Some Things

- Desired results aren't quite there but giving myself a chance by going deep in some tournies. This would probably bother me more if I hadn't received some good news the other day.

- Over the holidays, the original plan was for my brother and myself to have a bit of a Euro Trip, see some things we otherwise probably never would. And now it seems maybe we never will. Turns out he needs to take a business trip during that time so vacation canceled. Amsterdam will have to wait for me yet again.

This is good news, though, because I'll now be heading home for the holidays, which then starts a chain of good news poker-wise cause now I can deal with monetary issues, eventually head back to Europe, and get set up for





Yup, I'm officially (straight up) buying into my first major tournament. Should be a good time and hopefully it'll provide some legitimate blog entries in the future.

More then anything, I really just want to test what I think I know against the best and I see no reason why France shouldn't serve that purpose. Did I just double negative that shit?

That's it for now, I must now focus on not winning a Sunday major.

Oh and I think I forgot to mention that it'll be good to see my family.

Sure

I have registered to play in the PokerStars World Blogger Championship of Online Poker!

The WBCOOP is an online Poker tournament open to all Bloggers.

Registration code: 115912

Lost My Cool

After the performance by the D_R_Y character last week in the big Sunday tournies I was motivated to do something worthwhile yesterday.

I managed to play good poker all day until, in the Sunday Brawl, I got sucked out on for a decent sized pot late, then shoved an A7 or A8s (don't remember exactly) in the BB to an AJ raise in the SB, with about 5 or 6 tables left I believe. But probably more importantly, enough BB's and time to wait for a better spot.

Then I proceeded to bubble the Sunday Million on Stars, this after making it down to 3 tables in the EPT Prague Satellite the day before, only to once again bubble that tournament. Really beginning to despise that site to be perfectly honest.

Oh yeah, and to top off a great Sunday, in the 750k on Tilt, I flopped a set early and had 1 taker on my value bet. The turn would bring a 3rd diamond, and of course I shove into the nuts. Then some Sir Douchebag types in "hahahah" in the chatbox before calling. Some real winners out there...

God I hate Sundays.


Also, quick plug. Tonight is the opening event for the NYRambler Poker Series II on tilt. I think tonight is a $10 NLH event for those interested. 10 ET I believe. Should be a good time with a weak field :)

The Impossible

Has anyone ever heard of the triple double deal that Tilt offers? I didn't know this but apparently if you can somehow run like Jesus Christ himself and win all six double tournies within a calendar month, Full Tilt ponies up a cool million.

This sounds intriguing to me, updates to come...

Why We Plays

In poker, the rush and challenge of going deep in a tournament is unmatched. Not to belittle cash games, but oftentimes 1 brain-fart late can and will be the end of you in tournament poker. The worst part is, it doesn't even have to be your mistake. If your paying attention, something like this has probably happened at almost every table you've sat at.

Person A can play a hand perfectly, make Person B make a horrible call/raise only to suckout and win the hand. And since the only cure for a suckout is one of your own, Person A continues to shove something he or she obviously shouldn't be. In other words, Person A quit.

Of course there's something to be said about the # of BB's you have but all too often defeat is conceded at a tournament table. Amazingly, this sort of thing is even seen on the biggest stage as I'd like to remember some clown pushing every hand at the WSOP ME bubble. European if I recall; which doesn't surprise me in the least bit.

Moral of the story: don't quit I guess.

I bring this up because in my own poker adventures, lately it seems like heading into the 120/240 (25 ante) level Full Tilt won't allow me to have more then 3500 chips. 3 tournies I'd like to bring up specifically being yesterday's afternoon 50k and nighttime 65k, along with the Sunday weekly 750k.

Heading into the 3rd hour of these tournies I was at the stage of waiting for a hand to push. Yesterday, I was fortunately dealt some big hands at this time which allowed to me hang in there and play more poker. I grinded my way to the FT of the 50k but made a quick departure as my AK couldn't hold off an AT that had to call my all in.

I made it to about 4 or 5 tables left in the 65k and eventually pushed my KQo in MP only to be insta-called by what I think was an A3, (I now usually don't watch when I'm allin in a big spot as being sucked out on usually makes me lose more money elsewhere). All I saw was a board of 9 3 T rainbow, with more worthless cards on the turn and river, and that the villain won with a pair of 3's. Sweet dude, nice call.

