So, I've been playing a lot of 2/4 HORSE at FT. It's been going quite well. I played the bonus off, so I'm $75 richer in that regard. I think I'll be playing a bit more HORSE for a while.

I played an Omaha H/L PL tourney last night. I was doing very well, but then made one bad call. So shortly thereafter, I'm all in on a draw, which didn't come, so I end up 12 out of the money. One bad mistake. Grrrrr.

I've also found a site www.officialpokerrankings.com which was an interesting view. It does confirm that I need to work on the Omaha.

I had been playing a lot of SNGs, but took a break from that for two reasons. One, I'm in a 5 for 22 slump in them. The good news though is that all 5 cashes were wins, so the net is actually -2.5. (These were the for the most part $20 SNGs)

The second reason is that Full Tilt gave me $75, but requires me to play off the bonus within 10 days, so I've been playing a lot of 1/2, 2/4 and 3/6 HORSE. So far, I'm about half way through the bonus and am about even on the HORSE, not including the bonus.

No live trips planned for the near future. I was doing Monday tourney broadcasts at NoPayPoker, but it seems now that it will be Wednesday broadcasts at PitBull Poker. It's been nearly two months since I've done a broadcast.

Early in a $20 SNG at FT. I join a limped pot with KJos. The flop is KJx, all clubs. BB bets, gets an EP caller, I reraise, BB calls, EP goes all in. I do the stupid thing and call all in. BB also calls. Both EP and I have KJ, BB shows the flush. Case J hits on the turn and EP and I split the pot. Just an odd little hand. I get knocked out of the SNG when my AA is all in with a board of xxQ against AQ, when a Q hits on the turn. Meh.

It's been a while since the last post. Most of my game has been SNGs. And alas, Civilization 4, which is an excellent if horribly addictive game.

On Tuesday, I drove up to the Winstar on the way to my parents' place. The $60 Tuesday tourney was marked by only one mistake, which was impatience. I really had no cards at all and at the first break was still at 3000 chips (where we started). About 40 minutes later, I'm at 2900 in chips and go all in with A2 with the blinds at 200/400 and get called and beaten by JJ. I should've waited.

Yesterday went much better, but I just missed the money, finishing 19th out of about 120. With about 13000 chips, and the blinds at 1000/2000, I had KQ and decided to push with 4 players following. The BB calls with AJ and the AJ holds up to cripple me. This, I think, was just bad luck, as I don't feel I could have done anything but go all in here. (Despite having a slightly above average chip stack)

I made one very stupid play. I have AT and position. 4 of us see a ATT flop, which makes me happy. The turn is a 7, and the river is a 7. I'm slowplaying the entire way. The small blind bets at the river, I reraise, he reraises. I just called. I should've pushed all in. He shows T9 for a boat, but mine was bigger and hidden. I had suddenly got spooked by the thought of quad 7s. If I had bet, I would have certainly gotten about 4000 more chips from him.

The cash games went worse. I really should stop playing them live. Or at least get comfortable playing 1/2 NL instead.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving is coming up, and for the first time a in long while, I'll be spending with my parents, who are now actually close enough to visit. Of course, this means a side trip to the Winstar casino before I arrive. I'll be driving to the Winstar on Tuesday, playing the two $60 tourneys that they hold then, and then off to the parents on Wednesday. I expect to be back either late Sunday or afternoon Monday.

The Winstar tourneys are very nice, and for the first two hours, the blinds go up slowly. Then, after the second break, they hit the accelerator. I can usually make the second break pretty easily. After that, it's a crapshoot.

Well, upon returning from Vegas, I ended up with a cold for a few days, so there was a lot of laying around in bed and reading. Fortunately that has passed. The poker seems to be up and down at the moment.

I did score a nice cash yesterday in a $24+2 Razz tourney on Full Tilt. I ended up finishing 3rd for $270. I'm not really sure I played properly and got a few lucky cards. My Razz strategy needs some help. I tend to play tight (3 low cards), and do a few steals when the opportunity presents itself. I wonder if I don't attack enough. Sklansky's Razz book is on my list (it's in Sklansky on Poker).

