Few days ago, a dude named INTillerman on Betfair sat down with me at 10/20 NL. I jumped out to an early 1k lead. Then, we battled for a while, but I felt like I had control of the play. However, I gradually fell to 3k down, then back to even, then back to 3k down, then I finally felt like I hit some hands and I swung to 3k up. Then, shit got ugly. He went on a mega-heater and ended up taking 8k off me. I made bad plays for about 3k of it. Even after all this play, I'm not sure how strong this opponent is. I don't know if I got outplayed, or if I was outplaying him for 80% of the hands, then he just hit perfect on all the big pots. There was more and more 3-betting pre-flop as the match went on, by both of us. I found he was capable of big river bluffs, but also of big value bets on the river with marginal hands. I paid him off a couple times for pot-sized river bets with a close 2nd best hand. I tend to dislike playing opponents who are good at this. But still, I felt like I played this guy hard and well. Maybe I just got so outplayed I can't even figure it out, or maybe it was just a bad run. He sure seemed to hit perfect a lot. But, once I stacked off for a $7,200 pot with AQ on a A92 flop against a set of 9s. This is a big pot for 10/20 with just top pair. He min-raised me on the flop, and he had NEVER done that. I didn't trust the obvious tell, and allowed myself to stack off for a big pot when I had another chance to make a big fold. But whatever, hard to get away from shit like that for under 200BB in an aggressive match after a re-raised pot pre-flop. I'd like to play this guy again, but I might not bother anytime soon. He has me psychologically beat a little bit and his style seems to work against mine and I was having trouble adjusting. I'll wait until I'm running really good to give him another shot.
During the same time I got down about 3.5k on Party. But then I hit 2 big hands simultaneously and got all the way back to only down 300. So, I decided this was a good way to end a bad session and booked the tiny loss on Party and gave up against INTillerman (I don't think this is the actual Tillerman if you know who that is).
I took a couple days off after this session and waited until I didn't feel quite so frustrated anymore. I jumped into a few tourneys today. Standard knock-out in a $320 on Betfair. Then, I played this interesting Betfair tourney. I think it's daily actually. $530 6-handed deep stack tourney. It only had 16 players, but I enjoyed it. I'd like a little bigger field (and maybe sometimes it is, though you'd think Sunday might be the largest). I got down to 6 players, but just before we merged for final table, a guy jammed my BB and I woke up with QQ and called. Lost to A7 with an A on the flop. So, that was gross otherwise I hit final table as 3rd chip leader.
I also played the Stars Sunday Million ($530). Something like 3700 players, and I got down to 900. Then, I flopped top set with TT, and got oversetted on the turn by JJ. So, total cooler, otherwise I would have been top 20 in chips at that point. Boo!
I also jumped into a 10k Full Tilt Player Points tourney. Winner got a seat in Poker After Dark TV show and a shot at $120k. 354 players. I didn't pay any attention to this tourney all afternoon, couldn't really care less, then next thing I know I'm at the final table! Battled down to 6 players and just as I was thinking I might actually have a shot at this, I picked the wrong time to steal a guy's BB and he decided to be a hero with QJ, called, and beat me. Would have been cool to grab a Poker After Dark seat, that would have been some good times.
So, basically, a bunch more time and money blown to tourneys. However, on a good note, I made my money back from the previous session playing Betfair 10/20 again. Scraped together $8300 for the day, after a pretty slow start by a guy hitting a set on me in a re-raised pot to $600 pre-flop.
I ordered a variety of books from Full Tilt's Points Store and Amazon today. Couple on tourneys, couple on advanced cash game and short-handed, and a couple on mental game and the poker lifestyle, and Super System 2 mostly for the Omaha Hi section which I heard was good. I'll review them here as I read them over the next few months.
I decided to read up on tournaments partly because I'm on a bad run, and partly because I'd like to be more sure about my plays sometimes. I think a few new perspectives or ideas may help. If you count Vegas, I'm on about a 20k downswing since my last significant score. I'm not sure if I've ever had a downswing more than 3k between decent scores. I think I'm also playing bigger buy-ins, and thus, better competition too. I'm not too concerned, I know it's been a lot of crappy luck and cold cards. It's making me want to play tournaments more in a weird way so I can snap the streak. I want a $30k+ tournament score so bad I can taste it.
I went golfing in a scramble at Selkirk two days ago. We won with 9 under par. A team that shot 10 under was disqualified for cheating. Ha, losers. Anyway, my back held up okay throughout the day, but gradually got more sore all night. I woke up in the morning and could barely move. I spent a fun, but damn painful, day at the beach with my son, and a group of my wife's friends. I was pretty much useless all day. Dropped my keys infront of the washrooms once and took about 20-30 seconds to pick them up. I got a lot of odd looks. Fortunately, my back felt a lot better today.
