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $779 | Rake $0.50
Board: [3d Th Ah 3s 2h]
Seat 1: Aboutmypaper (small blind) showed [Ac Qc] and won ($778.50) with two pair, Aces and Threes
Seat 2: THE OGrrrE (big blind) showed [7s As] and lost with two pair, Aces and Threes

During the next few rounds, I picked up a bunch of small/medium sized pots, semi-bluffing in several spots and hitting my fair share of flops. The Ogrrre had been in line for the most part, folding to my aggression, until this hand came up---

FullTiltPoker Game #3885581993: Table Mare (heads up) - $5/$10 - No Limit Hold'em - 18:56:46 ET - 2007/10/17
Seat 1: Aboutmypaper ($886)
Seat 2: THE OGrrrE ($387.50)
THE OGrrrE posts the small blind of $5
Aboutmypaper posts the big blind of $10
The button is in seat #2
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Aboutmypaper [9d Kd]
THE OGrrrE raises to $30
Aboutmypaper calls $20
*** FLOP *** [5d 8d 8s]
Aboutmypaper checks
THE OGrrrE checks
*** TURN *** [5d 8d 8s] [Qd]
Aboutmypaper checks
THE OGrrrE bets $40
Aboutmypaper raises to $120
THE OGrrrE raises to $357.50, and is all in
Aboutmypaper calls $237.50
THE OGrrrE shows [4h Ad]
Aboutmypaper shows [9d Kd]
*** RIVER *** [5d 8d 8s Qd] [6d]
THE OGrrrE shows a flush, Ace high
Aboutmypaper shows a flush, King high
THE OGrrrE wins the pot ($774.50) with a flush, Ace high
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $775 | Rake $0.50
Board: [5d 8d 8s Qd 6d]
Seat 1: Aboutmypaper (big blind) showed [9d Kd] and lost with a flush, King high
Seat 2: THE OGrrrE (small blind) showed [4h Ad] and won ($774.50) with a flush, Ace high

Ahhhhhhh

2007-09-10T10:39:00.000-07:00

2007-09-08T17:01:00.000-07:00

Running Terribly

2007-08-08T12:46:00.001-07:00

Last two weeks have been extremely frustrating for me....

Goals for the Month of August/Upcoming Plans

2007-08-03T18:14:00.000-07:00

Holla! I know its been a while since I last updated. Ive been playing a ton online lately so sorry I havent been keeping up with the blog as much. Because of a recent downswing, Ive resorted mostly to playing 100nl on Absoluteeeee. So basically busto stakes+pwnage has led to mad proffitttts. I know I always complain about how bad I run, but damn, once I start to run well, I should be able to move up and do work at 200nl fairly soon. Im already pretty well rolled for 200nl but since Im doing so well at 100nl, I figure Ill just grind out a few more K before moving up. Its never a mistake to be overolled. By grinding 100nl and reaching 60 buyins for 200NL before i actually move up again, I should have the type of bankroll flexibility, where variance isnt really that big of an issue.

Here are my goals for the month of August

1) 60k hands
2) Continue to play really nitty postflop
3) Play at least 3 donkaments (preferably cashing in at least one)
4) Spend more time analyzing positional stats on Poker Tracker
5) Spend more time with actual hand analysis (not just my own hands but others as well)
6) Make an effort not to tilt/spew! Not even once per session! This comes with winning the battle of mistakes. Not tilting/spewing alone will increase my winrate substantially
7) Make video of me 6 tabling 100nl for SSNL forum
8) Move up to 200NL
9) Profittttsssss??????

Besides poker, Im really excited to get my X-Box 360 that I ordered with my rewards points on AP. Shippppp it. Also, Im real hype for the end of the month, where I will be lounging in the VIP and popping bottles of cristal and smoking blunts of grandaddy purp (lol) at Rock The Bells (sick lineup btw, for those who havent heard, check it out) . Besides that, I might take a trip out to Cali to visit my friend Jordan. Im feelin lazy though and dont feel like writing anymore so Im going to have to bid yall adieu with that.

Peace

Gimme The Loooooottt

2007-07-20T18:10:00.000-07:00

I was able to grind out almost 30 hours at the tables this week during my most recent trip to Casino Windsor. I left Ann Arbor Monday morning and played from 2pm-8am on Monday night/Tuesday morning. After sleeping for a few hours, I then played from 5pm-4am on Tuesday night/Wednesday morning before passing out until 4pm. After hitting up the Artist Cafe for some dinner, I returned to the tables on Wednesday night and played until 11pm, at which point I returned to Ann Arbor. I stayed three nights in the Travelodge Hotel, a reasonably hotel/motel (ran me around $110 p/night), which was within walking distance of the casino. I won all three nights during my trip, collecting $1200 in total profit. With hotel and various other expenses (drinks, food, etc) , I left Windsor up about +$900. Not too bad for three days of work. Anyways....

During Monday's session, I managed to get stuck pretty quickly, losing my first buy-in on just my second hand at the table. I picked up AJ in the BB and foolishly just flat called a $15 pre-flop raise, from a MP raiser. Thinking back, I would not have lost the hand, if I had 3-bet preflop. A bet of like $100 more, would have narrowed the field, and given my image, I probably could have just taken down the pot preflop. Even as played PF, I definitely over-valued my hand and played it rather poorly postflop. In a multi-way pot, I need to learn to slow down on my 1pr hands and fold to aggression against opponents that I perceive as competent/thinking and/or tricky. Anyways, the flop during this hand came A56. After being checked around to me, I foolishly bet $40. In retrospect, the size of this bet was way too small, basically just asking my opponents to call with various weaker aces/draws. My bet of $40 was called by two players. The turn brought a 4 of hearts, a scare card for my hand, given the possibility that someone was drawing with a hand like 78 (certainly plausible). We check it around. River brings another Ace, possibly the worst card that I can see, as it strengthens my hand considerably, while giving completed straights the chance to check-raise and stack off hands like A10-AK. Both players check around to me and without thinking too much, I bet out for $75. Once again, this bet was a mistake. Betting in this spot is -EV as I am only going to get called by better hands and will not get stronger hands to fold. At this point, I had only like 60 behind, so when my opponent check raised, I basically was pot committed, even though I knew I was behind. Sure enough, he flipped 78 for the made straight. Ughh terrible all around on my part. Time to relllllllloooooaaaaaaddddd

After losing the hand, I pull out another $200 and look down at 88 at my first hand back at the table. I raise in EP to 25 and get two callers. Flop brings 662, two diamonds. Pretty decent flop for 88, although the 6 is kind of a scare card, so I elect to check-call my opponents bet of $30. Turn brings an 8 diamonds (the perfect card for me as it completes my boat and any potential flush draws that my opponents could have been drawing to). I check, as do my two opponents. River brings an Ace, a card that is sure to have helped someone and I check again (obviously with the intention of C/R). A weak-tightish player bets out $60 and I move all in for like $120 more. He calls and flips a 6. Hollerrrrr. Back to $400 and even for the day.

For the next few hours, I didnt really play any big hands and my stack hovered between $400 and $500. By 3am, most of the players from our table had left already and we were down to 3 handed play. My edge three handed is far greater than it is 9 handed, since I typically play 6max games online, where position and aggression in position becomes much more important than your typical live full ring game. 3 handed, I like to raise the button every hand (regardless of the strength of my hand), forcing pressure on my opponents to play raised pots out of position. My first big hand 3 handed was against this donkey who showed up at like 4am. He didnt really seem to know what he was doing, as he continually asked the dealer when he was supposed to post, etc. Seemed like a pretty big noob. Ehh so anyways, I pick up A4 soooooted on the button and raise to 20. Donkey calls and were headed to the flop. Flop brings 4210 and I elect to bet half the pot. Donkey calls and turn brings 9 clubs, improving my hand to a pair, to go along with the nut flush draw. I elect to check, the donkey bets out 30, and I call. Given his image and double barrel frequency, the donkeys range most likely constituted 10x. If I didnt improve on the river, my plan was to fold to a big river bet, as I dont think I would be able to push him off of a 10. Ehh so river comes 3 clubs, giving me the nuttttsssss. I elect to check again (since I was about 95 percent sure that the donkey was going to bet again, against a more competent player I would typically lead out in this spot) and donk says another 35. I casually flip a $100 bill into the middle and say "make it 135". Donkeys face is priceless, he looks really confused. Donkey then says something like "you trying to make a move on me kid" and calls. I flip the nuts and with like $25 in chips in front of him, donkey announces that its time to leave. Donkey leaves and were down to heads up. My opponent is definitely competent, although I think that he has some tendencies that are exploitable. I ended up busting him when I hit a set of 8s on the turn, to beat his flopped two pair. At this point, I was +400 on the day, and decided to call it a night.

