Feeling the rush

I've spent a good portion of this evening playing the new poker crack, Rush Poker over a Full Tilt Poker. You know, it's actually pretty fun.

I was a bit nervous getting started. I'm not much of a multi-tabler and cash no limit hold 'em is a bit of an enigma as well. I pretty much stick to the limit hold 'em and razz cash games and no-limit hold 'em sit-n-gos. I just feel way more comfortable in a tournament then a cash game.

I had tried the Matrix games and figured those to totally -EV. I sucked and it was obvious from the get go, any money I put into one of these would just vaporize.

So here comes Rush Poker. You are in a pool of players all floating around. You get placed randomly at a table of 9. The cards are dealt, you can play them, fold or quick fold. If you play them, it's business as usual. If you fold them, WHOOOSH! you are taken to your next table and we start this all over again. You can literally see 700 hands/hour.

At first glance, I think F-Train has pretty much got it down. There's no table image, bluffing has more to do with the texture of the flop, your position because your opponents are pretty much playing their cards too. DeeBakes has been enjoying these and it sounds like he's make something doing, but he's been playing 8 tables at a time for a while.

Thus far, this has been +EV for me. I'm probably not gonna make a ton of moolah right away, but we'll see. Here's some quick hits that I've noticed:

• Come up for air every now and then. You can sit out a few hands and take a look around. In some ways, it was just like a high paced video game. I got some of the same feelings like when I used to play Decent on the PC.
• While the game is fast paced, I did notice a few names appear more regularly. I have no idea if they noticed me or how to use that yet, but you won't be a stranger at every table.
• I'm SOOOO glad I've been putting notes on people for the last few years. I have a couple of color codes that actually were helpful. The most important color was the one I used to tag all of the bloggers...I saw a few of you wiz by...sorry about taking that pot from you, Gentleman Jim - :)

I guess I'll go back to the grind as well. Home game / bar / live poker is nothing like this. I still enjoy those more then anything. Gotta stay sharp some how, right?

Have you played any of these yet?

The Matrix + Live Poker + Meme

It's true. I've been to the Matrix...on Full Tilt. Looks LJ has tried them as well. Her review in her words,

"it was super fun, though, i'm definitely gonna play a few more. it's perfect if you get bored w/ one sng too, cause the multi-tabling is built in."

Now, she played the $20 variety. Quite sure this (me) tight ass ain't playing that big in this, but I did try the $1 6 max variety. These, were pretty crazy, as you might expect. I broke about even. I think I might be a nickel down, but in the grand scheme, they weren't impossible.

They play a lot crazier then your normal $1. Seems these donkeys are now rushing to make bad decisions. My biggest problem with these was variance. The suck outs come fast and furious and at least at these low stakes, pot odds mean nothing and everyone is drawing to flushes. Keep that in mind when you flop top two pair with the board having two cards to flush...they will call your all in.

The next ones I try will definitely be of the 9 player variety and up the food chain. The 6 max only pay two spots in each area. I also HIGHLY recommend not playing on a laptop screen. Way to small to see what your doing...

---

I played in a home game this past weekend. It was loads of fun with rebuys. I usually try to avoid doing rebuys, but I found out that the girl to my right's favorite hand is Q6o. Yes, she pair her 6 and my AKh was no match for it's awesomeness.  Yikes.

Last night was also league night. I fealt I played really well. In league, I find it very important to avoid unnecessary risk at times. ATC poker is the norm...plan for it.

I was quite proud of how I took my final hand. There have been numerous times I've left a live game doing my best Phil Hellmuth impersonation. Here's how the hand went:

We are pretty short handed at 5 people left. I'm UTG with A7 and give it a standard raise. Grant, the guy on my left, calls. Grant is a loose/agressive that a times can make some really crazy calls. The flop comes AQ9, all clubs. His reaction to the flop seemed to be one of indifference. I CBed with my ace. He just calls. Unfortunately for me, the CB was half of my remaining stack. The turn was 8d. I fired out with my remaining 2500 chips. He calls. I asked him if he had clubs, he said no. "Do you have an ace?", I asked. "No, and I don't think you do either." - What the hell? What the hell does he have? I turned over my A7 for top pair. His reaction was priceless..."Oh crap! I thought you firing with air," he said and table 77. For the love all things warm and cuddly. 4 over cards and 3 cards to flush and he called every bet with 7s. Hey! That means he's drawing to the case 7...and of course it hits on the river. One outed.

