Grinding Out of a Hole/Resolutions Update

It feels like I've been just spinning my wheels with my online and live casino play. I'll book some small wins on Full Tilt, then go into a huge slump, then grind my way back to my last high point...only to repeat the process. Thank goodness for rakeback or else my account would never go up!

I didn't qualify for Mohegan's big tourney...I played the final $280 qualifier the night before day 1A, big mistake as there were plenty of solid players looking to win an entry on the cheap. Again, I made the mistake of dueling with the most aggressive player at the table, only to have him catch his top pair on the turn and snap call my hesitating river shove (worst play I've made in a long time). Then I just played in a $150 Act II super satellite at Foxwoods on Saturday. Built my stack from 4k to 8k pretty quickly, only to have Ms. Weak-Tight run down my flopped two pair and river her straight...I was back down to 4k with blinds at 200/400/50 and struggled from that point on, lost K-9 vs A-8 for most of my chips, and ran a blind shove from the SB for my last 900 into kings...I woke up with 7-2, haha me.

The '09 resolutions aren't any more promising:

- Lose 30 pounds by June 1st: I'd be lucky if I haven't gained weight
- Become a winning player at $5/10NL by December 31st: just one decimal place away!
- Qualify to play in a major live tournament, no later than the WPT at Foxwoods in November: hope to give the April WPT at Foxwoods one more shot
- Post at least once per week: how about once per month?
- Improve my position at work (or find a new job) by June 1st: business is very slow, and everyone's holding their breath waiting for the new bonus plan to be announced...early rumors are that most of us will be eating Ramen Noodles and Mac & Cheese for quite a while.

Well I've gotta get back on the dieting bandwagon, that's for sure. Warmer weather will bring more opportunities for some outside activities (walks, golf, etc.). Spend more time reading poker books/strategy sites, maybe get a coach if not too expensive? Keep plugging away at the live tourney qualifiers; the odds say I should make it through one of them sometime!

Why, Mother Nature, Why?

So of course the 1-3 inches of snow we were supposed to get Monday night into Tuesday morning morphed into 4-6 inches between noon today and now. Took me 1 1/2 hours to get home from work, so getting to Mohegan by 7:30 for the qualifier was not going to happen.

But if I did play in the tourney, then I never would've played with this fine fellow:


Seat 2: let's call him "DB" ($172.60)
Seat 5: me ($106.50)

*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to me [Jd Js]
DB raises to $4
me calls $4
*** FLOP *** [Jh 3d 6s]
DB bets $10
me has 15 seconds left to act
me raises to $20 (I could've raised more but flop is dry & I wanted to get the other two pre-flop callers to fold, which they did)
DB calls $10
*** TURN *** [Jh 3d 6s] [Ac]
DB checks
me checks (thought there was a chance he had aces since he almost never raised pre-flop, so I keep from committing my stack...plus it's very deceiving in case I'm way ahead)
*** RIVER *** [Jh 3d 6s Ac] [Ah]
DB has 15 seconds left to act
DB bets $20
me has 15 seconds left to act
me raises to $82.50, and is all in

DB waited almost 10 sec, then...

DB calls $62.50
*** SHOW DOWN ***
me shows [Jd Js] a full house, Jacks full of Aces
DB shows [Ad Jc] a full house, Aces full of Jacks
DB wins the pot ($219.50) with a full house, Aces full of Jacks

DB: toug river
DB: weird check
me: thanks for the slow roll
DB: no slow roll
DB: i am playing multi tables
me: ohhhhhhh

A few minutes later, DB calls my $8 river bet w/AJ on a Q-high board...