I slept most of the day Tuesday, making my return to the tables, at 5pm Tuesday night. My first big hand at the table, I pick up 88 in the bb and raised to $35, after several players had limped around to me PF. I get one caller and we head to the flop. Flop brings J66 and I elect to check. My opponent checks behind. Turn brings another J and I decide its time to bet. I make it $35 and my opponent insta raises to $70. I elect to call and re-evaluate the river. River brings another J, a great card for me, as it narrows my opponents range considerably. I elect to check, in order to induce a bluff from my opponent as I am fairly confident that I have the best hand at this point. My opponent tanks for a second and bets out $75. I snap call and say "just 88". Obviously, im good. This one asian dude says, 88 is this guy a professional or something? Pssshhhhh

About an hour later, I won an absolutely massive pot with 44. I raised in EP to 25 getting four callers. Flop brings KK4. SHIPTHEMONIES. I obviously check and it goes around to this asian dude who goes all in for like 120. I tank for a while and decide to just flat call, hoping that someone raises behind me. Then BOOOOOOOMMMMMM. Crazy Marco, a donkish laggggy regular, moves all in for 450 more. I have him covered with about 470 in front of me. I snap call and thow down my hand. Im up against K9 and KJ and end up holding. Ship the $1200 pot.

For about an hour, I fluctuated between 1200-1300 when this hand came up. Crazy Marco raises in EP to 25. I lookdown at A10 offsuit and elect to call on the button. Flop brings AA2. Marco checks and I bet out $75. Marco calls. Turn brings K hearts. Marco bets out $125. At the time, I really felt that I was way ahead of Marco's opening range. This was such a weird spot. Anyone who has played with Marco before, knows that hes an absolute maniac, capable of showing up with ANYTHING in any given hand. Folding here was completely out of the question and calling seemed weak at the time, so I elected to shove for like $440 more. As soon as I announce that im allin, i get instacalled and Marco flips AK. Coooollllerrrr city.

After getting fucked by Marco the donk, I managed to get off tilt and win 4 big hands in a row. I doubled through with quad aces on a board of AA248 against an opponent who stacked off with 99 after I check raised his river bet of $80 to $280. I then won a nice pot with QJ on a board of QJ5A2 against an opponent that overplayed AK. All in all, I ended up 600 on the night. I finally left the Casino at like 4am and decided to just go pass out back at the hotel.

Wednesday was pretty uneventful for the most part. I had a terrible run of cards at the table. I doubled up pretty quickly against this random donk, who 4bet into my 2pr with his flush draw. I somehow held up and managed to double up to $400. Besides that, I was seeing a lot of unplayable hands. Pretty lame overall. +200 for the day

I decided by Wednesday night that I was tired of playing live and that I was tired of spending money on hotels and that I wanted to come back to Ann Arbor. I plan on playing in the big game on Saturday, if I can find a way to get up there. If I go, Ill probably roll with Michael Phelps, since I know he usually plays in that game. I met Mike on Wednesday and rolled back to Ann Arbor with him after a session at 200max. He seemed like a pretty chill kid and we talked a lot about online poker. I guess he plays 10-25NL on UB and is a regular in the $100 rebuy tournaments on stars and full tilt.

One more thing, I finally hired a poker coach. I am really trying to improve and need someone to sweat my sessions on the regular. I chose DJSENSEI2002 from the 2+2 forums who is a part of 3bet. net (the same coaching site that KRANTZ, WHITELIME, FOXWOODFIEND and other highstakes ballers are a part of). Even though coaching is expensive, I definitely think that as an investment, it is defintely +ev.

1

Lil' Wayne Concert + Upcoming Trip to Windsor

2007-07-15T18:46:00.001-07:00

Last night, a bunch of us went to go see Lil Wayne, Fabolous, Young Jeezy, and Young Buck in concert at Freedom Hall in Detroit. This was basically my first live concert, so I really had no idea what to expect. I was suprised at how small the venue was considering the lineup that was there. There seemed to be a ton of open seats, which I definitely wasnt anticipating seeing.

Here are some random observations of the night:

1) When Lil Wayne came out, the crowd went absolutely crazy. Even though Wayne was on stage for like 20 mins, seeing him perform live was a a really cool experience. For those of you I havent already talked to, Lil Wayne left stage saying that he felt "disrespected" by the city of Detroit. (My theory is that he was upset at how small the venue was. Since they were only able to sell a certain number of seats, I guess they could only pay Lil Wayne for a certain amount of stage-time. Ehh idk though, the whole thing is kinda confusing to me.It seems like they would have told wayne before he went on stage that he only had 25 mins, so I dont know he would be upset at his fans that actually did show love by showing up). I dont know if he'll come back to Detroit, because he left to some vicious boos and chants of "bullshit bullshit".
2) Fab' must have been wearing 500k worth of jewelry. He had like 4 plantimum chains on and his belt buckle was just riddiculous. As expected, Fab definitely held it down, coming with some of his older stuff mixed with a few tracks off his new album
3) Jeezy's performance was definitely the hypest of the night. He came out with a ton of energy and seemed determined to hype up the crowd. Definitely one of my favorite parts of the night was when Jeezy came out and was like "They just told me backstage that I only got mothafuckin 25 mins. You know what, fuck that! I'ma make this the best mothafuckin 25 mins of your lives" But yea like I said, I can see why people have so much love for Jeezy. He just seemed to go all out with his performance. He just came real hard with it and brought a level of intensity that I thought some of the others lacked.
4)One final highlight of the night was when the entire lawn section of the crowd rushed all of the open seats in the general seating area, a clutch call that landed us 80 dollar seats and closer to the stage. Funny thing is we saw it all go down... These girls who were chillin right in front of us, basically set it all off. Lol, i guess u had to be there but it was just funny because once they rushed, pretty much everyone else was like fuck it and did the same thing and within like 2 mins, several hundred people made it down to the lower level.

Besides that, Im leaving for Windsor tomorrow at 2:30pm and plan on staying for there for 7-- days. I plan on staying in some cheap hotel like the Holiday Inn or somethin and just grinding all day. Basically, Im giving it a week to see what its like to be a live pro. If poker continues to go well, the plan is to move out to Vegas and live there for at least half the summer. Im not sure if Im going to be able to handle just poker 24/7 but I really feel like if I want to take the next step and actually get good, I need to devote myself to the game. Hopefully, everything goes well this week. Im going to be basically just playing poker and nothing else, so feel free to give me a call and check up on me.

-Younghov23

My Take On Tilt

2007-07-10T19:20:00.000-07:00

I love it when people who have no idea about professional/serious gambling attempt to have a conversation with me about it when they just say such inane things like "so I heard you played poker today? So-and-so told me you had a bad day?"

I usally respond with something like "oh, I dropped about 5 buyins today on some coolers and some questionable plays by myself, so im stuck around $1000. But in anycase I'm not worried about it because it was a small sample size and I think my table selection skills are impr-" Only to be cut off by "OMG 1000 bucks!!!!!1! Dude that's alot of money! You sure you don't have a gambling problem?"

It seems like every time a situation like this comes up, I usually end up just walking away without really saying anything. Ehhhh Idk what to do, but Im getting kinda tired of all that. I've decide that the next time someone asks me anything that I consider stupid involving poker, Im going to just tweak out and be like "Yeah man, I did lose $1,000 at the Casino last night. I would actually care but Im up like 4k this week online and thats just on one site. Actually, come to think of it, Im completely confident enough to say that Ive profited more within the last few days then you will all summer. So 1k losses are really no big deal. But uhhh if you have anything else to say, just let me know. Enjoy the rest of your night yo"

My top 10:

10) Are these poker sites legit? Like, do they actually pay you?
9) Since everyone gets basically gets the same opportunities and the same hands, doesnt everything just like balance out
8) You GAMBLE online for a LIVING?
7) TRUST ME, all of my friends were in to poker, they all played online, and they all said the same things. When it comes down to it, the luck is just in the cards (Thought process: I could care less about your newbish busto friends. Shut it down ho)
6) You think I could give you like $100 and you could turn it into 2k for me? Ill give u half my action bro! (WTF newb, why would i waste my time turning 100 dollars of your money into 2k? Do you really think that this is worth my time?)
5) Thats nice but you will lose it all once you stop getting lucky (Really, is that going to happen. Am I really going to lose 40 buy-ins a row, allwhile instashoving tiltmonkeying my way to bustoville?)
4) "I thought online poker was illegal"... makes me want to punch a baby in the face
3) Live Newb: You know why they call AK Anna Kournikova? (Me- bored and highly uninterested what this live newb has to say) :why is that? LN: Looks good but never wins, bunch of other idiots chuckle it up at the table (Inside my mind- maybe if you learned how to play AK, you wouldnt feel the same way you incompetent newb, sratches head, all while feeling little pieces of my brain die inside my skull)
2) The sites are rigged to create big hands against big hands so all the money gets all in and thus they profit from big rake. Only winner online is the rake (Obv they don't realize there is a rake max and that the sites profit more when you slowly but surely win and lose small pot after small pot until they rake all your money)
1) And the Winner- But How much did u lose? (Plebes, im done hating for now. Ill just consider this to be self-explanatory and pray that your simple minds can grasp why this enrages me.)

