AeqPoker

Home Games and Online Low-NL.

2006-02-27T22:49:00.000-05:00

I have been playing on a regular basis, which includes my friend's $1/2NL home game and online cheap NL games. I haven't been playing as many MTTs, because I simply don't have the time to invest.

The home games have been great. Immensely entertaining, good action, and lots of fun. I'm up approx. $250 for the month of February. It's not alot, but it's not losing! Online has actually been a struggle. I go up, and then I go back down. I never bust out, but I never find myself busting open. If you have an anecdote, please, post a comment!

SHOUTOUTS...
JD from the TP.com forums Congrats to SirFWALGman for taking down an Stars $180 SnG! I read that you've been playing good lately... keep it up! GL to Fell on the decision to go pro! It's a big step, but you can do it. The knowledge you've given me has been priceless.

Till next time,

--
Lou

Snow and Poker.

2006-02-11T16:34:00.000-05:00

The Philadelphia region is supposed to get jacked by mother nature. We are expected to get 8-14" of snow later on tonight and into tomorrow, which is going to be a pain in the ass. :)

I haven't been blogging much at all because I'm been slightly busy with a few things here and there, but I still get in a few tournaments per week. Along with keeping better records, I've been taking notes on all of the tournaments I play. Here is my latest. I bust out w/in the first hour, but hey - it's content. :)

$6+1 Satty to $200k Guaranteed
Tournament Notes

185 entrants, 5 seats available

15/30: QQ in MP. I open-raise to 120. SB calls. Flop: K74, two hearts. SB Checks, I bet ¾ pot, SB goes into the tank, but eventually folds.

25/50: 94o in BB. Folded to the CO, who limps, button limps, SB folds. The flop brought 984, w/ two spades. The LP players were aggressive, so I check, hoping to C/R. I CO bets 50 into a 150 pot, Button calls, I raise to 300. Fold, fold.

30/60: I wasn’t involved w/ the hand, but two of the tournament chip leaders (seated at my table, of course) got into an all-in fest: one of them had two pair, the other turned a set.

30/60: Q5 in BB. UTG, UTG+1 and the Button limp, and the SB completed. The flop: was K58, and it checked around. Turn T, checked around. River 5. I checked, figuring w/ so many people, someone is bound to at least try to steal the 300 pot, but it goes checked around, and my trip 5s are good. I guess I should have value bet.

50/100: One minute before the break, and I bust out in 65th place. KK in LP, two limpers. My stack is T1850, and I raise to 400. 4 players see the flop of: Q49, two diamonds. Checked to MP player who pushes (he’s a big stack). I call, others fold. I show KK, he flips QTd. He catches a Q on the turn, and that’s the end of me. He did have a lot of outs, so I can’t fault his aggressive play, I just happen to catch the bad end of it. (The pot already had 2000 before his all-in flop bet, so it would have put me right around 5000 to start the second hour – exactly where I wanted to be.

I'm so due, I can't even talk about it.

--
Lou

Yikes...

2006-01-23T23:38:00.000-05:00

Looks like my cat plays more poker than I do.

:)

--
Lou

One post per month.

2005-11-27T03:31:00.000-05:00

Lately, that's my average - and I don't know if that'll be changing any time soon!

Over the past two weeks, I played some live $1/2 NL (both in Atlantic City and at home games) and all sessions have been shitty. I ran into a set last Friday at Harrrahs, and then I got hurt when someone rivered their flush on me over at the Taj.

It's great to see the impact of poker - especially on a gambling town like AC. I guess nearly EVERY casino has a poker room now? Is that a safe assumption? And they are reaching out to the poker player market if you notice of poker tournament billboards.

And what the fuck! I saw a waitress at the Taj giving someone a RED BULL! We get them free now? Holy shit, it's been a while since I played live casino poker!

Anyway, I went "Black Friday" shopping and got a GREAT deal on a 5.0 MP Kodak digital camera. Picked up a few gifts and returned safely home by 10a. I noticed that K-Mart had a mistake in their ad: Ps2 Starwars: Battlefront 2 for $12.99. WHAT? The game is three weeks old. LOL. I was tempted to go to K-Mart demanding the game yelling "false advertisement" if they didn't give me the game, but I couldn't deal with the crowds.

Until next month :) ,

--
Lou

Not DEEP Enough ...

2005-10-29T14:27:00.000-04:00

As all two of you know, I don't get much time for poker lately. MTTs are usually out of the question because I never have big blocks of time, but last night I finally played. I jumped in one of Stars $20/2 NLHE, Max 180 SnGs, and I played great. Finally!

It was past 1am when we started, and I was already tired. When the tournament got down to 50 players, I wound up getting Aces back to back. I won two healthy pots, I found myself as one of the chipleaders. When we reached ITM, I had an average stack, and was 9/18. Money was the same for 10-18, so I had to turn it up in order to reach the final table. Folded to me in the SB, I made a move on the BB by raising 2.5x. I think I had 85o. Didn't work out. At this point, the blinds were high enough that I was pissed off about the play. I still had a stack to work with, but I needed to focus. 10/17...

A few hands later, a very short stack pushes in MP. I have 55, and I figure it's a race ... he could have ANYTHING. LOL. I call. TT crushes me, and I find myself in bad shape. 13/17-ish...

By the time I turn around, there are 13 players left. I need to move, as I'm hurtin. EP stack makes a raise, and w/ AQo on the button, I figure it's good enough. My stack had an M of about 2-3, so I needed to do something. We are heads up, and my AQ loses to A9 when 9 9 come on the turn and river.

So that was it. 13/180. I really wanted to get FT, and I was so close. :) Maybe next time.

--
Lou

Suing People.

2005-10-29T00:35:00.000-04:00

It's strange.

Reading the facts of some of these cases, it's just crazy how people can get themselves so wrapped up into some fucked up shit. (And I didn't even touch a family law case yet!) I have been mainly focusing on two things: (i) a wrongful death case set for trial in mid-December, where I'm sitting "second chair," and (ii) commercial collection cases.

Canon is one of my firm's biggest clients. Canon enters into lease agreements w/ corporations or businesses who lease office equipment. Invariably, payments aren't made, and the lessee defaults. Canon complains, and we sue the bastids. The "Canon Lease Agreement" was a beast to get through, but with a few weeks under my belt, I'm definitely feeling more confident.

My hours aren't too bad, but I honestly have a new appreciation of "Friday." I'm not working 7am - 11pm (LOL), but I'm basically at 8-1/2, 9 hr. days. My caseload is small right now, but that won't last. My secretary found another job, and yesterday, she gave her two-week notice. LOL. She came into my office apologizing... I was like, "Jenn, I hardly know you. No big deal!" Crazy ass.

On the poker front, I just don't seem to have the time anymore. I try to get a few hands in every other night, but wind up playing for 20 minutes and logging off.

Playing live last weekend was fun...

--
Lou

My Busy Routine...

2005-10-24T23:29:00.000-04:00

Well, I'm not exactly going to rant about how busy my routine is... rather, I find it interesting how I'm so routinely busy. I'm just not used to sitting at the computer for a few hours playing poker, finding good articles, scanning forums, and [rarely] blogging.

Tell you what, it's definitely good getting a paycheck on a weekly basis. (Yes, my firm pays weekly.) I have things to save for, some initial debt to pay off, but I'm looking forward to what's on the horizon.

Nothing much has been happening in my life...

I finally got a chance to play live poker! I won $75 in a 6-handed $1/2 NL homegame. At no one time did I fall below my initial buy-in, but I never woke up to the "double-up" hand. Either way, it was great to play live again. The homegame is weekly (sometimes twice a week), so maybe I'll be playing more often.
I busted out of the Pokerstars Blogger Tournament when I pushed w/ JJ and was called by QQ. No help, and I'm sent packing shortly after the first break. Oh well.
Yea, and my girlfriend and I have just started watching Lost as I rented Season 1 from Blockbuster. Good fucking show - we already have some interesting "theories."

That's it for now,

--
Lou

First Week As A Lawyer.

2005-10-09T10:26:00.000-04:00

I'm finally sitting down, after one of the longest weeks of my life. The week was actually a very good one for me. Not only did I start work as an attorney, but I found out that I passed the Pennsylvania Bar.

[I was so scared of failing the bar because I just about spent 7-9 hours a day studying for it. Going at it like that, for two months straight, certainly takes a toll on someone. If I did fail... I would have been fired AND I would had to study again. No thanks!]

So my first week as a lawyer...

It's scary. On one hand, I'm excited about starting a new job - having a REAL paycheck (lol), and having a support staff including my own secretary... but, on the other hand, I don't know what the fuck I'm doing. Just trying not to fuck up seems stressful...

MONDAY
I get in early - 7:40am to be exact, and I'm the first one there. It's almost along the lines of John Grisham's The Firm, but they didn't give me a Mercedes. And I'm a better poker player than Tom Cruise. Anyway, I get in early, and I'm waiting for the office manager ("OM"): we have things to set up (voicemail, email, etc etc), but he doesn't come in until 9. I sit around for an hour and a half. By this point, I've had 3 cups of coffee. :)

OM comes in and we get the initial stuff out of the way. As I'm talking with him, one of the named partners ("P1") swings by the office:

"How are you enjoying your first day?"
"Good, so far!"
"Good. I need you to create a limited partnership. Once you create that, I want you to immediately merge that with a limited liability corporation with the general partner being a corporation and the marjotiy stockholder being the general manager of the limited partnership. You'll obviously have to create the corporation, but that's just formality. You've had Corporations in law school, right? Anyway, see Terry for the file."
"No problem."
At this point, I turn to the office manager and say: "Welcome to Monday morning!"
He laughs and says, "You'll get the hang of it.

I better.

Within minutes, another partner ("P2"), comes into my office and gives me another assignment. This one deals with the wrongful death of our client's wife who was in a car accident 2 years ago. Litigation is pending in January, and we need a negligence issue researched. NO PROBLEM! This is certainly more my speed, compared to the above mentioned corporate law bullshit.

TUESDAY
With neither assignment complete from yesterday, I get a new assignment today: to create a church. Yes. I have to write the corporate by-laws and the certificate of incorporation for a new church in Camden, NJ. Praise the lord. An intersting assignment, to say the least.

WEDNESDAY/THURSDAY
Wednesday was slow and uneventful. A long day, and I had three previous assignments to keep me busy.

FRIDAY
Fridays at the office are "casual" days, so the atmosphere is already much much lighter. I guess it's unofficial (the complaint doesn't go out until Monday), but today is the first day I've sued someone! LOL. I wrote two complaints for P2 arising out of the same situation (husband and wife buy pizza business, they don't pay for it + husband and wife lease building...don't make rent payments). P2 made lots of additions / corrections /and/ modifications to the complaint, but I think he was happy w/ my draft. Friday was a LONG day: in at 8, out at 6, but it felt good finishing my FIRST WEEK as a lawyer. :)

This "week in review" could certainly have been better but I brought home some weekend work, and I feel much better actually BILLING as opposed to writing for the 3 people who (on occasion) accidentally run into this blog.

--
Lou

Stars Blogger Tournament.

2005-10-02T05:52:00.000-04:00

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

This event is powered by PokerStars.

Registration code: 9115988

I think this Pokerstars blogger tournament is going to be fun. It seems like there is going to be a huge prizefield - which is great considering this is a freeroll!

--
Lou

Finally: I Won a Seat!

2005-09-30T04:31:00.000-04:00

What a great night!

It turns out that I have been getting hammered playing cash games. The Eurobet account I created is good to get me back on the Party Network, but the fact that they don't offer $2/4 6max is discouraging to me.

I created an InterPoker account (rakeback of course!), and for some reason, I really like the site. Too bad I was getting hurt. Chinned, gutted, blindsided, etc. I was consistently running into overpairs while holding TPTK. Dangerous stuff. Suffice it to say, I've been struggling w/ the ring games.

Good for me: MTTs have been my major focus.

Stars $20/2 11:30p
Two days ago, I busted out ITM, 60/929. I was able to cruise ITM w/ a healthy stack, but the cards went dead all too soon. Nearing the third money-bubble, my BB was raised by chip-leader (SB). I push w/ A7 (he's GOT to be bullying me, right!?) and he quickly calls, flipping QQ.

Stars $3+R satellite to $500k Guaranteed
I decided on playing another satellite. $3+r was certainly reasonable, and at least for anything, it's good cheap practice at playing rebuy tournaments. The first hour was uneventful until my Aces held up against Queens, and I was able to start the second hour w/ ~T$8000. A looking for a good sign of things to come, and it certainly was!

The blinds were never an issue. Beginning w/ the second hour, I doubled up, and then won another huge pot. I quickly had a top 30 stack with ALOT of tournament to go. The rest was textbook. :) I stayed comfortably above average, I stole at the right times, and I made some good calls AND good laydowns.

With a shit load of rebuys and addons, the tournament gave 27 seats. 28th place would get $65. On the bubble at 29, I found myself hovering between 9-11 in chips. I folded into the money. :)

^^ One of my favorite "pop-ups."

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

Congratulations to Mark Petrillo (www.talkingpoker.com/forums) for coming in 41st place at this years WPT Ultimate Poker Classic Aruba Main Event! Mark won $6000 with his latest finish in the money - which is a great ROI considering the $82 satellite win! GG!

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

Right now, I'm just deciding whether or not to play in the tournament or take the PokerStars tournament dollars. The $500k guaranteed looks so inviting!

gg me.

--
Lou

Pokerstars Blogger Tournament

2005-09-30T01:23:00.000-04:00

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

This event is powered by PokerStars.

Registration code: 2759736

Something To Blog About! (I Guess.)

2005-09-23T02:13:00.000-04:00

ITM's are always good to blog about, so I'm back. :) I didn't get to play much poker at all today, and when I did, I sat down at 11:45p for the 11:30 Stars $20/2 MTT. I'm kinda happy I pre-registered, but I never like missing hands!

The turnout tonight wasn't so scary: 866 entrants seems light compared to the normal ~1100. In the early stages, I was able to double up w/ J9s, when I limped from LP in a multiway pot and eventually rivered a straight. :) If you let me catch for cheap, I WILL take you up on that offer. :)

The next notable hand was limping w/ ATs in MP/LP. Someone limped from an earlier position, and the BB checked. The flop came 2T2, rainbow. The BB lead out w/ a $200 bet, which was less than the size of the pot, T$350. MP called. I decided between calling and raising. I doubt either guy had a 2. Here's why: Most likely, w/ the blinds at $50/100, the MP limper isn't calling w/ a 2. He might have two of them (lol), but I seriously doubt he's sitting on a 2. The BB, who is more likely to have a 2, doesn't because he bets out. Who would lead out holding such a strong hand? Again, the average $20/2 tournament player checks there. I was confident in having the best hand. I called the bet. Looking back, this was a mistake, I probably should have raised. Ahh well. The turn brought a rag 3, and BB checks. MP bets $2oo. Considering the pot size, that bet is super weak. I raise to $600 and take the pot.

Nothing else happened TOO MUCH. I kinda sat w/ a ~T$5800 stack for a while. I was moved to a table w/ two big chip stacks which were definitely aggro. There wasn't much I could do... when I had weak hands, they weren't in the pot, and when I had marginal hands, it seemed like they were raising from EP. I didn't want to get invovled w/ a big stack w/ something mediocre, so my plan was to wait for a legitimate hand and try to double up through one of the big boys.

Of course, that didn't happen. I witness numerous bad beats... but since I wasn't involved in too much action, I watched from the sidelines. Looking back at the tournament, once we reached the ante level, I was shortstacked. I stayed that way for the majority of the tournament.

The bubble started at 81. With my short stack, I was not going to be able to fold into the money. I had to take a shot, and went w/ J9s. Folded to the BB, who insta-called w/ A9o. I luckily river a straight, and he's pissed. What can you do? Fuck you - finally *I* got lucky. Anyway, with the bubble so near, I decided to either play GOOD hands, or just get cheap money.