But then, there are a lot of books on the list. I'll probably be trying to pick up Barry Tannenbaum's book and the Kill Everyone book. And I currently have two unread books that I already bought and am just looking for the time to read them.

Also, the iPod that I won at the World Blogger's Championship arrived. Bundas was going to buy it off me, but had to back out. So, if anyone is interested in buying a iPod Nano, 8GB Black, let me know. Otherwise, off to ebay.

I've just returned from a weekend trip to Las Vegas, where I was out to play some tournaments and to meet some of the holdemradio people. A very fun trip, overall.

I arrived Thursday afternoon, about 20 minutes before I checked in to the El Cortez in downtown Vegas. So lunch while I waited. I met up with Goober from holdemradio (who beat me in the October points, damn him), who I was splitting costs with for the room. The El Cortez was for the most part very nice. It has been recently renovated and the rooms were clean and neat (though housekeeping was still in progress when we got to our room). They have wireless, but it costs $12 per day. :( The downtown area of Vegas is not the place to go for free wireless in general, as neither the Starbucks or McDonalds in the downtown area had it. But it only cost me $270 for 4 nights, which I split in half with Goober.

On to poker. I played the 8pm tourney at Binions and ended up 3rd, a $400 win for a $110 buyin. The big hand was when I had J9os in the SB against the BB. Normally I would raise to steal, but I wanted to find out if he would steal against me, so I limped, and he merely checked. The flop was T64 rainbow. I bet to steal and he reraised me, but only the minimum. Because of that, I called. The turn was a J. I checked, he bet, and I reraised him all in. He thought about it for a long time and finally called and showed a T8os. He got no help and I doubled up.

I also had a lucky misplay. The button raises about 3.5x and the small blind calls all in for less than that. I look down in the BB with JJ. I should have reraised big here to push out the button (who later said he would have called anyway), but instead I merely call since the button to that point had been pretty tight. The flop is 2Q7 rainbow. I would normally bet here as well, but didn't. The button bets the pot and I have to think and finally lay down. The button shows 22 for a set of 2s and takes it down. No J came, so I would have lost. Even thought I only lost the minimum, this hand annoyed me since I played it wrong, even if it would have knocked me out.

That same button is the one who took me out. I made the final table in decent shape, but when we were down to 5 players I was short stacked and just looking for a spot to push. I end up getting two lucky suckouts to get a respectable stack again when we're 3 handed. I then get JJ. The button player (who is now to my right and not playing tight at all) raised preflop and I push. He thinks a moment and calls with K3s. Both a K and a 3 flop and I get knocked out in 3rd. Still, I've won enough to pay for the rest of the tourneys I plan to play.

Friday, I played in the 2pm Binions tourney. I played tight and ended up running my QQ into aces and got knocked out shortly before the second break. Friday night, I played in the holdemradio Cake tourney which had $2500 added, making it a big payday. Unfortunately, every time I could double up, I immediately donked the money right back. I did get quad aces though, but also called an all in with 99 only to find myself against AA.

Saturday, the 2pm 10k gtd at Binions. This tourney was going normally until... I'm in the small blind with K3s and raise to steal. Only... the UTG had limped in. Oops. The BB folds and the UTG calls. A flop of QJ6 and I bet to see if the UTG hit. The UTG reraises me and I have to fold. This tilted me a bit since I didn't realize that the UTG was in the hand (which I'm normally very good about). I get 78s on the button and merely limp in. I catch a flush draw, but have to fold on the turn when the BB bets big. I then get JJ, raise a limper, but the flop is Axx and when the limper checks, I go all in, and the limper calls with AQ and knocks me out. I was doing well in the tourney, but suddenly collapsed. Oops. I also had a last longer bet going with 6 others, but there were two ahead of me when I got knocked out.

