CC's Thursday Night Bash

Looking forward to some real fun action tonight with a ton of places to play. To start off we have the typical D2S, WWdN Not, and now the CC Bash! Trying to win all these events should keep me playing a bit tighter than I did last night on Booyah Poker.

Check out Riverrun's blog if you want to help him with his pimpage requirement at Booyah. The site is full of some of the worst players I have ever seen at the cash games. Lots of action and hopefully positive variance will hit me next time. Waited over an hour to try to bust two complete over aggro guys and only got a small piece of each. Played a couple small MTT's as well to try to get used to the horrible structure that they have on that site. Have to triple up early but then keep on applying pressure to build the stack to be a monster. Levels of only 8 mins and blinds that jump from 400 / 800 to 600 / 1,200 makes it tough to play slow. I did finish 16th out of 138 in a $10 MTT but could have done better if it wasn't 3 am.

The Raptors game last night was just amazing. Had great 2nd row courtside seats and got to see the Iverson vs. Bosh all night... the steak dinner at Harbour 60 was also a fantastic way to start out the evening. Nothing like a 10 oz Filet with some crab legs plus all the trimmings with some zinfandel to wash it all down. The good thing was that post game I didn't run to the live game to catch up with Astin as that could have put a dent in my pocketbook (in addition to reading about my donkish play the next day).

In other news my case of Dowie Doole 2004 Reserve Shiraz just arrived at my office. Might want to open a bottle once I win the 1st place prize that Pokerworks is adding to CC's event.

Big Game - Lucky Night

The excitement I had to play in the Blogger Big Game had me pumped all day. Had to go to work on Sunday but managed to get my head clear (had to avoid wine at dinner) and ready to play well.

TripJax seemed to enjoy calling all of my raises with what felt like any two cards and betting large into me on the river. Folded KK once to his madness when the A hit on the turn card I already had him on a set. The next time I raised was with AKo, TripJax calls, SB calls and we see a flop.

As 5x 3s --- so the flush draw and potential for sets is what is on my mind at this point. SB leads out with 1/2 pot, I think about raising but felt that keeping pot small but I have Trip on a draw if he calls. The insta call worries me but if he had a flush draw it would make sense to call here. Sets become less likely because he would have to raise against two players.

Turn 6x. Looks like a harmless card and when the SB bets 3/4 pot I figure I am ahead and push 1,900 in chips in the middle. TripJax reraises my push and TPTK looks like the trash that it is. SB folds and I see the bad news.


Board: As 3s 5h 6h
equity (%) win (%) tie (%)
Hand 1: 18.1818 % 18.18% 00.00% { AhKs }
Hand 2: 81.8182 % 81.82% 00.00% { 6s5s }

Nice to see that my hand reading skills were so accurate. He is drawing to a flush or full house. Luck prevailed and a miracle 3x hit on the river and I take an early chip lead. Next orbit in the BB with AKo vs. 1010 and the stack is growing nicely.

So it was starting to look like I could go far in this premium event with a large chiplead early giving me time to sit back and wait for solid starting hands. If I did make a mistake it was not leaning on players like Smokkee at this point. Post flop I am not as good a player as him, but I can push lots of chips in the middle and put the pressure on him. Instead I played textbook TAG poker.

My luck peaked with the following hand. In BB with 88, facing a standard 3x raise from MP and I call. Check raise Budohorseman all in on the flop and wasn't too happy running into set over set.




At least I put those chips to good work and managed a nice 3rd place finish. Thanks to the luck factor and the chips I managed to steal in these hands made it possible!


Congrats to Sprstoner and Smokkee on the finish.

Big Game

Haven't played much poker lately but I will stop by this evening for the BIG GAME that MiamiDon puts on at FT.

Looking forward to donking away my nice tier II token in quick fashion.

Hope to see everyone out tonight.

In the meantime I get to try to figure out income trusts and new taxation rules here in Canada.... fun fun.

Win Win Win Guin Guin Guin

Had a good time playing this monday in the Hoy. I was looking forward to hearing his commentary on how horrible my play was at the final table. Sort of embarassing to even rethink many of those hands. Like raising from UTG+1 with AJs and getting reraised by Iggy and pushing all in because I thought he was on a steal. He calls with AK and a J is the first card off of the deck and the chiplead is mine!

Manage to stay out of too much trouble until the bubble where I called a raise with A5o (I know horrible). Flop is 468r and I push to steal this hand and get called by JJ. A 7 on the turn and we were in the money... sorry to whoever took that beat as it was probably the worst play I have made in a long time... and that is saying a lot.

HU against Iggy was probably the highlight of the night but he just schooled me badly until he took all my chips. 2nd isn't bad in that event where the buy in is a little larger (maybe it should be token sized).

On Tuesday I finished 9th when I reraise from the SB with AQ vs. a button raise from a super tight player (listen to your reads and notes) and he calls with AK. GG me... Well at least I am getting to a couple final tables but recently the deck has to hit me in the face and give me chips to play my game. Have to work on being short and also grinding out better results.

Tokens

Did a good job and won my tier II token last night. Too bad it was 30 mins too late to join the big event. You would think with double stacks and all that Waffles (and others) would allow us slackers a chance to play!

Nice to see that the donk fest doesn't change much with the bigger buy in.

Very happy with my play last night. Funny when you aren't chatting away and focusing on what others are doing can result in some better play. Smokkee was at the final table but got into a raising war with a calling station (who would later finish 6th) and that sent him home earlier than expected. He was good enough to remind me to take my time when I lost my first race with JJ vs. AQ. That has to be one of my biggest problems that I force the play once my chip stack falls below average instead of waiting for good spots to attack.

Now how weak is it to fold AKo when you are 2nd in chips and the chipleader raises from UTG? I did this when we were 7 handed because of three things: 1. The raiser from EP is the only one who can eliminate me from the event out of the cash. 2. Up to that point this player was tight and this was the first raise I saw in a few orbits. 3. Two players had smallish stacks so folding would let them continue to get blinded out.

Reducing my natural aggro thoughts near the bubble has been one thing that has improved my results in cash games. Now hopefully I can take that experience and turn it into better online returns.

Also just realized last night that Fuel is an ibanker. Gotta love how a guy who works crazy hours (don't ibankers like to work 100 hours+ / week?) can find time to kick butt in cash games. Gotta let me know the next time you are in Toronto... I still may have a couple interesting investment ideas for you.

Adding Fuel to the Fire!

Glad Fuel stopped by to clarify the progression thoughts. Basically I do agree we should all attempt to improve and hopefully outline a few goals to get us to measure our progress. For me the progression to become a better player usually gets interupted by other areas that I am trying to improve on. Try going two weeks with no poker other than a couple blogger events that you caught at the last minute. My poor wife loves the call to register me for an event that I will be 30 minutes late to start (sometimes she just donks me out of a bunch of chips during that time). For me that isn't the way to play your best without getting mentally prepared prior to a tournament. But if I want to play most nights that is sort of the rushed situation I find myself in and probably why I donk away so quickly vs. good result nights.

Astin asked me one night what changed in my play to final table a blogger event plus the D2S event on the same night.... my response was that I decided to not suck at poker that night.

SoxLover you don't make 1/10 of the mistakes I make in tournaments but hopefully you cut your errors in half and I move to only making 5x your errors! Getting involved with Waffles is never a mistake if you can suck out on him like a champ!

Had my darn internet connection go down while I was chip leader in two token events yesterday afternoon (also the reason I wasn't involved in the Mookie). Ended up with one token and must have been blinded out of the other one. Darn needed both of those so I could start winning the step 2 events so I could suck out on MiamiDon in the big events!

Lots of live play

Been donking it up live lately. Overplaying overpairs is back in my typical game style that I thought was gone... always nice to regress. That cost me $170 but managed to play well for the rest of that session and reduce my loss to $90. Astin mentioned some crazy loud mouth that we get to play against that is just such a fish. Saw the guy slowplay QQ in the BB with 5 limpers and then get pissed when the button flopped a straight against him and he got stacked. In the future I think I will only play live when guys like that are at the table.

Fuel made some comments about how many bloggers don't progress while others jump to the next level. It isn't a race to progress and each of us will advance at our own pace. The blogger events are ones where I do try to play my best and learn from players like Soxlover. I have to say in all the events that I have seen a player like him he has yet to make a really silly play. Now I can only hope to reduce the number of errors in each event but it sure won't happen overnight. Many bloggers are just out to have a bit of fun and to meet a few other people with similar interests... again playing in the big game would be fun but it just takes more work than most are willing to put into the game. So I don't think we should judge other players by the ability to jump up in levels.

In actual fact I have been working on playing a bit more of a LAG style of play. Most of the guys are playing TAG so it is fun to mix it up. On the few nights when I am reading well and messing with people I think I can put together about 30-45 mins of good poker. Not great but good enough to get me a few solid results in blogger events. MTTs have been tough on me with few good cashes over the year. Setting better goals for 2007 is something that I will work to setup. Work is going to be tough until the end of the year with me taking it up a notch.

Lets just all try to work to help each other from making the obvious mistakes... like me calling 2 pushes in front of me with 22 in the BB. Easy fold but my horrible reasoning was that they might be on Ax and are taking out each others outs. I will run a few scenarios to see what they would need to make my decision correct... the more I think about it the more likely it was a huge mistake... see still learning. very slowly!

New live location tonight...

Hopefully I can get the same positive result. Went online last night and just donked away a few bucks with slb. Tried to win a token but the bloggers in the event weren't that lucky with V finishing 10th as the best we could muster.