Dealer: me shows a pair of Fours
Dealer: me wins the pot ($27.10) with a
pair of Fours

me: pity call?
me: or just bad
DB: good info
DB: called for info
me: bet you do that a lot
DB: is that a jab at me...
me: i guess
me: since you slow call with the nuts &
then question my play
DB: remember i raised the hand that you
had jacks
me: whatever dude
DB: you should have bet that turn real hard (which gave him top 2 pair & he wouldn't have folded anyways)
me: you're just better than me
DB: and not check
DB: i am better than you
me: thats what i just said
DB: but i have played with you before and I
am just trying to help you. (I've never seen this guy before)
me: i dont remember you
me: i must have a bad memory
DB: i keep notes on players
me: how do you do that
DB: right click on the other players avatar
me: oh
me: i thought you used a diary or something

At least I got my money's worth ribbing him...still haven't given up hope on qualifying for Mohegan's big tourney next weekend.

The Need to Succeed

Trekking back to Mohegan tomorrow night, weather permitting, to qualify for their big ol' tournament. Not trying to qualify, but to qualify.

Super Sunday, Terrible Call

Played in the $125+25 qualifier for Mohegan's $2500 tourney...60 entries, we were down to 2 tables, and I had a slightly above-average $22k stack...blinds $600/1200, I had already opened a few pots in this level, and raised MP to $4000 with Ah-Qh...the most aggressive player at the table was in the SB, thought for a min, and shoved for $16k more...back to me, I thought for a minute or so...I saw him push earlier over a check-raise on the flop with just middle pair & gutshot, so I put him on a pretty wide range...I have K-Q and A-J crushed, racing against most pairs, and worried about A-K/queens/kings/aces.

Since only the final 3 would win a seat, I decided to gamble & called...he showed aces, and I was dead by the turn...got knocked out the next hand.

I'll be thinking about this one for a while...I could easily have folded & still had an average stack...first thing I thought when he shoved was "everyone gets knocked out with A-Q." But then I also thought it's most likely we're racing or I'm ahead, and felt it was a good spot to try & put myself up near the chip lead. So much for that.

Good news is my buddy Luke also played in the tourney, and he won one of the seats to the big dance. Now the pressure is on me to qualify, since this was all my stinkin' idea to begin with!

Insert Title Here

Not much new and/or exciting to report. Getting re-motivated at work. Live poker trips scheduled to Mohegan Sun & Atlantic City over the next couple weeks. Working off my year-end Iron Man bonus on FullTilt. Monthly poker tournament at the Lounge is set for next Saturday. First weigh-in for Biggest Loser contest on Thursday. It'd be nice if at least half of these things lead to some positive results.

Since the weigh-in isn't for a few more days, Jen & I are braving the snow to cash in gift cards at TGIFridays...yay food!

In 2009, I Resolve to...

- Lose 30 pounds by June 1st
- Become a winning player at $5/10NL by December 31st
- Qualify to play in a major live tournament, no later than the WPT at Foxwoods in November
- Post at least once per week
- Improve my position at work (or find a new job) by June 1st

More to come as they come to mind...2008 was a pretty crappy one on a lot of fronts, but poker was a bright spot. I need to build on my poker success and continue to learn, move up in limits, and make more money. It doesn't guarantee happiness, but money can certainly help alleviate that financially-related stress cloud that's been rumbling over me (and most everyone else, I know).

And the Academy Award for Best Actor in a Poker Tournament Goes to...

My weekly poker league ended last night, as 16 of us played in the finals. There was just over $1,800 in the pot, with 5 spots paid ($800/500/300/200/160). I experienced the full range of starting hands and tough situations, coin flips and bad beats (both given and received).

After playing 3-handed for about half an hour with blinds so high that none of us had more than 10 big blinds left, we decided to each take $500 and play it out for the extra hundo and coveted championship trophy (minus the hockey sticks).

I got to heads-up against Andy, crippled him when my A-6 outdrew his Q-Q, and took it down shortly after. Obviously the suckout was the main reason I won, but there were two hands earlier in the night that I'm especially proud of. Both ended up being big pots, and I won them both, enabling me to make it to the final 3 and get lucky for the win...

With blinds at 100-200, I opened from the cutoff with 9-5. I hadn't seen many good cards or played many hands, and I needed to start growing my stack, so I figured my raise could get some respect from the button & blinds. Roy and Mike did fold, but Bill thought for a few seconds and called. Luckily, the flop came a raggedy 9-high with 2 suits...but Bill bet out 900, leaving him with only 1,200 behind.