Saturday night, many of the holdemradio people played in the Fitzgeralds 9pm tourney which was a $50+$20+$20 with rebuy and addon. Joe Rose (Bundas) who organized this event and a similar one in May (where he was first out) ended up chopping the win. Most of the holdemradio pirates were at different tables (there were 3 tables total), but I ended up with Wade at my table. Early on, my good hands missed the flop, but aggressive play let me take down pots. Later on, I started hitting flops and very good hands and knocked out a few people to get myself in very good position for when the blinds suddenly accelerated. At the final table, I played tight til I was short stacked, but managed to sneak into the money in 4th place.

Sunday, I played a $40 sit and go at the Plaza and ended up chopping with win. Not really any hands to report, except the 88 that I folded which would have flopped a set and become a boat. There had been 3 limpers and I folded instead of limping as well. Oh well.

I also played the 2pm 10 gtd at Binions on Sunday. I start with a gift from the poker gods. One of the most passive tournaments tables I've ever seen. Nobody besides me ever raised preflop. Most of my bets made people fold. But I screwed up and ended up calling some reraises, that cost me most of the profit I won. I was even after the first break. After that, we got a more aggressive player at the table, which allowed me to play my more normal game. I flop two sets and pull in a lot of chips.

The first set, I limp in with several others with 22. The flop is A2x with two spades. I limp, get a bettor and call and get another caller, but...
I acted too soon. There was someone ahead of me who had not acted. The dealer had burned a card, but then we sorted out the missed action (he folded) and everyone else's call stood. Then the dealer burned a card and put out a third spade. But then everyone realized that he had burned two cards. So the floor was called and the 2nd burn card became the new turn card. It was an off suit J. I bet 2k and everyone folded. One player had said that the third spade had made her flush. So a dodged bullet there.

I get up to about 25k in chips after the 3rd break and then go completely card dead. The 25k slowly dwindles away, but I manage to sneak into the money at 14th, to basically recover my buyin.

I also played another $40 SnG at the Plaza, but my AA got cracked by AK when two Ks flopped.

Overall, my tournament play was pretty good with 4 cashes in 7 events. I need to learn to read people's hands better and to discipline myself better.

My cash game results were less good, but not unexpected since I was playing mostly 2/4 and 3/6 limit, with on 2/4 Omaha8 session.

One of the wildest live 2/4 limit hands I've ever seen... On a flop of QQ2, two players bet at it. A 7 on the turn, and they bet and call. A 2 on the river. One bets, the other reraises, they keep reraising each other, till they ask about all in. The dealer says it's allowed heads up, so they end up all in. The allin shows Q7 for the best possible boat, but the other player then shows quad 2s and takes down a pot over $100 (at 2/4 limit!)

I got to meet up with a few friends that I met in May and meet a few new pirates, including Khayless who is very Scot and a great guy. I also met Frank, who is my cohost on the Monday tourneys that I broadcast.

The return shuttle to the airport never showed up and I ended up having to take a taxi to the airport. I would not recommend taking the shuttle to the airport (though from the airport is good). But all in all a great trip and a bit profitable. Now hopefully the usual trend will continue and my online game will improve after live poker.

Had an interesting weekend at the WPT in Niagara Falls, Canada. Had the opportunity to attend my first WPT Final Table Taping, and I must say....it gave me an itch to get myself in that position!

Played a bit of $1/$2 NL Max $100 buy-in and turned out to be quite interesting I must say. After calling an all-in on the turn with a set of 4s to get rivered by a 9 high flush, I was left with 38 dollars. I looked over at my fiance and asked him if he was about ready to head out - and when he replied yes, I decided not to buy-in but just piss around with my last 38:

MP I get dealt 99 - folded to me, I decide to raise to $17 (yes, I left myself with a mere $21 to play with after the flop...but heck, I only played 5 hands in 5 hours with only 1 of them raised...I figured a lot of folding would come about) - Call, Call, Call, Call, Fold, Call!

Dream Flop: 9h 8sp 2c

Check, PUSHHHHHHHHH (obviously)....Call, Call, Call, Fold, Call (LOL)

Call, Call, Call, Call!!!!!

And the pot ended up being mine at $208! Back in action!

2 hands later:

UTG dealt KhQh and I limp - Call, Raise to 15, fold, fold, Call, fold, Call, I call, Call.