2007-07-09T18:21:00.001-07:00

IPO Hov No Need For Reverse Merger, The Boy Money Talks No Need To Converse Further

2007-07-09T14:54:00.000-07:00

Sorry I havent updated in a while. Ive been incredibly busy playing online. I have been playing mostly 1/2 and 2/4 nl online, playing primarily on Absolute, Cake, and Full Tilt. Ive also been taking shots at 5/10nl on Full Tilt Poker and the deepstack 2/4 games on Absolute Poker (800 max) Ill post my Pokertracker stats and graphs (finally figured out how to do this) sometime this week. Ive been running really well online, so hopefully that will continue. I plan on playing in Absolute's 150k guaranteed tournament this Saturday at 4:30. Hopefully, I will do well, as I continue to reiterate that I am more than due for a tournament win. I know its just a matter of time before it happens.

Last night, I went up to Windsor with two of my friends, Kev and Greg. We arrived at the casino at like 2:30 or so, and I was extremely pleased that a 2/5 game had already been running. When I sat down at the table, there were already several big stacks, so i assumed that the game had been running for a while (2 stacks of >1.5k and several stacks over 800 plus). After a few rotations at the table, I realized that the game was quite jucy, as seemingly every other hand resulted in all in type situations.

My first hand at the table, I pick up 78 of hearts in the BB. UTG +1 raises to 35 (youngish Black dude, stack of like 450, no real reads on his play yet). My friend Sean (I would definitely describe his play as pretty lagish preflop and pretty straightfoward postflop, although hes definitely capable of moves and big bluffs, albeit a tendency to spew sometimes) calls from the Button(he has about 450 as well after just doubling through a complete noob who essentially donated 250 to his stack after calling 200+ on a board of KQ9 with JJ lol).I decide to see a flop and call as well. Flop comes K78 two spades and I check. My logic behind a check here is simple. With the texture of this flop and being first to act against 2 agressive opponents, this board presents a great opportunity to check raise. With the board being this loaded, someone has to have hit at least a piece of the flop. With the flush draw being out there and spades being out there as well, a check raise is an effective measure in betting out any potential draws (flush draws, oesd's,etc), while gaining value from hands such as K9, K10,KJ, KQ, and AK.

After I check, youngish black dude bets 40 dollars to which Sean instaraises to 80. Heres what went through my mind during the action in this hand. At this point, I think Sean is fairly weak. His min-raise cues my belief that his hand range can be narrowed down to KJ-KQ. I just cant see 777 or 888 making this raise, clearly KKK is out of the equation (no RR preflop, Sean typically likes to bump his big pairs up to 125 or so) and K7 and K8 are doubtful considering the preflop raise (although if I am beat, I feel like this is his most likely holding) .

So at this point, after narrowing my opponents hand ranges, I really believed that I had the best hand. Following Seans reraise I tanked for a bit and moved all in for 240 plus. Shockingly, the original raiser calls (after tanking) and Sean thinks for 2 seconds before folding KJ. Young black dude flips KQ and Im happy to see that Im ahead nearly 88%/12%. Great spot for me. I did all I could do in the hand but unfortunatlely my opponent drew out on the river after spiking an Ace on the turn and then rivering an Ace on the river, for higher two pair :O Ehhh tough beat, time to reload.

The very next hand i sit down (After reloading to 200), i pick up K10 hearts in the CO and I bump it up to 25. Loose passive fish calls from the button and sb and bb complete. Flop brings K25, pretty decent flop for me. I bet out 50 and loose passive fish calls. Everyone else folds. Turn brings 9 hearts giving me Top pr with K high flush draw. I bet out 80 and loose passive fish shoves. I insta call and he flips J9 of hearts. River brings another heart and I ship the pot, doubling my stack to close to 400.

Nothing really eventful went down and for the next hour or so. Basically, I was just real card dead, seeing an abundance of unplayable hands that would be tough for even the most adept post flop players to work with. Its a shame because my table was sooooo weak. My time sitting out was definitely productive in that I received a chance to analyze the betting patterns and tendencies of my opponents. Ive really come along way in terms of my focus and analytical skills at the table. This combined with my hand reading abilities really leads me to believe that my live game is coming around. A major factor in anything that you do is confidence and my hard work and progression as a player has definitely left me feeling more confident at the table. I now feel that I am one of the best, if not the best, live player in the regular 2-5 game at Windsor.

My next big hand I pick up JJ on the button. CO (Weak tight player, older Iranian guy, who I later found out is a professor in the Medical School at the University of Michigan) makes it 25 to go. I reraise to $100. Suprisingly, BB flat calls (leaving himself with approximately 75 behind) and CO (originial raiser) folds. Flop brings J83 two clubs. DING DING DING. Prior to the flop, I felt extremely uncomfortable about my hand, after the BB flat called my originial raise. A flat call of a reraise usually signifies a strong hand, so I assumed that his range was JJ-AA, maybe AK, and dobtfully A10-AQ. With his hand range in mind, I check and BB moves all in. I obviously call thinking that I got lucky on him by spiking a Jack on the flop. I was shoked to see him turn over KJ (LOL). Ehh lesson learned, I guess not all smart, looking young Indian dudes, who rock Ghandi tees, play well.

In total I finished up 220 and change. At one time, I was in for 500 at the table (I was never down 500, but 500 is what I had invested at the table, at one time I was down 300 plus) and managed to recover quite nicely. We left relatively early, after approximately 4-5 hours of play. I was really sad to leave my table and really wish I could have kept playing. There were several extremely weak players at my table with huge stacks whose weaknesses (trust me there are more than a few) I know I could exploit. Like I said, online stats and graphs/results from PT will be posted soon. Until then, Ill be slayin it on the daily, get at me

Few Hands From Today

2007-06-30T16:54:00.000-07:00

Contemplating throwing a brick through my computer monitor....

Hand #1181011475000896: Seville (6-Max) 11475
Seat 1: scratchy (166.60 in chips)
Seat 2: Dumledyret (402.75 in chips)
Seat 4: PAYTHEPLAYA (211.55 in chips)
Seat 6: harrybeaverz (144.65 in chips)
Seat 8: B Money (300.20 in chips)
Seat 10: rjp3424 (252.05 in chips)
B Money: posts small blind $1
rjp3424: posts big blind $2
Dealt to PAYTHEPLAYA [ Js Jc ]
scratchy: raises to $4
Dumledyret: folds
PAYTHEPLAYA: raises to $18
harrybeaverz: calls
B Money: folds
rjp3424: folds
scratchy: raises to $32
PAYTHEPLAYA: calls
harrybeaverz: calls
*** FLOP *** [ 5s 5h 9h ]
scratchy: is all in
PAYTHEPLAYA: calls
scratchy: [Ah Qh ]
harrybeaverz: folds
*** TURN *** [ 4h ]
*** RIVER *** [ 2h ]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
scratchy wins $365.20 with Flush, Ace high

Hand #1181011653000995: Seville (6-Max) 11653
Seat 1: astroguy (99.40 in chips)
Seat 2: Suprah (201.05 in chips)
Seat 4: bavianen (411.25 in chips)
Seat 6: $McGriff$ (71.95 in chips)
Seat 8: Jeeves (120.70 in chips)
Seat 10: PAYTHEPLAYA (237.80 in chips)
Jeeves: posts small blind $1
PAYTHEPLAYA: posts big blind $2
Dealt to PAYTHEPLAYA [ Ac Qs ]
astroguy: folds
Suprah: folds
bavianen: raises to $4.50
$McGriff$: calls
Jeeves: folds
PAYTHEPLAYA: raises to $22
bavianen: folds
$McGriff$: calls
*** FLOP *** [ Jd 2c 2d ]
PAYTHEPLAYA: is all in
$McGriff$: is all in
PAYTHEPLAYA: [ Ac Qs ]
$McGriff$: [ Ks Qs ]
PAYTHEPLAYA: returns uncalled bet $165.85
*** TURN *** [ 3h ]
*** RIVER *** [ Kd ]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
$McGriff$ wins $146.40 with Two Pairs, Kings and Deuces

Hand #1181011486000429: Seville (6-Max) 11486
Seat 1: PAYTHEPLAYA (199.00 in chips)
Seat 4: ivAAron (188.15 in chips)
Seat 5: murdo (151.50 in chips)
Seat 6: Dumledyret (193.40 in chips)
Seat 7: dabajajo (110.80 in chips)
Dumledyret: posts small blind $1
dabajajo: posts big blind $2
Dealt to PAYTHEPLAYA [ Js As ]
PAYTHEPLAYA: raises to $7
ivAAron: folds
murdo: calls
Dumledyret: folds
dabajajo: calls
*** FLOP *** [ Jc 6s 4h ]
dabajajo: checks
PAYTHEPLAYA: bets $20.90
murdo: folds
dabajajo: calls
*** TURN *** [ 3h ]
dabajajo: checks
PAYTHEPLAYA: bets $30.90
dabajajo: calls
*** RIVER *** [ 7h ]
dabajajo: is all in
PAYTHEPLAYA: calls
*** SHOW DOWN ***
dabajajo: shows [ Jh Qh ] (Flush, Queen high)
PAYTHEPLAYA: mucks
dabajajo wins $227.60 with Flush, Queen high

