So some cool stuff is happening in my life recently. First off, let's talk about the poker-related stuff. Since my last blog entry, I've already scheduled sessions with 3 students and have a fourth inquiry. I've already done 4 sessions with one of my students which have been going great, and I think his game has came a long way in just that short amount of time. I was really nervous about being whether I could explain my thoughts clearly, but everything seems to be going okay and he hasn't fired me yet, so it's all good. I think coaching will help me elevate my game even more because I'm constantly having to give reasons backing up why I'm having him do certain things, and because of that it's stimulating my thoughts about poker a lot. If you are interested in coaching, just hit me up by email at mapears@gmail.com or on AIM at vizer02.
I was talking with Goldseraph the other day, and I was like "Wow, I'm a pussy. I have almost a 40 buyin roll for 1/2 and I'm still sitting here playing .50/1." Of course he agreed with me, so I said to hell with it and the next day I took the shot. I ended up winning $500ish in about 600 hands. I then played a short session last night at 1/2 where I won another $500 in 300 hands. Tomorrow I think I'm going to start playing some longer sessions again so I can start to figure out the regs' games . I'm really playing ABCish (16/12) right now because I don't have notes on the regs and don't know their stats. It's so hard moving up like this without a HUD, and it sure makes me uncomfortable, but I'll be fine. My goal by the end of the month is to get in at least 25k hands at 1/2, which should easily be attainable. I just have to motivate myself to play again, and the thought of crushing 1/2 is going to do that for me.
Enough about poker. So two weekends ago Veronica asked me if I wanted to be a guest judge for her church's chili cookoff. I mean seriously, who could pass that up, so of course I said yes. This meant I had to go to her church service too, well I wasn't obligated to but I felt that I should. A little religious background on me; I grew up Catholic and went through the confirmation/baptism rituals when I was in high school. I have since grown to dislike the Catholic church and have been to several other churches with friends, although I don't go every Sunday. This was a great opportunity to attend another church to see if I like it, so I did. Anyway, the service was great and the people were very friendly, and I ended up going back this Sunday too. Veronica also gave me a few books to read which will hopefully help stimulate my thinking about religion, along with a bible that her friend's parents loaned me. That's another story I want to get into, but not today because then this entry would be longer than my essay's for school.
After the service last week, I got to eat some free food which is always awesome, and then after that I was honored to be one of the 4 guest judges for their chili cookoff. Veronica had "accidently" slipped and told someone which crockpot was hers when she knew I was in earshot, so the judging may have been a little skewed in her favor :) There were 6 entries, and we had to judge each one based upon certain categories such as aroma, consistency, aftertaste, and presentation. There were like 7 categories which I thought was absurd, since I thought it was going to be a simple 'pick the chili that tastes the best' contest. So the process went like this; fill a little cup up with 2 spoonfuls of chili, smell it, taste it, let the taste sit for a moment, then take the last bite. Finish with a saltine cracker to wash away the taste, then move on to the next one. Imagine the movie Sideways, but with chili instead of wine. On the second chili, and I am not kidding, when I took the first taste my eyes instantly started watering, my face got real hot, my sinuses were cleared, but wow was I in heaven. It was easily the spiciest and best chili I've ever had, and it ended up taking 1st place. Veronica's got 4th, which she was disappointed about since top 3 won the cool trophies with ladles on them. Instead, she won some Beano and mints for participating, which to be honest I could have used. I can say with good authority that protein shakes and chili do not mix
Monday, November 17, 2008
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
HEEAATTTEEEERRRR!!!
So I won another $900 last night at .50/1 in about 1800 hands, which brings my monthly total so far to $4900 over 45k hands, plus an additional $900 in rakeback. Also, I'm still 5th in the rake race leaderboards which would give me another $800. Knowing that I'm already up a guaranteed $6k is pretty cool and makes me want to just take the rest of the month off and travel somewhere, but then I wouldn't be able to reach my $10k goal. I'm pretty sure I'm going to dump some money into tourneys this week and try to get a decent-sized score in one. If I can get my hands on some FTP money I might try to play a FTOPS event or two, but I'm still uneasy about spending that much on a tourney entry. Maybe I'll just set aside X amount of money to spend on satellites and if I win a seat that's cool, if not oh well.
