Wednesday, November 30, 2005

Slight Interruption

Thanks to Otis and G-Rob for some late night sweating. No, not man love, just some 180 person MTT lovin'. Biggest tourney win ever for the Blood:

Eight

Behold the path that leads before you.  –Killswitch Engage – Take This Oath

The beauty of blogging about poker is that we’re all on the same path.  Granted, each of us is on a different part of the path, but from what I’ve read, the path itself is the same.

A year ago, I recall railbirding Otis at a $200PL table, marveling at his stack.  It was bigger than my entire bankroll.  I was playing $25NL at the time and confessed to him that I wished I could play at those levels.  His words to me were comforting, but at the same time discouraging, “You can play at this level, you’re better than most of the players I’ve played against.”  Perhaps true, perhaps not.  The only thing I was sure of was that I didn’t have the bankroll to play there.

Fast forward to today.  I’m still not at the $200 tables, but I’m closer.  I’ve finally and hopefully permanently moved up to the $100NL tables with a bankroll that allows me to withstand the inevitable swings that will occur.  After all, the path we’re on is littered with dangerous valleys and obstacles.  My bankroll is my cushion, my protection against the hazards.

What’s interesting to me is that I still get to look ahead on that same path to some bloggers who’ve traversed the difficult trail ahead of me.  It’s comforting to see those who’ve trail-blazed before me continue their progression upwards.  Also just as satisfying is that I can hopefully help those others that are behind me on the path avoid some of the same pitfalls.

A few local bloggers and players have recently entered the online poker arena.  I try to help them any way I can by discussing what I went through at those levels and giving them my perspective on what went right for me.  I do it because I enjoy helping.  And I’m thankful that those of you who are ahead of me continue to do me the same favors.

Again, that’s the beauty of blogging about poker.

Tuesday, November 29, 2005

Nine

G-Rob IM’d me last night on the girly IM thing talking about a 9pm $10+1 MTT on FullTilt.  It didn’t take much convincing.  I had just lost to a 3-outer with all my money in good on the turn and was looking to lick the wounds just a bit.  I signed up and not soon after, Luckbox V1.0 signed up as well.  I went downstairs, grabbed a full glass of Shiraz and was off.

In Nostradamus-like fashion, G-Rob predicted we’d be at the same starting table.  We were.  As I mentioned yesterday, my tournament game is full of rust, puss, and other random bad crap.  So if I were to make any headway on December 10th, then I’d need some practice and this tourney fit the bill to a tee.

Much to my surprise, my AA held up.  So did QQ.  Amazingly, after the first break, I’m above average and had outlasted both of those UpForPoker hack jobs.  CJ replied that the buy-in and prize pool were so low that he didn’t bring his best game.  I know he was joking.  But only a little.

With over 60% of the field gone and me having plenty of chips, all of a sudden the FullTilt client froze on me.  I waited, figuring perhaps the tables were getting shuffled or some guy at my table on dial-up had disconnected.

Not so.

The entire site was down.  There were many a blogger in a near frenzy as there was a $14k guarantee in progress as well.  I IM’d Hank, but knowing that this type of technical problem isn’t his job (not to mention he’s not our own personal 24/7 support line), I told him of the impending crisis.  Like the brilliant man we all know him to be, he logged off YahooIM after telling me he was aware of the situation but couldn’t do anything about it.  I told him I’d see him 10 and he was off.

Unfortunately, it looked as though they had a server failure.

The good news is that my tournament buy-in was refunded.  I’m counting that as a cash.  Sadly, the other 400+ entrants also cashed, but I’m taking what I can get.

****

For those wondering about the dinner at The Nine, I’m thinking Friday night.  Anyone who’s interested, give me a heads up and I’ll try to make some reservations.  Otherwise we’ll go the Pauly route with a tip to the hostess.

Monday, November 28, 2005

Ten

So I get this email in my work inbox talking about some kind of “Blood Drive” this Wednesday.  I’m thinking to myself that I hadn’t planned on any trips this week, what the hell was this about?  Apparently my alter ego is taking over a larger part of my subconscious – a sure sign of impending dementia.

****

With ten days until Vegas, I still have no idea what to expect.  One thing is for certain – there is simply not enough time in the three days that I’ll be there to do everything I want.  I’ve made checklists before, but usually I’m too caught up in the moment to pay them any heed.  That won’t stop me from trying again, so here goes.

Short list of must-do’s

  1. Play poker at the Wynn.  I’ve not been there yet and am determined to make it there and maybe try my hand at the 10/20 mixed game that Felicia blogged about.

  2. Play in at least one $100+ buy-in tournament.  I hate my tournament game right now, but I plan to spend a little time between now and then attempting to make improvements.  I will be enlisting CJ next weekend to teach me the art of the suckout.

