As many of you know, I tanked at poker pretty bad the last few months. I will spare you the details but suffice it to say I have spent more time working on my game and less time with things like this blog.
I plan on firing it back up on Cardrunners in the very near future as I am playing better and getting my life better organized to allow more time to do things like blog.
Thanks for reading.
Jeff
Thursday, October 11, 2007
Thursday, July 19, 2007
Quick Update
I wanted to post yesterday but we sold a couple vehicles at work and my goddamn internet died at home last night so it was not really possible. This on the heels of having to replace my AC on Tuesday. Life delivered some bad beats this last 24 hours. But just like in poker, I am resilient and plan on stacking life this next week while on...
Vacation
We are leaving for Loveland, Colorado on Sunday at about 8pm. Why so late? Would you want to travel 10 hours with a 1 year old in a car? Hopefully she will sleep through the entire trip. To make things more interesting, we found out today that she has strep throat. Should make things fun.
The plan for Colorado is to spend a few days at my wife's sister's house along with their brother, other sister, parents, and all the nieces and nephews. Aside from the sister that lives there (plus a husband and two kids) the rest of us are from this area. Then on Thursday all 16 of us are going up into the mountains to stay at a cabin/resort joint in Estes State Park. We will be there a couple days then come home on either Saturday night or Sunday morning. I am not really looking forward to it but I am anxious to catch a couple Rockies games at Coors. I am hoping to see Greg Maddux pitch since the Padres will be in town. Hopefully it works out for the good.
Poker
I do not have time to get into the promised topic from my last post. I will see if I can get another post up tomorrow.
I have not played much the last few days. When I have, it is has been goofing off on Poker Stars with 5 card draw or on UB with PLO and HORSE. All together I have gambled away a buy in.
Oops...
Buh-Bye
Sorry for the short update. I will get you more either tomorrow or this weekend before we leave. No You Tube video today either....I will make up for it. I promise.
Later
Vacation
We are leaving for Loveland, Colorado on Sunday at about 8pm. Why so late? Would you want to travel 10 hours with a 1 year old in a car? Hopefully she will sleep through the entire trip. To make things more interesting, we found out today that she has strep throat. Should make things fun.
The plan for Colorado is to spend a few days at my wife's sister's house along with their brother, other sister, parents, and all the nieces and nephews. Aside from the sister that lives there (plus a husband and two kids) the rest of us are from this area. Then on Thursday all 16 of us are going up into the mountains to stay at a cabin/resort joint in Estes State Park. We will be there a couple days then come home on either Saturday night or Sunday morning. I am not really looking forward to it but I am anxious to catch a couple Rockies games at Coors. I am hoping to see Greg Maddux pitch since the Padres will be in town. Hopefully it works out for the good.
Poker
I do not have time to get into the promised topic from my last post. I will see if I can get another post up tomorrow.
I have not played much the last few days. When I have, it is has been goofing off on Poker Stars with 5 card draw or on UB with PLO and HORSE. All together I have gambled away a buy in.
Oops...
Buh-Bye
Sorry for the short update. I will get you more either tomorrow or this weekend before we leave. No You Tube video today either....I will make up for it. I promise.
Later
Monday, July 16, 2007
Almost ALL Poker?!?!?!?
EDIT: For those of you that came here after reading my sig on CR that says I posted nude pics of Jessica Alba......yeah, I lied.
Boy did I have a big weekend hands wise. I put in just over 5k while just 4 tabling! The results were not there though, as I lost about 1 buy. I get frustrated seeing some guys just kill the limit when I scuffle so bad at times. I just continue to make bad calls and I refuse to trust my reads.
I put in some hands at HU and that went ok. I was up big early, took a big down swing, then surged back. Typical stuff for HU. I suffered some rough beats and made a few bad plays. All in all it was a fun diversion. I think I will do some study of HU as I think it is a very profitable game to be good at if you can handle the swings.
Bankroll
After surging past $4k to start the week I dropped $381.35 in about 6k hands to end it. I also started staking a friend (more on that in a sec) which took another $500 out of play.
Roll: $3151.71
Month Total: -$688.24
YTD: +$1932.17
The month and YTD figures include rakeback and about $4k in total withdrawals.
I really want to make the jump to 1/2 but I am just not ready. Until I become consistent and mature in my post flop play I will play $100 even if I grow my roll to $10k.
Staking Deal
Earlier this week a friend, CoxhEd on CR, put a thread on the OT board about selling his laptop so he could roll himself to play again.
For those that do not know, he went through a very tough spell that involved his mother fighting and beating cancer. During this time he withdrew his roll and moved back home to care for her.
Upon seeing the thread about his laptop I started to consider an offer to stake him. I was not sure if I wanted to take an eighth of my roll out and I needed to make sure my wife was ok with it (I earn the money but we share everything, I only felt it would be best to discuss it with her). After a few days I decided to approach him with the idea.
Within a few hours of my first PM we had a deal. I shipped him $500 on UB so he can play $25nl until he builds to $1500 at which time we will have a discussion about continuing or stopping the deal. As far as how it is structured, I would prefer to keep that private but suffice to say it is fair to both of us.
This is my first time doing this and as you can imagine I was a bit cautious entering it. I really trust CoxhEd and I am super anxious to see him succeed. He was beating 1/2 (and maybe 2/4, I forget) when his mom got sick so I know he can do it. He is a super guy and really deserves any good fortune he receives.
Wrap Up
I will be back Wednesday with some discussion about what to do when you feel uncomfortable in a pot. The topic has come up some on the low limit board so I think I will delve into it a bit. I may also see about posting some hands. And finally, I have my second lesson with Primoman tomorrow night. I will update you all on how that went.
You Tube
Today's video ties into the ESPY's which were aired last night. This is one of my favorite video's of all time and in the interest of full disclosure, I still cry every time I see it. Enjoy.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ePXlkqkFH6s
Boy did I have a big weekend hands wise. I put in just over 5k while just 4 tabling! The results were not there though, as I lost about 1 buy. I get frustrated seeing some guys just kill the limit when I scuffle so bad at times. I just continue to make bad calls and I refuse to trust my reads.
I put in some hands at HU and that went ok. I was up big early, took a big down swing, then surged back. Typical stuff for HU. I suffered some rough beats and made a few bad plays. All in all it was a fun diversion. I think I will do some study of HU as I think it is a very profitable game to be good at if you can handle the swings.
Bankroll
After surging past $4k to start the week I dropped $381.35 in about 6k hands to end it. I also started staking a friend (more on that in a sec) which took another $500 out of play.
Roll: $3151.71
Month Total: -$688.24
YTD: +$1932.17
The month and YTD figures include rakeback and about $4k in total withdrawals.
I really want to make the jump to 1/2 but I am just not ready. Until I become consistent and mature in my post flop play I will play $100 even if I grow my roll to $10k.
Staking Deal
Earlier this week a friend, CoxhEd on CR, put a thread on the OT board about selling his laptop so he could roll himself to play again.
For those that do not know, he went through a very tough spell that involved his mother fighting and beating cancer. During this time he withdrew his roll and moved back home to care for her.
Upon seeing the thread about his laptop I started to consider an offer to stake him. I was not sure if I wanted to take an eighth of my roll out and I needed to make sure my wife was ok with it (I earn the money but we share everything, I only felt it would be best to discuss it with her). After a few days I decided to approach him with the idea.
Within a few hours of my first PM we had a deal. I shipped him $500 on UB so he can play $25nl until he builds to $1500 at which time we will have a discussion about continuing or stopping the deal. As far as how it is structured, I would prefer to keep that private but suffice to say it is fair to both of us.
This is my first time doing this and as you can imagine I was a bit cautious entering it. I really trust CoxhEd and I am super anxious to see him succeed. He was beating 1/2 (and maybe 2/4, I forget) when his mom got sick so I know he can do it. He is a super guy and really deserves any good fortune he receives.
Wrap Up
I will be back Wednesday with some discussion about what to do when you feel uncomfortable in a pot. The topic has come up some on the low limit board so I think I will delve into it a bit. I may also see about posting some hands. And finally, I have my second lesson with Primoman tomorrow night. I will update you all on how that went.
You Tube
Today's video ties into the ESPY's which were aired last night. This is one of my favorite video's of all time and in the interest of full disclosure, I still cry every time I see it. Enjoy.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ePXlkqkFH6s
Tuesday, July 10, 2007
What a long week...
On the 4th, as promised, I drank like 300 beers. It breaks down like this:
-I had an 8:00 tee time with my brother. After a tough first hole we turned the cart around and hit the clubhouse for some beer. Great plan.
- We finished golfing about 11:00 and I went home to get loaded up to head to my parents farm.
- Got to the farm about 1:00, started drinking.
- A friend and I drove around and shot things/animals with .22 rifles for a few hours, while drinking.
- We came back and sat around for a few hours bullshitting, and drinking.
- Etc, drinking, etc.
Are we seeing a pattern here?
About 7pm I just wore out. I was tired and full and drunk. Awesome.
Softball
Boy are we terrible. I mean really really terrible. For one, my batting average the last 3 years reads like this: .540, .623, .558. This season, which is 2/3 over, I am sitting at about .250. WTF? It is at the point where I am voluntarily sitting out big games because I am killing my team.
On Thursday we had a league game against a team we swept earlier in the season. The first game we manage only 4 runs in an 8-4 loss. The second game we crushed them 16-4 in 5 innings (1o run rule). So we were feeling OK coming into the weekend's big tourney.
Oops...
In two games we played a total of 10 innings and were outscored 27-7. In other great news it was 103 degrees on Saturday. Our pitcher (and best hitter) had to quit in the 3rd inning of the first game because he was super hot and light headed. In the second game my brother came off the field dry heaving he was so hot. What a shitty fucking day.
Out of the double elim tourney (two and BBQ as we say in the biz) we decided that we should come over on Sunday to watch the not so terrible teams that were still playing. And by watch, I mean drink.
I got up early Sunday (for me) and made up a gallon of mojitos in a water jug then headed for the ball diamonds. Once there seven of us proceeded to annihilate the mojitos and 5 or 6 cases of beer.
We were drunk. I mean wrestling in the front yard of a buddies house drunk. Yeah, I know...
We did much of the partying behind the center field fence so we could heckle the other teams. At one point a home run landed right by us. We grabbed the ball and saved it for later.
Side point important to the story: Our first basemen, Jung, is this 6' 2'', shaved head, broad shouldered, righty that looks pretty intimidating if you don't know him.
Soon after another ball came our way. Jung stands up on the picnic table and throws the original ball back left handed as we all chanted "Throw it Back! Throw it Back!" Of course the team in the field has no idea what is happening as they have no idea who we are. We proceed to repeat our performance like thrice more. Of course they have to stop the game for us each time. Pure drunken comedy.
Poker
As you may have been able to tell from my tales of drunkenness I have played almost no hands in the last week. When I did play, I had a rough time suffering set over set losses no less than 3 times. in a 500 hand stretch. I am stuck a bit over 2 buys since my last post and my roll sits at $3750 or so.
Being Fat
I have been really tired a lot lately. My friend Matt (mjrnt on CR) suggested that maybe it is because I sit on my ass all day at work then go home and sit on my ass some more. I am def 25 pounds overweight and I am sick of feeling older than I am. I really need to get out of the house and do something other than drink...like take a jog or something. Ugh. So as much as I hate to say this, tonight when I get home I am gunna go for a run. Hopefully I stick with this for a few months. If I prove to myself that I can, I will renew my membership at the YMCA for the first time in like 2 years so I can start with weights again.
Yuck.
You Tube
Will Ferrell and Pearl, the final chapter:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SiGd294SnB8
On the 4th, as promised, I drank like 300 beers. It breaks down like this:
-I had an 8:00 tee time with my brother. After a tough first hole we turned the cart around and hit the clubhouse for some beer. Great plan.
- We finished golfing about 11:00 and I went home to get loaded up to head to my parents farm.
- Got to the farm about 1:00, started drinking.
- A friend and I drove around and shot things/animals with .22 rifles for a few hours, while drinking.
- We came back and sat around for a few hours bullshitting, and drinking.
- Etc, drinking, etc.
Are we seeing a pattern here?
About 7pm I just wore out. I was tired and full and drunk. Awesome.
Softball
Boy are we terrible. I mean really really terrible. For one, my batting average the last 3 years reads like this: .540, .623, .558. This season, which is 2/3 over, I am sitting at about .250. WTF? It is at the point where I am voluntarily sitting out big games because I am killing my team.
On Thursday we had a league game against a team we swept earlier in the season. The first game we manage only 4 runs in an 8-4 loss. The second game we crushed them 16-4 in 5 innings (1o run rule). So we were feeling OK coming into the weekend's big tourney.
Oops...
In two games we played a total of 10 innings and were outscored 27-7. In other great news it was 103 degrees on Saturday. Our pitcher (and best hitter) had to quit in the 3rd inning of the first game because he was super hot and light headed. In the second game my brother came off the field dry heaving he was so hot. What a shitty fucking day.
Out of the double elim tourney (two and BBQ as we say in the biz) we decided that we should come over on Sunday to watch the not so terrible teams that were still playing. And by watch, I mean drink.
I got up early Sunday (for me) and made up a gallon of mojitos in a water jug then headed for the ball diamonds. Once there seven of us proceeded to annihilate the mojitos and 5 or 6 cases of beer.
We were drunk. I mean wrestling in the front yard of a buddies house drunk. Yeah, I know...
We did much of the partying behind the center field fence so we could heckle the other teams. At one point a home run landed right by us. We grabbed the ball and saved it for later.
Side point important to the story: Our first basemen, Jung, is this 6' 2'', shaved head, broad shouldered, righty that looks pretty intimidating if you don't know him.
Soon after another ball came our way. Jung stands up on the picnic table and throws the original ball back left handed as we all chanted "Throw it Back! Throw it Back!" Of course the team in the field has no idea what is happening as they have no idea who we are. We proceed to repeat our performance like thrice more. Of course they have to stop the game for us each time. Pure drunken comedy.
Poker
As you may have been able to tell from my tales of drunkenness I have played almost no hands in the last week. When I did play, I had a rough time suffering set over set losses no less than 3 times. in a 500 hand stretch. I am stuck a bit over 2 buys since my last post and my roll sits at $3750 or so.
Being Fat
I have been really tired a lot lately. My friend Matt (mjrnt on CR) suggested that maybe it is because I sit on my ass all day at work then go home and sit on my ass some more. I am def 25 pounds overweight and I am sick of feeling older than I am. I really need to get out of the house and do something other than drink...like take a jog or something. Ugh. So as much as I hate to say this, tonight when I get home I am gunna go for a run. Hopefully I stick with this for a few months. If I prove to myself that I can, I will renew my membership at the YMCA for the first time in like 2 years so I can start with weights again.
