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HUGE LIVE SCORE…
Okay, okay. I know my blog titles have been a little deceiving lately but I actually did have a live score yesterday. I chopped the tournament I talked about in the previous blog ($550 buyin 100k guaranteed) when we got down to 5 handed play.
The tournament was held at the Isle, which is the casino for the Pompano Dog Track. It was my first time there and I must say I was pretty impressed with the Isle casino. The dog track is old and run down but the Isle was just recently built and they have slots and a poker room. It’s not that big of a casino but they probably have 40 or so poker tables. The casino is just really clean and really nice. I was completely surprised.
I walked up to the poker desk and asked if they were still guaranteeing 100k if they did not get 200 players and they desk said yes they were. Okay, great. I don’t want to waste my time playing a $550 tournament that only has 100 players and no guarantee. Later on while I was registering the poker manager said it was only 100k guarantee based on 200 players. I really hate when casinos pull crap like this. They advertise everywhere that it is 100k guaranteed tournament and then throw some crap in like that. Of course everyone knows that 200 players in a $500 tournament is 100k in the prize pool, so when casinos say 100k guaranteed that means they are putting up the rest of the money if there isn’t 200 players. Oh well.
So it turns out they got 154 players, or 160 players. Something like that. Oh well, I’m here already, might as well play.
We started with 10k chips, with an optional addon for $10 of 1k chips, so 11k chips. The blinds went up every 30 minutes <<< Keep that in mind. The structure was crazy. 25-50, 50-100, 75-150, 100-200, 200-400 25a, 300-600 50a, 400-800 100a, 600-1200 100a, 1000-2000 200a, 1500-3000 200a, etc. I’m not sure if the last levels are exactly right but there wasn’t much room for play. When it got down to the end the blinds went like 4k-8k 500 ante, then 6k-12k 1k ante, then 8k-16k 1k ante, 10k-20k 2k ante, then 15k-30k 3k ante (where we chopped it). So basically the tournament went fast, not too extremely fast, but definitely if you don’t have chips in the later/mid stages you are in trouble. Anyway, my starting table was one of the first to break, and I kind of got a feel for how the players would be playing. One old guy kept reraising light. He was reraising raises with AQ and any pair. Normally stereotypes for older players are rock tight but this guy was tight aggressive, but after the flop he didn’t continue his aggression. So he was pretty easy to play against after all. I learned a lot from my first table about the players and then it broke shortly and I was moved to my next table. The same old guy from above along with another guy from my first table were moved with me. The first significant hand comes up when this black guy from my first table (who another regular was giving him crap for being loose aggressive) and me get in a pot. He had just lost a pot the hand before and said he was steaming and tilted while the next hand was being dealt. I have about 10k in chips and it’s the last hand of 50-100. Two players limp, one guy makes it 300, and the black guy makes it 1400 on the cutoff. I’m in the small blind and look down at two red aces. I reraise to 4k and he calls pretty quickly. I don’t put him on much. I just know he’s tilted. The flop comes 973 rainbow and I think about it for a minute and decide to try to represent AK and check to him, hoping he will fire. He checks behind and the turn comes a Qd, putting two diamonds on board. I’m really not scared of the diamonds and I was thinking this Q might of hit him, so I check to him again, still making my hand look like AK. He checks again as well and the river comes 6c. I decide I need to bet at this point, because he isn’t going to and I bet 3500 of my remaining 6k I had. He has about the same left, 6k, and thinks for a while and folds. After the hand everyone was saying that we both had AK. I was laughing on the inside lol. A couple hands later at 75-150 utg limps and about 4 others limp and I limp on the cutoff with 84dd. 7 People go to the flop which comes QJ5dd. The utg guy bets 800. I had played with him all day already so he’s pretty transparent, he has about 8k behind and I decide to call. The turn comes the 2d completing my flush and he checks and I bet 1200. He calls and the river pairs the board, the 2s. He puts on an act and then checks. Now I don’t think this is the type of player to put on a show here full on the river, so I tanked it for a minute to think if I should value bet or just check, and I decided it would be best to bet. If he raised the river I would probably fold. I bet 2k (he had 6100 left) and he thought about it for a while and called. And my flush was good and I raked in a nice pot. The old tight player with bad post flop skills raised utg to 600 it mucks around to me in the small blind and I call with JTdd. Flop comes JJKcc He bets 1200 with out 6k behind and I decide to just move in on him and make it look like a draw so he could call with a K. He calls with QJhh and the board runs out 2 and the river comes the A to chop the pot. Another hand at the same table comes up when I raise in 3rd position with 5s5h. I’ve been pretty tight only played about 3-4 hands at this table and shown down the flush, and the trip jacks, so I believe my image is pretty good. Anyway, the small blind calls and the big blind calls. The flop comes AJ7dd and the sb thinks about doing something and checks, bb checks, and I decide to fire. I bet 950 and the sb thinks about folding.. But he calls. At this point I’m 100% sure he has a Jack. The turn comes the Td and he checks and I decide to check as well. The river comes the Kd which completes everything and he checks again. I decide this is a good spot to bluff and I bet 1400. He about instantly calls me and slams down JTo on the table saying he knew he was right, lol. Then an argument ensued between the guy who called and another player, telling him how bad the call was. I just sat there. I get moved to a different table and the first hand there at 200-400 25a I’m on the hijack with AcTd and I make it 1100. A woman in the small blind thinks for a little bit and calls. The flop comes KQ9ddd and she checks. I thought about continuation betting but I figured I’d rather see what happens on the turn and see what she does before I put more money in the pot, clueless where I’m at. So I check, and the turn comes the Ks. She checks again and I decide this is a good card to fire at, and bet 1400. She thinks for a little bit and calls. The river comes the 8d, completing my flush and she checks again. I didn’t see value in betting and figured I had the best hand at this point and checked. She turned over two Tens and my ATd took the pot. I then get moved to another table and the blinds are now 300-600 50a. I have 16k in chips at the point, and I know some of the players at the table. In 2nd position