Flop: 9h 3sp 4h

Check, I check, Check, Bet 15, fold, Call, I Call, Call

Turn: Ah (YES PLEASE!)

Check, I check, Bet 30, Fold, Raise 60........ lol - I debate on whether I flat call here to enduce a call from the original Turn better, or do I just move in now, with the hopes of me looking desperate. I decide to take the latter route - and it worked....because both called and the river didnt kill me!

I ended up leaving up $650 from 2 hands, when I thought I was leaving the table with a sad $37.00

Barry Greenstein took 4th in the WPT event and was proud to see him - but I must admit the most exciting part of the WPT would have to be Mike Sexton...not sure what it is about the guy, but he just makes me smile! hahaha

Cheers...

After a short bout of amnesia, I am beginning to realize that I do play poker....I love poker.....and have no clue why I havent been much of a poker player over the past couple of months.....

Ok - I retract that last statement! The reason why I have not been much of a poker player in the past couple of months is:

1. Availability - I am back in Toronto for a bit, and it seems as though the Toronto Poker Scene just isnt as lucrative as the Mississippi or even Michigan poker scene
2. Doing a job here in Toronto that takes up my days (waking up at 5am) and not getting home until 6:30pm - I just dont have the energy to truly concentrate on poker...and I find myself being a lot more Loose/Passive when I am in this type of mood
3. Distractions: Family, Love, Moving.......you get the picture!

On top of that...with a couple months in Tunica without internet access, its almost like I fell off the face of the online earth!!! The good news is I have emerged!! And I am back to stay! I have actually started playing online again - I am at about 12 SNG's and my ROI is sitting at 22% (terrible huh) - but I guess not in the negative atleast. I am just trying to get back into the swing of it all.

Anyway - more to post....as soon as I have some poker news!!!!!!!

Cheers

I currently broadcast the Monday tourney on Holdemradio. I also ended up doing a tourney broadcast on Saturday and then again today. The Monday broadcast is a regular thing, but the Saturday/Sunday ones are one time things (though it might happen again).

It's rather fun. It's a bit difficult to play and broadcast at the same time, but it does help my game a little by forcing me to be a little tighter. Mostly we talk about the hands the come up, but also any poker topics that might come up.

This is really weird for me, as I'm normally a very quite type of person. Don't even talk to me about public speaking. So, of course, now I'm a radio announcer.

So the Bloggers World Championship of Online Poker was today. I ended up finishing 37th out of 1337 players. I just missed getting a bigger iPod. Instead of an 80gb one, I win an 8gb Nano. Still, very nice.

There weren't too many hands of note. I did suck out on someone with a badly played flush. Q3h in the BB and the flop is JTx with two hearts. Button raiser and I defended. I checked, he bet, I reraised. I should've just reraised all in, but did about 60% of my stack. He thinks and finally pushes me all in with his AJ and I call and river the flush.

I ended up going out when I went all in with 88 and ran into TT while on a prize bubble.

First place would have been a 10k entry and a trip to the Caribbean. Oh well.

Since I already have an iPod, I have an offer from someone to buy it already.

And thanks to everyone who was out there, cheering me on!

I went to the Winstar yesterday to play in their Tuesday and Wednesday $60 tourneys.

In the first tourney, I think I played very well. There were a few small mistakes. But over all, I was tight, I was aggressive, and I took advantage of position. I ended up in a few races and lost one hand where I dominated another all in. I ended up 14th when my shortstack AQ ran into 22 and got no help. But 14th didn't pay, alas.

In the second tourney, I was continuing my good play until one hand before the first break. With blinds at 75-150, I'm sitting at about 4000 chips. The cutoff, who has me covered limps in. I look down at AJos and raise to 600. The blinds fold and the cutoff calls. The flop is J96 rainbow. I've hit top pair, top kicker. The cutoff makes a 200 bet into a 1475 pot. I reraise to 1000. He calls. The turn is a Q. He checks, I go all in, and he calls with QT and takes it down and takes me out.

The two mistakes I made... I didn't bet enough on the flop. In a pot of 1675, I probably needed to bet closer to the pot. And then after the turn, I should've made a smaller bet to see where I was.

