Guin's Canadian Poker Blog and Other Stuff

Penguins vs. Wings Part 2

2009-05-28T08:50:00.003-04:00

Looking for some tickets to go down to Detroit this weekend and cheer for my Penguins. I think that some of the injuries to Detroit players may be the difference vs. last year. Also Malkin will not be playing hurt like I think he was for the first few games of the finals last year. Those things could be the difference as long as Fleury doesn't give up silly goals at the wrong time.

This is going to be fun. Chicago had one hell of a year and I bet that they are going to be much tougher to beat next year in the west.

Lets hope that the recession keeps ticket prices low for us Canadians trying to get to see their first Stanley Cup Final game.

Rolling along

2009-05-27T16:55:00.002-04:00

Been a few days since I played online so I got in a good 90 minute session today. Was up over 3 buyins which rocks over 450 hands. The biggest thing that went right was folding big hands against nits which has always been a problem for me.

In this hand antojke looks like a bigger overpair or a set. His stats are 12/11/3.9 (600 hands) so the call of the PFR and then the raise on the flop is a giveaway. His high aggro factor means that this could be a draw but I would be taking a coinflip at best and most likely a big dog. So pitch it away.

This hand is one where I use big hands like 99-AA to reraise squeeze and build big pots while I am most likely ahead. The shortstack calling the $1 raise really disguises my hand. On the flop being OOP I bet 1/2 pot so I don't give away any free cards. Villian in this hand is playing 29/24/6.0 over only 60 hands but I expect him to be super aggro. So the push here will more often just be a move to get me off of a AK or AQ type hand so the call is much easier. I have also committed more of my stack to the pot so I will stack off with overpairs in this situation.

In the past I end up all in each time I have an overpair and not use the data that is sitting in front of me. The only other exciting hand of the day also made me some cash by utilizing my data.

The villian in this hand had played only 65 hands and was showing 27/24/4.0 on his stats. The other stat for him that really stood out to me was that he was 3 betting 18.5% of the time! So I figure he is really using his position and 3 bets to win his cash. So when he reraises me from the button I am not giving him credit for a big hand. That made it so much easier to stack off with ATo there because I think I am ahead of his reraise range a lot of the time. He left the table shortly after this hand which always makes me feel good.

Loving Live Cash Games

2009-05-25T07:44:00.002-04:00

Just got home after an 8 hour session playing 1/2 NL and it was mostly 6 max due to a lack of players showing up. This was my first time to this location and I have to say that it was the worst group of players that I have ever seen. We had one 80 year old guy at the table that played super tight but really weak. Only had a couple LAGs all night but most of them would give me tons of respect each time that I reraised them with position. Most of them would call a raise with junk and then fold to a cbet so it was an easy way to really build my stack. I tilted a calling station when I told him that I got him to fold when I missed my flush (I really had flopped a set). Very next hand I get KK and on a K high flop I bet and he calls my value bets to the river with 2nd pair.

It was a good +$460 session even after paying a huge rake all evening. They have a big turnout on Tuesday nights but the only problem that I have is that they are quite a haul from where I live. We will see if I can make it out there to continue to pick up some good cash to pay some bills.

On a sad note it doesn't look like I can meet the requirements to get even the bronze iron man status this month. That is dissapointing and hopefully I can easily meet that standard next month.

Astin Nails It like the Penguins!

2009-05-22T08:55:00.003-04:00

I was reading Astin's blog and he said the following about Obama the other day:

"Obama's a nice guy... so far, he's a floundering president who increasingly disappoints with his scattershot approach to various issues in the hopes we miss the epic failures that his administration is continuing. Perhaps he needs to hire a few of those dissenting voices he claimed he wanted in his cabinet, instead of morons who spew the same bullshit reasoning and flaccid arguments for their unrealistic policies."

Damn that explains my thoughts for sure about the first 100 days of his term. Now if Barney Frank could ever get his gambling bill out of his sub committee I would look forward to inviting back all the fish!

Good thing the Penguins won last night to keep me happy on that front.

Super Aggro

2009-05-21T03:18:00.003-04:00

I find that every time I watch some Stoxpoker videos and then start playing that my aggro factor goes up a bunch. This is good in a way since the one time I saw some high level stats they were in line with my post video approach. So the stuff from the videos is sinking in and when I watch I can call out the next play usually before it happens. Those coaches still shock me from time to time with the lines that they use! The only problem I have with the approach is that I end up with a ton of extra variance at the beginning of my sessions (usually negative) which I have to work out of before I can turn a profit.

I will say that this month I am quite dissapointed with the number of hands I am playing as I won't even be able to qualify for silver status for the iron man. The main goal now is to make sure that I get in enough hands to at least get the bronze status and work harder next month.

The "poker" computer needs to get the DVD replaced but it isn't a standard connection... thanks Dell for that shit micro sized tower. So I will have to go to a computer store and get that fixed so I can install my Spanish Rosetta Stone lessons. That will allow me to actually make a trip to South America before I begin to look for a job again.

The NHL playoffs are rolling along perfectly for me except that I was hoping that Chicago would slow down those Wings. Now the Penguins will just have to find a way to finish off Carolina and get rested... all of these days off between games should help out Gonchar get back into some sort of form for the finals. Then we need Osgood to play like shit and Fleury to play like a man possessed... do you feel the fear I have of the Wings? Sort of feels like having QQ on an AK9 monocrome board and you have none of that suit facing 4 maniacs who called your preflop raise!

Penguins night tonight!

2009-05-09T18:34:00.002-04:00

Well been watching a lot of hockey and not playing a lot of poker these last few days. Getting ready to head to the "lucky" bar where I was when the Pens won the last two games. Not sure if Ovechkin got anything for the hit that hurt Gonchar last game but I am sure that a couple guys run him to to even it out. I would prefer if they focused on some of the defensemen as they have a few guys playing hurt.

The good thing is that the Penguins figured out that goalie for the Capitals and now they can run him from the net if they get to him early.

Hoping to get my computer setup correctly tomorrow and then installed in my new office. Then I can take the poker hands up a notch.

I also started to watch the first season of Smallville but so far it isn't a very good show at all. Who knows maybe it will grow on me.

As for Mother's Day I took my mom out today for a nice dinner at Rodney's Osyter House. I always order a bunch of stuff for the table to share which costs a bit but makes sure that everyone gets a lot of food and trys a few new things.

Ads and stuff

2009-05-08T08:26:00.002-04:00

I find it funny when I go to see how my blog looks and see "One Tree Hill" ads on it. Maybe I have a young sexy look to me that draws that type of crowd!

Yesterday was my first good long session in a while and I managed to stay off of tilt even though the stock market gave me a pounding. Strange to think that I worry so much about so little poker cash but my stock portfolio is giving me much more variance and I rarely flinch.

Well I am way behind in watching my Stoxpoker videos for the NLH beginners series but I expect to do some catchup today and play another 1k hands if all goes well.

Tonight hopefully the Penguins kick it up a notch and crush the Caps and drive that damn rookie goalie from the net. That will give them something to worry for game 5 which would be nice.

Aside from that not much else is going on. Grind away!

Go Pens Go!

2009-05-07T08:41:00.002-04:00

Well so far this month has been a slow start for me. Been moving to a new place over the last week and not getting in as many hands as I would like. The goal this month is to focus on playing fewer hands but of a much higher quality. So 4 tables max and only with the fish that I am looking for at the correct part of the table.

That has resulted in a 4 BI upswing over very few hands. Nice to run well for a little bit again and get myself motivated to continue to watch the videos and review sessions.

Coaching helps and I never thought I would need so much help with my game but so far so good!

Also seeing my Penguins win last night sure helped my state of mind. The good thing is that I didn't drink so much that my head hurts today. Drinking less at night and getting some sleep are things that will also improve my game.

For those who want to check out some pics of some hot chicks in the best swimwear... check out Wicked Weasel. Another anti-tilt device that I have found. Nice to see women submit their own photos for posting on the site.

Silver Iron Man status

2009-04-29T03:51:00.002-04:00

I think I will be watching and really reviewing my play over the next couple days as I finally got my Iron Man status from FT. It is a shame that it involved one of my worst days playing but proving a few things to myself.

In the end I think that April will be a slight down month in terms of cash but overall it is a huge step forward in my poker thinking. Due to some traveling during these NHL playoffs I missed a few days of watching my NL beginners course videos and I think that many of them would have helped me make money or lose a lot less.

Had another coaching session and I am quite pumped up about following through and getting some review after just a few k hands.

April was also the first month that I have ever played anywhere close to this many hands and I have a new appreciation for those grinders who put in huge hours playing the game.

Getting eaten alive

2009-04-28T13:17:00.001-04:00

So I start to tighten up and make sure that I have my resident fish to my right with a vpip of 45%+... many in the 60+% range... usually they are so passive preflop with maybe a 9-11% raising range.

On the first bunch of AK hands I get today I raise or 3 bet... only to get crushed by A9 or A6. Gotta love that... so my value bets are for their value and not mine. The hand selection chart I am using is getting me to fold more hands so I am playing tighter.

That being said I am a little tilted from last nights live play where I lost $225. Three hands in at this new club and they look a little loose. So when I look down at QQ I figure this could be interesting. Raise to 6 from utg+1 and called by guy to my right (who played every hand and bet every street). I reraise it to 22 and then the sb raises all in to 50. UTG+1 folds but guy to my right calls. I pop it up 75 more as I figure that gives me an auto push on any non A flop. Flop is 234r and buddy donk bets 40 at me. I push all in for 120 and he says he feels that I have a big overpair but he thinks his 6 is going to hit. He calls and sure enough a 6 on the turn.

About two orbits later where I have rebought for 200 and built it up to 325 I get the hand that really tilts me. Pocket 5's and everyone who is going to get involved has very deep stacks. UTG+1 raises to 20 and my buddy calls. I figure that if I flop big I will win a huge pot and I call.

Flop is perfect J J 5. Buddy bets 40 and I smooth call and so does utg+1. Turn is a 10 which could be really bad for me but if someone has J10 I will pay them off. Buddy bets 60 and I call again.

River is a horrible 10 to counterfeit me.... ugly. Buddy bets 100 and I fold....

Shaking my head

2009-04-23T04:39:00.002-04:00

Time to start over with learning a whole new way to play poker... I am totally spewy now and I sat down and got a good coaching session.

So now the goal is to try to play aggro robotic play where I have a set hand starting chart and not deviate from it for 25k hands. Also the goal is to 3 bet 7-8% at nl25 6 max which should get me some good action for my big hands. No need to 4 barrel bluff at this level as anyone who bets back at me at this level has a hand. In addition, I will need to start to leave those nits alone if they play back at me from the blinds. The goal is to table select and beat up the fish and right now I am not focusing enough on them and where they are at the table.

With all that said and done it will be a day or so until I get back into the game after some serious studying.

Tomorrow I am going to drive to Pittsburgh which is about 4.5 hours from my place. The Penguins game better be good because it isn't cheap to go to a game there. If Columbus wins I may drive up to Detroit for Saturday nights game as tickets for that series are cheaper than going to the movies!

Looking forward to coming back with a good frame of mind to start banging through hands again.

Penguins Good - Poker & Drinking Bad

2009-04-22T03:46:00.004-04:00

I wish I could have watched the Penguins game tonight but CBC are a bunch of assholes and put on the Canucks game instead. Well it didn't stop me from having a couple pints with the boys but I headed home quite early to hit the virtual felt. Overall I am so glad that the Penguins are heading back with a 3-1 lead because this series can't get over soon enough.

All I can say is that trying to play an aggro style for 6 max after a few beers gets you into a few tough spots. So down about 6 buyins but here were a few awesome hands that hurt a bit.

But tomorrow is a new day. I did finish the $250 bonus on FT so now I am back to tracking rakeback. I think the goal next month is to get to that $500 level so that stoxpoker would be free from thisisthenuts rakeback site.

Just get Surly!

2009-04-21T16:18:00.002-04:00

I wanted to do a shout out to a blog that gives out tons of information to improve your game. The guy is the Surly Poker Gnome and I suggest that for real poker info you get a subscription to his blog.

He searches out and posts great links to podcasts and threads on 2+2 or DeucesCracked and also has great additional insight from a player who has gone up through the ranks.

I took my first crack at NL25 6 max today to get away from donking off more cash at FR trying out new techniques. Got a bit lucky but I was sort of due to hit a few hands!