I got cheap money. :) We resumed normal play after #82 was knocked out. Soon thereafter, I finally get a hand! Being so short, I HAVE to push, I want to make it seem like desperation. Here's how I end the tournament, runner runner, of course:

PokerStars Game #2640247139: Tournament #12672510, Hold'em No Limit - Level X (400/800) - 2005/09/23 - 02:10:16 (ET)Table '12672510 60'
Seat #2 is the button
Seat 1: GB2005 (23599 in chips)
Seat 2: kdluck (13366 in chips)
Seat 3: BryBer34 (7020 in chips)
Seat 4: fccesq (36239 in chips)
Seat 5: kbc22 (21460 in chips)
Seat 6: T-bull (25764 in chips)
Seat 7: Aequitas58 (5633 in chips)
Seat 8: BigRM (6474 in chips)
Seat 9: CLUB40DEUCE (12740 in chips)
BryBer34: posts small blind 400
fccesq: posts big blind 800
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Aequitas58 [Qd Qs]
kbc22: folds T-bull: folds
Aequitas58: raises 4783 to 5583
and is all-inBigRM: folds
CLUB40DEUCE: folds
GB2005: folds
kdluck: folds
BryBer34: folds
fccesq: calls 4783
*** FLOP *** [9h 9d 3d]
*** TURN *** [9h 9d 3d] [6h]
Aequitas58 said, "lol"
*** RIVER *** [9h 9d 3d 6h] [Ah]
Aequitas58 said, "yup"
*** SHOW DOWN ***
fccesq: shows [Jh Qh] (a flush, Ace high)
Aequitas58: shows [Qd Qs] (two pair, Queens and Nines)
fccesq collected 12016 from pot

He flipped his two hearts, I saw the flop, saw the heart (on the flop), and said to myself... "Hearts? Are you kidding?" I laughed at the turn, and kinda knew it was coming on the river.

Oh well. Oddly enough, winning that hand would have not only given me a top 50 stack, but for the first time in almost 1.5 hours, I would have felt some slight relief.

Nah, not me.

:)

As a funny side note: a player at my table rivered someone hard, putting him out of the tournament. The "newly eliminated" goes on a tirade on the bigger stack. After the insults stop, he asks to play heads up for $1000. At this point, the lucky player - and the rest of the table - just laugh at him. I stay quiet. The guy responds that he'll play HU for $5. This doesn't please Mr. Newly Eliminated. I then say, "Do you really wanna play for $1000? We might be able to do that." He leaves, yelling: "f this, I don't have to prove anything to this chitty table!" LOL.

It's all about exploiting weakness,

--
Lou

Poker Week in Review - on Thursday.

2005-09-22T04:37:00.000-04:00

Well, so far the week has been entirely uneventful.

I set up another rakeback account with Eurobet, a Party skin, which enables me to get off of Ultimate Bet, a terrible site. Being back on the Party Network, I have excellent game selection, but my main gripe is that $2/4 6-max is not offered. WTF? This will hurt my rakeback total at the end of the month, but since I'm sticking w/ $1/2, I'll have less severe swings.

I have been playing more MTTs, and I simply can't win a race. I'm not playing bad ... I actually like the decisions I've been making, but when my AK runs into 88 (and I don't improve) I'm just not getting deep in the tournament. Then, in the next tournament, I'm the guy w/ the mid-high pocket pair, and my 99 loses to a AQ. Earlier this week, I did lose w/ Aces against someone's 85s (putting me out of the tournament) but I got cute w/ my Aces, and the other player lucked out and spiked two pair. Again, happens.

Like I said above, it's been an uneventful week.

Maybe I'll have something good to report over the next few days!

--
Lou

More MTT Torture ... But No Beats.

2005-09-15T02:32:00.000-04:00

Well, there are ALWAYS beats, but nothing so drastic as to put me out of a tournament - or anything to the extent that I want to take up chess again.

I played two MTTs tonight,

PokerStars $20/2 NLHE
Ultimate Bet $5/.50 NLHE

Both tournaments drew over 800 entrants, so I knew getting deep would take a few hours. I don't know why I played more than one MTT - I guess I'm so used to multi-tabling cash games, but tonight I gave it a shot. The UB tournament started @ 11p, and Stars started 1/2 hr later. Nothing much happened notable. Good hands won, I got lucky a few times, I witnessed horrid play on a consistent basis, etc.

UB
I got ITM at UB for a win of $18.27. Not too bad considering the buy-in of $5. I busted out 40/812 when (severely short) I pushed my final T$11k w/ 22. I was called by AQo, and a river Q sent me home.

Stars
Just 3 minutes before that, we were facing a bubble situation at Stars. There are 83 players left, and my position is 74/83. Not being a complete moron, I know that I can make ITM by simply folding into the money. Payouts start at 81. I had to decide what to do. Simply put, I wanted to play aggressively. I wanted to take advantage of my table's tight nature, and make ITM w/ SOME KIND of chip stack. 6 BB's isn't going to cut it! So, in MP, w/ AQo, I push. I again, have first-in equity, and it's folded to the big blind. He probably has me doubled, but he's certainly NOT a big stack. (I wouldn't have done this against a big stack.) He thinks....

I'm BEGGING my computer screen for a fold. He still thinking and he's requested time. Meanwhile, I hear Jessica Simpson on MTV. As I turn to look at Jessica, I hear the "call" sound. FUCK! I turn around and he flips 66. I KNOW this is a race I'm not going to win. I hit a Q, but he hits a 6.

Happens.

After the last two nights, I wasn't phased by it. "gg" The best I could come up with was that he wanted a coin-flip? I dunno. Who cares. Looking back, I SHOULD have folded into the money and THEN made a move like that... LOL, but whatever - the table was tight.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

On two good notes: I'm 6 FPPs away from Stars releasing my WCOOP bonus! Nice. Even sweeter: I got my UB rakeback payment today. Nice!

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

I'm definitely becoming more of a force. I've played 5 MTTs this week, and so far, I've ITM-ed three of them and bubbled the other two. Without worrying about results, I'm extremely happy with the decisions I make at the table. Shit, I'll take 60% ITM all day. :)

--
Lou

What A Sick Beat! (Pt. II)

2005-09-14T02:42:00.000-04:00

Ok motherfucker.

Here we go again. I hate posting these bad beat hands, but right now, I can't think about anything else. My routine is simple: win money to play MTTs at a cash game... play the MTT. This happens everyday. I can beat cash games. Yea - just like everyone else, I swing up and down, but on average, I am a + EV player.

Earlier today, I played $1/2 and $2/4 on Stars to make some entry-fee money for later on tonight. I did well. I killed $2/4 6Max multitabling and make a decent $120. Everything was going well. Solid hands held up, and usually - that's all it takes to win on the day.

Later, in the early evening, I lost most of it back playing the exact same game. Ok, it happens. Runner runner flushes, river two-pair, etc etc. Easy come, easy go. Either way, I'm still up on the week. Since I was able to get an earlier start on tonight's festivities, I was able to get in the Stars $25,000 Guaranteed NLHE MTT. This is a $10/1 rebuy tournament. I haven't played a R+A recently, and I was so excited.

Early on, the tournament went well. Before taking the immediate "rebuy," I doubled up against a maniac! Nice. I didn't see much change until I felt like gambling w/ AQ on a AJJ flop. With two minutes to go before the end of the rebuy period, I decided to push... insta-call, I run into AJ. LOL. Oh well. Rebuy + Rebuy. Now I'm in for $30, but I have T$3000.

I ended the first hour a T$2900, and after taking the add-on, I was at T$4900. Not a GREAT stack, but it was more than enough w/ the blinds at 75/150.

Nothing happened for a while. I got COMPLETE garbage for close to two hours. By some miracle, I just kept hanging around. The right cards would come at the exact right times. When I needed big-stack BB's to fold, they did. I kept myself around 10BB's for the majority of the tournament (after the 1st hour).

Once I was able to double up, I was able to breathe again. I managed to double again, and now things were good. With a total of 1331 entrants, I got ITM! Nice. Once we hit ITM, I was in "ok" shape. Things weren't great, but I liked my tight table image.

The blinds were increasing. I haven't seen a hand...

Again, the blinds are going up. I still, haven't seen a hand.

Then, I happened upon Queens. There was a raise from EP, and the all-in re-raise (not much more) was a no brainer. If I win this hand, I have a top 50 stack. If I lose, I'm utterly crippled. Here's the hand (I tried to clean it up as much as possible):

PokerStars Game Tournament #12384201,
Hold'em No Limit - Level XVI (3000/6000) - 2005/09/14 - 02:24:52 (ET)
Seat #7 is the button
Seat 1: UK Nick (205025 in chips)
Seat 2: KidPoker6969 (34466 in chips)
Seat 3: onepocketpro (89044 in chips)
Seat 4: zaika (46820 in chips)
Seat 5: vired (213718 in chips)
Seat 6: jomce (32250 in chips)
Seat 7: Aequitas58 (43050 in chips)
Seat 8: Dollarkd (53908 in chips)
Seat 9: MattSever (71202 in chips)
[everyone posts 300 ante]
Dollarkd: posts small blind 3000
MattSever: posts big blind 6000
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Aequitas58 [Qd Qs]
UK Nick: folds
KidPoker6969: raises 28166 to 34166 and is all-in <-- EP all-in
onepocketpro: folds
zaika: folds
vired: folds
jomce: folds
Aequitas58: raises 8584 to 42750 and is all-in <-- no doubt, w/ 7 BBs
Dollarkd: folds
MattSever: folds
*** FLOP *** [9c 6d 5d]
*** TURN *** [9c 6d 5d] [Qc]
*** RIVER *** [9c 6d 5d Qc] [8s]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
KidPoker6969: shows [7c Ah] (a straight, Five to Nine)
Aequitas58: shows [Qd Qs] (three of a kind, Queens)
KidPoker6969 collected 80032 from pot
mayhem45 [observer] said, "brutal"

What kind of river card is that? Unless I'm an idiot who can't count outs, he just hit a 3-outer on me. WOW. After last night's beat (see yesterday's post!), and this, I'm taking it up the ass this week. That's twice, I was able to get my money in with the BEST of it, and lost desperately.

Over 90% favored to win. Again.

LOL. Thank you sir, may I have another?
Of course you can asshole... tomorrow's another day. :)

I did have ~T$8k returned to me upon losing. The next hand, I get JJ(!) and push. I was called and doubled up + the blinds. Huge. Now I'm back in the high $20's. The NEXT hand, I get KJo, and figure for a push. With 4 BB's, I'll finally gamble w/ a mediocre KJo. Besides, I had first-in equity in middle/late position. A weak ace called, and high card wins.

As for the bottom-line, I had $40 invested in the tournament. 91/1335 (not too bad?) paid $89.xx. Meh.

--
Lou

What A Sick Beat!

2005-09-13T02:37:00.000-04:00

This is somewhat of a long-winded bad beat story. Read at your own risk.

I usually don't stew over beats, but tonight, I'm hurtin. Earlier today, I woke up and remembered I did well last night. Every night, Stars has a $20/2 MTT, and I couldn't wait for tonight's to start. I decided to win the buy-in playing $2/4 6Max, and after winning $100 in about 20 minutes, I knew it was going to be a good day.

Money-wise, the day is green. But, why am I sitting here w/ an empty feeling in my stomach?

Let me set the stage. Last night, I go 18/1066. A good win, I'm happy w/ it, etc. Tonight, there are right under 1000 entrants (976 maybe?) and the tournament payout is equally as good. The first hour is solid. I win the first hand of the tournament, and I keep going up from there. At the first break, I have a respectable ~T$3470. I play the second hour like I should ... I wasn't exactly a BIG stack, but I wasn't short stacked either. By the beginning of the third hour, I was getting short stacked. This was a bubble situation, and I had approximately 10BB's left.

~ I get AKo, and I push in MP. Folded, and I take the blinds. This is what I wanted.
~ Then I get AA. 3 from ITM, which is a weenie $35ish until we get deeper. LOL:

PokerStars Game #2564369320: Tournament #12384146
Hold'em No Limit - Level X (400/800) - 2005/09/13 - 02:11:48 (ET)
Table '12384146 108'
Seat #2 is the button
Seat 1: masta p (19199 in chips)
Seat 2: troutman45 (30720 in chips)
Seat 3: pmen28 (23195 in chips)
Seat 4: phillyblunt2 (34628 in chips)
Seat 6: titanabe9 (12860 in chips)
Seat 7: Aequitas58 (10610 in chips)
Seat 8: TrafficKing (31174 in chips)
Seat 9: Theril7 (3230 in chips)
pmen28: posts small blind 400
phillyblunt2: posts big blind 800
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Aequitas58 [Ac Ah]
titanabe9: folds
Aequitas58: raises 1600 to 2400
TrafficKing: folds
Theril7: folds
masta p: folds
troutman45: folds
pmen28: folds
phillyblunt2: calls 1600
*** FLOP *** [9s 7c 7h]
phillyblunt2: bets 6400
Aequitas58: raises 1760 to 8160 and is all-in
phillyblunt2: calls 1760
phillyblunt2 said, "i had to after i commited myself"
*** TURN *** [9s 7c 7h] [4s]
phillyblunt2 said, "spdae"
*** RIVER *** [9s 7c 7h 4s] [Qs]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
phillyblunt2: shows [Ks 5s] (a flush, King high)
Aequitas58: shows [Ac Ah] (two pair, Aces and Sevens)
Aequitas58 said, "lol"

The pot was over T$20k, which would have given me ammo to get deep - and I would have. The best part of all of this was that we were 3 from getting ITM!!! Ahh FUCK ME. For those keeping score at home, I was a 95% favorite. That's 95% chance I get ITM two nights in a row w/ tournament sizes of 1000 players each.

It doesn't get worse than this kids. At least my game is sharp.

On a related note, the Eagles lost the season opener to the Atlanta Falcons. Fuck.

--
Lou

MTT Deepness!

2005-09-12T04:06:00.000-04:00

What a night!

I didn't win an MTT, or even final table, but I did manage to get 18/1066 in Stars Sunday night $20/2 NLHE. I took $191 for my efforts in exactly 4 hours of play!

Some miscellaneous "notes" from the tournament:

In the beginning of the tournament, I lost w/ KK and was down to T$200. I doubled up 3-4 times, until I finally had an "average" stack. Whew... I could breathe again.
I made some essential blind steals when needed, but for the most part, I really did get some good cards. I can't even count how many times I got AA and KK. For AA: at least 3 (no kidding!) and KK: twice. Held up everytime. Never got QQ-TT, but I was all in w/ 99 and 88 and won my race both times. They say there is a certain amount of luck to getting deep in an MTT, and I DID get lucky. AKs held up on two very important hands, propelling me into the top ten chip stacks w/ 80 players left.
I feel like I played well, but I also had a good stack when the tournament hit ITM. Once ITM, you can notice the players tighten up (so they can level up) and it wasn't hard to put pressure on smaller stacks - simple as that.
I ran into trouble making a move. Down to three tables, it's folded to me in the SB. I was even in chips w/ the BB (~T$60k), and I have complete rags. 3xBB, and he smooth called. A dangerous flop of A T 4 hit, and I immediately made a continuation bet of 2/3 the pot, representing the Ace. (Harrington suggests 1/2 at this point, but I wanted to make it seem legit. Maybe next time, I listen to Harrington!) He calls again, and I know I'm beat. Rope-A-Dope isn't hard to smell when you read about it three days ago. I checked the turn, he bets $2000 (excellent value bet at this point) and I fold. He flips AQ. It happens.
After losing some chips, I was hurt and the bigger stacks played well. It's hard to play tournament poker against big stacks who actually know how to play. W/ the blinds at 3000/6000 + ante, I had less than 10BB's left. Technically, I was in all-in or fold mode, but I looked at the payout chart: 19 players left. Currently, the tournament was hand-for-hand, as we were on another bubble. The difference between 19th place and 18th place was roughly $100, so I decided to play uber-tight and make the extra hundred. I DID decide that if I got a premium hand, I would push, but I wouldn't play anything below AKo. It worked out and I sqeeked into 18th. Soon thereafter, I was eliminated, but there wasn't much I could have done.

