No poker this week

Looks like I cant make it out to play this week with the weather and taking care of my dad/grandfather. SOON!!!

See you on the felt. In the meantime, enjoy this sweet video

The donkeys that roared

Sorry, been pretty busy lately. My dad was in the hospital and had open heart surgery the day before Thanksgiving, and we almost lost him. His blood refused to clot after the procedure and they pumped a bunch of blood into him. They managed to get him stabilized after a few tense hours.

Anyway, Tues before the holiday I went to Nautica and lost 4 freaking buy-ins. Riegler was at my table and I know he told the stories of these 2 lucky morons, so I am not going into it now, I don't have much time. Crazy night, and the 1 idiot left with nothing after building a $1600+ chip stack, a couple times! Ugh...

Then, Saturday, Jamie doesn't know how to lay down AJ high against my pocket 6's, and catches on the river. He is so bad. Hopefully he will never quit playing, because he is making no effort to improve. Lost a total of $250 or so Sat night. Ugh...gotta turn this around. Tomorrow.

The donkeys have to win eventually

Played great poker all night, hovering around even with $400 on the table. No cards most of the night. At 11:00, I got AA busted by 99. One guy makes it $20 preflop, Mr Pocket 9's makes it $100, I push for almost $400. Mr 9's claims he cant fold now and he's sure he's beat, and calls off his last $160-ish. You guessed it.

A few hands later, the rest of my stack went in when I hit top-2 with my AK. I shoved post-flop in the dark after my idiot opponent said he wasn't going anywhere (with his 3-card straight and 3-card flush). Runner...Runner...Flush. NH idiot. This guy is there spewing chips all the time, so no biggie. I'll get it back.

Lost 2-buy-ins.

Weekend update

Stopped by Nautica briefly on Friday while I had a minute, and won $267 in about a half hour. My AA held up against KK.

I later stopped by Colin's game and won $12 in about a half hour.

Another win at Dave's

Cashed $700 for a $500 profit last night. I was actually over $900 at one point but gambled a bit in the last half hour or so.

Started off stacking Dave with Q4 of spades when he made it $4 preflop, and I was in the blinds. Flopped 2-pr to crack his AA. I cracked Danny C's AA later with Q9, hitting 2-pr on the river.

Busted Grayday a couple times, as always. Got him with a 7-high flush after I flopped a pair, and he bet out on the river with 4 spades on the board. I knew he was spadeless. Correct! Later, I re-raised him preflop with pocket 10's. Rob M bets the 9-8-2 board ($20), GD calls, and I make it $100. Rob folds, GD shoves for almost $300 more. I finally call, and he shows a flush draw. No good. He wasn't happy. There was a long stretch there where he only showed me good hands, and lately it's been nothing but bluffs, so until he shows me some hands, he's getting called. Actually, if he had raised Rob's initial $20 bet instead of calling, I probably would have laid it down. I almost folded anyway.

I showed Rob a couple of sweet bluffs to take a couple nice pots. He had me beat each time but I had a decent draw. He cashed big. He hit everything last night. He made a couple of HUGE calls with crap like bottom pair (he had 8-2!!!!!), and then hit runner-runner boat against Colin. He must have had a half dozen boats. In the 8-2 hand, he called something like $30 on the flop with just a 2 and an 8 kicker.

Me and Hip got into a sweet hand. I have QQ, and Hip is on my right. He makes it $12 preflop and I toss $20 on top of that. Flop is AQ-10. Don't remember the flop betting, but we got it all in right then and there. I knew he didn't have AA, so I said "please just dont show me KJ", and he shows AQ. Whew, crushed!...Turn...A. NH sir. Hip forgot to slow-roll me, which would have been an awesome move. Nice 2-outer donkey. :)

So I seem to be stringing together some decent wins lately. Hopefully I can keep it rolling.

Nautica win

Cashed $517 on a single buy-in last night in 1 hour of play. No exciting hands to speak of, but there were a couple donks at the table. One guy was on tilt and tossing around no-look bets. I got a couple hundo from him. Called him once with bottom pair since I knew he hadn't looked at his cards. Love that guy.

RP's Wednesday tourney

Played RP's tourney last night. It goes pretty fast with such a small starting stack, but was still a good time. 15 players. I came in 8th or 9th. Got crippled when Jack T-way hit his kicker on the river...I had AQ, he had KQ. I knew I had him and let him bet all the way. I also knew the K on the river screwed me but I called anyway. I actually got my last 800 chips back up to over 4000 then shoved with A-10 of spades and Jack called me with AJ.

Corrections

It wasn't Jamie that crippled me in the tourney Saturday, it was BC that hit his boat when I hit my straight. Jamie WAS hitting everything early on though.

Also, in the hand with Grayday where he pulled back his bet, I had insta-matched his 2 previous bets, where he I counted out my chips along with him, and shoved them in at the same time he did. I did the same thing on the river, and he pulled his chips back and said he never set them down. In a casino, once you cross that line, it's a bet. Believe me, it was a bet. Just needed some clarification there.

After I called it a dick move, he says "you shouldn't have bet out of turn". Gross and Hip were right there. They agree it was a bet.

Redundant Data

Had to post this here so I can link to it on the CPMG board...

Saturday night

Had a great time Sat night. Gross and Hip's costumes were hilarious, as you can see below.

No love in the tourney. I won a couple tiny pots, then missed on a bunch of others where I had a pair with flush draw, pair with str8 and flush draw, etc. Another, where I was open-ended, gave Jamie a full house when I hit it. Jamie started off hitting everything and had a mountain of chips when our table broke. As usual, he played every hand and lost them all. He played the cash game for about 15 min, lost his hundo and left. Same old story there. He must play 90% of his hands. So anyway, my A9 lost vs Colin's A-10 when I shoved in my last 1000 or so chips.

Started off shitty in the cash game. Got a set of A's cracked by Gross' J2 sooted. Nice catch sir. Guess I should have bet huge on the flop, instead of HALF THE POT!!!

Got $385 deep after borrowing $100 each from TK and Grayday. We changed the clocks back at 2 and played on into the night. There was a ton of money on my table so I felt confident I could get it back. Plus, Grayday had about $1200 in front of him at one point, and he was doing his best to give it away, so I felt compelled to oblige.

Thankfully, he came through in fine fashion, and I chipped back up over the last 3 hours, turning the last $120 I had into $1140, for a $755 profit.

GD just loves to bet, and bet big. Most of the time he has nothing, so everyone started calling his raises. He is also pretty easy to tilt, so I did my best all night. Making him show hands where I knew I had him beat. I even slow rolled him once. Later, I called his every bet with bottom pair (2's!!!!), made him show, and then showed him my sweet pair of deuces. Ship it.

One hand, I had flopped top pr with KJ, called GD's bets to the river, where I hit my kicker for top-2. He counted out $40, extended his hand with the chips to the edge of the pot, and I immediately matched the stack. He pulled his fucking chips back, saying he never let them go, and then checked. I went all-in for the $60 I had in front of me, and he folded. NH Eskimo, you dick. (Not that my slow-rolling him wasn't a dick move, but it is completely legal, albeit pretty rude. And it really accomplished what I was trying to do) He must have forgotten that he had loaned me a hundo, because I simply told him that I was now only giving him $60 back after that move, and certainly would have, if not for the next-to-last hand of the night...

I get QQ and I think I smooth-called GD's $7 preflop bet. Flop is 893, and if I remember right, GD bet and I min-raised, or he checked and I bet. Either way, it was like $45. Turn is a Q. He checked, and I bet $50, wanting to keep him in, and also hoping to look weak so he'll raise. River is a J, and I am a little scared of the 10, but screw it. I bet another $50, and GD shoves. I have $401 left, I think. He has me covered by $61. I call, he shows 88. He cashes $61. I gave him back the full hundo I borrowed. It was after 5, even with the time change.

Everything worked out well. No security issues or anything. I had planned on going to the range before the game but no one wanted to join me, so I met TK, BC, and MEATS at Quaker Steak for some grub.

I'll probably play Nautica this week, or RP's tourney if a seat opens.

Movie night tonight! Come join us for Zombieland. 7:25 at Crocker Park.

Dave's Halloween blowout

Details soon...

Woo hoo!

Congratulations fellow $1-2 players, we are now considered "high stakes" poker players.

BTW, any black firearm should be considered a machine gun!

Wow, everything happens for a reason

A couple of things kept me from going to the Monday night game this week. I had been sick and took the last 2 days off work, and I am still short on bankroll lately. Otherwise, I'd have been there for sure.

I am almost always armed when I play, but would likely have handed those assholes my little 7-shot .380. Tough to compete with multiple perps whilst carrying just a pea shooter.

I was also recently delayed in purchasing a Kel Tec 9mm for CCW, just a few days ago. I'd been thinking, after watching an episode of Cops where a guy took 2 shots from a .380 and ran away, that I should pack a bit more firepower. Either way, it's hard to say what I would have done in that situation.