Yuck.
You Tube
Will Ferrell and Pearl, the final chapter:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SiGd294SnB8
Tuesday, July 3, 2007
Pre-Independence Day Thoughts
Between yesterday and today I got all the shit for my new computer. I am going to start assembling it this evening as long as I am comfortable I won't fuck anything up. If I get to the point where I realize I have no idea what I am doing I will wait for my brother to finish it up on Thursday. He says he will install the OS and drivers then as well. Hopefully he follows through, because I want this baby up and running in the worst freaking way.
Independence Day
As I said on Friday, I cannot wait for tomorrow! We got big plans starting with an 8:12 tee time at a local public course. I have not actually golfed a round, or a hole for that matter, since my lessons started. I am not expecting anything major since I have yet to pick up a driver, wedge, or putter... I am just looking to have fun and tip a few back with my little bro.
When we are done golfing I will venture out to my parent's farm to start drinking/blowing stuff up/shooting things.
I can't wait.
Poker
I have not played much since my last post. Friday my wife, daughter, and I went out for dinner with some friends. When we got home I was so tired I went to bed early. Saturday we went to my aunt's for dinner. Again, by the time I got home I was beat and went to bed early.
Side note: I tried a new drink concoction on Saturday. I mixed equal parts Sky vodka and and Cointreau (orange liqueur) and added a splash of club soda. It is a really good summer drink as it was quite refreshing. Of course the flavor is very strong and it is def a sipping drink. I highly recommend giving it a try.
So Sunday I sat down for a good 1,300 hand day. I split it into an afternoon and evening session. The afternoon stint was only about an hour as I was not playing well and suffered a set over set loss for a full buy. I guess my head really was not into it for whatever reason. I dropped like $150 and said screw it, then did some work around the house.
Sunday evening went far better as I won my losses back plus a buy in or so. I played very very well and got paid on a few big hands. I actually doubled up on two different tables within about 5 minutes of each other. Once was with a set of queens, the other I flopped AKJ with QT...the villain had AQ and could not let it go.
I hope to play 1k hands this evening as I have no idea when/if I will be able to play tomorrow. Thursday will also be tough since we will be working on the new computer. I hope to play a shit ton on Friday because this weekend is also a total loss. I have a softball tourney all day both Saturday and Sunday. If we get knocked out early Sunday I will get some hands in. Otherwise it will be slim pickings.
Bankroll
June:
Start: $4084.89
End: $3839.95
Net Difference: -$244.94
Witdrawls: $1021.00
Gross Difference (money made playing poker before withdrawls): +$776.06
Hands: Approx 20k
Current: $3936.77
July: +$96.82
It was certainly not my best month on record. But considering I missed a week due to illness and my continued inability to fold hands on the river when I know I am beat, I feel really good about things.
Goals
As I stated WAY back, my goal for the year is to be beating 2/4 by January 1st. I still think that is very possible and I will continue to work towards it. My more immediate goal is to make $2,000 while playing 20,000 hands in July. This will be VERY hard as I am taking a weeks vacation starting on the 23rd. I will work my ass off in the meantime and see what happens.
I want to move full time to 1/2 by the beginning of September, something that must happen if I am to have any shot at getting to 2/4 by New Years Day.
You Tube
Real Jeopardy:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_5H5r4_CoJo
Fake Jeopardy:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oM56uf3JbCU
Independence Day
As I said on Friday, I cannot wait for tomorrow! We got big plans starting with an 8:12 tee time at a local public course. I have not actually golfed a round, or a hole for that matter, since my lessons started. I am not expecting anything major since I have yet to pick up a driver, wedge, or putter... I am just looking to have fun and tip a few back with my little bro.
When we are done golfing I will venture out to my parent's farm to start drinking/blowing stuff up/shooting things.
I can't wait.
Poker
I have not played much since my last post. Friday my wife, daughter, and I went out for dinner with some friends. When we got home I was so tired I went to bed early. Saturday we went to my aunt's for dinner. Again, by the time I got home I was beat and went to bed early.
Side note: I tried a new drink concoction on Saturday. I mixed equal parts Sky vodka and and Cointreau (orange liqueur) and added a splash of club soda. It is a really good summer drink as it was quite refreshing. Of course the flavor is very strong and it is def a sipping drink. I highly recommend giving it a try.
So Sunday I sat down for a good 1,300 hand day. I split it into an afternoon and evening session. The afternoon stint was only about an hour as I was not playing well and suffered a set over set loss for a full buy. I guess my head really was not into it for whatever reason. I dropped like $150 and said screw it, then did some work around the house.
Sunday evening went far better as I won my losses back plus a buy in or so. I played very very well and got paid on a few big hands. I actually doubled up on two different tables within about 5 minutes of each other. Once was with a set of queens, the other I flopped AKJ with QT...the villain had AQ and could not let it go.
I hope to play 1k hands this evening as I have no idea when/if I will be able to play tomorrow. Thursday will also be tough since we will be working on the new computer. I hope to play a shit ton on Friday because this weekend is also a total loss. I have a softball tourney all day both Saturday and Sunday. If we get knocked out early Sunday I will get some hands in. Otherwise it will be slim pickings.
Bankroll
June:
Start: $4084.89
End: $3839.95
Net Difference: -$244.94
Witdrawls: $1021.00
Gross Difference (money made playing poker before withdrawls): +$776.06
Hands: Approx 20k
Current: $3936.77
July: +$96.82
It was certainly not my best month on record. But considering I missed a week due to illness and my continued inability to fold hands on the river when I know I am beat, I feel really good about things.
Goals
As I stated WAY back, my goal for the year is to be beating 2/4 by January 1st. I still think that is very possible and I will continue to work towards it. My more immediate goal is to make $2,000 while playing 20,000 hands in July. This will be VERY hard as I am taking a weeks vacation starting on the 23rd. I will work my ass off in the meantime and see what happens.
I want to move full time to 1/2 by the beginning of September, something that must happen if I am to have any shot at getting to 2/4 by New Years Day.
You Tube
Real Jeopardy:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_5H5r4_CoJo
Fake Jeopardy:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oM56uf3JbCU
Friday, June 29, 2007
2 Posts in 3 days? Who'd a Thunk it?
I hate work. We are soooooo slow right now, it is sick. For those that don't know I work in a small car dealership. We run hot and cold. One week we are so busy I have no time to do anything...the next the lot is a morgue. Add to the pot that the owners are almost never here in the summer and things can get pretty shitty. If I am alone and we are busy, that sucks. If I am alone and we are slow, I get bored. Catch 22 for sure.
Poker
Not much to report here. I have played about 1,000 hands the last two days with minimal results. I won like $11.00 on Wednesday and dropped $4 yesterday. WoOt!!!
I am still having a problem making brutal calls. I am almost embarrassed by this, but lemme show you an example:
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1218805
Ugh...
I need to follow my own advice:
http://www.cardrunners.com/fusetalk/forum/messageview.cfm?catid=67&threadid=24538&enterthread=y
I have been good about posting on the board since Wednesday when I committed to it. I have not been able to watch a video in the last few days but circumstances have not really allowed it. My home PC is fucked so I cannot watch anything on it (porn included!!!). And work is not always the best place to try and study. Although I have done it, I just find it harder to concentrate here. At least I am lucky that my bosses let me play poker and study all I want as long as my shit gets done.
Overall I am playing the best poker of my life. If I can just stop making the bad call, I would be in the clear.
Softball
We had a game last night and it did not go well. We are better as a team than last year but I am just horrible. Last season I hit in the .550 range. This year I would be lucky to be at .300. I almost don't want to go the field anymore.
We play in the A/B division which is the highest in town (population 25k) but got swept by a C team last night. We just could not hit and could not come up with the third out when we needed it. A 6th inning 2 out grand slam off the goddamn foul pole sealed our fate in the second game...can we get a break???
We got a big tourney next weekend, hopefully things go better.
4th of July
I cannot wait for the 4th! It is my second favorite day of the year (next to Christmas). My whole family on both my mothers and fathers side go out to my parents farm and just party all day. We get around 40-50 people a year out there and shoot trap (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trap_shooting), drink, BBQ, and watch a sweet home done fireworks display. The 4th has given me some of my best memories as a child and I still love it to this day. It is just good old fashioned South Dakota fun.
Oh, and I love building sparkler bombs and blowing shit up: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bcRU6gZhb7U (there is your You Tube video of the day)
Things are SUPER powerful. I know a guy that lost a hand trying to throw it out the window of his car. Idiot...
New Computer
Last thing before I shove off. Rodeo helped my pick out stuff to build a new PC. I am psyched for all the stuff to get here so I can get it assembled, the OS and drivers installed, and start not having such a shitty PC at home.
Here is the thread that has all the components listed for those that care:
http://www.cardrunners.com/fusetalk/forum/messageview.cfm?catid=128&threadid=24581&enterthread=y
I'll be back either this weekend or Monday morning. Till then remember that no matter how bad it seems, you could always be this guy: http://www.nicemice.net/amc/photos/auto/2004-04-25-225625-cherryblossomfestival-cosplay
Poker
Not much to report here. I have played about 1,000 hands the last two days with minimal results. I won like $11.00 on Wednesday and dropped $4 yesterday. WoOt!!!
I am still having a problem making brutal calls. I am almost embarrassed by this, but lemme show you an example:
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1218805
Ugh...
I need to follow my own advice:
http://www.cardrunners.com/fusetalk/forum/messageview.cfm?catid=67&threadid=24538&enterthread=y
I have been good about posting on the board since Wednesday when I committed to it. I have not been able to watch a video in the last few days but circumstances have not really allowed it. My home PC is fucked so I cannot watch anything on it (porn included!!!). And work is not always the best place to try and study. Although I have done it, I just find it harder to concentrate here. At least I am lucky that my bosses let me play poker and study all I want as long as my shit gets done.
Overall I am playing the best poker of my life. If I can just stop making the bad call, I would be in the clear.
Softball
We had a game last night and it did not go well. We are better as a team than last year but I am just horrible. Last season I hit in the .550 range. This year I would be lucky to be at .300. I almost don't want to go the field anymore.
We play in the A/B division which is the highest in town (population 25k) but got swept by a C team last night. We just could not hit and could not come up with the third out when we needed it. A 6th inning 2 out grand slam off the goddamn foul pole sealed our fate in the second game...can we get a break???
We got a big tourney next weekend, hopefully things go better.
4th of July
I cannot wait for the 4th! It is my second favorite day of the year (next to Christmas). My whole family on both my mothers and fathers side go out to my parents farm and just party all day. We get around 40-50 people a year out there and shoot trap (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trap_shooting), drink, BBQ, and watch a sweet home done fireworks display. The 4th has given me some of my best memories as a child and I still love it to this day. It is just good old fashioned South Dakota fun.
Oh, and I love building sparkler bombs and blowing shit up: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bcRU6gZhb7U (there is your You Tube video of the day)
Things are SUPER powerful. I know a guy that lost a hand trying to throw it out the window of his car. Idiot...
New Computer
Last thing before I shove off. Rodeo helped my pick out stuff to build a new PC. I am psyched for all the stuff to get here so I can get it assembled, the OS and drivers installed, and start not having such a shitty PC at home.
Here is the thread that has all the components listed for those that care:
http://www.cardrunners.com/fusetalk/forum/messageview.cfm?catid=128&threadid=24581&enterthread=y
I'll be back either this weekend or Monday morning. Till then remember that no matter how bad it seems, you could always be this guy: http://www.nicemice.net/amc/photos/auto/2004-04-25-225625-cherryblossomfestival-cosplay
Wednesday, June 27, 2007
I'm baaaaaaaaacckkk.....New and Improved?
Ok, ok, ok, ok.....so it has been a month.
It has been a BUSY month!
Allow me to explain:
-I spent 4 days in bed with a 102 degree fever (had brutally bad case of strep throat) and am still recovering a bit.
-I have played 16k hands in 14 days (took 12 days off so far...ugh) 4 tabling $100nl on UB
-I have had four birthday parties (me, my mother, my mother-in-law, and my nephew), my 6 year wedding anniversary, fathers day, and a cousin came to visit from Texas.
-I took up golf.
-Softball season is in full swing.
Add in to all this that my home PC is a big pile of dog shit...
I was without the computer for 4 or 5 days and have battled all sorts of virus and spyware issues over the last couple of weeks. Using any internet browser is almost out of the question right now. The good news is that I am building a new PC and hope to be up and running next week.
Taking the Dive
In order to try and get some structure in my poker life I am making some new commitments. They are as follows:
1. Post 5 times per day on SSNL board (only applies to days I play...not to off days).
2. Update blog a minimum of 3 times weekly.
3. Watch 3 video's per week.
4. Play at least a 25,000 hand per month pace.
I am hoping that I can hold myself to these. I think I am at a point where I can really break through and go from 3bb/100 to 6 bb/100 real quick like. In order to do that I need to fix a leak (calling off chips in various spots) and work my ass off. I have worked hard on the leak and have improved a ton in the last 10 days so the next step is studying and posting a ton.
Bankroll Progress
Month Start: $3854.27
Current Total: $3831.72
Withdrawls This Month: $1021.00
Gross Profit (incl. rakeback): +$998.45
Net Profit (incl. rakeback): -$22.55
16170 Hands
New Teacher
I took a two hour lesson from Primoman (Adam). He teaches a decidedly more LAG style than what I am used to. Pre-Adam I ran 18/16 for several 100k hands. Since the lesson (beginning of this month) I am running about 23/17. That is obv a pretty dramatic change.
With games being as nitty as they are right now I really think that opening up like this is the best way to turn a good profit. He actually advocates more of a 26ish VPIP but that is just too much for me... I am very comfortable where I am at and really enjoy the results I am getting. At some point in the near future I will be taking lesson number 2 (as soon as I get the new PC up and running).
Chris Benoit
I am saddened by the loss of Chris Benoit and his family. I am disgusted at his actions and I wish he was still alive so he could pay the proper price for what he did. However, he was a great performer and I choose to remember him for that as well.
You Tube
This posts video de jour....Paris Hilton gets out of jail, and sings about it?!?!?!?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k66epna2Sss
See you soon kiddies!!!
It has been a BUSY month!
Allow me to explain:
-I spent 4 days in bed with a 102 degree fever (had brutally bad case of strep throat) and am still recovering a bit.