The best part...I just walked away after laughing it up. No rant, no pout - just laughs. It seems I realized something last night, I want this guy to make this play EVERY SINGLE TIME. If I'm truly a 97.73% favorite to wins this hand...let's rock!

---

Instant Tragedy tagged me with this question, "I would do these 11 things:"

In order of priority -

1. Pay off mortgage and other debt - this is brain dead simple. No matter the size of the win, this sets us up to live incredibly comfortably.
2. Fully fund retirement - I worked in a small start-up for 10 years. My new job has a pension and I expect that as much as I expect the Social Security to be there...I'm way behind where I should be. This will be funded to where it should be. Damn, I wish I was dumping money into the market last week.
3. Fully fund college funds for the girls.
4. Damn, that OhCaptain is practicle. For me, the fun comes later. Getting rid of all of this makes the future less stressful which, after all, is my goal anyways. I don't think I would pay off family debt. Long story...let's just end it there.
5. I would set up college funds for all of my nieces and nephews.
6. Now the fun begins. New camera. I'm not sure all of you know how broke you can go when you dive into high end cameras and equipment...this is a bigger bullet point then - buy stuff. It would be nothing for this bullet to reach 5 figures +.
7. One dream would be to play the WSOP. I wouldn't want to do it alone. Several close friends would get fully funded trips.
8. I love to travel. That shiny new camera and my family and I would definitely be doing more travel.
9. Fund BBTx. Only this time...invitation only. Sick prizes and more fun. Maybe even a scholarship for bloggers I like that aren't bankrolled for this.
10. "You Betcha!" Vegas. Dudes...party at my house. Bloggers will be crashing my place...on my dime.
11. I'm a pretty practicle guy. I'm sure there would be some frivolous spending. I'd love to get a tv that's not using electron beam accelerated at a chemical screen. 

For me, winning the lottery would be awesome and I hope I think long term with it.

If you've read this far...consider yourself tagged!

---

I bought the Hold 'em Poker app for my iPhone. I'm working on a review and strategy guide on that topic. Anyone else try it? Let me know. I'd like to hear what you think...

Um...that is all...

A little live poker and some new live babies

We had quite the busy weekend and through it all, this degenerate still found time to play some cards.

OhCaptain and family welcomed two new babies into the world. Nope, we aren't having any more, unless you ask OhCountess. She doesn't like the terms "never" and "more kids" in the same sentence.

OhCountess is a hero to me. Her sister gave birth to a beautiful baby girl Sunday night, my wife at her side. Way to go honey! I was at her side for both our daughters. It's a magic place. To all the guys out there, don't blow your chance to be there and for Pete's sake, be there if you do the deed. I hate nothing more then men who don't take being a Dad seriously. You are and always will be scum if you aren't there for your kids. Being a Dad is the greatest thing I have ever done. I wouldn't trade it for anything, not even a seat at the ToC. Let's leave it at that.

Another dear friend and his wife also brought us a future Main Event champion on Saturday. You'll probably know who it is, maybe not, but I'll let him have the honor of telling the world. Congrats my friend! Enjoy these times!

So, this is a poker blog, huh?

Friday night, pre-babies was spent in the monthly game known as Bourbonators. I think someone mentioned 144 proof being the whiskey of the month. Yep, to rather rapid flameouts ended my night. PokerFool joined us for his first ever Bourbonators night. He flamed out of the first SNG right after me. We pretended to play some PLO waiting for the next one to start. When the next game started, I played QQ too hard and found out it is no match of AKo. I lost my 473 consectutive coin flip. Congrats to PokerFool for taking down a second!

Thankfully, I was able to win back my two buyins playing a little HU. Thank goodness for side action.

The ensuing hang-over on Sunday led me to 4 consecutive bubbles in SNGs. I love bubbling with a hang over.

Figuring my pain wasn't enough from all of this, (Did I say masochist in my Mookie profile?? need to check that out) I joined Kat at a .05/.10 $10 max NLHE table. Remember my whole wanting to get better and May seeming to be the month I show a profit at cash games? Well, in short order I was down a little more then $20. Nice job! I buckled down and got back some. Built my session back up to -$16. For the first time in my cash game experience, I actually got it all-in and won a friggin' hand. I had the nut flush, triple checked it...yes indeed, an ace high flush is the nuts. Did some razzle dazzle, and our villain got it all in, having me covered (not to mention some dead money conveniently deposited by others - hehe). K high flush no good. Whew! That pot got me a small profit on the session. I was quite sure that all the gains I'd made at the beginning of the month were gone in one session. So May is looking profitable.