Well, now that you know how my back is, I guess you can go along with your day. Enjoy! Your welcome for filling your mind with such fascinating information.
Monday, July 30, 2007
Wednesday, July 25, 2007
Ok, I should own up
One thing I meant to mention that I neglected in my last entry. During that awesome 48 hour period on Betfair, I sucked out on two all-in pre-flops for a full $2000 each at 10/20 NL. On one I flopped an A with AK vs. KK, and the other I jammed JJ vs. AA in the blinds and doinked off a J on the flop. So, that's about $8k in pots I got pretty damn lucky on. For all the bad beats that happen, I guess I should own up to delivering a couple doozies myself.
SHIP IT!
However, on the flipside one session I had KK run into AA 3 freakin' times, all very short-handed. One time I should have folded pre-flop and couldn't do it. Lost $2200 in that 5/10 hand (which is a lot for 5/10), and should have only lost $300, my bad. There was nothing else he could have but AA the way it played out. The one time I had AA vs. KK, he flopped a K with 40% of our stacks in pre-flop.
SHIP IT!
However, on the flipside one session I had KK run into AA 3 freakin' times, all very short-handed. One time I should have folded pre-flop and couldn't do it. Lost $2200 in that 5/10 hand (which is a lot for 5/10), and should have only lost $300, my bad. There was nothing else he could have but AA the way it played out. The one time I had AA vs. KK, he flopped a K with 40% of our stacks in pre-flop.
Ended streak of no-cashes in tourneys
I won a small $100 tourney on Stars back around April 6th, and haven't had a single cash in a tournament since. This is a pretty big guess, but it's probably 40-50 tournaments without a cash. Can't remember for sure when those 3 Regent final tables in a row was, but whatever....lets just say it's been a long time since I've done anything in a tourney.
Played some Tuesday tourneys tonight, nothing big. 3 tourneys between $100-$200 entry. I finally broke the streak and cashed in the lowest bracket of money on Stars. Meh, it's a start. I was just as card dead as I've been in all my other tournaments, but this time I sucked out a few times and managed to stay alive. Nothing is ever easy in tournaments anymore. Is it possible I'm simply worse at playing them than I used to be? Or just a bad run? I don't know. They've cost me a pretty penny. especially if you include the Vegas tourneys, in the past couple months.
The Betfair session I was playing while writing my last entry went very well. After I signed off on the blog, I went on a little heater and ended up making almost $10k again. The next session was over $6k. That was definitely the best 48 hour span I've had in quite a while, maybe ever. And I didn't even play that many hours. I'll take it.
Since then, I've been up and down on Betfair, raking together a bumpy $1k or so more which has paid for my tourneys and a couple SNG losses.
It has come to the point where I've decided I have to insist I get money FIRST (and preferably delivered to me) before doing online transfers. Even for friends. My list of money owing to me is starting to grow very long and much too high, and though I trust everyone and believe I'll get paid eventually, it's just taking too long and has become too much hassle/stress for me to keep track of and chase people around. Plus, all this moving money around online has eaten up my Moneybookers outgoing transaction limits and I can't even move money right now for my own purposes. Plus I get charged fees directly from all these transfers and indirectly through my rakeback (player fees often get deducted from your gross revenue on rakeback deals). So, point is, if you ever need an online transfer, I'm happy to help, but I need a transfer to a different site or cash in hand FIRST. I know this is perfectly understandable from my point of view, however it's funny how people get offended if I turn them down (which is an incredibly unfair spot to put me in). But, I'm getting AT LEAST 3 calls/week for online transfers, practically all of them on credit. It's not just a trust issue, and I think you have to experience having a lot of folks owing you coin, for a long period of time, before you understand. It's not personal. Anyway, enough of that crappy issue.
Going to watch an episode of this sci-fi show called Eureka (downloaded the first season, on episode 4, it's not as great as the 1st episode makes it look), then hit bed. My back is so sore. When I stand up it sometimes spasms and clenches up in a weird way and pulls me backwards. Bleh, it's annoying. First spontaneous back problem I've ever had, no fun. I'm really hurtin' now: chipped front tooth, broken back....I'm not even 30 yet and I'm fallin' apart. Stupid poker making me soft.
Played some Tuesday tourneys tonight, nothing big. 3 tourneys between $100-$200 entry. I finally broke the streak and cashed in the lowest bracket of money on Stars. Meh, it's a start. I was just as card dead as I've been in all my other tournaments, but this time I sucked out a few times and managed to stay alive. Nothing is ever easy in tournaments anymore. Is it possible I'm simply worse at playing them than I used to be? Or just a bad run? I don't know. They've cost me a pretty penny. especially if you include the Vegas tourneys, in the past couple months.