I also learned:

1. Be very wary of reraises in limit games. I lost at least $32 that I didn't have to, on two hands where the other player reraised me.
2. Think! My biggest problem is the thought process that I go through when facing a decision. Right now, it's mostly intuition. Granted, my intuition is very good, but hard facts help, too.
3. Be more math aware. I'm getting my pot odds wrong.
4. There's always more to learn.

So I'm doing a guilty pleasure and playing 2-7 triple draw at Pokerstars (It's a guilty pleasure, cause I always start tight but in the end, I'm playing every hand). Initially, there's only one other player at the 1/2 table. So I start off with a few good hands. In the first place, the other guy is a calling station (which heads up isn't quite as bad, but still... ). But then I notice a few times when he bets he doesn't have a good hand. I put this down to bluffing. But then I watch him stand pat through two rounds and show the nuts. Only... not the nuts for this game, which is 2-3-4-5-7. He showed A-2-3-4-5. I then realized that he thinks aces are low in this game, or that he's playing A-5 triple draw. Either way, this fish was trying his hardest to jump in the boat. Several times he showed down an A high hand that lost. The biggest problem, though, was that he eventually left. But with a lot less than he started with. I was way up, but lost a bit back when other players showed up.

I'm in a $20 HORSE STT on FT. We're through to the second round of Stud, when we get to 4 handed and the bubble. I start off well, but in Stud H/L make a bad play and get to be short stack for a while. For a long while. I keep fighting off the forced allins. I survive Hold'em. I survive Omaha H/L. I almost get back to fighting ability. One other player survives an all in. We get to Razz. I keep at it. Finally, I'm all in with (25)Q against another short stack's (Q4)7. The other player ends up taking it down and knocks me out on the bubble after 30 minutes of 4 handed. Almost. Almost.

So, I saw via Wil Wheaton's blog, that Pokerstars is having a freeroll for bloggers. There are requirements to be eligible (ie. if you start a blog today, you are not eliglible). One of the requirements is that the following be posted somewhere on the blog.

On Saturday, I took down the HR points tourney at Cake. This was my 5th consecutive final table in the HR points at Cake, but the streak ended there. The next one on Saturday night, I ended up first out to break the streak.

Tonight holdemradio had its first tournament at Pokerstars. I don't mind Pokerstars at all. The interface I think is very good and better than most, especially those I see at new sites. In this tourney, I was short stacked most of the way, but hit a huge doubleup when my AA rivered a set against a flopped set of tens. Very lucky on my part. But luck works. I end up heads up against Wade. I get all in with him AQ vs 55 and I manage to river a Q. One hand later, my A8 beats his KQs and I take him down.

Wade was broadcasting the tourney while he played, and that definitely takes away from your thought process. When I'm heads up, I tend to be very focused, on my hand, on how my opponent is playing, on how I've played the last few hands, what my opponent thinks I'm doing. Having to broadcast as well is an extra annoyance. I broadcast a tourney at NoPay Poker yesterday while at the final table and it definitely takes from your game.

And for one day, at least, I'm leading the points. I intend to take it down this month. Fair warning.

I'm in the 2k guarenteed on Cake. I've taken down two large pots (22 vs K9, AK vs AT in a battle of the blinds, both double me up) near the bubble (50) to put me in the top 5. I tighten up slightly after the bubble. We're down to 25, I'm middle of the pack. I get AQs on the button. UTG is short stacked and goes all in for 4k (blinds at 2k-4k). It folds around to the guy next to me who min raises. I call. Flop is QTx, two spades. He checks, I bet half the pot. He calls. Turn is a 9 of spades. He min bets, I call. River is a Q, giving me trips. He goes all in.

I make the call. Heeeeeeere's your sign. He flips overs KJ for the straight and knocks me out in 23rd. 2 hours of work for a $10 profit, instead of the $500 first place. Ug. First off, I should have raised preflop. Secondly, I didn't bet enough to push out the draw+overcards. Third, I didn't even consider a straight, seeing only the flush. Fourth, I made the call despite the flush possibility. Fifth, I got married to my trips. Ug.