Monday, a US holiday of great relaxation and remembrance, found me back in the SNG saddle winning 3 of 5 tournaments. Not too shabby considering the flurry of activity at our house. BTW - that's not just cashing, that's winning. Been a while since I was just flat winning these things regularly. Now, to avoid the correction.

I will say it again. Please go check out Donkette's ride. She's an inspiration to me. She's on part 13 now of her road to sobriety. (Donkette - give each the same label so we can link to the series)

Work sucks when you get back after a long weekend. Hope everyone else had a great weekend!

The Royal Virgin

It was bound to happen eventually. I have read that they exist and dreamed of the day I would get one. According to Poker Tracker, it took 49, 837 hands - I've lost my Royal Virginity!

Would have been cooler to get one against someone who wasn't betting the entire tournament with top pair and a 6 kicker. Oh well, I'll take it!

Virtual felt just doesn't have the feel for the real thing

Can anyone help with this problem? Why is it that live poker feels so easy and the results are solid and when I go online to play poker, I can't win a freakin' hand?

The part I love about live poker is all the extra information. It's just sitting there. You find it, your read it and you make decisions that really stick.

I go online. I fold 49 consecutive hands, my M falls below 10 in the process, I fire 3 bullets at the pot (the last bullet being all of the remainder), and I get called by 3rd pair and a Q kicker.

Now granted, I was bluffing, but come on! Who assumes that 3rd pair is good enough for 75% of your stack against a guy that has folded 49 straight hands?

I swear, playing the Mookie has ruined my game. I either need to move up dramatically and get out of no-fold'em holdem, or stick to live poker...which there isn't much around here. Maybe this week will be all about Razz.

Last night was about as brutal a sit-n-go session I've ever had. When I was chip leader in one $5 sng, I get AK on the button, it walks to me, I raise it pot, like I normally would to steal the blinds, the BB pushes (his M still about 14), I call, and remember, I've only been in pots with premium hands the whole tournament, He turns over Q6o. BAM! Half my stack is gone. OK...the mistake was calling the all-in. I could have just laid down and died. One hand later, a very short stacked player takes the next half of my stack when he pushes and I call with A♥Q♥ he had pushed with A5o...and scores the five.

So tell me this...when other people see my avatar or name come up, or is there a web site out there that tells you..."if you can, put your money in with OhCaptain behind or in a coin flip...you can't loose!"??????

Sorry for the rant, but then again...ain't this one of the reasons we started these things?

Where has the time gone? and the money?

OK, I'm not broke, but this blog has been pretty quite lately.

First, my family suffered the loss of my wife's grandma. If you are really interested, I posted much more about this at my person/family blog. This sent our life into a tizzy for about 2 weeks. Saying we were tired just doesn't go far enough.

Normally, I post every couple days because poker has become part of my scheduled existence. Every Tuesday night, I play league poker at a local bar. That's be on hiatus for 2 weeks. Bodie25 and I usually find some place to play on any off weeks...but that dang Christmas and New Year holidays mean...very little chance to get out of the house. For pretty much the last 2 weeks, it was online poker. I played a lot of sngs.

Now, there was one exciting poker adventure, I won the friggin' mookie! But we already new this. But blogger brethren, the Mookie has ruined my game. Well, not really. But it did have a serious affect on how I thought about poker. It would seem that bloggers play better poker than your average idiot and I had high expectations after winning. This caused me to lose track of one key thing in poker, Know Your Opponent.

When I reached the final table at the Mookie, I know there weren't going to be many people that would call my all in with QTo. Most bloggers know that that is a stupid play. The average Joe at the $1 45 person sng...no so much. That's a monster. Got a gut shot straight draw...keep calling baby, you could get lucky.

This is not good for someone looking to learn more control of one's emotions, but the worst part; I was reading their hand correctly. I caught myself saying, "You hit your friggin flush, damn it! I call." WTF? I knew better, but I just couldn't stand it. I'd call just to see what a moron they were. Again, WTF?

I have taken some time away from the table and eased back the throttle. I know how to play this game. I can play very well. Lesson learned, again. Showing a flopped set isn't really gonna do any good when they hit the straight on the river. You just sometimes need to muck a made hand. That's how we make money.

Defending the Mookie

There is a very good chance that I will not be defending my Mookie title tonight.

My wife's Grandmother past away and the visitation is tonight with the funeral being tomorrow. If we get home in time to play and the Mrs. doesn't mind, I'll be playing.

Talk of poker will not be the subject I start. I can have poker brain at some of the worst times.