This would normally be a tough spot for me, but over the course of the league, I had seen Bill bet a good portion of his stack...only to have someone else come over the top and get him to fold. As soon as he made the bet, I pushed in my stack and waited. I had Bill covered, and he started agonizing over his dilemma. He asked, "So you have Jacks? Queens?" I knew at that moment Bill had pocket tens...I had to get him to fold.

He asked if I'd show my cards if he folded, and I told him I could show him one. That was a huge mistake on my part; if I indeed had a big pair, showing him just one card wouldn't prove anything. Showing one card indicated that I probably hit a pair on the flop, meaning his overpair was way ahead. So as he kept looking at me, I camly told him twice that I "have a hand," and tried to act as 'normal' as possible. I must've projected just enough perceived strength; after another minute or so of waffling, Bill finally mucked his cards, and I flashed the nine. "Did you have tens?" He nodded quite painfully. Whewwwwwwwwww.

At the next level, Mark min-raised the 400 blind to 800. I peeked down at an ace...squeeeeeze...another ace! Of course I'm looking for action, so I made a smallish re-raise to 2,000. Hoping to isolate and get heads-up with Mark, that's just what happened, and we saw another raggedy flop, this time Queen-high. Mark checked, and I asked him how much he had left: the count was 2,700. "Okay, I bet 2,700." I tried to say it with a twinge of doubt in my voice, hoping to raise some suspicion on his part. My read on Mark is that he usually doesn't believe that others have him beat, so I wanted to induce a heroic call. First I started fidgeting a little, putting my hand over my mouth, trying to look uncomfortable. Finally, after another 30 seconds of waiting on Mark, I went for the final false tell...I leaned back in my chair and folded my arms on top of my remote control cradle (a.k.a. my belly). I'm not sure if was due to my perceived weakness, but Mark made the call with just A-K, and he was drawing dead after the turn.

Now who knows if all my acting and posturing actually factored in my opponents' decision-making, but the bottom line was I accomplished the two biggest goals when playing poker: getting a better hand to fold, and getting a worse hand to call.

It's That Time Again...

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

This PokerStars tournament is a No Limit Texas Hold’em event exclusive to Bloggers.

Registration code: 339231

Oops, I Did It Again



I hadn't played Saturdays with DrPauly in over two months...always something going on Saturday afternoons. Last time I played I was fortunate enough to win; this time around I was just plain lucky.

Don't remember the details, but I played two all-in pots early on...and rivered them both. Felt weird to administer the beats instead of suffer them.

I think I was in the lead when the final table started, but behind almost 2-to-1 to jeciimd when it got to heads up. We got it all in on a two-diamond flop; jeciimd flopped two pair, I was chasing with Kd-Qd-x-x...and runner-runnered a higher two pair. Pretty gross, but no apologies!

Kept picking up decent hands, applied pressure, and ground down jeciimd to about 5,000. We finally got it all-in on J-J-x-x board, I had slowplayed A-J-x-x and jeciimd unfortunately had J-T-x-x. He wasn't able to boat up on the river and I wonned da tournaments...sorry, the post-tourney celebratory margaritas from Pancho Loco are talking!

Thanks again to the Good Doctor for running a fun, laid-back tourney for his friends & faithful readers.

Which reminds me, a solid Eff You goes out to the IT department at my job for blocking Pauly's site! Now I must wait till evenings for my daily fix...

Nobody Believes Me

I know nobody likes to read blogs full of poker rants, but nobody reads this blog, so awaaaaaay we go!

Background- I was chipleader with seven to go in tonight's bounty tournament at the lounge, and the only hand I had played to this point at the final table was a limp of pocket deuces which became flopped quads...let the beatings commence.