Feeling sleepy today but I will try to nap a bit prior to heading to the poker tournament tonight. Kat and Astin will probably attend but I should try to get Astin to bring more of his co workers. Want to have the guy who called my all in with something like J2o sitting at my table!

Tonight I didn't round up too much of a crew of crazy guys to make the pot fatter. I know that the bloggers love a few of my buddies that love to donate $300-400 to the table prior to heading home.

Love playing for short amounts of time. Just logged onto Titan and within 15 mins won almost $60 playing NL100. Just too easy when people call your value bets. Like the guy who called $12 on the river with pocket 10's with the board of K57 5 K. I had KJ and actually made a small raise preflop and bet every street. Nice donks that I usually try to outplay when the way to beat NL100 is to hit a hand and bet away.

Getting ready for the Mookie

Had a good night last night when I had the opportunity to almost take down the WWdN 2nd chance event. The highlight was for sure knocking out Wil as bubble boy with my UTG raise with 36s when I flopped a 6 vs. his A7.

My play last night could only be seen as slightly reckless with a couple double barrel bluffs (both shown). That did get sipsey1 to call an all in with 3rd pair when he turned an 8 on a J high board. Kind of tough for him when the only hand range he had me on was that I had two cards!

When we got to the money the first time DuggleBogey reraised me all in I gave him respect. Then he tried that move on me again a few hands later where I had him just covered. So I call with J8o and flop an 8 but he rivers the straight with his pocket 7's. Sweet call, great flop, bad river!

I did want to mention that on my trip to LA I loved the beaches. It isn't summer anymore and they are mostly deserted during the day but it was perfect for Canadians. Water is bath water warm so I know that the El Nino effect is going to play havoc on weather this winter. Would love to get back down that way again but so many other places to visit with the family.

Bill Frist = Shithead

I was going to do my writeup this weekend of my lovely week in LA but spent most the weekend sick and in bed.

Late tonight I get an email asking about my thoughts on this igaming legislation that was pushed through at the last hour. Well it just f'n sucks. Frist is doing this to build a platform for a push to become the next president in the US. I might be Canadian but I will fork over some good poker earned coin to ensure that doesn't happen. Regulate the industry similar to the way you handle land based casinos... this isn't about gambling addiction since you allow horse racing and state run lotteries you retarded ass. Poker players are probably the most logical people who play at a casino since we rely on skill vs. pure luck to win. Lotteries should be banned in my mind because the idiots who buy those tickets have no clue that it is another tax.

On a cruise I was on last year I went to the casino on the ship to look around. Spent 45 minutes there and went back to my room and the wife asked "How much did you lose?" "Lose I responded? I couldn't even find a game I would be willing to play because the odds were so poor" completely sickened by the cash others pushed towards the dealers. Prior to poker I probably wouldn't mind "playing" a few games at the casino but now.... it is just so -EV.

Don't ban those gambling activities Frist as you keep saying sorry to the Aboringinals for stealing there land by allowing them to run casinos. Oh but those casinos are on land and people don't get addicted there right?

The fishtank called the US not allowed to play.... this is the worst thing that could happen to online poker. I am devastated .... not much else to say.

As I heard at Disneyland... it is a small world after all!

Sorry Smokkee

This will be short but wanted to finally post something since getting back to Canada. Wanted to get out at the Commerce Casino and meet Smokkee but instead I was trying to get my little girl to sleep. She was sick for the first three days of the trip and to top it off the first night was our request for a crib wasn't relayed to the hotel. All of a sudden I have the job of keeping her from falling off of the darn bed. Wife didn't want me running off leaving her to tend to baby Guin... now who knows when I will get to meet up with anyone in LA.

Hopefully I can catch up with you Smokkee at one of the Vegas events. Owe you and your girlfriend a few drinks for not showing up.

Another solid Thursday night

Finished 7th in the D2S9 and 5th in the WWdN Not. I played a nice LAG style last night and I think I really had people doing some weird things.

Mookie calls a check raise against me with TP no kicker?!! I did love him saying donk call before doing it. Lets see what the situation was on each street. First he raises from the button to 3x bb. I figure suited connectors are good enough to see a flop since I had a bunch of chips and could be calling with anything!


Board:
Dead:
equity (%) win (%) tie (%)
Hand 1: 55.0018 % 54.77% 00.24% { Ad5d }
Hand 2: 44.9982 % 44.76% 00.24% { 9c8c }

The reality was that I wasn't that far behind. Flop was 7c, 10s, Ac. I check to Mookie and he bets 1k and I raise to 3,636 (double lucky). OESD + flush draw puts me into the lead with 9 high! That didn't stop Mookie from going all in which was 200 more than my bet.


Board: Ac Ts 7c
Dead:
equity (%) win (%) tie (%)
Hand 1: 43.2323 % 43.23% 00.00% { Ad5d }
Hand 2: 56.7677 % 56.77% 00.00% { 9c8c }

Turn gives me even more outs. This also keeps me much closer to even in the hand but no longer in the lead.


Board: Ac Ts 7c 8h
Dead:
equity (%) win (%) tie (%)
Hand 1: 54.5455 % 54.55% 00.00% { Ad5d }
Hand 2: 45.4545 % 45.45% 00.00% { 9c8c }

River was a blank and I lose a big chunk of my stack and ended up going out soon after. In my defense after that was that I was deadly tired from too much partying the night before. Just glad that I was able to switch things up from time to time to keep people guessing.

In the D2S at the final table I was so outplayed by Zapper. He came in 2nd but I didn't have in his hand range suited one gappers which is what he used to defend his bb against me. If anyone else at the table raises in that situation I think he lays that hand down but against me it wasn't a bad call. He flops two pair and when I cbet and got raised I should have folded. Bad cbet since it put me in a spot where calling with AQ on a J high board was sort of my only option. As mentioned before but that was a truly horribly played hand on my part.

Off to LA tomorrow and I will get the chance to meet up with Smokkee. Looking forward to that as he can help out my game for sure. If I can pull it off I will try to make it to the tournament that is going on but right now I don't think I will make it.

Big Night - Mansion Hedge, D2S, WWdN Not

One solid evening of poker for me last night. In addition to poker I was also looking forward to the Steelers game finishing (had the hedge on so didn't care who won though leaning towards Pits winning of course).

The first tournament of the night for me was the Donk2Shark event. Finished 3rd and had a few chances to finish higher but couldn't win a couple races. Happy with my play in that event where preflop raises are given a ton of respect. The guys are generally tougher on each other than we are in blogger events (Waffles and MiamiDon excepted!) without the teaching. Lots of PXF guys which all seem to play a similar tight aggressive style. Not a problem... adjust a bit and try to give a less tight appearance to get them to overplay hands.

While the final table of the D2S plodded along the WWdN: Not got started. In early rounds of blogger events I like to start off quite aggro to keep people guessing. Won a large pot with TPTK when TP 2nd kicker called my overbet. Those extra chips allowed me to almost coast to the final table. I did make one stupid call with AJo when L8Bloomer raised large. That was one of those moments when you are in a big hand on the other table and your brain turns off. Soon as I hit call I knew I was dead... sure enough he had AQ and I doubled him up. He used those chips wisely since we ended up HU for the tournament.

The topic of Sharkscope results came up during the 5 minute break which didn't have me looking very good at all. My results in MTTs that are non blogger events haven't ended so well so I show up as a fish. The truth is that I am an alright player when I focus... but a donk when I don't.

Looking forward to getting to play live with Smokkee in a couple weeks. The goal is to play well in a live event at the Commerce Casino. Take out Ben Affleck! We will see.

Mansion Hedge Bet On

Just got the hedge bet on for the Steelers game to ensure a $480 win as long as this game doesn't end in a tie.

Time to let all my buddies know how to put this thing on... hopefully a few of them thought the cash was worth it!

Another Wednesday night live action

Kat called me yesterday and said that Astin and her were going to go take down some cash at the poker club. Looking outside it was a beautiful looking night so I asked Mrs. Guin if I could go play some poker. She understood but mostly I think she agreed because of my comment "I am in the zone and should win this evening." We are going to LA in a couple weeks and she probably has a few things she *needs* prior to the trip. So off to the club I go....

Played alright in the $40 tournament but the hammer couldn't hold up all night long. Got reraised preflop by the tightest player at the table on the first attempt. Tried to push a shortstack off of their blinds with it and somehow lost the race. That left me very short and I found myself in the SB with 77 with a raise and then a push ahead of me. With more chips I let that hand go no problem but figured that if I got lucky and found myself against two AK-Ax type hands I might be in good shape. Instead vs. 1010 and A9 and the 2 outer didn't find the board and I finish 12th (Out of 30).

Astin was already crushing the cash tables when I sat down while Kat continued to the final table of the tournament quite shortstacked. My buddy L had already headed home after donating to the cash table yet again. Kat did join us soon after and having 2 other bloggers at a table makes for a fun evening despite being card dead. Lost $57 of my $200 starting stack (1/2 NL) with AQ on a Ad 10d 8x board and I cbet $25 and called the min raise. We both checked it down and he showed the AK. Good thing I didn't go broke with TPGK but would have laid it down to any large bets on 4th or 5th street. The guy I was playing against knows me quite well so I knew he wasn't trying to pull a move with that min raise.

About an hour into playing at the table and I realize that I have only raised 2 hands thus far. I did call a few times with hands that didn't seem to want any part of the flop. Like Astin said "I would have had a boat if the Q I had, was a K, and that 2 I had, was a 4!" True enough.