The Betfair session I was playing while writing my last entry went very well. After I signed off on the blog, I went on a little heater and ended up making almost $10k again. The next session was over $6k. That was definitely the best 48 hour span I've had in quite a while, maybe ever. And I didn't even play that many hours. I'll take it.
Since then, I've been up and down on Betfair, raking together a bumpy $1k or so more which has paid for my tourneys and a couple SNG losses.
It has come to the point where I've decided I have to insist I get money FIRST (and preferably delivered to me) before doing online transfers. Even for friends. My list of money owing to me is starting to grow very long and much too high, and though I trust everyone and believe I'll get paid eventually, it's just taking too long and has become too much hassle/stress for me to keep track of and chase people around. Plus, all this moving money around online has eaten up my Moneybookers outgoing transaction limits and I can't even move money right now for my own purposes. Plus I get charged fees directly from all these transfers and indirectly through my rakeback (player fees often get deducted from your gross revenue on rakeback deals). So, point is, if you ever need an online transfer, I'm happy to help, but I need a transfer to a different site or cash in hand FIRST. I know this is perfectly understandable from my point of view, however it's funny how people get offended if I turn them down (which is an incredibly unfair spot to put me in). But, I'm getting AT LEAST 3 calls/week for online transfers, practically all of them on credit. It's not just a trust issue, and I think you have to experience having a lot of folks owing you coin, for a long period of time, before you understand. It's not personal. Anyway, enough of that crappy issue.
Going to watch an episode of this sci-fi show called Eureka (downloaded the first season, on episode 4, it's not as great as the 1st episode makes it look), then hit bed. My back is so sore. When I stand up it sometimes spasms and clenches up in a weird way and pulls me backwards. Bleh, it's annoying. First spontaneous back problem I've ever had, no fun. I'm really hurtin' now: chipped front tooth, broken back....I'm not even 30 yet and I'm fallin' apart. Stupid poker making me soft.
Wednesday, July 18, 2007
Screw PartyPoker, Go Betfair!
Well, it's been a rocky ride on every site except Betfair.
I started playing a little Omaha Hi. I was doing okay until tonight when I dropped 1.5k on Stars. I've decided no more until I read a book. My hand reading is okay, but I just don't know the basics of the game (especially pre-flop and flop). I'm just sort of lost in that game even though I think I compete okay, but I don't think "okay" is good enough. A little education would help.
I played a bunch of Sunday tourneys, something like 6 tourneys for a combined buy-in of $1,130. No damn results again. Got knocked out by 2 flush draws, and a straight draw in 3 of tourneys. Shrug. On the worse streak of not cashing in a tourney I think I've ever had. It's been at least 20 tourneys without a cash now (or even close to a cash!). Guess a lot of experienced players have probably had much worse streaks than that.
I've been struggling on Party lately. Down a little over $5k since last update. Just can't seem to catch any hands. I've played hours on end with 4-5 tables open and just not catching anything even remotely noteworthy, just a ton of 2nd bests. But, I've admittedly probably not played my best poker. But, I'm not too stressed over it, just a bad run of cards.
So, I decided to jump ship for a bit and pound a little Betfair. Well, that turned out to be a great idea! I actually started out playing quite tilty after a frustrating Party session and found myself all-in pre-flop on a 10/20 table with AK vs. KK. I super sucked out an A on the flop and the ball kept rolling from there. I ran that table as high as $9,600, then finished between $7-8k. On another 10/20 table I ran up to $7k or so. I was actually a bit down on my two 5/10 tables. Finished the Betfair session up just over $10k. Nice rebound from a few bad sessions.
I jumped back on Betfair tonight and am playing just one table as I write this. I've hit 3 lucky and big hands. I got the majority of the money in as a favourite, but the situations were just quite lucky. Twice I re-raised pre-flop with crap and busted a full $2000 buy-in player. They were on Betfair with no hand histories, so I have to write manually....
First hand I posted on the PCH message board here. I won't bother repeating.
Next hand, brutal player on button raises, SB calls, and I re-raise with J3o. Button calls, SB folds. Flop T93. I fire around $400. Button calls and I'm thinking "Hmmm...definitely a draw.". Turn is a beautiful J making my turn move a no-brainer. If I'm losing, so be it, the guy had less left than what was in the pot. My 2 pair is good here against this guy the majority of the time. I put him all-in for $1,100 or so and he snapcalls with J8 and I hold. So, pretty lucky hand for sure.