And for the 750k, I've been holding back a big ol whine for some time now as on the bubble at the 400/800 level, I was in the BB and after everyone folded to the SB who made it 2400 to play, I made it 6200 with my KK, he shoves his stack with 99, and I lose a pot worth about 45 BB's with a 9 on the flop. But my time will come with the big Sunday tournies, I won't allow for it not to.

OK, this was somewhat of a rant but I hope something useful came out of it. Thanks for stopping by and Happy Holidays.

Worth Mentioning

Finally, a run.

After looking through the HH for an interesting one to post it seems like nothing is really worth it. There was, though, one little mini-battle I thankfully won that helped me make it to the final table of the afternoon 50k on Tilt.

When it got down to short handed play with 2 tables left, I had an aggro chipleader who mashed the pot button every chance he got on my direct right. Everyone else was pretty nitty so maybe 7/10 times everyone folded down to him in his SB. After having to fold to his raise a couple times, he makes his standard raise to my BB and I pick up 22 in the BB and shove. He requested time which gave me a sweat but he eventually folded.

One orbit later he limps in SB and I shov 12 BB's or so with QJo, he folds. Another orbit, everyone folds, villain bets with pot button, I shove with AKs, he instacalls with J4o and my hand holds.

I also didn't see a lot of action at the FT but I managed to chip up and maintain my average stack, when with 4 left my QQ couldn't hold off Zaig's AK.

Anyways, I'm hopin this can get me goin again as confidence and momentum are slowly making their way back.



Appreciate the visit

Belated Final Table Thoughts

After unsuccessfully avoiding all spoilers, I finally got to watch the November 9 get after it, and like many, I was pretty disappointed.

Actually the first hour kept me pretty entertained as chip stacks fluctuated and the scenery alone was something to behold. But there is one thing that caught my attention the most and it was the play of the amateurs. I don't think it can be disputed that Phillips and the Canadian accountant (Surho or something?) were affected the most by the long layoff - and I'm not talking about in the obvious way of something like Phillips losing his momentum.

Instead, I'm gonna make a bold statement and say that the coaching they received was the biggest mistake they could of made. Of course this is strictly opinion but by being coached (with the limited action we actually see on TV), it surely looked like they both had a plan of attack set in their mind and to be honest I think it that was a huge mistake. As if they were assuming 'Player X' would play a certain way because the TV said so.

For example, I could almost see whomever it was that coached said Canadian say something like, "Demidov knows your conservative so if your in a hand w/ him and make a big move, he can't do anything but fold...." That is unless Demidov is holding the nuts that is. What it comes down to is that I certainly can't see this Canadian guy make a move like that 4 months ago. And if he can't make a move like that without the coaching, he still has a lot of chips to wait and play HIS game that got him this far.

And the hand where Ivan and Dennis played with AQ and AK almost made me puke. It was pretty obvious that Phillips was more concerned with advancing in the money and put to justice the 4 months of concentrating on the chip leader in the media, along with pleasing his contingent in the crowd.

But I suppose similar to baseball, sometimes you just gotta tip your cap to the opponent for being outplayed.


Anyways, I remember hearing Negraneu talk about how this final table would be the most "sophisticated" one ever played. That alone got me giddy to watch it but I think in the future things would be a lot more exciting if ESPN actually showed the FT live and cut out all the personal stories we already knew by there being a layoff. This is what I thought the original plan was.

So in the end it's painfully obvious that I should be running ESPN and the WSOP.

Inch by Inch

Nothing to do with Pacino, though the phrase alone can't do anything but make you think of it:




Rather it has to do with my concept of BR right now. After a serious cold spell in MTT's, I've slowed down in them (meaning I'm playing less) and instead have been trying to build up in both funds and confidence with PLO8 9h SNG's, and the inexplicable $175 super turbo 300 chippers. Lots of fun, especially when on some form of tilt.

Umm, I guess here's a look at my SNG graph, but to be honest I have no idea what this represents. I thought I was killing the plo8's but I guess there's been too much spewing somewhere along the line. I'm not even sure what sharkscope does now that I think about it. Just wanted something new for you all to look at here...





In terms of MTT's and the cold streak, I'm never sure which line to cross about whining because I've been fortunate enough to run very well at times and make some decent cashes. Cashes that should let me just sweat my decision-making and not necessarily the results at this point.* Unfortunately my mind doesn't work like that and I get somewhat frustrated after awhile, as I'm sure almost everyone does.