a short stack moves all in for 2300 and I reshove AJo on the button. He has KT and I win that gamble. A couple hands later I raise in 2nd position with 9Thh to 1525 and the bb tanks it and it seems like he wants to make a play at me. He is considering what he wants to do and I get that weak vibe from him. He makes it 4k with about 11k behind. I decide to call him and see what he does on the flop, thinking he might just shut down if he’s bluffing. He was an older guy. The flop comes Q25h and he checks. I check behind. The turn comes the Ks, he checks and I decide to check one last time, maybe to hit my J, because he might have paired the K with AK if he does have an actual hand. The river comes the Kc and he checks again. Throughout this whole hand he looked really nervous and uncomfortable and I just really don’t think he has anything. I decided to move in on the river and he mucked pretty instantly. I move up to 26k in chips. (I know my line there is pretty weird but against these guys I think I can get away with stuff like that.) This next pot is probably the turning point of the tournament. I believe it was 400-800 50 ante and I raise on the button with 89o to 2150. The small blind calls and the flop comes T67ss. I flop the nuts. The small blind checks to me, and I bet 2450. He raises me 7k or 8k with 4k-5k behind and I think for a while and move all in. He looks pretty disgusted but calls all in with AsQh, for air. The turn comes the 5s and the river comes a black queen! But it was the queen of clubs and I hold up to win a huge pot. I start to get more aggressive now that I have chips and I raise my third hand in a row with QJo from middle position and the button calls. He had just shoved on my preflop raise the hand before. The flop comes QQ4dd and I check to him, hoping he will fire. He checks behind and the turn comes the Ac. Sometimes I would bet here, hoping that he hit the Ace with AJ or AT but I wanted to see what he would do, if he had anything or if he would maybe bluff at it. He checks behind as well and the river comes the Ks. I decide to value bet to induce a call with an Ace or King, if he has anything and bet 3300. He thinks for a little bit and calls and shows AJ, and I scoop in another pot. The blinds are now up to 800-1600 200a and it folds to me on the button with QdKh. Both the blinds have 12k and 20k. With the nature of the tournament I decided it was just best to shove, and I moved all in. The small blind folded and the big blind called with AQ. The board ran out AKJhh8h7d and I bricked a couple outs on the river to win another nice pot. Before the hand started I had about 57k in chips, so I am now knocked down to about 35k or so. UTG limps at 800-1600 200a still and I know its weak but I decide to limp behind in middle position with A9o. We are 8 handed at this point. The button limps, sb completes, and the bb thinks for a second before moving all in for 10k-12k more. UTG folds and I think about it for a minute… This guy just got to the table a couple orbits ago and I’m not really sure what he has here, but I thought he could do it with a wide range of hands and my hand is pretty strong for a limp. And I decided to gamble and reshoved all in. He flips over AK and the board runs out 663A2 and I double him up and move down to about 25k. It’s now 1k-2k 200a and a guy in middle position makes it 10k. I have 25k and AKdd on the button and shove. He calls his last 11k (21k total) with AQhh and the flop comes KT3h, he tries to shake my hand on the Kh turn… and I pull my hand back while I see that it’s not over. The river bricks the 5c and I move up to 50k. First hand off break, a tightish player makes it 12k. I know from him showing down his hands that a 4x raise is stronger (the blinds are 2k-4k now) and I have AJo on the button. I think about it for a while and shove 39k more and he tanks it. I owe him a show because he showed me AA earlier when he raised 4x and I tanked about shoving QK suited on him, but mucked. So he asks me if I will show, and I tell him yes. He told me he had a pair, which made me feel better. He shows TT and I show my AJo and I take down the pot. The very next hand I move all in in the cutoff with QJss into three short stacks behind me and they all muck and I pick up the blinds and antes, which are huge at this point. The button, which has a ton of chips as well, makes it 16k at 2k-4k and I look down at TT in the big blind. I shove all in for 75k and he tanks it for a while and shows AT and mucks. So I pick up another nice pot and I’m up to about 120k. This guy I know Rich, he plays at the casino’s I play at and he got deep and final tabled a WPT, he moves in for 19k at 2k-4k 500a in 2nd position and it folds to me in the Sb with AJ and I reshove, and the bb calls all in for less, 16k. They turn their hands over and Rich has A7o, the big blind has 58o and I have AJo. The board comes A75QT and Rich wins about a 60k pot and triples up while I move down to 95k. A few hands later a tight player in mid position limps, I complete the sb with Qjo and the board comes K96. It checks around and on the 4 turn I bet 8k and take the pot down. Pretty standard/easy hand given the table and the players being so transparent. The blinds are still 2k-4k 500a and I get AQdd on the button. I make it 10500 and the sb calls as well as Rich in the bb. The flop comes Q79dd and they both check to me. This is such a huge flop, and I know they will put it in with any piece of it, so I decide to bet it and pray that one of them will think I don’t have anything. I bet 16500 and they both muck. Oh well. Hands like that when the deck hits you it’s hard to get action because you hit the flop so hard. I probably could of checked behind but with so much in the pot already, and the structure of this tournament, you need every chip you can get. Some new players are moved to the table that are all bad as well and easy to play against. One of them limps on the cutoff at 3k-6k 500a and I move in with A2ss in the big blind after the sb completed. They both muck. (I had them both covered by a ton.) Probably the biggest turning point for my tournament comes when this hand comes up with Rich. Now since I had doubled up rich when his a7 beat my AJ he had been moving in over my raises and just moving all in in general and gotten a healthy stack. I have about 110k at this point (I lost some chips in small pots or raising to steal and Rich shoving on me and me being forced to fold.) We have been about 8 handed and we are nearing the money with about 25-30 left and 16 paid. I look down at AhAs for the first time since I got them very early in the tournament and make it 15500 (3k-6k.) Rich calls on the button and the flop comes Q77hh. I love these flops when I have overpairs because he really will never have a 7 in his hand hardly ever and if he does have a hand like QJ or QK his other outs are killed. I decide the best way to play it is check to him and see what he does. I check and he instantly moves all in. He would never do this with a seven and I snap call him. He