Tenga Flip Hole - Anti-Tilt Device

2009-04-21T02:45:00.002-04:00

Guys out there suffering from tilt should really check out this anti-tilt device made by the geniuses from Japan.

Not only does it help you stay in shape (not that poker players are that out of shape!) but it will get your mental game back to where it should be. Getting coolered.... forget about it and go blow off some steam. The good thing about this is that you don't have to ask it if it wants to do it now... it is always good to go.

And hell maybe if any of the internet geeks ever get laid with a real women this thing will give them some better technique than they currently sport!

Running bad

2009-04-21T02:09:00.002-04:00

Just having one of those run of sessions where everytime it seems that I put in my stack I am way behind. I guess playing more like a nit pays off at the NL50 levels but I should be able to adapt my play to pick on those nits and take away a lot of small pots.

I just think I am working on too many things at once and instead I should be trying to build the bankroll a bit as well. Luckily the FT bonus is keeping my bankroll above water but I will have to go down stakes if this downswing continues. I think that going down a level is probably the best way to reestablish the ABC poker that built the bankroll in the first place.

The good thing is that I really believe that my ability to play is improving but the results are currently showing a lot of unlucky situations and also mixed with making some moves at the wrong times. If I continue to use better hands and position it will eventually lead to me winning against this opponents.

The 40-50 vpip with 5-20 pfr% seem to give me the most trouble as they love to call light and play a big pot when their junk hits two pair or better. I find that by focusing on 3 betting them with position it should give me good situations to c-bet and take down a few good sized pots without opposition. The hard part comes from the fact that anytime these guys push it could be a bluff or a solid hand... one day I will be able to tell which is which!

So I am off to play another 15k hands and we will see if I can start to get some better results.

Playing more tables

2009-04-16T11:34:00.002-04:00

So I found some great software to make it possible for me to play more tables. Now I can comfortably play 8 tables of NL50 which really helps me improve the number of hands and it makes me a tighter player.

I am using some AHK scripts for FT such as a buddy program and also using Placemint to arrange tables. Also it is easy to setup TheOpener so that once I turn on my machine I can get all my poker programs up and running without a lot of fuss.

Had a good session this morning where I was running just way too hot but my headache from last nights celebration of the Penguins victory was getting in the way. So now I am back to watch a couple poker videos and will get back to the tables for this afternoon's happy hours on FT.

Not sure if I ever put up a link to track my results over at Poker Table Rankings so here it is:

Mungo36's Poker Profits

Learning from mistakes

2009-04-15T08:23:00.004-04:00

I stepped up and tried an hour at the NL100 level and it is still so beatable. People are so over aggro and others call you to the river that you can value bet for 1/2 stack. That also means that your bluffs don't work as well but that is fine as it will keep me in line.

I think that when I am really into trying to use a few new techniques it would make sense to try them at the lower NL25 level as it would cost less. But then again building the bankroll still seems to happen slowly while I work through the new ideas I watch in the videos.

But tonight I get to go watch the Pittsburgh PenGUINs go kick ass against those nasty Flyers. I hate those throw back orange jersey's that those guys wear. And they better not run Malkin like they did last year as that really ruined any chance that the penguins had of beating Detroit last year.

I also managed to lose about 1k trying to put my short onto US financials which I took off quickly as the market decided to rally today for no real reason... the economic news is going to get worse and not better. Here I am calling for no 2nd half recovery for the US let alone the world in general.

Back to Grinding

2009-04-14T03:20:00.002-04:00

The only problem with learning a bunch of new things is that you never totally feel comfortable trying something new for the first 50 attempts. Back when I started at CR I felt the same feeling that I am going through now... the only difference is that now I have the time to really try to focus and improve my game.

Started watching a couple of Leatherass9's videos and I am totally impressed. Actually he is quite similar to watch Green Plastic from CR in that they are always betting into their opponent. It sure does add a deal of variance that I just don't think totally grasps the low stakes that we are playing for the long term. When we get 4 bet we are basically up against AA or KK so your JJ hand is quite dominated.

Of course they do introduce a novice player like myself to a few tools to take down a few pots especially against very loose opponents that I have attempted to isolate.

Now if I could just not start a session down a buyin within the first 10-15 mins that would be awesome!

Stoxtrader results

2009-04-13T07:52:00.002-04:00

It is good to see that when I watch Stoxtrader playing NL25 I feel that I would have played in a similar manner. Then later in the video he showed his results and to think of making over 150k in just over a month playing seems a little insane!

So each day I hope to get through the NL beginner course and at least two other movies while still earning 200 FT points to qualify for an Iron Man status. Just had a super small session this morning because my daughter wanted me to read to her but booked a small win and a much higher EV number. Again it is good to think that people have to suck out against me and I can still have positive results.

EV calc in Hold'em Manager

2009-04-12T09:19:00.002-04:00

I will say that the $EV calc in Hold'em Manager is very helpful in controlling tilt. I just finished a long session where I was down slightly on the day but my stats said I should have won about one buyin.

During my review of my session's I am reviewing the EV of the big hands to see that I am not just getting lucky on certain days. It sure helps that rakeback and bonuses give you back some of that lost EV!

Going to take the family to an easter egg hunt today... hopefully everyone has a chance to spend some decent time with family on this Master's weekend.

Starting the beginner course

2009-04-12T03:49:00.002-04:00

Just starting on a 30 day course and I love the starting hand range day 2 course expectation... "it’s recommended that you play a hundred thousand hands or more with a borrowed base range for each position."

Damn I haven't played 100k hands in the last year and just to figure out an ABC hand range they want me to at least play that many hands to learn. This is going to get me to really grind it out and hopefully I can figure out how to play more tables to keep a tighter range from boring me.

Time to get back to the tables.

Stoxpoker and grinding

2009-04-09T06:27:00.002-04:00

So I finally got over the 25k Full Tilt points needed to get a 6 month subscription to Stoxpoker . Not sure how long things take when you buy them through the FT store but I hope it isn't too long.

Been running hot until this morning when I started getting a bit too comfortable raising out of position. I also didn't win races but at least I am keeping the tilt down. I think that by playing through the first bout of poor play should help me when I start to study the videos.

Actually I want to edit that I am not tilting! Just ran into KK 2x with smaller overpairs... ouch that hurts.

I hope everyone is going to have a good long weekend.

Getting setup

2009-04-06T17:35:00.002-04:00

It seems every time I try to get my poker stuff in order my life throws me a curve ball. I did manage to get in a few hands today and start to build the bankroll so I can begin to play NL50 again.

In the next month hopefully I will have a new apartment and finally get the home office setup so I can take the poker seriously. In addition I have started trading my portfolio again since I have been in cash since the end of January. The market is starting to give me some opportunities to make some quick cash which I need to fund me until I feel like working again.

I did check out the poker academy on the Full Tilt site and it isn't half bad. Sign up for a challenge and get some points and hopefully they will be worth something some day!

Eh-Vegas Time

2009-03-12T18:47:00.002-04:00

Looking forward to getting out for some Eh-Vegas action tomorrow night and Saturday... it should be just what I need before heading to Las Vegas on Sunday... Sunday is also my bday so lots of time to celebrate over the next few days.

Been going through a ton of changes on the home front which have kept me from playing but I hope that I can get back on track in two weeks.

Live poker is rigged

2009-01-23T11:59:00.002-05:00

Found a good weekly live game where I have one guy who is going to pay me on a weekly basis I think. Got all in vs. him with Q10 vs. his Q9 on a Q high flop. This guy was willing to stack off with bottom pair against anyone at the table which is why I used this hand to double me up.... instead turn and river both fall with spades and he 4 flushes me.... well that is poker and I will have another shot at him for sure.

Last night I played some drunk poker and managed to win almost two buyins in a couple hours but spent about half of the winnings on the drink!

Oh well at least that should loosen up my image with those guys and next week when I play I will be able to focus a bit more.

My online time really has to increase a ton because I now can only qualify for the bronze level for the iron man and only with me playing almost daily till month end.

Mookie Night

2009-01-08T00:23:00.003-05:00

Played in the Mookie tonight and also got my 100 FT points for the day but wasn't really up to playing much poker today. Lost a little today but I keep running overpairs into sets which really hurts the results.

So just over 9k hands played this month and I am winning at a 7.5 bb / 100 rate which is a bit low for me and HEM agrees with my EV stat about $50 higher than the actual results. I think I have become a bit too passive and I am going to pick up my aggro a bit and hopefully that improves results.

Grinding

2009-01-06T02:07:00.003-05:00

Tried to get 200 FT points on a weeknight and that doesn't seem possible so I guess I will just have to aim for the gold level on FT. I was reading O-Poker's blog tonight and he made some good comments on questions to remember while multi-tabling. The more hands I play this month the more often I find myself in those tricky spots. Sometimes the brain is on and I think my play through and other times my finger starts doing the work for me!

Tomorrow I will hopefully find sometime to put together a hand replay of a few hands from a NL25 war I had with one super LAGtard who finally gets his.

Almost at 15k hands since the comeback but now work really picks up again so we will see how that eats into my playing time.

Tonight I did stop to watch the World Jr. game where Canada crushed the Swedes. Yay!

Folding to a cbet raise

2009-01-05T01:53:00.002-05:00

I was just going through the articles provided with Holdem Manager and the fold to cbet raises was quite interesting. From the article

"When we get raised in this scenario we should play overpairs more conservatively than we would in 3bet pots because you need to be asking yourself what you beat when a solid villain raises you. Consider his range, your image, board texture and don’t be afraid to fold overpairs if you think you’re beaten. If a TAG has called in the blinds we can rule out other overpairs a lot so if he’s raising you on a 359 rainbow board he’s range is heavily weighted towards sets and unless we have reads or notes to suggest otherwise our overpair is probably not good and we should be folding a lot."

So far my stats are still running too hot to compare to anyone playing at higher levels as the win rate continues to be in the 20 bb / 100 range overall but has been much lower over the last 5k hands. Once I get to 20k hands I will post results again and run through the stats analysis as suggested by the HEM articles.

Donk table had me stay up late!

2009-01-04T06:06:00.002-05:00

I had a table that ran for almost 4 hours with three players with vpip of 50+... so no sleep until they are broke.... of course those are the types of players that I lose to the most often. My problem is that I see that they suck and I try to hard to go stack them instead of waiting for my chances. Oh well it made for an interesting evening but at least I got back most of my lost cash on this hand.

Robert was running with a 65/3/2 for 260 hands and he ended up positive so whatever works I guess. Lets just say he made my buddy list and I will look him up from now on.

I did take a quick shot at NL50 today as I was feeling a little burned out 6 tabling NL25 and managed to make a bit of cash before heading back to my normal level. I think I will play NL25 until I get to 20-25k hands at that level before moving up. It is also easier to play a level when you aren't worried about your overall stack... unlike the new Waffles technique of playing whatever level he feels like!

Time for bed.

Winning Non-Showdown Hands

2009-01-03T03:24:00.002-05:00

Well I wanted to post my first 10k hands of play at NL25... I think rushing to get to that level resulted in some silly pushes with top pair top kicker against what really looked like sets. I know better than to get caught like that but I do it sometimes along with overbetting with overpairs only to get called by better hands.

So here is the graph:

One of the things that HEM has shown me is how few players actually win at non showdown hands. This was shocking to me as it is the stable part of my stream of winnings and if went out the window I would be screwed. My W$SD % is well below 50% for two reasons.... 1. if I have a winning hand I am probably betting too much to get the value bet called on the river by losing hands and 2. because I play from position I get to check down missed draws on hands instead of 3 barreling against loose players.

How am I winning against players without showdown then? I think it comes down to playing from position and betting draws and not over c-betting the flop. I am playing full table running around a 23/17/2 style with a steal % of 36.7% in the above hands and can still get super tight players to want to play back at me. I play my best when I ignore who I am up against outside of betting against their stats. Isolate the guys at the table playing 40%+ vpip and c-bet them and also follow through on the turn when they call. That is how you get that non showdown results heading up instead of down like this guy who is winning at a slightly higher rate over 3.4k hands. He c-bets 75% of the time so I enjoy calling his raises with position and reraising him!

And here is a guy winning at 41 bb / 100 (I am using HEM now so no need to mention ptbb / 100 anymore) and he still can't win at non showdown hands.