And that's where I think this blog comes in handy for me, it helps me look at the big picture as opposed to short-term gains. I still have many issues in this area but certainly getting better.

Thanks for stoppin by, hope your havin more luck at the tables than I am. Later.








*line stolen from Raymer I'm pretty sure

FTOPS update

Hello. Nice misclick, might as well read what I have to say at this point.

Haven't been winning too much money lately, I actually think some may call it losing money. Updates to come on this matter...

And of course there's FTOPS. Let's see, I think I almost lasted half an hour for the first event.

Full Tilt Poker Game #8830717871: FTOPS Event #1 (62633143), Table 197 - 15/30 - No Limit Hold'em - 21:25:45 ET - 2008/11/05
Seat 1: docnoosh (5,810)
Seat 2: AreTheseUtz (4,810)
Seat 3: mwm5200 (3,475)
Seat 4: Gd3yuk (4,800)
Seat 5: lilkimmer77 (4,710)
Seat 6: 2too2handle (6,375)
mwm5200 posts the small blind of 15
Gd3yuk posts the big blind of 30
The button is in seat #2
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to lilkimmer77 [Jd Jc]
lilkimmer77 raises to 95
2too2handle raises to 270
docnoosh folds
AreTheseUtz has 15 seconds left to act
AreTheseUtz folds
mwm5200 folds
Gd3yuk folds
lilkimmer77 calls 175
*** FLOP *** [Js 6s 2s]
lilkimmer77 checks
2too2handle bets 585
lilkimmer77 raises to 1,850
2too2handle calls 1,265
*** TURN *** [Js 6s 2s] [Kh]
lilkimmer77 bets 2,590, and is all in
2too2handle calls 2,590
lilkimmer77 shows [Jd Jc]
2too2handle shows [Kc Ks]
*** RIVER *** [Js 6s 2s Kh] [7s]
lilkimmer77 shows three of a kind, Jacks
2too2handle shows a flush, King high
2too2handle wins the pot (9,465) with a flush, King high
lilkimmer77 stands up

I actually didn't stand up after the hand, I more leaned back in my chair and murmered a quiet, yet forceful, "awesome".

Eventually event 2 rolled around which I cashed in (I believe around 80th of 1200 or so), but that was once again pretty disappointing as I waited and waited and waited and waited for a good position to push in and try and double up, only to do so to AAxx OTB when I thought my AKJx rainbow in the BB could and would be in pretty good shape. Nope.

I was contemplating playing the $300 cubed tourney but thought better of it as dishing out a K in a time I can't seem to buy a break did not seem like the brightest idea in the world.

I certainly won't quit though as the degenerate in me won't allow it.

Spain is getting cold, the women are unfortunately starting to bear more clothing, and I miss a lot of foods but I certainly can't complain.

You may now return to your normally scheduled pr0n viewing.

Gettin There

Playing a lot better these days, no big cashes to back it up but certainly do feel that it's right there again. Just got through with the nooner 16.5k on Tilt, made the final table but also made a quick exit in 9th mainly because of this hand right before the FT

Full Tilt Poker Game #8763342507: $16,500 Guarantee (66826715), Table 18 - 1500/3000 Ante 400 - No Limit Hold'em - 16:45:14 ET - 2008/11/01
Seat 1: xav (78,636)
Seat 3: dydak111 (107,495)
Seat 4: robinscl (107,211)
Seat 5: lilkimmer77 (37,208)
Seat 7: Tasdron61 (19,932)
xav antes 400
dydak111 antes 400
robinscl antes 400
lilkimmer77 antes 400
Tasdron61 antes 400
xav posts the small blind of 1,500
dydak111 posts the big blind of 3,000
The button is in seat #7
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to lilkimmer77 [5d 5s]
robinscl folds
lilkimmer77 raises to 36,808, and is all in
Tasdron61 has 15 seconds left to act
Tasdron61 has requested TIME
Tasdron61 calls 19,532, and is all in
xav folds
dydak111 folds
lilkimmer77 shows [5d 5s]
Tasdron61 shows [3h 3c]
Uncalled bet of 17,276 returned to lilkimmer77
*** FLOP *** [6s 2s 8d]
*** TURN *** [6s 2s 8d] [7h]
*** RIVER *** [6s 2s 8d 7h] [3s]
lilkimmer77 shows a pair of Fives
Tasdron61 shows three of a kind, Threes
Tasdron61 wins the pot (45,564) with three of a kind, Threes


To make matters worse I busted with KQ against 9T with yet another river miracle. No worries though, I plan on sucking out for a HUGE spot in a big Sunday tournament.