  3. Speak to the pros.  In December of last year, I was suffering from a bout of timid, drunk-ass-ness which prevented me from uttering a single word to either Ron Rose, Evelyn Ng, Marcel Luske, or Tom McEvoy.  All I have to say this time is look out Clonie.

  4. Eat.  During my October trip, one of the days I simply forgot to eat.  Thankfully, the Aladdin brought out cookies and donuts at about 7pm, otherwise I would have dropped about 10 pounds simply by sitting in a chair.

  5. Have at least one really nice dinner.  Tentatively, TheMark and maybe others are going to eat at the Nine at the Palms.  Anyone else who wants to join us are absolutely more than welcome.  The social aspect of a great dinner can never be overlooked.

  6. Buy Drizz a lap dance.  For those wondering, I too will accept free dances.  In fact, CJ and Drizz both owe me $1 from a last longer bet.  I will even accept those dollars to put into just about anybody’s g-string.  PS:  Thanks to Chad who dutifully x-ferred me the $1.  Dude, you could have waited until Vegas. (

  7. Have a listening party with AlCantHang.  He’s bringing our compilation CD to Vegas and I expect at least JoeSpeaker to be there.

Perhaps I’ll post a list of the might-do’s later in the week.

Tuesday, November 22, 2005

Get It

Pokerstars get’s it.  From what I’ve seen so far, they are doing a great job at fostering the poker blogging community.  We had the freeroll last month (granted, that included all bloggers – but you can’t seriously complain about that) and now they’ve contributed to the WPBT Winter Classic II as reported here.

The out-of-pocket expense is small, but the investment is worth it.  I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen companies that think only in the short-term at the expense of the long-term.  Pokerstars doesn’t have to contribute anything to the prize pool or send any company representatives to speak and hang out with us.  Most of us will still play there simply because it’s a quality site.  They’re spending some short-term dollars for some long-term goodwill.  It will pay off, of that I’m certain.

FullTilt also gets it.  They’re contributing to our event and having actually hired many of our brethren, have a great feel for what it takes to guarantee our future business.  They are paying cold hard cash for ad-space within the community and recognize what we can do for them.  From my perspective, it’s win-win.

Sadly, there are sites that do not get it.

Party Poker does not get it.  I haven’t played there in a bit, so out of their kind, gracious souls comes an email informing me that I’ve lost all my player points.  I had thirty days to cash them in or play at the site again, but because I wasn’t in the market for small, women's shirts, I lost my points.  I don’t respond well to “play here or else” ultimatums.  I will not be back there, regardless of the quantity of fish.

Empire Poker does not get it.  They banned my account a while ago because I only played there during bonus periods.  The debate has long since passed, but I still maintain that is the equivalent of a store like WalMart banning you from shopping there because you only did so when you had coupons.  Dumb fucking business model right there.  If you can only make sales when you operate at a loss, then there’s something wrong with your business model.  They did manage to differentiate themselves by being so fucking stupid.  Have fun going out of business.

Checknraise poker?  They get it a little.  They at least recognized when they were in trouble with a small player base and slow software.  They’ve remedied both issues to some degree, but it remains to be seen what else they can do.  They were certainly present at The WPBT Winter Classic I back in ’04, so they do get some of my business.

I certainly can’t wait for Saturday December 10th.  Seeing everyone again, meeting new folks, and supporting the sites that “get it” will truly be fun.

The real question:  Which strip clubs in Vegas “get it?”

Monday, November 21, 2005

Walking the Walk

I’m slightly premature with a year-end post, seeing how it’s only November and all.  But being slightly premature has never stopped me before.  Witness the miniBloods.

Moving on.  This past year of poker has been a bit tumultuous.

I remember beginning the year on quite a decent rush.  I had a weekend where I won about $1400 in both live and online games and was quite prepared to have a monster year overall.  But there was still a big problem.  I really wasn’t ready.

As I’ve documented before, I took shots at higher levels and failed each time.  My bankroll plummeted and by the summer, while still up for the year, my spirits were diminished.  Meanwhile, local legend G-Rob was killing every game he was in.  The guy was unstoppable and I’ll be honest and confess to being slightly jealous at the success he was having.  I was the guy who got him invited to my donkey home game and he was cleaning up.  (Aside:  Inviting other good players to your home game is –EV for you personally.  Duh.)

I quickly realized how silly it was to compare your results with someone else’s.  It’s one of the credos in the world of weightlifting and working out:  You are battling yourself and your own personal bests each workout.  Just because some one else can bench more than you, it doesn’t matter.  You’re there competing with yourself to better yourself.  It’s just like poker.