One thing for sure, I am thankful that none of my friends were hurt. It could have ended very badly.

Monster hands

Pulled off ONLY a $521 win at Motor City the other night, despite getting completely hit with the deck. $1-2 table. I had quad Q's, AA, KK, and QQ many times, big A's all night long, and hit about half a dozen sets. I did get KK and 2 sets of 8's cracked. Still, I was never up more than $600.

This was the wimpiest, most docile table I've ever sat at. I'd raise from the BB with KK, after 5-6 players limped in, and NO ONE called. This happened a lot. A $15 preflop bet had pocket Q's folding and running away like a frightened schoolgirl.

If I'd had these hands at Nautica, it would have been a $1500 win easily. With the quads and my first 2 sets, I netted about $100 total. Unreal. Almost seems like a waste of good cards.

Monday night win, DET tonight!

I have no idea how, but I managed to profit $196 last night. Got some monster hands cracked early, losing with AA twice and a flopped nut straight. I got $600 deep after borrowing 2 buy-ins from LF (yeah, it was payday eve and I only took a single buy-in after losing last week and spending some of my 'roll). I also ran into a set of 4's with my KK, QQ beat my JJ, yada yada yada. You know the drill. Why can't I just win $900 in an hour like the good old days? I did manage to crack AA once with KK when we got it all in preflop.

Luckily, there were plenty of Nautica donks to keep me in the game. Lots of big action. There was one guy that did nothing but bet big, mostly with nothing. I caught him on a river bluff when he bet $35 into a $50 pot. I had KQ high, and knew it was good. Ship it.

I later flopped quad 9's on Uncle Bob. Flop was 997. UB had pocket 7's. Too bad he didn't have me covered. I got him a couple times last night. I actually got down to $55, and managed to chip back up to almost $800 before cashing out. I hit a couple of BIG draws to double up a couple times, which really helped. 2 open enders with flush draws actually hit. I was actually a favorite in 1 of them.

Aside from the lucky hands, I did play well. Calling with KQ high was a thing of beauty. I just knew that guy was stabbing at the pot. He had missed his gutshot.

Off to DET tonight, just for the night. Conference on cloud computing and virtualization tomorrow. Woo-hoo! Crazy!!

I am gonna hit Motor City first, there is usually a decent crowd there. Hopefully it's the same crowd that was there last time I played there.

Tournament cash

Being light on bankroll this week, I decided to play the $75 tourney at Nautica last night, and took 5th place out of about 45, and made $50 profit. I should have finished at least a little higher, but my A9 got crushed by K-10 on my last hand, and there was a short stack that kept hanging on, in an amazing way. This guy was down to $300 in chips in the 2nd round, and still managed to cash. At the final table, he was all-in 9 times and won. Several of them were blind-outs where he was forced to play. Incredible.

I played well, so I guess I cant complain. Next week...Detroit!! I'll be there overnight for work, and plan to hit up Motor City.

Break time

Didn't play at LF's game Monday. I may head downtown tonight.

The good news is, Lorain Charity Poker may get rolling in just a couple of weeks.

Night of the Donkeys

Doug Poker said it just as he was leaving..."sometimes, the donkey gets you" At least he was smart enough to leave.

Ouch...lost a shitload last night. Started out by hitting a few hands and going up a hundo, then a few gamble-calls with flush/straight draws got me 3 buy-ins deep.

Here are a few examples of a few big hands where the donkeys reigned supreme:
tried to stack one guy when I flopped trip 5's with A-5. He had 2-5, I knew I had him kicked...deuce on the river.

Top pair, open-ender...tried to stack another idiot that was trying to give away his stack...he had bottom pair and a gutshot...calls off his stack and hits his 2nd pair. The list goes on.

Just an ugly night. Of course, the suckouts led to a bit of tilt, which cost me even more. Got my stack in with QQ and ended up against AA and KK. K on the flop, then running diamonds to give AA the nut flush, and I got 2nd nuts. Only the guy with KK had me worried. The other moron was calling HUGE bets with shit like J8 offsuit.

Didn't hit a single open-ender or flush draw either.

Just one of those nights.

Nautica delivers

AS usual, a win downtown last night. Was up over $600 when I got top set cracked by the nut straight. I had 77, flop was 5-6-7. Huge pot, lost a ton on that one, then got popped a couple other times, to get $500 deep. Managed the win in the last few hands. Picked up AA in the last 20 min of play and stacked 3 players.

Up $446 on the night. Might be able to get back there tonight.

Colin, Chan, Matt G were there. I guess Monsignor stopped in for a minute. I still have to check out Chan's blog...should be interesting.

Big mistakes

Built up a nice stack at LF's on Monday, only to donk most of it off on a couple hands. I was $500 deep, and walked away without a penny during the last orbit when I hit top pair but was outkicked.

Played great most of the night, then a HUGE stupid mistake calling Brian all the way with just top pair. He had top-2. Only reason I called was because I know be bluffs a lot. I have crushed him many times at Nautica.

Charlie Ha was at least a G deep, and probably got back about half of it.

Live and learn. Listen to the little man!! He was talking to me when I was up $600+.

Hopefully Nautica will hook me with a win tonight.

Lots of great cards, small profit

Finished up $102 last night at Nautica, despite some great hands all night long. I just didn't play well.

I sat at the 2-2 limit table while waiting for my NL seat and won $70. I hit a boat, 2-pr, and a couple straights in about 40 min.

Started out great at the NL table pretty good, but made one bad call with AK when I hit the A on a board of AQJ. I KNEW the guy had at least 2 pr, but I called his all-in anyway. It was a pretty big pot, so I thought I'd give it a shot. He had QQ. Oops. Got another hand cracked later by the donkey to Hip's right. He couldn't give his money away fast enough, and I called with the best hand. I had J-10 and hit top pair, and this donk had AK. He shoved on the flop and caught running diamonds for the flush. He gave away about $700 in about an hour.

Later on, I called a huge shove by another guy after I had hit top-top with AQ. I put him on a flush draw, and he would have hit it, had he not already had a set of 9's. SHIT!! Terrible call.

I had $550 on the table which included the $70 profit from the limit game, and cashed $582. I walked in with $480, and also spent $80 total in seat fees. So technically at poker I won $182, but my profit was only $102. I always factor in the seat fees, but the math seemed fuzzy last night. Bottom line was I walked in with the $480 and left with 102 more.

So anyway, the table and cards did provide me with a win, although I did my best to donk it all off. Had I laid down those few hands, I would have been up over a grand for sure. All those great hands wasted...damn. I had QQ a few times that held up, 2 full houses with pocket 2's, a couple of other sets, flushes, etc.

Chan's people definitely made this

lol...got this at lunch today.

LF's Monday night game

Lil Fag is again hosting a $1-2 NL game, this time on Monday nights, which are good for me. It was like a CPMG old-timer reunion. In attendance were Charlie Ha, Uncle Bob, TK, Gross, CHAN!!! and a few players from Nautica as well, including james, the manager, who took my seat when I left. There was also Kai, Monty, and another guy that bluffs like crazy. It was a great mix of players. Gibran was supposed to be there as well as Felix, whom I haven't seen in ages. If he keeps this a regular game, it could turn into a great venue. Game started at 6:30. I like the earlier start time on a weeknight.

LF bought some new chips and tables, and although his place is tiny, we managed to get 2 tables going for a while without being too uncomfortable. He bought a few pizzas and had beverages available.

I started out OK, chipping up about a hundred, and called a hat-raise from Charlie Ha, which is standard for him. He invented the hat raise. I had K-10. Flop is 10-10-K...nice. I check, he bets, I just call. Turn is an A, and I am hoping he hit his gutshot or improved his flush draw. He bets again, and I bump it a bit. I had him covered BTW. I don't remember the river card, but I bet out, being first to act, and Charlie raises. I push, he insta-calls. He's got AA. OUCH!! I reload $130 and move on. NH sir. Charlie is good at disguising his big pairs like that. He got us later with KK too, but I got back a big chunk of that pot later on when I hit another boat with 9-10 that time, and Charlie had trip 9's. I busted Adam (well, I got his last buy-in) when I chased down my flush/straight draw to crack his set of 2's. Adam was first to leave, after about 3 buy-ins.

I hit some decent hands, and got paid off as usual. Didn't really bluff. Picked off LF on a huge pot where I had top pair and the flush draw, and hit the flush. He pushed, trying to represent. Most of that group never believes I have a hand.

I managed to cash $885 for a $555 profit and left at 10:30. Nautica tomorrow for a couple hours. Not looking like I'll make Ken's tourney this weekend. I'll be sure to update my RSVP.

Saturday tourney win!