shows JThh and I show my Aces. The turn comes the Tc and the river bricks out 2d and I move up to 220k. I am one of the chip leaders at this point. We now are in the money and we are down to 14 people playing 7 handed. I raise to 19500 at 4k-8k 1k with AJo and a short stack moves in for 39k with AKo. It comes 5522Q and we chop the pot. Then a few orbits later, with about 11 or 12 people left we are 6 handed and 2nd to act makes it 36k at 6k-12k 2ka. I shove AQo in the small blind and he tanks it for a while and shows AJ and folds. We lose some more players and make it down to the final table. I have about 330k when we make it to the final table with the blinds being 6k-12k 2k ante with about 15k more minutes on the clock. One guy gets eliminated the first or second hand of final table play and people are trying to talk about a chop. The tourny director gives us the information that each unit is worth .04 cents and me and the other bigstack calculate our equity and see that we should be getting around 14-15k in a chop. Normal payout in this tourny is 24k to first 13.6k to second, 9k to third, 7500 to fourth and so on. It’s really top heavy and 8th place is guaranteed like 2k. We try to work out a deal but the players have no clue about anything and no clue how our chips are valuable and worth more money and they keep arguing how one hand can change anything, blah blah blah. So we play on. Another player gets eliminated and we are now 7 handed and keep trying to talk about a chop. One player says he doesn’t want to chop (which is fine by me) and we continue to play. The blinds are now up to 8k-16k 2k ante and a guy who had been very active at the final table makes it 52k from late position. I look down at AQcc in the big blind, and with about 20 bbs (I had roughly 340k he had 260k) I shoved on him. He snap called with AKo and his AK held and I go down to 80k. Everyone watching the tournament started screaming that’s why you should chop blah blah and the guy to my left was like see you should of chopped!!! I immediately flip on him and tell him to shut up and have some respect. I never disagreed to chop. I tell him that I just lost a huge hand and he shouldn’t even make a comment like that to me. He apologized (But obviously these morons love to see the bigstacks lose when there is no chop.) I am now determined to come back and still win this tournament. I cant believe the morons on the rail or the morons at my table. The guy who won with the AK jumped up and all his buddies were screaming at me and everything and my blood was definitely boiling. I move my stack up to 140k when UTG raises to 50k and I move in with AQo. He calls with ATss and the board comes QT8s86 and I double up. We lose another player and are 6 handed, and then the short stack guy who told me I should of chopped to my left, blinds down to about 2 bbs lol and he gets eliminated as well. We now are 5 handed with the blinds being 10k-20k 2k about to go up to 15k-30k 3k with only 1.5million chips in play. The chip leader (who won with AK vs my AQ) has about 620k, I have 330k, another kid has about 330k or so and the other two guys have about 200k. We all start talking about a chop. We finally work something out with the chip leader getting 2nd place money for 13.6k, me and the other 350k stack getting 11.9k and the other shortstacks getting 10k and 9800. I really wanted to play this tournament out and gamble since 2 players were pretty tight and clueless about shoving light/calling light but with the average stack having 10bbs and me being card dead, I just figured it was better to almost get 2nd place money with 5 people left. So we all agreed to the deal and I worked out the numbers and negotiated it for everyone and everyone was happy and that was that. It felt good getting the cash, although I missed playing online all day for the Monday tournaments, it felt good getting deep and playing well live. Although I wanted to go for the win and the 24k, I can’t be upset at winning 12k with 5 people left. If there was more play in the tournament I definitely would of played. I hate chopping because I always regret it and always become frustrated that I do it after the fact, but I know this was the smart thing to do. I met a couple people at the Isles too (including one of the 5 that chopped – illuminati41) that play online poker and go to FAU. They were good guys and know some of the same people I know. It’s a small world especially in the poker world. So, yeah.. That’s what happened at that tournament. I finally did what I said I was going to do and took down a tournament. I actually have a picture from the tournament I will post once I get it sent to my email that is pretty funny. So hopefully I get that soon so I can post it to the blog. Other than that, I came 9th today in the afternoon $163 on FTP, where I got pretty coolered AJhh vs JJ(button) vs my BB. He potted it at 2.5k/5k and We both were about at 100k. I shoved and he had it and I bricked. I never have won that tournament, or probably never even final tabled, so it sucked getting 9th. I went card dead late in the tourny and it sucks to not get closer. I also got 15th or so in another FTP tourny to a moron. Back to the grind tomorrow. Hopefully I don’t bubble as many tournys and maybe I can actually take some down. Goodnight guys. Oh and by the way my post about Hans must of inspired him because he just got 9th in the 1k on Stars. He lost a flip to bust, sucks. But he played very well to get there and hopefully next time he wins the flip and wins the tournament. Good job bro, keep it up.
HUGE SUNDAY SCORE…
I probably had the best Sunday of my life today in online poker. The money I won or lost today was exactly +$0. What this means is basically, I took the Sunday off. I had some friends in town and my girlfriend was in town, and when she left in the afternoon today I really didn’t feel like playing any poker. It’s hard to miss all the opportunities Sunday’s bring but I probably saved myself from losing a couple thousand today, hence resulting in my best Sunday ever!!!
It feels good to take a couple days off but like I said in previous blogs, the grind is about to start. I am starting to enjoy the pain behind the daily grind of playing poker 10-12 hours a day and I know I will see results. But before I can start grinding, there is a live tournament tomorrow at a local casino. The buyin is $550 and there is 100k guarantee. I’ve never been to this casino (Pompano Isle) but I’ve heard good things about it. There is no smoking in the casino/poker room which is always a plus. The tournament you start with 10k in chips and 30 minute blinds but I have no clue of the structure. I’m assuming it will be pretty bad, but the players will probably be even worse. It will be fun to play some live tomorrow. If I don’t do well I can always make it back home for the nightly tournaments and the 1k on FTP. The tournament starts at 12:30 tomorrow and I have no clue how long it will last, so I guess I will find everything out tomorrow and hopefully take it down.