LOL: On the hand I was eliminated, I push w/ K2d. BB calls (he HAS to call... I had like 3 BBs) and flips 8T. Ok... I'm a favorite, but not by much... Flop: 333. Turn: A. At this point, I'm gold. No flush out there, and he has 6 outs to win... of course, he hits his river T.

I can't complain though... I was on the good side of many races tonight, so I'll take $191.

Ah well - tomorrow's another day,

--
Lou

Calculated Risks.

2005-09-08T16:18:00.000-04:00

As it turns out, I begin working in October. I can pretend to be a lawyer all day, every day. The best part is, I'll be getting paid. I have to call the firm and find out which day I start, but for now, I'm off. :) Three weeks off, an online poker bankroll, and no specific "wake up" time loosely translates into full-time poker. Coincidentally, it's 4:20pm. Interesting. :)

I have written earlier that my post-bar-exam $65 deposit is flourishing nicely. I have been taking daily stabs at $20+2 MTTs, and I'm even dabbling in Omaha 8. (What's wrong w/ me?) Playing within my "roll" is something I'm very good at. I take poker very seriously, and I'm extremely happy w/ my discipline level. My stats for the last month are great, and my PokerTracker numbers are ALL green. :)

I can finish the month of October just as I'm doing now. Slowly grind, play w/in my roll, take some shots at a few MTTs, and bonus whore. That's safe. I won't run the risk of busting out. So, fuck that. It's time to put it on the line, like just about everyone else does who "takes a shot" at online poker.

THE CALCULATION:
Higher limits will yield higher rewards. If I bust out, I can reload once I'm a lawyer (and by the looks of my calendar, that's not too far away). By taking more chances, I might be able to score big - either in a ring game, MTT, or possibly a WCOOP event.

THE RISK:
1) Play "above my head," which entails playing at limits my bankroll cannot support. I will NOT adhere to the 300BB rule of thumb for the remainder of this month. Of course, I will make sure that I have enough to "buy-in" at a certain limit a few times... but I'm going to TRY not to worry about going broke.
2) I will also be playing more MTTs. For most people, they are -EV, which is understandable. Including MTTs, I'm going to play more satellites. I'd love to play a WCOOP event this month, since I won't be getting to AC.

I already played some $3/6 6Max today. Dropped around $95 and it didn't phase me. Not necessarily a "tough" game, but I got rivered twice, and that would have made a huge difference. Therefore, I can't be angry w/ my play.

--
Lou

Party Bonus -and- What Is He Thinking!?

2005-09-06T18:38:00.000-04:00

Party Bonus
Today is the last day of Party's September Bonus, USETOWIN. The usual deal: 20% up to $100, 7x raked hands. Free money is always a good thing, especially when you're trying to build a bankroll.

What Is He Thinking?
While playing off the bonus, I stumbled across this fantastic hand:

$1/$2 LHE, 6Max
Seat 2: tvaal23 ( $80 )
Seat 3: gr8forme ( $39 )
Seat 4: straky ( $27.31 )
Seat 5: paulpita007 ( $8.50 )
Seat 6: stonepro ( $25.63 )
Seat 1: Aequitas58 ( $40 )
paulpita007 posts small blind [$0.50].
stonepro posts big blind [$1].
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to Aequitas58 [ Ac Td ]
Aequitas58 raises [$2].

// UTG w/ ATo, my two options are raise or fold. I liked the table, so I'll play it.

tvaal23 folds.
gr8forme folds.
paulpita007 calls [$1.50].
stonepro calls [$1].

// Ok, three players to the flop...

** Dealing Flop ** [ 9c, Qd, 8s ]
paulpita007 checks.
stonepro checks.
Aequitas58 bets [$1].

// Standard continuation bet. I have outs. :)

paulpita007 folds.
stonepro calls [$1].

// My CB gets one caller. Hmm. Does he have a hand? Is he on a draw? I like the fact that I have position on him going to the turn.

** Dealing Turn ** [ Kh ]
stonepro checks.
Aequitas58 bets [$2].
stonepro calls [$2].

// So he checked to me again. Nothing tells me that he has a hand, so I'm fine betting again. If he calls again, my Ace high SHOULD be beat...

** Dealing River ** [ 4h ]
stonepro checks.
Aequitas58 checks.

// The river is a complete blank, but since he check-called twice, he confuses me here. I'm happy to check, with the intentions of mucking my Ace-high to a pair of 9s or 8s... LOL.

stonepro shows [ 3d, Tc ] high card king.
Aequitas58 shows [ Ac, Td ] high card ace.
Aequitas58 wins $11.25 from the main pot with high card ace.

That showdown begs the question... what was he thinking? Did he really think he was going to win the pot w/ T-high? Are players really this bad? I can COMPLETELY understand if he wants to make a move on me... if he didn't believe I had a pair (which I didn't) ... why didn't he raise me!? Unreal.

--
Lou

Stars ITM - $20+2 MTT.

2005-09-02T16:15:00.000-04:00

I finished the Stars $20+2 Friday afternoon MTT - ITM! 564 entrants, I got up to 49th. I was happy I didn't go out on the bubble... but I went out shortly thereafter. My chip stack was healthy early on: I was able to limp (when the blinds were cheap) w/ 44, and I hit a set against 2 other aggro players.

MTTs have always been more fun than ring games (for me), so I might start satellite-ing more. It would be fun to play in a big event.

34-54th: $39.48
(Entry: $22)
----------------
= $17.48

Meh.

The best thing about this tourney was surviving past gank, who busted out at the 25/50 level when his AKs didn't improve against a mid pocket pair. Speaking of AK suited - I don't know if I like this move (of gank's):

b: 10/20. gank (~T$1400) limps UTG for $20. Folded to MP/LP (~T$1000) player who raises to $120. Folded around to gank to goes all in instantly, flipping AKo. The AK didn't improve and the MP/LP's JJ (or TT) wins the pot. I think gank had around 340 left after this hand...

^^ Is that a good move? I don't like it b/c the blinds are too low, and the only time he's going to be called is when he's beaten. Right?

Hmm. Maybe that's just tournament style poker waaay above my head.

--
Lou

Arlo Wins and GTA3:SA.

2005-08-31T02:18:00.000-04:00

Before I get to Arlo, I have to confess ... I broke down and bought Grand Theft Auto 3: San Andreas. (Fell would be proud!) I played it earlier, and it has become an insta-addiction. This game is incredible!

The nerd at the game store told me that Tiger Woods 2006 and X-Men Legends 2 both comes out in late September. When will I have time for poker?

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Speaking of poker...

I popped my Arlo-cherry:
PokerStars Game #2461747248: Hold'em Limit ($1/$2) - 2005/08/30 - 21:37:17 (ET)
Table 'Ate IV'
Seat #4 is the button
Seat 2: rickrambus42 ($31 in chips)
Seat 3: bodha ($24.50 in chips)
Seat 4: jdizz ($37.50 in chips)
Seat 5: flyboy8 ($158.75 in chips)
Seat 6: Aequitas58 ($30.75 in chips)
flyboy8: posts small blind $0.50
Aequitas58: posts big blind $1

*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Aequitas58 [6d 4c]
rickrambus42: calls $1
bodha: folds
jdizz: folds
flyboy8: folds
Aequitas58: checks

*** FLOP *** [Js 4s 6h]
Aequitas58: bets $1

^Rick has been very aggro. I was going to check this flop, but a check-raise on the flop might cost big bets on the more expensive streets. I plan on leading out on the flop, wait a few seconds and check the turn. Hopefully, he'll sense weakness and bet out.

rickrambus42: raises $1 to $2
Aequitas58: calls $1

*** TURN *** [Js 4s 6h] [Td]
Aequitas58: checks
rickrambus42: bets $2
Aequitas58: raises $2 to $4
rickrambus42: calls $2

*** RIVER *** [Js 4s 6h Td] [7d]
Aequitas58: bets $2
rickrambus42: calls $2

^The turn and river went as expected. My first nice Arlo win over 5BB's. :)

*** SHOW DOWN ***
Aequitas58: shows [6d 4c] (two pair, Sixes and Fours)
rickrambus42: mucks hand
Aequitas58 collected $17.75 from pot
Aequitas58 said, "arlo!"

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

I'm in a UB MTT right now. UB has a gggreat MTT structure. This is by far, the best place to play MTTs outside of FTP or Stars. My gripe is that the software (although better than the Prima or Crypto) isn't "comfortable." When I play at Stars, everything is comfortable. The card size, chip counts, etc... UB is clunky. The software is fast and smooth, but the hole cards are huge, the board cards are small, and the fact that they use a blue $10 chip is messing me up.

Oh well ... looking at my already-accumulated rakeback stats ... I'll learn to like the software. :)

Until next time,

--
Lou

Grinding ... Zzzzzz

2005-08-27T03:04:00.000-04:00

Well, I'm grinding away.

The good thing I like about online poker is fact that I can log on, play a few orbits and leave. I get bored easily when I play longer sessions, so I think that my "freshness" is definitely helping sustain a higher winrate. I also like that I have many options at my disposal. NL, L, 6-Max, SnGs, MTTs, etc. With so much variety / game selection around the clock, there shouldn't be a reason you find yourself yawning in front of the computer.

I took advantage of Empire's reload, PLAYAUG for $100. Easy money, especially considering the soft micro-NL tables. I was able to clear the bonus with a profit. I finally created an Ultimate Bet account, so that's where I took my money next. $200 deposit bonus, but I'm more excited about getting 26% rakeback.

Once I got over $300, I switched to 6-max limit. I'm falling in love with this game. Right now, I'm playing $1/2, grinding my way up to $1200 , but I occassionally find myself in a good $2/4 game. I can say that 6-max variance is a mutha. Swings of 20 BBs seems common!? Damn. Something tells me that I'll need 400 BBs to take on $2/4. Time will tell.

Sometimes, you just gotta gamble.

Speaking of which, I gambled at chess this week. Lightfungus (from the TP forums) and I faced off on Yahoo. The first game was for $20. The second for $10. Luckily enough, I won both, and he was honest enough to pay up! Maybe I'll give you odds on the next game, light! (My "Chess$30" has grown to $141 on Stars!)

Having less than $50 sucks. :(

2005-08-12T07:38:00.000-04:00

What the fuck. How do you play "within your bankroll" without falling asleep? I should really sit at a regular game and play a few hands. I could get lucky and double / triple up... That would be interesting.

I've resigned myself to $6+.50 Turbo SnGs and $10NL (5c/10c).

Oh - whoever the fuck spammed my message box w/ stock bullshit... thanks.

I always thought this was a cool picture:

Oh well, that's it for now.

--
Lou

Weenie Roll Musings + Going Deep in a MTT.

2005-08-02T04:24:00.000-04:00

I'm in limbo, and it's strange.

I've taken the bar exam. That's over with. Now, I'm waiting for my second interview w/ a law firm, which looks positive. I'm confident - and the odds are better than a coinflip that they'll offer me a job. Problem is, for now I'm fartin around w/ $66 dollars PokerStars.

Outside of cheap buyin SnGs and MTTs, what can you do w/ $66 online? Microlimits? Boring. Maybe one session of a small stakes game? Risky. It's tough.

Tonight, I decided to risk 1/33 of my bankroll to play a $2 MTT on Stars. I have been going on and off over the last few days w/ Harrington on Hold'Em, so a cheap MTT would hit the spot. Long story short, I busted 49 / 1282 which is a feat in itself. After 3+ hours of work, I think I needed...

$6.42 - $2 = $4.42.

Booyah, muh fukka.

(Note: to read the longer story, I was updating live via a thread on TalkingPoker. The thread includes HHs and some comments back and forth b/n forum members. Check it out here.)

The past few MTTs have gone well, and my game is certainly picking up. Whenever I make a real deposit, I'll be playing more sattys. Since I live close to AC, I will be attempting to qualify for the Borgata Poker Open on FTP.

That would be interesting.

--
Lou

Trip Report: The PA + NJ Bar Exams.

2005-07-29T04:49:00.000-04:00

I figure since law school and, more specifically, studying for the PA + NJ bar exams has been the bane of my existence for the last three years, I should write up a "trip report" of my trials and tribulations of taking these two incredibly difficult and completely tiring / draining / frustrating exams.

A little bit of a disclaimer: this will probably wind up being long. As I sit here right now, I have already consumed 5 very large Tanqueray and Tonics with little food, and I'm happily working on my 6th. A bit tipsy, I'm surprised I'm still awake at 3:06a, considering I woke up at 5:55a earlier today. I will attempt, to the best of my ability, to break this up into sections to that it's somewhat easier to digest, but who knows how this drunken stupor will turn out.

The Bar Exam
Basically, almost every state's bar exam is broken up into two days: the essay day (which is state-law specific), and the 200 question multiple choice day (national law, ie - NOT state specific). Since I am taking two bar exams at once, I have three days of testing. One day is centered on PA's essays, one day for the multiple choice Q's (hereinafter referred to as "MBE Day"), and one day for NJ's essays. Three days in a row, roughly 7 hours per day. Yummy.

Monday - The Trip to Valley Forge, PA
Since I started on Tuesday, 07/26/05, with the PA essays, I had to drive to Valley Forge on Monday. The day just started off shitty. Since I was taking the PA essays via laptop, I had to buy a USB floppy drive. (Apparently, laptops don't come equipped w/ floppy drives anymore.) As usual, I waited until the day before the exam to get what I needed. I drove to my nearest computer store (CompUSA) and found that they only offered ONE brand of USB FD: a Sony for $53. I asked the kid working there:

"$53 for a USB Floppy Drive?"
"I know right? It's kind of ridiculous considering they are almost non-existent."
"Thanks."
"You should try Best Buy."

I didn't have time to go to another store, let alone BEST BUY. I needed to get to Valley Forge to look over more PA corporate law. I bought the USB FD and got on the road. Here we go...

If you 've never been to Valley Forge, it's a veritable hub in Pennsylvania. The area is covered in expressways, freeways, highways, on ramps and off ramps. It's just a fucking mess. I had printed out directions via MapQuest, and my goal was to get to my hotel and get back and forth to the testing site. I should have known better.

I rented a room for two nights at the Motel 6. At $60 a night, I couldn't beat it. Besides, the area was packed w/ bar examinees (1700 applicants reporting to Valley Forge!), and this was just about the only thing I could get into. I was pleasantly surprised - it definitely wasn't as bad as I imagined. The bathroom sparkled (a huge plus) and the air conditioner was on when I walked in the door. There was a nice sized desk for last minute cramming, and it even had a TV w/ cable!

I unpacked, studied for about 6 or 7 hours, and called it a night. I popped three Tylenol PMs to ensure a good night's rest - got in bed by 10pm and called my girlfriend. So far, so good. Everything was going as planned, and "legal" confidence level felt high.

Tuesday / Day One: PA ESSAYS
The morning was a shitty mess. I stumbled out of bed at 6:15a, still a bit hazy thanks to my self-inflicted overdose of Tylenol PMs, and I got in the shower. I slammed a Dr. Pepper for early-morning caffiene, and that brought me to a more accute sense of reality. I packed what I needed for the day: laptop, USB floppy drive, USB mouse, admission ticket, etc, and was on my way out when I decided to clean my glasses. (Note: I didn't want to be bothered w/ contacts while on this trip, so I just planned on taking my glasses.)

The right lens popped out. I tried to pop it back in, then the screw fell out. Now, the glasses are completely useless. I don't have time to fumble w/ them, so I head out. You should realize that I don't need glasses to read, I need them to drive. Distance stuff. You get where this is going. To make a long story shorter, I get lost driving to the testing center. MapQuest's ultra-specific directions coupled w/ the morning rush hour congestion and the fact that I can't see sends me on a 40 minute joyride around the area. Just to put this in perspective, you should realize that the Motel 6 is listed as "4" minutes from the VF Convention Center. I guess I missed a turn.

I left very early, and luckily, I was able to get there on time, THANK YOU JESUS! I smoked a cigarette w/ some friends and tried to calm down before the test.