Hand #1181011486000450: Seville (6-Max) 11486
Seat 1: PAYTHEPLAYA (183.55 in chips)
Seat 3: FLGators81 (171.25 in chips)
Seat 4: ivAAron (183.55 in chips)
Seat 5: murdo (81.75 in chips)
Seat 6: Dumledyret (283.95 in chips)
Seat 9: Nastyboy (151.35 in chips)
PAYTHEPLAYA: posts small blind $1
FLGators81: posts big blind $2
Dealt to PAYTHEPLAYA [ 2c 3c ]
ivAAron: raises to $7
murdo: calls
Dumledyret: folds
PAYTHEPLAYA: calls
FLGators81: folds
*** FLOP *** [ 2d 6h Ac ]
PAYTHEPLAYA: checks
ivAAron: checks
murdo: checks
*** TURN *** [ 2h ]
PAYTHEPLAYA: checks
ivAAron: checks
murdo: checks
*** RIVER *** [ Td ]
PAYTHEPLAYA: bets $21.85
ivAAron: raises to $55
murdo: folds
PAYTHEPLAYA: calls
*** SHOW DOWN ***
ivAAron: shows [ Tc Th ] (Full House, Tens full of Deuces)
PAYTHEPLAYA: mucks
ivAAron wins $131 with Full House, Tens full of Deuces

Hand #1181011465000853: Seville (6-Max) 11465
Seat 3: djbsavage (122.35 in chips)
Seat 6: acehigh41 (104.25 in chips)
Seat 7: PAYTHEPLAYA (376.65 in chips)
Seat 9: unreal888 (307.75 in chips)
PAYTHEPLAYA: posts small blind $1
unreal888: posts big blind $2
Dealt to PAYTHEPLAYA [ Ad Kd ]
djbsavage: raises to $4.50
acehigh41: calls
PAYTHEPLAYA: raises to $22
unreal888: folds
djbsavage: folds
acehigh41: calls
*** FLOP *** [ 4s Jd 8h ]
PAYTHEPLAYA: checks
acehigh41: checks
*** TURN *** [ Ah ]
PAYTHEPLAYA: checks
acehigh41: bets $18
PAYTHEPLAYA: raises to $36
acehigh41: calls
*** RIVER *** [ Kh ]
PAYTHEPLAYA: is all in
acehigh41: is all in
PAYTHEPLAYA: returns uncalled bet $272.40
*** SHOW DOWN ***
PAYTHEPLAYA: shows [ Ad Kd ] (Two Pairs, Aces and Kings)
acehigh41: shows [ 7h Th ] (Flush, Ace high)
acehigh41 wins $213 with Flush, Ace high

Doin it and doin it

2007-06-27T16:54:00.000-07:00

On Sunday Night, I transfered $400 dollars from my E-passporte account to Cake Poker, a new site, that I had heard about through Benstunner. I thought Id just make a relatively small deposit to see how I liked the software, pace of the game, quality of players, etc. On my first night, I dumped $250 playing the .50/1 games, so naturally I was pretty sure that I was headed to busto-ville, as this is the pattern that happens on most sites (small deposits usually cant handle the variance and proceed to busto pretty quickly).

So down to my last $150 on Cake from my initial deposit, I decide to do the only logical thing to avoid permanent residency in bustoville, move up in limits, drink a lot, smoke multiple blunts, and then come back and play 2/4. Heres how it went down... Im PAYTHEPLAYA btw...

Hand #1176011492001277: Amsterdam (6-max) 11492
Seat 2: Rotanimod (226.00 in chips)
Seat 6: PAYTHEPLAYA (156.00 in chips)
Seat 7: iGrind4Mine (477.80 in chips)
Seat 10: ThanksFish (173.30 in chips)
Rotanimod: posts small blind $2
PAYTHEPLAYA: posts big blind $4
Dealt to PAYTHEPLAYA [ Ks Kc ]
iGrind4Mine: folds
ThanksFish: calls
Rotanimod: calls
PAYTHEPLAYA: raises to $12
ThanksFish: calls
Rotanimod: calls
*** FLOP *** [ 4s 9s Ts ]
Rotanimod: checks
PAYTHEPLAYA: bets $20
ThanksFish: calls
Rotanimod: folds
*** TURN *** [ 4d ]
PAYTHEPLAYA: bets $60
ThanksFish: calls
*** RIVER *** [ Qd ]
PAYTHEPLAYA: is all in
ThanksFish: calls
*** SHOW DOWN ***
PAYTHEPLAYA: shows [ Ks Kc ] (Two Pairs, Kings and Fours)
ThanksFish: mucks
PAYTHEPLAYA wins $322 with Two Pairs, Kings and Fours

booooooom and then

Hand #1176011492001346: Amsterdam (6-max) 11492
Seat 2: Rotanimod (317.10 in chips)
Seat 3: pfsafety (397.50 in chips)
Seat 6: PAYTHEPLAYA (386.60 in chips)
Seat 7: iGrind4Mine (358.10 in chips)
Seat 10: ThanksFish (555.80 in chips)
Rotanimod: posts small blind $2
pfsafety: posts big blind $4
Dealt to PAYTHEPLAYA [ 8h 6h ]
PAYTHEPLAYA: raises to $14
iGrind4Mine: folds
ThanksFish: calls
Rotanimod: folds
pfsafety: folds
*** FLOP *** [ 7d 6s 9s ]
PAYTHEPLAYA: bets $16.15
ThanksFish: raises to $80.75
PAYTHEPLAYA: calls
*** TURN *** [ Qs ]
PAYTHEPLAYA: is all in
ThanksFish: folds
PAYTHEPLAYA: returns uncalled bet $291.85
*** SHOW DOWN ***
PAYTHEPLAYA: mucks
PAYTHEPLAYA wins $193.50

Please, players only....

Hand #1176011492001367: Amsterdam (6-max) 11492
Seat 2: Rotanimod (327.90 in chips)
Seat 3: pfsafety (403.90 in chips)
Seat 4: 3dubsInaTub (388.65 in chips)
Seat 6: PAYTHEPLAYA (534.40 in chips)
Seat 7: iGrind4Mine (384.00 in chips)
Seat 10: ThanksFish (498.65 in chips)
iGrind4Mine: posts small blind $2
ThanksFish: posts big blind $4
Dealt to PAYTHEPLAYA [ Kc Ks ]
Rotanimod: folds
pfsafety: folds
3dubsInaTub: folds
PAYTHEPLAYA: raises to $14
iGrind4Mine: folds
ThanksFish: raises to $40
PAYTHEPLAYA: raises to $108
ThanksFish: calls
*** FLOP *** [ 6d Js Qh ]
ThanksFish: bets $215
PAYTHEPLAYA: is all in
ThanksFish: folds (LOL)
PAYTHEPLAYA: returns uncalled bet $211.40
*** SHOW DOWN ***
PAYTHEPLAYA: mucks
PAYTHEPLAYA wins $645

IDK what this fish was doing but anyways, Guap Guap

Hand #1176011492001382: Amsterdam (6-max) 11492
Seat 2: Rotanimod (301.90 in chips)
Seat 3: d7d7d (400.00 in chips)
Seat 4: 3dubsInaTub (406.40 in chips)
Seat 6: PAYTHEPLAYA (530.05 in chips)
Seat 7: iGrind4Mine (365.25 in chips)
Seat 10: ThanksFish (517.10 in chips)
3dubsInaTub: posts small blind $2
PAYTHEPLAYA: posts big blind $4
Dealt to PAYTHEPLAYA [ Ts Ad ]
iGrind4Mine: folds
ThanksFish: calls
Rotanimod: folds
d7d7d: raises to $20
3dubsInaTub: folds
PAYTHEPLAYA: calls
ThanksFish: calls
*** FLOP *** [ 3h 5s 4d ]
PAYTHEPLAYA: checks
ThanksFish: checks
d7d7d: checks
*** TURN *** [ Qs ]
PAYTHEPLAYA: checks
ThanksFish: checks
d7d7d: checks
*** RIVER *** [ Td ]
PAYTHEPLAYA: checks
ThanksFish: bets $29.50
d7d7d: folds
PAYTHEPLAYA: calls
*** SHOW DOWN ***
ThanksFish: shows [ 7c 7s ] (Pair of Sevens)
PAYTHEPLAYA: shows [ Ts Ad ] (Pair of Tens)
PAYTHEPLAYA wins $118 with Pair of Tens