I think winning at non showdown has to be core for every player who wants to maximize winning at cash games. If you are losing currently in that stat I would suggest raising the amount you value bet on the river by at least 20%. So if you bet 1/3 of the pot now bet 1/2 or if you want to really aggro a couple guys bet 3/4! I like to make my showdowns with winning hands and bluffs look the same. That way I can also steal a good sized pot when I miss a draw because my 3rd barrel actually has backup to make it seem like a standard line I would take.

Just look at my stats for January... ack... now I gotta find someone to help me get to showdown with a winning hand!

I logged out tonight when top two pair ran into a flopped set, AKs < JJ, and JJ < KK, AJs < set cost me almost 4 buyins... but that is poker and maybe tomorrow is my day to win for a change. Sometimes you have to remember that not everyone bets draws super hard!

Happy New Year!

2008-12-31T23:48:00.002-05:00

Well I am done playing for the month of December and I hope you all find players like this guy to play against.

So played almost 6,800 hands in December which has to be a record for me. I even tried to 6 table it for a bit this evening to see how that would impact my win rate. I found the players this evening playing much more aggro and seeing much bigger pot sizes which didn't help. Nothing worse than trying to make things more difficult and people are playing back at you more often.

The results for playing that many hands of NL25 worked out to be up 21 buy ins which is way above average (I doubt I could possibly maintain 15.8 ptbb / 100) for a bigger sample size.

I also wanted to add a resolution to actually read something that is educational again instead of those silly best sellers.

Hand of the night

2008-12-31T01:46:00.002-05:00

So got in a few more hands this evening but feeling a bit tired so I will try to catch up on some needed sleep.

Here is the hand history for my hand of the evening.

A few resolutions for 2009

2008-12-30T18:06:00.003-05:00

Well just got through the first 5k hands and so far still winning at 15 ptbb / 100 which is much better than I have run anytime in the past. The main goal is go get the bankroll back over the 1k mark so I can move up to NL50 and start to build the roll at a more respectable rate.

So some resolutions for 2009:

1. Play poker in every month of the year. Attempt to get at least 5 hours in a week playing. Also spend 3 hours a week reading or studying the game. I may spend all of my FT points on some video training site like Cardrunners but they had another choice that was less expensive that I may try out.

2. Build bankroll so I can afford to play NL100 again without worrying about a 10 buyin downswing... so I need probably 3-4k to do that comfortably.

3. Datamine a lot more prior to playing and focus on always playing my optimal game. When the fish leave the table I will leave the table (or am I the fish?!). Realize that I don't have to crush everyone at every table or win every hand. It is always up to me to determine the size of the pot and if not then get out of that situation and find a better one to attack with.

I would like to win more than 10k this year from this game and I think that is more than possible.

Some non poker resolutions:

4. Do not let the market mess with your mind... go out and find a way to make money regardless of the current situation. Work on technical analysis to help with entry and exit points.

5. Learn how to speak Spanish as that opens up a lot of places to travel. You have the Rosetta Stone levels 1-3 so start working your way through that. Also play a CD in the car to help you brush up on some other parts of the language using another program.

6. Utilize what poker teaches us in not letting others know what we think. No one cares to hear your politics or opinions even if they are asking for your opinion. Keep your thoughts to yourself and blog about it instead of talking about it.

7. Find something to do that is athletic. Starting to get a little tubby which isn't good so time to take off 15-20 pounds of fat and maybe replace a bit of that with some muscle. The extra poker will give me the mental stress that is better utilized by exercising instead of tilting away 2 more buyins.

Lots of stuff to work on this year but I will be better for it in the end.

Been forever

2008-12-28T01:15:00.002-05:00

Well it has been a super tough year on me but now I am trying to work out what the hell I am going to do for 2009.

For starters I am going to put poker back into my life and try to play all 12 months this year! I had a couple really good poker results in the live area with a 3k win in a free event plus a few good nights at the Nutz poker club. Unfortunately my club got shut down and it stopped me from playing as much live poker as I would have liked this year.

My online funds were so low that it was always frustrating to start over at NL25 to rebuild. Well those thoughts are behind me and I have been working well over the past week and running a little hot over the first 3k hands (if you think that 23 ptbb / 100 is hot!). Had to go back to full ring because my usual 30/20/5 was getting me in trouble at 6 max so now I am 4 tabling and running a tight 23/17/3.

I find that I play a good optimal game when I stick to my goal of having me decide when I want the pot to get large instead of following someone else's lead. Full ring is a bit more on the nitty side but my first goal is to build the stack and so far that is happening.

Hoy mentioned UB and that reminded me that I do have some cash stranded over there and I will work to build that up to something respectable as well. I doubt anyone is going to abuse the NL25 crowd illegally when they are more than willing to give you cash.

Anyway over the next couple days I will post some of my goals for next year which also includes actually spending some time writing on this blog!

Vegas tomorrow

2008-04-16T14:14:00.002-04:00

Starting to get really excited today about the Pens game tonight and the trip tomorrow. Been a long time since I had some vacation time and I really need it. Looking forward to putting my NL skillz to work at some 1/2 tables full of tourists like myself!

My buddy has been trying to see some of the shit that I wouldn't care to get to like the Stratosphere which looks like a mini CN Tower so I am not interested. Just for perspective the white tower behind and to the right of the tower is 70+ stories high and that is approx. half way up the silly tower.

When it comes to seeing the sights I really want to focus on the poker rooms that I hear so much about. My buddy likes poker but he is more of a see the tourist stuff and take pictures type of guy.... me not so much. I want good food and cute girls everywhere I look. Top that off with some alcohol and I can have a good time! From Carmen's message from a couple days ago the VIP pools sound right up my alley. And I can impress the girls with my super white skin and randomly placed patches of back hair! Going to have to beat them back....

Getting to sleep tonight could be difficult.

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2008-04-16T13:57:00.002-04:00

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Hockey Playoffs

2008-04-14T13:33:00.002-04:00

I never mentioned anything yet on the hockey playoffs... you figure with a name like Guin that I would mention my thoughts more often.

Well to tell you the truth I am but not on this blog.... I am using a Sportingnews blog to discuss my penGUINs on a daily basis.

The good news is that the team is playing with confidence and looking forward to watching them bash the remaining Senators tonight. Malkin is such a superstar and I hope that at the Igloo that they start chanting MVP for him when/if we play Washington in round 2. The hope right now is that the Rangers and Philly wins and we get the Rangers in the 2nd round. I think that with the Pens style of play that they are better suited to play against the Rangers.

First things first... Pens have to win 2 more games before we have to worry about the next competitor.

Slow Grind

2008-04-14T02:00:00.002-04:00

Being back at lower limits is such a slow grind... I think I may earn more in rakeback than I am earning at the tables right now. No need to make any moves... just hit a hand and shove!

Using position to keep the win rate up to 5 ptbb / 100 but damn hard to play aggro when I am nursing the bankroll.

I may have to buy some bucks off of Carmen while in Vegas to get the online roll to a more reasonable level.

So looking forward to flight on Thursday morning. Going to sleep on the flight but not much after I get there.

Going to Vegas

2008-04-13T10:08:00.004-04:00

Can you imagine that my wife was so cool as to allow me to go to Vegas to do a pre-Stag preparation long weekend?!!!

Since I have never been a person to organize a stag (which means I haven't been the best man to anyone else!) and I haven't been to Vegas she was a bit easier to convince. But either way it will be an awesome event for this pre-Stag and I may try to put the stag itself over the blogger weekend and some of us might join in on the blogger poker tourney. Not sure if you guys could hang with a couple more drunk Canadians looking to lose some cash to big hammer drops but you never know.

So any suggestions will be very helpful... this trip has less of a budget constraint than the next one so let me know the cool pools and clubs to hang around in. Almost forgot but we are also interested in the best reasonably priced golf courses to play in the area.

Darn Work!

2008-04-02T01:05:00.003-04:00

Right after getting all setup to play poker again I found myself in a typical problem... work is driving me nuts so when I sit down to play I can't focus. I think I really need a few months off to really recharge my batteries but that isn't possible. The new venture has been going for five months now and things are looking good.

Looking to rebuild the online poker roll as I took a bunch of it offline recently to play some live poker with horrible results.

Thinking of the bloggers as I may have a chance to get out to Vegas sometime in the near future for the first time which would be really cool. If I firm something up I will be bugging a couple people for some input on what to do and see.

Hope everyone is hitting all their draws!

Trying to get rolling again

2007-12-14T00:36:00.000-05:00

I just ordered IdleMiner and it is a godsend for helping to get good info on the players you are against. It also really helps me to focus on playing against bad players and leave the table when those guys run out of cash.

With more data I find I end up looking at Poker Tracker data much more. Do a screen for vpip over 50% and won show down % less than 35%. These guys make my buddy list for sure with a win rate of -86.8 ptbb / 100 hands. Is it possible to lose over 6 buyins in 150 hands? The answer is sure if you have stats like this: 66.2/21.8/5.8 and have an 18% win at SD %! You have to love how they build their image but still pot it with 2nd pair on all streets against an obvious overpair. Took an hour to repay me for the cost of the program!

Here was my hand of the night against this genius:

Full Tilt No-Limit Hold'em, $0.50 BB (6 handed) Full Tilt Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com (Format: HTML)

saw flopsaw showdown

Button ($163.65)
SB ($49.30)
BB ($62.10)
UTG Hero ($54.35)
MP (Villian)/ ($50)
CO ($71.75)

Preflop: Hero is UTG with Kd, Qc.

UTGA raises to $1.75, MP (Villian)/ calls $1.75, 4 folds.

Flop: ($4.25) Jd, Td, Ks (2 players)

UTG bets $2, Villian raises to $4, UTG raises to $14, Villian calls $8.
I have to bet here and try to get his money in the middle.

Turn: ($30.25) As (2 players)

Hero checks, Villian bets $36.25 (All-In), Hero calls $36.25.
Now it is time to give him some rope so he can hang himself.

River: ($0) 4h (2 players, 1 all-in)

Final Pot: $102.75

Results in white below:

Hero has Kd Qc (straight, ace high).

Villian has Ac 5c (one pair, aces).

Outcome: Hero wins $102.75.

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2007-12-05T17:18:00.000-05:00

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Bad Call

2007-11-28T22:12:00.000-05:00

Just wanted to put this out there to see if I should have folded this on the turn when I was drawing to a full house.

Full Tilt Poker Game #4330085106: The Mookie:Bow to Budo (32645907), Table 5 - 15/30 - No Limit Hold'em - 22:10:15 ET - 2007/11/28
Seat 1: wwonka69 (2,125)
Seat 2: VinNay (2,925), is sitting out
Seat 3: jjok (3,410)
Seat 4: sellthekids (3,045)
Seat 5: Rake Feeder (3,030)
Seat 6: Mungo36 (3,000)
Seat 7: JL514 (3,330)
Seat 8: whiskigrl (3,135)
Seat 9: BuddyDank (3,000)
VinNay posts the small blind of 15
jjok posts the big blind of 30
The button is in seat #1
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Mungo36 [Qc Qh]
sellthekids folds
Rake Feeder folds
Mungo36 has 15 seconds left to act
Mungo36 raises to 90
JL514 folds
whiskigrl folds
BuddyDank calls 90
wwonka69 folds
VinNay folds
jjok folds
*** FLOP *** [Ts 9c 8s]
Mungo36 bets 166
BuddyDank calls 166
*** TURN *** [Ts 9c 8s] [Qs]
Mungo36 has 15 seconds left to act
Mungo36 bets 336
BuddyDank has 15 seconds left to act
BuddyDank raises to 1,110
Mungo36 calls 774
*** RIVER *** [Ts 9c 8s Qs] [Td]
Mungo36 has 15 seconds left to act
Mungo36 bets 666
BuddyDank has 15 seconds left to act
BuddyDank calls 666
*** SHOW DOWN ***
Mungo36 shows [Qc Qh] a full house, Queens full of Tens
BuddyDank mucks
Mungo36 wins the pot (4,109) with a full house, Queens full of Tens
The blinds are now 20/40
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 4,109 Rake 0
Board: [Ts 9c 8s Qs Td]
Seat 1: wwonka69 (button) didn't bet (folded)
Seat 2: VinNay (small blind) folded before the Flop
Seat 3: jjok (big blind) folded before the Flop
Seat 4: sellthekids didn't bet (folded)
Seat 5: Rake Feeder didn't bet (folded)
Seat 6: Mungo36 showed [Qc Qh] and won (4,109) with a full house, Queens full of Tens
Seat 7: JL514 didn't bet (folded)
Seat 8: whiskigrl didn't bet (folded)
Seat 9: BuddyDank mucked [Js Kc] - a straight, King high

JJ not okay at blogger events

2007-11-15T10:53:00.001-05:00

Played pretty solid but lost a race with JJ vs. AQ against Lucko. He didn't have much time at the table to see that I was playing quite tight that evening. Of course it bites to lose that key race as that would have given me the chips to survive a turbo event with shortstack pushing.