Next hand, against the same guy, I check the BB with A5. Flop is T42. I check, guy bets pot and I decide to call, planning on check-raise bluffing the turn if I like the turn. I don't think he has much. Turn is a perfect 3 bringing in my wheel. I check, guy bets $360, I check-raise minimum to $720 (I've started doing min-raises more against bad players who I think have weak hands) , he tanks for a bit and jams in for another $1,000 or so. I call and win versus his A9. What a donation. Guess he thinks I'm bluffing the turn (haha, like I was going to, but it wouldn't have been a minimum raise so he wouldn't have been able to re-bluff anyway). But who knows, anyway, sort of another lucky one. I've dwindled in the past while from my high point of $9200 to $7200, and the table has toughened up considerably, so I think I'm probably done in a bit. Couple other $4-5k stacks at the table, so we'll see what happens. Woops, I just rebounded to $8300. :)
So, it's been a good past 24 hours. Nice to be off that bad online downswing I've been on in June. Hopefully it keeps going.
I got a new sweet LG french door kickass stainless steel fridge today, and it's at least 2" too wide for our space. I'm such an idiot. I could swear I measured all the ones we were considering at Dufresne. Anyway, now we're planning on remodelling our kitchen. LOL. Making the fridge fit isn't the only reason, we've been planning on it for a bit. If anyone knows a good contractor, let me know!
I've taught my son a very valuable lesson in the past while. If you ask him "Who's boss?", he always says "Daddy boss!!!". I get him to tell my wife regularly.
I started playing a little Omaha Hi. I was doing okay until tonight when I dropped 1.5k on Stars. I've decided no more until I read a book. My hand reading is okay, but I just don't know the basics of the game (especially pre-flop and flop). I'm just sort of lost in that game even though I think I compete okay, but I don't think "okay" is good enough. A little education would help.
I played a bunch of Sunday tourneys, something like 6 tourneys for a combined buy-in of $1,130. No damn results again. Got knocked out by 2 flush draws, and a straight draw in 3 of tourneys. Shrug. On the worse streak of not cashing in a tourney I think I've ever had. It's been at least 20 tourneys without a cash now (or even close to a cash!). Guess a lot of experienced players have probably had much worse streaks than that.
I've been struggling on Party lately. Down a little over $5k since last update. Just can't seem to catch any hands. I've played hours on end with 4-5 tables open and just not catching anything even remotely noteworthy, just a ton of 2nd bests. But, I've admittedly probably not played my best poker. But, I'm not too stressed over it, just a bad run of cards.
So, I decided to jump ship for a bit and pound a little Betfair. Well, that turned out to be a great idea! I actually started out playing quite tilty after a frustrating Party session and found myself all-in pre-flop on a 10/20 table with AK vs. KK. I super sucked out an A on the flop and the ball kept rolling from there. I ran that table as high as $9,600, then finished between $7-8k. On another 10/20 table I ran up to $7k or so. I was actually a bit down on my two 5/10 tables. Finished the Betfair session up just over $10k. Nice rebound from a few bad sessions.
I jumped back on Betfair tonight and am playing just one table as I write this. I've hit 3 lucky and big hands. I got the majority of the money in as a favourite, but the situations were just quite lucky. Twice I re-raised pre-flop with crap and busted a full $2000 buy-in player. They were on Betfair with no hand histories, so I have to write manually....
First hand I posted on the PCH message board here. I won't bother repeating.
Next hand, brutal player on button raises, SB calls, and I re-raise with J3o. Button calls, SB folds. Flop T93. I fire around $400. Button calls and I'm thinking "Hmmm...definitely a draw.". Turn is a beautiful J making my turn move a no-brainer. If I'm losing, so be it, the guy had less left than what was in the pot. My 2 pair is good here against this guy the majority of the time. I put him all-in for $1,100 or so and he snapcalls with J8 and I hold. So, pretty lucky hand for sure.
Next hand, against the same guy, I check the BB with A5. Flop is T42. I check, guy bets pot and I decide to call, planning on check-raise bluffing the turn if I like the turn. I don't think he has much. Turn is a perfect 3 bringing in my wheel. I check, guy bets $360, I check-raise minimum to $720 (I've started doing min-raises more against bad players who I think have weak hands) , he tanks for a bit and jams in for another $1,000 or so. I call and win versus his A9. What a donation. Guess he thinks I'm bluffing the turn (haha, like I was going to, but it wouldn't have been a minimum raise so he wouldn't have been able to re-bluff anyway). But who knows, anyway, sort of another lucky one. I've dwindled in the past while from my high point of $9200 to $7200, and the table has toughened up considerably, so I think I'm probably done in a bit. Couple other $4-5k stacks at the table, so we'll see what happens. Woops, I just rebounded to $8300. :)
So, it's been a good past 24 hours. Nice to be off that bad online downswing I've been on in June. Hopefully it keeps going.
I got a new sweet LG french door kickass stainless steel fridge today, and it's at least 2" too wide for our space. I'm such an idiot. I could swear I measured all the ones we were considering at Dufresne. Anyway, now we're planning on remodelling our kitchen. LOL. Making the fridge fit isn't the only reason, we've been planning on it for a bit. If anyone knows a good contractor, let me know!