I'd also like to say that the payout structure on Cake sucks. They pay too many places.

So, realizing that I missed two tourneys that I wanted to play, I sign up instead for a $10 rebuy tourney on Full Tilt. I usually don't play rebuy tourneys, but maybe I should. :) The problem is that I don't do the normal rebuy strategy of playing speculative hands and trying to boost my stack that way. I tighten up a lot more. In this case, I hit AA twice during the rebuy period. I triple up the first time, and nearly triple up the second time. I'm at about 9000 in chips when the rebuy period ends. I didn't rebuy at all, but I do addon, so I'm at 11k.

No real hands that I can recall until I get AK in the BB. It folds to the SB who just calls, and I just call as well. The flop has an ace, He bets, I call. The turn is a K. He bets, I reraise, he calls. We go all in on the river. He loses out with his AT. This hand put me in the chip lead. I stayed up there for a long while. The bubble passed with me in first.

I continued to play tight aggressive. My raises always got respect (sometimes a little too much). And I was making good reads on people. I was still chipleader with about 280k when I got 77. I'm first in, so I raise in mid position. The BB calls. The flop puts only one overcard. He checks, I bet about half the pot. The turn is low, I bet half the pot again. The river completes the flush and pairs the board, he checks and I check. He had made the nut flush with AQ. On further review, I bet enough, I think to push out a flush draw, but not a flush draw with two overs. A note for next time. That knocked me down to about 4th.

With 11 players left, I'm 11th, but 3-11 are very tightly bunched. When it hits 10, I get moved to the other table, where I'm BB, with no small blind. Huck Seed is also at the table in the cutoff with about the same number of chips. He min raises and I call with T6os. The flop is all low (I actually have a gutshot), so I bet and he folds. Just as someone mentions that it'll be a while til the final table since there were no real short stacks, we make the final table. I'm in 6th at this point.

I play rather tight, but I'm still getting respect. But the few times I'm reraised I have to let go, so unfortunately, that image also got sent. I'm at the same final table as Huck Seed, and he ends up being the first one out. With 4 left, I'm 3rd, there's a lot of pushing chips around. I get all in with A4 against a KQ and double up. A bit later, the 4th place guy falls out and there's 3 left with me as short stack. But even at this point, my raises get respect, and certainly my reraises do. It started at 1.400k, 800k, and 400k for me. but I eventually get into 2nd, but then I get AQs, and end up all in againt 22. My draws all show up, but none hit. and I'm out in 3rd for just under $2k. (okay, I went out one hand later) It's my 2nd biggest cash ever.
Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee! Of course, now it's 3am and it'll be a while before I can sleep. But all my big wins seem to come when it's 3am. Not something I mind losing sleep over.

I'm playing a $10 HORSE STT on Full Tilt. We're down to heads up. I'm up about 2:1, but take several bad hits during the Hold'em part. In Omaha, I get knocked down to 475 chips with the blinds at 200-400. *cue Rocky music* I survive 3 all ins to get to the point where I don't have to go all in. Then we get to Razz. My opponent wasn't good at Razz. I get to the point where he's left with only a few chips. In one hand, I have (KT)K against his showing T. He limps all the way. I catch 3 good cards and bet and he folds (the call would put him all in). Two hands later he's out and my comeback is complete.

I got home on Sunday afternoon. Monday, I played in the 2k gtd on Cake and ended up finishing 2nd. I was playing rather tight the whole way. I hit a small run of cards a little before the bubble, so cruised through that, but was short stacked with 15 players left. I managed to survive and get to the final table in 9th place. At which point, I just held on, managed to double up a few times and become chip leader when we were down to 4. We got heads up with me being about a 2:1 dog. I was playing well, but then made a horrible call. I have Q7. He min raises as he has been doing. I call. Flop is 735 rainbow. He bets, I raise, he calls. Turn is an 8. I bet, he reraises all in. And I stupidly call. He shows 86 and the river doesn't help. But I still take down $350 for 2nd. So that's good.