Got lucky and chopped for 1st Saturday at Dave's. I attribute this win to catching some good hands at several key points in the game. I also remained pretty patient, despite losing 3/4 of my stack when we were almost down to the final table. Luckily, the deeper stack allowed me to bounce back.

I did make a couple of great reads early on, against Colin, Dave W, and Tim (older Tim...forget his last name) when all I had was a pair. Just one of those gut feelings where the texture of the board screams "he didn't hit anything".

A-8 of clubs kept hitting for me early as well. I had 8's full and quad 8's with it.
I took out Gabe with AA against his QQ when the board flopped J-high. I just smooth-called his preflop raise, and knew I'd get all his chips if he hit the board. His overpair was un-foldable in that spot, and it worked out great for me.

Later, I just played tight and was very careful, but you have to hit some hands to win, and I was lucky to hit some flops. The final table took forever. We chopped for $470 each at 3am. Prowest offered the chop and he had me almost 2-1, so I jumped on it. He'd been hitting some hands all night as well. I used to think he was a tight player...not any more! He made some pretty questionable calls that had everyone wondering. But hey, if you are hitting everything, keep playing everything!

Gave back a hundo in an hour of cash game. Chased a couple of flush draws that didn't hit. No other crazy hands to speak of. Grayday raised every hand of course. All you have to do to counter his $7-8 preflop raise EVERY hand is re-raise him BIG. That'll slow him down.

Almost forgot...

I forgot to add one of the hands of the night from Nautica the other night.

I raised to $15 preflop with AK suited and got 4-5 callers. This was at the loose table that I had moved to. I flop the flush draw, and 1 other guy leads out. I call, and (I thought) everyone else folded.

The turn is a brick for me, and the bettor leads again with something like $50. He doesn't have much left, maybe another $60 behind, so I just push, figuring I have the nut flush draw and over cards. The guy was a bluffer anyway. I had about $300 and change left in front of me at the time. I pushed out a hundo stack when I made the bet.

So...outta nowhere, the OTHER player, who I didn't even know was still in the hand, and had me covered, asks "you're all-in?" Shit! I didn't see his cards. I glance at his stack and then push the rest of my chips out in front of me and say yes, and start counting...PRAYING he folds. I did the best I could NOT to let him know I had just screwed up in a huge way. He looks at his hand about 5 times, checks his stack a few times, and finally mucks. Whew! So all I have left is the little stack...and HE folds! I pulled in a very nice pot on a total on-the-come bluff, and even showed it, and told the big stack that I didn't even know he was still in the hand. They claim they both had me beat. Not sure about the small that that folded...he had a lot invested.

I'm just glad I got out of that one without going busto...

Looking up

Got down to Nautica last night, and finished up $385 on the night. It was a serious roller coaster ride all night long.

Got onto a new table just after 6pm, and Matt G and Colin were at my table. This was a tight table. Nary a donkey in sight. After about an hour, Colin was on his 2nd buy-in after getting AA cracked, and I was down about $40. I get JJ and put in a raise, and Colin and 1 other guy call. I forget the flop, but it was like 10-high, with 2 to a flush. The guy on my left is first to act, and shoves his last $35-ish into the pot, and Colin shoves for $128. I tell them I think they are both drawing, and call. Colin had a pair with the flush draw, and I don't know what the other guy had, but my jacks held up. That got me up over a couple hundo. Colin re-bought and I think he finished up a couple hundo. Not sure how Matt did. Hip was there and got no love. I also saw Linda E at the tourney and later at a 1-2 table.

A little while later, I jumped ship to another table with some action players and known donks. It was a dream table for a while, but I couldn't gain any traction. I was immediately back to even, back up a hundred, down 200, yada yada yada. I ended up getting stacked when my 2-pr got crushed by a set of A's. I built it back up to just over even, and sat down at TK's table after mine broke up in the last hour.

The last hour is usually pretty action-heavy, and can be pretty dangerous. I managed to win a few decent hands and made a little profit. Nautica continues to provide...

Awful week

Work sucked last week. I spent all of Thurs/Fri completely failing at what I needed to get done.

Anyway, last Sat, I went back and forth between Nautica and Dave's a couple times, and ended up WAY down on the day. Started at Nautica, down $600. Nothing held up, I made bad decisions, yada yada yada. So I go to Dave's for the tourney and bust out first (I think?)...First off, Dave calls a pot-sized bet on a gutshot when I had flopped 2-pr...nailed it! He later claimed I bet 1/3 of the pot, which gave him odds to call. Ummmm...do the math on that one. I certainly don't play by math, but I know enough not to call a pot-sized bet with a gutshot.

The real cooler was a few hands later when I flop a boat with pocket 8's after calling a standard 3x raise from Mick (?) the foot doctor. Flop is JJ8. He leads out and I raise just over a min-raise to keep him in. Turn is a Q and completes a flush. We both check. He bets about half the pot on the river (which was a brick) and I raised him 5x. He shoves, I call...he has QQ. I cant see anything that may have won me that pot aside from shoving on the flop, which would have been stupid without knowing his cards and the cards coming up. Oh well. I still had a couple grand left and shoved with a 44. Got called by AK. Guess what. Tourneys are total luck-fests!! I guess it just means I am due to have a night where my hands actually hold up. In the last dozen or so tourney's I've played, I've put my $$ in good at least 90% of the time, only to get sucked out.

So...back to Nautica, where I got back $325 of what I lost earlier. I played until midnight, then back to Dave's, where I dumped about $500 and change. I was gambling way too much and playing too many hands, and Hip was at my table, whom I can never beat. He pulls hands out of his ass like David Copperfield. And I mean that with the utmost affection for Hip.

Didn't get to dave's this past weekend, not that it matters, but I did get to Nautica last night. I won almost $300 at 1-2, then decided to play the 7pm tourney ($60 freezeout) after the Browns game. (BTW, fuck the Browns) Matt "L'il Fag" Schultz does a decent TD job. He also lets people that bust out buy a dead stack if there are any available before the first break, which is cool and also pads the pot nicely. I played very tight and then busted with an open-ended SF draw with over cards where I could have quadrupled up. Totally bricked out. So I bought another stack and managed to build it up nicely. I made one MONSTER call against EC (the maniac 2-5 player) where I had pocket 4's and a board of 3-5-6-A with a flush possible. He had K-3. I've never seen that guy show a hand.

Later, I sucked out with 9-9 vs AA, flushing on the river. The flop was J-high and I was certain he missed the flop. He did, lol. I also put him on a big A. I was right about that as well. Oh well, a win for the good guys.

So I played very well all the way down to the final table, and finished 7th out of almost 50. They paid 6 spots. Ouch. I had a mid-stack and shoved with KQ suited and got called by QQ. Oops. One thing for sure, it's a fast tourney. Blinds are 20 min and you only start with 3500. I just wanted to sharpen my skills. I havent placed in a tourney since Dave's a long time ago, although that's really all I play. Used to be, ALL I played were tourneys, until I learned I could cash a lot more often and win a lot more money playing cash.

Upcoming weekend

Looking forward to a great weekend. Lots of poker tomorrow and I'm going to the Browns game on Sunday.

Almost forgot to post these pics from the last Browns game...

Lorain Charity Poker

Woo hoo!! Should be juicy!!

http://www.morningjournal.com/articles/2009/09/09/news/mj1581618.txt

http://www.lorainpoker.com/

Nautica Tues

Up $950 tonight...details asap

My post from the CPMG board: There were some pretty bad players sitting down all night. I folded the best hand numerous times after donks re-raised with middle pair. Saw a bet, raise, re-raise, and 2 all-ins. The best hand was top-2. The other hands were top-top and bottom-2, on an ugly board. Wow.

I also saw pocket A's misplayed and cracked several times.

Caveman sat down around 9:30, and I immediately stacked him. I flopped the nuts (top set) with 10-10, he had a 10 as well. He can't lay down a single pair. I bet $20, got a couple callers, and he made it $120. I let him do the rest of the betting.

Stacked the "table captain" also. This idiot was trying to push everyone around, barking orders like he owned the place. He reached for chips off my stack to put in my BB, and I jumped all over him for that. He screwed up several side pots and couldn't do math worth a damn.

I was actually $500 deep and made a nice comeback. I played until the end of the night, about 6 hrs total, and left at my high point.

Wednesday night

Got to the gun range with my brother. Blasted through a couple boxes of .40 SW with my XD-40. Great gun. Very similar to a Glock, but a better grip angle, and it looks prettier. Got it in a private sale for $350, which is a great price. I've added a light to it and it replaced my Taurus PT-99 as the bedside home defense weapon. Nothing wrong with the Taurus, I just like the .40 for "just in case". It has a lot more pop than the 9mm.