-I have played 16k hands in 14 days (took 12 days off so far...ugh) 4 tabling $100nl on UB
-I have had four birthday parties (me, my mother, my mother-in-law, and my nephew), my 6 year wedding anniversary, fathers day, and a cousin came to visit from Texas.
-I took up golf.
-Softball season is in full swing.
Add in to all this that my home PC is a big pile of dog shit...
I was without the computer for 4 or 5 days and have battled all sorts of virus and spyware issues over the last couple of weeks. Using any internet browser is almost out of the question right now. The good news is that I am building a new PC and hope to be up and running next week.
Taking the Dive
In order to try and get some structure in my poker life I am making some new commitments. They are as follows:
1. Post 5 times per day on SSNL board (only applies to days I play...not to off days).
2. Update blog a minimum of 3 times weekly.
3. Watch 3 video's per week.
4. Play at least a 25,000 hand per month pace.
I am hoping that I can hold myself to these. I think I am at a point where I can really break through and go from 3bb/100 to 6 bb/100 real quick like. In order to do that I need to fix a leak (calling off chips in various spots) and work my ass off. I have worked hard on the leak and have improved a ton in the last 10 days so the next step is studying and posting a ton.
Bankroll Progress
Month Start: $3854.27
Current Total: $3831.72
Withdrawls This Month: $1021.00
Gross Profit (incl. rakeback): +$998.45
Net Profit (incl. rakeback): -$22.55
16170 Hands
New Teacher
I took a two hour lesson from Primoman (Adam). He teaches a decidedly more LAG style than what I am used to. Pre-Adam I ran 18/16 for several 100k hands. Since the lesson (beginning of this month) I am running about 23/17. That is obv a pretty dramatic change.
With games being as nitty as they are right now I really think that opening up like this is the best way to turn a good profit. He actually advocates more of a 26ish VPIP but that is just too much for me... I am very comfortable where I am at and really enjoy the results I am getting. At some point in the near future I will be taking lesson number 2 (as soon as I get the new PC up and running).
Chris Benoit
I am saddened by the loss of Chris Benoit and his family. I am disgusted at his actions and I wish he was still alive so he could pay the proper price for what he did. However, he was a great performer and I choose to remember him for that as well.
You Tube
This posts video de jour....Paris Hilton gets out of jail, and sings about it?!?!?!?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k66epna2Sss
See you soon kiddies!!!
Friday, May 25, 2007
Work, Being Old, Poker, and Guitar Hero???
It's been a busy week at work which has kept me from updating much. Sorry bout that. We sold 5 this week which is a ton for us (10-14 total per month ave). That in addition to some other paperwork has kept me away from CR and the tables during the day.
Tomorrow is a big day for me as I turn the ripe old age of 28! I plan on celebrating by working till noon (boooooo) then spending the afternoon with my wife and daughter. But tomorrow night, we tear this mutherfucker down. It's fight night and I cannot wait to see Rampage/Ice Man 2. I'm not sure where we are watching it but rest asssured there will be beer and cards involved.
On Sunday I am going to the horseraces and then grilling out at my place with some friends. More beer will be consumed.
As far as poker goes I have played sparingly this week. Summer is just so damn busy for me that it is tough to play as much as I want. I did post a winner last week and am up $250ish so far this week. My post flop play is improving but I still am struggling with the turn at times. I am def checking it to often when my flop c-bet fails. I am also getting check raised a ton on UB. I forgot how much better the play is there compared with Absolute, which is where I have been playing most of my hands the last few weeks.
As promised last post here is the first edition of my current BR and total:
Week Start: $3645.99
Monday: +$268.03
Tues: No Play
Wed: -$21.16
Thurs: No Play
Week Total: +$246.87
Current: $3892.86
I plan on withdrawing everything above $3k on the first of each month until I can get some bills paid off. This will slow my progress towards playing 1/2 but that's cool. If I can reduce my debt load my mind will be much more clear and I will play tons better.
Here is the You Tube video of the week:
The audio sucks, but all you Guitar Hero fans know how truly sick this is...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3yEjyuw42YY&mode=related&search=
Jeff
Tomorrow is a big day for me as I turn the ripe old age of 28! I plan on celebrating by working till noon (boooooo) then spending the afternoon with my wife and daughter. But tomorrow night, we tear this mutherfucker down. It's fight night and I cannot wait to see Rampage/Ice Man 2. I'm not sure where we are watching it but rest asssured there will be beer and cards involved.
On Sunday I am going to the horseraces and then grilling out at my place with some friends. More beer will be consumed.
As far as poker goes I have played sparingly this week. Summer is just so damn busy for me that it is tough to play as much as I want. I did post a winner last week and am up $250ish so far this week. My post flop play is improving but I still am struggling with the turn at times. I am def checking it to often when my flop c-bet fails. I am also getting check raised a ton on UB. I forgot how much better the play is there compared with Absolute, which is where I have been playing most of my hands the last few weeks.
As promised last post here is the first edition of my current BR and total:
Week Start: $3645.99
Monday: +$268.03
Tues: No Play
Wed: -$21.16
Thurs: No Play
Week Total: +$246.87
Current: $3892.86
I plan on withdrawing everything above $3k on the first of each month until I can get some bills paid off. This will slow my progress towards playing 1/2 but that's cool. If I can reduce my debt load my mind will be much more clear and I will play tons better.
Here is the You Tube video of the week:
The audio sucks, but all you Guitar Hero fans know how truly sick this is...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3yEjyuw42YY&mode=related&search=
Jeff
Friday, May 18, 2007
CR League Top 10, Here I Come!!!
As I mentioned last week I finished 24th in the first CR League tourney. This week I took two ugly beats (all in pre with QQ vs KT and all in pre with AK vs AT) and finished 40th out of 109. Ugh.
I played well enough in both to final table but you know how it works with donkaments... However, I am now in 13th place in the overall leaderboard. I really ran kinda shitty the first two tournies so I am due for some cards. I fully expect to final table this Wednesday and jump into the top 6 or 8.
Cash game play has also gone will with four straight days of profit. I am playing my best poker in 2 months and damn does it feel freaking awesome. Now I need to get some time to watch some videos and post some on the board. My life has been a whil wind lately and things can only calm down from here.
I'll throw out another reminder for the charity tourney. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE check the off topic board. There is a sticky at the top of the board that has all the info.
I am hoping to get my BR figures on the blog here every time I post. My books are at home so I can't do it right now, but I see others do it and I like the idea. It, in part, makes me publically accountable for my wins and losses.
And now, a new feature that I will add to each post. Here is the You Tube video of the day:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hk6Dmhc916I
Ok, ok, and here is a bonus one:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sqk1-q8gXcY&mode=related&search=
Gotta love the Price is Right baby!
Jeff
I played well enough in both to final table but you know how it works with donkaments... However, I am now in 13th place in the overall leaderboard. I really ran kinda shitty the first two tournies so I am due for some cards. I fully expect to final table this Wednesday and jump into the top 6 or 8.
Cash game play has also gone will with four straight days of profit. I am playing my best poker in 2 months and damn does it feel freaking awesome. Now I need to get some time to watch some videos and post some on the board. My life has been a whil wind lately and things can only calm down from here.
I'll throw out another reminder for the charity tourney. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE check the off topic board. There is a sticky at the top of the board that has all the info.
I am hoping to get my BR figures on the blog here every time I post. My books are at home so I can't do it right now, but I see others do it and I like the idea. It, in part, makes me publically accountable for my wins and losses.
And now, a new feature that I will add to each post. Here is the You Tube video of the day:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hk6Dmhc916I
Ok, ok, and here is a bonus one:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sqk1-q8gXcY&mode=related&search=
Gotta love the Price is Right baby!
Jeff
Tuesday, May 15, 2007
Poker related info? NO WAY!!!
First off, thanks to those that have shown interest in the fundraiser. We def need to get more CR people involved though!
I played about 800 hands last night on Absolute 4 tabling $50nl (which is actually $100nl at AP). Why do they have double buy-ins?
I ran super hot with my hole cards on all 4 tables to start but missed flop after flop. I had a very unorthodox player sitting to my left on two diff tables that cause me some problems as well (his VPIP was 30 but it included EVERY ace and he would call the whole way down with TPNK). It took me a good bit to really peg him and that cost me about $50 in the meantime. He made some strange plays and would def switch gears (not on purpose...he really did not know the diff). He was tough to play.
I took one crappy beat as a guy called my c-bet (I had KQ and missed the flop) with a wheel draw. The Q hit on the turn but I was a bit wary and checked behind. Then, of course a 5 falls on the river and the wheel hits (he had A4). He checked again and I value bet. He min-raised and I could not bring myself to fold as I thought he had something like QJ. I was wrong. I need to learn to check behind there. I felt like something might be up....I shoulda just checked. I'll make a note of that...
A bit later I had AA on the same table. Flop came 267 and our villain who limp/called PF check raises me 3x. My set radar went off straight away (I also saw A6, A7, 67 and 89 as possibilities as they were all def in his range). I had been playing semi-weak post flop at that table as there was a maniac who I tried to see a lot of flops against but I had the worst time hitting on (easy perverts). I took this into consideration and decided to call and reevaluate the turn (if he showed weakness I was going to bet out, figuring him for A6, A7, 89, or a pp and no set). Of course the ace hits and we are in business. He check/called a strong bet by me and did the same on the river when I shoved. He showed 66 for the under set.
The $225 pot was a nice way to FINALLY show some green in Poker Tracker for the session. I logged off shortly thereafter, happy with a $65 profit.
I will be back tomorrow as I wanna discuss some of my problems playing post flop.
Jeff
I played about 800 hands last night on Absolute 4 tabling $50nl (which is actually $100nl at AP). Why do they have double buy-ins?
I ran super hot with my hole cards on all 4 tables to start but missed flop after flop. I had a very unorthodox player sitting to my left on two diff tables that cause me some problems as well (his VPIP was 30 but it included EVERY ace and he would call the whole way down with TPNK). It took me a good bit to really peg him and that cost me about $50 in the meantime. He made some strange plays and would def switch gears (not on purpose...he really did not know the diff). He was tough to play.
I took one crappy beat as a guy called my c-bet (I had KQ and missed the flop) with a wheel draw. The Q hit on the turn but I was a bit wary and checked behind. Then, of course a 5 falls on the river and the wheel hits (he had A4). He checked again and I value bet. He min-raised and I could not bring myself to fold as I thought he had something like QJ. I was wrong. I need to learn to check behind there. I felt like something might be up....I shoulda just checked. I'll make a note of that...
A bit later I had AA on the same table. Flop came 267 and our villain who limp/called PF check raises me 3x. My set radar went off straight away (I also saw A6, A7, 67 and 89 as possibilities as they were all def in his range). I had been playing semi-weak post flop at that table as there was a maniac who I tried to see a lot of flops against but I had the worst time hitting on (easy perverts). I took this into consideration and decided to call and reevaluate the turn (if he showed weakness I was going to bet out, figuring him for A6, A7, 89, or a pp and no set). Of course the ace hits and we are in business. He check/called a strong bet by me and did the same on the river when I shoved. He showed 66 for the under set.
The $225 pot was a nice way to FINALLY show some green in Poker Tracker for the session. I logged off shortly thereafter, happy with a $65 profit.
I will be back tomorrow as I wanna discuss some of my problems playing post flop.
Jeff
Monday, May 14, 2007
Finally, some pics!!!
I finally got some pics to put up.
This group is pics that were taken by a local radio station and the local news paper. The pics of the in town flooding are from the North side of town where mjrnt lives. The circled house is his (obv).
And finally, this last group is what mjrnt's basement looks like post cleanup. Please keep in mind this is after he had almost 200 man hours of help from Thursday to Sunday. This was a fully finished basment....ugh.
This brings me to my next point. I am running a poker tournament on Stars on Sunday at 3:00 pm Eastern time to benifit mjrnt. It will be a $10+1 buy in plus a standard $10 donation (total investment of only $21!). Please check this link out for the full story:
http://www.cardrunners.com/fusetalk/forum/messageview.cfm?catid=23&threadid=21459&enterthread=y
As far as my joint goes, it is in decent shape. We washed everything with bleach water yesterday. I did get some bad news on Saturday when it was discovered that we accidently unplugged my freezer to plug in a sump pump. It was FULL with $300-$400 in food.
I was fucking pissed.
Shit happens though...and I have very little room to complain compared to the spot some people are in.
Jeff
This group is pics that were taken by a local radio station and the local news paper. The pics of the in town flooding are from the North side of town where mjrnt lives. The circled house is his (obv).
And finally, this last group is what mjrnt's basement looks like post cleanup. Please keep in mind this is after he had almost 200 man hours of help from Thursday to Sunday. This was a fully finished basment....ugh.
This brings me to my next point. I am running a poker tournament on Stars on Sunday at 3:00 pm Eastern time to benifit mjrnt. It will be a $10+1 buy in plus a standard $10 donation (total investment of only $21!). Please check this link out for the full story:
http://www.cardrunners.com/fusetalk/forum/messageview.cfm?catid=23&threadid=21459&enterthread=y
As far as my joint goes, it is in decent shape. We washed everything with bleach water yesterday. I did get some bad news on Saturday when it was discovered that we accidently unplugged my freezer to plug in a sump pump. It was FULL with $300-$400 in food.
I was fucking pissed.
Shit happens though...and I have very little room to complain compared to the spot some people are in.
Jeff
Thursday, May 10, 2007
Still No Pictures
Well, I still do not have pics to post. I was going to snap some of the North side of town (where mjrnt lives) but the water went down 5 feet in 24 hours! They can FINALLY get into their homes again.
I had a meeting with my insurance adjuster this morning and got bad news: No coverage. I knew it was coming so the let down was small. I was able to secure financing at my bank to rebuild things so it should be ok.
I plan on helping mjrnt Friday and Saturday and another friend on Sunday (the one that had his basement wall cave in from my original flood post). It will be a long but rewarding three days of work.
On the good news front I played quite well in the CR League tourney last night. I placed 24th out of 191 and am quite pleased with the result! If I place top 25 in each I should be right up there in the end.
I had one tough beat that sealed my fate when I got A/I PF with AA vs 35s.
The flop came Q55!
I had another hand that got me some heat. When I get home I will grab the HH and get it on here.
Jeff
I had a meeting with my insurance adjuster this morning and got bad news: No coverage. I knew it was coming so the let down was small. I was able to secure financing at my bank to rebuild things so it should be ok.