Beginning in July or so, I began to concentrate more on my game and made yet another attempt to ignore results and simply play a better, more solid game.  I started with a $200 live bankroll and a $200 online bankroll.  The goal was to simply grow the roll and be patient about moving up in limits.

Fast forward to today.  The results have been good, but what has really struck me is my reactions during losses.  Back to G-Rob for a second.  As he’s posted and as we’ve spoken about, he’s on a downswing.  That happens to every poker player on the planet.  He’s had Aces cracked in the most brutal ways and is reeling just a bit.  So when we’ve spoken, I’ve tried to help out by reiterating the mantra of variance and playing with a clear head.  I’m sure he’ll rebound, as good players do.

Coincidentally, this past weekend gave me a chance to put those same words I spoke to G-Rob to use.  I had Aces cracked hard twice in a row.  The second one, when I lost to a 1-outer when the guy hit quads after we both had our money in the pot, was a watershed moment.  Of course, I let out a “You gotta be fuckin’ kidding me.”  But then?  Nothing.  Nothing else.  I kept playing.  In fact, the guy typed “sorry” in the chat window and I simply responded, “np, happens.”

Sure the pot I lost was huge, but I managed to avoid letting that loss effect my play afterwards.  And that is where I’ve made the biggest leap this year in my poker play.  I’ve crossed some sort of line where the beats just don’t get to me like they used to.  It’s taken a while, but with each passing day, I can squash those rising feelings of tilt whenever I sense them.  I’m not 100% successful, but I’m far and away much better than I used to be.

I encourage everyone who hasn’t yet read “Zen and the Art of Poker” to do so whenever they can.  I’ll always need strategy books and the like, but at this point in my poker career, I am more interested in the psychology of poker and how it applies to my own play.  As much as there is to learn about poker, there is even more to learn about yourself.

Friday, November 18, 2005

Tilt-a-whirl

G-Vegas is becoming a home game hotbed of sorts.  On Monday nights, there is the Big Game – a $200 NL ring game hosted at The Rick’s.  Wednesday’s, there is either a tournament at Frank the Tank’s or one at the house of Otit.  Thursday alternates between the limit dealer’s choice game and the $50 NL ring game.  Then on Friday, a game can usually be found at The Mark’s.  Add to that the random Otis-is-a-bachelor home game and the week fills up fast.

Online, the blogger-fest is growing too.  Thursday and Friday, we’ve got the Wil Wheaton Pokerstars events.  Saturday afternoon’s with the Dr. is always great fun, as is the Sunday Bill Rini event on Full Tilt.

That’s a ton of poker.  And someone isn’t too happy about it.  You have three guesses and the first two don’t count.

On Wednesday night, I got home late.  I found a bag of take-out for dinner on the table, so I chowed down fast.  There was a game at the Tank’s and if I were to make it, I’d need to hurry.  As I finished up, I went upstairs to check on the rest of the Blood’s.  The mini’s were showered up and getting ready for bed.  The Mrs. took one look at me and simply said, “Bye.”

Screeeeeeeeech.

That was the sound of my poker plans for the night coming to a grinding halt.

I looked down at my two hole cards and knew I was beat.  Based on Mrs_Blood’s tell, I mucked.  I phoned up G-Rob and informed him that I wouldn’t be making it to the Tank’s game.  Simply not showing up is uncool, but calling G-Rob ensured that I’d receive a ration of shit in the following days.

So there I was, thinking I was playing the good guy, sacrificing a poker game to spend some QT with she-who-shall-not-be-named.  I jest, it wasn’t that bad.  We watched some TV and spent a quiet evening together.  Long-term +EV is what I called it.

With Wednesday’s ginormous spousal equity booked, I greatly looked forward to the Thursday night game.  Things started off great.  I won the first hand, exchanged dial-a-shots with the ACHE and things started rollicking.  When G-Rob showed up, he asked me about Wednesday night’s absence.  “Did you get wifed?”  I nodded in the affirmative, but didn’t mind the ribbing.

Then the phone rang again.  Screeeeeeeeeeeeech.

That was the sound of my poker fun for the night coming to a screeching halt.  The Mrs was on the phone.  Apparently I left the house too quickly and didn’t get a chance to talk to her about my day.  The conversation was short, but the message was clear.  And then I felt it.  Yes my friends, a new form of TILT.  The unhappy-wife-making-you-feel-guilty-for-playing-tilt.

After I hung up the phone, I played one more hand.  Then I had to excuse myself.  If I didn’t rectify the situation pronto, I was going to erupt.  I went to the host’s garage and called the Mrs. back.  I won’t go into details, but after about 10 minutes of explaining how each of us felt about what was going on, disaster was averted.  Surprisingly, Mrs_Blood was assuaged enough to end the conversation with, “OK, now go take all their money.”  She’s a keeper.