Stopped by Dave's game since I will not be able to make it downtown or St Rocco's over the weekend. (maybe Monday for a little while) Ended up eking out a $40 profit. Was stuck for over $300 until the last round where I flopped 2-pair on a K-7-5 board with 2 spades. I had 5-7. Riegler pushed his last $72 into the pot, I went over the top with $139, and Matt G called. Jeff had K-10, and Matt had top pair with the flush draw. 7 on the turn sealed it up for me and I tripled up. I won another hand to scrape out a little profit. I will take it. Rough night overall. Got 2 straights beat by flushes, one of which was a bad call...I knew he had it. Rob M couldn't miss and cashed $950+. Everyone kept paying him off. I dont think he showed a bluff at all. Grayday was on tilt for a couple hours.

Dave/Mailman got all new chips for the new season. I like the cash chips, and the tourney chips are cool except maybe the pink $1000 chips. One thing for sure, you can tell the difference between all of them.

Camping this weekend! Me. Alesha, and Pup. Still haven't figured out where we're going yet...Mosquito Lake or somewhere closer to Columbus. We plan on visiting Alesha's family down that way as well.

The weekend

Wanted to go to the fair Fri night but it was raining pretty bad. Instead, me and Alesha went to Udupi Cafe in Parma. Great Indian food.

Got to the fair on Sat afternoon...had a nice time. Hung out with the animals. Ate junk food. The usual.

Dumped a couple buy-ins Saturday at Nautica. 1 bad call and 1 good bluff with 2 overcards on the board, this guy couldn't fold JJ.

Went to the Browns game Sat night, had a great time. The Browns actually beat the Titans. Wow. We'll see.

Labor Day coming up...look like we're going camping. Great time of year to go.

Thursday night out with the CPMG

Blake's Seafood at Crocker Park has $2 burger/fries, along with other great happy hour items. We stopped in yesterday before seeing District 9, a pretty good sci-fi thriller. It got mixed reviews from the group, but I liked it. It really put a new twist on the "aliens visiting earth" scenario.

After that, I stopped by Grayday's super-secret invite-only $.25-.50 cash game (Yeah, I know) and actually won $62 after an hour and a half. Kittensmashr and Matt G were there, and Hua Cool followed me from the movie theater. Matt G won a huge pot and had a nice stack. The other guys were a little baked (the guy to my left just kept staring at the table) so the more-experienced players like Grayday, KS, and Matt were taking full advantage. I got them for a few pots as well. Overall it was a friendly game and I didn't have to risk much money. Max buy-in was only $50. Usually, I'd play too many hands in a low stakes game like this but somehow managed to fold enough to hang onto my profit. Maybe I've finally found a low stakes game I can beat!! :)

Happy Friday.

Nautica

Cashed $652 on a single buy-in last night. Many CPMG members in attendance as well. I had Uncle Bob, Colin, and Andrew at my table. Gross, Jimmy, Matt G, Grayday, Nguyen were also there. I played 3 hrs.

I didn't see any awful play to really comment about, and my money really came from small-ball poker. Just chipped up a little at a time, and never once had to put my stack at risk. Nice, comfortable poker. I only bet with air once, about 2.5 hrs in, after showing a lot of good hands. I was on the button with A-10 suited after calling $12 preflop (see, I would almost never call $12 preflop in a 1-1 game!) and the flop was plain ugly. It checked around (about 5-6 players in the hand) so I bet $25 and took it down, showing the bluff.

There was a hand that came up for discussion on the CPMG board, check it out under "how is everyone doing at Nautica these days?" or something to that effect.

Also, I think it looks good for poker in Lorain. Check out these articles:


http://chronicle.northcoastnow.com/2009/08/27/lorain-council-mulls-ordinance-to-lease-buildings-for-charitable-gambling/

http://www.morningjournal.com/articles/2009/08/24/opinion/mj1504145.txt

Hopefully there will be a steady stream of donks coming through the door. I know I'll be there!

The gloves come off

Chan continues to talk shit on the board, so I guess I'll have to jump all over him for weeks if he loses HU against me. The bashing is going to be relentless. He thinks I get on him now for the 10-high call...you have no idea! Sickest call ever!! lol.

In fact, if I win, I'm going to offer his buy-in back, if he will openly admit on the board that I won fair and square, and admit that I beat him, and then speak of it no more. No way he is man enough to do that.

Here comes his counter-offer...

Chan

Chan wants to play heads-up AGAIN. We'll see if he even shows up. If not, I hope he finally drops the subject.

I am certainly not making any predictions, but he is definitely the weakest of the opponents I've faced, although Eskimo at the time we played surely had room for improvement. But, it's this weakness that makes Chan a formidable opponent. He doesn't have a real grasp on the game or reality in general, which makes him unpredictable and difficult to put on a hand. I'll have to make adjustments as the game progresses, if there even is a game.

Should be a fun match either way. I just hope he'll STFU about it after it's over. I will not gloat or brag if I win, unless of course he continues with his childish needling.

I will however continue to remind everyone that he once called John Coleman's all-in, on the river, with 10-HIGH!!! Sickest call ever!! :)

Of course, JC had paired his ace. NH sir.

Nautica this weekend

I wish I'd had more time to spend down there over the weekend, with all the activity going on. I managed to stop by for 2 hrs on Sat afternoon and profited $685.

Got lucky early after getting all $215 of my stack in preflop with KK. I got min-raised to $40 after raising the initial $7 bump. I told the guy, "here's all the information you need". He of course says "Call!" AA. Ouch, NH sir. But... K on the river! Apparently it was the case K as well.

So I gave back all that profit after turning a straight and getting rivered by some old guy's 5-high flush. I did regroup and got it back from him after he pushed on a flop of A-10-x rainbow. I had AQ, he had AJ. Turn was a blank, river was another 10. He flipped over the AJ with the flourish of a matador. Sorry, out-kicked old man.

I later chased a nut flush that panned out. Guy checks to me on the river after betting big all the way. I push my last $110 into a $300+ pot, and he calls. I dont understand why he wouldn't have put me in on the river to possibly apply pressure. If you can call my all-in on the river, you can BET!! Not that I was going anywhere with the nuts, but just sayin'.

That's really about it. Took a mid-sized pot with A's full of 9's, and pocket 10's got a favorable flop twice to grab a couple of other pots.

Got my chips off the table after 2 hours, but would like to have stuck around. My little man thought it would have been a good day, but family comes first.

Slight reprieve at work today, but back to busting ass tomorrow. We'll now be pretty slammed through at least Halloween.

Dave's Wed night

Played what will probably be my last $1-1 game last night. I just don't win at it. Something is definitely wrong when I win 80% of the time at $1-2 but only 30% at 1-1.

Anyway, last night, I got my first buy-in into the pot preflop with AA against KK. Guess what happened.

Next, I hit an open-ender on the river for a nut straight against a well-disguised and well-played full house by TK. NH sir. He actually checked the turn (when he hit it) and the river.

Later, I called off my stack with the stone cold nuts (K-high straight) after Andrew re-raised all-in with a gutshot (that would have chopped) and a flush draw, with 1 card to come. Nailed it!!

Shoved my last $40 into the pot after TK raised to $15 preflop. I had 77, he had A-10. Guess what.

So last night wasn't so much a matter of the 1-1 being a different game, which it is...it was just a matter of getting sucked out, except for TK's boat.

Either way, I'll be playing at Nautica as long as I keep winning. Makes no sense to play any other game until the donks down there learn to play. See you there.

Quick post

Sorry, it's been nuts around work and I haven't been motivated to post after work. In the process of buying a used vehicle for my wife. We found a Ford (yes, I know) Escape with fairly low mileage and in great shape for $2k so we jumped on it. My Sebring has 170K miles on it and has seen its better days. I should be able to get $1500 for it, so it's a $500 upgrade.

Poker news...lost the heads-up with Colin, lost a couple buy-ins that night in the cash game, and then won almost $1000 playing $2-5 at Nautica last Wed or Thurs. The players are just as terrible, they just splash around a LOT more chips. I saw a guy call off over $300 in a $100 pot with bottom pair and 10 kicker. Dream come true. All I did was hit a flush on the river and flop a straight. Shoved my money in and got called. I played just over an hour. Wooo!! What a bunch of awful players. Anyone with a bit of patience should have no problem making money there. Just shove your stack in with any hand better than 2 pair.

Looks like I may play at Dave's $1 cash game on Wed. I plan to buy in for the max and play it like a $1-2 anyway. I don't see why they don't just make it a $1-2 to begin with and raise the buy-in another $50. What's the big deal? We'll see...I may just end up downtown.

Busy busy

I'll try to update ASAP...work is kicking my ass. I have a couple good stories from Nautica and heads-up with Colin, which I lost 2-0 despite having AA 6 freakin times. I'd trade them for Colin's 8 flushes any day.

Anyway, be back soon.

Limit poker rocks!