Next week I will attempt to not have other things going on until 5 mins before the start of the tournament... I really think you need to do a small warmup event or something before sitting down to get the silly out of my system!

Work is really ramping up and I expect to age about 7 years over this next year. Building a business is tough work.

Getting back into the swing of things

2007-11-09T00:46:00.000-05:00

Been on a rollercoaster as I just watched the CTS videos on CR. Damn that guy is nice and loose and super aggro. Adds variance to the results but it sure mixes up play and gets you lots of action for your big hands. When I tried it out I was running 32/28 and cbetting about 80% of flops. Still using most of GP's position plays to make sure that I take advantage of early position limpers.

Here is a hand that shows the nice action I was getting this evening:

Full Tilt Poker, $0.10/$0.25 NL Hold'em Cash Game, 6 Players

LeggoPoker Hand History Converter

Hero (SB): $24.75
BB: $25
UTG: $24.30
MP: $29.50
CO: $25
BTN: $42.25

CO posts $0.25

Pre-Flop: Q Q dealt to Hero (SB) <--- sweet position to get a real hand... have been 3 betting light to these min raises all evening and they are starting to call those reraises.

UTG folds, MP raises to $0.50, CO folds, BTN calls $0.50, Hero raises to $3.60, BB folds, MP calls $3.10, BTN folds

Flop: ($8.20) Q T 9 (2 Players) <---- good flop as KJ isn't likely to be around at this level but will still check and hope they bet into me.
Hero checks, MP checks <--- shucks missed bet

Turn: ($8.20) T (2 Players) <--- perfect turn card to play weak and let straight and flush hit on river
Hero checks, MP checks

River: ($8.20) 7 (2 Players) <--- bet pot and hope they have something
Hero bets $9, MP raises to $18, Hero raises to $21.15 and is All-In, MP calls $3.15

Results: $50.50 Pot ($2.50 Rake)
Hero showed Q Q (a full house, Queens full of Tens) and WON $48 (+$23.25 NET)
MP mucked A 3 (a flush, Ace high) and LOST (-$24.75 NET)

Now if I can stop the stupid 3 barrel bluffing from happening very often I can get back up to playing at least NL50 on a regular basis.

AA at Blogger Events

2007-11-07T14:42:00.000-05:00

Finished my return to the ring with a nice 68th place finish monday night at Hoy's event. Had Fuel and Cmitch at my table and super aggro guy to my right.... so tough spot to be in but deep stacks so I decide to take my time and chat until I get AA on the button. Standard raise... get reraised... I rereraise and then villian pushes with 1010. River 10 gives me a flush but the board had already paired.... early exit for me and looking forward to the Mookie.

Gotta win one of these events because my online cash is so low.

Blogger Donk Time Again

2007-11-05T16:39:00.000-05:00

It sure doesn't take long until I turn into a push monkey and lost most of the cash I won by playing good solid poker. You can actually feel yourself about to do something stupid and you can't stop your body from clicking the button.....

Well I know the solution to that... good banter at the Monday at the Hoy event tonight.... hope I can get my wireless going so I can watch my Penguins play tonight at the same time.

Couple days of playing

2007-11-04T14:07:00.000-05:00

Moved into the new house now and have reliable internet access. Have spent the last couple days getting used to playing again at NL25. Nice to be up about 4 buyins and won 3 tournaments that I started at the same time the other night.

Currently working on getting my next job started as I left a hedge fund that I worked for over the last 5 years+ last week. Figure with the new house why not get the job stuff in order with a new opportunity to be my own boss.

Hopefully I can get home to play in a few of the blogger events next week.

Back in the Ring!

2007-11-01T15:25:00.000-04:00

Glad that the games are still full of nice fat fish! Took me an hour to catch him but here is the capture. He was betting with anything and I knew if I hit he would pay me off with his stack. Love the reraise to $36 on the turn! Need to get off to a hot start to build up the bankroll again.

Full Tilt No-Limit Hold'em, $0.50 BB (6 handed) Full Tilt Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com (Format: HTML)

saw flopsaw showdown

Button ($47.25)
SB ($66.25)
BB ($84.45)

UTG =(Villian)/ ($52.35)
MP ($50)
CO ($84.85)

Preflop: Hero is BB with 6d, 7s.
UTG =/ raises to $1, 3 folds, SB calls $0.75, Hero calls $0.50.

Flop: ($3) 5s, 4s, 5h (3 players)
SB checks, Hero checks, Villian bets $3, SB folds, Hero calls $3.

Turn: ($9) 3c (2 players)
Hero checks, Villian bets $9, BB raises to $36, Villian calls $27.

River: ($81) Qd (2 players)
BB bets $13, Villian calls $12.35 (All-In).

Final Pot: $105.70

Results in white below:

Hero has 6d 7s (straight, seven high).

Villian has 7d 7h (two pair, sevens and fives).

Outcome: Hero wins $106.35.

It is so hard to close off loose ends

2007-11-01T09:27:00.001-04:00

Finally got moved into the new house so it is possible that I can show up to some blogger events starting next week. It has been a long ride but now having internet access at home is going to get me back in the swing of things. Still have to setup the wireless network for the house but that shouldn't take long tonight.

Time to get back to reading everyone elses blogs as well which has been off and on over these last few months.

On the work front I am still waiting to tie up a few loose ends before figuring out my next move. Time to start hitting up some contacts for some good opportunities or at least some stock picks while I am waiting around.

New Work Developments

2007-10-04T15:46:00.000-04:00

Lots of exciting stuff going to happen soon on the work front..... looking forward to getting back into my usual positive attitude. If things go well then hopefully I can afford to go to the WSOP and just buy my way into a few events without the wife worrying about me.

Anyway, just wanted to say that it won't be long until I am back.

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2007-10-04T15:44:00.001-04:00

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Getting killed in live events

2007-10-02T17:27:00.000-04:00

Managed to get an invite to a 5k freeroll live event with 50 entrants... top 4 get paid. Most of the guys haven't played before so either don't know what they have or don't know how to bet. Either way I have no chance in those type of events.

So then I get to play 5-5 cash against these guys and watch guys call three big bets with tpnk. All said and done I run into set over set and set vs. flush draw and watch a ton of cash flow the wrong way. Oh well that is poker...

Outside of that there are a lot of changes coming in my life... moving to a new house .... a tide is turning at work (more to be announced later) and internet access is going to be mine again! Then the goal is to get home earlier and play in a few of the weekly events against the real bloggers.

Looking forward to raise of 336 coming your way soon.

Almost in new home

2007-09-26T09:19:00.000-04:00

Only another couple weeks and then I will be in the new house... this should mean dependable internet access instead of not having any real contact to the world like over the last five months in the current location. It has been a struggle to keep up any poker game at all.

On the work front things aren't going the way I want them to. I can't stand seeing a bunch of guys in my type of position getting patted on the back because they document every phone call better than I do. In the end all we really should do is focus on the profit/loss in each position by person. One guy just got to cover a bunch of stuff that used to be in my wheelhouse. In the end they will pull all of those names from that guy when he loses some cash.

Hope you guys are making lots of money online.... hope to see most of you live or online soon.

Last Day in Current Club

2007-08-16T16:51:00.000-04:00

Our poker club is moving I found out last night.... showed up because Kat said she would be there ... she wasn't in sight when I arrived. Shame since it has been too long since I last had a pint with her while ranting about some silly calling station getting lucky again.

Well last night I was the one making them whine. It is great when you can notice the cocky super lag before you see one hand... min raise from utg and then berates everyones play and taunts people the whole time. I mentioned to the guy sitting next to me what a piece of work that guy is and that I am going to run over him soon. He laughs at me and says that is his buddy and he has been pushing around the table for a while.

Took me about an orbit and he min raised from MP and I repoped him with QJs. He calls of course and when he checks to me I bet into him getting an insta call. Then he decides to get frisky with me and leads out on the turn so I call to induce a bluff bet on the river. He complys and puts out a weak river bet which I raise and he calls with J4o... nice first orbit time to get some food.

Overall he ended up busted along with a girl who loved to raise every hand because she said she didn't care about money. She must have not liked to win very often either because she did a lot of losing!

So I might check out this Nexxus club that is over at bloor and bathurst to try my hand against a group that has no clue how I play.

That is three profitable poker nights in a row... amazing what a little concentration and focus can do for the game.

3rd Place in Club Tournament

2007-08-14T14:50:00.001-04:00

Managed to get out last Wed night and play some poker and managed to get 3rd place. Amazed that I was able to play super tight and still get paid off for big hands.

Only hand where I thought I got a little luck on when I raised from MP with 77. The BB was so weak that I could just steal the blinds with a regular raise. Short stack to my left goes all in. One crazy fool down the end reraises which could be AK which is why I decided to call and gambool... I win the race vs. 44 and AK (good read me!) even with the first card off the deck being a 4!

Set over set has been my luck lately with me having the higher set. I guess if you play almost no poker for months you get a little luck. Now lets just get some internet access for me and I am off to the races.

Starting to get back into the groove

2007-08-09T10:20:00.000-04:00

Really hating the idea of not having internet access at home but only going to rent there for another couple months so not worth it to get it installed at this point. Going without cable and a home phone as well because the builder messed up when they never put a line from the house to the cable box... going to be a bitch to fix it now.

This last long weekend I decided to go to Fallsview to play live against the fish. They have silly blinds for the max buy in allowed at the table... sat down at a 2/5 NL table with a 200 max buy in. Hand of the night had to be my limp of JJ from UTG which gets called by six others (no chance of getting anyone to fold so playing it like a small pocket pair!). The BB raises to $30 and five callers...

Perfect flop A J 7 rainbow. BB leads out for $60 and I smooth call. Super aggro asian behind me pushes for a total of $175 and too tight Jewish fellow calls for his last $60. BB goes into the tank which lets me know that I am way ahead or he is a great actor! Either way I am going to get my cash in the middle here as I don't have him raising that much with AA based on playing against him for the last 4 hours. He finally calls and then I reraise all in which is another $87 to the BB. He actually folds his AK which was impressive vs. all the pay so far this evening.

Asian guy had pocket 7's, and the Jewish guy had AK. JJ holds and I scoop a huge pot of over $700! Donked away about $150 before getting my ass off the tables close to 4 am and heading home to get up the next day at 9 am. Don't forget the 1 hour drive I have before getting to my place.

Need Internet Connection

2007-07-04T13:34:00.000-04:00

Hell I am so sick of not having internet access at home. We are waiting for Cogeco and the builder to figure out who has to build the line from the house to the cable box. This is taking forever and I am starting to get pissed off.

Mingle² - Free Online Dating

I think the rating for this blog should be infrequent boring poster!

No internet and no air conditioning.

2007-06-19T16:49:00.000-04:00

Just moved into the rental house that I will live in for 5 months while the new house gets built. So far I have no AC and no internet access... so no poker but tomorrow night I will be playing in a $100 buyin tournament. Actually on second thought it looks like I might go play a quick tournament tonight for $60. Unless the wife is still not feeling well then I will rush to her side.

Smokkee I will be back.

2007-06-15T15:05:00.000-04:00

I am moving this weekend as my fathers day gift! At least we hired movers to put us into our house rental for at least 5 months while our new place gets built.

Soon as I can I will do what I can to get back to the blogger events and try to win some of them!

I am sure that most of you guys miss my 336 reraises into you holding the nuts....

Finally some poker to report

2007-06-15T13:53:00.001-04:00

Played live poker last night after a run around night on the town. Did my show up with a light buzz and the plan of not playing any hands until I got some pop into me. Had a great night overall where I was up over $450 playing 1-2 because my tight style got paid off.