In other poker news, I am taking my first poker student under my wing today. I am very excited to start coaching because I think it will also help my game by having to explain my thought processes. I'm a little nervous that maybe I'll suck as a coach, but in the back of my mind I keep telling myself I'll be fine. I guess only time will tell. We worked out a deal where I will coach him for 5 hours a week over the next 3 weeks, so hopefully I can make a great impact on his play. If anyone reading this is interested in coaching, or may be in the future, hit me up and we'll talk about it.
Let's just make this whole post about poker. I watched the Final Table of the WSOP last night and wow was the play pretty horrid. I was laughing so hard at Phillips' play in the AK hand where he limp/raised UTG w/ AK, then flatted a 4bet, then donk bet 1/3 pot on the flop and folded to Ivan's shove. So he was 0-3 in his decision making that hand which I thought was pretty cool. Then Suharto's spew w/ AJs was pretty sickening as well. I can't imagine risking that many chips on a bluff when your chips are worth millions of dollars in equity. I was impressed with Demidov's and Eastgate's play however, and was glad they made the final two. I still can't believe ESPN only showed 2 hands from their over 100 hand head up match, but hey I guess that's the glamour of televised poker. Finally, I learned from watching this tourney that I shouldn't fret over my little tourney knockout hands that I've encountered. Marquis flopped a set and lost to a runner runner straight for his tourney life, and then Montgomery lost to a rivered 1 outer for his tourney life. LOL donkaments!
In other poker news, I am taking my first poker student under my wing today. I am very excited to start coaching because I think it will also help my game by having to explain my thought processes. I'm a little nervous that maybe I'll suck as a coach, but in the back of my mind I keep telling myself I'll be fine. I guess only time will tell. We worked out a deal where I will coach him for 5 hours a week over the next 3 weeks, so hopefully I can make a great impact on his play. If anyone reading this is interested in coaching, or may be in the future, hit me up and we'll talk about it.
Let's just make this whole post about poker. I watched the Final Table of the WSOP last night and wow was the play pretty horrid. I was laughing so hard at Phillips' play in the AK hand where he limp/raised UTG w/ AK, then flatted a 4bet, then donk bet 1/3 pot on the flop and folded to Ivan's shove. So he was 0-3 in his decision making that hand which I thought was pretty cool. Then Suharto's spew w/ AJs was pretty sickening as well. I can't imagine risking that many chips on a bluff when your chips are worth millions of dollars in equity. I was impressed with Demidov's and Eastgate's play however, and was glad they made the final two. I still can't believe ESPN only showed 2 hands from their over 100 hand head up match, but hey I guess that's the glamour of televised poker. Finally, I learned from watching this tourney that I shouldn't fret over my little tourney knockout hands that I've encountered. Marquis flopped a set and lost to a runner runner straight for his tourney life, and then Montgomery lost to a rivered 1 outer for his tourney life. LOL donkaments!
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
Nobody Calls w/ Ace 3 High
First session: I took a shot at 1/2, 3 tabled it and 3 tabled .50/1. I dropped $450 in 750 hands. Highlights include flopping an underfull against quads and only losing 3/4 of my stack. Then I butchered a hand so bad that I got it allin on the flop with 1.9% equity.
Second session: After an hour or so break, with my tail between my legs I stepped down and played only 7 tables of .50/1. I made $350 in about 2000 hands. The main highlight of that session was getting it allin on the turn with a double gutshot and flush draw with two other players and binking the flush on the river. Then I got bitched out by one of the regs who lost who obviously doesn't understand that I had the correct odds to call seeing as how I was the last to act in the hand.