- blinds were 300/600, I raised to 1800 with 8h-7h...it's folded to the big blind (let's call him Villain #1), who thought for a bit, said "Oh well," and went all in for 1700 more. I grudgingly called, and he showed T-9 offsuit? This was someone I thought to be a good player (at least from what he's told me in the past), but I guess he's never heard of such phrases as hand ranges and zero fold equity. The board blanked out, and his ten was good. "I thought you were trying to bully me...I thought you had suited connectors or a small pair." Yeah, I'm targeting the big blind from UTG, and there's no way I could have any ace, king, queen, jack, or pair nines and higher...UGH.

- next hand, everyone limped to the small blind, and Villain #1 folded, which totally tilted me...willing to get it all in pre-flop with T-9 knowing I'll call him 100% of the time, and now with double the amount of chips he folds the small blind getting a bazillion-to-one odds? I knocked the table from the big blind with 9-2. Flop was 9-7-4 rainbow, I led out for 1000, and Villain #2 pushed all in for 1900 more. I had seen this kid raise and call down bets earlier toinght with second & third pair, so I'm either way ahead or outkicked and way behind. I called, he showed K-9, and the board blanked out.

- down to 3200 from over 10 grand a few minutes ago...still at the 300/600 level, I peered down at Ad on the button and shoved, pretending to look at the other card (5h) but not really...big blind (AKA Villain #3) said, "I don't have anything, but I'm going to call." He flipped over Q-8 (might've been sooooooted, don't remember), and guttered a straight on the turn. I had him outchipped, so that left me with 800...I tortured myself by folding until the 800 big blind came around, with my J-5 going down in flames to Villain #1's J-6 small blind special. I walked away from the table, and VN1 grunted, "You owe me your bounty." If I could've just checked my blood pressure at that exact moment...

- I moved over to the three-handed cash game & bought in for my last $35 (max is $40)...more pain please! $1-1 blinds, I raised to $4 UTG with Ad-2d, dealer folded, both blinds called. We all checked the Qx-Qs-6s flop. Turn was 7x, checked to me, I bet $6, called by big blind. River brought a third small spade, checked to me, I bet $10. Villain Numero Quatro looked into my soul for about 10 seconds and made the call on a paired, suited board with A-T.

Double you. Tee. Effffff.

I've Been a Baaad Blogger

...especially since I hung out a bit with Dr Pauly & AlCan'tHang and haven't blogged a word about it.

Jen & I drove down to AC on a Thursday in late-September for a few days of gambooooling. We were supposed to meet up with friends Scott & Jamison from DC, but they weren't able to make it. Made good time driving through New York & Jersey since most schmucks were still at work, and rolled into the near-empty valet area at Borgata as the final table for the World Poker Tour at was running...knowing that Pauly & Al were covering the event, I had to track them down.

I snooped around the ballroom area until I saw some Borgata employees head into the darkened Salon D...there were no posters or signs advertising the WPT final table, but I followed the help inside. Sure enough, there was the WPT set...bleacher seating, monitors, flat-screens, and a poker table complete with a dealer, two players, and a mountain of cash. I didn't recognize either player, but here's the winner of a cool $1.4 million. He had a big chiplead and cracked AQ with AJ on the final hand. Yep, suckouts happen live, too.

I eventually found Al in the makeshift WPT lounge/bar (big shock), and later met up with him and Pauly in the B Bar for a few rounds. Even though there were a bunch of more important WPT/Borgata muckety-mucks in the group, Pauly & Al still were kind enough to chat with me between their schmoozings.

Genuinely friendly dudes.

Tao of Omaha

I played in this:



...which lead to this e-mail:

PokerStars Tournament #107477542, Pot Limit Omaha
Buy-In: $10.00/$1.00
37 players
Total Prize Pool: $370.00
Tournament started - 2008/09/13 - 16:20:00 (ET)

You finished the tournament in 1st place.
A $148.00 award has been credited to your Real Money account.

Congratulations!
Thank you for participating.

I doubled up early when my river shove of a full house was called by someone who I guess thought we were playing Omaha H/L...at least he had the nut low, lol.