I stopped down to Nautica on Saturday and had a limited amount of time to play, so I put my name on the NL list and grabbed an open seat in the $2 limit game. I thought the NL players were bad. WOW! These limit players make the $1-2 donks look like Phil Helmuth. People calling river bets with 4 to a flush out there, 4-5 people in the hand, and all they hold is middle pair. Unreal.

So, I pretty much saw every $2 flop that I could, and jammed the pot the couple times I had 2 pair or better, and walked away 45 min later up $75. I almost stuck around, and I guess I should have.

So I sit down at my NL table with only about 45 min to play. Bought in for $200 and chipped down to around $140 after missing a few draws and flops. I called a small raise in late position with J8 or J9 of spades, and saw a flop with about 4-5 others. I flop a gutshot and top pair, but all the cards are hearts. It checks to me and I bet something like half the pot and got 1 caller. I figure he has A or K of hearts. Turn is a brick and I give him the free card since no one folds a flush draw (including me) and the river gives me the straight. He checks. The pot is around $80, and I think I had $120 left, so I toss it all in, and get insta-called by the nut flush. Oops!. I thought I had him for sure after the river, thinking at best he had AA or KK with the flush draw. Well-played I guess. I didn't rebuy and just hit the road.

SO I show up yesterday, play for an hour and a half, and cashed $1003 on a single buy-in. Not only did I hit a few monster hands, but there were 2 people at the table just throwing a party. They each had $500+ in front of them, and I got some from each of them. I didn't have to try anything creative, I just bet my hands and they paid me off.

Uncle Bob was there and I was just getting up when they came to collect seat fees, so I told him to sit at my table and pointed out the donks. Hopefully he went home a winner.

Chan's people made this

No wonder he will not play me heads-up.

Thursday at Nautica

Seemed a little slow there last night. Not many CPMG'ers either. Hip left early with what looked like a decent stack. My bottom line: up $462 after 6.5 hours.

I tried something last night that I haven't been doing in a while...bluffing! It worked beautifully after I had shown a couple of good hands. After a couple hours I found myself up about $220, but my little man wasn't screaming for me to leave, so I stuck around. A few hands later, disaster struck. I flopped top-2 with AJ or AQ, after making it $12 to go preflop. There were 5-6 in the hand, and I bet big on the flop to narrow the field. I get one caller. Flop was AJ (or AQ)-6. Turn is a 7. I ship it and get called. My opponent had proven earlier to be a complete donk, so I was pretty confident. River is a 4 and he shows 8-5 for the straight. Ouch!!! Stacked me for my first buy-in plus a couple hundo in profit. Nice call on the flop donko.

The calling stations were in full effect last night. I made it $15 with QQ at one point and got 7 callers! I think I took that hand down with a big bet on the flop if I remember right.

So anyway, I start to rebuild. I managed to stay completely off tilt last night. Somehow I knew that this table was going to provide for me. I get my 2nd buy-in back to about $300, and check my BB with a 2-5 of hearts. Flop is 2-2-5!! (I had actually hit trips 5's with the very same hand earlier) I am first to act and check of course. Guy next to me had just sat down, and this was his first hand. He was piss drunk. He was loud as hell and talking about how he just got back from Vegas...blah blah blah. He was still pulling chips from his rack, and shoves $198 into a $12-14 pot. Folds around to me. I dont think I can lay this one down, lol. CALL!! He says nice hand and flips A-4 off for nothing but a gutshot. Turn is an ACE, river is an ACE. Unfuckingreal!!! NH fuckstick. I add-on a hundo, so now I am in for $500.

Even after the monster beat, I didn't blow up. I played patiently and kept focus. In fact, this was one of my best sessions in a while where I really played well and considered every move I made. I did see as many cheap flops as possible (as always down there), and did a good job of picking my spots. I got a guy to fold 99 to my 77 on a 6-high board, I made stabs at pots that no one seemed to want, etc. I even folded AQ on a board of AQKK7. Another guy called with AQ, and the winning donkey showed K7. It may seem like an easy lay down, but really wasn't the way it all played out, which I don't exactly remember.

I was back to around a $400 stack and called a small raise ($10-12) with a Q-10 during the last hour, and flopped the joint. Rainbow board of K-J-9. This was already a big pot because there were 6-7 callers preflop. 2nd to act bets $30, 2 other people call, and I flat call. Turn is a blank, like a 4. Bettor makes it only $35 this time, and everyone folds but me. I make it $85 to go. He calls. River is another brick and there's no flush out there. He checks to me and I get him to throw in his last $92-or-so. Ship it. He showed 2-pair. That's where I think my game really excels...getting max value for my good hands. Inducing the bet/call/raise is a fine art. :)

So now I am back on top, I think I was up almost a hundo again, and was thinking about leaving, (just happy to be even) when a guy sits down that I know is hyper-aggressive. He raises every other hand, and continues to bet no matter what. He did this a few times, and then made it $45 to go after someone else made it $15. There were already about 4 callers in for the $15, and most of them had called the $30 raise, so I came along with my J9 suited. Flop is JJx. It checks to me (aggressive guy hasn't acted yet) and I make it $25, throwing some bait out there. Aggressive guy makes it $75, everyone else folds. I call. Turn's a brick (7), and I shove. He has a bit less than $200 and calls, saying my jack is good. River is another 7, and I boat up. He shows AA...oops! How do you put a guy like that on AA? Especially when he does stuff like that with pocket 4's. So I caught a lucky flop and cracked AA, and cashed $962 at 11:30.

A bit of a roller coaster ride, but I think I minimized some of the mistakes I often make and worked on focusing on each hand, and adjusting to the style of each opponent. With the money I won last night, I was able to pay for a class my wife is taking to become an STNA. TY Nautica donks!! I have also nearly recovered the money I lost during that bad run a couple of weeks ago.

Comedian Mike Birbiglia

Funny guy. Not entirely stomach-pain funny, but he's got some great stories. Check out his "What I should have said was nothing" DVD if you have Netflix.

He also has a website http://www.birbigs.com/spj/

Cash Plays Podcast

I've been listening to this podcast for almost a year now, and it's pretty good. A few good interviews. Check out the 2-part Greenstein interview.

http://www.pokerroad.com/cash_plays/rss.xml

Also, check out the 2-part series on value. Some great tips.

I forget now who it was, but I thought it was great advice, and I've had the same idea, but I don't actually adhere to it. He said when running bad, you need to play more. My thoughts on this were that generally a bad run lasts a certain number of hands, so you need to get the hands out of the way ASAP. This is exactly what he said. Unfortunately, I think you can also go broke or crazy faster as well. I think getting your head screwed back on correctly is also a good idea. Take some time off, put some balance back into your life.

Through this podcast, I have come to realize that me and Paul Wasicka have very similar styles when it comes to cash game play. I thought I was the only donkey that bets runner-runner draws, but he apparently does as well. I'm gonna have to check this guy out. I've never seen him play, but we have a very similar mindset and approach to the game. He plays $5-10 NL regularly because he likes to play "stress-free", which is really why I haven't stepped up to $2-5 at Nautica. So if you really want a read on me, check out the podcast with his interview.

Speaking of Nautica and 2-5, I have been considering jumping in. I love 2-5 and have done very well at it at various casinos.

Wild weekend

Lost $199 at Nautica on Friday. Posted some stuff I saw on the CPMG board (see The Chronicles of Nautica thread). Was up $150 at one point and didn't listen to my little man. I thought, "surely I can win more than $150 tonight"...WRONG!!! LOl...it was a dream table too.

Sunday, heads-up vs Jen. WOW...just WOW. I had 10's full of 5's vs her 9-5 (trip 5's), and didnt have her covered by 150. She won like the next 5-6 hands that we showed down to re-take the lead. I get her back down to 1000 chips, and still cant finish her off. She ended up winning the first match by crazy-stupid luck. Here's a couple examples...I had AK, Flop AKx, turn K, I get her all-in, river A, she has A-8...chop. I have AK again, get her all-in preflop, she has A-8 again, hits trip 8's. EVERY hand was like that. I think she won about 75% of the total hands. Slow-play my 2-pr and she drew flushes a couple times. Flop a set of A's, she folds. All my good hands were just timed badly.

2nd match, she outplayed me and hit some hands as well, although I did make a pretty good game of it. She just seemed to make all the right calls/folds. She won all the big pots and I only hit a few small ones. Nothing I could do. While I am not unhappy with my play, I am certainly disappointed with the outcome. It should have gone to 3 matches. What can I do. We played almost exactly 5 hours. That puts me at 2-1 in heads-up challenges. I'm looking forward to the next one. Either way, they are a lot of fun to play, and is always a learning experience. I switched gears a few times throughout each match, and each strategy worked well for me.

Luckily, as always, there was a cash game going. Gibran showed for a while while me and Jen were still playing, and ended up busting pretty quick. Uncle Bob was gone by 7pm as well.