I plan on helping mjrnt Friday and Saturday and another friend on Sunday (the one that had his basement wall cave in from my original flood post). It will be a long but rewarding three days of work.
On the good news front I played quite well in the CR League tourney last night. I placed 24th out of 191 and am quite pleased with the result! If I place top 25 in each I should be right up there in the end.
I had one tough beat that sealed my fate when I got A/I PF with AA vs 35s.
The flop came Q55!
I had another hand that got me some heat. When I get home I will grab the HH and get it on here.
Jeff
Wednesday, May 9, 2007
Flood Update
I am going to try and get an update on here more or less every day as I think it is good therapy for the evils of flooding (and poker!).
Yesterday things slowed down for me. I did very little with my house and ended up not having any friends that needed anything. I got out and took some photos that along with the ones I am going to take during lunch today will get posted here.
My dad came to town and took my wife and I out to supper so we could get out of the house for a few hours. It was nice to just chill out, watch the Twins game, and have a few cocktails. After that I came home and collapsed into bed. I actually feel mostly rested for the first time since Friday.
Tough times are ahead though...
Matt's (CR name: mjrnt) house is still surrounded by water but it receded almost a foot overnight. He stopped at the store this morning and looked like death. I cannot imagine the stress he must be under. His family from out of town and a bunch of our mates are going over on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday to completely gut his basement. We should have a crew of 10 and I still think it will take several days. I am not looking forward to it as I know I will be sore and tired on Monday. At the same time I want to do anything I can to help one of my truly good friends get his life back in order. He and his wife are wonderful people that don't deserve this kind of bull shit.
As far as cards go I plan on playing in the CR league MTT tonight and am looking VERY forward to it. I am not a big MTTer but when I play I usually hold my own even having scored big a few times. I enjoy playing them and think playing against what I expect to be a high level of competition will be an ultra fun test of my donkament poker meddle.
Jeff
Yesterday things slowed down for me. I did very little with my house and ended up not having any friends that needed anything. I got out and took some photos that along with the ones I am going to take during lunch today will get posted here.
My dad came to town and took my wife and I out to supper so we could get out of the house for a few hours. It was nice to just chill out, watch the Twins game, and have a few cocktails. After that I came home and collapsed into bed. I actually feel mostly rested for the first time since Friday.
Tough times are ahead though...
Matt's (CR name: mjrnt) house is still surrounded by water but it receded almost a foot overnight. He stopped at the store this morning and looked like death. I cannot imagine the stress he must be under. His family from out of town and a bunch of our mates are going over on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday to completely gut his basement. We should have a crew of 10 and I still think it will take several days. I am not looking forward to it as I know I will be sore and tired on Monday. At the same time I want to do anything I can to help one of my truly good friends get his life back in order. He and his wife are wonderful people that don't deserve this kind of bull shit.
As far as cards go I plan on playing in the CR league MTT tonight and am looking VERY forward to it. I am not a big MTTer but when I play I usually hold my own even having scored big a few times. I enjoy playing them and think playing against what I expect to be a high level of competition will be an ultra fun test of my donkament poker meddle.
Jeff
Thursday, May 3, 2007
I Fucking Hate Rain
Another day, another reason not to blog.
Rain, tons of it.
The two posts I put on CR yesterday and today follow.
Yesterday's Post:
"So Saturday morning is started to rain. It kept raining all day. Then about 9pm it REALLY started to rain...A LOT. And it didn't stop.
We probably got about 1-2 inches from 9am to 9pm and 6-7 inches from 9pm-3am. Included in that was more than 3 inches in a one hour stretch.
Large parts of the city were flooded badly. It is not like you see on TV where people are on their roof. But in my town of 25,000 and in our general area (North Eastern South Dakota) there are several thousand homes destroyed and millions upon millions of dollars in damages.
I was at a friends 30th birthday party when my dad called to say my basement was starting to flood (he was staying the night). He also told me my brothers car had stalled a half hour ago and he had no idea when it was going to get towed out.
My wife and I left the party with the intentions of going home but when we saw how bad the streets were (3-5 feet deep in many places) and how many cars were stalled (literally hundreds) we decided to go get my brother. It never takes more than 15 minutes to get anywhere in our city. It is small and traffic is never that bad. It took me 45 minutes to get to my brother in my 4 wheel drive Chevy Tahoe. There were a number of times I was pushing water with my bumper. There were other times I was pushing it with my grill.
Really.
When I finally got to him, tow rope in hand, the water was almost waist deep (I'm 5' 8'' tall). I stripped down to my undershirt and took off my flip flops then waded over to his car. I kneeled down to feel for a tow hook. The water was fucking freezing and up to my chest. After a minute or so I gave up. We decided that maybe I could push him a couple hundred feet to dry street so I could hook the rope up easier. This was made more difficult by the 5 other stalled cars, the fact I had no shoes on, and by the trucks that came by making large waves that pushed the car a foot or more.
His car was floating.
We finally got it out of the water and towed it through two feet of water for a mile to the car dealership I work at. He has had the car (a VERY nice Acura CL) for 3 months. It is a total loss.
For my part my parents, wife, brother, and I were able to keep the water level in my basement under 2 inches. We had two sump pumps working full time and a wet vac that we would fill and haul outside and dump. I had to crawl around on my hands and knees for several hours with plumbers putty and fill little holes and cracks in the mortar between the cinder blocks that comprise my basement walls.
And then the sewer backed up.
I had people's shit floating in a yellow soup in my basement. To make matters worse I could not get the water to stop flowing up through my floor drain. After several hours I got a plug to stay and I was able to jam a rubber exercise mat into the shitter to plug that (I set my bowling ball on top of it to keep the water pressure from forcing the plug out).
I was awake for almost exactly 24 hours before I got some sleep. When I got up on Sunday after about 4 hours of rest the water was still coming in big time. I relieved my dad who had only slept about 2 hours and alternated between pumping water and hauling shit from my basement.
Later in the day my brother returned and a friend came over and we were able to remove my furniture and carpet. Some of the furniture is ok, the carpet is not.
I was able to get about 6 hours of sleep last night and things are looking up. I came into work for a few hours to take care of some stuff but I am leaving soon so I can rip down my walls that are wrecked and getting moldy already.
My insurance policy won't cover any of this. My back is fucked up. My left shoulder feels like there is knife in it. I am tired. I have a cut on my toe (long story) which sat in sewage for 15 straight hours while I worked (now I need a tetanus shot). I have not seen my daughter in 2 days (she is staying with family).
Did I mention that I am one of the lucky ones?
Fellow CR member mjrnt (real name: Matt) is a good friend of mine. He lives about 10 blocks north of me. His house in on a very small island. The rest of town is mostly drained but his street is under 4 to 5 feet of water. When you look down it the water starts at the doorstep of the homes on the south side of the street and stretches to the door step of the homes on the north side of the street. He has several feet of water in his, unlike mine, fully finished and furnished basement.
It is destroyed.
And his insurance won't cover it either.
We are talking over $50k in damages (compared to my $2,000-$3,000).
Did I mention that the water level is still rising?
I have another friend in a small town 20 miles south of here who had a wall in his basement give way. When he opens the door to the basement all he sees is water. He had a fuel oil (diesel used to run his furnace) tank down there and it leaked into the water. Now he can't pump into the street. His house is pretty much destroyed as it will cost more to fix the basement that the home is worth.
His insurance won't cover it either.
Look, I understand this is not exactly New Orleans. I still have a house and a place to work. My family and friends are safe. But please excuse me when I say that this is the worst thing that I have ever seen. Until you see it in person and can see how this is affecting people's lives there is no way to truly understand the enormity of it all.
I am sorry this is such a long post. Please understand that I am not looking for sympathy. I just needed some place to vent. My head feels like it is going to explode and my body feels like it is going to crumble. It just plain feels good to put this on virtual paper.
As I type this, with God as my witness, I am sitting at work at my desk with tears running down my cheeks. I am not sure what to say or do at this point. All I can do is cry."
Today's Post:
"Thanks for the kind words guys, it means a lot.
Here is a link to a page with thumbnails of our town taken by the local newspaper:
http://www.aberdeennews.com/ap...Ref=PH&Params=Itemnr=1
When you click on a pic it takes several seconds to pop up (the entire page reloads) so be patient.
If you look at the very first one the red car on the right side of the pic is my brother's (the one in the story that I pushed out). It was taken a while before I got there. I know this because you can still see the tops of the wheels!
A lot of the pics aren't even of the worst areas. I plan on taking a ton of phots of mjrnt's neighborhood this evening since I finally have my house cleaned up.
Here is a link to the papers home page:
http://www.aberdeennews.com
At the top there is some links to video footage of the mess. Check the aerial video out, it is pretty amazing. Again, please be patient with the links, the page is probably getting bombarded by locals.
Some of the video links don't alwasy work. The first one does and if you watch it at the 3:10 mark where the words "North Dakota St. Area" pop up and at the 4:25 mark where it says "North State Street" you will see the neighborhood where mjrnt lives.
He is smack in the middle of it.
The water level is actually rising there and they expect it won't go down until Friday at the earliest.
At my house the water is still seeping in but it no longer requires constant attention. I can use my toilet and shower again and hope to be able to do laundry in the next few days. We worked until midnight or so last night at which time I got my first good nights sleep since Friday.
Tonight we are going to a friends house to haul the carpet and furniture from his basement and cut the damaged sheetrock out before the black mold starts to grow.
I talked to my brother-in-law who is a fireman in town and he said they were out all night on Saturday. Apparently there were dozens of electrical fires in peoples basements. He also told me that they carried dozens of elderly people from their basements through chest deep water. There were spots in town that the only way they could rescue was by boat. A local marina loaned several boats to city to aid in this effort.
My next door neighbor is a police officer and he also was hard at work on Saturday. They pulled a guy over and gave him a DUI after he hit a section of 2 foot deep water at about 40 MPH in town.
Fucking idiot.
I hope to get my computer back online this evening so I can get some hands in. I know my mind is super cluttered but I need a distraction! I will post some pics here later."
I hope to keep posting day by day with info about the progress our city is making. I plan on taking a bunch of photos tonight and will try to get them posted tomorrow.
Jeff
Rain, tons of it.
The two posts I put on CR yesterday and today follow.
Yesterday's Post:
"So Saturday morning is started to rain. It kept raining all day. Then about 9pm it REALLY started to rain...A LOT. And it didn't stop.
We probably got about 1-2 inches from 9am to 9pm and 6-7 inches from 9pm-3am. Included in that was more than 3 inches in a one hour stretch.
Large parts of the city were flooded badly. It is not like you see on TV where people are on their roof. But in my town of 25,000 and in our general area (North Eastern South Dakota) there are several thousand homes destroyed and millions upon millions of dollars in damages.
I was at a friends 30th birthday party when my dad called to say my basement was starting to flood (he was staying the night). He also told me my brothers car had stalled a half hour ago and he had no idea when it was going to get towed out.
My wife and I left the party with the intentions of going home but when we saw how bad the streets were (3-5 feet deep in many places) and how many cars were stalled (literally hundreds) we decided to go get my brother. It never takes more than 15 minutes to get anywhere in our city. It is small and traffic is never that bad. It took me 45 minutes to get to my brother in my 4 wheel drive Chevy Tahoe. There were a number of times I was pushing water with my bumper. There were other times I was pushing it with my grill.
Really.
When I finally got to him, tow rope in hand, the water was almost waist deep (I'm 5' 8'' tall). I stripped down to my undershirt and took off my flip flops then waded over to his car. I kneeled down to feel for a tow hook. The water was fucking freezing and up to my chest. After a minute or so I gave up. We decided that maybe I could push him a couple hundred feet to dry street so I could hook the rope up easier. This was made more difficult by the 5 other stalled cars, the fact I had no shoes on, and by the trucks that came by making large waves that pushed the car a foot or more.
His car was floating.
We finally got it out of the water and towed it through two feet of water for a mile to the car dealership I work at. He has had the car (a VERY nice Acura CL) for 3 months. It is a total loss.
For my part my parents, wife, brother, and I were able to keep the water level in my basement under 2 inches. We had two sump pumps working full time and a wet vac that we would fill and haul outside and dump. I had to crawl around on my hands and knees for several hours with plumbers putty and fill little holes and cracks in the mortar between the cinder blocks that comprise my basement walls.
And then the sewer backed up.
I had people's shit floating in a yellow soup in my basement. To make matters worse I could not get the water to stop flowing up through my floor drain. After several hours I got a plug to stay and I was able to jam a rubber exercise mat into the shitter to plug that (I set my bowling ball on top of it to keep the water pressure from forcing the plug out).
I was awake for almost exactly 24 hours before I got some sleep. When I got up on Sunday after about 4 hours of rest the water was still coming in big time. I relieved my dad who had only slept about 2 hours and alternated between pumping water and hauling shit from my basement.
Later in the day my brother returned and a friend came over and we were able to remove my furniture and carpet. Some of the furniture is ok, the carpet is not.
I was able to get about 6 hours of sleep last night and things are looking up. I came into work for a few hours to take care of some stuff but I am leaving soon so I can rip down my walls that are wrecked and getting moldy already.
My insurance policy won't cover any of this. My back is fucked up. My left shoulder feels like there is knife in it. I am tired. I have a cut on my toe (long story) which sat in sewage for 15 straight hours while I worked (now I need a tetanus shot). I have not seen my daughter in 2 days (she is staying with family).
Did I mention that I am one of the lucky ones?
Fellow CR member mjrnt (real name: Matt) is a good friend of mine. He lives about 10 blocks north of me. His house in on a very small island. The rest of town is mostly drained but his street is under 4 to 5 feet of water. When you look down it the water starts at the doorstep of the homes on the south side of the street and stretches to the door step of the homes on the north side of the street. He has several feet of water in his, unlike mine, fully finished and furnished basement.
It is destroyed.
And his insurance won't cover it either.
We are talking over $50k in damages (compared to my $2,000-$3,000).
Did I mention that the water level is still rising?
I have another friend in a small town 20 miles south of here who had a wall in his basement give way. When he opens the door to the basement all he sees is water. He had a fuel oil (diesel used to run his furnace) tank down there and it leaked into the water. Now he can't pump into the street. His house is pretty much destroyed as it will cost more to fix the basement that the home is worth.
His insurance won't cover it either.
Look, I understand this is not exactly New Orleans. I still have a house and a place to work. My family and friends are safe. But please excuse me when I say that this is the worst thing that I have ever seen. Until you see it in person and can see how this is affecting people's lives there is no way to truly understand the enormity of it all.