When the final table started, I was about 5th in chips and stayed on the lower end of the totem pole until I busted AlCan'tHang. I was dealt an ideal Omaha drawing hand: 9d-8c-7d-6c. Al raised pot, which was about 2/3 of his chips, and I decided to take my stand & shoved my 9 BB stack. Al called with Ad-Kh-Jh-7c, making me a slight underdog...until the flop came 5-5-6 with two diamonds. Al still had tons of outs, but there were a handful of cards that would lock it up for me, and the 4c on the turn did just that. He wasn't too happy about it, hopefully I can make it up to him with a little SoCo if we cross paths in AC later this week.

We were stuck on the money bubble for a while, but it eventually broke...then I took the chip lead three-handed on a flopped boat, and made it to heads-up against 777GMoney with a better than 2-to-1 chiplead. GMoney started to open up his play, raising and taking down a number of hands, and took the lead away from me. I then found Ad-Kd-Kh-2h on the button and decided to lay a trap by limping. Sure enough, GMoney raised, I bumped it up, and we got it all in pre-flop. He showed Qh-Qs-9s-8d, so I was ahead...but that never means much in Omaha with five cards still to come.

The 7h-8s-4h flop gave me a heart flush draw to go with my Kings, and the 6h on the turn locked it up for me. Good thing I hit that flush, since the river brought a third Queen for GMoney. This whole having-others-drawing-dead-on-the-turn thing, I could get used to it...

Holding a 10-to-1 lead, I called GMoney's pre-flop shove with Ks-Ts-8c-7h. He was ahead with Js-6d-6c-2c, but I spiked a King on the river to seal the deal.

Thanks again to Dr Pauly for hosting the tourney...I'll owe him a drink or two at the Borgata as well!

As far as Atlantic City goes, Jen & I planned to drive down Thursday afternoon for a long weekend of poker & slots...but she might have a doctor's appointment at some point over the weekend, and we won't know if/when until Monday.

Keeping fingers crossed...

Saturday Tilt

In chronological order:
- lost power for two hours
- laptop acted up, had to reinstall AOL & other programs
- had chiplead at final table of Saturdays with Dr Pauly, finished fourth
- guys' night out for UFC PPV cancelled due to stupid tropical storm
- on FullTilt NL $100 table, I raised w/KK, get re-raised to $12, I raised to $37, he called...got it all in on Q-x-x flop...you know what he had (QQ)
- on another FT NL $100 table, I raised w/77 & flopped a set in a multi-way pot...I bet & got a caller, turn was an A, I made weak-looking 1/2 pot bet, guy shoved all in for TWO DOLLARS MORE, I mis-clicked & FOLDED.

There, now I feel a little better...go Patriots.

Mohegan Sun's New Poker Room: The Good, The Bad, The Ugly

Since I played $1-5 Stud on the opening night of Mohegan's first poker room back in '96 (wow, time flies), I just HAD to be there when they opened their new poker room, in their also-new Casino of the Wind...good excuse.

THE GOOD: the new room, and the entire Casino of the Wind for that matter, is super-duper-ultra-uber chic and gorgeous...take a look here. It took less than 30 minutes for me to get on a $1-2NL game, which I didn't expect for a Friday night, opening night, Labor Day weekend night. Must be the economy talking. The tables are slick- blue felt, silverish faux-snakeskin padding, auto-shufflers, with players club card swipers built in (ala the MGM Grand in Vegas). The chairs are oversized and very plush, with an adjustable-height lever...reminded me of Borgata's poker room chairs. Some people might not like this, but they take a $4 max rake instead of a $5 half-hourly "time" fee. It annoys me when I get dealt rags for like two hours at Foxwoods, and have to pay twenty bucks for such pleasure...I'd rather pay The Man after I win a pot.

THE BAD: the tables are jammed together pretty tightly...my chair was smashed into a few times by people getting up/sitting down at the table behind me. I'm sure some a few of the 40-plus tables will be removed after the inital new poker room buzz dies down, making it more roomy & comfortable. No drink holders of any kind, no side tables, nothing. I wonder how many times over opening weekend a game had to be stopped to clean a spill? They also use jumbo index poker cards...Harrah's poker room in AC uses the same size. Not easy to squeeze out your hole cards, have to shield them more than usual from nosy neighbors when you take a peek. I also didn't win a hand in an hour and a half, but my card-deadness kept losses to just $60.