Kat was winning lots of hands and Astin hit a straight flush against me. Sadly he didn't have to use both cards or he could have won 2 jackpots with that hand. Just as Astin took off for the evening on my last orbit I finally hit my hand.

910d in MP, 5 of us limp (including blinds) and see a flop of 9c 10c 4s. Top two pair and when it checks to me I bet $10, SB reraises to $20, BB smooth calls. Darn min raise... so I decide to call and figure I am done with the hand if a scare card hits. The BB I know from playing against him in the past that he chases draws. The SB has been loose and somewhat agressive but 44 could cause him to min raise to build the pot.

Turn is a 5s so it is a brick in my book but it might give these guys more outs. Pot is $70 so when checked to me I bet $50 (no free cards) hoping to isolate the BB since his hand range is easier to determine. Instead the sound of "call" and "call" makes this a big pot.

River is a 2h. It also dawns on me from the SB's chatter that he could have been playing an overpair in a very weird way. I figure that if I bet less than the $97 I have left into this $220 pot then I have to call a reraise. Checking is out of the question because then one of them pushes and I probably have to call. So I push all in and when I get called by the SB I figure I am toast. Two pair was good and I end up the evening +$180.

Kat's bike was acting up when I was heading out. Hopefully CAA managed to get her bike going so she could get home. She said she had lots of fun meetings to attend today.

Donkey to Shark and WWdN

I have to say I think I played quite well last night. Managed to extract maximum value when I had the best hand and also played tight while for most of the evening. I did end up pushing in the WWdN due to other issues and flopped a set to suck out but the resuck showed up.

Anyway, it was my first D2S event and had a chance to see some of the PXF guys in action. Overall, it is a much easier game to be patient rather than blogger events where you almost always get reraised. As a few more bloggers get over there to play I think it will impact the pace of the game a bit.

Looking forward to next week's event:


Lets find out where the star players are online!

Fun Baseball game

Had great seats near first base which were 12 rows up. Had a great view of the Jays dugout when they all rushed underneath when the manager and pitcher started to get rowdy.

All I can say about the Jays is that only an idiotic team could lose an 8-0 lead. I was shocked it took so long to change the pitcher when everyone started swatting all of his pitches. Why wait for 8-5 to pull him? Anyways, it was a good game with tons of scoring.... my buddy hadn't been to a game in years so it was cool to drag him out.

No poker last night as I was out socializing two nights in a row... I think I will be in bed early this evening.

Over 100 rambling posts

Didn't get much time to play on the weekend... been donking it up at Pacific working on that PokerSavvy bonus. Not having much luck at the tables as SNGs and MTTs really mess with my cash game.

I finally got Doubleas book on friday and have only read about 30 pages. Looking forward to the rest of the book.

Tonight I will miss the Hoy because of a baseball game that I am attending... Jays vs. A's. Should be some fun as I had an extra ticket and invited a buddy to join me and someone else is paying for our dinner and drinks. Only way to go to a baseball game... lets hope this nice weather holds up.

No 3peat

Well I wasn't able to defend the 2 week reign as the local poker champ. I think I did play solid poker with one bad blind steal and also some bad luck.

Got all in preflop with my AA vs. K2o. Managed to split that pot. Here is how pokerstove looks at my odds:


Board:
Dead:
equity (%) win (%) tie (%)
Hand 1: 88.5015 % 88.30% 00.21% { AcAd }
Hand 2: 11.4985 % 11.29% 00.21% { Kh2s }

Not sure how often I have hit that 0.21% type of outs but after the flop I am lucky I didn't lose the hand!


Board: 5c 4d 3h
Dead:
equity (%) win (%) tie (%)
Hand 1: 78.1818 % 76.46% 01.72% { AcAd }
Hand 2: 21.8182 % 20.10% 01.72% { Kh2s }

Still well in the lead and the odds of splitting are still quite low.


Board: 5c 4d 3h 2d
Dead:
equity (%) win (%) tie (%)
Hand 1: 93.1818 % 86.36% 06.82% { AcAd }
Hand 2: 06.8182 % 00.00% 06.82% { Kh2s }

Back to being safely in the lead. The the river comes down with a 6 and ruins my little party.

I did get QQ really early on the button and had both blinds call my raise and had to fold on a scary flop. One guy flopped the nut straight and busted the other guy so glad the A on the board made it easy to fold. Also had JJ and just took it down on the flop when a flush draw flopped and I bet more than pot into a calling station. He decided to not call this time which was good and bad for me.

Astin was out again last night and he outlasted me but we didn't have a last longer bet in place. In the end I bailed from the ring game quickly because one of my buddies lost about $400 and wasn't in a great mood. So we went out for a few beers and that probably cost me less than playing in that crazy loose aggressive table.

Poker Savvy Summer League

BrainMc beat me up HU to take down the first league event. Hopefully I can put in a few other good finishes and get some of that prize money.

Just started playing on Pacific Poker and they have some of the craziest turbo tourneys I have ever played. Starting stacks are 800 so basically hit TP and push and hope for the best. That strategy managed to take down a 35 man event and also a 5 man event last night. The problem is that I need to get on the cash tables to earn off my bonus so I can get my ipod.... just a couple more sites to clear with Poker Savvy and it will be done. I might just get the cash and then buy an ipod video at bestbuy. Not sure yet but I do have some points with PSO that I have yet to spend and poker wants to buy me a gift.

Oh I did try to play solid poker for a while in the WWdn: Not but then when Hoy went out with AA vs. his bro's KK I lost focus. Aquaverse has improved so much as a player over the past few weeks it is amazing. He pulled a squeeze play on me last night which I didn't expect to see... grrr. Now the penguin is growling!

Live Event - Defending My Title

Managed to take down the $40 buy in event at my local card club. The prize for first was $460 this week so over two weeks I have managed to turn $40 into $820 of pure profit. It is amazing what can happen when your big hands hold up for an entire event.

I did pull off a suckout when I was shortstacked. Raise standard 3x bb with QJo from MP. A microstack pushes all in which is less than my raise and another guy pushes and it will cost me 1/2 of my stack to call. Blinds were increasing next hand and my read was that one would have Ax and the other would have a small pocket pair. So I called and they both had AQo! So I call for 2 J's to hit the board and I get one on the flop and the other on the turn to win the hand. Talk about establishing yourself as a loose insane player early. Stole the blinds a couple times to get to the final table.

Got JJ when we were six handed and the wife calls me to tell me she is going to the gym in the morning. So when it is raised and then a super tight player pushes all in I fold because everytime the wife chats with me it is super bad luck! The guy can't believe I folded J's and shows me pocket 9's. Great timing sweetheart! A maniac at the table started busting people with junk but he raised every pot for the next 15 mins. Finally, we get to the final four and a super tight player turns push monkey now that we are in the money. He gets called by maniac and the maniac puts him out 4th. This is the point where I felt that I could really win this because I felt that I was a best player playing. Blinds are now 1,500 / 3,000 and I have 20k when 3 handed play starts. Time to steal blinds just to stay alive and they both tightened up to help me out! Finally the maniac calls my all in bet from the SB when I have KJo vs. his J5s! Nice call out of him and my hand holds up and now I am the big stack at the table. He goes out in the next hand and we are HU. First hand I get A4o and decide to push to keep him guessing and he first asks how much are the prizes for 1st and 2nd. The answer is $460 for 1st or $230 for 2nd. Based on that info I put him on a weak ace but I was very happy to see A3o when he called.

He was left with 4k of chips and that became the new BB! It felt good to win the same tournament two weeks in a row to make me feel like my play can be good sometimes. For a live event I find that mentally it is easier to prepare than when playing online. Now if I could just put that type of concentration to my online game I am sure that my results would improve.

WWdN Not the way I wanted to lose!

Kat crushed my chances last night when she smoked my AA's all in on the turn vs. her TPSK but she picked up a flush draw as well... Just so no one thinks I played it slow I did my usual raise preflop (which was slightly more than 3x bb to round to the nearest 66 - 666 in this case). She leads out at me on the flop with an approx. 1/2 pot bet (666) I reraised her by almost 5.4x her bet (3636 - double lucky bet! which was larger than pot to prevent flush draws). How she called that is beyond me (maybe the beer she was drinking was having an effect on her pot odds calcs!)other than my image might have her thinking that she was ahead. I was surprised that she called and then I figured that if she had a set then I would pay her off, since most of the cash was in the middle at this point. So all in we go on the turn and the river kills me.


Board: Jc 9c 5d
Dead:
equity (%) win (%) tie (%)
Hand 1: 72.6263 % 72.63% 00.00% { AhAs }
Hand 2: 27.3737 % 27.37% 00.00% { JdTd }

Not sure on the 3rd board card but I remember a rag being there. So I picked a great time to get a lot of her chips into the middle.


Board: Jc 9c 5d 2d
Dead:
equity (%) win (%) tie (%)
Hand 1: 68.1818 % 68.18% 00.00% { AhAs }
Hand 2: 31.8182 % 31.82% 00.00% { JdTd }

Added the flush draw which improves her chances but no way either of us are backing down now from any bet due to pot odds. All in time!

Lets look at the hand that rspr41 managed to beat me on to make me a super short stack.


Board:
Dead:
equity (%) win (%) tie (%)
Hand 1: 64.3397 % 64.11% 00.23% { Ac4s }
Hand 2: 35.6603 % 35.43% 00.23% { Jd3h }

My read was that it was his 15th push in about 5 orbits! Get my money in ahead and hope he doesn't hit. Damn J is the first card off of the damn deck. I need bigger edges but I am not one to back down from a race!