So as you know my buddy Hans is one of the laziest humans on the face of the earth. I tried to convince him to go play the tournament with me and here’s the conversation we had.
Hans: huh?
Tristan: 550 tourny
Tristan: at this casino tomorrow
Tristan: 100k guarantee
Hans: u playing?
Tristan: yes
Hans: what casino is it at?
Tristan: isle
Tristan: come play it
Hans: oh ya I’ve heard of that casino
Tristan: you gonna go, its not too early
Tristan: 12:30
Hans: nah prolly not
Hans: too small
Tristan: gonna be 30k+ to first
Tristan: and all donks
Tristan: but ok hansy
Hans: my cousin invited me on boat, not sure if I’m going on it
Hans: depends weather
Hans: but i wouldnt play even if i wasnt goin on boat
Hans: dont like live really
Tristan: why do you make excuses
Tristan: why not just say you dont want toplay it
Hans: uh read what i wrote donk
Tristan: if you weren’t going on the boat
Tristan: you wouldn’t play
Hans: are u retarded?
Hans: are u brain dead?
Tristan: no I’m just saying lol
Tristan: why even bring that up lol
Hans: Hans (2:52:56 AM): but i wouldnt play even if i wasnt goin on boat
Hans: Hans (2:52:56 AM): but i wouldnt play even if i wasnt goin on boat
Hans: Hans (2:52:56 AM): but i wouldnt play even if i wasnt goin on boat
Hans: Hans (2:52:56 AM): but i wouldnt play even if i wasnt goin on boat
Tristan: lol
Tristan: iknow
Tristan: come play win 30k
Hans: why would i ever do that when u can play online
Tristan: ok bud
Tristan: i knew i shouldnt even of wasted my breath telling you
Hans: good thing u didnt, just ur worhless fingers
Tristan: it could be 1mil freeroll HU tourny you vs blind guy and you still wouldnt play
Hans: sometimes the dumbest shit comes outta ur mouth
Hans: glad u have the blog
Hans: so u dont waste the dumb stuff u say
Hans: loool
Tristan: you should start a blog
Tristan: youd update it never
Hans: lol
Tristan: youll like next blog might wanna stay up for it
Hans: man i wish it was possible for u to update blog every couple hours
Tristan: oh dont worry its getting updated now
Tristan: hope you enjoy
LOL.. We like going at it with each other constantly. I get on him, he gets on me. Good times. I’ll let everyone know how the tournament went and I’ll save hands to my BlackBerry while I’m playing so I have some interesting hands to post. Goodnight guys.
Have fun on the boat tomorrow Hans!!!
Busy Day and Breaking The Rules…
Okay. I said I was going to play today and post on pocketfives hands throughout the day and everything, but things didn’t go as planned. I woke up early at about 10am and hung out and watched TV in bed for about 30 minutes. I was going to work out but then realized I had to wait for a package to come be delivered to the house. I waited til about 12:30 until the UPS guy finally showed up and then I was off to the gym. Before the gym, I stopped at the mall to get fitted for a tuxedo for my sisters wedding next month. After that I got to the gym, worked out, and picked up some lunch. My dad needed a ride to the airport in the afternoon so that kind of killed my plan of playing poker, so I laid out by the pool for about an hour and then took my dad to the airport.
The rest of my night was pretty boring and I played absolutely no poker. I am sweating Stu right now who is down to like 15 left in the 100r 6max on FTP, so hopefully he wins it.
Okay, lets get down to business. I’m pretty fed up with all these people who cheat in online poker. Cheat as in play multiple accounts, or play on DIFFERENT accounts other than their name they usually play on.
I bring this up because Brian ‘SBRugby’ Townsend just posted a blog yesterday about how he played on a different account that nobody knew about because he didn’t want people to see him playing lower stakes (25-50 and 50-100.) First off, this is cheating. He has an unfair advantage to be an unknown player in a game where everybody almost knows everybody. Yes, after a number of hands any good player can tell a player is good and adjust accordingly, but this is STILL AN UNFAIR ADVANTAGE. He should know better! He is a cardrunners owner (I believe) and is a rep Pro for Full Tilt Poker. There is ABSOLUTELY no reason why he should of done this and he definitely knew better. There is nothing he can say that will make what he did acceptable. I think he should lose his Red Pro Status on Full Tilt for good. Anyone who is supposed to be a model in the online poker community knows better about playing on different/unknown accounts and multi accounting. If other players have done this they should all be punished as well. Not just Brian.
I also hate the fact that I have seen players who are known play on different names (or their buddies name — people switch names) and nothing is done about it. I mean I am sure there is more cheating than what I know about in online poker and I cant stand it when there are big events like the WCOOP or FTOPS because the cheaters just put in 2-3 accounts all no name players and go deep or end up winning the tournament. Its so stupid to sit there and play in a $2500 tournament online against all unknown names who have no databases and their highest previous buyin was $24 dollars and all of a sudden they are playing every FTOPS event. Something definitely needs to be done to prove identity while playing online poker.
I WISH I WAS ABLE TO PLAY ON UNKNOWN NAMES EVERYDAY. But I never would do that. I just wish I could have anonymity for every tournament I played and nobody ever recognized my name. I don’t care what anyone says, there is a huge edge in playing on a name nobody recognizes or nobody has seen before. I have never done this and I never plan on doing it but it just bothers me that people can do this and get away with it. It hurts me, it hurts the poker world, and I want them to hurt for doing it.
I don’t know what else to say on the issue. Those that cheat. FUCK YOU. I really don’t know any other way to put it without using vulgar language. I try not to cuss in this blog and be professional about it but seriously there is no light way to express my hate for the cheaters in the online poker world. I really hate you. If you cheat I hope you get thrown in jail one day and are chemically castrated, and if you are a cheating-online-poker-playing-female I hope your uterus is removed so you can never reproduce. I mean honestly, have a conscience and live life the right way and stop abusing rules and taking advantage of other people. Karma please step in whenever you like.