Short story...up $1111 after 2.5 hours. Not bad. I got a little bit of everyone, and a whole bunch of Nick, Adam's roommate. On the first hand, I bet my top pair pretty hard all the way, and it was good. Got about $150 from him there. Later, I raise preflop with QJ suited, flop and open-ender, bet $20, and Nick min-raises. I call and hit the nuts on the turn. He bets out $50, and knowing he is incapable of folding even a pair, especially after he has bet, I make it $200 to go. "I guess I am all-in", he says. I guess I CALL! He had 2-pr (better hand than I put him on) and missed the boat. Stacked him for almost $400 on that one.

Made a couple of other great pick-off river calls against Adam and this guy Dave. Dominic was also there and I got him pretty good a couple times as well. Bought in for $300 total, cashed $1411. Certainly made up for losing the heads-up.

A couple pics and iPhone game review

Check out the carnival ride name. It'll apparently make you shit your pants. FAIL!!!

I have the popular Hold 'Em game for my iPhone that is actually made by Apple. It looks great and the game play is smooth, but the AI is completely awful, and it seems the random card generator sucks as well. Check out the pic. I went all-in after hitting the flop, and I get called by 8-2. Runner-runner. This happens 80-90% of the time once you reach the money or the final table. Amazing what you get called with.

A couple of other complaints:

* From the very beginning of the tourney (only tourneys are available, no cash), every bet seems to be at least half your stack. I've never played so tight in all my life.

* With all the crazy betting you can often make the money without even playing a hand.

* Heads-up play is a joke. Your opponent does nothing but bet HUGE amounts. I have discovered that if they bet less than half their stack, it's usually a bluff and they will fold to a raise that puts them all-in most of the time.

* Straight and flush draws hit much less often than they should

That being said, I have made $11.1 million over the last few days and make the money 38% of the time. Too bad I cant do that in real life, I'd be trotting the globe playing cards.

Over all, this game was worth the few bucks I paid for it, but I am going to look into another poker game that also has a cash game option. The last one I had for my Treo was pretty cool. I built a stack of over $3 million playing 5-10 NL.

666 to the rescue

Dug myself out of a huge hole at Nautica last night. Was down about $500, and managed a $250 win.

Was up early, then got QQ cracked by a donk with 10-8. He hit top pair with his 10, called when I put him all-in, and hit his kicker. NH. Another guy called my $210+ all-in with his flush draw in a $100 pot to crack my JJ (over pair to the board) Nailed it! NH sir.

Anyway, I was on my third+ buy-in and had managed to get myself back to within a hundo of even, and I get pocket 6's. I was in the BB and just checked. There were about 4-5 people to the flop. Flop was 7-4-3 rainbow, and I lead out with a 3/4-pot-sized bet, and the old Crazian with the John Deere hat calls. Turn is another 7, and I bet again. He just calls. I have him on A-3 or A-4, or possibly even a gutshot with a 5 or 6 in his hand. The river boats me up with a 6. I stare blankly at the board, and meekly check. I am certain he's gonna bet no matter what. He's the type that will either try to steal after he missed, and will certainly bet if he hit something. He bets $100, and has about $80 left. I put him all-in, he calls, game over. I guess he claimed to have had a straight. I rack them up and run for the cage with $904.

Jeremy was at my table (so was Slacks, who got shafted by a guy chasing his 9-high flush) and sends me this txt while I was on my way home: So they were talking about how lucky u are. And one guy said "he loses all the time. Last time I played with him he lost $3500". Made me laugh.

Made me laugh too. I wish I could afford to bring $3500 to a 1-2 game. I think the most I ever lost there was about $700. I am WAY up down there, as are most CPMG members. I may be lucky, but I will take mad luck over mediocre skills every time.

That's 2 sessions in a row I've profited with pocket 6's.

Weekend

Up $380 in an hour at Nautica over the weekend. No love at Dave's tourney of course. Lost a decent stack over 3 consecutive hands. My 77 vs K-10 lost, bottom 2-pr vs top 2pr, and then middle pr vs AA. Same old story tourney-wise. No more $100+ tourneys for me for a while, I'll stick to the donkaments. Cash is the way to go.

I feel your pain

Text from Hiphop last night... K9 flop K96. Gross bets 15. Call. I call guy who raised to 7 pre check raises to 100. I ship in for 219. He calls with k6. River 6

Perfect example of "running bad". I feel for ya bro...I'm getting the same thing right now.

Weekend update

No love at Ken's this weekend. Lost 2/3 of my stack with 2-pr vs the nut straight. All over after that. Played almost 4 hours and was doing well up to that point.

That was all the poker I played this weekend. I recently bought a 24" monitor for my PC and have been playing a couple of games. Call of Duty 4 and Half Life 2. Half Life is like 6-7 years old and still looks better that COD, and plays perfectly smooth at full 1920x1080 resolution. Put a new Sound Blaster card into my machine also, so the sound really kicks. I haven't upgraded my desktop PC in like 6-7 years, so it's pretty exciting. A computer geek is supposed to have all the latest gear, and I have been lacking in that department, although my laptop is pimped out pretty nicely.

Got my new TV late last week as well, which also looks great connected to my laptop. Surfing Craigslist on a 42" screen rocks!! Thank you Nautica donks!!!

Hopefully, I can make it down there this week and turn this little losing streak around.

Running bad

Dropped a couple buy-ins at Nautica last night. I can count 2 hands I hit...flopped the nut straight with a 6-8 to win a decent pot and chased a set of 9's (hit on the turn) as well. Neither of my river bets were called.

Unlike previous times, I realize now that I am starting to run bad, and it hasn't tormented me like it has in the past. It's just part of the cycle of the game. No one runs great forever. Problem is, running bad can lead to playing bad, which I did last week. Fortunately, I have recognized it and I'm trying to adjust. I played just fine last night, but had LONG stretches with shit cards and none of my good hands hit the flop or held up at show down. I had a dream table the last couple hours last night, and could have cashed big if I had just hit a hand. No one was folding, and I could have been paid well. Last hand of the night, I pushed my last hundo into the pot with 2 pr, got like 5 callers, and ended up being 3rd. I got beat by 2 other 2-pr hands, but I got my $$ in good.

One thing I have noticed during a bad run...EVERYTHING seems to go wrong. No cards, missed flops, set-over-sets, awful "hero" calls, poor reads, getting re-raised by the nuts (when you have the 2nd nuts), etc. You know the deal. Every hand I played beside the 2 I mentioned pretty much missed big. No flush draws, no decent straight draws, no sets. No big pairs. AK, AQ, and J-A bricked all night.

I am taking a bit more of a Zen approach this time around (aside from spending some bankroll $$ on a sweet TV) and I am "witnessing" the bad run almost like a spectator. It helps to kind of sit back and watch it unfold. It doesn't seem to bother me. I refuse to beat myself up over a bad run.

...and so it begins

I've now lost almost 25% of my roll over the past week and a half. Nothing is holding up (got 3-4 straights busted last night), my timing is off, and my aggression has withered. So...I'll be taking some profit and buying a new big screen TV and a few other luxury items so I don't give it all back, lol.

Thanks for the stuff!

Quick update

I'm on vacation this week, so just a quick update.

Had my first loss in a very LONG time down at Nautica last Tues. Was up about $400 ($400 deep as well) and got KK cracked by A-10. Got all his money in on a 10-high flop (I even told the guy I had an over pair) and he caught an A on the turn. That got about half my stack, then I donked off the rest trying to make it back. This was actually a tough table for the most part. There were 1-2 seats where the donks would sit down and give away a buy-in or 2, but everyone else was fairly solid.

Went to Julie's yesterday for her tourney. There were only about 13 players. I busted out in about 7th or 8th when Special K hit her 2-outer to take out me and another guy. The other guy, Mike I think it was, hit 2 gutshots on me. Gary hit 1 gutshot on me as well.

So, I hit up Nautica and sat down at 5. Cashed $900 even at 8pm on a single buy-in. Chipped up to $400 very slowly, then flopped a boat with 10-10 (board was AA-10, and my opponent had an A) and also hit a set of A's with a guy betting into me. Tom Gross was at my table and couldn't get any love. Linda, Caveman, TK, Unclce Bob, Mailman, and Andre were all there as well. Not sure how everyone did, but I guess after I left, Gross started hitting hands and got himself out of the hole.

I'll be back again this week for sure.

Too Fat to Fish

Book Review:

Go buy this book. It's hilarious.

Move along...nothing to see here.

Had some friends in from out of town this week, so I didnt get out until Saturday for poker. Dave's heads-up tourney, which I had high hopes for, was a dismal failure. I drew RR Dave, which was cool I suppose. Better than Mailman, Data, or Meats. Very first hand, I get AJ, raise, flop TPTK, bet all the way, hit trips on the river, bet, and get raised big. Dave has a straight with J-10.