I noted on slb's blog that he played awesome and he amazed me with his quiet way of handling his bad beat when his AK vs. my QQ had a K hit on the turn... river is a Q and I survive. Nice that as a shortstack I can win the coinflips... but when you need one to take a commanding lead you just can't get it done. Riverstars... I am starting to hate the site... I do prefer Full Tilt as I get rakeback on that site. The point I was making is that slb deserved this win and it won't be the last.

So 4th was my best showing in a couple weeks and I was pleased with my final table performance. Tough crowd to beat so I should be happy but being bubble boy is always tough to accept.

2 posts in one day... it must be a friday before a long weekend... well I am spending this afternoon sailing and drinking beer on a beautiful sunny day. Should be a blast.

Tough hand - read prior post first

So here are some stats from that hand I mentioned in the prior post… looking at top 2 pair and I figured he hit his set, but the straight was a definite possibility to me as well. Tight passive players just don’t lead out for 60% of their remaining stack with junk, but I knew that he wanted to end it here.


Board: As Kh Th
Dead:

equity (%) win (%) tie (%)
Hand 1: 17.5758 % 16.77% 00.81% { AcKd }
Hand 2: 82.4242 % 81.62% 00.81% { TcTd }

I am not good against a set.
---


Board: As Kh Th
Dead:

equity (%) win (%) tie (%)
Hand 1: 17.9293 % 17.47% 00.45% { AcKd }
Hand 2: 82.0707 % 81.62% 00.45% { QdJd }

I am not good against a straight.
---


Board: As Kh Th
Dead:

equity (%) win (%) tie (%)
Hand 1: 91.0101 % 90.20% 00.81% { AcKd }
Hand 2: 08.9899 % 08.18% 00.81% { KcTd }

In actual fact I was crushing the guy but with my luck buddy would have hit his 2 outer!
---

Won a live MTT ... Game Turning Around?

Wow, I almost can't believe I won that tournament last night. 3 table MTT with $40 buy in and I took down the $400 for first place. Kat and Astin were also playing in the event, with Astin to my right for the first table. Kat got frisky early, and found herself on the rail waiting for the lucrative cash game. Don't ask her about her hand with the boat!

These tournaments look great with 4k in starting chips and a 25/50 starting blind structure, but in the end the blinds go up too fast. 15 min levels means only a few hands before you start to get to the 200/400 level and hopefully you have chips to fight back the blind stealers. My first big hand was 64h UTG (50/100 level) with me limping in. I was playing tight (limping with this hand to switch gears a bit) at this super aggressive table and it gets around to CO who raises to 2.5x bb. Astin calls and I follow suit and see a 763 rainbow hit the board. Checked to the raiser and he makes it 300 to go. That was quite a small bet into an 800 pot so I called figuring that a 4, 5 or 6 give me a hidden made hand. Turn is a 6 and I check raise him all in. He calls with J's and bricks the river and I am chipped up.

Got to the final table with about 3.5k in chips and then robbed Astin of all of his to start my final table domination. I pushed with AJs and Astin had AKo and I manged to hit my 3 outer. Felt bad taking out a blogger at the final table, since there were others I would rather eliminate. My AKs rivered 10's to knock out another player. In another hand, a Q on the river gave me a set of Q's to put a guy out who paired his K on the turn.

Now we get to the hand of the evening for me.... AKo and blinds are 500/1000 so I raise to 3k from MP. There are three shortstacks left, out of 6 players (less than 5k) and I am the chipleader with about 35k in front of me. BB has 20k and he calls my raise. My read on the BB is that he is tight passive, and he was at my first table to my left and had not see me show any poor hands when I turned over my cards. So the pot is 6500 and he leads out with a 10k bet on a flop of Ax Kh 10h. Damn top two pair.... either I am really ahead or really behind in this situation. Why would he leave 7k behind? What would you guys do in this situation? Raise, call or fold? What hand does the opponent have?

I will wait for someone (if anyone gets this far!) to respond before I reveal what happened.

Live Action & Playing Online Tired

On Saturday night I managed to play a bit of live poker with a loose bunch that don't know the rules well. Shit like raising less than the BB works in this game and I try to not sound like such a picky guy when it happens. One hand I raised a hand (blinds 25/50) to 150 and got reraised to 200... I ask what the hell is that type of raise and the table thinks it is acceptable. 3 callers and it gets back to me so I push. Hate min raisers who can't put in a real raise.... hate calling stations who don't know how to fold unless they think they are against a monster.... they all folded in this case and I turned over my cards which I hadn't looked at... Q7o.

Big hand of the night for me was in a side game of 5 players with winner getting 80% and 2nd getting their money back. 25 minutes into the HU I get all in with my A9o vs. K6o ... the the flop is just beautiful!

Board: Kh Ks 6c
Dead:

equity (%) win (%) tie (%)
Hand 1: 00.3042 % 00.32% 00.00% { Ac9d }
Hand 2: 99.6958 % 105.98% 00.00% { Kd7s }

Turn is A….

Board: Kh Ks 6c Ad
Dead:

equity (%) win (%) tie (%)
Hand 1: 04.5448 % 04.56% 00.00% { Ac9d }
Hand 2: 95.4551 % 95.70% 00.00% { Kd7s }


River is another A. And all is right in the world again!

Played a bit of cash last night on FT with slb and he managed to bubble a Paris Hilton token after stacking me with his runner runner straight. Pushed with AK on a K high board and figured that one of the guys would call with a worse K (other guy in the hand had bottom two pair). I doubt he will have a post on his site with a bunch of ranting from me. Bad read but good result... that happens in poker. Made a few dollars playing the cash tables but I have to work on TPTK vs. 40% of full buy in stacks. Hard to make any bet at all without getting the odds to call the reraise.

DADI: Got Smokkee'd!

Built a good 7k stack early in the DADI due to a player who rebought and pushed all in on every hand. My problem had is when I flopped top two pair with a flush draw on the board. So I bet more than pot and Smokkee called. Turn puts the flush on the board and I bet trying to figure out if he has the flush. Both of us are capable of representing a hand so that makes it even tougher on me to put him on anything. He calls and the river doesn't give me the boat and I end up calling his value bet and there goes my big stack.

Next hand AKs doesn't hit my flush and my stack dwindles some more. Then I end up putting about 6 buyins into the pot and endured bad mouthing from a serious player. Luckily I joined Waffles for some NL25 action and ended up $100 so a plus evening overall.

Blah Blah Blah

Damn I suck at poker right now. Going to only play blogger events and small cash games.... lost over 300 last night playing like a donk... I don't know where the loose passive crap comes from and I know it is wrong but I want to see a flop! The confidence isn't there so I think I will spend more time reading and much less time playing.

To top all of that off I think I am going to try to get to bed much earlier.

SNG Challenge - Suckout night

1st event tonight reraised preflop all in with JJ (my computer was acting up so I couldn't stop and go) vs. AK and K on river. Out 32nd.

2nd event flopped top two pair vs. flush draw with mid pair all on on the flop and flush hits on river. Out 42nd.

WWdN: Not the is going to start soon so I will play another 45 SNG. Lets hope I can win a race in the next one. Or at least let me suckout against MiamiDon in the blogger event! Well donked out of that as well tonight.

3rd SNG lost to another flush draw with TPGK. Amazing how I can't get anyone to fold with a push. I think betting smaller might get a couple more folds.

4th SNG tried to wield the hammer and could not get a guy to fold KQo while reraising preflop.

5th SNG got 18th place when my JJ got up against 88 and he hit his straight on the river.

Ouch .... beat up hard two days in a row.... time to catch up on some sleep.

Donking it up live

Had a blast playing poker with Kat last night. Unfortunately, I was donking it up pretty badly but hopefully they remember that the next time we sit down. The reraising a buddy with junk probably contributed to the situation where getting respect at the tables was difficult. The biggest change playing live vs. playing in the blogger events is the number of calls. Live play usually reminds me of a couple levels lower online.

Of course I made mistakes ... TPTK lost half of a buy-in on that one, flopped two pair and saw the flush hit on turn and straight hit on river (folded to bet), bluff got called (don't bluff calling stations), lost an all in with AQs vs a buddy with 73o (he called me without looking at his cards - he was defending his blinds) and vs. K10 where a pair of 3's is good. That and one last missed flush draw with an overcard and couldn't connect. See you later $300. Get it back next week.

Kat bubbled because she doesn't have any use for cash or something like that! :-(

Looking forward to putting up more points in the SNG Challenge but I won't drop to the $1 tables to get that done!

Bad Start to the Day

I knew I should have ordered this book direct from the author but I wanted it quick.... Grrr.

Order Placed: July 6, 2006
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Pressure Poker : Poker Strategy and Tools to Improve Your Game, Scott Gallant

Updated Shipping Estimate: August 12, 2006 - August 26, 2006

Updated Delivery Estimate: August 23, 2006 - September 12, 2006

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So I guess I will be donking it up until mid-September now. If you haven't ordered yet you might want to get to the front of the waiting list.

SNG Challenge - Slow Start

So tonight I started the SNG Challenge and things were not going my way. In the first tournament I got into a blind war with the chip leader on the final table bubble. When my flush didn't hit IGH in 10th. That was all I could play while little Guin was sleeping.

Later in the evening figure I will give it a shot and put up some early pressure. The donk in me was fighting to be let loose and this resulted in a finish of 30th when I raise 5x bb against an aggro player. K high flop and I drop the hoy only to be called not just by K better kicker but K better kicker which is also 2nd pair!