I've taught my son a very valuable lesson in the past while. If you ask him "Who's boss?", he always says "Daddy boss!!!". I get him to tell my wife regularly.
Sunday, July 15, 2007
Vegas #7: $2.5k Bellagio tourney, and since
It took me a little while to get around to this update. Been back from Vegas for almost a week now. On my 3rd last day I played the Bellagio $2.5k event (same day the WSOP main event started). Started with 3 hours of a tight $10/$20 NL cash game, broke even. Nothing to tell about the tourney, AGAIN. Totally card dead, lost a 55/45 to get eliminated before the 2nd break, AGAIN.
7 tourneys, combined buy-in over 13k, NO RESULTS. Didn't make it past the second break once. Not even CLOSE to making the money once. With my past live tourney success this honestly surprises me, and is pretty disappointing. But whatever, it's tournaments, and I simply was completely card dead or donkeyed out of most of them. The only one I have big regrets on is the $5k 6-handed. I had a good start and bluffed my own sorry ass out against terrible players who I could have sat with and been paid off all night on my good hands.
But, overall Vegas was great. My mom and mother-in-law had a fantastic time and they really enjoyed the tickets I bought them and stuff I planned. I had a great time with my family which was the main reason I only played poker once in the 2nd week. Plus, my wife is hooked on Vegas so that's awesome. Won't be hard to convince her to make family trips there (or quick escapes) often.
Unfortunately, online has continued to be crappy in June. I strung 4 winning sessions in a row (2 of them in Vegas), then got hit by such a bad session it made them all mute. I got $5k on FullTilt, doubled it, then divebombed mostly in $25/$50 capped NL ($1500 cap) and busted. God, I run so bad at anything $25/$50, even capped. It's too bad because I actually enjoy those $25/$50 capped tables, but since I can never win when I get my money in as a 60/40 or 65/35 favourite, I don't last very long. I can't get JJ-AA to ever hold up, and you need to take down some pots with those premium hands in capped games (I see other players raking in donations with them constantly). But whatever, I'll stop bitchin'.
So, June has been brutal, but I had a short winning session today (almost $3k) on Party, so hopefully I can turn things around. I think with poker overall in June, I'm just about even. So, all things considered, and with the amount of bad poker I've played, I guess I should take it and run.
I'm playing a little $5/$10 PL Omaha Hi with Wolters right now on Stars. He's evidently making a killing with Omaha Hi right now and seems to be owning the game. I hope it continues for him and he doesn't jump too big too fast. I think I'm going to start learning the ropes of that game. I feel like I have a decent grasp already, but it's hard to shake some Hold'Em concepts (like wanting to hunt for small-mid sets all the time for any raises preflop).
Anyway, tired. Peace!
7 tourneys, combined buy-in over 13k, NO RESULTS. Didn't make it past the second break once. Not even CLOSE to making the money once. With my past live tourney success this honestly surprises me, and is pretty disappointing. But whatever, it's tournaments, and I simply was completely card dead or donkeyed out of most of them. The only one I have big regrets on is the $5k 6-handed. I had a good start and bluffed my own sorry ass out against terrible players who I could have sat with and been paid off all night on my good hands.
But, overall Vegas was great. My mom and mother-in-law had a fantastic time and they really enjoyed the tickets I bought them and stuff I planned. I had a great time with my family which was the main reason I only played poker once in the 2nd week. Plus, my wife is hooked on Vegas so that's awesome. Won't be hard to convince her to make family trips there (or quick escapes) often.
Unfortunately, online has continued to be crappy in June. I strung 4 winning sessions in a row (2 of them in Vegas), then got hit by such a bad session it made them all mute. I got $5k on FullTilt, doubled it, then divebombed mostly in $25/$50 capped NL ($1500 cap) and busted. God, I run so bad at anything $25/$50, even capped. It's too bad because I actually enjoy those $25/$50 capped tables, but since I can never win when I get my money in as a 60/40 or 65/35 favourite, I don't last very long. I can't get JJ-AA to ever hold up, and you need to take down some pots with those premium hands in capped games (I see other players raking in donations with them constantly). But whatever, I'll stop bitchin'.
So, June has been brutal, but I had a short winning session today (almost $3k) on Party, so hopefully I can turn things around. I think with poker overall in June, I'm just about even. So, all things considered, and with the amount of bad poker I've played, I guess I should take it and run.
I'm playing a little $5/$10 PL Omaha Hi with Wolters right now on Stars. He's evidently making a killing with Omaha Hi right now and seems to be owning the game. I hope it continues for him and he doesn't jump too big too fast. I think I'm going to start learning the ropes of that game. I feel like I have a decent grasp already, but it's hard to shake some Hold'Em concepts (like wanting to hunt for small-mid sets all the time for any raises preflop).