I did try to alter my play a little and take some slowplay risks because my live cash game is quite ABC. KK in the SB and I call a raise with three other callers. I knew that if I reraised here I would be telling them I have A's or K's. By calling I could get away from the hand cheap if an A hit and I could check raise the flop because two of the players were aggro post flop. See a nice Q high flop and I don't get to check raise because 1st aggro guy raises to $15 and aggro player 2 re-raises to $60.

Now what do you do in this instance? 1st aggro player is solid but loose and aggro but will call bets out of position if he senses weakness. I tried to just call the reraise hoping that both come along for the ride. 1st aggro guy folds and a beautiful K falls on the turn. I check and she bets $60 and I go all in and she calls with AQ.

Now after this I notice that when I raise she always seems to call with any two cards. I am only raising pairs at this point of the evening once I am up a few bucks. In EP+1 I raise with AA and get thebutton and the BB (same villian) to call. Now even when I miss a flop I usually have to bet $25 to get these guys to fold as a cbet with a $10 preflop raise. So following the same pattern I fire out $25 and the button folds but my BB villian reraises me to $60. She only has $102 behind so I don't see her folding after putting 40% of her cash in the middle so I push. She calls and I don't get to see her cards as I rake in another good pot.

The key for me winning money in that place is to arrive sober enough to play and also leaving once I start to become a calling station.

First poker night in a while

2007-05-25T00:05:00.001-04:00

Rusty as all hell.... down 90 or so tonight but tried a couple of those HU token tourneys... lost two in a row.... and also lost a reg token event... blah all around.

Going to start to work out again and try to lose about 20 lbs and see if I can pick up my energy level. At some point I also want to get my sleeping patterns analysed because I know that I wake up far too often. That is messing with my ability to get good rest and think better the next day.

Lots of good stuff to do and not enough time to get it all done!

Wow time is flying

2007-05-24T13:01:00.000-04:00

I have to get back in gear and start to play some poker again.... been too long since I sat down at a blogger event and started raising every other hand to 336... I realize that I have been tagged multiple times so I figured I should start with those random 7 things about me.

1. I am shitty at being a husband, father, friend etc. Being so selfish is something that I try to not do but it still happens far too often. Add alcohol to the mix and I get even worse!

2. As I get older I am getting so lazy and fat. I think that getting overweight gives me less energy which contributes to my lazyness!

3. The new house I am buying is only a couple km's from my current house. Moving right next to a provincial park and looking forward to having more space. I did splurge a little by buying heated floors in the bathroom and we also put the toilet into its own room instead of it being part of the bathroom area.

4. Never been a pet person. I guess that comes from not having pets like a dog while I was a kid. The birds or fish I did have always died due to lack of care on my brother or my part.

5. I would like to spend half of the year on the east coast living near Halifax and my winters in TO. TO has snow but it is also the only place I have found that I can make good money working in the financial industry.

6. Multiplication tables were / are tough for me to recall. Learning stuff like that has always required pure memory and my mind always struggles in those situations. I remember at the time saying that the real issue was if we could always carry a calculator on us. Now I do have my rim on me to handle those difficult calculations!

7. I am a big Pepsi fan. I can and do drink upwards of 4-5 cans a day and if I am offered Coke I will usually 'settle' for it.

Now lets hope I can start to get into a few of these blogger events and win some damn points.

Lots going on

2007-05-01T11:30:00.000-04:00

Been busy for the last few weeks and the poker game has to be rusty as hell. Managed to put my house up for sale and then sell it for 98% of list within a week. I also was on vacation that week visiting a friend in Atlanta for a couple days. After that the rest of the week was spent in Orlando taking little Guin to see Mickey Mouse.

Since I got back last week work has been busy as hell... just working hard to get back my stress level that made me need the last vacation! The good thing is that things are working out and making some good coin.

Yesterday was the deadline for filing my taxes and I found out that I am owed 3k by our gov't. Looking forward to getting that and hopefully not getting audited!

Tonight I have a university alumni event where we chat to current MBA and undergrads that are about to graduate and move to Toronto. Fun fun... at least the booze is free.

Later Neteller

2007-04-13T09:58:00.000-04:00

Got my cheque from the folks over at Neteller. Sad to see a bunch of my poker bankroll come out but it should convince me to play better to build it back up. This is my first withdrawal since starting playing online.... only put $100 online to start and just took out almost 2k. Not a bad return especially when you consider all the awesome internet buddies I have made.

So Neteller doesn't want the Canadian cash moving business... well back to promoting MyCitadel to get cash to most sites trouble free.

Flying to Atlanta tomorrow but not much free time (would have loved to meet the whole Atlanta crew) this weekend. Starting by landing at 1 pm and then going to the hockey game at 3 pm. On the Sunday I am going to take little Guin to the Georgia Aquarium which looks like it will be a fun family event. Then it is off to Orlando for a week of fun and hopefully sun with lots of time spent on the beach and visiting with Micky Mouse.

The last thing to finish up before going on vacation is finalizing our upgrades on the house we bought. New builds leave 5,000 questions to be answered and we are getting closer to the end of it all. Our current place is just getting listed and hopefully it will sell at a good price.

Been Busy

2007-04-08T12:41:00.000-04:00

Sorry for the lack of posting and playing in blogger events. Been super busy with my investments and trying to come up with the cash to pay for the new house the wife wanted.

In the process of getting the current house ready for sale we had a few rooms painted. The paint was giving me a headache (and I think giving me a weird 'high') while I proceeded to lose half of my FT bankroll. I did things that evening that would normally never even cross my mind. Now I will get a good chance to play another 10k hands at NL25 as the bankroll dictates that is the current level.

Painful but no problem as I should be able to regain lost cash soon enough and get the game to dominate 6 max tables.

Looking forward to rejoining the group soon as I can. Happy Bunny Day!

Does poker make me better?

2007-03-22T15:28:00.000-04:00

Just read the ton of material that CC wrote on the impact of poker on seven areas of his life. Figured I would take a large shortcut method to plan out my own thoughts on the same issues... I promise to be much shorter than one of his writeups to cover all seven points!

Spiritual - Well pokers bad beats give me another explanation for all things spiritual. Bad beats and probability explain most situations better for me than the thought of some dude in the sky messing with my life. Being an atheist I feel comfortable knowing that *I* am the person who is accountable for my results. That gives me a feeling of peace to wake up each day to be the best at anything I choose to do. Also having no fear of an afterlife lets me focus on enjoying this reality here and now. Sort of like when a video game ends and the "Game Over" shows up is how I view the world.... in the meantime lets rack up a high score! So poker is positive for me as it is just another area where I can learn about people and study them while having fun.

Financial - This is an area of poker where I naturally excel. Money sort of comes easy to me and poker lets me utilize my skills of understanding risk / return. Bankroll management is similar to my portfolio where the goal is to consistenty put your money into risky situations that are +EV with no risk of ruin. I think poker is not positive or negative in my life in this regard because it is the one place that I am a professional. That being said my poker game better develop so I can get to play Fuel at some high level tables.

Career - Similar to financial for me where poker just sharpens my ability to read people and make better decisions. I already had the job that I worked years to achieve prior to getting into poker so again no real impact. I will say that it has allowed me to network with even more people that also play and it gives us a common interest. Networking is at an insane level in my job where I regularly run into 20 people I know at almost any hockey game I attend. Poker could become a big positive if / when I win some large poker tournament!

Physical Fitness - Hell nothing can be blamed for the sorry state of health I am currently in other than my lazyness. Poker sure didn't make things worse so again I don't think it impacts me here one way or the other.

Maritial Relationship - Lucky to have an amazing wife who gives me the space and time to play. She would like to have me go to sleep a lot earlier most times but I have a hard time slowing down at the end of the day. Now when I play when she is awake and wants to talk then poker is a big negative. I suffer from a serious case of ADD which gives me some hyper focus on stuff I want to do but I then ignore everything else. The thing is that if I wasn't playing poker I would be reading / playing video games / doing something else because watching tv isn't much of an option. Overall, poker has to fall into the negative on the relationship mostly because she wanted me to have a hobby like cooking instead.

Parent - I play when my little Guin is sleeping so not negative from that standpoint. The negative part is when I am too tired the next morning to really put my time and energy into her activities.

Intellectual - For sure poker is positive in helping us all discover more about ourselves. This is the one area where hopefully we all continue to work at using our mind to its fullest capability. Seeing Doyle continue to kick ass at his age is super impressive and we can all aspire to do similar things.

Friendship - Just another great place to run into non-Bay St. thinkers. Blogging has also been a fun way to document the journey. Unlucky for everyone is that my writing skills are not going to improve anytime soon. Poker is positive in this area..... now if I can just get to a few more live blogger filled events.

Psychological - Poker has been positive with helping me stay level. When I started the steaming over bad beats was constant but now I only flinch a bit. Now the wife does say that she finds that I appear emotionless a bit more often which she doesn't like.

Wow that was long.

New Rim and Bball tomorrow night

2007-03-22T13:08:00.000-04:00

I am going to get the newest version of the Rim device. The old one just ran out of steam and it isn't working. The best part about this new one is the built in GPS and maps built in... I guess I won't be using my FT points to get that Garmin GPS system.

Tomorrow night is going to be a lot of fun at the ACC. Courtside seats to watch the Raptors... gotta love the chance to see Iverson and Carmelo vs. Bosh.

Riverrun over me!

2007-03-21T09:31:00.000-04:00

Had a great night playing last night where I am starting to get a feel of the types of tables that I can run over alot easier. Playing against a table of rocks sure isn't the place for me because when they reraise you really have to give them respect. Of course it would have been nice to catch a real hand once in a while to pop them right back.

Riverrun shows up at my table yesterday and I get dealt QQ and we end up all in. Of course he has AA but a sweet Q shows on the flop. The K landing on the river to give him the nut straight wasn't so sweet but something that doesn't impact my results as much as in the past. Almost at 10k hands of CR style playing of 6 max at the NL25 and NL50 level. So hopefully after another 5k hands at NL50 will give me enough of a bankroll to start putting NL100 into the mix.

Finished my PPA bonus yesterday as well so that was an additional $100 into the account. Sweet! Now I know that Fuel put out a little challenge on why we all aren't playing the higher stakes games... my answer is that I am planning on it but want to have the right tools available so I can stay there. Like investing this is just a slow and steady progression to becoming the best at something I choose to do.

Not much poker last week

2007-03-19T01:40:00.000-04:00

Went to the hockey game tuesday and watched the Leafs beat Tampa... on Wed went to the Raptors game which they won over the Knicks. Hopefully the Leafs get into the playoffs and go against my Penguins.

Started back at NL25 tonight since I am rusty and ended up about $60 tonight.... nice since that is in addition to the $120 in rakeback from last month. Now when I get comfortable and get to NL100 then the rakeback should pick up and add to the stack.

I did watch a CR video tonight where GP had trouble dealing with a shortstack with a premium pair. For sure this has been one of the toughest things for me to learn how to deal with at tables where I am trying to play a LAG style. But experience is what we are looking for and I am starting to get a few hands in to improve my play. Also still very committed to making myself a better player by using the CR videos.

Bad Beats (but it could be worse!)

2007-03-12T01:12:00.000-04:00

Any of the three readers on this blog know that I don't whine usually about bad beats.... only thing that bugs me is if they happen to the same opponent who should realize that they are behind if I am calling or reraising them.

Full Tilt Poker
No Limit Holdem Ring game
Blinds: $0.25/$0.50
5 players
Converter

Pre-flop: (5 players) Mungo36 is Button with :ac :qh
UTG folds, CO calls $0.5 (pot was $0.75), Mungo36 raises to $2.75, 2 folds, CO raises to $7, Mungo36 raises to $23, CO calls $13.75 (pot was $27.5).

Flop: :ts :qd :9c ($46.75, 2 players)
CO is all-in $1, Mungo36 calls $1 (pot was $47.75).

Turn: :3s ($48.75, 1 player + 1 all-in - Main pot: $48.75)

River: :kh ($48.75, 1 player + 1 all-in - Main pot: $48.75)

Results:
Final pot: $48.75
Mungo36 showed Ac Qh
CO showed Tc Kc

Full Tilt Poker
No Limit Holdem Ring game
Blinds: $0.25/$0.50
5 players
Converter

Pre-flop: (5 players) Mungo36 is BB with :5s :5d
UTG raises to $1, CO calls $1 (pot was $1.75), Button folds, SB raises to $2, Mungo36 calls $1.5 (pot was $4.25), UTG raises to $7.5, CO folds, SB calls $4.5 (pot was $11.25), Mungo36 calls $4.5 (pot was $15.75).