Hope the Halloween hangovers aren't too severe, hasta luego.

Not Working Out How I Planned

Seems like yesterday I started this blog to talk poker and eventually place some brags but as it goes in the world full of degenerates, running poorly has made me play poorly - which means I've been losing money in almost every way possible.

With yet another FTOPS series looming and me not going anywhere to play live, I figured this as a better time than any to remind the poker playing community (i.e. myself) that it happens. Taking losses in stride can't do anything but help in the long run.....

OK, that may be a complete lie but you get the point. Every right decision in the world doesn't guarantee success but maybe persistence does. I adhere to this.

/philosophical me.

That being said, I'll probably be looking to lose more money when I perhaps enter some form of FTOPS pool on 2p2, updates to come....

Weekend Poker

Pretty certain the only thing I enjoyed during the debacle that was my poker-filled weekend was the music I was listening to, a lot of John Butler Trio (a band my brother just saw and introduced me to). If you don't like it, no one likes you. Enjoy....

Yesterday I.....

* Bubbled another EPT Qualifier - I'm starting to think it's not meant to be

* Could have put it on cruise control to the final table of the 30k PLOrly on Tilt if this hand held with, I think, 13 or so people left:

Full Tilt Poker Game #8657782998: $30,000 Guarantee (63068278), Table 18 - 1000/2000 - Pot Limit Omaha Hi - 17:57:23 ET - 2008/10/25
Seat 1: Kariboo86 (50,937)
Seat 2: xxd33pxx (72,300)
Seat 4: willcutyou (100,032)
Seat 5: Da Roc Boy (105,388)
Seat 6: lilkimmer77 (31,190)
Seat 7: MclovinLovin (8,905)
Seat 9: ZanosiKapusta (28,558)
lilkimmer77 posts the small blind of 1,000
MclovinLovin posts the big blind of 2,000
The button is in seat #5
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to lilkimmer77 [Ts Kc Js Qc]
ZanosiKapusta folds
Kariboo86 raises to 6,000
xxd33pxx folds
willcutyou folds
Da Roc Boy folds
lilkimmer77 calls 5,000
MclovinLovin raises to 8,905, and is all in
Kariboo86 calls 2,905
lilkimmer77 calls 2,905
*** FLOP *** [Tc 5h 2c]
lilkimmer77 bets 22,285, and is all in
Kariboo86 folds
lilkimmer77 shows [Ts Kc Js Qc]
MclovinLovin shows [Ad 6s 7d 3c]
Uncalled bet of 22,285 returned to lilkimmer77
*** TURN *** [Tc 5h 2c] [8h]
*** RIVER *** [Tc 5h 2c 8h] [4d]
lilkimmer77 shows a pair of Tens
MclovinLovin shows a straight, Eight high
MclovinLovin wins the pot (26,715) with a straight, Eight high

.....I proceeded to shove drawing dead some amount of hands later. It was fun.

* Couldn't resist playing a $1,000 PLO8 Matrix SNG with Scott Clements and Jeff Madsen, I came in 5th overall I think, and came in 2nd at 2 of the tables so basically broke even there. Clements kept telling Jeff to, "watch out, I'm running good today". Not sure if they have any history or whatever, not sure I care either.

* Lost about 1k playing NLO8. I've been taking shots at these games when I've had a run at some nice cashes with MTT's, unfortunately I lost a $800 pot when I flopped a set with a K kicker, only to lose to the A kicker. Filling up woulda been nice but that pipe-dream was obviously nowhere to be found.

I'll probably win the Sunday Million, Second Chance, 750k and Sunday Brawl today so stay tuned...

Ruling?

Yelo. Just thought I'd throw a small update up.

I was able to make the FT of the $150-50k on Tilt today. I needed a huge suckout to get there when I flopped the nut flush with AKs against KK with maybe 30 or so left. No HH's cause to be honest, I didn't play many interesting hands, but there was something that came up worth mentioning.

This was one of those stretch runs for me where it felt like I was getting reraised to the point of high annoyance. Life sucks, deal with it, I know.