Anyway, tired. Peace!
Thursday, July 5, 2007
Vegas #6: good times, but not much poker
I've been having a great time in Vegas since my wife Sarah, son Owen, and our Moms got here Sunday night!
A lot of the trip has been centered around Owen (as is always the case with kids I guess!). It has been absolutely ridiculously hot, and tomorrow is supposed to set at record at 115 F, which is about 47 C. This is pretty crazy hot for a kid under 2 years old, so we've had to be careful with Owen, but he has been a trooper!
First day we walked to Mandalay Bay. This was our first and last walk. I rented a Rav4 and have since realized parking is much easier than I suspected it would be. We checked out Shark Reef which is okay, sort of overpriced for what you get, but I still recommend it for kids. Without kids, it's just so-so. After that we trained over to Excalibur and didn't find much interesting there. Had the buffet and headed back to our room.
By the way, our hotel is called the Desert Rose Resort and it's pretty good. Price is decent at $1,400 for the week and the room is about 800 sq. ft. with two full bedrooms with bathrooms and a full kitchen, dining area and living room. You could comfortably sleep 5 adults. The pool area isn't anything amazing, but it's fine and has a hot tub and kid pool, and isn't super crowded.
Next day we just did some walking around Caesars shops and that area. I showed them the Bellagio Fountain show and Owen was pissed I wouldn't turn the fountains back on after the show. Last night I went to downtown Las Vegas for the first time ever with the gang (Sciangula, Angst and his girlfriend & sister, and Quentin). I didn't realize it was so cool! Played some craps and roullette and found out my wife rocks at roulette.
Today we went to the Grand Lux Cafe in Venetian (I highly recommend), then Sarah and our Moms used their Cirque de Soleil Mystere tickets I got them while I watched Owen. I went to the Mirage Botanic Gardens and Dolphin Exhibit with my boy. We had a blast. The tigers, lions, and other animals were pretty active too because it was the evening (I recommend going around 6pm for this reason, though it closes at 7pm). Owen was trying to order all the tigers and lions to go in the water because it was so hot. He was getting pretty annoyed that they wouldn't listen to him. Haha, everyone around us was cracking up. Owen immediately fell asleep on the car ride back to the room, it was a long day for him!
I played a little online at Full Tilt after Owen went to bed and am up almost $3k so far, so that's good. It's been a while since I put in a real session there, and the play is actually pretty damn weak which is nice to see. I might quit soon because my connection is getting a little wonky.
The girls are still out partying so I'm glad they're having a good time. Not sure what all else we'll do, but I have Danny Gans tickets in a couple days which should be cool. One day I want to take a helicopter tour to the Grand Canyon, but it'll take a little more convincing for Sarah to get on a helicopter.
I'm planning on playing the Bellagio $2,500 tourney on Friday. Maybe I can make a 2nd break for the first time in Vegas! There are a couple more tourneys at Venetian for the CEO Poker Tour I'd love to play after that but I'm not sure that will pan out. My family leaves on Sunday, but I don't have a plane ticket home myself yet! I'm not sure if staying a couple more days is going to be passed by the boss (i.e. my beautiful wife, love you honey! Maybe I'll win $100k or more for that new kitchen we want!!!!), but we'll see.
A lot of the trip has been centered around Owen (as is always the case with kids I guess!). It has been absolutely ridiculously hot, and tomorrow is supposed to set at record at 115 F, which is about 47 C. This is pretty crazy hot for a kid under 2 years old, so we've had to be careful with Owen, but he has been a trooper!
First day we walked to Mandalay Bay. This was our first and last walk. I rented a Rav4 and have since realized parking is much easier than I suspected it would be. We checked out Shark Reef which is okay, sort of overpriced for what you get, but I still recommend it for kids. Without kids, it's just so-so. After that we trained over to Excalibur and didn't find much interesting there. Had the buffet and headed back to our room.
By the way, our hotel is called the Desert Rose Resort and it's pretty good. Price is decent at $1,400 for the week and the room is about 800 sq. ft. with two full bedrooms with bathrooms and a full kitchen, dining area and living room. You could comfortably sleep 5 adults. The pool area isn't anything amazing, but it's fine and has a hot tub and kid pool, and isn't super crowded.
Next day we just did some walking around Caesars shops and that area. I showed them the Bellagio Fountain show and Owen was pissed I wouldn't turn the fountains back on after the show. Last night I went to downtown Las Vegas for the first time ever with the gang (Sciangula, Angst and his girlfriend & sister, and Quentin). I didn't realize it was so cool! Played some craps and roullette and found out my wife rocks at roulette.