Third event.... this one was the one that put me on tilt... call a min raise (lots of that in these tournaments) and flop comes down giving me nut flush draw. I push and buddy calls with 2nd pair! Of course that holds and I finish in 45th! How many points do I get for that?!

4th event... 44th place 'enuff said! Grumble.... go tell the wife that I suck and she laughs at me and heads to bed.

On the girlie thing I am chatting with Pres Lee and mention that in the next one I want to finish higher than the 40's or last 10 mins at least. I find if I reset the bar low then it is easier to get off of tilt.

Had a beautiful hand that gave me the chiplead which I had for most of the tournament. Get KQo in MP2 and come in for my standard raise (rounded to the nearest 36 - so instead of 120 which would be 3x bb it was a 136 raise) and get one caller and then the BB min raises me. Call and other guy calls. Flop is AJ10d and I have Kd. So nut straight with nut flush draw. I can't put either on two d's since all face cards except for the Q is accounted for. The min raiser bets out 60 into an approx. 600 pot. The guy was annoying and I figured he had AA that he couldn't laydown so I pushed. It surprised me when both called. Min raiser has KK (okay what a donk!) while the other guy at least has J10 and is drawing to a full house. My hand holds up and they both go home.... 40th and 39th.... my first goal is met and I have a bunch of chips to play with.

So I get to the final table and get over the darn bubble and then start to have some fun. We are 5 handed and I have lost 2 hands to the same idiot calling station that has been able to stick around far too long... So he comes in with a min raise and I reraise him so he will be all in if he calls because I hold the holy grail of starting hands.....

As you can imagine there are some that wouldn't make the reraise play like that but lets see how it turned out:

Took the lead on the flop and that increased a bit of hope for the villian but the Hammer is GOOT! Back in the chip lead and ready for more soul crushing. This move really puts the table on edge because they have no clue what you are holding now.

On the next hand that I have a picture of is where I get min raised (no respect for the min raise - NONE) and flop an OESD so I lead out and end up all in with villian holding Q8o. If they were willing to get all in at that point you figure they could have pushed preflop and I would have folded.

So now I hit and they go home in 4th. In the end (this post is too long and I need to get to bed!) I took down 2nd place. So not bad overall but a few big suckouts for me to do that well. Thanks to all those who spent time cheering for my donk moves. Presdavelee liked watching me push a guy all in on a 10 high board (he reraised me preflop and I called)... somehow he called my raise with KK and I proceeded to turn my 103s into two pair on the turn to send the guy home.

How about my 33 holding up vs. 1010 heads up? The guy did get lucky a little later on when he thought his A4o was good against my AQs. Rivered a K so my kicker didn't count and that would have left him crippled. Oh well win some and lose more!

WWdN Not The Winner Again

Had to settle for third last night when Iakaris finally decided to stop letting me go over the top of him again. I did get a little careless on that one with Q8o vs. his A10o. Good job Iak and Wes for outlasting my push monkey style at the end there. I was playing for first and wanted those 1k of chips to end up in front of me.

Pokerstove results:

Board:
Dead:
equity (%) win (%) tie (%)
Hand 1: 63.6679 % 63.47% 00.20% { AcTh }
Hand 2: 36.3320 % 36.13% 00.20% { Qh8d }

I feel if I actually concentrate I can go far in almost any MTT I am playing in. Last night I don't recall any suckouts and my big pocket pairs held up. Looking forward to the SNG challenge.

Also decided that if I was going to play some cash games then winning some money should be the goal. So 200 hands of NL100 yesterday +$80 and 60 or so hands against the bloggers (plus assorted donks) +$14. So a step in the right direction for a change.

MiamiDon thought I either read him too easily or just misplayed my hand to put him out of the tournament last night. I raise with 33 and call his min raise (I don't fold to min raises Don very often!) and the flop is 9 4 4. At work so I don't have suits but I might edit later with a pic if I took one. I lead out and he raises (he has been playng a TAG style so I have him on high cards and I don't think this flop helped him) so I reraise to put him basically all in. Also of note is that I would still be alive if I double him up so max pressure applied to the shorter stack. He pushes with AJ and I take down the hand. Good read or just lucky?! Let me know.

Going to be trying to get into a bit better shape (couldn't get much worse) and I hope that will help me concentrate longer while playing. Always a poker angle to most things these days but it makes things easier with the wife when I am home more often as well.

Mookie Mookie Mookie

I managed to luckbox my way to the final table last night in the Mookie. At the first break I had a 2k chiplead but then started to get tired. What that means is that I stopped attacking the blinds and stopped defending until about three other people at the table had similar stacks.

Luckbox moment of the night happened with 15 people left and Up4Poker sat down to my right. He proceeded to raise about 3 out of 4 pots and mentioned that he was working on his image to exploit it later. Since we were getting closer to the bubble I figure he will laydown A-small to a reraise especially since my stack was 60% of his stack. He raises again and I assume he is stealing so I reraise all in with K9o (but this is based on the fact that he hasn't seen me play a pot yet and he has been raising the last few hands) and he calls with JJ. I river the 9 high straight and back to 1st in chips overall.

It is at that point that I should and I knew I should tighten up my play. Instead I end up raising with Ax and Mookie comes over the top. I end up folding to his lead out bet on the flop and my stack advantage is gone. So instead of using the luck I was given to a good advantage I end up donating chips away. Eventually I was put between Garthmeister and Hoyazo and it was a blind stealing chipfest at that table. Dnasty13 who eventually won the entire tournament played some awesome poker at that table to stay above water.

Iakaris was bubble boy last night and he stayed very level headed about getting reraised at least 6 or 7 times preflop. He is a tight player and I know he isn't raising with junk like most in the event, so going over the top on him (happened twice last night - showed him JJ the second time) could get a person into a lot of trouble.

CC showed some awesome play that even after I was out of the tournament I wanted to see more of his LAGGY style (only reason for going to the cash table). He sure knows how to committ to a hand and apply maximum pressure.... once I read Doubleas book I should be able to deal with this type of player! slb was unstoppable in the cash game last night (he rivered me again for a few dollars!) which is good because he can crush that level consistently. I learned the hard way that playing calling station with bloggers will get you hurt (one typo cost me a bit as well when I overbet a pot with KK on J high flop $22 into a $3 pot!). MiamiDon is another player that I want to watch closer going forward as he is so solid. They probably wouldn't believe me when I say that I am usually just a TAG style player.

My death in the tournament came with a stupid push with 55. I was going to fold since Up4Poker limped from UTG which was weird (he said he had 55!). In MP and I should have been thinking more about other shortstacks and moving up the ladder a bit instead of pushing. If I limp then Hoy raises big and the BB calls and then I can get away from that hand.... so easy with hindsight. That is the problem of playing tired in that you eventually can't think properly... small pocket pairs try to see the flop cheap. Hoyazo pushes and so did the BB (can't remember who it was) and it was 10's for Hoy holding up to give him a huge chip lead.

Lately, I have been working on the LAG style of play a bit more especially in MTTs. Twice last night I managed to get guys to go all in against me on a flop with nothing but 2nd pair. Nice when you hit a hand that you can get paid off since most think I am donking around by reverse hoying them for the 3rd time in 3 hands!

Double Shootout = Super Token?!!

Well, I played and finished 1st in a Double Shootout (DS or Supertoken from now on) which is a $215 entry to the Sunday Million. I won't be able to play that so I unregistered and they put $215 tourney dollars into my account. Never played against such timid people... stealing blinds was easy to do consistently and led to my big chip stack.

Such a shame that Hoyazo didn't go further in the WSOP ... he will get em next year... hopefully I will be there as well to join in on the fun.

First Two Bounties Awarded

Managed to get the first two bounties out of the way. I don't have a screen shot of Mowenumdown beating JJ with his KQo all in preflop action. I do however have a screenshot of Jk87 taking me out:

On this flop I bet 1/2 pot and get reraised so I go over the top and push hoping to get someone to draw to an inside straight or overplay an overpair like JJ. Didn't expect a call from 2nd pair top kicker!



So I managed to get my money in good and after the turn things were looking good....

And then Riverstars did the rest... this left Mookie, Shadowtwin, Smokkee, and Surflexus feeling a bit left out. Luckily I will arrange to have more bounties in the upcoming weeks.

Jk87 to claim your prize just make a post on your blog and open a myCitadel ewallet. Give it a few days to receive the cash as we are still working out the system to pay the bounties.

myCitadel - A new ewallet to try out

Guys I am going to have a bounty put on my head for future blogger events. If you are interested in claiming that prize, you will have to make a post showing the winning hand (screenshot works), and posting a link back to the myCitadel site (I am working on a getting a small clickable banner). All prizes are paid directly into your myCitadel ewallet (signup for one if you don't have one!).

This is a very progressive company that is working hard to address the needs of the ewallet market. They charge much lower fees (currently zero) to load your ewallet from your bank account versus 8.9% for instacash from Neteller. They are also working to allow you to hold multiple currencies within the ewallet so you can convert when you want (good for those people playing sites with Euros, USD, British pounds, etc.). The SecureSwipe product is also interesting as it will allow people in the US to load the ewallet with a credit card.

They are also working on getting on to more of the poker sites that we use but that is going to take some time. Give them a shot (partially funded by rivering me again slb and shadowtwin!) and I believe you will like it.

In the future they have mentioned that they may fund my entrance to a live poker event to be an ambassador for their products. If you have anything else you want from an ewallet please let me know and I can discuss it with the product development group.