I am sorry this is such a long post. Please understand that I am not looking for sympathy. I just needed some place to vent. My head feels like it is going to explode and my body feels like it is going to crumble. It just plain feels good to put this on virtual paper.
As I type this, with God as my witness, I am sitting at work at my desk with tears running down my cheeks. I am not sure what to say or do at this point. All I can do is cry."
Today's Post:
"Thanks for the kind words guys, it means a lot.
Here is a link to a page with thumbnails of our town taken by the local newspaper:
http://www.aberdeennews.com/ap...Ref=PH&Params=Itemnr=1
When you click on a pic it takes several seconds to pop up (the entire page reloads) so be patient.
If you look at the very first one the red car on the right side of the pic is my brother's (the one in the story that I pushed out). It was taken a while before I got there. I know this because you can still see the tops of the wheels!
A lot of the pics aren't even of the worst areas. I plan on taking a ton of phots of mjrnt's neighborhood this evening since I finally have my house cleaned up.
Here is a link to the papers home page:
http://www.aberdeennews.com
At the top there is some links to video footage of the mess. Check the aerial video out, it is pretty amazing. Again, please be patient with the links, the page is probably getting bombarded by locals.
Some of the video links don't alwasy work. The first one does and if you watch it at the 3:10 mark where the words "North Dakota St. Area" pop up and at the 4:25 mark where it says "North State Street" you will see the neighborhood where mjrnt lives.
He is smack in the middle of it.
The water level is actually rising there and they expect it won't go down until Friday at the earliest.
At my house the water is still seeping in but it no longer requires constant attention. I can use my toilet and shower again and hope to be able to do laundry in the next few days. We worked until midnight or so last night at which time I got my first good nights sleep since Friday.
Tonight we are going to a friends house to haul the carpet and furniture from his basement and cut the damaged sheetrock out before the black mold starts to grow.
I talked to my brother-in-law who is a fireman in town and he said they were out all night on Saturday. Apparently there were dozens of electrical fires in peoples basements. He also told me that they carried dozens of elderly people from their basements through chest deep water. There were spots in town that the only way they could rescue was by boat. A local marina loaned several boats to city to aid in this effort.
My next door neighbor is a police officer and he also was hard at work on Saturday. They pulled a guy over and gave him a DUI after he hit a section of 2 foot deep water at about 40 MPH in town.
Fucking idiot.
I hope to get my computer back online this evening so I can get some hands in. I know my mind is super cluttered but I need a distraction! I will post some pics here later."
I hope to keep posting day by day with info about the progress our city is making. I plan on taking a bunch of photos tonight and will try to get them posted tomorrow.
Jeff
Monday, April 9, 2007
Quickie...
Sorry (again) for the lack of updates. I will make a long story short here....I have been playing terribly for the better part of 2 months now. I am having trouble making myself take the time to make the kind of posts that you have (hopefully) come to expect. In light of this I will continue to update sporadically until I can get my head out of my ass long enough to stop the bleeding.
Monday, March 26, 2007
I'm Just a Swingin'
What a week! I had my biggest winning day and two biggest losing days ever... I have not done my books yet but I suspect I was down about $250 or so. Not too bad considering the circumstances, I guess. I am still searching for some consistency and I think I have identified some things to help me in that fight:
1. I am daydreaming a lot while I play.
2. I am still calling off some chips on the river.
3. My "experiment" with re-raising min-check raises is over!
Allow me to expound:
1. I am daydreaming a lot while I play: This has always been one of my toughest issues to overcome. I have always had a creative, mind wandering, day dreaming sort of thought process. This made it tough to concentrate in school (it was worse in college since I had nobody to answer to) and makes it tough while at work. My brain is always working on something, too bad it isn't always what my body is working on... I am not sure how I can remedy this. In the past I have tried playing more tables so I am forced to concentrate at all times. I think I am at my best when I play 2-3 tables though. So when I have a slower pace with fewer tables I really have to work on concentrating. It is a never ending battle.
2. I am still calling off some chips on the river: I am paying people off too often when I have TPTK type hands and get value raised. I am a lot better with this but I need to be more disciplined. I am def working very hard on this and have shown improvement.
3. My "experiment" with re-raising min-check raises (in a raised pot): I think I mentioned it here at some point (or maybe not) but I have long been baffled by the min-check raise on the flop. So I decided to take one for the team and start playing back at players who do this.
I have found that if a blind is taking this line it is very often a steal attempt. This is especially true with flops that are uncoordinated and contain an ace or a king. This is not always the case but very often is. If a min-check raise comes from EP, a solid player, or a tight/passive player, beware. They use this to try and get action on monster hands. They will also use it with TT-KK on an ace high flop to see where they stand.
After you re-raise in this situation you are obv hoping for a fold. Of course, if they come back over the top you must fold. If they call, it can be a bit sticky. Usually following a call on the flop they will check the turn. If this is the case I narrow down their holding to a draw, a low-middle pp, or a weak ace (if an ace flopped). From here you can decide to either bet or check behind, depending on your reads. I will say this: a LOT of players use the min check raise to see where they stand with the three hand types I just listed. I cannot tell you how many times we checked down and they showed 55 or A4 or 67s. That def seems to be their range when they make this play (min check raise flop, call re-raise, check turn).
As with any other play I think playing back at the min-check raiser can be +EV if done at the right time. I spent 2 weeks doing it almost every time... I knew I would take some losses in doing so but it allowed me to get a better feel for when it will work in the future. I hope I explained this well enough that you all get the gist of it. If anything needs more in depth discussion, let me know and I will talk more about it in my next post.
This is also a great example of why you should have "check raise %" on your PAHUD at all times. You can get a great feel for who is doing it and how often. If a villain has a 10% figure for check raising, I am playing back at him a ton more. As I stated in my last post (scroll down lazy ass) I am willing to email my PAHUD layouts for UB, AP, or FTP at your request. Just drop me a line in the comments here or at CR (jeff218).
Thanks for reading kids. Until next time, good luck at the tables.
1. I am daydreaming a lot while I play.
2. I am still calling off some chips on the river.
3. My "experiment" with re-raising min-check raises is over!
Allow me to expound:
1. I am daydreaming a lot while I play: This has always been one of my toughest issues to overcome. I have always had a creative, mind wandering, day dreaming sort of thought process. This made it tough to concentrate in school (it was worse in college since I had nobody to answer to) and makes it tough while at work. My brain is always working on something, too bad it isn't always what my body is working on... I am not sure how I can remedy this. In the past I have tried playing more tables so I am forced to concentrate at all times. I think I am at my best when I play 2-3 tables though. So when I have a slower pace with fewer tables I really have to work on concentrating. It is a never ending battle.
2. I am still calling off some chips on the river: I am paying people off too often when I have TPTK type hands and get value raised. I am a lot better with this but I need to be more disciplined. I am def working very hard on this and have shown improvement.
3. My "experiment" with re-raising min-check raises (in a raised pot): I think I mentioned it here at some point (or maybe not) but I have long been baffled by the min-check raise on the flop. So I decided to take one for the team and start playing back at players who do this.
I have found that if a blind is taking this line it is very often a steal attempt. This is especially true with flops that are uncoordinated and contain an ace or a king. This is not always the case but very often is. If a min-check raise comes from EP, a solid player, or a tight/passive player, beware. They use this to try and get action on monster hands. They will also use it with TT-KK on an ace high flop to see where they stand.
After you re-raise in this situation you are obv hoping for a fold. Of course, if they come back over the top you must fold. If they call, it can be a bit sticky. Usually following a call on the flop they will check the turn. If this is the case I narrow down their holding to a draw, a low-middle pp, or a weak ace (if an ace flopped). From here you can decide to either bet or check behind, depending on your reads. I will say this: a LOT of players use the min check raise to see where they stand with the three hand types I just listed. I cannot tell you how many times we checked down and they showed 55 or A4 or 67s. That def seems to be their range when they make this play (min check raise flop, call re-raise, check turn).
As with any other play I think playing back at the min-check raiser can be +EV if done at the right time. I spent 2 weeks doing it almost every time... I knew I would take some losses in doing so but it allowed me to get a better feel for when it will work in the future. I hope I explained this well enough that you all get the gist of it. If anything needs more in depth discussion, let me know and I will talk more about it in my next post.
This is also a great example of why you should have "check raise %" on your PAHUD at all times. You can get a great feel for who is doing it and how often. If a villain has a 10% figure for check raising, I am playing back at him a ton more. As I stated in my last post (scroll down lazy ass) I am willing to email my PAHUD layouts for UB, AP, or FTP at your request. Just drop me a line in the comments here or at CR (jeff218).
Thanks for reading kids. Until next time, good luck at the tables.
Thursday, March 22, 2007
I love Full Tilt...
FTP and I have a love/hate relationship. For all the days it pisses me off to no end there are days where I want to give it my man love as though it were Tina Fey (ppl on the off topic board should appreciate that one!). Of course we all know that the actual site has nothing to do with it...I just like blaming my losses on something other than me. It is WAY better for my self image.
I played about 1150 hands yesterday and started off by dropping a buy in at $100nl without losing more than $15 in a hand. I just could not hit a flop. After going to lunch I decided to fire up, for the first time, a single $200nl table. I have been told that for the most part $200nl does not have better players than $100nl and that it is just a bit more aggro. With this in mind I thought I would play for a bit.
About 30 minutes into the session I was playing quite well and had a nice run of cards. I was running well enough that my VPIP and PFR% were both pretty high (24/21) for my TAG style. I was up to about $290 when I got involved with the player sitting directly across from me. He was running 35/30 for the session with an AF of 12! He had been very aggro regardless of position and was all-in 2-3 times in the twenty hands we had played. He was also sitting with more than a buy-in (about $245).
The villain raised to $7 UTG and I called on the button with 9dTd. Of course I rarely limp but was looking to hit big and get paid. Plus if I 3 bet there is a VERY good chance I get 4 bet or shoved on preflop at which time I have to fold.
The flop came 8c9sTs. The poker gods are a cruel sort. I flop top two pair but there is 2 to a flush and 3 to a straight. Ugh.
He led for $12 into the $17 pot and I popped him up to $38. He 3 bet me to $112. At this point I have NO DOUBT I am ahead. In my mind his likely holding was AA, KK, QQ, JJ, AT, AJ, KJ, JT, or more or less any two spades. I had seen him get tricky with a hand earlier (checked a set with 5c6c9d on the flop, then bet 1/2 pot when an ace hit the turn) and at least one of his all-in hands was a flush draw. All this info made me think he did not have a set or QJ. I just could not see him firing with those hands. This also shows the value of concentrating on just 1- 3 tables and getting good reads. Most of us are not good enough to be playing 6 tables at once.
Here is where I goofed though. I was resigned to getting all-in and was ok with it, but I just called his flop 3 bet. Why? I have no clue. It was def the wrong play. I needed to shove. The turn came 5d to make the board 8c9sTs5d. He insta shoved for $128 more and I called.
I love being right.
He turned over AJ! Thankfully the river was a blank and I raked my biggest pot ever ($494.10). The best part is that I was not at all nervous and had no problem throwing the money in. This has been a problem in the past as that kind of cash means a lot to me. As a result I have been tentative to get my money in which can be a bad thing.
The good continued into the evening with me winning 4 more buys at $100nl thanks in most part to getting AA 8 times and winning every one. When you win $300 of off AA it makes being profitable a lot easier. All told I won $665 and felt very good about my play. I hope I can make it continue!
Over thinking At Low Limits:
One of the things I struggle with most in poker is practicing what I preach...and I preach a LOT! In fact I kind of think of myself as a Joe Torre type. He was a pretty good baseball player but is a great coach. While I am in no way suggesting I am a pretty good poker player or that I am a great poker coach, the parallel is there. I think, hope actually, that I give very good advice and analysis to other CR members on the low limit board. Of course when I play I will often ignore my own advice and take some pretty ugly lines.
In the past I have been particularly guilty of over thinking hands. I really believe this is a major problem with many of my peers as well. At $100nl, 98% of players are not paying attention to betting patterns, VPIP's, or PFR%. Unless a particular player really stands out they don't know who's aggro or nitty. They are too busing watching TV, thinking about which party to go to or who's mom is the hottest, surfing the net, downloading music, etc. to play anything more than the 2 cards directly in front of them.
When you are in a hand with 88 and think to yourself, "He cannot call here because my check raise on the flop and lead on the turn represented blah blah blah" there is a good chance the villain is thinking, "is my pizza done yet?" as he calls your shove with TT on an AK62J board. This is not to say that you should not try to analyze every move you and your opponent make. It is not to say that many villains are not capable of making solid decisions based on the board texture, pot size, and their opponents image. What I am trying to get across is that solid, no frills, ABC poker is the hands down best way to glean a profit at the lower limits. Do not get fancy. Do not bluff. Do not play shit cards and say, "I will outplay them on the flop." YOU CANNOT OUTPLAY SOMEBODY THAT ONLY PLAYS THEIR HOLE CARDS AND NOTHING MORE!!!!
Now, if only I could take my own advice...
Before I go, one last thing: I have PAHUD layouts for Absolute, FTP (racetrack. no avatars), and UB. They include most everything from my previous blog post (scroll down) on PAHUD with some tweaks (The UB layout is not as complete but since I play there so little I have not fixed that yet. It is still quite good though.). I can email these layouts to anybody that wants them. Be forwarned that once you import the layout and save it your old layout is gone forever unless you export it and save it to your hard drive. If you want any of the layouts email me at: midas_poop@yahoo.com or PM me on CR (jeff218) with your email addy. I wll send the layout plus instructions on how to get it up and running.
I played about 1150 hands yesterday and started off by dropping a buy in at $100nl without losing more than $15 in a hand. I just could not hit a flop. After going to lunch I decided to fire up, for the first time, a single $200nl table. I have been told that for the most part $200nl does not have better players than $100nl and that it is just a bit more aggro. With this in mind I thought I would play for a bit.
About 30 minutes into the session I was playing quite well and had a nice run of cards. I was running well enough that my VPIP and PFR% were both pretty high (24/21) for my TAG style. I was up to about $290 when I got involved with the player sitting directly across from me. He was running 35/30 for the session with an AF of 12! He had been very aggro regardless of position and was all-in 2-3 times in the twenty hands we had played. He was also sitting with more than a buy-in (about $245).
The villain raised to $7 UTG and I called on the button with 9dTd. Of course I rarely limp but was looking to hit big and get paid. Plus if I 3 bet there is a VERY good chance I get 4 bet or shoved on preflop at which time I have to fold.