Third session: Fresh off an afternoon nap, I hit up the .50/1 tables again. Only 10 were running but hey whatever. I played a marathon session with breaks only to go piss, let my dog out, and throw some chicken in the oven. I made $1400 in about 5000 hands.
So, here are the final results:
Finally, I'll leave you with this gem...I know a few of you have seen it already but whatever, it still cracks me up.
The hand:
PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $1.00 BB (10 handed) - Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com
Hero (SB) ($108.25)
BB ($99)
UTG ($78.52)
UTG+1 ($20)
UTG+2 ($88.60)
MP1 ($104.05)
MP2 ($156.40)
MP3 ($78.96)
CO ($50.80)
Button ($17)
Preflop: Hero is SB with Ad, 4c
5 folds, MP3 calls $1, 2 folds, Hero raises to $5, 1 fold, MP3 calls $4
Flop: ($11) Kh, 7d, Qs (2 players)
Hero bets $7, MP3 calls $7
Turn: ($25) 5s (2 players)
Hero bets $16, MP3 calls $16
River: ($57) Qd (2 players)
Hero checks, MP3 bets $28.50, Hero calls $28.50
Total pot: $114 | Rake: $3
Results:
Hero had Ad, 4c (one pair, Queens).
MP3 had Js, 10s (one pair, Queens).
Outcome: Hero won $111
The chat:
Second session: After an hour or so break, with my tail between my legs I stepped down and played only 7 tables of .50/1. I made $350 in about 2000 hands. The main highlight of that session was getting it allin on the turn with a double gutshot and flush draw with two other players and binking the flush on the river. Then I got bitched out by one of the regs who lost who obviously doesn't understand that I had the correct odds to call seeing as how I was the last to act in the hand.
Third session: Fresh off an afternoon nap, I hit up the .50/1 tables again. Only 10 were running but hey whatever. I played a marathon session with breaks only to go piss, let my dog out, and throw some chicken in the oven. I made $1400 in about 5000 hands.
So, here are the final results:
Finally, I'll leave you with this gem...I know a few of you have seen it already but whatever, it still cracks me up.
The hand:
PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $1.00 BB (10 handed) - Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com
Hero (SB) ($108.25)
BB ($99)
UTG ($78.52)
UTG+1 ($20)
UTG+2 ($88.60)
MP1 ($104.05)
MP2 ($156.40)
MP3 ($78.96)
CO ($50.80)
Button ($17)
Preflop: Hero is SB with Ad, 4c
5 folds, MP3 calls $1, 2 folds, Hero raises to $5, 1 fold, MP3 calls $4
Flop: ($11) Kh, 7d, Qs (2 players)
Hero bets $7, MP3 calls $7
Turn: ($25) 5s (2 players)
Hero bets $16, MP3 calls $16
River: ($57) Qd (2 players)
Hero checks, MP3 bets $28.50, Hero calls $28.50
Total pot: $114 | Rake: $3
Results:
Hero had Ad, 4c (one pair, Queens).
MP3 had Js, 10s (one pair, Queens).
Outcome: Hero won $111
The chat:
Saturday, November 8, 2008
I Curbstomped My Mouse
After this hand...
No-Limit Hold'em, $0.00 BB (10 handed) - Hold'em Manager Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com
Hero (MP1) ($176.56)
MP2 ($55.50)
MP3 ($19)
CO ($157.81)
Button ($206.40)
SB ($127.45)
BB ($64.95)
UTG ($142.25)
UTG+1 ($100)
UTG+2 ($64.68)
Preflop: Hero is MP1 with As, Ah
UTG calls $1, 2 folds, Hero raises $6, 6 folds, UTG raises $10, Hero raises $26, UTG raises $42, Hero raises $144.56 (All-In), UTG calls $89.25 (All-In)
Flop: ($284.50) 10d, Ks, 9c (2 players, 2 all-in)
Turn: ($284.50) 9s (2 players, 2 all-in)
River: ($284.50) Kc (2 players, 2 all-in)
Total pot: $284.50
Results:
UTG had Qc, Kh (full house, Kings over nines).