Big convention center. Multiple rooms, countless number of proctors, an administrator on a loud speaker. 1/2 hour of testing instructions, and then we begin the exam. Since I am sitting w/ about 900 examinees who are typing, and I feel like I'm up against everyone else. I have no idea how much *they* have prepared, and that alone is scary. The morning consisted of a double essay (90 mins) and two regular essays (45 mins each). Even though I was reading and primarily writing my ass off for 3 hours, it felt like 10 minutes. I'm trying to think back to Tuesday morning as I type this, and I just can't.

PA Essays are tricky. They are very very specific. For example, there will be a fact pattern followed by four specific questions: an income tax liability question, a question about the validity of Tony's will, etc etc... just very specific. There is little to no "wiggle" room, and it seems like the PA examiners care less if you spot the issue, and more if you know the law. I didn't feel like I stuggled (w/ the law) in the morning session, although time was a slight issue. At this point, I felt like someone hit me in the head w/ a wooden chess piece. Slight headache ... but nothing I'm not used to.

Forget the comments about lunch, it was probably the worst turkey club sandwich I ever ate.

After bullshitting w/ friends and smoking more cigarettes, I was back in for the afternoon session. The four afternoon essays went alright. They were a little harder and challenging than the morning essays, and I was tripped up on two issues. Other than that, I felt somewhat good. But then again, who knows. Like I said before, I'm taking this same exam w/ 1700 people, and I'd bet a good amount of money that a LOT of them are fuckin nerds. LOL.

The plans were for a bunch of us to finish with "Day One" and grab food together. I think it was originally supposed to be a restaurant thing, but I had to bail. I wasn't in the mood to be social: I had a huge headache at this point, and I needed to get back to my room, order food, and take more Tylenol.

My "plan" was to eat, get rid of my headache, and look over notecards and outlines to prepare for the following day. That didn't really work out because my headache took 4 hours to dissipate. I studied for about an hour ... MAYBE an hour and a half, but I just needed to recover. PA Essay day was just rough. Mentally and physically draining. I wanted to be in top shape for tomorrow's 200 question fiasco. The medicine? The lights off, food, water, and ESPN! I was able to check out some of the Atlantic City WSOP Circuit Event, where GambleAB had a great showing. Way to go, Aaron. This got me back to reality and before I knew it, I was waking up for day two...

Wednesday / Day Two: MBE
Not much of a morning fiasco. I had to check out of my room in the morning, because at the end of today's test, I had to drive an hour and a half to my NJ hotel for the next day's portion of the exam. With my car packed, another Dr. Pepper down my throat, and completely checked out of the Motel 6, I was refreshed, ready for another day, and found myself outside, again, talking w/ friends before the exam sucking down more cigarettes. I love 'em.

Anyway, 100 MBEs are given in the morning, and 100 in the afternoon. When you get to question 50, you're kind of tired. Day 1 is all about writing, while Day 2 is all about reading. It's tough because you gotta stay sharp. Sometimes, the answer will turn on ONE SINGLE WORD (like "intent") that you could have easily missed in the fact pattern - and then there goes the correct answer. Completing the 100th question is a blessing because you get a break and a chance to stretch your legs.

While on lunch, people start getting stir crazy. People are laughing louder and talking more ... non-smokers are bumming cigarettes ... there's a tension in the air that's comprised of fear, anxiety, and shock. It's just a crazy experience.

I tried to gather my thoughts. This is where I gotta stay focused. Stay sharp. Reassure myself that I know the law. If the question is tricky, find out the trick, because it's not something I didn't read or study. I went back in for the afternoon and finished up. Who knows... we'll see what happens.

After the exam, and before flocking to NJ, I went to dinner w/ a few friends. It was a small group, 4 total, and it was a good way to chill out. We each had a beer and lightly talked over some specific Q's from earlier in the day. None of us wanted to talk about the bar exam, but it was impossible not to. Dinner was good, and we were on our way to Dirty Jerz. The last day of testing is another day of essays. The drive took just under 2 hours, when you factor in traffic, which gave me a lot of time to think. I wanted my life back. I miss going out at night. I miss the casino or having an online bankroll. I need another beer. I need to play a SnG. Something. Just something resembling my normal life.

The Hotel in Jersey was the Clarion Suites. I made sure the room had 2 double beds because I was rooming w/ one of my law school buddies. We got the room, instantly went out to get a 6-pack we could split, and spent an hour reviewing New Jersey civil procedure. We concluded that the only thing the NJ bar examiners could test us on was personal jurisdiction, so we spent the majority of our hour burning that into our brains.

The beers went down beautifully, btw.

Thursday / Day Three: NJ ESSAYS
I got up at 5:55a. I wanted to be the first one in the shower simply b/c I didn't know what Todd was prepared to do in there. We got breakfast at the hotel lobby (free breakfast buffet, btw!) and headed to the NJ testing site. Here we go again.

A word about the NJ essays. If you actually read everything so far, you remember me talking about the PA essays being very specific. NJ essays are the complete opposite. While PA essays ask 2-3 or 4 different areas of law in one question, NJ restricts whole essay to cover one general topic. So, going into the exam knowing I'd have to write 7 essays, I know they each cover: criminal law, contracts, constitutional law, nj civil procedure, torts, evidence, and property. Although it sounds easier, it's not. NJ gives a RIDICULOUSLY issue-laden fact pattern, and every question is simply, "Write a memo discussing all possible claims, suits, and defenses, and the strength of each."

Wow.

In 45 minutes, you are writing your ass off. Another problem is that NJ doesn't allow you to type the exam unless you were picked in a "laptop lottery." I wasn't picked. So now, I have to write for 7 hours. My hand was falling off.

I won't go into details, but the Contracts question was the hardest by far. I had to have bullshitted half off it, but I think I did alright in the others. I hope.

Handing in my final essays gave me a feeling I can't describe. A weight has been lifted. That's all I can say. People were estatic outside the testing center at the end of the day - smiles from ear to ear. A good amount of them will pass ... others will be back... but the feeling at that time can't be put into words. At least not by me.

The hour and a half ride home was annoying, but I didn't care.

I walked into my apartment, hugged and kissed my girlfriend and said, "I'm home. I hope I passed."

Miscellaneous Crap
These exams are not easy. To lighten the stress level, everyone jokes about failing and how they'll be back in 6 months retaking. It's fucking scary. I don't mind the actual test itself ... I know how to do multiple choice questions and by this point I can write a somewhat-coherant essay, but the idea of having to study (like I did) again is terrifying.

Well, at this point, all I can do is sit and wait. Results for PA should be posted by the first or second week of October, and NJ posts in mid-November. I got fingers, toes, legs and arms crossed that I hit the right issues, analyzed how I should, and circled the correct answer, but you never know.

It's been a long day, and an even longer week.

If you made it this long ... thanks for reading,

--
Lou

WSOP Shout Outs!!

2005-07-14T21:37:00.000-04:00

Congrats to two people this year:

First, Jordan "FellKnight" Davenport. You must have had a hell of a time kid, keep up the good work. We'll talk when you get back from Vegas.

Second, Mark P. (aka "TP"), who is the admin for TalkingPoker.com . Mark placed 6th yesterday in the $1000 NL Event! The tournament had 971 entrants, so 6th place is very impressive. I'm sure he'll find something to do w/ that ~$44,000 payday. :) Within the next few days, he will post pictures and a tournament report in the forum, so be sure to check it out. Final-tabling a WSOP event must feel great.

Congrats guys!

Nice showing.

--
Lou

Blogger Update...

2005-07-14T02:25:00.000-04:00

Two quick and easy blogger changes / additions:

1) New comments section ... now it's a pop-up window. wOOt.
2) Reading Material - (my new section) on the sidebar. Email me or leave a comment if you want to share links.

Bar Exam Musings
12 days left. That's less than two weeks. This is where the paranoia sets in, because I find myself sometimes "on-track" and then sometimes confused. I'd like to think that I'm prepared - especially considering the amount of law I've been injesting day-in and day-out, but I'll never know until July 26th.

Poker withdrawal,

--
Lou

I miss poker.

2005-07-03T22:42:00.000-04:00

At the beginning of June, I cashed out my poker bankroll so that I could eliminate the "poker" distraction while I study for the PA and NJ bar exams. Studying for this shit has been very draining, this nerd isn't about to take the bar exam twice.

The one piece of good news I can report is that I have a second interview scheduled in August with a civil litigation firm in New Jersey. Looking forward to it ... I guess I have to just go in there and not fuck up. :)

Anyway, I have given up on blogging for now - but I hope to start back up once I take the bar (late-July) and re-deposit.

--
Lou

Continuation Bets in NLHE.

2005-06-04T23:35:00.000-04:00

I wrote this piece on continuation in response to a thread started by one of the TalkingPoker.com forum members. There was a glaring mistake on his part, and the subject of continuation bets came up in the context of no limit hold em tournaments.

Continuation Bets

Although the subject of continuation bets is easy to elucidate in one sentence, there seems (to me) many nuances unbeknowst to a vast majority of players. Hopefully, without spending too much time away from actually playing poker, I can cover a few of the bases.

Simply put: continuation bets are bets made on the flop, which, in essence, continue the action. You continue to be the aggressor. This is very important. If you are the aggressor pre-flop, then you have opened with a raise. Continuation bets occur when, on the flop, it's either checked to you, or you open with a bet - EVEN THOUGH YOU MISSED THE FLOP.

Example
NLHE Tournament, 100/200 blinds. The action is folded to you, as you sit in the CO position with ATs, and you raise to 600. The button folds, SB calls, and the BB folds. Two players see the flop, which brings a K 9 2. The SB checks. Now, the action is to you.

The correct play here is to bet. Yes, you missed the flop, but your opponent doesn't know that. You took the role as aggressor pre-flop (by raising), and now you are continuing the action by betting out on the flop. You again, force your opponent to make a decision. Most likely, if your opponent missed the flop as well, he will fold, simply because he won't risk more chips to a pre-flop raiser who also followed up with a bet on the flop. I will discuss how much to bet below.

How Much To Bet
In my experience, I like betting 1/2 to 2/3 the pot. Simple math will help you derive this number. While 2/3 may seem high, keep in mind that aggression (in NLHE tournaments is a good thing). I don't prefer a pot-sized bet, just because I think it's overkill ... but to each his own.

Look At The Flops
I wouldn't say to make a continuation bet EVERY TIME you see a flop. Example: You have 55, and the flop comes AK6. Someone called your pre-flop raise of 5xBB. This flop is a little too dangerous in most circumstances. I would probably save the chips and wait for a better spot.

Limit HE v. No Limit HE
The beauty of continuation betting is hard to understand while playing limit holdem. The reason being, in NL, you can easily snap off 1/2 or 2/3 the pot after showing serious aggression with a 3-5xBB PFR. This bet on the flop (1/2, 2/3) is often enough to push someone off a pot - especially when they missed. Playing L, on the other hand, betting out on the flop probably won't be enough to scare someone off, so just keep in mind that continuations usually work better in NL than L.

Stuff To Keep In Mind

The fact that you are making a continuation bet means you missed the flop. If you raised preflop, then subsequently HIT the flop, then your bet is for value.
The main goal is to win the pot with the continuation bet right there on the flop. If it was checked to you, you made a continuation bet, and then someone smooth-called, then proceed with caution.
Usually (and I say this loosely), CBs work best in late position.
As the # of players in the hand go down, the power of your continuation bet goes up. That is, if the hand is heads up, your continuation bet is most powerful. Why? The more players in the hand, the higher chance that someone actually hit the flop.

Hopefully, this helps. If you are serious about playing NLHE (tournaments OR ring games) you should have this in your arsenal ... ready and waiting!

GL.

--
Lou

Done w/ Law School ... Unofficially. :o)

2005-05-15T02:27:00.000-04:00

My week started off shitty. Sunday met me with a terrible hangover and a shitty chest cold. Maybe it was the flu. I'm sure the ~20 Gin-n-Tonics the night before didn't help. Anyway, I had to write a write collar crime take-home final AND study for Wills & Trusts AND finish clearing a poker bonus. Too much to handle when I feel like a crabby motherfucker.

The WCC paper went fine. Finished it in just under 4 hours, and a little over 11 pages. I realized, at that point, I only had one more final exam ... for the rest of my life! (Ok, so I'm not counting the BAR exam. Get off it.)

My last final, Wills & Trusts, was scheduled for 2pm on Saturday afternoon. I woke up early to get to Delaware... gave my brain another hour of intestate succession review, and then took a four-hour essay final. Finishing the exam, I lit a cigarette as I walked out of the building. On this beautiful May day, I realized I just finished 3 years of graduate education. Nevermind the student loans ... god damn that cigarette tasted good.

Until next time,

--
Lou

Full Tilt $20+2 NLHE Report

2005-05-10T12:04:00.000-04:00

The tournament started at 12am, so I knew there wasn't going to be a huge field. Registration closed, and 202 players began moving their stacks.

First Hour
During the first few orbits of the first hour, I didn't get a thing. I wound up paying the blinds for about 3-4 orbits until I got AA. I raised 5xBB. Someone called. The flop came low cards, and he bet into me. I raise him, and he pushes. Ok call. He flips TT, and my Aces hold up. This puts me 10th overall in chips.

My only other notable hand within the first hour was AKo. Again, I raised 5xBB, this time, with 2 callers. The flop came all low spades (my ace was a spade), and I bet out. They folded, and I took down a decent pot. This put me 16/140.

Second Hour
I began the second hour ranked 27 out of 95. I liked my stack going in, because I had the chips to adequately blind steal. I got a few hands I PFRed with, and not only did I miss the flop, but the flops were scary. I wasn't gettin anything, I the blinds grew fast.

I found myself w/ 22xx in chips, and the avg was right around 4200. With 100/200 blinds, I opened with QJs in LP (I believe), making it $1000 to go. I don't want a caller here! Anyway, table chipleader (and big stack in the tournament) raises. She's using her stack to push around a small stack (me) so being pot committed, I pushed. Luckily, it worked out. Her 88 didn't improve, and I caught a runner-runner straight. WOW. Finally, I won a coinflip! My stack, at that point, was just about average again - putting me 23/57.

Third Hour
Right before the third hour, I went on a rush. I was moved to a much easier table. I began the third hour 7/33 (top 27 payout). Getting ITM was easy with a "final-table" stack. A few minutes later, I'm still pounding away: 7/22.

Now, I'm 7/14. Still doing very well, and there are only 2 tables left. I have ~15 or 16k in chips, and the tournament short stacks have around 7k. It seemed like EVERYONE at my table had a good stack. One player had close to 40k.

I wound up busting out at 13th. Here's what happened:

I wasn't in too bad of shape... I made a steal with QJs, and someone who had me very covered moved all-in. I thought for a while then folded. He was a conservative player, and I had to respect his raise. I figure he's not going to show that much strengh with anything that I'll have dominated (or maybe he would)... either way, that was a healthy chunk of my stack I just gave away.

With blinds at 600/1200 + ante, I had a stack of less than 10xBB. I found myself on the button w/ KJs. Someone in MP raised to 5k, and although I would normally consider whether or not he was bling stealing (or legitimately raising), this person was VERY aggressive pre-flop. Every two or three hands, he was raising. I figured this was my chance to do something, so I pushed. He thought about the call, and then called...

He flips ATo, and my KJs doesn't improve. I was happy that my cards were live, but nothing panned out. I COULD have waited for a better spot, but I pushed for 2 reasons: (1) I'd rather get deeper in the money than just gain a spot or two, and (2) he was a very aggressive player pre-flop, this might have been a good place to stomp his ass.

13th place paid a whopping $40.40. Ahh, can't complain. Last three MTTs I got ITM twice, including 1 final table.

That's it for now,

--
Lou

Party Steps, Boring $100NL, and a NoblePoker MTT.

2005-05-03T03:05:00.000-04:00

Tonight was disappointing. Where to begin?

Earlier in the night I caught up with SirNerdMan on Party. He's reinventing himself after a bankroll shattering blow during the last few weeks, and now he's strictly a Stud player. I told him I would play some Stud for fun, and at $.50/$1, at least it wasn't going to break me. :) I didn't keep track of how Nerdboy was doing, but I think I wound up making $5 or $6 in a 30 minute session.