Flop: :3c :6h :5h ($23.5, 3 players)
SB bets $15.5, Mungo36 calls $15.5 (pot was $39), UTG calls all-in $12.35.

Turn: :2h ($66.85, 2 players + 1 all-in - Main pot: $60.55, Sidepot 1: $6.3)
SB is all-in $14.85, Mungo36 calls $14.85 (pot was $81.7).

River: :4c ($96.55, 1 player + 2 all-in - Main pot: $60.55, Sidepot 1: $36)

Results:
Final pot: $96.55
Mungo36 showed 5s 5d
UTG showed Qd Qh
SB showed 7h 7d

Flop TPTK after re-reraising him in the first hand (he was a bad player and I had seen him reraise with K high before) so I put him to the test. Of course he hits his two pair on river.

4 mins later I flop a set and manage to get both all in only to see him river his straight. The good thing is that I played solid tonight for a couple hours and the videos are starting to hit brain! I sort of had what could only be called a negative rush for five mins where I lost every big hand I was involved in. AK where I reraise a shortstack and he calls to see A88 flop. He has AA and I doubled him up.... set over set in another hand... so in 2 hours I make $200 to only lose $150 in 10 mins. Such is the game of poker and I will be back at it tomorrow evening.

A few 3 bets light working out when I notice guys multi tabling and taking advantage of position to raise... those guys are great for this move since it looks more genuine. Mining while watching a CR video does set me up nicely to join into a table with tons of confidence of what I am against.

Hand of the evening

2007-03-11T06:13:00.000-04:00

Not sure when the last time I played at a table with so many calling stations. In the hand prior to this one the superstar managed to call a river bluff with his 3 high 4-flush calling 3/4 pot bet. So that is why I only have $40 because I couldn't reload in between hands fast enough while multi tabling.

So please take a look at this fantastic fun hand!

http://www.pokerhand.org/?894931

Made back most of the cost of the CR extension this evening while still working on a few things such as 3 betting and more focus on reads and taking good notes on players. Still don't have enough donkeys in the mix but working on it.... still finding the games sort of soft but not running super hot like before. Must be time to watch more videos and think more away from the game instead of hammering through another thousand hands.

No AC Vegas for me

2007-03-10T08:12:00.000-05:00

Damn gov't didn't get me my passport in time so going to the US is out of the question. Don't want to be confused with the other terrorists and detained for a few days on no charges!

Well the good thing about blogger events is that there is always another one... I still haven't ever been to Vegas but this has to be the year. Of course to get to one of these events I better start winning some real cash online!

Today is the deadline to get your extension payment into cardrunners at the $20 / mth price. I did another 12 months and looking forward to seeing my progress over this next few months. So far I can see a change in my ability to read certain situations but I have to watch out in getting overaggressive at times. Learning to turn it down for a couple orbits and then ramping back up is something that GP is great at but I am still learning.

Have fun in AC guys.... wish I could have been there.

Been quiet lately

2007-03-08T09:41:00.000-05:00

Not much poker going on these days.... ran into Astin and didn't make it back home in time for the Mookie. Instead ended up at Turf where I bet on the ponies for a while and had a good steak before heading home. Watched a couple episodes of Rome which is one of my favorite shows. I am looking forward to Regenesis having a 3rd season as they deal with some cool situations that can come our way.

Take a look at this bill (luckily I wasn't responsible for it!).... now that is a party. Of course I would have been drinking Krug and not Cristal (cuz I ain't no rapper).

Fun at the Mookie

2007-03-01T09:39:00.000-05:00

Played like a donk in the Mookie last night and built up a huge amount of chips and then pissed it away. Got into a blind war with K2 and rereraised pushed against an unknown player (found out it was the winner of last weeks cc's thursday event) on a 882 flop. Of course he had A8 and I was a shortstack... at least he took the rest of my chips right after that.

Good thing was that the cash game was crusing along at NL50 6 max with me up $95 on the night after getting stacked early. Played tricky by calling a tight players pfr with JJ from the SB instead of raising. Flop comes all low hearts so I check (no Jh), MP player who limp/called preflop checked and the button raiser bets 3/4 pot. So to isolate I reraise him a pot sized bet thinking he has Ah and might be drawing / cbetting. The problem is that he had $35 to start and that meant that if he pushed I have to call. He pushes and I call a few more bucks and see he has A4h... shit. Reload and remember to reraise with JJ preflop to find out the strength of the opponents hands. So by the end of the night I had almost $200 in front of me at a table where I never got AA or KK even once.

I did have better success with the 3 betting light by improving my table image and making it tighter and more aggro post flop. Still having a hard time getting to a 5+ AF on the flop, 4+ on turn, and 3+ on the river. I enjoy floating people too often I guess!

Mac poker online

A bit of variance

2007-02-28T11:40:00.000-05:00

One thing about learning this 3 betting light... it can be painful when you run into big hands. So lost about 4 buyins last night with some super aggro play and not hitting a single draw. Gnome also linked up an article on being super aggro with 4 bet bluffs which I tried once and lost a buyin.

I will say that I got a ton of action but only from shortstacks that ran into my big hands. I did also tilt off half of a buyin but then realized the error of my ways and went to bed.

Back to the CR style until I dominate for a few more weeks and I will for sure take another run at building this into my game.

High VPIP

2007-02-27T23:10:00.001-05:00

The Superstar Poker Gnome (nice 10k winning day) asked me how I could possibly get my vpip over 30% and I said I would show one of the ways I was doing it.... raising from EP with hands that hit gold or are easy folds. I do cbet often but usually with position or when against weak/tight players that are likely to fold unless I am beat. Against tricky players I cbet less but just often enough that they play back at me when I have a big hand later on. Think of it as a way to induce bluffs later on in the session... lose a few small pots but stack them later on.

The Gnome just wrote a masterpiece on 3 betting that everyone should read and it will be a focus for me over the next week. To do this I will probably pull the vpip back to the mid 20% range so I appear to be a little less of a LAG type player.

Beware the Penguins! Gotta love the moves the team made at the trade deadline.

Getting money out of poker sites or neteller

2007-02-27T16:39:00.000-05:00

Umm all those folks with money stuck in FT or PS (not sure about ability to send cash to someone else in neteller) I think I can help you out. For a small fee (still haven't looked through the financial costs yet) I can get you to fire me the cash on the site and I can put it in my bank account and mail you a cheque.

Not sure if anyone reads this or has an interest in getting cash out of poker sites but this probably works for a few of you who are currently stuck.

More Realistic Results

2007-02-26T03:35:00.000-05:00

Managed to focus on getting in lots of hands this weekend... that meant less sleep so tomorrow night I might not play much. My problem hands right now are TPTK and overpairs vs. shortstacks with sets. I really don't see how you can get away from paying them off but then outplaying them when they have a larger stack. The ones I hate the most are the little hit and run experts!

The second leg down was from losing two big hands one of which pissed me off. I was running my now usual 34/23/3+ style and of course people play back at that after a while. I noticed that when I raised from MP and one person called he would use a squeeze play from the button. So a couple orbits later with KK in MP I do the same raise and get the same caller. He insta reraises again and I fire another reraise at him so he knows I am not folding to his push. He pushes with AKs and I have him dominated. We were both large stacks at the time so losing $80 at a NL50 table to a rivered flush was a bit annoying. The other was an overpair of 9's where I correct read that the guy was pushing the flop with a flush draw. He hits it and another large stack gone.

Oh well at least I was getting paid off when I flop trips because I bet almost every hand. The tough part is to not keep firing when they have a hand. Glad I pushed the number of hands I could get into a weekend just to see what it must be like to do this for a living... only fun when you want to play.

Sleep = good results

2007-02-24T15:33:00.000-05:00

I came home last night and crashed at 9 pm! My body wasn't up for a couple hours of poker before my head hit that pillow so I played a few hands this morning and early afternoon.

Take a look at the graph:

Now most of the upswing is at the NL25 level. When I might have to get up for baby Guin I didn't want to play my regular stakes. Good to see that I was crushing the game today at 52 ptbb/100. Watching Cocktail (horrible Tom Cruise flick - I do like Elizabeth Shue though) and made $100 so the wife and me were happy!

Thanks Riverrun for seeing the same situation happening... sometimes with poker you think you are just running hot and it isn't due to you playing well. This is until others are going through the same transformation... the 2nd Sbrugby video told me that I wasn't aggressive enough! So a bit more folding on the flop and a few more cbets did increase the win rate. Gotta love it when the recipe works so well because it makes you look fearless.

So tonight back to the NL50 tables and hopefully I can continue to run at this torrid pace for a while longer.... I do need $240 to extend my cardrunners member for another year at the 20/mth price point.

Also for those talking about how it is a small sample size remember that 5k hands is about 2 months of playing for me. I am trying to pick that up but hard with my limited time in front of the computer.

CR style working

2007-02-23T16:04:00.000-05:00

Got in a few hands after donking out of the blogger events last night. Managed to win back my buyins and another $100 to finish the night on a happy note. Played a bit on the PS2 and relaxed before going to bed for only 5 hours sleep... that is about 2-3 more than I got in either of the prior two nights.

So for next week the goal is to get some sleep and watch a few more CR videos and continue to dominate the NL50 games on FT. I did donate $40 to the PPA so that I can get that $100 bonus on FT which will get me to focus on playing enough hands to earn that bonus on top of my rakeback.

I also want to earn enough FT points to earn a Garmin GPS thing for the car. I get lost all the time and my wife luckily is not employed in map reading. So that is 69m points and currently I am only at 7.4m. Long way to go but at least it is another goal for the year.

Even More Rigged Live Poker

2007-02-21T12:57:00.000-05:00

The Leafs put in a horrific effort last night which I watched from the bar at Hy's while putting down a nice New York steak and a good bottle of Malbec.

After that I was feeling like a little poker and headed over to the club for some live play. First hand get dealt 66 in the CO. EP raises to $12, one caller, Hero calls, BB calls. Flop is 9c8x6c so I have to think I am ahead here so when the EP bets $25 and one caller so I reraise all in for $146 to price out any draws of which there are many.

Now this is what I don't understand... if you have only a straight draw with no chance to backdoor a good flush then you are insane to chase in this situation.

Board: 9c 8d 6c
Dead:
equity win tie pots won pots tied
Hand 0: 26.869% 25.76% 01.11% 255 11.00 { Ac7h }
Hand 1: 73.131% 72.02% 01.11% 713 11.00 { 6d6s }

Of course the chase is on and the 5d falls on the turn and no pair on river so good bye $200 with a flopped set (first one of the night).

Managed to get back most of my loss and watched that donk lose all of his chips. Got home way too late and feeling tired today and the wife isn't happy that I didn't go right home... she has a point as this stuff should be reserved for weekends.

Solid Night

2007-02-20T09:31:00.000-05:00

Rikidee (watch out as he is buying gay video games which are no longer cool according to some sports figures!) made a whole post out of a couple sentences from a CR video on overbetting that I missed when I watched it the first time. I heard something about it but certainly didn't take as much notice of it as he did.... so I watched it again and it looks like an interesting idea when you find a calling station. When watching these guys play 10/20 NL I am amazed at some of the crazy ass calls you see so it is a good tool to use on a rare occasion.

The one point that was nailed home for me was that for the majority of our time at the tables we should be playing ABC poker. I think for some reason that we often try to outplay everyone on each hand and that isn't the goal. In the end we want more cash than we started with and if we are patient and aggressive our opponents will give us their cash.

So last night refocused on playing solid poker I attacked a couple NL100 tables. Then I run into a guy who overbet every hand he was in and he did it twice against me. First hand I am dealt QQ in the BB. Villian raises to $3 and I reraise him to $12. Flop is K24r and I lead out for $20 and he insta reraises it to $65. I let it go.... but I like my bet with that type of flop because the texture was good and I think that I take that down way more often than I am reraised. It is a hand that I will post this evening on CR to see if I played it in a manner that is optimal vs. other ways to play it to take the hand down. A few hands later against the same Villian I call his raise with 22 and flop is Q high. He bets 1/2 pot and I reraise it and he insta pushes. Again I liked how I used position to take an aggressive stance on the hand when I thought he could be cbetting with Ax. About an orbit later after winning a couple small hands against him when I cbet he left the table.