Thin value on the end was expert

Hand #1176011492001400: Amsterdam (6-max) 11492
Seat 2: Rotanimod (291.90 in chips)
Seat 3: d7d7d (392.00 in chips)
Seat 4: 3dubsInaTub (371.00 in chips)
Seat 6: PAYTHEPLAYA (704.25 in chips)
Seat 7: iGrind4Mine (384.00 in chips)
Seat 10: ThanksFish (461.20 in chips)
3dubsInaTub: posts small blind $2
PAYTHEPLAYA: posts big blind $4
Dealt to PAYTHEPLAYA [ Ah 3h ]
iGrind4Mine: folds
ThanksFish: folds
Rotanimod: raises to $14
d7d7d: calls
3dubsInaTub: folds
PAYTHEPLAYA: calls
*** FLOP *** [ 8s 8d 3d ]
PAYTHEPLAYA: checks
Rotanimod: checks
d7d7d: bets $32
PAYTHEPLAYA: calls
Rotanimod: folds
*** TURN *** [ 5s ]
PAYTHEPLAYA: bets $75
d7d7d: calls
*** RIVER *** [ Qh ]
PAYTHEPLAYA: bets $225
d7d7d: folds
PAYTHEPLAYA: returns uncalled bet $225
*** SHOW DOWN ***
PAYTHEPLAYA: mucks
PAYTHEPLAYA wins $255

Yes, I did just take down a pot of $255 with bottom pair

Hand #1176011915001488: Amsterdam (6-max) 11915
Seat 1: paperchaser (756.60 in chips)
Seat 3: iGrind4Mine (420.25 in chips)
Seat 4: Biscuit33 (569.40 in chips)
Seat 5: PAYTHEPLAYA (400.00 in chips)
Biscuit33: posts small blind $2
PAYTHEPLAYA: posts big blind $4
Dealt to PAYTHEPLAYA [ 8c 7h ]
paperchaser: raises to $14
iGrind4Mine: folds
Biscuit33: folds
PAYTHEPLAYA: calls
*** FLOP *** [ 9d Ts 6s ]
PAYTHEPLAYA: checks
paperchaser: bets $24
PAYTHEPLAYA: raises to $48
paperchaser: calls
*** TURN *** [ Ad ]
PAYTHEPLAYA: bets $80
paperchaser: calls
*** RIVER *** [ Kc ]
PAYTHEPLAYA: bets $150
paperchaser: folds
PAYTHEPLAYA: returns uncalled bet $150
*** SHOW DOWN ***
PAYTHEPLAYA: mucks
PAYTHEPLAYA wins $284

Hand #1176012009001745: Amsterdam (6-max) 12009
Seat 1: d7d7d (385.00 in chips)
Seat 6: 3dubsInaTub (1003.02 in chips)
Seat 8: PAYTHEPLAYA (417.20 in chips)
Seat 9: huckleshot (232.35 in chips)
Seat 10: Rotanimod (703.65 in chips)
huckleshot: posts small blind $2
Rotanimod: posts big blind $4
Dealt to PAYTHEPLAYA [ 9s 6s ]
d7d7d: raises to $16
3dubsInaTub: folds
PAYTHEPLAYA: calls
huckleshot: calls
Rotanimod: folds
*** FLOP *** [ 8d Js 2c ]
huckleshot: checks
d7d7d: checks
PAYTHEPLAYA: checks
*** TURN *** [ Td ]
huckleshot: checks
d7d7d: checks
PAYTHEPLAYA: bets $50
huckleshot: calls
d7d7d: folds
*** RIVER *** [ 5d ]
huckleshot: checks
PAYTHEPLAYA: bets $150
huckleshot: folds
PAYTHEPLAYA: returns uncalled bet $150
*** SHOW DOWN ***
PAYTHEPLAYA wins $150

LOL, FYI dont play weak tight against me, i will run all over you

Hand #1176011978001163: Amsterdam (6-max) 11978
Seat 1: NateG (323.00 in chips)
Seat 6: 3dubsInaTub (527.50 in chips)
Seat 7: PAYTHEPLAYA (467.15 in chips)
Seat 8: mrblufferman (400.00 in chips)
3dubsInaTub: posts small blind $2
PAYTHEPLAYA: posts big blind $4
Dealt to PAYTHEPLAYA [ 5d 9d ]
mrblufferman: folds
NateG: raises to $14
3dubsInaTub: folds
PAYTHEPLAYA: calls
*** FLOP *** [ 5c 3s 9c ]
PAYTHEPLAYA: checks
NateG: bets $28.50
PAYTHEPLAYA: raises to $57
NateG: raises to $85.50
PAYTHEPLAYA: is all in
NateG: is all in
PAYTHEPLAYA: returns uncalled bet $144.15
*** TURN *** [ 7h ]
*** RIVER *** [ Tc ]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
PAYTHEPLAYA wins $646 with Two Pairs, Nines and Fives

LOL, A9

Hand #1176011589000949: Amsterdam (6-max) 11589
Seat 1: PAYTHEPLAYA (404.00 in chips)
Seat 5: PoneDogg24 (504.10 in chips)
Seat 8: mrblufferman (394.00 in chips)
Seat 9: iGrind4Mine (482.40 in chips)
iGrind4Mine: posts small blind $2
PAYTHEPLAYA: posts big blind $4
Dealt to PAYTHEPLAYA [ 5h 6h ]
PoneDogg24: folds
mrblufferman: folds
iGrind4Mine: raises to $16
PAYTHEPLAYA: calls
*** FLOP *** [ Ah Td 2h ]
iGrind4Mine: bets $25
PAYTHEPLAYA: calls
*** TURN *** [ 6d ]
iGrind4Mine: bets $70
PAYTHEPLAYA: calls
*** RIVER *** [ Qh ]
iGrind4Mine: checks
PAYTHEPLAYA: bets $150
iGrind4Mine: calls
*** SHOW DOWN ***
PAYTHEPLAYA: shows [ 5h 6h ] (Flush, Ace high)
iGrind4Mine: mucks
PAYTHEPLAYA wins $520 with Flush, Ace high

Hand #1177011486001146: Seville (6-Max) 11486
Seat 1: IrishVols (184.12 in chips)
Seat 2: urbadatthis (200.00 in chips)
Seat 6: drich07 (164.20 in chips)
Seat 7: PAYTHEPLAYA (302.95 in chips)
Seat 8: Jsmooth (75.90 in chips)
Seat 9: TheRake00 (528.00 in chips)
drich07: posts small blind $1
PAYTHEPLAYA: posts big blind $2
Dealt to PAYTHEPLAYA [ Qd Ah ]
Jsmooth: folds
TheRake00: folds
IrishVols: folds
urbadatthis: folds
drich07: raises to $7
PAYTHEPLAYA: raises to $19
drich07: calls
*** FLOP *** [ Qh 3d 7d ]
drich07: checks
PAYTHEPLAYA: bets $36.10
drich07: calls
*** TURN *** [ 6h ]
drich07: checks
PAYTHEPLAYA: is all in
drich07: is all in
PAYTHEPLAYA: returns uncalled bet $138.75
*** RIVER *** [ 4d ]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
PAYTHEPLAYA wins $325.40 with Pair of Queens

So, you get the point. Last few days have been good to me. Ive built my BR on Cake from 400 to almost 3900, after being down to<150. Thinking of playing in the $100 rebuy tournament tonight. Im due for a MTT win.
Wish me luck.

Holla

Day Trip To Windsor

2007-06-24T14:14:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, I took a trip up to Casino Windsor with my friend Greg. We went pretty early in the morning so the highest no limit game going was the 100 max game. This was really frustrating for me because Im not used to playing this low. The players at the 100 max are mostly extremely tight passive fish who play their cards face up, only play made hands, only play top tier starting hands, are impossible to bluff due to their inability to play their hands beyond face value, and for the most part, are characterized by their overall timid noobish play.

My table consisted of two regulars, a few fish, and mostly rocks. Typically, not the type of table that I enjoy playing at. I had the dryest run of cards ever but managed to double up after sitting for about an hour and a half. After a series of blind raises and straddles (I was getting bored and impatient, two things that are usually detrimental to my game) I pick up KQ diamonds in the cutoff and raise to 15. I get 3 callers and the flop comes AKQ all spades. Not the greatest flop for me, but I decide to make a smallish continuation bet of $30 while reevaluating once I get to the turn. I get called by one player, and older guy named Elmer, who usually has a tendency for calling down weak in big pots and playing pretty passively in general. The turn comes a Q of hearts, the perfect card for me, as I now have Queens full. Elmer checks to me and I decide to trap him, by slowing down, and checking behind. The river comes a meaningless 7 and Elmer thinks for a bit then checks to me. At this point, I dont give him credit for having that big of a hand. His range in my opinion consituted AX-AJ, while two pair or better was unlikely. I think he folds to an all in bet so i decide to bet 35 leaving me with like 15 behind lol. Elmer of course makes the calls and flips over A10os. I laugh and flip Queens full and scoop the pot.

That was the only eventful hand that I played in over 6 hours at the 100 max game. One other hand I picked up a small-ish pot of like $60 playing 47os from the cutoff. I flopped a straight on a board of 356, but couldnt really manage to get any action. The rest of the time I saw unplayable hands, like J4 K2 59 etc. I was literally extremely close to just ripping my cards apart. It was just awful.