Party Step Tournaments
When I sat down for the night with no distractions, I started my frist crack at Step 2. (If you're confused, click here for more info.) I had won my seat into Step 2 last night, when I placed 1st in a Step 1. The tournament started off great. One player dropped within the first 3 hands, and before we got out of the first orbit, I managed to nearly double up. I played for 5th (because I did NOT want to repeat Step 1) and once I got there, I turned up the throttle.

With the blinds at 100/200, I became the chip leader at the table with 4 left. This was perfect: my first attempt at Step 2, and I certainly feel confident about making it to Step 3. Player 4 was knocked out shortly thereafter, leaving us 3 handed. I was still the chip leader, but only by a small amount. I considered becoming ultra tight - to possibly squeak into 2nd - but something just didn't feel right about that. Besides, at this point, the blinds are 200/400, and if my opponents catch on, then they'll let the blinds eat me up.

I made a blind steal on the short stack w/ A80 (a good hand 3-way!) and he goes all-in. I only had to call about 600 more... He flips QQ, and my lone Ace doesn't improve. Now, I'm the short stack. Realizing that I have to make a move within the next few hands, I get a mediocre pocket pair and push. Of course, I'm called by Kxo, and a King on the flop seals my fate.

It is VERY disappointing to get knocked out 3rd. Especially when I was the chip leader going into it.

$100NL
While playing the early stages of my Step tourney, I multi-tabled $100NL. Didn't get anything notable, and when I attempted 2 or 3 LP steals, but they were all raised. Oh well. I was also dealt an unusual amount of low-mid pocket pairs, but none of them hit a set.

Noble Poker $3+R MTT
The best part of my night came when I final-tabled a MTT on Noble Poker. The tournament started at 1am, and it was a cheap $3+R. I was surprised at the amount of action. I guess because it was rebuy, people played poker like fucking idiots, but it didn't bother me - I was able to pick up AA, KK, AKs almost consecutively. All three held up, and that put me in the chip lead.

When I got to the final table, I held a below-average stack w/ $10,000. Blinds were at 400/800. The chip-leaders had an overwhelming number of chips, and with the blinds increasing, I knew I had to do something. I waited for cards, and with a stack of ~T$8000, I pushed with 77. Someone insta-calls and flips JJ. Of course I don't improve, and I'm busted out 7th. I could have sat and waited longer, but I'd rather play for first than play for a higher spot or two.

Hey, at least I didn't have to rebuy. :)

7th Place = $17.70
Buyin + Rake = $3.30
Add-on = $3
----------------------------
Net Profit = $11.40

Motherfuckin' BOOYAH!!!

--
Lou

Blah.

2005-05-01T04:57:00.000-04:00

The last few weeks have been busy!

I was able to take advantage of two Party reloads (BONUSAPR and COMPBONUS) and both times I cleared the bonus with a profit. The games on Party have been looser and looser, or maybe I passed another milestone. The hell if I know what exactly that is - but I've been red hot lately. It's a good thing.

Law School Draws To A Close
The BIG news is that finally, after three years of torture and disgust, I went to my last law school class on Thursday afternoon. What a fuckin relief. Seven years of post high-school education, and I'm still here. I do have a few finals to take, which would completely finish up my semester ... then I graduate, and immediately begin studying for the bar exams. After July 28th, I will be a FREE MAN.

Home Game Musings
Tonight I made an appearance at (what has been) a very lucrative home game. As I posted before, this is a $1/2 NL game with a varied group of players. Most are playing for fun, others are gamblers, and fewer are actually cardplayers. It's not hard to establish a good table image, bluff-raise, or and ven take down pots in LP with a small bet.

I wasn't even planning on playing until my friend called me and told me about his $600 net win from last weekend, when he had KK v. QQ v. AKs, and his Kings held up. He told me that the game was still very soft, and I should do what I could to get there. Tonight wasn't as lucrative. I can't really say that I played badly - I just wasn't getting playable hands. I'm used to 4-tabling, and seeing alot of hands... and tonight was putting me to sleep.

I managed a $60 win, but when you're dealing with $1/2 NL, that's not exactly a big pull.

Just got 3rd in a SnG. Biggest waste of 40 minutes in my life.

Until next time,

--
Lou

Frustrating Night - But Not So Damaging...

2005-04-21T03:21:00.000-04:00

Well, as everyone should know by now, the Party Bad Beat Jackpot is close to $475,000. This is enough for me to sit and play LHE, which I did while playing SnGs and NL cash games. SnG's went fucking great: two finishes on the bubble. Nothing feels so rewarding. SnG's used to be my bread and butter back in the day, and (although I haven't been playing them with much regularity) I'm definitely out of the game.

My frustrating night actually started earlier in the day, playing Full Tilt Poker while in White Collar Crime class. (God Bless the wireless internet connection!) I dropped $65 playing $.50/$1 NL, which isn't too bad, but of course it's not a win. Losing money while playing poker in class was inevitable - not only am I in a BORING class, but I'm losing money in the process. I tried to get it back but I couldn't put anything together. I logged off being stuck ~$60.

Later That Night...
I log back on to recoup my lost $60, and of course, to hit the Jackpot. I started with a $2/4 BBJ limit table, a $100NL table with SirNerdman, and a SnG. Nerdman was on serious tilt, but all three of my tables started off well. Within the first orbit of $2/4 limit, I win a $50-some dollar pot. I also make some money at NL. Then my luck turns to shit.

I bubble on the SnG. Not a big deal, it was $10/1. Honestly, I want to get back into these because they were so lucrative in the past.
I hit a set playing $100NL, and I'm beat by a higher set. As the saying goes, if you flop a set, and lose to a higher set (and you didn't lose alot of money), then you didn't play it correctly. Well, let's just say I played it correctly.
BBJ Tables: my KK loses to someone elses AA. Twice. LOL. How many times in a night does that happen? And yes, they were healthy pots.
Bubbled on the SnG again. As George Bush would say, "You're not gonna trick me twice!" Well, I guess they did -- another bad finish.
Flush loses to Full Fouse. Not too extraordinary, but he runner-runnered his boat after I flopped my flush. Just frustrating!

Nevertheless, with all these beats / losses, I still only managed to lose another $60 in my "night" session. It's never fun to lose, but through all this shit, I did manage to keep myself composed and make the best of my situation. I did win some nice pots ... and variance was in full effect tonight.

What Would You Do With The Money?
The BBJ keeps me salivating. In one hand, lots of things in my life could turn around. For one: hitting a jackpot and being in the position to pay off law school debt would have me creaming my pants for a week. Ok, enough on that.

Right now, I'm playing a BBJ table with ChipFish from the TalkingPoker forums. Maybe we'll hit it.

That's it for now,

--
Lou

$100NL + $200NL = Good Weekend.

2005-04-19T21:17:00.000-04:00

I had a really good weekend with online poker. First off, I signed up with PokerNOW, which is another PartyPoker skin. They offer a sign up bonus, which I was able to take advantage of once I consolidated my online bank accounts. It's tricky to download and sign up under with the various Party skins, so here's how to do it:

Signing Up With A Party Skin
You need to download the program on a clean computer. By "clean," I mean a computer which does not already have a Party skin already installed. If you have Empire, Party, etc - then you'll need to use a friend's computer. Once you download the program [on the clean computer], you need to provide them with a clean email address. Again, a clean email address is one which is not already linked to any other Party skin poker room. Once you register a screenname, and sign up, you can then uninstall the program. Back on your regular computer, you can download the client, install, and sign in. If you are using Neteller, all works very smoothly. This is a greay way to take advantage of all the free money out there.

I love playing when everything seems to go right: you hit flush draws when you're supposed to, your pocket pairs hit their sets, and your two pair stays good throughout the hand. I had a few $200+ pots at $100NL in my favor, and I got close to doubling my bankroll. I don't feel like going thru my PokerTracker to find a hand worth publishing, but I hope you've been having the (poker) luck I've had.

The Office... has got to be the funniest show on television right now. Tuesdays, NBC @ 9:30pm EST.

That's it for now,

--
Lou

Long Needed Update.

2005-04-13T21:31:00.000-04:00

It's been a while... here's an update.

Simply put, I haven't been playing much poker. Life itself has been a pain in my ass. I finally finished up with my PA + NJ bar applications (-$1115), and I'm in the process of obtaining the supplemental documents: driver's abstracts, criminal history checks, fingerprints, etc. All of that, of course, costs money.

Well, it seems that I'm dangerously close to being out of water, as my Poland Spring gallon is getting lighter and lighter. Can't connect to Party, nothing on TV, and now I'm out of water. Living in a dorm room sucks.

More of an update next time,

--
Lou

Party Reload: BONUSMAR

2005-03-18T17:16:00.000-05:00

Holllllaaaa!

BONUSMAR

20% deposit up to $500 is such a sweet deal. Thank you Party! I'm undecided where I want to feed... Normally, I would sit at cheap NL tables and work away the hand requirements, but Party's 6-max limit tables have been unbelievable. I think I have a new favorite game.

The Biggest Fish on Party.
You really have no idea. I've never seen anyone else like this, and I've played alot of poker. First, let me set the stage: PartyPoker, 6-max $2/4 limit. I just sat down to complete the table and most chip stacks were average except for two people. One guy had $200 and the other had about $180. I waited one hand to come in as the BB.

I noticed a player raised PF, which is normal at this game, then I noticed someone else re-raised, everyone else folds, the other player calls. Two players to the flop. EP (we'll call him FISH) bets, LP raises, EP re-raises!, LP calls. Turn: FISH bets, LP calls. River brings the 4th diamond on board. FISH bets, LP raises, FISH re-raises, LP caps, FISH calls.

This is the first hand I saw, and it's obvious that "FISH" is a maniac. I put LP player on a high diamond. He turned over the ace of diamonds and took the pot. FISH didn't show his hand, so I checked the hand history. J5o - which gave him a pair of 5s. WHAT?

For the rest of the session, he raised pre-flop EVERY SINGLE HAND. In most cases, he would raise or re-raise the flop. In a word: amazing. I have him buddy-listed. And I will NOT give his name out.

Muahahahaha.

I'm RICH bitch!

--
Lou

Still Riding My Wave.

2005-03-16T03:04:00.000-05:00

Quick Updizzle.

Full Tilt has been shitty. (Notwithstanding the fact that my avatar is a disco-looking black guy with an afro reminiscent of one Eddie Gordo a la Tekken.) The players are rocks, IMO, and the most you're going to see online is maybe 3500. This makes game selection pretty bad. It is good in a way, because you begin recognizing the same people over and over. Took a tough hit when AA lost to 9To. Someone raised 3xBB before me, I made it 6BB to go, and this brilliant fellow called with 9To. Of course he flops a straight, and I overplay my Aces. He was a very loose, unrelentingly (sp?) aggressive player, and I was sure this was the hand he was going to double me up. Obviously that didn't happen. But, I'll have him calling me everytime, if he wants to play 9To for 6xBB. I just got unlucky. It happens.

On Party, they win on the river. On Full Tilt, they out-flop you.

FTP w/ Bloggers - Monday Night.
I did manage to sit with Pauly and Sir and within a half-hour, there were 4-5 bloggers lined up on the waiting list. It was a good time. Pauly is a formidable player. I'll let him keep thinking he's good in late position when he makes those steals... one of these times, I'll be slowplaying!! We were playing at Chris Ferguson's table - too bad he didn't show up... we would have slaughtered him.

Party SnGs - Later that Night...
The SnGs on Party have been tight - to say the least. Maybe people are catching on? Nah, it can't be. In a $30/3 SnG, the first player got eliminated in the middle of Level 4. I've never seen that before. Too bad my JJ didn't hold up against Axs. Maybe because it was a $30/3 tourney. Who knows.

Party NL Ring - Tuesday Night.
Sir wanted to sit at the same NL game, and we both did very well. He netted $31 and I walked away +$76. I made a great call w/ Aces to take down a very handsome pot, and my A-high flush hit on the river to win another $25. I also made some very good lay downs after my pre-flop raise was re-raised. AJs, KQo, and AQs. I was dominated each time, and I knew to make the laydown. More impressive (IMO) than the $76 pull.

Party L $1/2 6-Max - Later that Night...
Starting to dabble more and more with the shorthanded limit tables. $1/2 is fine for now - just to get a feel for the players. +$30. The players don't make adjustments for SH play, and there seems to be a lot of money to be made at these tables. This particular table was like playing kickball. I know it's cheap limits for some of you, but I'm never going to complain when I make 15BB in 15 minutes.

Now that I'm thinking about it... I haven't hit a set in 3-4 days. Tomorrow should be profitable.

I have given MTTs a rest, but I'm starting to feel the itch. "C'mon, I need a taste." I feel myself giving in.

--
Lou

Poker Has Been Good Lately.

2005-03-10T04:55:00.000-05:00

From winning a few SnG's, doubling some buyins at the $100NL tables, and winning again at my friend's home game, I'm pulling a nice profit during a very relaxing spring break.

SnGs
Used to be my bread and butter, now I play them for a break from cash games. I have noticed that once 4-5 people get eliminated (which is always within the first 3 orbits) the tables do seem to tighten up. I have been doing well, but the tables aren't as fishy as before. Suffice it to say, they are still very profitable.

$100NL
The most profitable game on Party thus far - at least this week! The players are as bad as one could imagine. Party is certainly the fishiest site on the internet. People are still calling down with second pair, chasing runner runner flushes, and overplaying TPTK. I really thought there would be a big change from the $25NL and $50NL tables, but I haven't seen one yet. It's amazing how people love to piss money away.

$1/2 NL Home Game
I wrote about this game before and I made more this time than I did last. The caliber of players is simply amazing: 7 player table, and people are still calling a standard raise w/ K7o. The night was a blur - so it's hard for me to recall specific hands, but probably the most memorable was flopping a straight w/ 79o (BB Special!) while another player flopped two pair. There was one better player in the game this time, but he's not too hard to dodge at a full table. Things got tricky when we went down to three players (still playing $1/2NL) and he chased twice. And of course, hit on the river. That was probably an $80 downswing, but I had about 75% of the tables chips in front of me, so those beats turned my great night into a "just-ok" night. But I can't complain - I know for the next few weeks I'll be itching to get back there.

A quick shout out to Mike who got rivered a few too many times during the home game. You played well, but they got lucky when they chased... we both know it happens. Keep your chin up, regroup, and we'll have no problem cutting up the game another time.

That's it for now. It's 5:11am, and the RedBull wore off 3 hours ago.

--
Lou

MTTs Can Be Disappointing.

2005-03-04T02:09:00.000-05:00

Sometimes, I get bored of NL ring games. Limit hold'em puts me to sleep. I don't know what it is ... I look forward to playing, but once I'm settled in, I start getting distracted. I realize that I'm not losing any bets due to my distraction, but when you play the same way, over and over, poker can be boring.

To spice things up, I occassionally play NLHE tournaments. Last night, I did pretty well. I'll set the stage.

Pokerstars, $5+.50 NLHE, 1247 entrants.
To begin, let me start off by saying that first place looked very sweet at ~$1500! It would be nice to turn $5.50 into that. Poppa needs new shoes. And a new suit. Maybe some new ties. Anyway, nothing special happened during the first few rounds. Right before the break I was able to double up with JJ v. TT.

After the first break, it got interesting. my set of 88s lost to a runner runner flush, taking a huge chunk out of my stack. I found myself w/ 10x the BB, and I knew I was treading "all-in" or fold water. I was getting mediocre hands in EP and worse hands in late position: things weren't looking good. Finally, I got KK and pushed. One caller. He flips AA and laughs at me. I never saw this before, but the board came out: A 4 5 ... 3 ... 2! Hah. We split. He laughed again, telling me how lucky AND stupid I was. Whatever. Soon thereafter I was able to pick up a few blinds and scratch my way back to an average chip stack. Second break soon arrived.