I wish I could spill some gossip on here but it’s really not my place but If I feel at some time the need to spill some of the information I know I will post it to the blog, but as of now I am just keeping it to myself as its not really relevant now, as it was in the past, but still… Yeah, I’m frustrated.
I’m not a big fan of all these pictures with captions and all, but this one seems appropriate. I wish this could happen for online poker. Maybe one day I can operate the machine that destroys the cheaters.
Half Grind…
Today I half grinded. I woke up a little late before the 2pm tournaments, but not early enough to make it to the gym to workout before I started playing. There was a really bad storm outside and I registered for a couple 2pm tournaments and then my Internet went out. It went out til about 3 or so and then I played from there on. I skipped the nightly tournaments.
It’s really hard to sit in a room and stare at two computer monitors all day with no breaks, no food, nothing. I have nobody to bring me food and I hate missing hands but I run to the bathroom every now and then when the important tournaments are on break. I’m thinking about just setting up a bucket next to my desk and then stockpiling like 3 meals in my room somehow lol. If anyone has any ideas let me know. I also just hate sitting there in front of the computer. I feel like I’m just killing my body, but that’s tournament poker. Sometimes when I play live poker (like during the WSOP) I will do pushups and sit-ups and stretch to get my blood flowing and energy going (I’m sure some people saw me this summer and were like “what the hell is that kid doing!?”) When you have 8 tables of poker up its hard to jump on the floor for a minute and get some pushups in or sit-ups. I think I’m going to start doing this more when I’m grinding because it’s really not good to just sit there for 10 hours at a time. I need blood flowing in my body and especially need motion for my knee that is still healing from torn ACL surgery.
Anyway, tomorrow I will grind again from 2 on. I’m not sure how the night tournaments will go again but I will be playing them. Maybe I can get Stu to come over or something and keep me company. I will probably take Thursday and Friday off (night at least) because there aren’t many good night tournaments and also I have some people coming into town this weekend.
This weekend should be pretty fun. I still have not had a drink in about 25-28 days. I have 4 more days to go for it to be 4 weeks/a month of no drinking! I went out the other night with my buddies and they got smashed and I resisted peer pressure for 4 hours and didn’t drink. I was pretty proud of myself although I wanted to drink really badly. I might drink this weekend before time is up but I’m not really sure. It’s nice having streaks and keeping them going. My dad is on a 400+ day streak of walking 4 miles and biking 16 miles everyday. That’s pretty damn impressive!
Tomorrow I will wake up, work out, and get to the grind. I came close in a 55NL today on stars. Came like 20th place out of 1100 or something. I’m making fewer mistakes and seeing the game differently. Hopefully I can keep lowering the amount of mistakes I make and start playing absolutely perfect on every table and maximize my abilities and take down a bunch of tournaments. HEATER HEATER HEATER!!!!
Okay…Goodnight guys. There’s some other stuff I’m working on in the mix of things but I cant bring it up yet. I will let you guys know everything when I can. And anything else I can think of to tell you guys I will. Tomorrow I will actually do the “day in the life” on pocketfives and post my important hands so head over to pocketfives and look for the thread if you guys want to take part in that. Night.
He’s Heating Up….
Fuck that. I’m flaming hot. (Those lyrics [He’s heating up. Fuck that, I’m flaming hot]) are lyrics from a Jurassic 5 song about basketball I used to listen to back in the day, years ago.
But anyways, THE HEATER IS STARTING. Today I GRINDED. Grinded like I NEVER HAVE EVER BEFORE IN MY EXISTENCE. I woke up, went to the gym for about an hour, got home, made some lunch, and sat down at my computer at about 2:15pm and played just about every tournament on Full Tilt and Pokerstars that had a decent prize pool up until the 9pm big tournaments.
I played both 100rs (night and afternoon), 55r, 50 nls, 100nl, 50 cubed, 100 cubed, 22r, the big $1k on full tilt, both 162/163, EVERYTHING.
I finished about 45 minutes ago when I tilted off the Pokerstars 162 because I was pissed off about a final table I bubbled.
In the Pokerstars 50 cubed I got heads up vs gutshotallin and we chopped it up cause we both had a bunch of tables going and didn’t want to play a long HU match (we both had about 80bbs or so) so I took 4400 and he took 4600 (first was like 5300 no chop.) So that was good to take down a tournament although we just moved in and of course I got 2nd on my database like what always happens when I chop.
Next I came in 10th in the 11r that I played for 8 damn hours. I was like 6/10 in chips and this guy was being aggressive hand for hand raising 4x and he raised 4x on the button to 200k at 25/50k and he had been really active lately, he had 950k total. I had 800k and I shoved 89ss from the small blind. I had been very tight recently and hadn’t been in any hands. So I figured I would get a ton of folds and didn’t think his 4x raise was strong. Well he tanked it for about 15 seconds and decided his QJo was good for his tournament life, and called leaving himself with 140k chips if he lost. And his QJ held up and I fucking bubbled that tournament which was 12k to first. It was a rough 8 hours. Oh well.
Then I got deep in a couple other tournaments and just got screwed in some and got lucky in some others. I guess that’s just how poker goes. I might make a thread on pocketfives tomorrow about all the big hands I’m involved in during the day to let off steam/bring up discussion about hands since people seem to enjoy that. I would post them here but I don’t want to fill my blog with a million hand histories.
I’m pretty tired and pooped out. I played about ten and 1/2 hours and I don’t think I’ve ever grinded like this before unless it was a Sunday. I had about 6-8 tables up all day until the end and at one point 9 tables (although I can really only fit 8 comfortably.)
Stu came by around 7:30 and watched me chop the 50 cubed and then watched me bubble the 11r. He stayed til around 11:30 then left after I got 10th. Thanks for the support Stu.