Hero didn't show As, Ah (two pair, Aces and Kings).
Outcome: UTG won $283
I knew I was losing the hand when that flop came, although the turn gave me a ray of hope that maybe I was going to actually hold. Then the river came and crushed my soul so in turn I repeatedly slammed my mouse down on the desk, only later remembering I was still involved in 11 other hands but my mouse was not functioning. Luckily I had a spare in a bedroom so I could continue through the misery that was my session. Anyway I wish I had a functioning camera because it looks awesome, the left button is all out of whack and it rattles now. So yeah, yesterday's session was brutal even though I only ended down only 1.5 buyins. I was just constantly on the bad end of constant coolers and brutal suckouts, which seems to be happening a lot lately. I'm only down like 6 buyins in allin ev this month, so in terms of that I'm not running THAT bad, but man over the last few days it sure seems like it.
Ok, enough negativity, on to the cool stuff. I'm already up $2500 from poker this month, although my winrate has dipped to 9.3 bb/100 over 29k hands. I've also already earned $600 in rakeback and am currently 5th in the rake race on RTR, which is good for $800. I should be able to at least maintain that or move up higher, which would be even sweeter. On top of that, I'm currently 10th in a promo on the site I play on, which is good for $110, but I have to maintain that rank until 8 PM on Sunday, which basically just means I have to play tonight and tomorrow which I was planning on doing anyway. So all-in-all, I'm up around $4k this month already once I figure in everything, which is pretty awesome. My goal is to make $10k so we'll see how that goes. Later!
No-Limit Hold'em, $0.00 BB (10 handed) - Hold'em Manager Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com
Hero (MP1) ($176.56)
MP2 ($55.50)
MP3 ($19)
CO ($157.81)
Button ($206.40)
SB ($127.45)
BB ($64.95)
UTG ($142.25)
UTG+1 ($100)
UTG+2 ($64.68)
Preflop: Hero is MP1 with As, Ah
UTG calls $1, 2 folds, Hero raises $6, 6 folds, UTG raises $10, Hero raises $26, UTG raises $42, Hero raises $144.56 (All-In), UTG calls $89.25 (All-In)
Flop: ($284.50) 10d, Ks, 9c (2 players, 2 all-in)
Turn: ($284.50) 9s (2 players, 2 all-in)
River: ($284.50) Kc (2 players, 2 all-in)
Total pot: $284.50
Results:
UTG had Qc, Kh (full house, Kings over nines).
Hero didn't show As, Ah (two pair, Aces and Kings).
Outcome: UTG won $283
I knew I was losing the hand when that flop came, although the turn gave me a ray of hope that maybe I was going to actually hold. Then the river came and crushed my soul so in turn I repeatedly slammed my mouse down on the desk, only later remembering I was still involved in 11 other hands but my mouse was not functioning. Luckily I had a spare in a bedroom so I could continue through the misery that was my session. Anyway I wish I had a functioning camera because it looks awesome, the left button is all out of whack and it rattles now. So yeah, yesterday's session was brutal even though I only ended down only 1.5 buyins. I was just constantly on the bad end of constant coolers and brutal suckouts, which seems to be happening a lot lately. I'm only down like 6 buyins in allin ev this month, so in terms of that I'm not running THAT bad, but man over the last few days it sure seems like it.
Ok, enough negativity, on to the cool stuff. I'm already up $2500 from poker this month, although my winrate has dipped to 9.3 bb/100 over 29k hands. I've also already earned $600 in rakeback and am currently 5th in the rake race on RTR, which is good for $800. I should be able to at least maintain that or move up higher, which would be even sweeter. On top of that, I'm currently 10th in a promo on the site I play on, which is good for $110, but I have to maintain that rank until 8 PM on Sunday, which basically just means I have to play tonight and tomorrow which I was planning on doing anyway. So all-in-all, I'm up around $4k this month already once I figure in everything, which is pretty awesome. My goal is to make $10k so we'll see how that goes. Later!