I must have stayed average for a while. The tables started to tighten up once we got to ~350 players. I was able to maintain an average chip stack - which is better than nothing! Out of nowhere, I doubled up. Twice. This put me in a really good position. I was well within the top 30 chipstacks, and "making the money" was no problem at all. I wish I could remember some specific hands, but sadly, I only remember the two which knocked me out.

Around 70 players left, I get KK. Note that my stack is very healthy, as I'm ranked 8th in chips. Standard, 3xBB raise. Folded around to a re-raiser! I move all-in (I have him more than covered) and he calls, flipping over AA. That's just bad luck. Seriously though ... how does that happen TWICE in the same tournament?

That hand put me back to average... actually a little below. Down to 54 players, I made a move w/ 33 in late position, raising 4xBB. The BB calls. Flop comes x3x ... he bets allin (he's got me completely covered) but this is an easy call. He shows KK.

Of course, as luck would have it, a K comes and I'm out.

Overall, it was a fun tournament; I added a few things to my arsenal - but I can't help but feel disappointed. Looking down and seeing that you're sitting on the 8th best chip stack when there's only 70 left is awesome... subsequently losing it all and finishing 54th is a mess.

Oh well, tomorrow is another day.

--
Lou

Making The Most Of Your Power Hands.

2005-03-01T02:35:00.000-05:00

Another MTT Qualifier
I played in PartyPoker's Quarter Million NLHE MTT Qualifier ($200+15) for $9+1. 560 total entrants, and after 3 hours, I find myself amongst the final 35. Only the top 23 got entries to the big tournament, but 24th, 25th, and 26th paid out cash prizes. My chip stack was only about 9 BBs, so it was getting to the All-in or flod phase. I was very happy w/ my tournament play so far, and I had the fullest confidence of satellite-ing. For some reason, the tournament went hand-for-hand, and I still can't figure out why. There were 4 tables going, and we weren't on the bubble. Who knows.

The Hand That Put Me Out
I'm UTG+1 and FINALLY get a good hand, KK. At this point, the tournament noticeably tightened up. With a chipstack consisting of only 9 BBs, I go all-in, hoping to get called by a dominated hand. My wish came true. A big stack called and flipped JJ. I was the winner until the river, where, of course, a Jack spiked. I wasn't frustrated w/ the beat - because if you play a lot of hands, then you just get used to them. I was pissed off that over 3 hours of my time was spent for nothing. AND I wound up being another $9+1 donator. UGH!!! If this was a cash MTT, I would have at least made the money! FUCK.

Making The Most...
$50 NL Hold'em - Tuesday, March 01, 02:31:38 EDT 2005
Table Antiques (Real Money)
Seat 10 is the button
Total number of players : 10
Seat 3: JZMoney ( $123.88 )
Seat 4: Holduc ( $118.68 )
Seat 5: mcnamee80 ( $57.85 )
Seat 7: Phallicon ( $60.8 )
Seat 9: cheifaceking ( $78.05 )
Seat 10: AAPleague ( $69.97 )
Seat 8: Aequitas58 ( $49.8 )

// At this point, I'm multitabling 3 NL tables, and my overall session for the night isn't a good one. Besides busting out so close to the "money" in the qualifier, KK lost to AA, and KK lost to 77, when a 7 hit an earlier flop. At this point, I was ready to go to bed, but I was playing till the blinds hit me.

Seat 2: HighRides ( $61.4 )
Seat 6: kecodon563 ( $45 )
Seat 1: ryand02 ( $50 )
HighRides posts small blind [$0.5].
JZMoney is sitting out.
Holduc posts big blind [$1].
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to Aequitas58 [ Td Ts ]
mcnamee80 folds.
JZMoney has left the table.
kecodon563 folds.
Phallicon raises [$2].
Aequitas58 calls [$2].

// Tens are a good hand in NL, especially in late position. I elect to call here for two reasons: (1) I have no problem taking a stab at the pot if an overcard hits, but I want to see what happens before I get too much money in, and (2) like I said earlier, the night wasn't going as well as I wanted. I kept getting chinned, and I wasn't about to get caught up w/ TT when none of my earlier pocket pairs were winning.

cheifaceking folds.
AAPleague folds.
HighRides folds.
Holduc folds.

// Well, I'm last to act. That worked out.

** Dealing Flop ** [ 2d, 6c, Tc ]
>You have options at Cash n Cash Table!.
cyberSTACK has joined the table.
Phallicon bets [$4].
Aequitas58 calls [$4].

// Call here. Rope-a-dope. If he's willing to make a mistake and bet into "my" flop, then I'll let him do just that. Although I have the nuts here, I do have some things to consider when it comes to the possibility of the flush. There are two clubs are on the flop, so I might have to watch myself if another club falls. My "read" tells me that he doesn't have a flush draw for two reasons: (1) Gametime++ shows that he's a very tight player, w/ a VP$IP of 11%. He is also passive. (2) Based on these stats, it's safter to assume he's not on the flush draw. I wouldn't think a TIGHT-passive player would bet out a draw, and I put him immediately on an overpair. What else would a tight-passive player bet here? AT?

** Dealing Turn ** [ 6s ]
Phallicon bets [$15].
Aequitas58 calls [$15].

// The turn fills me up. He bets $15 to me, and I'm faced with the decision of "When to raise." Obviously, I want to make the most money on the hand. If I re-raise here, he either calls, re-raises, or folds. If he folds, then I can't win anymore money in the hand. If he calls, then it would probably slow him down on the river. At that point, I'm faced w/ the decision of how much to bet. I want a call, but I don't want to scare him off. I hate making these decisions - they are complete judgment calls. The last possibility is a re-raise. I highly doubted it, because again, he's a tight-passive player. Passive players aren't known for re-raising, so I elect to call. I hope that he will bet out on the river, giving me an opportunity to raise.

** Dealing River ** [ Ah ]
>You have options at Cash n Cash Table!.
>You have options at Table 11285 Table!.
Phallicon bets [$15].
Aequitas58 is all-In [$28.8]

// I get lucky and he bets. Here's my opportunity to raise, which I do - and he calls!

Phallicon calls [$13.8].
Phallicon shows [ Ks, Kc ] two pairs, kings and sixes.
Aequitas58 shows [ Td, Ts ] a full house, Tens full of sixes.
Aequitas58 wins $98.1 from the main pot with a full house, Tens full of sixes.

// I was dominated pre-flop, but I like my post flop play. He had no idea what he was up against until the river, and he felt obligated to call because he was committed. Three players typed "nh," and he just mumbled "wow."

Blindside your opponents w/ powerhouses. It's a good thing.

--
Lou

Home Games Are Grrrreat!

2005-02-27T05:23:00.000-05:00

I had two freerolls planned on my lazy Saturday. FillTilt's WSOP Freeroll, where 1st place wins a free entry into this year's main event. There were 1663 entrants and I finished at a meager 243. So much for getting on TV. I was also entered in Empire Poker's New Player $5000 freeroll. I found out after starting that it was a limit tournament. Fuck that. I quickly lost interest when the possibility of a loose home game came up.

My friend runs a $1/2 NLHE game on Wednesdays and Saturdays, and I tonight, for the first time, I made an appearance... The group is mainly composed of pool players, which is a card player's dream. They are very loose, passive - for the most part, but they are natural gamblers. I knew about half the players, so it was good to see some old faces. I bought in for $100, which seemed to be the standard at this game. Two notable hands:

Third hand in, I'm dealt AA. The standard raise was $6, so it was a shocker when an EP player made it $20 to go. Being in MP, I decided to smooth call w/ my Aces so not to discourage anyone else who wanted to call. :) A player on the button (the person who was hosting this event) re-raised all in, making it $22 more to call. He has the EP raiser covered, so he calls, and then I call - having them both covered.

EP shows KK. LP shows QQ. Table starts freaking out. I flip AA, and they freak out somemore. My Aces held up - probably because I wasn't playing on PartyPoker. Ka-Ching!

About 45 minutes later, I flop a set of 10s. I bet small, hoping to induce a raise ... and that worked to perfection when the other player came over the top for $25 more. I called. Turn brings the case 10. I bet $25, he calls. Shows AK (K on flop) and shakes his head when I show him the first ten. I asked if he wanted to see my other hole card. The table freaked out again.

It was a good night. I also picked up two people who want to use my PartyPoker code when they sign up this week.

Ya baby!

--
Lou

Booyah: Party Bonus ... BONUSFEB!