20k Guarantee on FT

Played the 20k Guarantee on FT yesterday and today with great results yesterday and not so great today! Managed to finish 86th while Surflexus finished 11th and showed me what my game is lacking on large MTTs. Super amounts of patience but I can say that I am more patient today than 6 months ago so I am progressing. Just read Hoy's post on goals for the year and I probably should try to come up with a few good ones for the 2nd half of 2006.

The first one is to be more patient and not to worry about getting to be slightly below average stack. MTT's are long but the big cash is top end loaded. Finished 7th out of 421 on Saturday night in a $5 MTT and got $68. I also cashed in the 9k with a top 50 finish but these didn't finish until 4-5 am so I was a bit tired the next day. I was happy with the first final table for me in a large MTT so soon after setting that goal. Surf really inspired me with his play the prior night.

Of course to balance things out I donked off about $60-70 last night while doing some corporate taxes. All things considered that was a small expense compared to the cut the government wants.

DADI IGH Early

Played like a donk for the first part of the tournament but managed to hang around to just after the first break. I then used that loose image to get my money in quite good.




NewinNov min raises and I reraise with a hoy and somehow he calls with AJo. Now most players know that you are so happy that he is chasing a 3 outer but then he did pay to see five cards.

I did ask him if he thought he was ahead when I reraised and he said no. Grrr... get 'em next time I guess.

Jackpot during Live Action

Played live last night and just missed the Mookie by 15 mins because the cash game was really hot. Won $300 with 35s in the BB and flop is 46As and it checks around. Turn is the miracle 7s and it checks around again. I lead out with $5 on the river hoping that the Ks will show up and reraise me. Luckily I get a caller with 10s because if you don't show down on river you don't win the jackpot money. So a bit risky but it helped put me in that crazy category.

Only other hand of interest is when I get AA in CO. One loose player limps to my right and I raise it to $15, (1/2 NL) and it folds to the BB who calls along with the guy to my right. Flop is KQ8 rainbow and it checks to me and I bet $25. The BB is an action junkie (asian dude with a ponytail) and he min raises me to $50 and I hope that loose guy calls and then I can get HU and give him the action he desires. Instead, loose guy pushes all in and I know that AA is not good any longer. So I fold and pony tail shows J10o and loose guy has KQ. Turn is a 9 for a nice suckout since I have two of his outs and the straight holds up. Nice to see bad players get paid off for mistakes like that. I did see a guy buy in for $60 and go all in with 6's on his first hand (he stole the blinds) and then called an all in with AQo (I told him he was dead) for his second hand and the other guy turns over AK. He left right after that. Cash games with guys pushing with AK is awesome!

Looking forward to next week when Kat and Jules come out to play live in Toronto.

In other news I am working to get a company to put a bounty on my head during blogger events... I want it to be $36.66 to keep in line with my penGuin like attitude. If a player with a bounty on them wins the tournament does that mean it would be rolled over or go to me? Hmm... something else to think about.

Couple tokens make up for quick exit

Was feeling a little tired last night so figured I would push the edges a little bit harder and see how that went. The only thing I figured out is that if you push back at Kat a couple times she will call you down with the goods! So out early in the WWdn: Not The which left me feeling a little unsatisfied. Prior to playing in that event I was on FT and won a token playing against a bunch of donks.

After the WWdN I figured I might as well go for another one of those tokens so I can sit down and play in the 17k guaranteed along with a sat to a 200k guaranteed tourney. Smokkee was in that one as well but he ran his JJ into KK early and that was the last I saw of him. I ran TPTK into two pair and that hurt me but managed to double up and steal my way to the final table. I find the turbo ones are great once you get a bit of a stack because you just start taking a bit of time each turn to act. This increases the blinds and you can really use that to your advantage. In the end managed to get the second token of the day (Hoy would say Paris Hilton tokens for page rank but I am not seeking Google fame yet!).

On Wednesday night there was supposed to be a good $30 MTT live tournament in Toronto. Sad thing was that a fire inspector was inspecting the building and then the landlord found out that a poker club is being run out of that building. How stupid can people be when showing up to do something illegal but to mention to any random person that they are looking for the poker club?!?! Idiots. So I will give it a week and if the club is still there then all is good in the world.

So instead of trying to rush home for the Mookie we decided to go to another club that is a short cab ride into a bad part of town. To compare the two clubs is like night and day. The usual place is spacious and has five tables, nice looking ladies with good attitudes working there and horrible poker players. The other place is cramped with only two tables and no ladies and tough poker players! But I wanted to play poker so off to the 2nd club we went. Bought into the 1/2 game for $150 and my buddy buys in for $80 (he is good at tournaments but his cash game is suspect).

The full table has a great assortment of characters. To my left I have asian guy (tight, will use small raises to trap), my buddy J (loose, likes to mix it up), bald guy (tight, shuffles chips like a pro but doesn't watch table = not a pro), fat guy wearing isreal army hat (loose aggressive, likes to tap on the glass), asian guy (tight, looks like he is scared money), big head euro guy (maniac, called fat guys $150 reraise with J10o - I want to play against him), asian guy (solid player, cbets a bit too often but has shown goods enough to give him respect), red haired guy (loose, likes to raise small amounts - reraise him with air and he will fold), young college kid (super tight, respect raises cuz he will have the goods).

When I am buying in fat guy is yelling at big head about his horrible call with J10o cracking his AA. Big head goes on to double up red haired guy and then he really goes maniac on the table. Preflop raises are to $35, with three callers!!! Wow action table now give me a playable hand dealer! It sort of looks like a $1 turbo SNG with everyone fighting to get chips to the middle first. Big head loses his cash and rebuys for $100 and then over the next orbit manages to quad up his stack. I have still yet to even have a hand worth considering putting money in the middle with yet. Big head decides he has had enough and leaves the table which is a big shame. This settles the table down a lot. My buddy J ends up getting stacked and borrows $70 off of me. An orbit later with me on the button I look down at 33 and limp in (should have raised but didn't). SB completes and BB raises to 10 and we both call. Flop is Ks 10x 3s. Here is how pokerstove breaks down this hand.

Board: Ks Tc 3s
Dead:
equity (%) win (%) tie (%)
Hand 1: 78.0865 % 78.10% 00.00% { 3c3d }
Hand 2: 04.0952 % 03.98% 00.11% { KcQd }
Hand 3: 17.8184 % 17.71% 00.11% { KdTs }

It goes check, check and I bet $15 into the $30 pot knowing that these guys might want to draw to the flush. SB reraises to $40, BB pushes all in to $58, so I reraise to $135. SB thinks for a while where he shows the table his hand before calling about a minute later. I am pleased because my read was right ... no way they are slowplaying KK or 10 10 from the blinds. Turn and river were blanks and I take down a nice pot. Lost a bit of it later on but still ended up a little over $100. Not bad but would have been more fun if Kat was in on the action.

WWdN: Another 2nd place finish

Tonight was a night where the results miss how lucky I was earlier in the evening. Final table first hand for me UTG, and I push all-in hoping to steal the blinds. Instead, a smooth call right behind me, and then the button pushes all-in. Flop was 632, so I ask Pokerstars for a 5, and the site delivers. More than triple up and that is what got me to the final two players.

Shadowtwin thanks for the chips tonight but sorry I couldn't take the chiplead all the way. Hoy's bro Aquaverse played like a superstar from what I thought was the toughest seat at the final table. Kat did her usual, kicking butt and finding solid hands until I got lucky with a set vs. her two pair. She will probably make me pay for that tomorrow evening in our live tournament. But I tip my hat to the guy I called to win it with 6 left: ABVidale. I don't think I saw a mistake out of him at the final table. When it was heads up, I had the chip lead until I ran 88 into 1010. From there I managed to double up twice to regain my former stack size. Then my two pair ran into his set of Q's that he slowplayed. It was all over the next hand when I reraised all in with 5's and he called with KQo. He hits two pair and it is all over. Fun time and some of the fun came from the wife joining in and watching me play. She had to play my hands for the first 20 minutes while I was eating and managed to double me up.

It doesn't look like my sponsor can get things setup for the WSOP but hopefully we will find a suitable tourament to send me to represent them later in the year. The good thing is that I can focus on improving my play to hopefully win a seat to one of the events. It has been a while since there was a poker goal to achieve but planning on playing a large tournament should inspire me.

Ullrich All the Way!

Well Jan Ullrich just won the Tour de Suisse and hopefully he can show up in the form for the Tour de France. Without Lance being around he should win it all.

I was trying to get to the July weekend in vegas with all the bloggers but it looks like my sponsor might want me to play the main event instead. Lets just say that I am not arguing too much about that development. Ever since I watched Rounders and heard of this tournament I wanted to sit down and play against the "best and worst" poker players in the world. I suggested that they offer a piece of my winnings (if any) to anyone who signs up to use their services between now and the start of the tournament. Hopefully, the blogger community will turn out and support me on this cause when I get more details.

Played in the Hoy tourney last night and finished 7th. Chipped up early when slb couldn't river me (in my mind I could see the A falling on the river) with his AK vs. my QQ all in on the flop. That lead lasted until near to the final table. My computer has been acting up on me recently so close to the end of the hockey game I put it on sitting out mode. Then I get KK and try to click the I'm Back button but missed it. At this point the computer is starting to freeze up but I only need another 5 minutes. I look down to see that I have KK again and click the button and no luck at all. Two players ended up all in on a K high flop and that is where I think I lost the tournament. Edmonton loses the game so I can finally continue playing poker.