THE UGLY: Oh my everloving Maker, the dealers were the worst I've ever encountered. Slow, very clumsy with the cards and chips, clueless...and that was just the first dealer. Players had to instruct dealer number 2 how to divide a side pot from the main pot. A min-raise was declared as an all-in by the same dealer, followed by a "so sorry!" I got to hear her say "so sorry" about 15 times during her down. Twice I kindly asked dealer number 3 to give me a second card, in back-to-back hands no less. We had about 6 misdeals in 90 minutes. The combination of zero pots won + crappy dealer tilt = me leaving the poker room. Supposedly these dealers had to graduate from a lengthy school at the Sun, but who knows what they were studying for that month or so.

I'm hoping the dealers were just experiencing opening night stage fright, and that my next visit will be less agita-inducing. Or at least that they hire some Hurricane Mikey-quality dealers. But the bottom line is I now have live poker 15-20 minutes closer to home than before (Foxwoods), and both the wife & I like Mohegan Sun so much more. If you've been to both casinos, I'm guessing you feel the same way.

Next goal: qualify for Mohegan's $750k guaranteed tourney at the end of October...

A Bland Writeup of a Fun Weekend

Jen & I spent last weekend in the D.C. area to visit my bud Scott K & his man Jamison. Plans were to hit up a local steakery that Scott's been raving about for years, but nasty weekend traffic in New York & New Jersey delayed our arrival in Arlington, VA until after 9:00 Friday night (next time we're flying!). We settled for the always-solid Cheesecake Factory and called it a night rather early...the 7-plus hour drive wore me out.

We were up pretty early on Saturday, since a trip to this greasy spoon was on the agenda. We always hit this place up for breakfast when we visit Scott K...it's crowded, cramped, and loud, but they have good grub. I opted for my usual diner breakfast: bacon & American cheese omelet, home fries, toast, and coffee. Jen went with hash & eggs, and Scott K feasted on waffles with blueberry topping. It's the simple things like breakfast with "my crew" that make me happy.

The afternoon was low-key, highlighted by a trip to the local Harris Teeter supermarket for snacks and a couple bottles of cheap Australian cabernet. Scott K & I (well, mostly Scott K) polished off the wine while we kept tabs on our fantasy baseball teams. Jen worked on her knitting...yes, it's August and my 30-year-old wife is knitting herself a scarf!

I had a nice wino buzz by late-afternoon, which is needed if one is to endure an evening of Washington Nationals baseball. To make sure we were thoroughly primed, we first stopped at an Irish pub for a couple pints of Killian's. Then it was a quick train ride to their new, generically-named Nationals Park. As expected, it's a beautiful stadium, and boasts the largest HD jumbotron in the country...all the better to see replays of the Colorado Rockies beating up on the Nats. Twenty bucks each got us seats in the very top row of the upper deck behind home plate. I gorged on a chili cheeseburger, fries, and helmet sundae while the home team stumbled their way to a 13-6 loss. At least I got to see Troy Tulowitski rack up some points for my fantasy team. Scott K had beered himself into "Sloppy Scott" mode, so I drove us back to his place & we called it a night after watching Michael Phelps win his record eighth gold medal.

Jamison had spent the week in Oregon & Cali, and flew back just in time to join us for Sunday brunch at another Irish pub. They didn't have much variety, but they did have the best Shepherd's Pie I've ever tasted...along with some perfectly medium rare roast beef and standard brunch fare, I thought it was a good value for $15.

Scott K had 4 free tickets to the Nats/Rockies series finale (complete with free food & booze vouchers), but I didn't feel like getting home past midnight and have to drag ass into work on Monday, so Jen & I hit the road around noon. We hit more traffic on the way home...I HATE gridlock! Made it home 7 long hours later.

Hated the drive. Loved the food, drink, and baseball-fueled weekend.