So I guess I’m starting to play better, and look at different poker situations differently. I’m still trying to figure out the best plays in some instances but I guess you can never know the right play because any given situation can always have a different outcome. I feel like things are starting to come together and If I keep putting time into becoming a better player then I am bound to see great results. Thanks everyone for the support and lets keep the heater chants going and everything else going because I KNOW ITS COMING. ITS LIKE A BALL OF FIRE SHOT FROM THE SUN ITSELF. IT IS A GREAT BALL OF FIRE LIKE A METEORITE SHOT FROM THE DEPTHS OF THE SUN AT A MILLION DEGREES FAHRENHEIT AND YOU CANT STOP IT YOU JUST HAVE TO ACCEPT YOUR FATE OF RUNNING INTO THE BALL OF FIRE AND BURNING TO DEATH. SO BURN TO DEATH!!!! BURN!!!!!
Okay, 11 hour sessions make me crazy.
Sunday Shots…
Alright. I messed up today. It was a typical Sunday. I started at 2pm with the 100r and Knockout tournament on Full Tilt Poker. I played $55 No Limit Freezeouts, $109 NL Freezeouts, Sunday Million, 55r, FTP Main Event, $530 NL, $100 6max cubed, $215 Heads up, and probably some other tournaments but thats the gist of it right now. I cashed in either 4 or 5 of them I believe. I came like 40th in the $530 NL (for 1250), then I got screwed deep in the $109 Freezeout in like 20th place (Shoved QQ for 38k UTG at 3/6k and the BB called with 72o in the bb and it ran out A8972 … horrible) and then I BLEW THE 6max 100 CUBED ON FULL TILT POKER. I came in 4th place in that for 6600. I absolutely blew this tournament. I was in control the whole time since 1 hour into the tournament I was chip leader the whole way and I was 2nd in chips at the final table with 6 people and I played a 100bb pot vs a donkeyish player and I played it horribly and I just played very bad and got 4th which I deserved.
I would continue on and talk about my poor final table performance but I made a mistake, and I’m learning and moving on. So today was a decent sunday given the fact I had a couple chances at 20k scores and a 90k score. I have been tweaking my game and its definitely helping. I did get lucky at some points in some of these tournaments for the most part too. The $530 No limit I got deep in I dont think I got lucky in that. I am pretty sure I got it in great everytime. I lost a couple big pots where I was a favorite deep that would of changed the outcome in that tournament but whatever. The big one is coming soon. Or at least hopefully all the little ones will start coming. I’ll take a 15k score every day, no problem =)
I’m starting to play more and put in the volume and see results, so hopefully I can get sick hot like Johnny Storm and just completely destroy some people in the next couple weeks/months. LETS GET HOT!!!!!!!!!!!
Thanks to my buddy Hans for some ideas on things that are hot!!! He got 7th in the 6max I got 4th in, congrats to him too. I tried to bust him one hand since he raises so small preflop but he coolered me but he was shortstack. Then he bubbled the final table with TT vs QQ 4 handed, rough. I’ll keep you guys updated on everything. Everyone think… HEATER….
Okay, thats enough lol… Enjoy!!!
Best Blog Ever…
First off. I WILL POST MORE BLOGS. I am sorry!
I held my tongue for too long but I’ve had enough! What the hell is wrong with the Olympics? Sure, some of the Olympic sports they have really involve athletes and are exciting to watch, but some of the other sports are ridiculous. I was involved in a conversation the other day and said that the Olympics really isn’t about measuring athleticism but more of individual talents/skills. I mean events like archery, canoeing, etc. They are pretty weird and uncommon things. I guess each sport is its own and I can’t knock any of them because they all require hard work and dedication… BUT one sport really caught my eye and made me laugh harder than I’ve laughed in a while. Olympic WALKING. Yes, OLYMPIC WALKING!!!!! Are you kidding me?
There’s a video of some walking. This is just really amazing to me that it is an Olympic sport, that I have actually been training for ALL MY LIFE!!! I mean think about it, I walk everywhere! I walk around my house all day, or walk around the mall, and walk many other places. And I always walk faster and blow by the other people who are walking in the same places I’m walking at! I can’t believe I didn’t know there was an Olympic event for this, or I would probably have all the gold medals possible!!!
Haha, enough of that, but honestly its comical. I guess there are rules to it such as you have to have one knee bent, and you cant have both feet off the floor at the same time, and some other rules. When I first saw this on TV yesterday all I could think about was a Malcolm in the Middle episode where the father wanted to beat another guy at the park in speed walking. I thought it was a hilarious episode, until I find out that speed walking is actually an Olympic sport haha. Crazy. I tried to find a video on youtube or something about it but there is nothing. Sorry guys. If any of you have watched Malcolm in the Middle or seen the episode, you know what I’m talking about. (Its Episode — Malcolm Holds his Tongue.) That show is amazing and a classic.
Enough of Olympic talk. I just think its amazing how certain skills are showcased and people can earn medals for their specific skill, but I guess that’s with a lot of sports. I guess what I’m trying to say is that if you put LeBron James on a football field, or a soccer field, or a baseball diamond, or a track, or a swimming pool, he would be able to compete on almost any aspect. He is truly an athlete and one of the worlds greatest athletes. I think those people are special and I looked at Olympic medals as being deserving to athletes like that. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed watching Michael Phelps dominate swimming and the other sports I have seen, I just guess its funny that there are some of these obscure sports/talents that are showcased in the Olympics. Okay I’m done.
On to poker talk. I was entered into an FTOPS Singles contest and I didn’t do so well. I played all the Full Tilt Online Poker Series and had a couple close shots (30th in PLO Event and 40th in the 2nd to last Knockout event.) I played all the events and they didn’t go so well like I said. I bubbled the $2500 buyin event where I played flawless poker, and went card dead in the end. I’m working on my game a lot and trying to fix the things I’m doing wrong. Hopefully I can keep evolving with the game and hopefully get ahead of the evolution of the game so I can start dominating and go on a sick heater that all these people talk about. I don’t know what a heater is but I would love to be on one =)
The WCOOP (Pokerstars online series of poker) is coming up in a couple weeks so that will be exciting and hopefully I can be on top of my game for those events. There are some huge tournaments going on for that so it would be nice to do well in some of those.