What I like best about the CR style is that you piss off everyone at the table with the constant pressure. There is no way to play a LAG style when not playing your A game without bleeding chips everywhere. People by the end of the night were letting me walk because to complete from the SB meant you would probably face a raise. If you raised with trash could it stand up to a very possible reraise?!! Limping from EP's wasn't possible without facing a 5x bb raise. Now I wasn't just raising with junk but was using position to my advantage to take down lots of small pots and when someone fought back I usually had a hand.

Overall I only ended up about a buyin but the feeling of running over a table and getting guys to do what I wanted was a welcome change. The few suckouts by a shortstack who was playing 90/8 over 100 hands hurt a bit since he lost it all to another solid player at the table. But those are the types of players that I want at my table anytime.

I did donk out of the Hoy last night but I was trying to read what Hoy and Iak had when I called them. They of course were pushing with the goods again and my hands were dominated both times. The good part of the evening was coming back from 250 chips to 1200 before donating to Iak. Get em next week.

Playing like crap

2007-02-19T09:27:00.000-05:00

I was playing like crap last night because I couldn't get motivated to play my A game at NL25 6 max. The hardest part of going back down a few levels to work on the game is that the results aren't worth anything to the bankroll.

So after donking away a couple buyins I decided to go up to NL100 and play a better game. At the lower limits you really just nut peddle and steal small pots to earn cash... sort of boring. At NL100 6 max I managed to come away up almost a buyin so overall I was flat on the night. Also got myself another token so hopefully that can be turned into something that builds the bankroll.

Starting to get used to the CR method of playing but I think I am still a bit too tight at a 6 max game. Playing a 29%/22% and my AF is running in the 3 range. I think I can open it up a bit more which can find me getting played back at when I have big hands. Play on site does seem to have improved with only one or two really bad donks per table instead of one or two good players.

Also it is time for me to get to bed before 11 pm at least twice a week. That alone should get me into the right frame of mind. Hard to think straight when you have two-three glasses of wine with dinner and the wife wants to buy a new house....

Can't play the FTOP #9

2007-02-17T08:29:00.000-05:00

Hopefully I can find a blogger who likes to play some pot limit Omaha and HE to play the event for me.

First person who can guarantee me that they can play it will get a shot at a nice event. I only want 10% of what you win...

So Far Behind....

2007-02-16T10:57:00.001-05:00

Been a while since my last post partially because I am still recovering from the Eh-Vegas crowd... two nights in a row of live poker till 5 am and getting up the next day to spend time with the family will do that to you.

Kat did a fantastic job of making it a great event that should only grow over time. Overall I think I was down about 500 over the weekend but it was well worth it. Our wine tasting on Friday was fun with Jules giving me some info on wine... hopefully she will send me a few rec's that our LCBO actually stocks.

Iak thanks again for the drive to Oakville as that was a good chance to chat and get to meet you. Now I have to focus a bit more on my game and try to bring the A game to the blogger events. Always interesting to hear people tell you to your face that they think you play like a donkey! Respect that he said it using $5 words that it took me a few days to truly understand the level of donkishness that he considers my current game to be in.

Cash games have been going well for me and I have also had some recent success in the token events. Used 1 to attempt a tier II but was crap in that so I sign up for a FTOP event 9 sat. Looked like a pot limit holdem event but was I ever surprised after 10 mins when the level went up and we switched to Omaha Hi. Ack! I suck at Omaha only having played it in blogger events and just for fun. Well I managed to play super tight and very aggro but an early suckout had me crippled down to 350 chips. Built the stack back up and got to the final table in 8th place. Finally another hour later I managed to win it so this Saturday lets hope my pot limit run continues.

Vegas-Eh Style!

2007-02-09T15:47:00.000-05:00

Well the event that hopefully will grow over the years starts tonight with dinner and a few drinks. I am sure to spend a bit of cash to make sure that the out of towners enjoy themselves. It is cold out in Toronto these days and the nights get really cold... so not sure how many of the bloggers will want some live action post drinks this evening. I know I always enjoy donking away a few chips!

Tomorrow I will have to miss the tournament associated with the event because of the 'Guins coming to town to play the Leafs. But after the game I will be so pumped to come out and play some live pokah against those cash game players that stick around. Never been to the club on a weekend to interested to see if the quality of players is better or worse than the mid week crowd.

Kat has done a great job getting people to show up in our town during the coldest time of the year. Just to offset my excitement I went and renewed my passport, drivers license, and health card.

Now to go to Atlantic City for HighonPoker's gathering in a month I will need that passport to show up. The increase in the rules to cross the border into the US is a bit of a pain but the hard work for me is now done for another five years.

Reviewme - Cardroom Supply - Poker Tables

2007-02-03T23:48:00.000-05:00

This is a sponsored post.

Cardroom Supply has a great assortment of poker tables available for purchase. Many of us would love to setup the ultimate poker room for our home games and here is a great place to get your main piece of equipment. If you want a games room they also have tables that are available that can be converted to poker tables. It is also possible to purchase a table and chair sets which I haven't seen anywhere else. Now if many of you guys are like me you are looking for good folding tables so lucky for me they have an assortment of tables than I can put away easily.

Now I did notice that the site has a good promotion where any purchase over $100 results in free shipping. The ability to use the 1-800 number for ordering will be good for those with some further questions about the products.

Don't forget to check out the rest of the site for lots of other items to give you the Ultimate Home Poker room.

Cab Fare

2007-02-01T16:42:00.000-05:00

Went to the Raptors game last night and took the 5th row seats instead of the courtsides. That way some young guy got a chance to sit in the nice seats.... not that my seats were bad at all. Easy Raptors win and then off to Ki for some post game drinks. Now after a couple beers I didn't want to take a train home so I decided to go to the cash game for some cab money!

One hour later I am walking out with an extra $150 in my pocket... amazing how easy it is to win with an ABC style of poker... so $65 for the cab home and then gave the wife $100 to go spend on anything she wants. That way she doesn't give me as much grief when I stay out late (gotta do something to keep the heat down!)

Today got a good bonus so I will be happy for another year. This is the year that I really have to push my portfolio to new levels. I might have just found a new potential 10 bagger that I will have to buy in my PA in a large way.

That being said I will go and buy a good bottle of wine for my dinner tonight... gotta celebrate.

Keeping the Focus

2007-01-31T12:58:00.000-05:00

Staying true to not playing when not focused is working. Normally I would have fired up a few games last night and donked away some cash. But not anymore! I was looking to get a Wii but instead settled for a PS2... yes the cost was cheap enough that it didn't matter and I wanted to play God of War... and II when it launches soon.

So a bit of video game time later and some actual sleep has me in a good mood for poker today. That would normally mean some live action tonight at the club and beating up those tournament donks that bust early. Instead, I got offered steak and a raptors game at courtside.... so maybe some poker if the beer flow is slow enough. Otherwise head home and get ready for tomorrow when I get my annual review and bonus number.... the wait is agonizing for the number that is a very large percentage of our earnings for the year.

I do have to say that I am very pissed off with the workers for the Go Transit system. These lazy shits keep cancelling my train that I use in the morning due to a labor dispute. Now I am someone who really hates unions in this day and age so these childish ways of denying your customers service is a disgrace. You guys want a raise so you call in sick for a few extra days? All of these people should be fired instead of caving into demands from those who don't realize how good they have things with their current CN based pay package. Oh and if you idiots are going to cancel a train please send out an email using your service to notify the passengers at least... that way I can forward it to my boss who is wondering what the hell is slowing me down in the morning. So enough of my tilted rant about using a gov't run service that just doesn't give value for the cost. Let it go public and we can strip all this crap out and make these people really work for a living and to generate a return on my money.

POY Event 1 & Live Last Week

2007-01-29T09:50:00.000-05:00

So last week I decided to take the CR style and put it to good use at the live tables and see how it fares against the calling stations at my local club. All I can say is that it sure tightens a table up a bunch when they are scared of getting reraised and have sizable bets coming their way all night.

Focusing on position also allows me to steal a bunch of unwanted pots that I enter so my stack is much larger than it would normally be when the bad beats arrive. So overall the first week of CR style while playing live was +$400 and I still don't know what the hell I am doing yet!

On the online side I had to get back to NL25 after donking away 3 buyins at NL50 while drinking and playing... it was fun but have to earn that back (and continue to work on playing the CR style at 6 max tables) before I can jump up to higher levels.

So all this rambling gets me to discuss my play last night in the WPBT event 1. Played a bit tighter with Lucko on my right keeping me in line with his fantastic style. I still don't know why everyone tries to pick him off since he likes to call bets that are larger than value bets with middle pair! Nothing worse than a solid LAG on your right and with a ton of chips. The good thing is that these guys recognize the guys who play a TAG style and adapt. Had a phone call where I folded a BB where I should call and would have won a monster pot... damn mother in laws! Then the laptop decided to make it a tough night and folded my QQ on the BB with StatiKing with a shortstack raise. Reboot and try to play some poker... still over 2k chips no time to worry.

Finally get doubled up when I flop a set vs. AA and got all in on the turn. From there on I only had one really bad play that that was against Change100. *She* raised the SB when it folded to her and I took that to be a steal so I pushed with KQo and after thinking it was a steal only to see the call with AJo so still a race but 60/40 and I won. Sorry Change100 it was my worst play but the karma would come back to bite me on the butt later on.

Not enough bloggers know that Raveen is my poker nemesis... my poker goal is to stack him so often he drops out of medical school due to the shame! Actually he seems like a cool guy who kicks ass at poker but he was a luckbox last night. I announced to him that I would bring swift justice to the one who drops quads on my TPnoK hand for a stack at 1/2 NL (also known as the worst hand I have played in about a year)! Well I managed to reraise him 3 times and that drove him over the edge!

Raveen raises from MP which is his standard way to enter a pot. I know that I have been pushing back at him a lot so I decide to let him know that folding isn't an option for me in this hand with AQs and 15 people remaining. Blinds are 300/600 with 100 ante if I remember correctly. So his raise to 1,800 looked weak and from the CO I reraised to 6,666 and I only had 5,400 approx. behind. Why not push? Because I didn't want it to look like a desperate move with a small pair. And he knows that I have pot committed myself to my hand so no way can he feel that he has any fold equity in this hand. He pushes and I am hoping to be against a smaller Ax... instead he turns of 65o.... hmm that is interesting considering he is one of the chip leaders and I wasn't too far behind and only 7 get paid this evening. He hits the straight and I am done for the night.... ugg... at least he went on to win the whole tournament.

Now the concept of people just playing blogger events for fun making such moves normal just doesn't make sense to me. After investing 2+ hours of time the buyin for the event shouldn't dictate play anymore.... now we are down to the few guys who are actually trying to win this evening. With my KQ hand I actually thought I was ahead of steals (according to Pokerstove it is a top 9.2% hand) vs. doing the same with 56o (71.6% hand)... heck Hoy complains about calling reraises with AQo (6.5%) so I know where he stands on this hand.

In the end I got my money in good. Win that hand and then running towards the cash with a good stack and lots of people sitting with low M's getting ready to push. Good to know that my prior raises can get people to do silly stuff because they get tired of someone playing back at them. Still focused and working hard to be that pest who can get you to put your tourney life on the line preflop with a non paired 6 high. Either that or I am running into a lot of guys who would rather go to bed than win an event... who then go on to win the event.

Won the 2nd Chance!

2007-01-18T09:11:00.000-05:00

PL Omaha Hi is a game that I still have no clue how to play. I asked slb and he just told me to be aggro and I used that technique postflop by reraising him and pushing him off a hand.... I wasn't sure what I had but it looked alright so I went with it!

Hit a couple good hands when needed and built up a good bunch of chips. I was also playing two cash tables where the suckouts have continued. I even joined a NL100 table and found a donk who thought bottom pair on the flop with no kicker was good enough to go all in on the turn. I held TPTK which is good against a short stack so an easy call of that small push only to watch that 3 kicker give the donk 2 pair. Ugly. Just make a note and hope to find this fish again.

So it was good to win a blogger event and also to play well and not get tilted in the cash games. KK < Q4 when my 5x bb raise was called and they hit top two pair! Ugly! At least I am not paying off these guys too much in those situations but it is still a bit annoying. My bankroll could use a couple positive hits to give me some room to take some shots at bigger games.