Now in the scuffle of getting my laptop down to the basement (where it is nice and cold) and rebooting the computer I don't recall who I knocked out on the final table bubble. In MP with 55 and the aggressive player with shorter stack to my right raises. I drop the hoy and get pushed all in. AKs vs. 55 and the flop hits me so hard 533! To the final table we go and I was just card dead the entire time. Was chipleader at the final table for a short period but overplayed some hands and didn't maximize value when I could have. It is hard not to give too much respect to guys like cc and hoy who are top notch players. Iakaris was my nemesis last night and it will not be forgotten soon. Overall, happy with my play until my computer died and then I was like a novice playing poker. Funny how easy it is to get out of the groove of playing your game.

Gave it my all!

Sat down tonight when I got home and said I would try to play solid poker tonight for a change. So I joined a $1 MTT on Party to get warmed up and start taking guys out. Then the 17k on FT started and I managed to chip up early there as well. Funny thing is that you can play solid for about 1 hour with no problems and then you start to get cocky. Stealing blinds when it is 25/50? I can be such an idiot sometimes. So that steal cost me 1200 but he knows I am serious now!

Going to test uploading another image and hopefully you can click on them to see more detail... if someone could tell me what I am doing wrong that would be helpful.



Anyways... I did a good job tonight of chipping up early but failed to turn it into cash due to a couple suckouts against me. I did make some really good laydowns and only saw one person bluff me off of a pot. Dropped the hammer once with Duggle at the table which got one guy to reraise all in with A5s vs. my KK on the button. Funny comment from the big stack at the table in that is what I get when I show 72o. Umm... I think I will take the reraises from those type of hands all night long... at least when I have KK.

Long time since I have posted

Been busy lately with work and when I finally get home, playing poker, or posting have been low on my list.

Had a blast playing live with Kat last week... she took third and makes many more reads of people live than I make. I find I still focus on betting patterns to tell me if someone is full of it or not. There are times where you can see the super tight player trying to bluff live that allows me to go over the top with air but that doesn't happen often enough. The guy I liked playing against finished in second that night. Three of us in the hand with a flop of 9h 4x 4h. I look down and see I am playing Q9o in the BB. Small bet leads out from the small blind and I call. The superstar behind me calls as well. Turn is a 9x giving me a boat and it checks around. Now I am calling for a heart to put the flush out there because these idiots wouldn't be able to lay it down. 7h on the river is just beautiful. SB leads out and I push all in. Superstar says "you really want to do that?" (He usually tries to play the no emotion or talking type of player = no fun) and I know he has quads. The SB had K9 and called the all in and both of us were taken out by his quads... but his final comment was the dumbest comment that could be expected "That is why I don't drink while playing poker." I tell him I will bust everytime against quads with my hand and that has nothing to do with drinking. Anyone else play a hand like that differently?

Good news from a company that they want to send me to a poker tournament as their ambassador. If I can swing it I would love to head to vegas for the July 7th weekend with all the bloggers around. I don't think I can take the time off right now to do the main event as the market is quite choppy.

Played in a token event on FT with Upforpoker last night and got my token with a 1st place finish. UFP didn't have my luckbox skills last night but it was cool to have another blogger present. I might take a run at the 17k event tonight to work on the MTT part of the game. I really needed a reason to play well and a big live event should get me in the mood to work on the game.

First WWdN: Not The and first WWdN - a 1-2 Punch

Last Thursday I played in my first WWdN: Not The event. Great time trying to out hoy everyone including Hoyazo himself. It had to be a tournament where I sucked out more than should be humanly possible but I will take the win.

Tonight was my first WWdN event on this festive 06/06/06 day. This is an event where I got a good chiplead and just watched it grow as I won a few races against small stacks. All except shadowtwin who I managed to double up at least three times (I think I deserve a bit of your prize money!).

So I start to get a big stack but not doing too much stealing but raising or folding to keep up the pressure on the table. Then I get the perfect hand in the BB with raising and calling ahead of me. I pushed here because if shadowtwin had AQ or AJ I want him to call here because Peacecorn probably has a similar type of hand.

An orbit later I had the opportunity to do what all bloggers love .... raise UTG with the hammer and take it down.

So now I am a big stack and stealing blinds a bit more as we approach the final table... we get there looking like this:

Let me just say that everyone played great but heffmike was the guy I expected to see heads up. We didn't contest many hands because most often it was decided preflop. Great player who put lots of pressure on everyone regardless of stack size. He folded one hand against me where he raised from EP to 4k and I reraised another 20k to put him all in and he folded. Later he raised from EP again and I had 1010 and I reraised him again and he called.

Eventually I finished second as we only got one hand of heads up ... darn since I have been reading a bit about it in Harrington vol 2. Great read Kaellinn as that couldn't have been an easy call with 2nd pair! That was 4 races in a row that you won against me which is probably the leak in my game that I have to fix. Time to chat online to see what the optimal play is in those situations of having K8 or K9 4-handed on the button. Live and learn... but it was a blast. Forgot to mention that I played in that HORSE event and just donated my money since I don't know how to play any of the other poker games! Razz looks interesting to me.

Mook.... out in 25th

Had a ton of fun in the largest Mookie event ever! 48 players and I did a good job of chipping up early even though AK was treating me poorly. First two times I had it I pushed and got a caller and both times couldn't hit at all. So I mention in the chat window that "I am tilted" as I see another AK with me in the SB. The button raises and I push and the BB calls and so does the button. This hand put AK vs, QQ and 1010. The K on the turn chipped me up very nicely and those were the chips that lasted until the first break. Trying to copy Hoy a bit and put in a pic of the table right before the break.

It didn't take long after the break to put a couple moves out there. Tried to stay aggressive to build the stack. So I raise from EP with 4's and the BB calls. Flop is a nasty one but I decide to put a reverse hoy down and see if I can convince him that I have AK.

It was right after this that things started to go terribly wrong. Get min raised and I call with Q10s. Flop is bad but I can't put him on the flush so I have to think that my two pair are good. Since I showed the hand above I decide to drop the hoy 2 hands in a row (a double hoy perhaps?!?) and I check the turn but am forced to call the last chip and then the Riverstars river arrives and puts the flush on the board.

I don't have the image of slothwear's AsJx but I can understand why he would call my bet since he had a ton of outs. I will have to run that one on pokerstove and see what shape I was in. A couple hands later slothwear is at it again and raises to 3x bb and I push with A9o. I figured that to get back into the game I had to risk that this was a weaker hand and he was bullying with the big stack. The read is correct and he turns over KQo. Here is the flop:

The turn is a 9 and I get rivered again by a K. Mookie is over for me this week but I am happy that my play is improving and I am mixing it up a bit more.... playing less but thinking lots.

DADI 6: Pot Limit

Finished 7th but gave away lots of chips on a very bad read at the final table. Live and learn and discuss with Hoy on optimal table play near bubble. I have been reading my Harrington but not studying it.... big difference. I think I almost need to go to a library and spend a few hours going over the material like a course in university.

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

This Online Poker Tournament is a No Limit Texas Holdem event exclusive to Bloggers.

Registration code: 2616981

The Crew - Hammering the Final Table

Had a friend get in town from Vancover who wanted to go out last night, so I suggested some live poker action (one day Kat is going to join us). Got joined by a couple other guys who I have known since highschool and a buddy who I know through work. I spend about 10 minutes making sure that they don't string bet or min raise with too few chips which would show inexperience. The poker room isn't legal so anyone searching it out has played a few hands prior to the event.

Well the results were fantastic with only top 3 spots getting paid we took down all the cash! I did feed some chips to my buddies when my hammer hand (more on that in a moment) gave me a huge chip lead with 4 of us left. Also my other buddies who busted out managed to kick ass in the cash game and won more money than if they won the tournament. One action junkie at that table rebought for $200 on 5 occasions before we left! Hard to lose 5 buyins playing 1/2 live but he would call all ins with 2nd pair small kicker hoping to hit 2 pair on the river.

So we are at the final table with 5 people left and the blinds are 500/1000. I am in the SB with 72o which gives me the tingles since the BB is very tight / weak. He was still alive because he survived with QQ vs. KK when he caught a Q on the river. It folds around to me and I raise 3x BB which was normal for me (I was also playing tight and had not shown a weak hand yet to the table). He calls so I put him on two paint cards or a weak suited Ax. Flop is 9d 5d 2h giving me bottom pair and even more confidence to push what is probably a small edge. I bet 3k again and he calls. Now I figure he has the flush draw and the turn is a 8h. Now with two flush draws out there I believe now is the time to end the hand or put the pressure on, so I push. Even if he has a 5 or an 8 I don't think he can call this raise. He thinks for about two minutes and says "Easy come, easy go!" and calls. He turns over QJd for the inside straight draw and flush draw. River is a 9c and I take down a player and a huge pot with bottom pair.

Have to love it when the hammer doesn't get sucked out on and it helps you get all your buddies into the cash!

Ouch! Another night of getting beat up...

Down 100 last night on full tilt when I was tricky and raised with 68s and flopped the nut straight vs. an aggressive player. I bet pot and was reraised on flop... smooth call from me even with the flush draw out there. Turn is a blank so I bet 1/4 pot hoping to get reraised so I can push. He calls and then the river pairs the board and puts a flush down. I check and he bets 1/2 pot and I pay off his flush.... when I am playing well I would have bet pot on the turn to charge him to draw to that type of flush. Results in less suckouts and often smaller wins but gets rid of these types of losses on the river... I had him on an overpair for the entire hand which is probably too narrow.

I did place 2nd in a $5 2-table SNG over at UB for $22 profit and I also won $25 for betting on the Oilers to beat Anaheim. I hope Buffalo wins so I can get down there for the finals and watch a couple games.... never thought I would be an Oiler fan but what the hell!