Saturday, November 1, 2008
Back In Business
Add in the $500 bonus, $520 from rakeback, and $200 from PLO and the total comes to $4877. Not bad for 68 hours of work!
On top of that, I've already started off November with a bang and booked a $490 win in a 1400 hand session earlier this morning. In other exciting poker news, the video I helped Goldseraph with came out this Friday on Deuces Cracked. Basically, I'm really pumped about this month because unless I go on a massive downswing, soon I'll be rolled for 1/2 again and I should be able to keep it that way.
In not so fun poker news, I bubbled my first tournament ever yesterday. It was this weird tourney where most of the top 50 got paid, but some places didn't and it wasn't like a normal payout structure. 10th place got paid the most, and 50th place got paid as much as 1st. Anyway, I got knocked out 52nd which was disappointing to say the least, but hey there's not much you can do when you run 88 into JJ, KJ into JJ, and AK into QQ and lose all 3. It was pretty fun though because for a lot of the later stages in the tourney the average chip stack was 10 BB's so it was just a shove fest.
In closing, I'll leave you with a rare hand...one where I fold KK preflop.
Seat 1: Vizer02 ( $181.75 )
Seat 3: Asia*** ( $198.90 )
Seat 4: Luck*** ( $67.45 )
Seat 5: jami*** ( $78.05 )
Seat 6: petr*** ( $105.45 )
Seat 7: didu*** ( $118.95 )
Seat 8: Sent*** ( $123.60 )
Seat 9: fcki*** ( $98.92 )
Seat 10: Chal*** ( $113.80 )
didu*** posts the small blind [$0.50].
Sent*** posts the big blind [$1.00].
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to Vizer02 [ Kc Kd ]
fcki*** folds
Chal*** raises [$3.00]
Vizer02 raises [$13.00]
Asia*** folds
Luck*** folds
jami*** folds
petr*** raises [$105.45]
didu*** folds
Sent*** folds
Chal*** raises [$110.80]
Vizer02 folds
** Dealing Flop ** [ Qc, 8d, Js ]
** Dealing Turn ** [ 9s ]
** Dealing River ** [ 9d ]
Chal*** shows [Ah As ]
Chal*** wins $222.40 from main pot
petr*** doesn't show [Ks Kh ]
Chal*** wins $8.35 from main pot
Friday, October 31, 2008
Shrimp, Puppets, and Poker
So I suck at updating this blog, but I'm going to try to pick up the pace a little bit. Last weekend I went out to eat with my parents and Alicia at Red Lobster. A little back story on this; I used to swear off eating seafood although I never actually tried it. I'm really stubborn when it comes to food items that I didn't grow up eating so I just never ordered seafood while at restaurants. While in Vegas this summer I tried some lobster and salmon, and surprisingly it tasted really good. Then the weekend before last I went out to lunch with Veronica at Chili's and I tried some of her shrimp and it tasted amazing as well. I came to the realization that I've been living in a bubble for 24 years now and when my parents said they would take my out to eat I decided I wanted to go to a seafood restaurant to only eat seafood. Wow, was our shrimp amazing, especially the shrimp scampi! After dinner we went to see the Jeff Dunham comedy show (he's a ventriloquist), although I was a little disappointed because his Spark of Insanity DVD was absolutely hilarious but during this live show there were several slow spots. Achmed the Dead Terrorist had me rolling though, if you haven't seen it look for it on youtube; it's definitely worth the time.
This week I've been pretty lax with my workouts, although I did finally make it to the gym on Thursday night. The last two Saturdays I've worked out with Veronica and then we played racquetball afterward which was a fun time. I kind of feel bad because I've hit her with the ball at least 5 times but hey that's part of it right? After working out last week we made some amazing homemade Turkey Chili, taken from a recipe in Muscle and Fitness magazine. I wish we had more leftovers because it was really really good, so I guess I'll have to make it myself sometime soon.