Next hand, I hit 2 pair and got beat (forget what he had).

2 hands later, I flop a straight, only to get rivered by the nut flush. I was pretty much done after that. Buh bye.

Oh well, I went to Nautica and won more than the winner of the heads-up tourney. Up $600+ after a few hours. Hand of the night...I had been up most of the night after rebuying once early on (2nd nut flush with open ended royal draw cracked by nut flush), but with only 20 min left before closing time, everyone was in their usual gamble mode, and I was about even. I had a couple of real donks at the table, so I figure all I have to do is make a real hand to get paid off. I call a $12 preflop raise with 7-4 of spades, with about 6 people in the hand, then it gets popped to $40. 2 others call, so I come along for the ride. The Iraqi Minister of Information (see pic) is sitting on my left. He really looks just like this. He is an incredible donk, as you will soon discover. I've played with him several times and he is great to have at the table. According to him, "There are no American infidels in Baghdad. Never!", and if there were, the enemy will be slaughtered in battle. Which reminds me, there was a guy on my right at Nautica last week that looked just like Eskimo...except he was black! Hilarious. Same mannerisms and everything. I wish I could have snapped a pic.

Anyway, flop is 5-6-7 with 1 spade. Information minister bets a hundo, and the only other caller is all-in for like $98, creating a small side pot after I make the call. I am putting the Iraqi on JJ/QQ, and the other guy on pretty much anything, as I had seen him raise/call with some strange hands.

The turn is a total blank, and I check. Thankfully, the Iraqi also checks. The river (that beautiful river) is an 8, giving me the donkey end of the straight, but I am certain I am good. I shove $312 into a dry side pot with an open-ender on the board, and the Iraqi Minister of Information cannot lay down his AA. WOW!! Thanks buddy. He slams the table with his fist, swearing "We have destroyed 2 tanks, fighter planes, 2 helicopters and their shovels - We have driven them back.", and I pull in a $1000+ pot. The other guy says he had JJ, but didn't show. Who cares.

So I immediately rack my chips and hit it, heading back to Lorain. Data and Meats ended up the final 2 in the tourney, with Data taking 1st.

Dave W was the big cash game winner. He couldn't miss. He cashed out $1000+...not sure how deep he was. I gave back about $140 of my profit after getting pretty deep myself. Could have been up, but Dave made a great laydown (he had a set of 8's) when I turned the wheel and pushed on the river when I hit the nut flush. Not sure how he folded, I guess it was just his night.

Played some pineapple as well, which is always fun.

The Hangover

If you haven't seen The Hangover yet, drop what you're doing and head to the movie theater. Hilarious movie, and fairly well-acted.

We come out of the movie and a cop rolls up and asks Slacks to come over to the car...Are you Mark? Your car was broken into. Damn! Crackheads smashed his window took his GPS.

Had some dinner with my wife, Meats, Slacks, and Gail at Texas Roadhouse before the show. Big-ass t-bone baby.

Oh...weekend update. Went to Nautica on Saturday, and got VERY deep. I had $1k on the table at the end of it all. At my first table, I had 3-4 total donks with stacks everyone got a piece of except for me. No matter what I had, they beat me with a straight or flush. If I had the nuts, it was like they could see my cards. So 3 of them left at once, and I jumped ship to another table, which had an equal number of donks at it. There was a kid that was so hammered he could barely speak (that sounds familiar) with a stack of well over $1k, and another guy that looked like he just got out of the joint. I couldn't get a hand at that table. Missed every flop. at 11 pm, I had $39 in front of me, and shoved when I hit my A with A3 in the BB. Tripled up. I tripled again, but dont remember what I had on that one. The monster came just before the end of the night. I make it $12 preflop with A9 of diamonds, the old Asian (uh-oh!) makes it $40, and prison guy puts a hundo on top. I figure Asian guy for some kind of hand, but prison guy was re-raising with crap like K5 suited, pocket 3's, etc. I decide to see a flop. Screw it, it's almost last hand and I am WAY stuck. I flop the nut flush draw and a gutshot with a Q-10-8 board. I push in my last $200 and they BOTH call. Hit the gutshot on the river!! Asian guy had KK, prison guy had AA. WOW. Crazy luck on that one. I cashed $887 and took a relatively small loss compared to the disaster it could have been.

The session did however remind me that I can still get killed with idiots at the table, and without going on tilt. I played OK for the most part, although after getting 3-4 buy-ins deep, your play HAS to be off somewhere. It certainly was with that last hand.

Quick update

Kinda busy today (and tired). Went to Nautica last night...up $917 in 45 minutes! Got smacked by the deck, but who cares?

Grabbed some grub with Meats and Slacks, then went to Adam's game and gave back almost 2/3 of my profit. Hands cracked and outkicked all night. I was outkicked like 6 times. Got 2 flushes cracked, trips cracked by boats a couple times...ugly.

Good luck to all those who are headed to Vegas. Now that everyone is on their way, I'm kinda wishing I had bought a ticket. Vegas is always fun. But when they come back, I will still have my bankroll.

Mailman...delivering beats to donkeys nationwide

Mailman is certainly one of the most solid players in the group. He is always the quiet one at the table, scooping up small pots until his stack is 2-3 times its normal size. I've never seen him lose more than a couple hundo in a single session. Also, my timing is always off with Greg. I'll fold when he's bluffing (which he rarely shows) and call/raise when he has me beat. Lately, I just stay out of his way.

Greg is always there to lend a helping hand, whether it's TD'ing, dealing, holding the bank, monkeying the pot, etc.


Name/nickname:Greg da Mailman

Age: 38

Occupation: Duh!

Home town: Elyria

Hobbies outside of poker: That sounds like a good idea. I should look in to it.


1. What was your first CPMG experience? (please include when/where, how you came to join the group, etc.)
Way back in December 2005, I stumbled upon the Meetup.com website, and found the CPMG. My first game was a Dealer's Choice game at El Diablo's home in Elyria, which was just a few miles from my place.

I won $120 that night, and been hooked ever since. Looking back on it, I was a Card Rack that night. For example, one of the games was Triple Draw Low Ball (A-5). I was dealing, and Bricker raised in the Cutoff. I didn't have much of a hand, but I was the Button, and I had three draws, so I called. Bricker stood pat, drawing no cards. I ended up discarding four cards and just keeping a 5. The four cards that I recieved were 4 3 2 A, which gave me the A-5 Wheel, which is the best possible hand.

Bricker bet again, and I raised. He raised back, and so did I. After a quite a few more raises, we got to showdown. He showed a 6-low that he was dealt, and I showed the Nuts. He was not happy.


2. What’s your key to bankroll management?
Keep acurate records with as many details as possible. Some players use a spreadsheet, but I use a database. Also, be honest about your losses. Don't fudge the numbers to make yourself feel better.

It's a good idea to stay away from the table games like Blackjack or Pia Gow when you're at the casino. I should probably start doing that.


3. Describe your range of starting hands for cash/tourneys
Like most poker questions, it depends. Factors include how many BB deep we are playing, am I limping in or raising or calling a raise, who's doing the raising, what position am I in, and what position is the player who is raising.

They write entire books on this subject, so it's hard to simplify in just a few sentences.


4. What pro player do you think you play like?
Probably Allen Cunningham or Erik Seidel. They have the image of being solid, no-nonsense players, who can shift gears when necessary. They are also considered tournament players, and are underrated as Cash game players.


5. Summarize the biggest pot you ever won
I'm the wrong person to ask this questions. I don't play big pots. I rarely ever stack someone at the tables, and I almost never get stacked. How often does anyone ever see me with a monster stack of chips?

But since you asked, here's one from my old blog:

$1/$2 at Four Winds Casino -
Many limpers. I'm in the SB, and look at Kh Kc. Pop it to $12. BB calls. UTG calls. Two others call. Five players are going to the Flop, and I'm out of position. This should be fun

Flop: Qh 9c 3d - I bet $40. BB calls. Player A (mid position) calls.

Turn: (Qh 9c 3d) Ks - I hit top set, but J T just hit their open ender. Good thing nobody would ever play that hand. I think for a moment, and decide to check and see what happens. I'm not slow playing my set. I just have no clue what everyone else has.

BB check. Player A pauses, then bets $125. Now I go into the tank. I've only got $230 left, and decide to shove. If he's got me, then he's got me. BB folds AQ. Player A calls the extra $105 and shows 3 3 for bottom set. He misses his one-outer.

So I more than doubled up, but I really hate playing out of position.

Ultimate hit and run

Stopped down to Nautica last night. Sat down with $200 at 4:40, paid my $5 seat fee, TRIPLED UP on the 3rd hand, and left at 5:00 with $617 when they came to collect fees again.