More Rigged Live Game Play

2007-01-17T15:35:00.000-05:00

Well I was out meeting with a few friends last night and when a couple of the said they play poker "once in a while" I got a little excited. Luckily I am not endowed like Bobby or they would have noticed! So we go hit the ATM and 15 mins later sitting at the underground club slinging some chips. Two orbits in I get AA at a six handed table so I raise to the standard $10 from UTG+1. Now both of my buddies sat to my right so I wouldn't have to steal their blinds which they wouldn't imagine folding to me. Lets just say that they were a little drunk while I was slightly tipsy but ready to rock the table.

So an Asian dude who wore "cool" glasses and a fancy dress shirt calls (very loose table overall) from the SB and my buddies both call. Flop is KdQx4d so with the flush draw I reraise buddy in the BB (he bet $10) to $70 to isolate. Everyone calls but I see the nice Ax on the turn. No flush so all is good in the world as I can't put them on J10 but the flush draw looks real. SB bets $25 and both buddies call, so I reraise to $125 and everyone calls again. Of course SB has the flush draw with A3d and hits on the river. My buddies both had a K mid kicker which showed their inexperience to play that for their stack especially after the A on the turn.

So the SB says for sure he was willing to go to the felt with that draw because of how strong it was. He wasn't even worried when I showed the set of A's .... little shits like that seem to draw out far too often. Only played for another 1/2 hour and won back that buyin and also a bit of extra cash. Then one tight player left the game and that was my cue to get out of there.

Losing a $700+ pot to an idiot really hurt but I played well and I know those opportunities will come up again.

Lacking Focus for Timeframes

2007-01-16T09:08:00.000-05:00

I need to setup a couple new rules so that I can focus properly and not start off down 1/2 - 1 buyin before I start playing well.

1. No big pots without the nuts against anyone you have less than 60 hands against. Too often I end up backing down from a crazy reraise with TPTK only to find out that was the maniac that had 2nd pair.

2. Leave tables when they aren't worth the time. Found myself at a table with 4 TAG players and here I am trying to play a looser game against those sharks... find waters that are safer.

3. Watch a full Cardrunners video prior to playing as listening to the constant consistent play of Taylor is a good way to focus.

4. Get some damn sleep... last night 3.5 hours the night before 2 hours. Not close to the 6 hours I am trying to average this year. Tonight I might just watch a couple videos and then go to bed early.

So down a couple buyins last night with some positive points. One I used the play of reraising pot against a person who led out at a pot with a small probe bet. I had nothing but took down a good pot instead of just calling which is my typical play. Keep control of the hand and punish people for calling my raises. I wasn't good at letting hands go or keeping pot size small when I had okay (TPTK) hands but that is something that will be the goal over the next week.

The good thing is that I am committed to making me a better player but hopefully my mistakes plus the bad beats don't kill my bankroll. Pissing away a buyin last night was probably the dumbest thing I have done in a while. 3 bullet bluffs into a TAG who has a high aggro rating but is calling tells me I am beat.... check it down .... I do not have to win every hand I raise.

Now the work begins

2007-01-15T10:27:00.000-05:00

Well finally finished that damn 3k raked hands on the B2B network... crazy f'n site where I lost a couple buyins on silly plays but a handful more on crazy bad beats... I am not one to whine too much about that stuff as variance has been good to me in the past... just hurry up and get done with kicking my ass!

So now to rebuild my game I am starting at NL25 6 max on FT. Overplayed JJ last night but other than that the first 500 hands went well. slb watched me playing against a super donk (other than him!) and I finally had to bust the guy by going all in with KJs vs. K9. Next hand A9s vs. QJ. Luckily he wanted to continue to pay off my big hands and he scared the hell out of the rest of the table... most folded to his cbets. Going to look for that guy tonight to double up on that fun.

Time to get the most out of this Card Runners subscription.... the easy part was signing up... the hard part is working on my game.

Getting back on track

2007-01-12T00:10:00.000-05:00

After blowing a bunch of my bankroll on FT with silly plays I decided to get back into the grind. Played in the D2S tonight and you know that you are playing well when they are complaining about my steals early in an event. Also, the guy who looked up my PS results in sharkscope was just funny. He got stacked by me a little while later so I guess it goes around.

Here is the screenshot of my results.

So I started the night out focused and the results were good with a good suckout to give me the big stack with 5 left. It is always nice when you win a couple races and then can just roll into the cash. Got all in HU with K8 on a 5s6x7s board vs. AJs. So we both had lots of outs to win the hand and we both whiffed! A high takes it down.... but I was happy with my play.

I then went back to B2B to work off a bit of the bonus while trying to avoid situations like this from the other night!

http://www.pokerhand.org/?732688 The friendly people at the site mentioned that I couldn't take down the Bad Beat Jackpot but they would look into giving me something... that was great customer service from these guys.

Found that if I was patient with a super LAG that I could find a spot to take him down instead of trying to play back at him. Poker is so much more fun when you are patient and have a solid game plan.

So after attempting to follow through with the few things I have picked up from Cardrunners I was up 80 euros this evening (plus . Not sure how many people are aware of how solid the CR guys did at the PCA 4 of the top 6! Glad I am working with this crew to improve my game. Wes also did a good job of making the cash in this event which is great to see bloggers represented!

Ending the evening tonight by watching a 10/20 cash game video... these videos are great for taking the game to the next level.

Late Live Play

2007-01-10T16:04:00.000-05:00

Got out for a couple quick drinks last night with a buddy of mine who is just an action junkie at the poker tables. He also was way ahead of me in the drinking department when I showed up at 8 pm to grab a drink... well next thing I know we are having food and having a night cap at the SoHo hotel and then on to the poker club.

Amazed that an almost full table is already slinging chips with no scary players around at all. I build up my $200 stack to $350 when the wheels come off. In the BB with 67o I call a raise to $6 due to good pot odds. Flop is a golden 589r so I check knowing that one of the five other people in this pot will attempt to take it down. UTG raises to $6, the next guy reraises to $21, a tight player at the end of the table calls the $21... so I shove it all in figuring that some guy with an overpair or a set will call me and hopefully my hand can hold. It folds to the tight player who calls with top two pair as he said he could lay it down for the other $200 in front of him.

Turn is a blank and then the river is a 8.... live poker is so f'n rigged.

Posted my hand from the last post onto the cardrunners site and they said I am a chip spewer... oh okay but I doubt I will tighten it up too much but I will attempt to implement a more conservative stance and play back at people with the goods when they continually raise into me. Have to stop looking for places to beat a player and instead focus on winning cash.

Learning is always painful

2007-01-09T09:12:00.000-05:00

Donked out of the Hoy last night due to my over excitement to get back into the big blogger 1/2 cash table. Call that mistake number 1. I have to focus and enter each event in order to at least end up in the money. If that isn't what I am feeling at the time I should just rail the event because the chat is a good part of the fun.

Got to the cash table sitting to the left of a guy who plays a very similar game to what Cardrunners tells people to play. Everytime he was on the button he raised any unraised pot ... usually a pot sized raise if a couple limpers or to $7 if no one else was in the pot. So I watched him to this for 6 orbits and finally decided to take a stand. He raises to $7.... I reraise to $23 and he is the only caller to a 10 high flop with two spades.

Flop couldn't have helped him so I lead out for a $40 bet into a $48 pot because I can't put him on a super strong hand just yet. He calls. Turn is another 10. Here is where I think I made the mistake by not going all in as I instead bet $66 which was about half of what he had left (also 1/2 pot). If he pushes I know I am beat and can fold and save some bucks.... he thinks for a long time before going all in. I fold. At least I am attempting a few things that I wouldn't have tried before but maybe learning should be done at a lower level than normal! That just wouldn't be my style.

Now on the turn I could have checked to see if he would bet and maybe get a free card or pushed... now anyone reading this far.... what am I holding and what is my opponent holding? Up to this point I am playing a TAG style of 22/11/3 and he was SLAGing it with a 35/17/4.5 with all his raises from the button or two to the left of it. So I know he is a strong positional player and I know I have them worried about my hand but couldn't get them to lay it down.

Positives: 1. Picked the player and figured out his game plan. 2. Built a plan to exploit that style. 3. Waited for my opportunity to execute and then took action. 4. Followed through and attempted something new. 5. Reviewed the situation to learn as much as I can from it.

Negatives: Played this hand about 2 mins later. Got sort of tilted and then I donked off my stack at the 1/2 game with TPnoK. Ugly. Back to NL25 6 max to learn how to play shorthanded and work up from there.

I did go to the B2B network and won back $60 and worked off 200 hands towards my 200 euro bonus so only 800 more hands to go. Will also get an additional PSO bonus with 1,300 more hands so I will definately play to get to that level. We will review where I should play at that point as the table selection on the B2B network isn't great as the Europeans are all sleeping. The guys I do get to play against are some of the most passive players around.... but I want to get back after those guys at Booyah where I had good success in the past.

Until then I will be Full Tilted until I win back some of my cash!

Cardrunner.com

2007-01-08T17:26:00.000-05:00

Joined Cardrunner.com after taking note of the Gnome's success at cash games on his blog. If anyone else is interested in joining you can list guin36 as a referral. So far watched about 3 hours of video and tried out a few new moves last night at the blogger 1/2 table... of course after waffles got cracked by weak player it turned into a regular cash table.

Lost $85 in trying out being even more aggro with position but still think I am not raising enough preflop to drive out some limpers. Gotta punish them more and post the trouble hands onto the forum...

Which gets me on to the goals for the year... I know I am slow to post this stuff but time to catch up.

1. Focus on my game such that I am trying to actually win money instead of treating it like "play" money currently. My brother wants to buy a license for a taxi cab (over 100k CAD) and it would be cool to fund it from playing poker. Not to mention buying a bunch of great wine to enjoy over the next few years... need some quality for Fuel's visits to town as eating out will get too expensive.

2. Sit out when the wife is talking to me.... currently she is the only person who puts me on tilt... one outer... oh well that is poker... wife telling me to empty dishwasher while someone just reraised my AA on an 8 high board throws me for a loop!

3. Have more family nights where the closest I get to poker is through reading. This way I can put a book down easier mid sentence and still spend plenty of time with the wife and little Guin. Utilizing the forums at Cardrunner and 2+2 should improve my play more than just grinding it out. The family is super important to me and I don't want them to feel left out of my schedule.

4. Play when I am ready to play my best game and not because there is a game to play.

5. When I play live it is to win money and not just to play. Anyone noticing a trend of me f'n around with poker too much in the past year. Hitting my 10k goal would have been easy if I just worked on the game and didn't mess around.

Looking back at last year I think I only moved up to NL100 but I really should have tried to get to NL200. I go through stretches at NL100 where I dominate for days on end over 16 ptbb / 100. Just have to build the bankroll to play the 2/4 game.

6. That leads me to my big goal for the year which is to play 3/6 and even take a small shot at 5/10. Can't wait till I can bet in 36, 66 and 136 increments at a cash table.

7. In general I need to get more sleep (avg 4 hours now - try for 6 at least), eat better, drink less (keep binge drinking to minimum), and work harder (at work and at poker) to make this year as successful as it should be. Throw in a bit more exercise and sex (sex counts as exercise right?!) and it could be my best year ever.

Before I forget I did post my one pixel at 36 x 36.

Villian / Superhero

2007-01-04T17:08:00.000-05:00

Thought I would follow the trend (interesting results!):

Your results:
You are Lex Luthor

Lex Luthor		80%
Dr. Doom		72%
Riddler		61%
The Joker		57%
Apocalypse		57%
Magneto		55%
Kingpin		48%
Juggernaut		42%
Green Goblin		42%
Venom		41%
Mr. Freeze		40%
Two-Face		38%
Dark Phoenix		36%
Catwoman		31%
Mystique		26%
Poison Ivy		21%

A brilliant businessman on a quest for world domination and the self-proclaimed greatest criminal mind of our time!

Click here to take the "Which Super Villain am I?" quiz...

Your results:
You are Iron Man

Iron Man		80%
Green Lantern		75%
The Flash		60%
Catwoman		60%
Superman		50%
Spider-Man		50%
Supergirl		43%
Batman		40%
Hulk		40%
Robin		33%
Wonder Woman		28%

Inventor. Businessman. Genius.

Click here to take the "Which Superhero are you?" quiz...