The flop came 8c9sTs. The poker gods are a cruel sort. I flop top two pair but there is 2 to a flush and 3 to a straight. Ugh.
He led for $12 into the $17 pot and I popped him up to $38. He 3 bet me to $112. At this point I have NO DOUBT I am ahead. In my mind his likely holding was AA, KK, QQ, JJ, AT, AJ, KJ, JT, or more or less any two spades. I had seen him get tricky with a hand earlier (checked a set with 5c6c9d on the flop, then bet 1/2 pot when an ace hit the turn) and at least one of his all-in hands was a flush draw. All this info made me think he did not have a set or QJ. I just could not see him firing with those hands. This also shows the value of concentrating on just 1- 3 tables and getting good reads. Most of us are not good enough to be playing 6 tables at once.
Here is where I goofed though. I was resigned to getting all-in and was ok with it, but I just called his flop 3 bet. Why? I have no clue. It was def the wrong play. I needed to shove. The turn came 5d to make the board 8c9sTs5d. He insta shoved for $128 more and I called.
I love being right.
He turned over AJ! Thankfully the river was a blank and I raked my biggest pot ever ($494.10). The best part is that I was not at all nervous and had no problem throwing the money in. This has been a problem in the past as that kind of cash means a lot to me. As a result I have been tentative to get my money in which can be a bad thing.
The good continued into the evening with me winning 4 more buys at $100nl thanks in most part to getting AA 8 times and winning every one. When you win $300 of off AA it makes being profitable a lot easier. All told I won $665 and felt very good about my play. I hope I can make it continue!
Over thinking At Low Limits:
One of the things I struggle with most in poker is practicing what I preach...and I preach a LOT! In fact I kind of think of myself as a Joe Torre type. He was a pretty good baseball player but is a great coach. While I am in no way suggesting I am a pretty good poker player or that I am a great poker coach, the parallel is there. I think, hope actually, that I give very good advice and analysis to other CR members on the low limit board. Of course when I play I will often ignore my own advice and take some pretty ugly lines.
In the past I have been particularly guilty of over thinking hands. I really believe this is a major problem with many of my peers as well. At $100nl, 98% of players are not paying attention to betting patterns, VPIP's, or PFR%. Unless a particular player really stands out they don't know who's aggro or nitty. They are too busing watching TV, thinking about which party to go to or who's mom is the hottest, surfing the net, downloading music, etc. to play anything more than the 2 cards directly in front of them.
When you are in a hand with 88 and think to yourself, "He cannot call here because my check raise on the flop and lead on the turn represented blah blah blah" there is a good chance the villain is thinking, "is my pizza done yet?" as he calls your shove with TT on an AK62J board. This is not to say that you should not try to analyze every move you and your opponent make. It is not to say that many villains are not capable of making solid decisions based on the board texture, pot size, and their opponents image. What I am trying to get across is that solid, no frills, ABC poker is the hands down best way to glean a profit at the lower limits. Do not get fancy. Do not bluff. Do not play shit cards and say, "I will outplay them on the flop." YOU CANNOT OUTPLAY SOMEBODY THAT ONLY PLAYS THEIR HOLE CARDS AND NOTHING MORE!!!!
Now, if only I could take my own advice...
Before I go, one last thing: I have PAHUD layouts for Absolute, FTP (racetrack. no avatars), and UB. They include most everything from my previous blog post (scroll down) on PAHUD with some tweaks (The UB layout is not as complete but since I play there so little I have not fixed that yet. It is still quite good though.). I can email these layouts to anybody that wants them. Be forwarned that once you import the layout and save it your old layout is gone forever unless you export it and save it to your hard drive. If you want any of the layouts email me at: midas_poop@yahoo.com or PM me on CR (jeff218) with your email addy. I wll send the layout plus instructions on how to get it up and running.
Wednesday, March 21, 2007
I hate Full Tilt...
Once again, I need to lead off by apologizing for the lack of updates. I have not been playing much lately for several reasons:
1. Fantasy baseball
2. NCAA tourney
3. Speaker box building
4. Gran Turismo 4
5. Spring cleaning
6. I hate FTP
I am not sure what it is about Full Tilt but I cannot seem to run well there, EVER. As many of you have read from a few posts ago I left UB for Full Tilt and Absolute. I still have money in UB but don't play there much because it is so damn nitty and tough (FU Bill Frist).
Absolute has been very good to me and is filled with fishies. The problem is that I am not 100% sure my rake back is up and running there. Bill, of Rake Aid, and I are working on that. So I have been playing a lot of the dreaded FT. In my FT career I have cashed big (for me) in a tourney to the tune of about $1500 then donked it ALL off. This was pre-Card Runners.
Post Card Runners has not been much better. Several months ago I put a few bucks in FT to get enough points to "buy" a chip set since I did not have one. I only needed like 2,000 points. Unfortunately those 2,000 points cost me over $300. Thus, the infamous $300 poker chip set. I hate even breaking it out because of all the bad memories. Memories that my "friends" won't quit teasing me about.
Once that disaster was over I pulled my cash back out and put it back into UB. Of course then UB turned into 90% 18/13 players... So here we go again. I dropped $1k into FT a few weeks back and promptly lost half of it. How many times do I have to get all-in against a draw before they don't hit? Last Saturday I got all-in 13 times and lost 12 of them. Of the 13 I got my money in good 11 of them (the other two were set over set and AA vs a set of 4's).
Mid week was better as I reeled of a few winning days and actually posted a winning week on the cash tables for the first time in forever (over a month). The weeks have all been small losers but that shit adds up quick. So after winning about $700 in a 3 day stretch I had Saturday happen and dropped half of that. I took Sunday off to watch (and gamble on) NCAA's and build the box for my new sub.
Side note: the box turned out pretty sweet. I'll post pics of it and my whole system soon as I finish installing my stuff in my Tahoe.
Where was I? Oh yeah.... I didn't play much on Monday but did manage to lose half a buy in. Then yesterday happened. I got slaughtered. I had KK 13 times and won only 6 of those hands. Is that possible? IS THAT POSSIBLE??? Sorry. It was the ugliest 3 buy-in downswing I have had in a long ass time. I ran up against a set with a big over pair 4 times (KK twice, AA once, QQ once). I got all in 7 times and lost 5. My money was in right only twice... It was ugly.
So the promised, on the boards, fantasy baseball player rankings are on hold until I get my shit straightened out. Again. Incidentally, if you are interested, I am running a CR member only fantasy league on Yahoo. Check the off topic or sporting topic board for more info. We still need a few guys so don't be shy!
I promise further updates tomorrow and Friday. Till then, good luck!
1. Fantasy baseball
2. NCAA tourney
3. Speaker box building
4. Gran Turismo 4
5. Spring cleaning
6. I hate FTP
I am not sure what it is about Full Tilt but I cannot seem to run well there, EVER. As many of you have read from a few posts ago I left UB for Full Tilt and Absolute. I still have money in UB but don't play there much because it is so damn nitty and tough (FU Bill Frist).
Absolute has been very good to me and is filled with fishies. The problem is that I am not 100% sure my rake back is up and running there. Bill, of Rake Aid, and I are working on that. So I have been playing a lot of the dreaded FT. In my FT career I have cashed big (for me) in a tourney to the tune of about $1500 then donked it ALL off. This was pre-Card Runners.
Post Card Runners has not been much better. Several months ago I put a few bucks in FT to get enough points to "buy" a chip set since I did not have one. I only needed like 2,000 points. Unfortunately those 2,000 points cost me over $300. Thus, the infamous $300 poker chip set. I hate even breaking it out because of all the bad memories. Memories that my "friends" won't quit teasing me about.
Once that disaster was over I pulled my cash back out and put it back into UB. Of course then UB turned into 90% 18/13 players... So here we go again. I dropped $1k into FT a few weeks back and promptly lost half of it. How many times do I have to get all-in against a draw before they don't hit? Last Saturday I got all-in 13 times and lost 12 of them. Of the 13 I got my money in good 11 of them (the other two were set over set and AA vs a set of 4's).
Mid week was better as I reeled of a few winning days and actually posted a winning week on the cash tables for the first time in forever (over a month). The weeks have all been small losers but that shit adds up quick. So after winning about $700 in a 3 day stretch I had Saturday happen and dropped half of that. I took Sunday off to watch (and gamble on) NCAA's and build the box for my new sub.
Side note: the box turned out pretty sweet. I'll post pics of it and my whole system soon as I finish installing my stuff in my Tahoe.
Where was I? Oh yeah.... I didn't play much on Monday but did manage to lose half a buy in. Then yesterday happened. I got slaughtered. I had KK 13 times and won only 6 of those hands. Is that possible? IS THAT POSSIBLE??? Sorry. It was the ugliest 3 buy-in downswing I have had in a long ass time. I ran up against a set with a big over pair 4 times (KK twice, AA once, QQ once). I got all in 7 times and lost 5. My money was in right only twice... It was ugly.
So the promised, on the boards, fantasy baseball player rankings are on hold until I get my shit straightened out. Again. Incidentally, if you are interested, I am running a CR member only fantasy league on Yahoo. Check the off topic or sporting topic board for more info. We still need a few guys so don't be shy!
I promise further updates tomorrow and Friday. Till then, good luck!
Tuesday, March 13, 2007
Yeah, I'm still alive...
Sorry for the lack of an update...I have been a bit busy. Apparently I'm re-addicted to Gran Turismo 4! We have also been busy at work. Nice weather make for lots of car sales. This is a good thing (I like money).
Last week was my 5th straight loser at the cash tables (if you omit my tourney win). While the last two weeks I've only lost a total of about $250, I am still frustrated. On a good note, I think I have found a few leaks. The biggest is definitely my drop in aggression and increasing nittyness. I am really working on opening up and the results have been promising.
At this point I have pretty much given up on UB. I cannot get paid there and just can't deal with the tight, tough play. I tried FTP out but after I was 3-bet 4,562 times in two days I decided to give Absolute a try (seriously, how aggro is $100nl at FT?). Absolute may have the WORST PLAYERS EVER! There are tons of guys with 40%+ VPIP's and <10% class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_8">PFR%. Perfect.
In fact, I sat at a table with three guys that were: 85/24, 83/19, and 60/11 over 75 hands. Triple perfect.
I will try and put a bigger update up later this week as well as some discussion about fantasy baseball and the over thinking that occurs at lower limits.
Till then, good luck at the tables.
Last week was my 5th straight loser at the cash tables (if you omit my tourney win). While the last two weeks I've only lost a total of about $250, I am still frustrated. On a good note, I think I have found a few leaks. The biggest is definitely my drop in aggression and increasing nittyness. I am really working on opening up and the results have been promising.
At this point I have pretty much given up on UB. I cannot get paid there and just can't deal with the tight, tough play. I tried FTP out but after I was 3-bet 4,562 times in two days I decided to give Absolute a try (seriously, how aggro is $100nl at FT?). Absolute may have the WORST PLAYERS EVER! There are tons of guys with 40%+ VPIP's and <10% class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_8">PFR%. Perfect.
In fact, I sat at a table with three guys that were: 85/24, 83/19, and 60/11 over 75 hands. Triple perfect.
I will try and put a bigger update up later this week as well as some discussion about fantasy baseball and the over thinking that occurs at lower limits.
Till then, good luck at the tables.
Sunday, March 4, 2007
Snow, snow, go away...
Holy shit did it snow here this week! 40 mile per hour winds, 18 inches of snow....what a mess. I took some pics. It is nothing groundbreaking but it shows just how much snow we got. Keep in mind that on Wednesday morning we had NO snow on the ground whatsoever...
This is my back yard. the main drift is about 4 feet deep. You should see my dogs trudge through it. Pure comedy.
This is my itty bitty 2 bedroome abode. It is hard to see but the snow is over 4 feet deep in my front yard. No stalking me now!
This is a 2005 Mustang that belongs to a guy several blocks over. His shitty house brings down an otherwise nice 'hood.
This Chevy aint going anywhere soon.
This van is on an emergency snow route, it probably got towed shortly after I took this.
This is on the outside edge of town. Keep in mind I live in a town of 25k in the plains of South Dakota. Snow blows in from everywhere.
This is a city street. The pic refuses to do the scene justice. Most streets had well over a foot of snow making it literally impossible for non 4 wheel drives to pass.
There is a car under there somewhere, really...
Pretty crazy stuff for sure.
On to poker related news.
I played a bit last night and won about $250. I played very well and took pretty good advantage of the Saturday night drunks.
Now lemme tell you about my Friday night.
I wanna preface this by saying that I am not a big tourney player. I love playing in them but I don't very often. As a result I understand tourney strategy but am not always the best or most patient at executing it. The best I have ever done in a tourney was second in a $10+1 on FTP with 1200 entrants. It paid $1600.
I entered the $30+3 $8k guarantee on UB at 9:00pm. Things started slow as I was playing tight. Right before the first break I caught this hand:
http://www.pokerhand.org/?875986
Right after the break I caught another gem:
http://www.pokerhand.org/?875995
At this point I was top third or so. I planned to continue to play tight into the second break but then this happened:
http://www.pokerhand.org/?876000
After that I def played tight as I was top 5 in chips. Antes soon kicked in and nothing eventful happened for a bit. I did take down a few pots with some pp's and over cards (KQ on a K high flop most notably) but mostly lost several smaller pots and won a few bigger ones here and there. I did get a bit lucky in a hand that my opponent played a bit weakly on the flop. I called the min raise from the bb hoping to hit big as he was deep stacked (at this point I was still top 5 in chips):
http://www.pokerhand.org/?876016 Nothing spectacular, I just found it to be an interesting hand!
At this point my cards left me, big time. I went from top 5 to bottom half mostly by way of blinds, antes, and others just plain passing me by. By the time this hand happened I was def in need of some chips if I wanted to go super deep:
http://www.pokerhand.org/?876145
The VERY NEXT HAND:
http://www.pokerhand.org/?876148
So now I am top 3...WOOO HOOOOO!!!! We were down to the final 3 tables and I was playing well when this happened. It coulda been sweet...
http://www.pokerhand.org/?876155
Once again I ran dead for a bit and lost about half my stack in the process.
Up until this point I had not sucked out or gotten my money in bad once. So it was about time!
http://www.pokerhand.org/?876417
My intention was to take it down on the flop. I figured that even if he called I would have the redraw to the flush...oops! Thank god for 2 outers!
What was that about two outers?
http://www.pokerhand.org/?876423
So now I am chip leader and we are down to the final two tables!