Today we went to the Grand Lux Cafe in Venetian (I highly recommend), then Sarah and our Moms used their Cirque de Soleil Mystere tickets I got them while I watched Owen. I went to the Mirage Botanic Gardens and Dolphin Exhibit with my boy. We had a blast. The tigers, lions, and other animals were pretty active too because it was the evening (I recommend going around 6pm for this reason, though it closes at 7pm). Owen was trying to order all the tigers and lions to go in the water because it was so hot. He was getting pretty annoyed that they wouldn't listen to him. Haha, everyone around us was cracking up. Owen immediately fell asleep on the car ride back to the room, it was a long day for him!
I played a little online at Full Tilt after Owen went to bed and am up almost $3k so far, so that's good. It's been a while since I put in a real session there, and the play is actually pretty damn weak which is nice to see. I might quit soon because my connection is getting a little wonky.
The girls are still out partying so I'm glad they're having a good time. Not sure what all else we'll do, but I have Danny Gans tickets in a couple days which should be cool. One day I want to take a helicopter tour to the Grand Canyon, but it'll take a little more convincing for Sarah to get on a helicopter.
I'm planning on playing the Bellagio $2,500 tourney on Friday. Maybe I can make a 2nd break for the first time in Vegas! There are a couple more tourneys at Venetian for the CEO Poker Tour I'd love to play after that but I'm not sure that will pan out. My family leaves on Sunday, but I don't have a plane ticket home myself yet! I'm not sure if staying a couple more days is going to be passed by the boss (i.e. my beautiful wife, love you honey! Maybe I'll win $100k or more for that new kitchen we want!!!!), but we'll see.
Sunday, July 1, 2007
Vegas #5: not proud, but satisfied
Well, this might be sort of a weird update. I'm going to attempt to refrain from complaining because the truth of the matter is I'm very lucky to even be up any money at all on this trip. I'll start with updates of yesterday.
Started out really well in the $1.5k WSOP event. Got my stack to just under 6k (starting chips 3k). I probably hit more hands in the first level than I have in the previous 5 tournaments, but was only able to make small pots each time. Then, I get all-in with QQ vs. 67 against a guy I showed a big bluff to early on, and of course, he turns a straight. I would have been at almost 9k if this holds, instead I'm almost back to my starting point. I grind for a while, got unlucky a few times (guy caught an A on a flush draw in a big pot just before the break). Then a little while after the break I raise Kc9c on the button and the worse player at the table thinks a bit and calls in the big blind. I know he's got an absolute piece of junk and even he almost folded. Flop is KT2. I'm not worried about a bigger K as he would have instacalled my raise with a bigger K. I bet $1000 of the $3800 I still have left. He puts me all-in and it's a pretty easy call for me, he could have a ton of different hands. Turns out, he has T2. It holds and I'm knocked out again by a donkey again with a donkey hand. 24 and 2T....guess I can't beat a hand with a 2 in it.
I went to Wynn in the evening and got into a reasonably tight, decent 10/20 NL game. I honestly did not play very well. I think I've had to say this way too many times this week. I don't feel like rattling off all the hands, but even a half-ass straight-forward player would have probably been up with my hands. A good player could have probably made at least 3k. I ended 4k down. I made some decent bluffs, but also a ton of stupid idiot donkey calls. Total calling station. One hand I was lucky not to get stacked: I raise JcTc and get two callers. Flop is Qc8h3c. So, gutter and flush draw. I bet $300 and an old guy raises me to $600. I just call and turn the 9 for the nut straight. I check, he bets $1000, and I raise to $3000. He tanks a while and calls. River is a horrible 8c, pairing the board, and bringing in my flush which I don't want (though I doubt he's on a flush draw). But, I still jam all-in for over $6k. This is a horrible play and I'm so lucky I wasn't instacalled by a full house. I'm not sure what he had (just a Q I guess), but my bet pushes him off and he folds. Not only did I risk my whole stack against a very probably set, but I also lost out on $2-$3k in value I could have been called on the river. Terrible. I should have bet $2k (or even checked) and folded to a raise from this particular opponent.
The one thing that DID go really well yesterday was my bathroom breaks! These are the only two times I did this the entire trip, but both bathroom breaks I took $50 to the Big 6 wheel that is on the way to the bathroom. Both times I put $20 on both the 20:1 and 5:1 odds, and $10 on one of the 40:1 odds spots. First break I hit the 20:1 for $400, 2nd break I hit the 40:1 for another $400 (cuz just a $10 bet). Haha, crazy. From the small amount of gambling I did while out here I'm up money, not sure how much, but somewhere under $1k. I've also realized I just don't like craps much, probably won't bother with it anymore unless I'm drinking with my buddies or something (which isn't often). Gambling really is for suckers, and I hate feeling like a sucker.