2005-02-24T01:27:00.000-05:00

Starting Friday Feb. 25, Party will be offering another reload bonus ... there's gonna be a lot of fish in the pond this weekend...

~~~> BONUSFEB <~~~

Everyone should take advantage. There's a certain sweetness about free money.

The TalkingPoker.com Invitational II will be taking place Feb. 27th at 3p EST on Pokerstars. It was a great tournament last time, and there are some good bounties up for grabs this time. The forums are definitely picking up - check em out.

And anotha shizzle to ma nizzle right hizzle.

--
Lou

2005-02-23T00:56:00.000-05:00

Sometimes, you're just in that kind of mood.

The Art of Lies.

2005-02-22T02:23:00.000-05:00

To my readers... all three of you...

A friend of mine who happens to be a writer just started a blog called "The Art of Lies." Check it out.

--
Lou

Crazy Ass No Limit Hand.

2005-02-21T21:48:00.000-05:00

I wasn't involved w/ the hand, but I can't believe what some people will play while facing a $5 raise...

$25 NL Hold'em - Monday, February 21, 21:45:41 EDT 2005
Table Table 11301 (Real Money)
Seat 7 is the button
Total number of players : 10
Seat 1: DHC_aji ( $33.45 )
Seat 2: notlaw3 ( $13.1 )
Seat 5: Footsurgn ( $6.77 )
Seat 6: jgjrgraham ( $51.78 )
Seat 7: HuntNu ( $7.24 )
Seat 8: vanbeek_gmu ( $36.74 )
Seat 9: AAIRLINESONE ( $23.3 )
Seat 10: imracing ( $21.25 )
Seat 4: Aequitas58 ( $23.5 )
Seat 3: blackguy187 ( $28.4 )
vanbeek_gmu posts small blind [$0.25].
AAIRLINESONE posts big blind [$0.5].
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to Aequitas58 [ Th 8s ]
imracing folds.
DHC_aji folds.
notlaw3 calls [$0.5].
blackguy187 raises [$1].
Aequitas58 folds.
Footsurgn calls [$1].
jgjrgraham calls [$1].
HuntNu calls [$1].
vanbeek_gmu raises [$4.75].
AAIRLINESONE calls [$4.5].
notlaw3 folds.
blackguy187 calls [$4].
>You have options at Pick Pockets Table!.
Footsurgn calls [$4].
jgjrgraham calls [$4].
HuntNu is all-In [$6.24]
vanbeek_gmu calls [$2.24].
AAIRLINESONE calls [$2.24].
blackguy187 calls [$2.24].
Footsurgn is all-In [$1.77]
jgjrgraham calls [$2.24].
** Dealing Flop ** [ 9d, 8c, 7c ]
vanbeek_gmu is all-In [$29.5]
AAIRLINESONE is all-In [$16.06]
blackguy187 folds.
jgjrgraham calls [$29.5].
** Dealing Turn ** [ 2c ]
** Dealing River ** [ 4c ]
vanbeek_gmu shows [ Ad, As ] a pair of aces.
AAIRLINESONE doesn't show [ Js, Jd ] a pair of jacks.
Footsurgn shows [ 3c, Kc ] a flush, king high.
jgjrgraham shows [ 6c, Qc ] a flush, queen high.
HuntNu doesn't show [ Jc, Kh ] a flush, jack high.
jgjrgraham wins $26.88 from side pot #3 with a flush, queen high with queen kicker.
jgjrgraham wins $47.33 from side pot #2 with a flush, queen high with queen kicker.
jgjrgraham wins $2.25 from side pot #1 with a flush, queen high with queen kicker.
Footsurgn wins $39.07 from the main pot with a flush, king high with king kicker.

K3s? Q6s? Kjo???

This is why these tables are a goldmine.

--
Lou

Gotta love bad players.

2005-02-14T11:53:00.000-05:00

I spent the majority of my "Valentine's Sunday" dealing with a stomach virus. That means I was basically throwing up and pissing out of my ass beginning at 9am. My symptoms didn't subside until late Sunday night. It was a friggin mess. I had to take Monday (V-Day) off from work and school, and I'm hoping I can get back to my normal routine starting Tuesday.

So far today, I won $50 playing Pacific $3/6 LHE, I won 2 heads up matches on Stars, and I just started a NLHE $10+1 SnG on Party. Here's the first hand:

NL Hold'em $10 Buy-in + $1 Entry Fee Trny:9557391 Level:1 Blinds(10/15) - Monday, February 14, 11:47:29 EDT 2005
Table Table 11154 (Real Money)
Seat 10 is the button
Total number of players : 10
Seat 5: oversizecam ( $800 )
Seat 8: TheCrush ( $800 )
Seat 10: tuey24 ( $800 )
Seat 4: Aequitas58 ( $800 )
Seat 3: Feiten ( $800 )
Seat 6: phatcurt ( $800 )
Seat 7: justin72184 ( $800 )
Seat 9: JJab75 ( $800 )
Seat 1: swifty2369 ( $800 )
Seat 2: candy822 ( $800 )
Trny:9557391 Level:1
Blinds(10/15)
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to Aequitas58 [ Kc Kh ]
Feiten: and girls
Feiten raises [30].
Aequitas58 raises [60].

Small raise here, I don't like the call for 30 because I do want some people to let go of those Ace-rag hands. Look what happens...

oversizecam folds.
phatcurt folds.
justin72184 calls [60].
TheCrush folds.
JJab75 folds.
tuey24 folds.
swifty2369 raises [165].
candy822 folds.
Feiten calls [145].

First hand of the tournament, so it's hard to put these guys on a hand. Im guessing at least one solid pocket pair and then maybe an AK?

Aequitas58 is all-In [740]

I decide to make the move. The only hand beating me here is Aces, so I like my chances... besides, I kinda feel like I'm about to throw up. The "solid pocket pair," if it's below TT, will probably fold, and there's a good chance I take the pot here. (Not many people like the idea of getting eliminated on the first hand of the tournament.)

justin72184 folds.
Aequitas58: gl
swifty2369 is all-In [625]
Feiten is all-In [625]

Call ... CALL! Hah. I can't believe they called w/ AJ and AQ. No Ace, I triple up. I'd like to start every SnG like this.

** Dealing Flop ** [ Tc, 2c, 2d ]
** Dealing Turn ** [ Td ]
** Dealing River ** [ 3c ]
swifty2369 shows [ As, Qs ] two pairs, tens and twos.
Feiten shows [ Ac, Jh ] two pairs, tens and twos.
Aequitas58 shows [ Kc, Kh ] two pairs, kings and tens.
swifty2369 finished in ninth place.
Feiten finished in ninth place.
Aequitas58 wins 2475 chips from the main pot with two pairs, kings and tens.
swifty2369 has left the table.
Feiten has left the table.
The Small Blind left the table. The Dealer button remains in place.

I put the tournament on auto-pilot from that point out, and had no problem finishing in the money. I wanna get into a MTT, but I'm scared of getting deep and then having another "episode" with acidic bodily fluids. Decisions, decisions.

--
Lou

Back and Forth, Up and Down.

2005-02-11T03:17:00.000-05:00

Unless I'm going on a big rush or a terrible downswing, poker is just a game of up and downs. In the long run (which, I'm guessing is the span of my entire life?) I hope to make some money. For now? I have to be content with steadily growing a bankroll, losing some of it, win that much back, and then piss it away. Wash, rinse, and repeat.

I haven't updated for a while because nothing much has been happening. Besides losing some money at NL ring games, I've been playing in more MTTs with the aide of Dan Harrington's new book, Harrington on Hold 'Em. The book is very good, as it has some great example hands and "problems" at the end of every chapter. I grabbed it on Overstock.com for under $21. Can't beat it. The book is tailored to playing NLHE MTTs, and so far, it's been helpful:

Pokerstars, NLHE MTT, $3, 1870 Entrants
Very cheap buy-in, but I wanted more experience - expecially after digesting 1/3 of Harrington's book. I doubled up on the first hand, holding KJs in early position. Button slowplayed his set of Aces, allowing me to hit runner runner Queen-Ten giving me the straight. I was first to act on the river, bet something small, 50 or 60, and he raised me all-in. I had to check the board one more time, and sure enough, I had the nuts. Easy call, easy double up. Other players were calling me lucky ... I guess they didn't notice he checked the flop and the turn. (Who raises all-in w/ A Q T on the board, and you only have top set??) Hitting this on the FIRST hand of the tournament put me in first place. LOL - first time ever seeing that w/ over 1800 players.

After the first orbit, I had 4500 and I stayed w/in the top 5 until after the 3rd break. I was on an amazing streak. With blinds being at 600/1200, I was in good shape w/ my chip stack, and I easily placed in the money.

I kept thinking to myself: It's my luck that I'm doing so well in a $3 tournament... no way I would be tearing up a $20 jobby. Whatever. It's inevitable that I self-destruct - that's just "how I do." My two pair ran into a set, and then I make a final move at a blind steal, and the BB calls, turns over AA. End of that one. I believe I busted out 120-something.

Keep in mind I'm only 1/3 through Harrington's book. LOL. I'm such a nerd.

Pacific Poker, NLHE MTT, $20+2, 136 Entrants
This was a guaranteed $2,200 event, and when I saw there was under 150 entrants, I had to jump on it. Pacific starts you out w/ T$1000, and it didnt take long before I doubled up. The players on Pacific are terrible, so this wasn't much of a battle. I placed 17th, netted a small profit, and gained more MTT experience - something I desperately need.

I also just got a copy of Doyle Brunson's Super System II, because of a promotion running on the TalkingPoker.com forums. This is a huge book, covering just about every poker game played today, but I told myself I won't open it until I get through Harrington. Twice.

--
Lou

Omaha Hi/Lo and Beating the $25 NL Tables

2005-01-23T07:40:00.000-05:00

Before Party offered their January Bonus I began playing (trying out) Omaha. Being a strict NL player with a little Stud experience, I checked out Steve Badger's site for hopefully, some winning Omaha tips. I got 1st and 2nd at two consecutive SnGs, which says nothing about my ability as an Omaha player, but more on the fishiness of Party's Omaha SnGs. I'm also up maybe $11 playing Omaha Hi/Lo ring games. (Chump change, I know, but fuck you, I'm learning the game.)

On to Party's January Bonus

Let me preface: Party's BBJackpot was recently hit at over $700,000. I was bent on hitting this fucking thing. Law school loans would be paid off in an instant, and so many other goods things could happen. But, in the process, I wound up losing over 3/4 of my bankroll. I had to reconsider playing these $2/4 tables because I could wind up losing real bad. I went back to the $25 NL tables and won it all back. And then some. Of course, this took over 2 days. Talk about stunting my growth.

With my roll being a little sweetened by recent NL tables and the money won at Omaha, this bonus would be my largest to date. I began 4-tabling the $25 NL tables because, IMO, they are the quickest way to clear a bonus. The action was incredible: I made a quick $100, and found myself w/ only 500 raked hands to go. I'm on pace! I completed my raked hands requirement, got the bonus, and made nearly $270 in the process. A very nice swing.

Oh yea ... my gf and I went down the shore again to win back our money from the slot machines and it just didn't work out. Neither one of us did well, and the high point of the night came when I put my money into a Wheel of Fortune machine. Blank Blank Blank - no shocker... but some lady puts money into the machine next to mine and wins $1000 in one spin.

Love it!

--
Lou

I suck at life.

2005-01-18T22:04:00.000-05:00

If it wasn't for bad luck, I'd have no luck at all.

So last week, my girlfriend and I go down to Atlantic City for the night. She likes to play roulette, and, since I didn't want to neglect her, I decide NOT to play poker. (Who cares really, I have access to poker whenever I wanna play via PartyPoker and all the other rigged poker sites.) So she's playing roulette, doing well, probably up around $60 when I throw $20 into a $1 Wheel of Fortune slot machine. I lose the $20 within minutes.

Ahh whatever - stupid slots.

Go back to her and she's up a little more playing roulette. Nice! Keep on winning! I decide to throw another $10 into a slot machine. But not just any slot machine - a POKER slot machine. I can definitely win this, I tell myself. Wrong. The best I hit was three-of-a-kind, and that didn't even payout well.

Fucking slots. What am I doing playing slots?

She's about even at roulette, maybe down a little, and I notice that there's an open seat at a Blackjack table 10 feet away. I sit down and my first hand is a 19, which is good ... but I lose to a Dealer's 5 K 5 (20). Ugh... for some reason I know this session isn't going to bode well. After losing 5 straight hands, I re-assess my casino strategy.

Fuck you too Blackjack.

After winning a modest amount playing roulette, my gf decides we should get something to eat and then hit the slot machines. LOL. GREAT! It seemed like I could do nothing right. I would put $10 into a machine, and she would put $10 in the machine next to me. I would lose w/in minutes, and she would turn her $10 into $30.

She went to another machine, made $25 more, and I lost AGAIN, right next to her. My luck was so bad, it was starting to get funny. I didn't care about the $10s anymore, I just wanted to see if I could still keep losing. Oh I could! I stopped playing at the -$154 mark. She ended the night good, up $80.

With my bad luck, I was convinced we were going to hit a deer on the way home. Thank god that didn't happen.

--
Lou

My Sweet New Machine.

2005-01-16T08:18:00.000-05:00

I accidentally stepped on my laptop. It wasn't even a whole step... I stepped hard enough to feel something fuck up. I hadn't noticed that I broke my laptop until I went to log on 4 hours later. I busted the LCD screen, and while it was bearable for the first week, the visibility of the screen quickly deteriorated. Only me.

I was in search for a new laptop. The Sony Viao K33, which originally retails for $1499.00 was on sale for $1049 at Best Buy, Circuit City, and CompUSA. This is too good to pass up: $450 savings, and the computer is sweet as all hell:

3.06 gHz
512 MB Ram - expandable up to 1 GB
64 mb dedicated video ram - ATI Radeon IGP
Wireless network card - 802.11n
DVD / CD Burner
15.4" widescreen XFT display - Xbrite technology (whatever that means)

It also came with a shitload of pre-loaded software, but who the fuck uses that crap anyway. More than half of it is already uninstalled.

Setting up the wireless network was seamless, and my reboot time is right around 30 seconds. (Which is very good considering I have to load a Norton Antivirus, as well as find and connect to the network.) The widescreen display can be trippy at times, but it's awesome for multi-tabling.

I do have one complaint, and that's battery life at 2 hours. Oh well, you can't win em all.

--
Lou

Back to Basics.

2005-01-02T20:13:00.000-05:00

I dunno about you, but I can't live the glamorous life of a MTT player. I don't know what it is, but I can't seem to make these things profitable. I've played various buy-in limits: from money tournaments to satellites, and nothing seems to work. I feel like these tournaments are crap shoots - especially considering the extremely high number of entrants - but the allure of getting to a final table seems so sweet!

Anyway, I've been re-evaluating my poker game. I'm taking a break from the MTTs.

I really like PartyPoker's SnGs... in the past they have been my bread and butter. These are always lucrative for me - and I don't know why I haven't been playing more of them. I also dabble in the $25 or $50 NL tables because if you wait for good cards, and out your money in when you have the best of it, it's almost a guaranteed win. I will play limit, but I usually find myself chasing the Bad Beat Jackpot when it gets over $300k. (Talk about crapshoot!)

With only two and a half hours of play (thanks to my god-damn Playstation) I'm up $125 playing $10+1 SnGs and $25 NL. Not bad at all.

Paul Philips - who I originally emailed about MTT help - actually did email me back. His reply wasn't what I expected, but I can understand where he's coming from. Here's his reply:

[This is a generic reply.]

I used to try to answer the poker email that came my way but now there'stoo
much of it and I've surrendered.

Apologies.

Best luck,

--
Paul Phillips

Oh well I tried.

--
Lou

Christmas Ruins My Poker Game.

2004-12-30T05:24:00.000-05:00

Along with a clothes, ties, gift certificates and a television, I got a Playstation 2 for Christmas. I've been wanting one, because I'm a nerd, and if anything can get me away from poker it's a PS2.

[NERD ALERT]
I have a few good games for it, and it's been keeping me occupied...X-Men Legends is fun, and I already won the Superbowl with the Eagles in ESPN Football.
[/NERD ALERT]

Although I haven't been playing much poker, I did manage to win a $10+1 SnG and double my buy-ins at two seperate $25NL sessions. Not bad at all. Maybe I should play less after all!

I read a post on 2+2 about a guy who laid down AA in a MTT. There were four players left. It get's better: He was chip leader by a huge margin. It's unbelievable people do WELL in MTTs, yet they make moves like this: http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/showflat.php?Cat=&Number=1453458&page=0&view=collapsed&sb=5&o=14&vc=1

WHAT AM I DOING WRONG!?

How do you fold that here? Not only are you a huge favorite pre-flop, but you get that much closer to being 3-handed, which guarantees better money and makes YOUR LIFE easier as chip leader. Maybe I'm wrong.

Oh, I also emailed Paul Phillips before Christmas and asked him a poker-related question. He didn't reply yet.

--
Lou

Update: Party's Reload Bonus and "Bluff the Blind Stealer?"

2004-12-23T17:32:00.000-05:00

It's been a while since my last update. I dunno about you, but the holiday season is always crazy. I finished up with law school finals for this semester, and spent way too much money. Poker better be good to me like it has last semester.

PartyPoker is offering a 20% Holiday reload bonus, up to $200 dollars. Pretty nice deal. I "reloaded" to take advantage of this free money and had it clear w/in 2 days of playing. The action on Party seems extra fishy lately... I was playing the $25NL tables cleared my bonus quickly and made money in the process.

Pokerstars is also offering a reload bonus of $25%. They are also running a 1 Billionth Hand promotion... but what the hell, I'm not getting paid - find out about it for yourself.

Bluff the Blind Stealer?
I was faced with an interesting situation in a recent SnG on Party. It was in the 3rd level, blinds were 25/50. I'm in the BB with an average stack holding K9s. Action is folded around to the button, who raised 3xBB, making it 150 to go. SB folds, and I have to make a decision. I smelled a complete blind steal here, and, hating to get bullied around, I was considering re-raising. This is a common move to make on people who (you suspect) are stealing... but at this stage of the tournament, how much? I generally don't start stealing until the 5th round, so this seems like a little premature to me.

I think you have to balance the factors relevant to your situation. Chip counts, instincts, prior hand histories, the cards you hold, etc.

My opponent had me covered by maybe 100 chips, so if I did make a raise, it might have some effect. If he was a huge chip leader, this move is hard to pull off. I've seen him play a few hands, and he didn't impress me, so I thought about either folding, or re-raising all in. He calls w/ KK, and I'm out 7th. Well, I least I didn't get sucked out on! I tried to make a move, it backfired in my face, but in the future when he doesn't have KK (and most likely, he won't) he'll fold. (Note: It's better to go out this way as opposed to runner runner trips.) :)

Incorporate This Into Your MTT Strategy
This is a powerful MTT strategy when people tighten up then the players approach the bubble or are already in the money. People in these tournaments see the bubble and tighten up extremely - just to make the money. It makes sense, but if you take advantage of that by playing more loose and aggressive, you will make a lot of money in blinds. Along with that, when the tournament does tighten up, the more aggressive players will try to steal the blinds. When the situation presents itself, bluff the blind stealer. You will win alot of chips w/ this play.

Until next time,

--
Lou

Mirabelle Update and a Great NL Hand.

2004-11-14T18:46:00.000-05:00

I haven't had a chance to update - I've been busy.

Danny Negreanu's site has finally been updated. I probably butchered his name, but who cares. He's got some great articles if you're interested. Check them out here.

Mirabelle Poker has been great. Since there are only 300 players online at any one time, there is absolutely no game selection, which is the big drawback. Usually, there is a $.10/$.25 NL game, $.5/$1 PL game that is ALWAYS short-handed, and some micro fixed-limit HE. My $10 is now over $60, and I have (about) half my player points accumulated. Shout out to 2Tone from the TalkingPoker forums for telling me about the free $10 giveaway!

I was playing on Pokerstars today and I hit a nice hand (for the limit I was playing). See below for my comments in bold. Feel free to post comments of your own.

PokerStars Game #858126399: Hold'em No
Limit ($0.25/$0.50) -
Seat #8 is the button
Seat 1: TENN1 ($12.60 in chips)
Seat 2: umich guy ($67.20 in chips)
Seat 3: scohan ($71.75 in chips)