I had Q-10 in mid position, and called $12 or $15 preflop from a guy I know to have a wide range of starting hands that he'd raise with. Flop is J8x, rainbow, and it checks around. 9 on the turn gives me the nuts. There is about $55 in the pot, and a girl on my right bets $25, I make it $50, and the original raiser makes it an even hundo. She pushes for about $30 more, I push for about $80 more, and he calls. I say "I have the nuts right now", and the girl shows a slow-played set of J's, and the original raiser shows 7-10 for a lower straight. River is a K, and I still have the nuts. Ship it. Thanks for slow-playing that set of Jacks! I sure wasn't calling much of a bet on the flop.

So I ended up winning a couple more small pots, and got the hell out of there a few minutes later. My little man wasn't screaming at me or anything, but I figured what the hell, it usually takes a few hours to build a $600+ stack, and the table was actually not completely made up of donks, so I took the opportunity and bolted. I met Meats at Champps for a bite and was home by 7:00. Took the dog for a walk in the park, then hung out at home the rest of the night. And they all lived happily ever after.

Fantastic weekend

Had a great time at Mosquito Lake this weekend. Tons of laughs. Rented a pontoon boat to do some fishing, and even had a man overboard. Funniest thing I've ever seen. My friend Phil tries to make a monster cast (this is before he even popped his first beer), lost his balance, tried to grab a nylon cord attached to the canopy, and fell right out of the door and into the 3 feet of water. Trashed his phone and lost my fishing pole, although we did fish the pole back outta the water. Absolutely hilarious. You should have seen the look on his face as he was falling in.

Played some free NLHE, just screwing around, and actually accumulated a stack. You know, hitting the usual 2-3 outers.

I have a couple other stories that I'll have to tell in person for you to really appreciate. They are a bit long, but pretty funny.

Anyway, I highly recommend Mosquito Lake State Park if you are looking for a great place to camp. Only took about an hour and 20 min to get there too.

Another weekend off

Going to Mosquito Lake with a few friends this weekend to do some fishing, so there will not be any poker for me. I will be trying to get my buddies into a game, possibly some very low stakes NLHE. Not that they can't afford it, but they have heard some of my stories of winning/losing hundreds in a session, and that is way out of their comfort zone.

Either way, it should be a good time.

NASCAR Tina's 5 questions

Name/nickname: Tina, Kristina, NASCARTINA (I think I need a nickname that actually fits....I hate NASCAR)

Age: I'm 36.

Occupation: Litigation Legal Secretary

Home town: Brook Park

Hobbies outside of poker: There is life outside of poker? O.K. Hobbies I once had: Scrapbooking, writing, reading, hiking, bowling (170 average ya'll), beer pong (I am awesome!), cornhole tournaments, and anything that interests my daughters somewhat becomes a hobby of mine as well.

1. What was your first CPMG experience? (please include when/where, how you came to join the group, etc.)

Went to a charity tourney in Brook Park a few years back. Some guy came up to me after I busted out and chatted me up about the CPMG (I don't know who it was, nor has anyone come forward so I can blame them for ruining my life). I went online to look up CPMG and started to play the Monday Night Pokerstars games. First tourney was at Pyxis' place. Doug Poker gave me a ride since we both lived in Brook Park. I won the tourney. I remember beating Yosh head's up (I'm sure it was all luck). After that...I was hooked and somewhat became a "regular"

2. What’s your key to bankroll management?

I have no keys to my bankroll and no bankroll for my keys.

3. Describe your range of starting hands for cash/tourneysI will NOT describe my starting hands (nice try though). I get killed enough out there. I will say this.....I've learned so much about the game through the people I play with in the CMPG. I am no longer the scared little girl who was afraid to enter a pot - even with a great starting hand.

4. What pro player do you think you play like?

I'm not good enough to play like any pro....however, I like Gus Hansen's style alot. Female...I'd say Annie Duke is my fav. (Donald Trump is an ASS!)

5. Summarize the biggest pot you ever won

I scored a pound of pot once :") That was huge......
Seriously..I do not remember the exact amount of the biggest pot I've won and I may be a little sketchy on the details. It was at Seneca though and I had just won a decent sized pot 2 hands before and had about $450 in front of me (a small amount compared to what could be in front of you at Nautica). I called a small raise with 22 in the cutoff position. There were 4 people in the pot preflop, that much I remember. Flop 2Q2 (two diamonds - quads bitches). Player A bets the pot...Player B folds, Player C raises, I call, Player A calls. Here comes the turn. It was a K or an A of diamonds. Player A pushed all in and had roughly $250 behind. Player C goes over the top and goes all in for about $400 more. I had like $400 in front and called his all in. I do not remember the river card :-/ Player A and Player B had a flushes on the turn. I had quads. They were stunned. I couldn't even stack my chips b/c I was shaking. I called for a rack...stacked the chips in it...went to the cashier, cashed out, smoked 2 cigarettes and then proceeded to lose a lot of it playing Let It Ride :)

Nautica win...again!

I soooo love that place. I played 2-2 limit for about an hour before my NL seat opened up, and ended up losing $40 there. I woulda been up quite a bit but got 4's-full cracked by K's-full. The fish at that table were unreal. We had a couple pots with 9-10 in the hand. I also saw a guy call a 2-bet on the river with Q-9 suited (no draw at all), who then pointed to the K on the board and said "Aww man, I thought I had a pair of JACKS"!!! Swear to God. I may sit at a 5-10 limit if available next time. Just winning 1-2 pots would be great.

So I got to my NL seat and Grayday sits down next to me after a few minutes. I chased an open-ender early on and lost most of my first buy-in, re-bought, then added on another hundo later when nothing was hitting. Went a long time before hitting a flop.

Nothing really exciting to speak of, but I did catch a set of 10's, and had KK and a set of 6's betting into me. That pot put me back on top after being down almost $400. I later took 2 pots off Chan when I hit 2-pr with a 10-7 and a pair of 8's with K8 suited. I called his $20 preflop with the K8, then checked it down, which I told him I would have done with the other hand, but he HAD to bet at me. He bet like $80 on the river when I had the 2-pr.

There was one guy at the end of the table that me and Grayday were gunning for. This guy was in every hand and calling big raises. He had a monster stack and lost it all on a flush draw with 2 others in the pot (AA and a flopped set). He bought back in and I got the last of his re-buy...don't remember the details on that one, but Grayday and I both knew he'd leave without any chips. Correct-a-mundo!!

Ryan Sadd, Ryan Thoms, Hip, Chan, and Grayday were all there. Not sure how anyone did, but I think Grayday was up a little when I left at 10pm. Final score: up $270 after seat fees and limit game loss. I haven't been keeping accurate records lately (I ALWAYS go on a losing run when I start keeping records) but I am somewhere around 8-1 at Nautica since they opened up NL.

Dave's Summer Blow-out

Had a great time on Saturday, and thought for sure I was gonna cash, if it weren't for Tina and her well-played pocket Q's. She just called all the way when I hit top-top with my A-10. Ouch. I was chip leader before that hand. I doubled up Grayday when we both hit 2-pr, and then I chased a couple draws after that but didn't catch, then Hip finally knocked me out with his flopped top-2 against my A-8. NH sir. Hip didn't look back after that and took it down for a nice cash. Well played bro, you deserved the win. He cracked AA a couple times early on as well.

I took out 2 players in a single hand, twice! I was running good, hitting flops, and stayed focused. Made the final table out of 38 total. I really like the longer rounds and deeper stack. There are still quite a few players that play every pair like A's-full, so you have to watch out for them, but overall the structure was great. A cash would have put me at least 3rd in the POY race. No biggie; I am happy to be in the top 4. I promise a top-10 finish in the next round as well.

HUGE cash game with 3 full tables, but I ended up losing like $88. Meats put Grayday on tilt with a great bluff. One thing I can say is ALWAYS SHOW GRAYDAY THE BLUFF. It will really pay off. I was way down most of the night, then got back up about $25 (my little man was screaming at me, but Grayday still had chips), and I did manage to bust Grayday with 5-7 suited, but Holiday Inn Jim joined us for the last couple orbits (shoulda been 1 orbit but we squeezed out as much as possible for Jim's sake) and I didn't catch against him. He went to his pocket TWICE after 4am for more chips. How could we say no? TK got some off him, but I think HI Jim cashed a few bucks.

Anyway, the food was good, we had a great time, and Dave's season ended in fine fashion. Thanks Dave for being a great host.

Check out the pics...Data without a hat, that's a first. His reply: "I'm defragmenting", LOL. Those are DP's Fruit O' the Looms. He offered to bare ass, but that's plenty of DP right there. Check out Hip's stack, which was taken even before he made the money if I'm not mistaken. And that sweet-ass belt buckle. Hip and Meats are my heroes! I am taking a 6.66% stake in Hip for his WSOP seat. Let's hope it pays off.

I'll have to hit up a couple of Julie's tournaments now that my Saturdays are free. We'll have to get a cash game going. :)