My thoughts on this trip are weird. Overall, I am up 19k at the moment including tournaments (which I'm down around 10k in) and $500 online in a couple sessions I've goofed around with in bed before I go to sleep. I've been sort of a "one hit wonder" here, being those two big pots on my 2nd day here. Other than those I've won about 3 pots between $4k - $7k. But, besides those 5 pots (which isn't a lot of good hands with all the cards I've played), I've been pretty damn card dead. I have lost to so many runner flushes with good hands it's insane. I'm just continually having to make big folds all over the place and it's getting tiresome and I'm starting to turn into a passive calling station.
Here is an interesting stat: out of all the tournaments and cash games I've played, I have flopped ONE freakin' set. Normally, odds tell you that you will flop a set for every 7 pairs or so. I'm not sure how many pairs I've seen flops with (the vast majority in raised pots, often huge raises in cash games but easy calls because we're so deep), but it's definitely way over 100. And the ONE set I flopped? It was the 99s against Rekrul on the 2nd day where I was oversetted and folded on the turn (probably my best play of the trip, though not that outstanding). I have spoken to him since and he confirmed 100% he had a set of As on the flop and bet the flop hard hoping I've make a move or had caught something big (like AK, AQ, or a set).
EDIT (July 2): Garrett pointed out I actually hit another set in an early story that I forgot about. He's obviously right, I forgot about that short-stack one. So, I hit TWO sets. One I oversetted a guy with AA vs 99, and the other was the exact reverse mentioned above.
For some reason, I've been carrying around a large amount of frustration everywhere I go. Getting donkeyed (either by my own bad play or someone else's) out of every tournament hasn't helped. I hate being done a tourney at 4-5pm and not even feeling like poker anymore, but with nothing else to do. It really hasn't helped my game.
If you could have asked me if I'd be happy making 19k before the trip, I'd have to say "yes", though I'd be a little disappointed in knowing I obviously didn't make any good tourney scores (which I was really hoping for and thought the chances were decent). I haven't played well. I can't say I haven't been lucky because I came THIS close (put your fingers really close together and that's what I mean by THIS close) to going busto on my 2nd day. Winning that 40k pot afterwards is enough luck for the week. But, like I said, besides that I've just had to deal with constant frustration and running really cold.
I don't feel any pride from this trip. In fact, I've felt like a donkey at the tables more often than a professional. I haven't been focused and I haven't been sharp. I've been unprepared and have not made good decisions in the heat of the moment. June has been a horrible month, I've been running quite bad, and playing even worse. And somehow, by some miracle, I'm up a tiny bit of money, maybe 2k with online and live combined. Anything that sounds like complaining isn't really, I'm just stating facts and observing how I feel about it all.
I think the truth of the matter is I just need a little break from poker. I'm gonna turn into one of those old grouchy dudes at the table who just seem to hate life in general (well, no I won't, but I bet this is how they started towards that). I'm only going to play when I really feel like it. Like I said, maybe just once or twice while my family is here, but maybe not even at all. We'll see how it pans out and how much time I have.
When you play poker for a living, and when you're running bad, you are ALWAYS running bad. Even away from the table, when poker shouldn't matter, I can put it aside and enjoy the other things in life, but I'm still running bad in the back of my mind. I still feel that frustration and anxiety. I'm not saying this because it's a huge problem in my life, it isn't, I can deal with it. I think it's just a consequence of living this lifestyle and one of those obstacles you have to overcome to be successful. Every occupation has it's stresses, pitfalls, and issues you have to deal with in order to maintain a happy lifestyle away from work. For now, I think I just need to re-evaluate everything and learn to be READY to play when I do. That means I have to feel like playing, and I have to be ready EVERY SINGLE HAND to play properly.
So, enough babbling. I made 19k on this trip and that's a good thing. I'll take it and consider myself lucky (which sounds weird after claiming I ran bad, but whatever). I won a 40k pot which was an absolutely awesome feeling. I played a short while with Phil Ivey and took down my only pot against him on a semi-bluff (he had nothing obviously). I met a lot of cool people including professional athletes, Internet pros I can finally put a face to, and other stand-up folks from all around the world. I've had a good time with Angst and Quentin. I learnt a little about myself, and a lot about my short-comings. I feel humbled and I think that's a good thing.
My family arrives tonight. I've missed my wife and son....excruciatingly at times. And that's also been a good thing for me as it's easy to take life, and the people in it, for granted in your day-to-day routine. We're staying at the Desert Rose Resort. I have a ton to do today including renting a car, buying groceries, getting the room all ready, picking them up from airport (I have no idea where I'm going on the roads), etc.
I sincerely thank everyone who has messaged me on here, the PCH message board, phone text messages, and via e-mail. They've all been encouraging comments and congratulations and I'm glad the time I spend on these updates and on the message board are not wasted.
I will continue to update occasionally for the 2nd week of the trip, but like I said, I don't expect there to be much poker. We'll see though, who knows when the itch will come! :) PEACE!
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