Seat 4: Aequitas58 ($15.10 in chips)
Seat 5: fdxmike ($12.70 in chips)
Seat 6: Gather Funds ($52.40 in chips)
Seat 7: IamWolverine ($67.45 in chips)
Seat 8: p0tti ($37.15 in chips)
Seat 9: StonedAce ($38.45 in chips)
StonedAce: posts small blind $0.25
TENN1: posts big blind $0.50

// I was playing at this table for about 30 minutes, and didn't get one playable hand. I limped in LP a few times with low suited connectors, but nothing was working. I was going to see another few hands, and get out when the blinds would get to me.

*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Aequitas58 [Ks Js]
umich guy: folds
scohan: folds
Aequitas58: calls $0.50
fdxmike: folds
Gather Funds: folds
IamWolverine: folds
p0tti: folds
StonedAce: calls $0.25
TENN1: checks

// As you can see here, I'm in EP / MP. The KJs looked golden, especially considering all the crap I was getting. I thought raising here, but I limped to see what other action was out there.

*** FLOP *** [Jd Jc Kd]
StonedAce: checks
TENN1: bets $0.50
Aequitas58: calls $0.50
StonedAce: calls $0.50

// How strong is that flop!? JJJKK is a great hand here for a few reasons. (1) I love the fact that there is a draw on the board. Finally - this is how it's SUPPOSED to happen!
Hopefully, someone will hit a flush on the turn. (2) My opponents probably won't put me on KJ because I didn't raise pre-flop AND I didn't raise the original bettor after the flop.

// Another note: I'm slowplaying here because I am so far ahead. If I raised, and showed strength, I risk them folding, and I can't have that here.

*** TURN *** [Jd Jc Kd] [6s]
StonedAce: checks
TENN1: bets $0.50
Aequitas58: raises $0.50 to $1
StonedAce: calls $1
TENN1: calls $0.50

// Complete blank. This is good and bad. It's a card I'm not scared to see, but again, this probably isn't going to give either of my opponents enough fire-power to bet hard. I raised here not to show aggression, but to induce a bluff raise. He's betting out $.50, so he either has a J, a K, a flush draw, a PP, or he's trying to steal. My raise to $.50 isn't a raise to win the pot, it's to keep the action going. He could re-raise all-in to steal the pot. I guess I would happily call. :)

// Why don't I raise more $$ here? I could, but the flush card didn't come yet. That's the card that'll probably pay me off. I don't want to take it too expensive for someone to catch because I still have them beat.

*** RIVER *** [Jd Jc Kd 6s] [Ad]
StonedAce: bets $5
TENN1: calls $5
Aequitas58: raises $5 to $10
StonedAce: calls $5
TENN1: raises $0.60 to $10.60 and is all-in
Aequitas58: calls $0.60
StonedAce: calls $0.60

// Nice. There's the flush card. I was 99% sure I would take this hand unless one of my opponents had AJ. That would definitely suck, but what the hell - this ain't PartyPoker, it's Pokerstars. LOL. Let's see what they had:

*** SHOW DOWN ***
TENN1: shows [2c Kc] (two pair, Kings and Jacks) <--- LOL Two pair!! Nice kicker, Johnny.
StonedAce (small blind) mucked [9d 6d] - a flush, Ace high <--- A high flush. Thank you.
Aequitas58: shows [Ks Js] (a full house, Jacks full of Kings)
Aequitas58 collected $35.95 from pot
Aequitas58 said, "nh"

So that was a good one. It would be nice to ride out a wave of good cards. Then again, I could go play kickball with the retards on Mirabelle. Hah.

--
Lou

Mirabelle Poker

2004-11-11T11:42:00.000-05:00

http://www.mirabellepoker.com?ref=52720

So the other day, I heard that this site was giving away $10 free to anyone who created an account - no money deposit required. I tried it out. It took a while for the funds to actually show up in my account, but they did. The withdrawal restriction is that the player must accumulate 50 player points... I've played two half-hour sessions of $.10/$.25 NL and I'm up to $26.90.

First of all, the site is terrible. The interface is dark, hard to read, and way too small. Buttons, icons, and graphics - none of it is streamlined. There are no icons for players, and sometimes, when a player makes a bet, it is hard to see (especially seat 8).

Second, the players are even more terrible. The most I've seen online were 302. Right now there are 222, and most of them are playing with "play money." You know the routine of calling down with Ace-high because they "thought you were bluffing." I doubt the "$10 free" promotion drew a lot of players because it was only available for one day.

I'm interested to see if I ever clear the "50 player points" requirement. I had a conversation with the support team which wasn't helpful:

Aequitas58: Hello Ryan.
Support: hello
Aequitas58: How do I accumulate player
points?
Aequitas58: Hello?
Support: by playing in real money
hands
Support: and tournaments
Support: Is there anything else I can help you
with today?
Aequitas58: That's what I thought. But, I've been
playing for the past 30 minutes, and I haven't accumulated any.
Aequitas58: What limit do I have to play
at?
Support: one moment
Aequitas58: I looked on the website and I can't
find anything about POINTS.
Aequitas58: Does the pot have to be above $20 or
something?
Aequitas58: Hello?
Support: points are not put into your account
until around 1am server time
Aequitas58: Server time? Where are you
located?
Aequitas58: And, in the meantime, can you tell me
how many points I have just accumulated? My screenname is:
Aequitas58.
Support: I cant check to see how many points you
have accumulated, because it hasnt been posted yet
Aequitas58: OK. Where are the servers located?
What time zone? What ... hemisphere?
Aequitas58: It helps me out.
Support: the server time is located at the top of
the lobby screen
Aequitas58: No Ryan - I think that's MY time...
unless you are located on the East Coast in the USA.
Support: are you est time
Aequitas58: Yes.
Aequitas58: Are you?
Support: no
Aequitas58: I didn't know ANY poker servers were
hosted in the United States, let alone the East Coast.
Support: the server is in est time
Aequitas58: Ok. Well, whatever. Thanks for your
help.
Support: Is there anything else I can help you
with today?
Aequitas58: Nah.

What a loser... either his name really is Ryan, he is American, and he's just stupid, or his name is really Rajesh, the servers are in Costa Rica, and Mirabelle support is contracted out to some office building in India.

For now, I'll continue to kick around my ~$27, maybe the points will accumulate.

--
Lou

More on NOT Smoking.

2004-11-10T02:20:00.000-05:00

This non-smoking thing is still going on. I can't believe it's been this long, but, to be honest - I didn't think it would be this easy. I haven't experienced any of the physical symptoms most people go through, but I was a bit on edge last week.

It sucks to drive w/out a cigarette... have coffee in the morning w/out cigarettes... and play poker w/out having a cigarette. Ahhh - my days of fun are over. :(

FUCK IT - I WANT A CIGARETTE!

--
Lou

Cheap Multitable Tournaments + A Crappy NL Hand.

2004-11-10T02:17:00.000-05:00

The other night I played in a $3+0 NLHE tournament on Pokerstars. 1688 total players, first place paid out over $1,100. Not much stress over a $3 buy-in tournament, but they are good practice for the more expensive ones. Besides, even though the risk is small, there is a possibility for a nice payday. Anyway, I was sitting in the tournament after the third break, still breathing, and I take down two nice pots. This jumps me to chip leader with about 190(?) players left.

For some reason I knew I was going to self-destruct, and that's precisely what happened. I made the mistake of getting cute with my chipstack: threatening blinds, pushing around smaller stacks, etc. I threw away some money and found myself in 7th. Misplaced some more and now I'm in 10th. Then I lost two considerable sized pots and I was in last. The blinds killed me shortly thereafter, and I finished 52/1688, taking down $12.xx!

I really let this tournament get away from me. The more I think about it, the more I realize how good I was looking. Oh well.

Playing on Party now and just got chinned.

$.25/$.50 NL game
Q7s in SB. 6 callers, I decide to call.

F: [Q 9 7] (r)
I check my monster two pair, and it's checked around to the button, who bets $1. I call, 2 others call: BB and MP, rest fold.

T: [Q 9 7] [7]
4 players... First to act, I bet out $2, hoping to get raised. BB, Button call. MP folds.

R: [Q 9 7] [7] [T]
3 players...First to act, I bet $1 to show weakness, again, hoping to induce a raise. BB raises to $5, Button folds. I reraise to $12, he pushes all-in. Now, at this point, I know I'm beat - I have to be... but I have to call as well, it's only a few more dollars and I DO have a full house.

He flips over 99, and beats my 777QQ with 99977. Rough.

More to come.

--
Lou

Crazy Week.

2004-11-05T16:51:00.000-05:00

George W. Bush was relected as President.

I quit smoking.

Boston Red Sox win World Series.

See what happens when you fuck with the curse of Babe Ruth?

--
Lou

One More Day.

2004-11-01T07:15:00.000-05:00

One more day until the 2004 election.

It should be interesting, to say the least. And I don't know about you, but I can't wait for all this shit to be over. It's gotten way past annoying a long time ago. I didn't mind the debates, but the commercials are out of control - especially the commercials for the "lower" office types.

My Tuesday class was cancelled to ensure that we all "go and vote." I'll use that time for two things: (1) voting and (2) working off my raked hand requirements to clear a bonus. Poker has been so slow recently - I would go up $70 or $80, then lose it back. I'm not losing anything more than I won the previous day, so that's good, but then again, I'm not making money either.

*Yawn*

--
Lou

Bend over, and take it like you want it.

2004-10-21T07:44:00.000-04:00

Nothing like getting f*cked by a stiff hard drive.

It's hard enough to deal with the cash out curse EVERYTIME I cash out. Last few days have been very good for me online, and I've been debating whether to leave the money in, or cash out again and go through the cycle.

Anyway, I'm playing another SnG and I'm probably a little below average stack because I haven't had a playable hand in two orbits. My TT on the button was raised considerably by a MP player and I didn't want to go up against a better pocket pair. [I don't even wanna go against AK because there's no reason to play a coin-flip this early.] I have no problem w/ picking the right spots to play, but doing this takes (sometimes) considerable patience.

My computer decides to freeze on me, in the middle of the tournament.

GREAT.

This has happened before, and normally I just reboot, reconnect, and continue playing. Not so this time: network card wigs out on me, and it wouldn't get back on the network.

So I just donated $11, that's always fun.

I determined that I now have three opponents to beat: other players, PartyPoker's cash out curse, and my computer.

--
Lou

Nice Little Run.

2004-10-19T03:03:00.000-04:00

Up $160 in two hours playing SnGs and a $2/4 ring game. I'm hitting more sets than the cops in Camden.

(Forget the drug reference if you don't get it.)

--
Lou

The Slow Deterioration...

2004-10-19T01:36:00.000-04:00

I must make money in swings. What happens is that I win money - cash out some - and then try to build it back up, so I can cash out again. I've been doing this for a while now. No matter what, everytime I cash out, I go through a really bad run of cards. It takes a while before it snaps, and then I'm back to winning again.

When I make it back this time, I think I'll hold off on cashing it out. Stupid people over at PartyPoker. :)

I'm also thinking about bonus-whoring Ultimate Bet and Poker Room.

--
Lou

Analysis of two KK hands.

2004-10-15T01:31:00.000-04:00

I played in a lot of SnGs tonight, and I did well. Well enough to make another cash out (and if history is any lesson - the next few days will be rough!).

In one $20+2 tournament, I was dealt KK twice in the same orbit. I won both times, and BOTH times there was an Ace on the flop. I played both hands differently, which threw off my opponents.

The first hand, with KK, I raised to T$105 with the blinds at 10/15. I got one caller in LP, and the flop brought an Ace w/ two rags. I bet the pot. I didn't put him on AA because he would have came over the top with my pre-flop raise. I (obviously) didn't put him on KK, and there is always the chance he called with any pocket pair hoping to hit a set. Most likely, he's hanging onto high suited connectors. There is a very good chance he might have something like AT(+)s. If I show weakness and check, it's textbook for him to bet, and then I have to make a decision. I bet out here to see how happy he is with his kicker, if he calls my bet, I lose unless I improve. I played it aggressively and he folded. "Pocket Pair?" I said. He replied w/ "99." I told him I didn't have an Ace, but if he had 9s, then my Kings were good.

The next hand was only 5 hands later. KK again. This time I raise to 145, blinds are the same. I get one caller. Again, my caller is in LP. Flop brings A88. The Ace slows me down for sure, and because of his position and the bet amount that he called, I don't put him on an 8. I check. He checks. So, if he's got an Ace, he's playing it slow. My premature guess is that he's on a pocket pair. Next card is a complete rag. If I bet out here, he'll call w/ any Ace. If I check, I assume he'll then bet. My decision now is whether or not I'll call his bet if I check... in this situation I would. For that reason, I decided I would have called up to 200. So, instead of calling 200 (hypothetically), I played the role of aggressor and bet out 200. He folds poket 10s.

Like I said earlier, it was a good night. I was playing much more aggressively, which helped in certain situations where the tournaments got tight and I was able to pick up some blinds.

It's great to start out a tournament winning some hands.

--
Lou

And the grind continues.

2004-10-13T01:54:00.000-04:00

Not in the bad sense, because I am increasing my bankroll. But...

After placing 1st twice and 3rd once, I found myself just finishing on the bubble twice tonight. Only one really bothered me, but some thoughts on that in a minute.

FIRST SITUATION
- Short Stack
- Go all in with JJ, two callers (which would triple me up, putting me in 2nd)
- JJ vs. ATs vs. QQ (I'm not looking good here.)
- Flop and Turn is rags, and the River brings a K.
- It sucks to bust out 4th.

SECOND SITUATION
- Chip Leader
- Two players have less than 1000!
- Level 4 maybe? Blinds were small.
- My 99 beaten by TT.
- My AK beaten by A7
- I go on tilt, and lose with some random suited connectors.
- It REALLY sucks to go out 4th.

The second situation pissed me off, but overall, the night was good. The evening hours are great on PartyPoker!

I read some Daniel Negreanu articles on www.PokerPages.com and they were really good. They can also be found on his website: www.FullContactPoker.com. Daniel has been playing really well this year, especially at the last WPT event.

I'm tired. If you're reading any of this, plz feel free to post comments.

--
Lou

Praise be to Allah! - No more bad cards.

2004-10-12T03:09:00.000-04:00

...and I'm back.

It really was terrible, my run of cards was so bad. When I did get good cards, they were cracked by everything. Nevertheless, I just got done placing first in two tournaments, back to back.

Highlights:

Presto held up twice, which was great. Neither time did I catch a third 5, but in both hands, my opponents' overcards didn't hold up.
Playing heads up in one of the tournaments, I had Q5s, and flopped a boat. The blinds were ridiculous at 250/500. I checked, and my opponent bluffed all-in. It was great.

For those reading this, unrelenting aggression pays off ten-fold when the tournament gets 4-handed and lower. Of course, I'm not suggesting to re-raise the small blind w/ 92o, but you have to play a lot more hands (more aggressively) when it gets down so low. Do not play for second place: gamble for first and settle for third.

Now, all I have to do is shake this Public Health Law paper that's breathing down my neck, and I can sleep very soundly.

--
Lou

Terrible run of cards.

2004-10-11T17:00:00.000-04:00

It happens to everyone ... I hope.

So here's what happened: I ran into a great run of cards, and after cashing out, I guess I fell victim to the *dreaded* cash-out curse. A lot of people think online poker is rigged, and I'm not one of them - but, my beats have been atrocious. (Aren't they all atrocious??) I'm beginning to question whether the cash-out curse has some merit.

Three notable instances:

On the bubble (4 handed), mid-stacked, my AK is beat by AA. Not really a beat - just because I'm already behind at the start of the hand - but what are the odds that I get AK when another player in a 4-handed game gets AA?
AA beat by 74s. I don't even wanna talk about this one.
KK beat by JJ. Ok, so he hits his 3rd Jack on the turn, and I guess he got lucky.

Enough about bad beats - I'm not really concerned with them. I really want to shake this cold streak.

Feel my pain.

--
Lou

Presto doesn't hold up.

2004-10-11T05:17:00.000-04:00

Playing in a $10+1 SnG right now...

About average in chips - someone w/ 200 just went all in, and it's folded to me. I'm holding 55, and I have a strong feeling he's got overcards. Call. His overcards are A6o. Lucky for him, he's flops a 6, and I don't improve.

Updates to follow if anything notable happens.

--
Lou

AA v. 74s - [I love the action.]

2004-10-10T18:58:00.000-04:00

NLHE Sit-n-Go's, aka: SnGs, have been my bread and butter for the past few months. They are available on most online poker sites, and if you're not familiar with the format, here's a quick overview: SnGs are $10+1, $20+2, $50+5, etc, and once the whole table (or tables) are full, the tournament will begin.

The $11 SnGs on Party have been really good lately. Last week, I played 5 in a row, placing: 1st, 2nd, 1st, 2nd, 3rd. It was a good day. :)

Anyway, I started a $22 tournament, and on the first hand, I got AA. The blinds were 10/15, so I raised to 100. I got one late position (LP) caller, and we saw the flop. [Tc 9s 2s]. I check my AA, he bets 50, I call and raise all-in. What does he do? CALL! We turn over our cards and he shows 74s. OF COURSE, he's on the flush draw. He hits his fifth spade on the river, within 2 minutes, I busted out of the tournament.

Can the games get any better? I want him calling me ... everytime! Even preflop - he calls a 100 early position (EP) raise with 74s? I don't get it. I guess we just play different types of poker.

Maybe he went on to win the tournament. I doubt it.

--
Lou

PartyPoker Bad Beat Jackpot

2004-10-10T18:35:00.000-04:00

So the other day I was waiting for my girlfriend to get out of the shower, and I saw that the PartyPoker Bad Beat Jackpot was right near $330,000. That's higher than I've ever seen it. Usually, I won't play at the BBJ tables because of the higher rake, but since it was so high, I figured I'd give it a shot.

The lowest limit available is $2/4 LHE, so I took a seat. To qualify for the jackpot, quad 8's or better have to be beaten. Yea - I have a shot. After quickly going up $50, I realized two things:

... the action at these tables is so great, it's incredible, and
... I will never hit this jackpot.

It seems like poeple will call down to the river - I guess in hopes of hitting the jackpot(?), but it works out if you have a winning hand, because you'll get paid off. The odds of hitting the jackpot are so small. After my girlfriend got out of the shower, I logged off and we got something to eat. Later that night, the jackpot was hit.

So much for striking it rich on one poker hand.

That's it for now.

--
Lou

Blog me up, Scotty.

2004-10-09T21:30:00.000-04:00

Well, here we go...

This could be a complete waste of time, or it could turn into something useful for me and the few people who actually visit my blog. The idea of a "poker" blog isn't a new one. But I figure it's a good way to track my swings in the wonderful world of online poker. This blog will include hand histories, tournament reports, and probably too many bad beat stories.

My name is Lou, and I'm a third year law student on the brink of graduating and becoming a lawyer. I've been playing poker for a long time now, probably about 7 years, and my other hobbies have included pool and chess.

I play online under my screenname, "Aequitas58," on both PartyPoker and PokerStars. Despite some of the famous stories where someone took $50 and turned it into over $30,000... my winnings are probably around $1k. Ehh. It's a tough road, and for me, full of positive and negative swings, but overall - online poker is a good thing.

I'll post more later and see where this goes. Showertime for me.

--
Lou