When I got back to the table, the Thursday night crew warned me of an impending giant Milwaukee’s Best Light beer can coming through the ceiling to crush me.  Men should act like men, beer should taste like beer; but sometimes husbands have to act like husbands.  So don’t be surprised if I’m not available online much this weekend.  I owe someone else some of my time.  She’s earned it.

Wednesday, November 16, 2005

Poker Puzzle

I’ve been playing in the Talking Poker forum’s Head’s Up challenge for the past few weeks.  It began with a field of 32, the top four places get paid some cash and various goodies based on the forum’s logo design.

I managed to work my way to the round of four and then won the first match in a best two out of three semifinal round.  But, alas, I dropped two consecutive matches last night to get eliminated.  As is with most headsup matches, timing is of the utmost importance.  Last night, it seemed every bluff I made was picked off by a better hand, and every made hand I had was outdrawn.  The final hand saw me push with AA and lose to a 5-outer on the turn for trip tens.  I may get to play for 3rd place with one final match, but I’m not sure when that will take place.

****

More interestingly, the forum’s creator Mark came up with a really cool poker related question.  I’ll simply cut and paste it for you here.

Situation: Texas Hold Em. Two players in the hand. There are four cards on the board, with only the river card left to come.

Describe a situation where the hand that is currently winning can NEVER win the pot after the river card is dealt. More specifically, in the situation I am looking for, the currently losing hand has exactly 19 outs to win and 25 to tie (there are 44 unknown cards in the deck).

Yours truly came out the winner.  Before you go on over to find out my answer, give it a shot yourself.  It’s a neat little question, IMHO.

Tuesday, November 15, 2005

Mercenary

I have arrived back in G-Vegas with a successful trip under my belt.  The Pats managed to win the game against the Fins and all was good.  Saw a couple of fist fights up in the nosebleed seats where I was.  I just watched the general idiocy all the while thinking that it was a good idea to stop serving alcohol at the start of the 3rd quarter.  Prior to the game, however, I introduced the parental Bloodclan to dial-a-shots with AlCantHang.  Kudos to Dolphin Stadium for having hard liquor available, but 1000 shames for not having Southern Comfort.

I arrived back early enough on Monday to play in the G-Vegas big game, but was informed that it was cancelled.  The reason for cancellation was that many of the players were heading to Las Vegas on Thursday.  Confused?  Yeah, me too.  Why cancel playing on Monday unless you’re bankroll limited?  Oh well.

****

For anyone who didn’t realize that I can be bought, let me set the record straight and say that I can.  To wit, a few months ago, Noble Poker gave me a “please come back” $20 deposit.  Not being one to turn down free money, I played for a while and managed to turn that $20 into $1000+.  Alas, the bogus software interface finally made me leave for good.  Enter Checknraise poker.  A couple of weeks ago, they too sent me a “please come back” $100.  It was not without trepidation that I logged back onto their site.

Just to set the record straight, I’m not affiliated with Checknraise whatsoever.  I have been the recipient of some goodies from that site thanks to their marketing rep being at the December ’04 WPBT Classic, but that is all.  For a while I played there but grew ever more leery about their 200 count player base.  Fears of losing my deposit and trouble finding a decent NL ring game caused me to cashout from that site expecting never again to reload.

I had received emails about them joining another network and overhauling their software, but I honestly expected that I’d blow my $100 free roll and not think twice about making Checknraise simply a temporary distraction.

Color me surprised when I found out that their player base had grown to around 7000-8000 players.  Also, they had made a downloadable software client available so that you wouldn’t have to rely on their Java-based web client.  The client even has their Fold, Call, and Raise buttons linked to function keys, so you don’t even need to use the mouse to play if you don’t want to.

As for the talent level of the player base, I’d rank them on an equivalent basis as those players on the former Noble/Titan poker network.  Not so good.  Either that, or I’ve morphed into a NL ring game Deity.  I’ve grown the $100 into over $1250+ in a matter of two weeks.  Trust me, I’m not that good.

I also made a cashout and can pleasantly report that it took only 1 day to get it into my Neteller account.  That’s not too shabby either.  I originally only planned to play there as long as it took to clear my checkpoint bonus, which would allow me to cashout the original $100 stake.  But as I approach that milestone, I’m finding it difficult to halt my play there altogether.

So perhaps I’ll linger on that site for a bit longer.  I still have much of my online bankroll at FullTilt and Pokerstars, but as long as I’m seeing such favorable results, I can’t turn away.  Because, like I said, I can be bought.
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