After awhile I made the final table despite another run of bad cards. Even with the bad run I managed to build up a very nice stack by taking advantage of the guys that did not wanna go out in 11-20th. The pay jump was large and guys were playing tight.
The final tables stack sizes looked like this:
RR28 22770
BubBanks 60715
Shadymdub 52230
jupitert 23565
Poker_Man3 87665
script12 81935
CapAnson 94955
Giant Frog 40150
TheSpartan 41585
GoodKharma 20930
Payouts were about (I forget what they all were for sure):
10th: $130
9th: $220
8th: $335
7th: $440
6th: $550
5th: $670
4th: $800
3rd: $950
2nd: $1580
1st: $2630
I had AK and QQ early on and three bet with both. Both times I took down 55K+ pots preflop. I also won a nice pot with 66 on the flop when it came 522. 35 hands into the final table we had lost 4 players and the stacks were as follows:
BubBanks 33790
Shadymdub 45960
jupitert 86015
Poker_Man3 78435
script12 130545
CapAnson 151755
I was essentially running over everybody as the play was VERY tight. I bought a lot of pots and took down a bunch of hands preflop. One player even bitched about my button raises.
When this next hand happened I had a very aggro image at the table. The guy I got involved with was also somewhat aggro. It bears noting that I 3 bet him twice preflop (the afore mentioned AK and QQ hands) and raised him up on a flop once (the aforementioned 66 hand) at the table already. In hindsight I played the hand weakly and got lucky. I guess you can't play perfect the WHOLE tourney...
http://www.pokerhand.org/?876485
That win gave me 190k with second place having just over 105k.
I ran dead for a few hands....and then lost my first big pot. Luckily I could afford it.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?876506
I think I made a solid play and just did not hit.
Gimmie my chips back!!!
http://www.pokerhand.org/?876513
Oh shit...I just found out I do not have the rest of the HH's. Not sure where the went, dammit... I will have to request them from UB.
Ok, here is the cliff notes version:
I took out the 3rd and 4th place guys back to back hands with AK and 88 I think. I got to heads up with a tight ass player and had him dominated in chips (415k to 110k).
I proceeded to run his ass over for a bit. He was down to 70k and we got all in preflop. I had AQ he had K9...the flop came 99x. A bit later I had AT and the flop came TT2. We got all in on the turn. He had QT but the river came 2.
Once again I had him down to 70kish. I raised, he shoved and I called with KTo...he had AT!
Flop:QJx
Turn:x
River:9!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
$2632.58 richer baby!!! It was 2:15 in the morning and I was jumping up and down like a prepubescent girl!!! Fucking SHIP IT!!!!!!!!!
I played very well for the whole tourney, especially the last 3 hours. I was super happy with myself and for the first time in weeks felt super confident in my play. It is such a good feeling to win. It is better than the best drug. The money is only half of it...the winning and the confidence are soooooo important to me right now.
If anybody cares I can post the rest of the hands later if I can get my hands on them. I will rely on feedback to decide if I do that or not.
Well, I should get back to my Gran Turismo 4 endurance race I am running with a friend of mine...but first check these sweet pics of the driving seat setup I made with my force feedback steering wheel (who said you have to be all grown up at 27?):
Modeling the seat is my friend Jamie. He's a redneck. The seat is from a 1984 Ford Tempo that I used to drive in high school. I used the seat track so it is fully adjustable fore and aft. Here is an over the shoulder pic that also shows my pitiful 27" TV that rests on a plastic container so it is high enough to be seen. At least the surround sound is nice...
Wow that was a long as post! All right, I am off to my turn at the wheel. Good luck all, I hope this week treats you as well as the weekend did me.
This is my back yard. the main drift is about 4 feet deep. You should see my dogs trudge through it. Pure comedy.
This is my itty bitty 2 bedroome abode. It is hard to see but the snow is over 4 feet deep in my front yard. No stalking me now!
This is a 2005 Mustang that belongs to a guy several blocks over. His shitty house brings down an otherwise nice 'hood.
This Chevy aint going anywhere soon.
This van is on an emergency snow route, it probably got towed shortly after I took this.
This is on the outside edge of town. Keep in mind I live in a town of 25k in the plains of South Dakota. Snow blows in from everywhere.
This is a city street. The pic refuses to do the scene justice. Most streets had well over a foot of snow making it literally impossible for non 4 wheel drives to pass.
There is a car under there somewhere, really...
Pretty crazy stuff for sure.
On to poker related news.
I played a bit last night and won about $250. I played very well and took pretty good advantage of the Saturday night drunks.
Now lemme tell you about my Friday night.
I wanna preface this by saying that I am not a big tourney player. I love playing in them but I don't very often. As a result I understand tourney strategy but am not always the best or most patient at executing it. The best I have ever done in a tourney was second in a $10+1 on FTP with 1200 entrants. It paid $1600.
I entered the $30+3 $8k guarantee on UB at 9:00pm. Things started slow as I was playing tight. Right before the first break I caught this hand:
http://www.pokerhand.org/?875986
Right after the break I caught another gem:
http://www.pokerhand.org/?875995
At this point I was top third or so. I planned to continue to play tight into the second break but then this happened:
http://www.pokerhand.org/?876000
After that I def played tight as I was top 5 in chips. Antes soon kicked in and nothing eventful happened for a bit. I did take down a few pots with some pp's and over cards (KQ on a K high flop most notably) but mostly lost several smaller pots and won a few bigger ones here and there. I did get a bit lucky in a hand that my opponent played a bit weakly on the flop. I called the min raise from the bb hoping to hit big as he was deep stacked (at this point I was still top 5 in chips):
http://www.pokerhand.org/?876016 Nothing spectacular, I just found it to be an interesting hand!
At this point my cards left me, big time. I went from top 5 to bottom half mostly by way of blinds, antes, and others just plain passing me by. By the time this hand happened I was def in need of some chips if I wanted to go super deep:
http://www.pokerhand.org/?876145
The VERY NEXT HAND:
http://www.pokerhand.org/?876148
So now I am top 3...WOOO HOOOOO!!!! We were down to the final 3 tables and I was playing well when this happened. It coulda been sweet...
http://www.pokerhand.org/?876155
Once again I ran dead for a bit and lost about half my stack in the process.
Up until this point I had not sucked out or gotten my money in bad once. So it was about time!
http://www.pokerhand.org/?876417
My intention was to take it down on the flop. I figured that even if he called I would have the redraw to the flush...oops! Thank god for 2 outers!
What was that about two outers?
http://www.pokerhand.org/?876423
So now I am chip leader and we are down to the final two tables!
After awhile I made the final table despite another run of bad cards. Even with the bad run I managed to build up a very nice stack by taking advantage of the guys that did not wanna go out in 11-20th. The pay jump was large and guys were playing tight.
The final tables stack sizes looked like this:
RR28 22770
BubBanks 60715
Shadymdub 52230
jupitert 23565
Poker_Man3 87665
script12 81935
CapAnson 94955
Giant Frog 40150
TheSpartan 41585
GoodKharma 20930
Payouts were about (I forget what they all were for sure):
10th: $130
9th: $220
8th: $335
7th: $440
6th: $550
5th: $670
4th: $800
3rd: $950
2nd: $1580
1st: $2630
I had AK and QQ early on and three bet with both. Both times I took down 55K+ pots preflop. I also won a nice pot with 66 on the flop when it came 522. 35 hands into the final table we had lost 4 players and the stacks were as follows:
BubBanks 33790
Shadymdub 45960
jupitert 86015
Poker_Man3 78435
script12 130545
CapAnson 151755
I was essentially running over everybody as the play was VERY tight. I bought a lot of pots and took down a bunch of hands preflop. One player even bitched about my button raises.
When this next hand happened I had a very aggro image at the table. The guy I got involved with was also somewhat aggro. It bears noting that I 3 bet him twice preflop (the afore mentioned AK and QQ hands) and raised him up on a flop once (the aforementioned 66 hand) at the table already. In hindsight I played the hand weakly and got lucky. I guess you can't play perfect the WHOLE tourney...
http://www.pokerhand.org/?876485
That win gave me 190k with second place having just over 105k.
I ran dead for a few hands....and then lost my first big pot. Luckily I could afford it.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?876506
I think I made a solid play and just did not hit.
Gimmie my chips back!!!
http://www.pokerhand.org/?876513
Oh shit...I just found out I do not have the rest of the HH's. Not sure where the went, dammit... I will have to request them from UB.
Ok, here is the cliff notes version:
I took out the 3rd and 4th place guys back to back hands with AK and 88 I think. I got to heads up with a tight ass player and had him dominated in chips (415k to 110k).
I proceeded to run his ass over for a bit. He was down to 70k and we got all in preflop. I had AQ he had K9...the flop came 99x. A bit later I had AT and the flop came TT2. We got all in on the turn. He had QT but the river came 2.
Once again I had him down to 70kish. I raised, he shoved and I called with KTo...he had AT!
Flop:QJx
Turn:x
River:9!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
$2632.58 richer baby!!! It was 2:15 in the morning and I was jumping up and down like a prepubescent girl!!! Fucking SHIP IT!!!!!!!!!
I played very well for the whole tourney, especially the last 3 hours. I was super happy with myself and for the first time in weeks felt super confident in my play. It is such a good feeling to win. It is better than the best drug. The money is only half of it...the winning and the confidence are soooooo important to me right now.
If anybody cares I can post the rest of the hands later if I can get my hands on them. I will rely on feedback to decide if I do that or not.
Well, I should get back to my Gran Turismo 4 endurance race I am running with a friend of mine...but first check these sweet pics of the driving seat setup I made with my force feedback steering wheel (who said you have to be all grown up at 27?):
Modeling the seat is my friend Jamie. He's a redneck. The seat is from a 1984 Ford Tempo that I used to drive in high school. I used the seat track so it is fully adjustable fore and aft. Here is an over the shoulder pic that also shows my pitiful 27" TV that rests on a plastic container so it is high enough to be seen. At least the surround sound is nice...
Wow that was a long as post! All right, I am off to my turn at the wheel. Good luck all, I hope this week treats you as well as the weekend did me.
Thursday, March 1, 2007
Thinking About a Switch to FTP
The last few days have been mostly uneventful. I did not play at all on Monday or Tuesday and played very little yesterday. I did win a few bucks at the cash tables but gave it back in the two tournies I played. One of them I bubbled after shoving on a player that had raised like 10 of the last 12 hands and was running over the table. I had about 2400 left and blinds were 150/300 and about to escalate into antes. I had 44. He had 77. In the other tourney I got booted from UB about 45 minutes after it started. I could not log back on for almost 2 hours. Boy was I pissed. Needless to say I am trying to recoup the entry fee as the problem was UB's and not my ISP's.
The major news of the day, as it were, concerns my potential move to FTP. I currently play UB but have noticed an alarming trend as of late. It seems that every table is popluated with 2-3 guys that play a LAG or TAG style. They refuse to pay me off and in general play a tough style of poker. FTP has about twice the user base and just inherited all of the players from Doyle's Room (or at least a large portion of them.). If you have not heard about Doyle's Room, read the article at this link: http://www.cardplayer.com/poker_law/article/1907
I played Doyle's for a bit and all I can say is this: The site was populated with the worst players I have EVER seen. The level of play at $100nl was about the same as the level at $10nl on UB. Really. So if these fish are going to Full Tilt....I may follow.
I am currently in the process of getting signed up for rake back there. I emailed FT last night and asked them to close my old, mostly unused, account and remove me from the system. As of 10am this morning that had been done. Quick! When I sign up for the new account I plan on using my same user name but using my work address and a different name on my account. I hope it works as I know FT is strict about their one "account per person" policy.
I plan on playing a bit tonight but my daughter is sick so that may not happen. I will, of course, keep you all informed as I try to get out of my recent slump.
Until next time, good luck at the tables.
The major news of the day, as it were, concerns my potential move to FTP. I currently play UB but have noticed an alarming trend as of late. It seems that every table is popluated with 2-3 guys that play a LAG or TAG style. They refuse to pay me off and in general play a tough style of poker. FTP has about twice the user base and just inherited all of the players from Doyle's Room (or at least a large portion of them.). If you have not heard about Doyle's Room, read the article at this link: http://www.cardplayer.com/poker_law/article/1907
I played Doyle's for a bit and all I can say is this: The site was populated with the worst players I have EVER seen. The level of play at $100nl was about the same as the level at $10nl on UB. Really. So if these fish are going to Full Tilt....I may follow.
I am currently in the process of getting signed up for rake back there. I emailed FT last night and asked them to close my old, mostly unused, account and remove me from the system. As of 10am this morning that had been done. Quick! When I sign up for the new account I plan on using my same user name but using my work address and a different name on my account. I hope it works as I know FT is strict about their one "account per person" policy.
I plan on playing a bit tonight but my daughter is sick so that may not happen. I will, of course, keep you all informed as I try to get out of my recent slump.
Until next time, good luck at the tables.
Sunday, February 25, 2007
How to Maximize PAHUD's Potential to Make You $$$!!!
Updates abound today!
First off, I deleted a few of my old posts. They gave me bad memories and I want to stay positive as I move forward.
I just finished updating my profile. Amongst other things I added a pic of my daughter and I. It is not the best pic but is the only one I have on my computer of us both from any time in the last couple months. It was taken on Christmas at my parents house. How sexy am I anyway?
For those of you that did not read last nights post….do yourself a favor and check it out. Pretty funny stuff.
WARNING POKER CONTENT AHEAD!!!
PAHUD=friggin wicked awesome…if used properly. For the first several months I had it I just used the four numbers that were part of the standard layout. Then I realized I wasn’t using anywhere near it’s full potential. So I got to work and now my tables look like this:
Before we run through what all the numbers mean, let’s talk a bit about the layout.
You’ll notice that there are groups of numbers that are color coded to each other. I ditched the standard color scheme where the numbers change color depending on what the value was. For example, a VPIP of 10 may have been red while a VPIP of 50 changed to green. My colors never change. I like having numbers that are tied together by the same color. It makes for quick recognition of what stats are what which is handy when multi tabling.
I had to make three separate layouts. If you have never used your PAHUD layout manager, go there now (open PAHUD, click on options, then layout manager) so you can more easily understand what I am about to explain. In PAHUD’s world the top center player is always in seat one. This seat required its own numbers layout since it is unique from all the other seats. Seats two and six are virtually identical with only slight changes to the right column on seat two because the numbers were smushed together when I copied the layout (Click on edit, then duplicate player seat. Select the seat you want to copy then the seats you want to copy it to.). Seats five and three are 100% the same. Seat four is where I sit, and I have the option to see my stats turned off. I did copy the format from seats two and six on to seat four for when I observe tables.