Does anyone else find that playing in tournaments messes with their ring game abilities? I seem to take a good loss of a buyin to just get adjusted.

WBPT 1st event for me

It was a Gemini event that Biggestron setup to play two tourneys at once. I pulled off one big suckout with my AQ vs. AK but also lost a KK all in preflop to 1010 so even on the karma for the night.

Finished in 22nd place overall and got 56 POY points. Looking forward to playing in more of these events in the future. Tough crowd and few unraised pots made for a tougher time to get chips. I was suffering from a stomach flu for the first 45 minutes so was sitting out part of the time... actually I was running to the bathroom and pulling off a pure ballet move to make it just in time!!

V and Waffles entertained all evening with a heads up duel that was over before it started! Lots of talk of spanking and being hot or getting hot that I wanted to watch! Got to practice my heads up before I take on the Poision.

Rough night

Played the live $60 buy in event... didn't do too well but it was sort of a tough tournament to do well with unless you hit a hand. Bet and you hear call, call, call. Bet pot again and you hear call, call, call! Damn pot committed with A high. Push and you get one fold and two callers.

So needless to say but I ended up out just before the final table and did that with no cards at all. It was good to see how much the average player bets differently depending on what they hold. Used that to my advantage to get a guy to fold a couple hands my way that I shouldn't have won.

Ended up at Brant House (trendy sort of nightclub) in the VIP section drinking champange until the place closed at 2 am. Then moved to China town for a little food and some cold tea (beer) which wasn't necessary. Got home at 4:30 and woke up at 7 am... so I am tired again.

This weekend I have the folks over for a bit of bday cheer for my little Guin (she is 2 years old and still likes to call penguins "mungos" all the time) . Should be a good time all around but next week I am going to try to take it easy and play one night live and other than that be home to play online.

Sleepy Sleepy!

Had planned on playing in the Mookie event last night but slept right through till this morning. Was out the prior night until 2 am and found it difficult to get through the day yesterday. So I go home to take a bit of a nap and wake up at 2 am hungry as hell. Proceed to find some food and watch a replay of the Canadian's in the World Hockey Championship. Crosby is just amazing and he is going to be much better than Ovechkin in the long run.

My call for the Sharks to take the Cup didn't work out but at least a Canadian team is still in the running. If Edmonton can continue to play with this level of heart they could go all the way. Just have to stop Teemu... and he is playing with a ton of heart so he won't be easy to stop. After playing a 7 game series you almost think that the first game is a definate loss for Edmonton.

Good news is that after all that sleep last night I am playing in a live $60 event tonight and Kat might join me. I hope we finish 1-2 in the event! And if not these brokers better buy us some food and drink.... the topic should come up since we are playing in a restaurant that is closing to host our event. Should be fun.

Haven't been playing much

Sorry Hoyazo... you got to let me know your IM handle on yahoo or google talk so we can hook up and take down some Full Tilt action.

The stock market has been a bitch lately and it has caused me some stress ... not to mention that the wife wants a new car... going to invest a bunch of cash to hopefully pay for the darn thing... that should keep the wife happy for the next while I hope.

Also I have to resign up for this blogger freeroll... if you haven't done so yet please do so my 1st place prize is bigger!

I am registered to play in the Online Poker Blogger Freeroll Win your share of $25,000 and a set of Nevada Jacks poker chips. Hosted By: Absolute Poker Sponsored By: Poker Source Online Registration Code: 51952546

Bounty Hunter

Played the Mookie last night and took him out! Totally got lucky with my A7 in rough shape against AJ but flopped the 7 and never looked back. Very next hand I get 88 UTG and raise and 23skidoo in the BB with the short stack went all in with the hammer. I sucked out again and made the cash.

The eventual winner was Surflexus and he was pushing everyone around. A couple orbits earlier I reraised all in when he raised and I was in the BB. He folded that hand and he played K high hands strong against Sox earlier. So the fateful hand had me with A9s in the BB and Surflexus raises and it folds to me.... I think that I want to go for the win and not trying to move up one place in the rankings so I push. He has AQ and I couldn't suck out a third time to stay alive... Great game Surflexus, Smokkee, and Chilldyl2002 (you owned me all night!)

Taking out Mookie meant that I took down the bounty on his head. Overall, one great evening of poker where I played as well as I could and got lucky when I needed to.

More Live Play

This new poker club is great... was able to play a $30 tourney with 14 people and a great setup. 3k starting chips and 20 min blinds starting at 25-50. This allowed everyone to get to play some poker and it took a long time to turn into a push fest.

I still got shortstacked when my AQ missed a flop and I led out took away 20% of my stack. Next hand was 99 from MP. I raise and a nice AK4 flop and a big bet drives me out of that pot. Finally ended up blinded down and on the SB with A9s and another shortstack at the final table pushes. I call and I am against KJo and he hits trips and I finish in 9th place. Not great but didn't catch many cards but I made a couple great laydowns.

One of these days Kat is going to show up and show these guys what a real poker player looks like. Hopefully, she doesn't take much of my cash in the process!

Funny Funny

the Idiot Savant (42% dark, 57% spontaneous, 47% vulgar)

your humor style: VULGAR SPONTANEOUS LIGHT You like things silly, immediate, and, above all, outrageous. Ixne on the subtle word play, more testicles on fire, please. People like you are the most likely to RECEIVE internet forwards--and also the most likely to save them in a special folder entitled 'HOLY SHIT'. Because it's so easily appreciated, and often wacky and physical, your sense of humor never ceases to amuse your friends. Most realize that there's a sly intelligence and a knowing wink to your tastes. Your sense of humor could be called 'anti-pretentious'--but paradoxically enough, that indicates you're smarter than most. PEOPLE LIKE YOU: Johnny Knoxville - Jimmy Kimmel

Computer issues

Tried to play a bit last night but had a ton of trouble with the computer. I managed to win a Titan Rio event but that was the only highlight of the night.

Lost a Full Tilt token event when my J10s flopped a full house. Got the AJ all in after someone else took a big stab at the pot and the A spiked on the turn to put me out instead of putting me into the chip lead early! Those things happen so no problem...

Then I tried to move over to PokerStars for a $4 180 person MTT. I was in 16th place with 80 to go when my computer kept locking up. Reboot, and the internet works for 15 seconds and then I time out again. It was a rough evening but I think the computer just wanted the evening off! Lets hope it isn't a persistent problem. The good thing is that I am playing good poker and getting chips early (I can act like a maniac when necessary!).

Ended up watching the San Jose Sharks beat Edmonton which looks to be a good series. I think San Jose could win the Cup... Boston fans would be quite pissed watching Thornton hold up the Cup! Then I ended up watching a National Geographic show on the Gospel of Judas. I love how all this history continues to surface which shows how current beliefs were shaped over time.

Fun Live Play

Managed to get to a new underground poker club in Toronto last night. Usual assortment of players such as the university kids to the Asian gamblers. In these live events people only remember the crazy stuff you do while playing NL 1/2. So in my third hand, I have QsJx and limp in. Now, online I try to not play for my stack in an unraised pot, but live has less hands so sometimes you have to push edges harder.

So flop is Kx 10s 5s which gives me the oesd but flush draw on board. Pot is $8 and buddy bets $10 which I take to be a TPGK type of bet with these types of players. I call since I think I can get him to fold on the turn if a scare card hits or slowplay him if I hit.

Turn is a 4s and he bets $15 into the $28 pot. He has about $70 behind him and I figure that my flush draw with the oesd is enough to push him off of top pair. So I push all in... he calls immediately.

He doesn't have the flush but top two pair including the Ks. Here is how bad of shape I am in according to Poker Stove:


Board: Kc Ts 5s 4s
Dead:
equity (%) win (%) tie (%)
Hand 1: 86.3668 % 86.38% 00.00% { KsTh }
Hand 2: 13.6332 % 13.63% 00.00% { QsJc }

Lucky for me the 9d showed on the river and I made a mental note to push against that player when I hit my flush next time!

My big hand of the night was when I was in the BB with J6o. I get to see the flop for free and I couldn't believe my eyes J J 6! Nice... since I was aggressive my check must have looked like weakness. The button player couldn't help himself and bet $8 into the 4 player pot which the other 3 of us called. Turn was a 4 and I bet $15 as I was worried that a high card would come out and give someone a better boat. River is a nice 4 and the SB bets $16. I raise to $40 and then MP reraises all in to $75.... button and small blind fold and I win a big hand as he had J10s.

Overall it was a plus $240 night and I put myself in a situation where I didn't have many tough decisions. The pressure wasn't always applied in the correct spot, but it sure was applied!

It is a different feeling when you bust someone and you hear them say on the way out that they probably won't play again for a long time. Then again I think that they are at least smart enough to realize that they were the fish in the game.

Rio good time...

Have felt like playing a bunch of tournaments lately but finding it tough to be patient. Still enjoying the SNG's at Titan but mostly breaking even... I am currently sitting with a win in a rio and also a win at the Dirty Dozen level. The small $2 SNGs only need 4 wins to get 2k instead of the 6 wins with the only negative being the field is twice the size.

Thanks for the feedback on my live play hand. Hoyazo mentioned that he thought it was a bad play because any Ax who calls has me in bad shape. I did not mention that blinds were going to go to 150/300 in a few minutes lowering my M from the current 9+ down to 6. So with me being so close to entering the red zone I figured I might as well push now while people still had to respect my raises.

Really lacking sleep right now is not leaving me with much energy so tonight I will get to bed early.