Finally at about 6pm, they decided to open up a 200 max game. I basically sprint over to the 200 max table to sit down. My table seemed decent, with 4-5 regulars waiting around to play the 10-20 no limit game later in the evening. I raise like the first three pots (albeit with strong starting hands) and take them down, when this hand came up. I pick up KJ diamonds on the button. UTG+1 raises to 15 and gets called by like 6 players. Flop comes JJ2 two diamonds, a great spot for me. The table checks around to me and I make a deceptively weak bet of 30 into a pot of 60+, in hopes that someone either a) interprets my bet as weak and decides to raise me with air or b) someone has a smaller jack and shoves all in. Well my bet worked out perfectly as a player to my left (a regular, youngish prolly 20-25 who isnt very good imo), immediately shoves all in after the table folds around to him. I insta call (after interpreting his range as JX-QJ) and he flips over 10J no spades. At this point im a 96% favorite as he is drawing dead to 2 outs. Turn comes meaningless Queen and then of course he hits his 10 on the river, giving him jacks full. He scoops the pot (500+) and I immediately reload. Damn, i play soooo baddddd sometimes lol. Bah but anyways...

My next big hand came up when i pick up 56 spades on the button. UTG raises to 25 and gets 4 other callers. It comes around to me and I make the call. Flop comes A47. The action on this hand was crazy. The original raiser bets to 60 clearly representing a big A, and another player in front of him goes all for like 200 more (Set/2pr maybe?), one of the lone donks at the table calls the all in making the pot now close to 600. At this point, im getting 3:1, not even incluiding the original raiser who would improve my odds to nearly 4:1. Basically im investing <200>600 (most likely 800) making this the easiest call in the world. I call and the original raiser folds. Turn and river brings two blanks and 47 takes the pot down. At this point im down like 325, -400 in 200 max, +75 in 100nl, but I have plenty of money on me so i decide to rebuy again.

I picked up a few small pots and worked my way back nicely to only being down 280 on the day. Im doing a great job lately on not being too oriented on my results and instead worrying about my play. Until now, I had been on a sick live heater but even today, I was extremely happy with the way i played. I played extremely well all day, and for the most part, was extremely efficient in getting my money in ahead.

Besides that, the 10/20 NL game was just getting started when we left. I definitely feel that I would be +EV in this game. Supposedly, Mikey, a player who I had been playing with all day, is the best regular in the game and has profited several wins of 7k plus in the last few weeks. Although I respect Mikeys game and think that hes a good solid TAG, I definitely would play him HU without hesitation. Mikey openly admitted to me that the game was full of loose players who werent very good but just had a lot of money to spend. In the coming weeks, im definitely going to have to play in this game. Im expecting 10k to be returned to me from Neteller on the 11th so I might just take half of that and freeroll into the 10/20 game. Its funny to me, because at this point, I dont even think Im close to being ready to play 10/20 online, but its a different story playing with live noobs. This just shows how clueless people are who say that online players cant play live because of physical tells (LOL im looking through your soul to find out if your weak, oh fuck your hand just twitched must mean your weak, or maybe your faking weak, while really strong, but strong enough that u want a call lol). Live noobs make me laugh. The best players in the world play online, period. Its really not even close IMO. I should have an update on my latest online stats soon, until then holla holla holla

Don't just talk about it... Be about it

2007-06-17T14:50:00.000-07:00

So I recently transfered some money on to Full Tilt, to try and run up my account again. I left most of my roll on Bodog, although Im not sure how much longer Ill play there if I continue to have success on Full Tilt. In the past, Ive only had moderate success on Full Tilt, but I definitely like the structure of their cash games, the FT software, the VIP rewards program, 27% rakeback, its compatability with Poker Tracker, the ability to play up to 16 tables, etc so I decided to give it a try.

So here are my stats from the last three days (Im not really sure how to import stats/graphs from Pokertracker yet but Im working on it)

Level: NL ($1)
Sessions: 27
Winning Sessions: 12 (44.44%)
$ Won: $637.10
Hands: 2,772
Hours Played: 14.57
BB/100 hands: 11.49
$/hr: $43.73

Anyways, 11.49 BB/100 hands might seem sick and all, but Ive been running so shitty, its been unbelievable. I know that once I start to run at least semi-normally, than my BB/100 and $/Hr should increase significantly. Heres a few hands that made me sick during my session this morning...

Full Tilt Poker Game #2692663185 Table Boca (Heads up) $1 No Limit Hold'em 15:54:05 ET

Hero: Giveurcash23 (141.50)
Villain: Sandy Bottums ($63.70)

Giveurcash23 posts the small blind of .50
Sandy Bottums posts the big blind of $1

HOLE CARDS***

Dealt to Giveurcash23 (Tc Ts)

Giveurcash23 raises to $4
Sandy Bottums raises to 12
Giveurcash23 calls 8

FLOP***
(Jd 8c 2h)

Sandy Bottums bets $14
Giveurcash23 raises to 129.50 and is all in
Sandy Bottums calls $37.70 and is all in

Giveurcash 23 shows (Tc Th)
Sandy Bottums shows (Ah 7d)

TURN*** (Jd 8c 2h) (Ac)
RIVER*** (Jd 8c 2h Ac) (4d)

Giveurcash23 shows a pair of tens
Sandy Bottums shows a pair of Aces

Sandy Bottums wins the pot (126.90) with a pair of Aces

Lol, oh and this one was fun too. I play so badddd

FullTiltPoker Game #2692246545 Table Morn (heads up) $1 No Limit Holdem 15:00:46

Hero: Giveurcash 23 ($112)
Villain: Samrob47 ($101.40)

HOLE CARDS ***

Dealt to giveurcash23 (KhKd)

Samrob47 raises to $3
Giveurcash23 raises to $12
Samrob47 calls $9

FLOP *** (9c 3c 4h)

Giveurcash23 checks
Samrob47 bets $19
Giveurcash23 raises to $38
Samrob47 raises to $57
Giveurcash23 raises to $100 and is all in
Samrob47 calls $32.40 and is all in

Giveurcash23 shows (Kh Kd)
Samrob47 shows (Jh Jc)

TURN*** (9c 3c 4h) (3s)
RIVER*** (9c 3c 4h 3s) (Js)

Giveurcash23 shows two pair, Kings and Threes
Samrob47 shows a full house, Jacks full of Threes

Samrob47 wins the pot ($202.30) with a full house, Jacks full of Threes

Lol, one more hand before i smash on some Panchero's...

FullTiltPoker Game #2692323775 Table Kerf (heads up) $1nl 16:13:45

Hero: Giveurcash23 (174.30)
Villain: On_U_I_Grind ($89.80)

HOLE CARDS ***

Dealt to Giveurcash23 (As Ks)
On_U_I_Grind raises to $3
Giveurcash23 raises to 12
On_U_I_Grind calls $9

FLOP ***

(Kd 8s 5h)

Giveurcash 23 bets $12
On_U_I_Grind calls $12

TURN ***

Giveurcash23 checks
On_U_I_Grind bets $65.80
Giveurcash23: ummmm snap call
Giveurcash23: calls $65.80 and is all in

On_U_I_Grind shows (Jd 5d)
Giveurcash23 shows (As Ks)

RIVER***
(Kd 8s 5h 6d) (Ad)

On_U_I_Grind shows a flush, Ace high
Giveurcash 23 shows two pair, Aces and Kings
On_U_I_Grind wins the pot ($179.10) with a flush, Ace High

Anyways, u get the point. Im still profiting, while running soooo bad. Ill post more results sooooon. Besides that, I plan on taking another trip out to Vegas at the end of June. Let me know if you wanna go. Until then

Hollerrr

Ballin' in Vegas

2007-06-13T14:41:00.001-07:00

Soo I just got back from Vegas at like 730 this morning. I had the sickest time and definitely plan on going back as soon as possible. But yea, heres a run down of how everything went...

My flight to Vegas was an overnight flight and was probably the worst part of the trip. I had to deal with this crying baby sitting a few rows behind me, and I really wasnt having it. Besides that, my flight was maddd turbulent and shit. So uhh yea, didnt get any sleep on the way there.

We touched down in Vegas at like 6am and I took a cab to my hotel (The Luxor). When I got to my hotel, I found out that I couldnt check in till 1130, so I decided to wander down to the poker room to make some quick dough, before I headed out to the Bellagio later in the day. So I sit down with 200 at this pathetically weak 1/2 game and quickly build my stack up to 800. I then pick up KK in the CO and raise to 25 getting two other callers. I end up getting it all in on a flop of K34 two hearts against another big stack (had me covered). She flips 56 hearts and hits a 7 on the river and she scoops the pot. Thus far, -200 on the trip :(

By that time, it was close to 1130 and I headed over to registration to check into my room. Overall, I was really happy with the Luxor and probably will stay there again next time I go to Vegas. My room was great (I upgraded to a suite for only like $55 more p/night when I checked in, definitely well worth it), the food was good and it was reasonably priced, cant ask for too much more. After checking into my room, I passed out for a while and woke up at like 6pm to head to check out the strip.