Another thing I did was reduce the decimal point on all numbers to one (make sure the stat you have currently selected has only one decimal point then click edit and global copy decimal font.).
I turned off the “snap to grid” option under options because it made it more difficult to get the numbers where I want them.
So what do the numbers mean and why did I choose the ones I did?
Lets do this by color.
Orange: VPIP and PFR%. You better know what these mean…if not, try canasta.
Green: Bet Flop %, Bet Turn %, Bet River %. I used to use the aggression frequency stats but find these more useful since they display more or less the same thing but in a number that makes sense to me. If they bet the flop 10 out of 20 times, that is 50%. Easy like Sunday Morning.
Gold: Fold BB to Steal %, Fold SB to Steal %, Attempt to Steal Blinds %. Great info to know who calls your button raises and how often. If their fold BB to steal percentage is 19%. You know they are calling your steal attempts with garbage. Good info to have for certain. It is also nice to know who is stealing and how often so you can give them less/more credit for a button raise.
Blue: Fold to Flop Bet %, Fold to Turn Bet %, Fold to River Bet %. This is great for knowing how often or for how long a player will chase or hang on to a hand like 2nd pair. It tells you if they can lay down a hand and on what street they do.
Pink: Call C-Bet %, Raise C-Bet %, Fold C-Bet %. This is great info, in conjunction with check raise %, for deciding who you can and should c-bet and when.
Army Green: Fold to Flop Raise %. This is a great tool for helping to handle the preflop limp caller that leads out on the flop. Use this number in conjunction with bet flop % to determine if the guy has anything or is trying to take the pot with TPWK, 2nd pair, a draw, or nothing.
Lt Blue: Call Preflop Raise %. How often does a guy limp call or call a 3-bet? If this number is high but their VPIP is low, you can count on them having good hole cards. If their VPIP is high, you can bet they are calling raises with marginal holdings.
Yellow: Check Raise (PT). This is Poker Trackers check raise percentage figure. This number is great to use on its own and to combine with other stats to decide if a guy is slow playing, bluffing, or has a good hand.
Lt Pink: Total Hands.
That is a ton of info! I love having it all though as I think it helps me a ton when making decisions on the fly.
I also configured my popup stats (edit, configure popup stats) to have info in them that is not on my layout. The most important numbers I have on there are Went to Showdown %, Won Showdown %, and Won Showdown % When Raising Turn, and Won Showdown % When Raising River. I do not have these on my layout because room was tight and because I only use them when at a showdown. They are still quite helpful.
I also have Fold to River Raise % and the breakdown for Check Raise % on each street.
The main thing is to be able to use the numbers together and be able to put them in to context. If a guy that has a VPIP of 70%, bets the river 100% of the time, and wins at showdown 4% of the time over 1000 hands then shoves on a board of A89TJ with 4 hearts and you have AA with no heart….that is not an auto call! The numbers are there to help but ultimately you are responsible for making good reads and solid plays. PAHUD will help you do that but you cannot rely on it to make every decision for you.
The PAHUD website has a lot of info on what all the numbers mean as well as instructions on how to use the layout manager. Go there for more info.
Doing all of the layouts took me well over an hour by the time it was arranged perfectly (I am super anal about shit like that). It was well worth the time though. Please give this some thought and effort as I am convinced it can help you become a bigger winner.
******Edit: If you are having problems seeing the pic of my PAHUD screenshot, PM me on CR (jeff218) with your email addy or email me at midas_poop@yahoo.com and I can send you the pic in its full size glory. Also, I should have prefaced the post with the fact I play on UB. I have no experience using PAHUD anywhere else but have seen it used on FT and Stars. Of course the formatting would be different for those sites.
And one more thing I forgot to mention in my post: I FINALLY GOT MY RAKE BACK PAYMENT!!!!!! Degan was super helpful and assured me a delay will not happen again. I am very happy with their service even though it took two weeks to straighten things all out. I feel confident that moving forward there will be no more problems with Rake Aid. If you do not have rake back, wtf is holding you up? Go to www.rakeaid.com and signup. And use Jeff218 as your referal dammit! If you are already on UB and do not have it you can have multiple accounts (up to 4) there with your same name (not user name but real name) and address. If you have any questions about rake back on UB you can drop me a line and I will try and help.
First off, I deleted a few of my old posts. They gave me bad memories and I want to stay positive as I move forward.
I just finished updating my profile. Amongst other things I added a pic of my daughter and I. It is not the best pic but is the only one I have on my computer of us both from any time in the last couple months. It was taken on Christmas at my parents house. How sexy am I anyway?
For those of you that did not read last nights post….do yourself a favor and check it out. Pretty funny stuff.
WARNING POKER CONTENT AHEAD!!!
PAHUD=friggin wicked awesome…if used properly. For the first several months I had it I just used the four numbers that were part of the standard layout. Then I realized I wasn’t using anywhere near it’s full potential. So I got to work and now my tables look like this:
Before we run through what all the numbers mean, let’s talk a bit about the layout.
You’ll notice that there are groups of numbers that are color coded to each other. I ditched the standard color scheme where the numbers change color depending on what the value was. For example, a VPIP of 10 may have been red while a VPIP of 50 changed to green. My colors never change. I like having numbers that are tied together by the same color. It makes for quick recognition of what stats are what which is handy when multi tabling.
I had to make three separate layouts. If you have never used your PAHUD layout manager, go there now (open PAHUD, click on options, then layout manager) so you can more easily understand what I am about to explain. In PAHUD’s world the top center player is always in seat one. This seat required its own numbers layout since it is unique from all the other seats. Seats two and six are virtually identical with only slight changes to the right column on seat two because the numbers were smushed together when I copied the layout (Click on edit, then duplicate player seat. Select the seat you want to copy then the seats you want to copy it to.). Seats five and three are 100% the same. Seat four is where I sit, and I have the option to see my stats turned off. I did copy the format from seats two and six on to seat four for when I observe tables.
Another thing I did was reduce the decimal point on all numbers to one (make sure the stat you have currently selected has only one decimal point then click edit and global copy decimal font.).
I turned off the “snap to grid” option under options because it made it more difficult to get the numbers where I want them.
So what do the numbers mean and why did I choose the ones I did?
Lets do this by color.
Orange: VPIP and PFR%. You better know what these mean…if not, try canasta.
Green: Bet Flop %, Bet Turn %, Bet River %. I used to use the aggression frequency stats but find these more useful since they display more or less the same thing but in a number that makes sense to me. If they bet the flop 10 out of 20 times, that is 50%. Easy like Sunday Morning.
Gold: Fold BB to Steal %, Fold SB to Steal %, Attempt to Steal Blinds %. Great info to know who calls your button raises and how often. If their fold BB to steal percentage is 19%. You know they are calling your steal attempts with garbage. Good info to have for certain. It is also nice to know who is stealing and how often so you can give them less/more credit for a button raise.
Blue: Fold to Flop Bet %, Fold to Turn Bet %, Fold to River Bet %. This is great for knowing how often or for how long a player will chase or hang on to a hand like 2nd pair. It tells you if they can lay down a hand and on what street they do.
Pink: Call C-Bet %, Raise C-Bet %, Fold C-Bet %. This is great info, in conjunction with check raise %, for deciding who you can and should c-bet and when.
Army Green: Fold to Flop Raise %. This is a great tool for helping to handle the preflop limp caller that leads out on the flop. Use this number in conjunction with bet flop % to determine if the guy has anything or is trying to take the pot with TPWK, 2nd pair, a draw, or nothing.
Lt Blue: Call Preflop Raise %. How often does a guy limp call or call a 3-bet? If this number is high but their VPIP is low, you can count on them having good hole cards. If their VPIP is high, you can bet they are calling raises with marginal holdings.
Yellow: Check Raise (PT). This is Poker Trackers check raise percentage figure. This number is great to use on its own and to combine with other stats to decide if a guy is slow playing, bluffing, or has a good hand.
Lt Pink: Total Hands.
That is a ton of info! I love having it all though as I think it helps me a ton when making decisions on the fly.
I also configured my popup stats (edit, configure popup stats) to have info in them that is not on my layout. The most important numbers I have on there are Went to Showdown %, Won Showdown %, and Won Showdown % When Raising Turn, and Won Showdown % When Raising River. I do not have these on my layout because room was tight and because I only use them when at a showdown. They are still quite helpful.
I also have Fold to River Raise % and the breakdown for Check Raise % on each street.
The main thing is to be able to use the numbers together and be able to put them in to context. If a guy that has a VPIP of 70%, bets the river 100% of the time, and wins at showdown 4% of the time over 1000 hands then shoves on a board of A89TJ with 4 hearts and you have AA with no heart….that is not an auto call! The numbers are there to help but ultimately you are responsible for making good reads and solid plays. PAHUD will help you do that but you cannot rely on it to make every decision for you.
The PAHUD website has a lot of info on what all the numbers mean as well as instructions on how to use the layout manager. Go there for more info.
Doing all of the layouts took me well over an hour by the time it was arranged perfectly (I am super anal about shit like that). It was well worth the time though. Please give this some thought and effort as I am convinced it can help you become a bigger winner.
******Edit: If you are having problems seeing the pic of my PAHUD screenshot, PM me on CR (jeff218) with your email addy or email me at midas_poop@yahoo.com and I can send you the pic in its full size glory. Also, I should have prefaced the post with the fact I play on UB. I have no experience using PAHUD anywhere else but have seen it used on FT and Stars. Of course the formatting would be different for those sites.
And one more thing I forgot to mention in my post: I FINALLY GOT MY RAKE BACK PAYMENT!!!!!! Degan was super helpful and assured me a delay will not happen again. I am very happy with their service even though it took two weeks to straighten things all out. I feel confident that moving forward there will be no more problems with Rake Aid. If you do not have rake back, wtf is holding you up? Go to www.rakeaid.com and signup. And use Jeff218 as your referal dammit! If you are already on UB and do not have it you can have multiple accounts (up to 4) there with your same name (not user name but real name) and address. If you have any questions about rake back on UB you can drop me a line and I will try and help.
Saturday, February 24, 2007
Blog readers, please meet Maxi Mounds...
This summary is not available. Please
click here to view the post.
Wednesday, February 21, 2007
Another gem of a night!!!
I am too lazy to retype my nights recap so here is a copy of my seemingly nightly PM to fruitypro as I ask for his help to get me back on track:
More misery...
First of all, the totals: Down $900 since 2/6. In the 15 days since then that I have played I am up only 6 of them. Today is my low point with a 3 buy loss in about 2 hours of play (and that includes the one table I won $215 on). My session winning % for the month is well under 40%.
I lost big pots on the following hands:
Hand 1: I had TT, villain JJ. He raises preflop and I 3 bet in pos., he calls. Flop comes 8 high rainbow. He checks and I c-bet. He shoves for about $40 more. He is 78/30 and is as bad as anybody I have ever seen. I call.
Hand 2: I have QQ, CO (no reads) has KTs, and BB (55/22) has AA. CO limps preflop, I raise in pos, BB 3 bets me min, CO calls, I 4 bet. BB shoves for $24 more, CO shoves for about $7 on top of that. I thought and thought and thought and decided to call because the pot was too big to walk away from.
Hand 3: I have KK, villain QQ....all in on the flop for a $300 pot. Turn: Q, River: Q
Hand 4: I have KK, villain QQ....all in on the flop for a $300 pot. Flop had a Q.
I did misplay a hand this afternoon with JT that cost me about $60. I knew I should not have done it the second I made the move.
Just as last night I stayed quite calm. I am not upset at all. I am not beating myself up and have taken it in stride. I am very impressed and super happy with how I am carrying myself and with my mental state right now. It is awesome that I am proving to myself that I can control my emotions and thought processes.
I am, however, quite worried about my run. At this point my confidence is shot to shit. My roll is only $1800 (rakeaid, where the fuck is my money????????). I feel like I have played very well the last two days over all. I have had a few slips but that is what sperates the amatures from the pros, right? I know my mistakes, have reviewed them and am working on fixing them. But mostly I feel kinda lost. I am going through the motions but something is missing. I am not sure what to do here. I guess I will keep at it and pray to God that I can get back to being at least a break even player before I have to move down. As it is I should not really be playing $100nl with only 18 buys. I would not be if I did not have $1300 in rakeback coming as soon as rakeaid gets their shit in order. But one more 3 buy down swing and I am back at the $50 tables...yuck.
More misery...
First of all, the totals: Down $900 since 2/6. In the 15 days since then that I have played I am up only 6 of them. Today is my low point with a 3 buy loss in about 2 hours of play (and that includes the one table I won $215 on). My session winning % for the month is well under 40%.
I lost big pots on the following hands:
Hand 1: I had TT, villain JJ. He raises preflop and I 3 bet in pos., he calls. Flop comes 8 high rainbow. He checks and I c-bet. He shoves for about $40 more. He is 78/30 and is as bad as anybody I have ever seen. I call.
Hand 2: I have QQ, CO (no reads) has KTs, and BB (55/22) has AA. CO limps preflop, I raise in pos, BB 3 bets me min, CO calls, I 4 bet. BB shoves for $24 more, CO shoves for about $7 on top of that. I thought and thought and thought and decided to call because the pot was too big to walk away from.
Hand 3: I have KK, villain QQ....all in on the flop for a $300 pot. Turn: Q, River: Q
Hand 4: I have KK, villain QQ....all in on the flop for a $300 pot. Flop had a Q.
I did misplay a hand this afternoon with JT that cost me about $60. I knew I should not have done it the second I made the move.
Just as last night I stayed quite calm. I am not upset at all. I am not beating myself up and have taken it in stride. I am very impressed and super happy with how I am carrying myself and with my mental state right now. It is awesome that I am proving to myself that I can control my emotions and thought processes.
I am, however, quite worried about my run. At this point my confidence is shot to shit. My roll is only $1800 (rakeaid, where the fuck is my money????????). I feel like I have played very well the last two days over all. I have had a few slips but that is what sperates the amatures from the pros, right? I know my mistakes, have reviewed them and am working on fixing them. But mostly I feel kinda lost. I am going through the motions but something is missing. I am not sure what to do here. I guess I will keep at it and pray to God that I can get back to being at least a break even player before I have to move down. As it is I should not really be playing $100nl with only 18 buys. I would not be if I did not have $1300 in rakeback coming as soon as rakeaid gets their shit in order. But one more 3 buy down swing and I am back at the $50 tables...yuck.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