Pimping Pauly

I probably won't be able to play (in DC for the weekend), but here's another great overlay from the Tao of Poker:

I'm Lovin It

No power at home, wife is out with her sister-in-law, which equals 100% boredom. I couldn't even open the garage door (at least without unhooking the garage door opener & prying the stupid thing open myself), so I packed up the notebook and walked the 1/2 mile to McDonald's for a wi-fi connection.

I thought it would be a free hook-up, but McInternet costs $2.95 for 2 hours. So 3 bucks and a large iced coffee later, I'm playing a little NL $100 on Full Tilt.

Just livin' the life on a Friday night...

The Blunder Of It All

Got out of work early today, so the wifey & I drove to Foxwoods for a cash giveaway (Jen won the guaranteed minimum of $25, no new car for us). Against my better judgement, I decided to play a little $1/2 NL. Bought in for $200, and watched the middle-aged doofus of a guy to my right check/call all the way with pocket fives on a T-T-9-x-x board, and win. Also saw him call a flop bet, then push his chips in front of his cards - but not across the betting line - on the turn before the guy in front of him could act. It was obviously an attempt to get the other guy to check and see the river for free, so I set my sights on this angle-shooting loser(ASL).

A couple of hands later, ASL raised to $8 pre-flop, and I looked down at A-Q (I feel Hurricane Mikey, Doyle Brunson, and Phil Ivey all cringing as they read this, lol). I popped it up to $23, hoping to get heads-up, which is exactly what happened...nice.

The flop was a beauty: A-Q-9, rainbow.

ASL checked, and after thinking for a couple seconds, I decided to check my two pair as well. This was a huge mistake, since he'd probably call a bet with a lot of worse hands, and I'm only losing to A-A/Q-Q (not likely since I have A-Q) or 9-9.

The turn brought an eight, putting a second heart on the board. ASL checked again, and NOW I decided to bet the $30 I should've bet on the flop. ASL instantly said, "All in," without touching his chips.

I thought for a minute...does he have J-T for a straight? Maybe. Does he have a flush draw? This is a possibility, since he made such a huge raise (he had more chips than me, and I started the hand with about $230). I usually read over-raises as some sort of semi-bluff/drawing hand...plus he didn't move in his chips, which I also read as a sign of weakness. He could also have A-8 for a worse two pair than me, so I decided to call.

Or he could have pocket eights for a set. And of course ASL slow rolled me, showing just an eight, then sliding the top card over to show the other one underneath.

After he hit his two-outter, I missed my four-outter on the river and had to payyy the man heees money.

My usual routine after losing is to go for a long walk around the casino and think about why I lost. Of course the first thing I thought was I should've bet the flop and been happy to take down a $50 pot. But maybe he calls anyway and I still lose my stack, making for an even more lividing exit from the poker room. But I'll never know since I didn't make the correct play in the first place.

So what's worse: playing a hand wrong and losing; or playing a hand right, getting unlucky, losing, and going on tilt? I know the answer is to play every hand correctly, but for some odd reason I don't feel as bad about this hand since it was my mistake to not bet the flop.

The rest of my day at the Mashantucket Pequot Reservation went just fine, as I had dinner with our friends Dennis & Kathy at California Pizza Kitchen. Jen was on a "hot streak" at the slots, and is notoriously never hungry when in a casino, so it was just the three of us. Food was good as usual, I had penne in a pesto cream sauce with chicken and sun-dried tomatoes...yum! We yapped for a while, trading old Vegas and bowling stories. I got to tell them my tale of woe from the poker table, and they were kind enough to listen and give me some much-needed sympathy. I was definitely in a better mood when we left CPK.

I also managed to hit a couple of four-of-a-kinds on video poker, slashing my losses in half. Jen ended up losing too, but we stayed well within our budget for the day.

I just finished my nightly online poker session, and made an unimpressive $15...but at least it wasn't another three-digit loss. The fact that I'm not too upset over the last 24 hours worth of poker badness is a good sign...I'm controlling the tilt factor, which I think is a needed trait if I wish to make consistent money playing cards.