After checking out the various hotels on the strip and soaking it all in, I decided to head to the MGM grand to play some more poker. I really liked the MGM Grand. It was definitely one of my favorite hotels on the strip. They had a sick Lion Exhibit, which was definitely one of my favorite parts of the trip. I took lots of pictures, which Ill post when I get around to it. Upon arriving at the MGM, I quickly doubled up at yet another soft 1/2 game and moved up with 400 to play 2/5. I had a sick run of cards at 2/5 and built my stack up to 1200. Coming into the trip, I decided to put bankroll management on the back burners and just try to make as much money as possible while I was out in vegas.

So by this time it was like 1:30 or so and I was pretty well rested and feeling good so I decided to take a shot at the 5/10 NL game at the Bellagio. The Bellagio was definitely my favorite hotel in Vegas. Its definitely one of the classiest, most elegant hotels that I ever been to (thats not just Vegas but pretty much everywhere ive been). I noticed right away that my table was pretty solid and I definitely should have left and played at another table. So after sitting down for an hour and picking up a few small pots i had built my stack to about 1400, when this hand came up. I picked up AQ suited on the button. UTG+1 (He has me covered with about 2200) makes standard raise to 50 and I bump it up to 250. He calls and we're heads up. Flop comes AQ9 rainbow and I flop top 2. At this point, my image is pretty Tag'ish. I hadnt gotten out of line and had been playing pretty standard so far. The villlain in the hand, seemed pretty Lagish, but definitelty competent. Just a guess, but he seemed liked a regular in the game. Anyways, villain to my surprise bets out 250. At this point, I definitely feel that I have the best hand and make it 700 to go, leaving me with close to 500 left. Villain just cold calls, which scared the shit out of me. I dont think he has AA or QQ since he definitely would have repopped preflop, but 99 at this point is definitely a possibility. Turn brings a blank 5 and sure enough villain sits theres forever and then announces that hes all in. By this point, I have invested 950 and its only 450 or so more, so its basically a snap call. I flip over AQ and show top 2pr. Several players comment, telling me nice hand, and that my hands good and so forth, until villain turns over the dreaded 999. Soooooooooo sick. Basically, this was a pot, I had to go broke in. Dry board, top 2, against a laggish opponent, pretty much an autocall, just a sick fuckin cooler. So after that I decide to leave the Bellagio and call it a night. At this point, its like 430 so I just decide to go back to my room and pass out. After all that, Im dead even on the day, after taking two sickkk coolers that I definitely couldnt have gotten away from.

So for some reason, without a wake-up call or anything, I wake up at like 930 the next morning. I decide to check out the buffet downstairs and was real satisfied. It was pretty standard but definitely still good. I decide to head to the MGM grand again and play for a few hours. I sit down at the donkadonkadonkadonka 1/2 game and build up to 850 and decide that Im going to play one more hand. Haha well that turned out to be a bad decision. I pick up AJ spades in the BB and a weak-tightish players makes it 12 to go from the small blind. I 3-bet to 35 and he flat calls. Flop comes AKK and he checks to me. I bet out to 60 and he calls. Turn comes a black 7 and I now have 2pr with a redraw to the nut-flush. Weak tight checks again and I shove all in. He instacalls and flips over AK. River comes another K and he hits quads lol. So yeahhh, I end the session up 650.

By then it was like 330 and I decide to take a break from poker and go chill out by the pool back at my hotel (which was sick by the way). Sooooo many girls damn. I wish I had friends go with me, because damn, its Vegas, theres too many fine girls, I have a lot of money on me, everyones drunk, theres mad shit to do, its uhhh a pretty good combination.

After coolin out by the pool for a few hours, I decide to head out to the Bellagio again to holla at the Seafood Buffet (supposedly the best food in Vegas). Damn, yet another reason Im going to miss Vegas. The Seafood Buffet was amazing. I must have spent about an hour and a half just smashing on Alaskan Crab, Mussels, Salmon, Prime Rib, Fresh Sushi, Lamb, Filet Mignon, and Lobster. Goddamn it was good. Definitely somethin I could get used to :)

So after dinner I sit down with 400 at the 2/5 game and build my stack up to 600 when I get call from a friend of mine who I met online from 2+2. Glad we met up, because BenStunner is a cool ass kid. Ben plays high stakes (25/50 and 50/100) on Full Tilt (plays under 98Mute) plays professionally and lives out in Vegas. He is helping me out with my game, reviewing my handhistories, and basically just mentoring me online. I took a Cab to the Rio and met up with him. He was playing a $1000 sattelite and busted out in third. He told me that hes bubbled in more than 10 sattelites, must be soooo sick. Still 10k, whats that to a baller like BenStunner????Shittttt. Ben is friends with a lot of highstakes pros, so he introduced me to several of them, including Greg FBT Mueller, Mike Matusow (in spite of what people say about him, he seemed liked a real nice guy, hes actually real close with Ben and is staking him for several WSOP events), and Daniel Negreneau (who by the way, made fun of my sunglasses, for like 10 straight minutes, hahaha all good though). Ben is also friends with Sean Shiekhan, another highstakes pro who just happened to bust out of the 2500 NL event at the same time that Ben busted out of his sattelite.

So Sean and Ben are both real frustrated and decide that they want to go to the Bar. They ask me to roll and Im clearly down. We head to this sick bar at the Planet Hollywood hotel, where it just happened to be College Night at UNLV hahaha what luck. Anyways, I drink for free on Sean's tab all night. It was pretty surreal. At like 3, we all left the bar (Me, Sean, Ben and 3 random girls from the bar), and Sean asked me if I smoked. Bahahaaha so anyways, we all head to Sean's condo, and smoke a fat blunt with him. By then it was like 5, and I was feeeling sooooooooo crunked, so I decide its time to go. Ben hooked me up with a ride back to the Luxor and I pass out till like 12 the next day.

I woke up the next day, feeling real shitty, but I had to check out of my hotel. I decide to head back to the MGM and play some more. I once again make a quick 800 at 1/2 and then decide to play some 2/5 at the MGM. Some clown hit a 2-0uter on the river against me for over 250. Thats when I decided to quit and just chill and watch the Cavs-Spurs game. I must have killed like 4-5 Long Islands during the game, because I dont remember too much. What I do remember is screaming at the TV when Anderson Varejo decided to single handedly cost the Cavs the game. Fucking disappointing, I hate the Spurs.

Anyways by that time it was like 6, so I decided to go hit up the buffet again at the Bellagio and take some pictures before I had to go to to the airport.

Overall though, Vegas was fuckin illllllll. I ran shitty all week and still managed to profit 650, which covered the cost of my flight and hotel. With expenses (food, drinks, random shit), I was probably down a few hundred for the trip, but damn it was well worth it.

Looking to go back soon, maybe in a few weeks or so, if I can grind it out online. Until then...

Holla

Girls and Guns...All I Want...Stock Exchange...Rocks and Things

2007-06-09T02:59:00.000-07:00

Yooooo what up yall? Just got back from the Casino a few minutes ago. I had my biggest live win to date tonight. I finished up $877, having cashed in for $200 and cashing out for over 1k. I also won my biggest live pot to date (>1k). I should have been up 1600+ but took a few sick beats that dwindled my stack a bit.

Once again, my table was full of loose passive morons. I felt that after justa few rotations, i knew right away that I was the best player at the table.

The hand of the night was against Alex, whos decent, but calls down too weak, plays too many hands out of position imo. I picked up A5 offsuit on the button and raised to 25 preflop. BB completes and Alex calls from UTG. 3 players go to the flop, flop comes AA4. Everyone checks around to me and I bet 45. BB fold, and Alex smooth calls. Turn is a red 7 and Alex checks again. I bet 60 and he raises to 120. I just call and decide that I will reevaluate the river. Then booooom river comes a black 5, giving me aces full over 5's. To my surprise, Alex immediately bets 150. At this point, his hand looks a lot like Ax. I immediately shove all in for like 385 more and he instacalls. He flips over 44, for a lower fullhouse 4s full of Aces. I scoop the pot, collecting over 1k. SHIPPPPPPPITTTTTTTTT

At this point i had built my stack to 1.2k when this hand came up. I pick up KK in the CO and raise to 30. Button moves all in for about 100, and BB to my suprise, shoves for 175 more (275 in total). I snap call and am ready to scoop the pot. BB shows 88 (I know just awful) and button donk shows A7 offsuit. Flop comes 7810. Giving BB donk 888, his set holds and I lose a potential 500+ dollar pot. Soooooo sick

Other sick hand was earlier in the night against this clueless Asian dude, who turned out to be a major donator. I pick up 79 of clubs on the button and make it 15 to go. I get like 6 callers and we see a flop. Flop comes A105 all clubs. Even though I flopped a flush, at this point, I want to narrow the field and take the pot down. I bet the pot (like 60) and everyone folds around to the asian donk, who calls. Turn brings 8 of clubs and asian donk moves all in for like 35 more. I instantly tell him that I think he got lucky on me, but its too cheap not to see so i make the call. My man flips JQ, J clubs, and has me with a higher flush. I berate his play for a while, and tell him that he should leave now before I take all his dough. And sure enough, later in the night, I did just that.