Aside from poker everything else is going good. I have just been working out and hanging out. My sister’s wedding is in a couple of weeks so that is exciting for her as well and her baby is on the way in a couple of months which is actually a boy. She’s happy and I’m happy for her. It will be interesting being an uncle. It hasn’t hit me yet but I’m sure it will once the baby is actually born.
I haven’t played in a couple of days since the FTOPS ended and I just was kind of pokered out, but I will come back strong for the WCOOP and hopefully can get my first 6 figure score.
I will leave this blog at that. I have the Men’s Olympic Walking on television and I still cant believe it haha. I will leave you guys with a couple of quotes from my favorite poker player, Stuart Paterson.
These quotes come from him one day when I was at his house and him and some of our other friends were talking about my blog. Stu said:
“Aside from strip clubs, your blog is the most entertaining thing.”
and
“If someone asked me if I wanted to walk or you had to take your blog down, I would want you to keep your blog.”
Hahahahaha. Those are two prime examples of why Stu is my favorite poker player and one of my best friends. He always provides comic gold. I guess you could say his comedy is as good as Olympic Walking. Ironic right? =)
We Are The Champions…
We ended up winning the Roots basketball tournament. There were some good teams in it with some newer NBA players and a bunch of overseas/college players. It was a double elimination tournament and we got through our first three games no problem. We ended up facing the team we played in the Championship the year before, 2 Legit. We played horrible and they eneded up beating us in a close game. Fortunately for us we were pretty deep in the winners bracket already. We had to play one more game and win and then we would goto the championship.
We won our semifinals game and we faced 2 Legit in the Championship. Now since we lost earlier, and they hadnt lost yet, we had to beat them twice to win. We won the first game by like 15 or 20 and then the second game was insane. I almost got thrown out of the gym the first game because there was a referee who hated me and wanted to throw me out for ridiculous shit. I’ll spare the details of everything because its just something I dont want to get into, but basically this referee was trying to punk me, telling me if I didnt sit down and stay seated I would get a technical. He disrespected me pretty bad. At halftime of the first game I went to talk to him in the referee room to straighten it out and he told me to get the hell out of there and what was I doing in there and everything. Wow. I was pretty furious at this point because not 1) did he disrespect me on the court during the game and 2) when I tried to approach him about it during halftime he disrespected me by not even giving me the time of day to talk to him about what he was so upset for. There’s more to the story but I’ll leave it at that.
For the rest of the Championship games (Second Half of 1 and Game 2) I didn’t sit on the bench but a row behind it. I took off my coaching badge they gave us so I couldn’t penalize the team and get them a technical foul or anything. Let me get on to the second game. It was amazing. The refs were out to get us the whole time. They didnt call a single foul for us and the other team got the most ridiculous calls. There were a lot of people betting on the games. I mean A LOT OF PEOPLE. There were probably 50-100 people in the gym that had placed bets on the game and some really big bets. I definitely think something fishy was going on with the refereeing and that maybe they were getting paid to throw the game in some way. It was pretty crazy.
We were down 4 points with 40 seconds left and ended up coming back and winning the game somehow. We were down 1 with about 10 seconds left and hit an And 1 to go up 2. We defended the shot well and they missed a jumper and we won the game. During the last minute guys were going crazy. Some guys ran out onto the court or into the team huddles. One guy even ran onto the court during a timeout and kicked the ball because of the refs and he had bet on the game. It was pretty intense and we were happy we won. My dad even asked me for $100 to bet on the first game and he won some money betting although he never bets on anything. Haha. I’ll try to find some pictures because I know there are some and then I will post them up here.
Aside from that poker hasn’t been going to well. Im changing my game around and trying to think differently about different situations and I think things will start turning around soon. The FTOPS is here (Full Tilt Online Poker Series.) Hopefully I can be lucky enough to run good in a big event and win a ton of money. We will see how that goes. My buddy cane is actually at the final table of the 6 max Shootout right now with first being 45k. I will let you guys know how he does in it.
Poker wise I can’t really say much is going on. I’ve been playing almost every night all the big tournaments and can’t really seem to get anything going. I’ve been getting my money in good for the most part so hopefully I can continue playing well and things will turn around. It just takes a spark to get on a heater… I think. I’ve never actually been on a “heater” so hopefully I can get on one soon =)
I’ve been working out everyday and I actually started a 30 day ban on drinking. I told myself I wouldn’t drink for 30 days so that’s what I plan on doing. My buddy Brian has gone over a year and change without drinking, so I know I can do it. I want to eat better too. I don’t eat that bad right now but I do splurge sometimes and eat ice cream real late and night and other things that cant be good for me if I’m trying to cut down on body fat and everything. I’m definitely not fat but I’m trying to get more cut up and lose my body fat. I’m going to talk to the trainers in my gym and have a fitness test soon so I can see the actual body fat I have and everything else I need to know.
Hmm.. When all my buddies were down for the Roots tournament we went out a couple nights. One night we all went to downtown Ft Lauderdale and then the next night me and my buddy Josh (aka Pep…Played basketball for UCF now plays professionally in Japan) met up with Stu, Hans, John and Tim at Prive on South beach. Prive was alright. The club was actually pretty small and the people just all seemed stuck up. The staff seemed stuck up as well. I’m not sure what I think about South Beach but it appears that a lot of people just think they are better than everyone and there is definitely something in the air. Pep and I drank a little (This was the night before of my 30 days no drinking) and had a good time hanging out with everyone. Stu and everyone left early because people got too drunk and me and Pep hung out for a while. We left around 4:30-5 and made it home.