We'll see what tomorrow has in store for me...

And Then, This Happens...

Full Tilt Poker Game #7418357007: Table Monterey - $1/$2 - No Limit Hold'em - 23:00:29 ET - 2008/07/28
Seat 1: YKNOW1 ($122.65)
Seat 2: DieUnglaubliche ($25.70)
Seat 3: greatstar00 ($50.20)
Seat 4: lenabru ($198)
Seat 5: AlwaysLimp ($202)
Seat 6: ChkRazed ($200)
Seat 7: gocards2142 ($1,301.15)
Seat 8: Brick_man_17 ($63.05)
Seat 9: ME ($372.15)
gocards2142 posts the small blind of $1
Brick_man_17 posts the big blind of $2
The button is in seat #6
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to ME [Ac As]
I raise to $7
YKNOW1 folds
DieUnglaubliche folds
greatstar00 folds
lenabru folds
AlwaysLimp folds
ChkRazed folds
gocards2142 calls $6
Brick_man_17 has 15 seconds left to act
Brick_man_17 is sitting out
Brick_man_17 folds
*** FLOP *** [7c 2h 5d]
gocards2142 checks
I bet $10
gocards2142 calls $10
*** TURN *** [7c 2h 5d] [9h]
gocards2142 checks
I check
*** RIVER *** [7c 2h 5d 9h] [Ad]
gocards2142 bets $20
Brick_man_17 has returned
I raise to $70
gocards2142 has 15 seconds left to act
gocards2142 raises to $180 (oh good, he flopped a set, just like the last time he cracked my Aces!)
I raise to $355.15, and is all in
gocards2142 calls $175.15
*** SHOW DOWN ***
I show [Ac As] three of a kind, Aces
gocards2142 shows [6h 8h] a straight, Nine high
gocards2142 wins the pot ($743.30) with a straight, Nine high
I am sitting out, whining in my blog
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $746.30 | Rake $3
Board: [7c 2h 5d 9h Ad]
Seat 1: YKNOW1 didn't bet (folded)
Seat 2: DieUnglaubliche didn't bet (folded)
Seat 3: greatstar00 didn't bet (folded)
Seat 4: lenabru didn't bet (folded)
Seat 5: AlwaysLimp didn't bet (folded)
Seat 6: ChkRazed (button) didn't bet (folded)
Seat 7: gocards2142 (small blind) showed [6h 8h] and won ($743.30) with a straight, Nine high
Seat 8: Brick_man_17 (big blind) folded before the Flop
Seat 9: I showed [Ac As] and lost with three of a kind, Aces

Yak.

A Little Self Therapy

I was going to post about how badly I want to play a big, live tournament…but doesn’t everyone?

I was going to whine about a donkey who just stacked me when he flopped a set of fours against my pocket rockets…but again, wouldn’t be very original.

I could go on about how much of a struggle it is for me to get out of bed every morning & drag a$$ to a job that’s not very fun (and harder than I ever expected it to be)…but how many millions of other people do the same?

I’d like to blog about how I’d love to just play poker all the time, whenever I wanted, from wherever I wanted, and make boatloads of cash in the process…but it’s a common poker player’s dream, I’m sure.

So instead of a dreamblogpostwhine, I’ll focus on action:

- plan a home-game qualifier to the August Mega Stack tourney at Foxwoods, or just make the drive to The Wonder Of It All and play in one of theirs

- made back about 2/3 of what I lost to the donk…play smart & solid until I post a win for the night (or get tired)

- get at least seven hours of sleep on worknights, work hard, be productive on-the-job, hang in there…until something more fulfilling, enjoyable, and lucrative presents itself

- play more poker, play more tables when I am playing, avoid distractions while playing (TV, internet, etc.), take more shots at higher limits when running good

- PLAN A VACATION! Save enough poker winnings to afford a long weekend to AC or Vegas or somewhere, anywhere with the wifey

OK, I feel a little better now, only down $13 on the night…