Anyways, pretty sick session tonight. Planning on having a nice lil shopping spree sometime this week. I really need a nice new watch, so I think I might buy one next time I get a chance to go to the mall. Girls prolly dont read this blog, but if u do, im looking for a chill down ass girl to roll with me. I promise u itll be worth your time. I would post more but havent slept yet and Im exhausted. Anyways ship that 800+, hollllllaaaaaaaaa

Shut em down like Lebron, lets gooooo

2007-06-07T11:58:00.000-07:00

Just finished a marathon session on Bodog. After several days of some insane coolers, bodog specials, blah blah, u know typical bullshit, I finally erased my downswing and cashed in on a $650 session. I played from 9am-3pm, playing 3 tables, at $1nl. I cashed out having $537 on one of my tables, having run both of my other tables to 200+. SHIPPP IT

But anyways, I was feeling real good today. I was pretty focused and definitely pretty patient, which sometimes can be a problem for me. Ive been thinking about it and I might eliminate playing at night completely. Even though there is more action/looser play at night, I just feel a lot more focused during the day. So thats what Ill do. Im also going to try and play some donkaments. I know that one big cash in a tournament could do wonders for my Bankroll. So yeah, im about to make that happen.

Besides poker, things are going real well. Im all excited about this website that I came across yesterday when I was just chillin at Angel Hall. Basically, it lists every professional sports franchise imaginable (even minor league teams) in the US and describes various internship opportunities for each team. The site is real well organized, listing contacts, preferred majors, salary amount, internship description, etc. Most of the teams have marketing/sales internships, which I know I could do well in. Plus, I love sports, and I know that it would be a sick experience to work with a professional sports franchise.

Lately, Ive been thinking about Law School and as much as I know that I could get into a great law school and do real well for myself if I ended up pursuing that avenue, Ive definitely started thinking about some other options. I know that I could get a job that pays real well, has room for advancement, etc, without having to pay for grad school. The way I figure, if I do real well with a company, organization, franchise, etc, and I want to go back to grad school, then so be it. Fuck, I just dont think its worth the 100k plus in paying for gradschool right after graduating. Definitely need to go to the career center and talk with my advisor about it.

Oh and btw, if your out in Vegas the 10th-14th, let me know. Im staying at the Luxor and am looking to go clubbing, partying, hit up the stripclubs, etc, so just hit me up. Until next time

Hollllaaa

Casino Trip 2/5 NL

2007-06-05T15:32:00.000-07:00

Last night, I took a trip up to Casino Windsor with a couple of my friends from school. My last two trips to the Casino have been quite successful. Ive profited $620 and $510 respectively, playing both 1/2nl and 2/5nl. Needless to say, I felt quite confident about my live game coming in. The players at Windsor are pretty weak and in my experience, I have noticed that there are very few good regulars and a lot of clueless dead money fish.

So, I sit down with 200 against a table of unknowns. After a few rotations, i had a pretty good read on my table. Besides one younger kid and one middle aged looking business type, my table was full of fish. Money was flying around the table and mid/top pair type hands were repeatedly being shown down for massive sized pots. After just a few rotations, I realized that this table could be very profitable.

My first big hand was against a regular named Adrian. Adrians image is lag. Hes in pretty much every hand and raises most hands to 30 preflop, regardless of position. Right away, I knew that I just had to wait and get a decent hand against Adrian, and I could double through him pretty easily. So, my first big hand, I pick up K6 hearts on the button. After 4 limps, I raise to 30. Adrian (BB) and CO (Arab guy, plays pretty ABC) both call. Flop bring K78 rb. Adrian checks, CO checks I bet 50 and Adrian calls. Adrian then immediately checks in the dark. Without even seeing the turn, I shove in the dark. Turn brings a 10 and Adrian thinks for a while and calls. He shows 99 and river brings a blank. Ship it. Top pair is appartently golden in this game.

Im now sitting with about 400. My next big hand comes when i pick up 56 hearts from the big blind. UTG raises to 30, UTG +1 and CO all call. I decide to call and see what the flop brings. Flop comes 355, 2 spades out there. UTG bets 30, all folds around to me, I just call. Turn brings 7hears, UTG checks and I check behind. River brings 3 hearts and I fill up. UTG bets 75 and I put him all in for 150 more. He calls and mucks A3. Ship it.

Im now sitting with about 700 when this hand comes up. I pick up 22 on the button. UTG+1 raises to 25. Table folds around to me and I call. SB and BB both call as well. Flop brings A52. UTG+1 bets 40. I raise to 100 and both sb and bb fold. UTG+1 thinks for a second and shoves for like 80 more. I snapcall and he shows AJ. I scoop the pot and am now sitting with around 1000.

So here is the hand of the night. Im in for like 340 and Im up around 650 at this point. I really regret making this play here, not because I dont think I played the hand well, or that my semi-bluff wasnt believable. The Villain in the hand is Adrian. As mentioned previously, villain is a major calling station. I swear it just kills Adrian not to play every hand. His style is profitable in a sense that when he does have big hands, he usually gets paid (since he calls down so weak and is constantly splashing, etc). My guess is that hes still a losing player, but I dont know that for sure.

So I pick up AK clubs on the button. After a millon limps (typical for this game), i make it 40 to go from the button. UTG+1 (Young, thinking player, pretty TAGish) calls and Adrian completes. Flop brings J97 two clubs. I have the nut flush draw and position and am ready to play a big pot.
Adrian makes it 50 and, UTG +1 folds. I bump it up to 150 and Adrian, of course, immediately calls. Turn brings a blank, 5 hearts. Adrian checks and I decide to keep going (prolly a mistake in retrospect, i should have just checked behind) but I bet 200. Adrian thinks forever and calls. River brings Q spades. Adrian checks once again and at this point, I think my read on him is pretty solid. His hand looks a lot like one pair. Hes out of position and has played the hand extremely passively. I have been the aggressor throughout the hand and have not been out of line up to this point, showing down strong hands and scooping several big pots. So at this point, Adrian has about 250 left. I knew that he didnt improve on the river and was very confident that his hand was Jx. 10J-AJ were strong possibilities, as well as Jx. At this point, Adrian checks the river blind (Another sign of weakness) and I decide to bet the rest of his stack (leaving me with 350 or so if he calls). Adrian instantly calls and says just a Jack. He flips J4. Disgusted, I berate his play, telling him that hes terrible blah blah blah and that hes going to lose all his money blah blah u know the usual.

He calls over the floor manager and this guy lectures me for a few minutes on table ettiquite and so forth. Sure enough, while Im talking to this guy, Adrian gets into an absolutely massive hand (1k) with the previously mentioned Young, thinking TAG. Of course, Adrian donks off all my money to the kid. Poker is so sick sometimes.

The rest of the night was just blah. I couldnt really get anything going and was frustrated about my play against Adrian. Looking back on the hand, I played it how I ordinarily would against a thinking, typical, online TAG. That was my problem right there. Albeit expensive, I learned a pretty valuable lesson, that will definitely help me in the future. You have to know who you can bluff and who you cant. Tonight, I learned that the hard way. After all that, I ended up down $35 on the session, lol.

Ill be back though. Im heading out to Vegas the 10th-14th and feel pretty confident about my game going in. Should be fun.

Holla

Goals For The Month of June 2007

2007-06-03T10:54:00.000-07:00

Life Goals- Start getting back into a set routine. Monday-Friday wake up at 9am. Start eating healthy. Work out for at least an hour every day, preferably in the AM. Session for two hours after working out. Nap for a bit, and then another two hour session. Work at telefund from 5-9 and then relax/chill with friends

Internship Goals- Meet with Fritz Morsches (Director of Business Development) the next time he comes to Ann Arbor. "Get in" at Honigmans. Start networking with more Culver alumns. Hit up at least two more states by the end of the summer (Cali and NY maybe?)

Poker Goals- 30k Hands, >4k profit, Become proficient with Pokertracker and PAHUD, Get a MSNL coach, Keep building, Dont tilt/spew, only play when mentally sharp (dont play tired or frustrated), keep improving

Work Goals- Work at Telefund a minimum of 4 days per week, Set yourself up for the student manager position come fall, dont miss/have to reschedule shifts, get money

And oh yea, 50k by '08

holla

The Takeover

2007-06-03T10:21:00.000-07:00

Following in the footsteps of many successful 2+2ers, I have decided to start a poker blog, which I will update periodically with my goals for the month, my stats/results from online play, interesting hands from both online and live play, and anything else that I feel is relevant to my game and progression as a player. I will be using Pokertracker to keep track of my results and will post various graphs/screenshots in due time. This blog is just one aspect of my desire to take the next step from being a solid, winner at SSNL to a thinking, creative, winning player at the MSNL level and then eventually at HSNL.