I guess I will leave this post at that. Sorry it’s just a bunch of random thoughts and things that have been going on lately all wrapped into one. Cane is still in and there are still 6 people left.
On a final note, the greatest rapper ever is going to be coming out with a new album sometime. Maybe not in this year but soon. Jay-z. Here’s a clip from the end of Kanye’s show in NYC last night when Hov came out to sing a verse of a song that might be on The Blueprint 3.
More Non-Poker Related Content…
On Wednesday I went to another Marlins game with my dad, Stu, Hans, Hans’ girlfriend Christy, Tim(cane3418), and John. It was the Marlins vs. Mets and it was a really exciting game. The Marlins ended up winning 7-5 I think but there was excitement up to the end. It was pretty amazing how many Mets fans were there. There were about 30,000 people total which is a good turnout for a Marlins game and I would say at least 10,000 were Mets fans.
After the game we went to one of my favorite places in South Florida named Sushi Room. It is in downtown Hollywood on Hollywood Blvd. They have great sushi and sashimi there and we always go there when we are in the area. They have a yellowtail jalapeno dish that is awesome just like Kaizen. I guess it’s a pretty popular dish because I am starting to see it on every menu, everywhere I go. I had my dad try some sashimi and he didn’t like it too much lol. I guess he doesn’t like the texture since he isn’t really used to it. I remember when I first started trying to eat sushi and sashimi I didn’t like it but I have gotten used to it and love it. I think there’s just that first barrier you have to get through when eating foods with weird textures, then you can enjoy it.
The Roots basketball tournament has started and our first game is in about an hour and a half. Everyone is in town and we went down to Los Olas (Downtown Ft. Lauderdale) and hung out for a little bit last night. I’m really excited to see everyone play and see how they’ve improved their games like I said before. Hopefully we can win the tournament again. It’s going to be harder this year. There are more teams and everyone is gunning for us. I’ll let you guys know how it goes. I’ll be on the bench coaching lol. I think Hans and Stu are coming to the games today.
I will just keep this entry short and update it later about my other buddies who are down and what happens at the basketball tournament. Thanks for all the support for those of you who leave comments or contact me other ways. It helps to write when I know people enjoy reading what I’m posting and I definitely appreciate the support, thank you.
Sunday/Monday Poker…
Poker, poker, poker. I played a bunch of tournaments like a typical Sunday and actually had a good cash rate. I probably played 12 tournaments and cashed in 5 of them, although none of them were really significant. I got 11th or so in the $215 HU tournament and deep in a couple other tournaments which I got pretty unlucky in. I lost about $2500 yesterday I believe. Oh well, that’s the nature of Sundays.
I just busted the 1k on FTP tonight when I raised the button to 90 with AA (and 3k) and the big blind reraised to 300. Sometimes I reraise here, but I figure in this tournament most of the players are pretty competent, and I decided to just call with position. The flop comes 954 rainbow and he bets 420 into a 620 pot. I make it 1080 and he shoves and I call and he has 99. And I lose. I think maybe vs a known player I should flat call and an unknown reraise. Since you can gauge a better/known players range easier. Stu is over my house playing tournaments tonight too and he thinks its the opposite. He thinks vs known players they might be more apt to make a move with a weaker hand and shove AQ or JJ but I don’t know. It depends what their button/big blind concept is and what they think I am capable of. Although I think most players know I am big there if I’m 4 betting that early in the 1k, maybe not though.
Another question me and Stu were talking about is how the hell does anyone get money online? It seems like everyone can get money online and we were just having a discussion about it. Not that this is a bad thing or anything, we obviously want people to be able to get money online as easily as possible, but it was just interesting. We haven’t really used depositing lately so if anyone has any answer to this let me know lol.
My family is doing good. My dad just had surgery on his left eye because he had glaucoma apparently. He is walking around with a huge patch over his eye its pretty funny. It’s actually a good look for him. I was standing to his left talking to him (so he couldn’t see me) and I kept demanding him that he looks at me when I talk to him, hahaha. It’s pretty funny messing with him because hes messed with me my whole life. He’s a good sport though. My sister is getting married in a couple months like I said before. She is also pregnant and having a little boy on the way so I will be an uncle. It hasn’t hit me yet but I’m sure once she has the baby I will be excited to babysit and help her out. My mom is good too. She’s just working and doing her normal. She’s the best as well. I have a great family and I really appreciate all of them, even my adopted-living with me brother Brian. Enough family talk. I just am trying to add some other stuff to the blog I guess.
Hmmm. I guess I can talk about some other hobbies I have. I really enjoy music for those who don’t know me. I like a lot of Hip Hop, Rap, and R&B. I’ll listen to mostly anything but some music I just don’t like. One day I think I might open up a studio and produce music and make beats. Me and my buddy Jay (from Boynton) have made some beats and messed around but we haven’t been able to get too serious because lack of time and lack of equipment. Although we do have the tools needed to make quality stuff it would just be more fun and easier with all the essential materials. Below is actually one of the first beats me and Jay made. We took a Marvin Gaye sample and added some beats and chopped it up a bit and it came out pretty good. It had been sampled before in a song by Smilez and Southstar but I didn’t realize that until after we made it. Oh well. Check it out below…Don’t steal it. It’s copyrighted. =p
Yeah so that’s whats up for now. Stu busted everything and I only played the 1k so hes about to head out. I will probably go for a bike ride around Boynton because its relaxing and good for my ACL to heal. Maybe if Brian gets home from working out before I go he will come with me. We went out for a bike ride last night for a couple miles just to talk crap to each other and ride around, we have some pretty entertaining conversations.
This weekend is the Roots. The basketball tournament I was talking about in a previous post. I’m excited to have all my buddies in town and see how they have improved lately. It really sucks that my knee isn’t better to play but I just have to live with it and watch from the bench. I guess that’s it for now, if I think of anything else I will add it. I think this is a good blog for some different content and my two favorite readers (Hans and Stu — who make fun of me for all my blogs) should enjoy this one.