Instead of working out this week I've been focusing on studying and playing more poker. It's amazing how much time school takes up; I totally forgot. I've definitely improved upon my time management skills this last half of the month and have been able to put in several more hours playing than the first few weeks of the month. I'm still crushing, and can't wait to post my results because it's been a pretty sick month even though I haven't hardly played. I just finished a 300 hand session of 6 tabling NL50 6-max because I had time to blow before going to play basketball, and it was like Christmas. I didn't even have to bluff or anything, I was just value betting and value betting and they would pay me off with the funkiest holdings. I might play in those games a little more just to get a change from full ring, but Goldseraph told me the 100NL games are full of regs usually so maybe I won't do that. Anyway, I'm off to go play some basketball and then try out this new grueling leg workout for the first time, later ya'll.
This week I've been pretty lax with my workouts, although I did finally make it to the gym on Thursday night. The last two Saturdays I've worked out with Veronica and then we played racquetball afterward which was a fun time. I kind of feel bad because I've hit her with the ball at least 5 times but hey that's part of it right? After working out last week we made some amazing homemade Turkey Chili, taken from a recipe in Muscle and Fitness magazine. I wish we had more leftovers because it was really really good, so I guess I'll have to make it myself sometime soon.
Instead of working out this week I've been focusing on studying and playing more poker. It's amazing how much time school takes up; I totally forgot. I've definitely improved upon my time management skills this last half of the month and have been able to put in several more hours playing than the first few weeks of the month. I'm still crushing, and can't wait to post my results because it's been a pretty sick month even though I haven't hardly played. I just finished a 300 hand session of 6 tabling NL50 6-max because I had time to blow before going to play basketball, and it was like Christmas. I didn't even have to bluff or anything, I was just value betting and value betting and they would pay me off with the funkiest holdings. I might play in those games a little more just to get a change from full ring, but Goldseraph told me the 100NL games are full of regs usually so maybe I won't do that. Anyway, I'm off to go play some basketball and then try out this new grueling leg workout for the first time, later ya'll.
Friday, October 24, 2008
This Could've Been My Biggest Month Ever...
...except I've only played 38 hours and put in 17k hands. I'm killing the games this month and can't wait to post my screenshot (queue the downswing to finish out October). I feel like I'm playing great, probably partly because I'm playing short sessions when I have time. For instance on Wednesday I took an hour break from studying to play a short session, and most of my sessions have been like that. I really feel if I can maintain this level of concentration on my game that next month or December is going to be a huge breakout month for me. I really wish I didn't have to keep withdrawing though, every time I do I know I'm getting held back, but with my winrate at NL100 right now I'm fine with staying there for a while.
School has been keeping me very occupied, and at the same time I've been doing a lot of research lately into the Exercise Science field as far as jobs and career options. My workouts have also been going well; one week after starting on my new creatine and protein I put up PR's (Personal Records)on the majority of my lifts. I also weighed in at 170 this week which is the most I've ever weighed, although I'm averaging around 167.
I found this website called PokerListings which is a nice poker guide where you can find lots of info about the world of poker. I especially like the section where they list stats from the online poker rooms; the biggest pots, the biggest winners, the biggest losers, and so on. There is also daily poker news updates and live reporting from the biggest tournaments, such as the WSOP and the World Poker Tour.
School has been keeping me very occupied, and at the same time I've been doing a lot of research lately into the Exercise Science field as far as jobs and career options. My workouts have also been going well; one week after starting on my new creatine and protein I put up PR's (Personal Records)on the majority of my lifts. I also weighed in at 170 this week which is the most I've ever weighed, although I'm averaging around 167.
I found this website called PokerListings which is a nice poker guide where you can find lots of info about the world of poker. I especially like the section where they list stats from the online poker rooms; the biggest pots, the biggest winners, the biggest losers, and so on. There is also daily poker news updates and live reporting from the biggest tournaments, such as the WSOP and the World Poker Tour.
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