But when it got down to the FT there was a big stack 2 seats to my left who re-popped me early and often. Thing is, while I'd be sitting there and thinking he'd announce his hand to me. The first time I think I was holding A6, he shoves all in, I stall to save face and he writes, "KK".

Huh? OK, whatever, fold, move on.

A couple orbits later I pick up AJ in MP, and same guy re-raises.

As said before, this guy has a healthy stack so I'm seriously thinking about calling for the rest of my chips and while I'm sitting there, to myself, not bothering anyone, thinking, to myself, he writes, "AK".

I write, "show?".

He writes, "call".

I write, "blw me".

I really hope I didn't let this guy get to my head, but I had about 15 BB's left and after some more thinking I decided to let it go thinking at best I was flipping a coin. And if he was indeed telling the truth I was obviously in horrible shape.

So, right after that hand another player brings up collusion on the part of the guy who was announcing his hand. Now I vaguely know about this, meaning the actual ruling, but I know for a fact that it's annoying and something someone playing online usually doesn't have to deal with (as opposed to live).

Anyone have any clue about this subject matter? Not that I'm looking to get the guy in trouble but out of curiosity and future d-bags I suppose.

Thanks.

Bleh (Edit: Woot Loretta)

Yesterday I waited around for what seems like the whole day to put an EPT Step-6 SNG ticket into play - trying to win a seat into EPT Budapest. Stars is kind enough to dish out deepstacks for these but personally I don't think it matters. People pretty much only play monsters for the first hour and then it becomes a shove-fest for the second. To be honest, skill seems to quickly take a back seat for these which is why I doubt I'll venture into them again.

The top 2 won a seat and I came in 3rd so naturally, I was pretty happy about that.

I did, however, somehow finagle $900 for it which I quickly put all into play at a 5/10 PLO table and a 3/6 NL O8 table. I managed to build that up which helped me fall asleep but I'm still a little bitter today.

This weekend I'll be playing a good amount, including the $800 EPT Qualifier along with most, if not all, of the big Sunday Tourneys. Here's to hoping I have something worthwhile to write about in the coming days. Hope to see some of you at the tables.

Enjoy your weekend...



And a Congrats on the nice run for Loretta on Stars last night, awaiting blog update for details.....

Here Goes Nothing. Quite Literally.

Hey everyone, with some suggestions from friends at CP, I'll be making what I believe to be my 2nd or 3rd attempt at a poker blog. Original. I know.


This sounded like a good idea because:

- I'm probably playing more then I ever have

- This'll be a good place for me to learn from those of you unfortunate enough to be reading this

- I now have a great place to rant about everything and nothing, all at the same time

- And maybe most importantly, I'm beginning to think I can actually be good at this game


Again, I have no clue what I'm doing with this blog, but I hope it'll be yet another place where we can learn, converse, laugh, whine, and maybe even someday cry together. Who knows ya know??


Sooooo.... poker talk......


Last night I FT'd the 65k again but had a somewhat disappointing 3rd place finish. When it got down to 3, we all had about even stacks and a lot of play in us. This is about the time I began being impatient and cocky. I essentially tried to win a 1.5 hr FT in 30 mins if that makes any sense.

As an MTT player, I'm a firm believer that to some extent, you have to let the game come to you. Too many times I read about or see or hear people being worried about being the chip leader at some point other then the end of the tournament. Who cares? So what?

This reminds me of the debacle I saw on the WSOP this year, that guy who had what I think was the chip lead going into Day 3 of ME - Norm comments that he could take the day off, watch Circ-de-Sole, and be in great shape for Day 4 - then he proceeds to say bye-bye as I'm sure he felt the pressure of the chip lead and cameras on him, etc.

So I guess what I'm getting at is this, I really do feel that if your playing an MTT and consistently checking your 'status', your not gonna be able to play your best. Something I do with the Tilt Tourney windows is start at the bottom and scroll out the people who get eliminated, not knowing where I stand, so I can make intelligent poker decisions based on poker and not based on "where will this put me?". Because I found myself doing that exact thing at times, actually. Anyways...

So that's why I sucked with 3 to go last night, I was so obsessed with finishing those clowns off and getting the chip lead, I ultimately dug my own grave. Lesson learned.


I aplogize for no HH, no tourney window, no anything-useful for that matter. I promise this blogging thing is something I'll get a little better at once I learn the ropes. Until then, thanks for the support. GL at the tables.