Hopefully, I make it to the Mookie tonight. If not, good luck all! Just make sure Hoyazo or Mookie don't win it. Why ruin a good thing? Well, Mookie can win. I think its fun to listen to Hoy's sob stories every week. It seems the well never runs dry on bad beats and bad play.

See ya on the felt!

Wow! Holy Crap! I won the friggin Mookie!

Please excuse my French...but did you see who won the Mookie?

Wow. My biggest cash ever! I'm sure a few people that play bigger tournaments will see this and some of you watched me play. Hopefully, I didn't donk it up too much.

Thanks a bunch to Bodie25. He talked me into entering this just minutes before it started. I'd been having a horrible stretch at the tables. $10 seemed like a lot money to throw away considering I couldn't even beat a $1 table today.

Congrats to KngofKngs. One heck of a match heads up.

I read bayne_s' blog every day. Congrats on your deep finish as well. It was an honor to play with you.

A very special thanks goes to all the guys at BuddyDank Radio with the extra thanks to Chad. When given the option to take the field (KngofKngs and myself), the crew took the pass. The show was fantastic as usual. Great job guys!

To basically sum up the tournament...I played tight and avoided being caught with my pants down. Last week was my first Mookie, I made a hero call and went home. It was the right call, but the aggressor had way to many outs and me covered. Not a good combination.

Tonight, I scored a bit pot early. The blinds are 20/40. The table folds to me on the button. I raised with J♣10♠ to 140 and JoeSpeaker calls from the SB. The flop comes Q♠10♣2♣. JoeSpeaker bets 240. Seemed like a weird bet to me, I have second pair and call. The turn was a 10♦. Joe raises to 640. I don't like the flush draw or the straight draw and decide to end it right here. So I push my all my chips and which has him covered. He calls and tables KJ for the straight draw. My set holds!

Another first for me tonight was the fact that when the Mookie started, I was playing a $5 9 person sng that just wouldn't end. So the Mookie is going on and I'm heads up in the tournament I need to win to pay for the Mookie...geez. Nothing like a little extra stress.

With my attention more highly focused on the SNG, I trudged along in the Mookie. Raised and bought a few blinds, just enough to keep me at my current chip level. I also tried to keep my BB a little less tempting. I was defending my blind. Be ready to call a reraise when you go for my BB.

I really seemed to like having a stack around 6000. I stayed at that level almost the entire tournament. I briefly got her up to 10,000 but the donked off 3500 to IslandBum when I ran 10s in to aces. CRAP!

Staying the course, it got down to two tables. The guys at BDR were spouting the praises of some the really good players still left and I'll be honest, I wasn't really ready to put the money on me yet. 18 people left and I'm in the bottom third of the leader board.

With the blinds and antes starting to get painful. Much more stealing was going on. This also provided many an opportunity to resteal as well. I kept myself alive playing this game for quite awhile. Staying in the pack and not doing anything stupid until we got to the final table.

I got to the final table with 7256 in chips. I wasn't the short stack, but definitely not a fat stack. Muhctim had gotten there with 59,632. I stayed out of the way and stealing from the people that seemed to be playing tight and avoiding the loose cannons as much as possible.

One by one, people dropped from the tournament. When the table was down to 8 people, I found myself in the BB. The blinds are 800/400 + 100. It folds to cemfredmd on the button. He raises to 2400. I looked down and found K♦J♦, My gut tells me that this is a steal and this is the kind of hand that can beat a steal. Even if it's not a steal, this this the kind of hand that will draw well and win. I push it all in and put the pressure back on cemfredmd. He calls and turns over tens. I hit the king on the flop. Whew! I won a race. This also moved me up to 13,412 chips. I actually started think i could cash in this thing.

Now...to avoid doing something stupid.

I kept the pressure up and not trying to get to weak. Since we were short handed and I came to win this thing without making a fool of myself, I opened my range of hands up for bigger raises. I was also switching it up a lot here too. Sometimes I was making loose calls, but mostly playing tight. Heck, finishing 4th would be my biggest cash to date.

One by one, people leave the game. I watched in amazement as muhctim went from a monster chip lead to out of the tournament in 4th place.

We were down to 3. Bayne_s was the only name I knew of the two, and his record is quite impressive. Watching him play inspired me to be patient and think through my actions. I never saw him do anything quickly. Everything seemed to come with thought.

With one last race before heads up. Bayne_s and I found ourselves racing to destiny...him with AK0 and me with QQ. Help never came and my queens held up.

This is now clearly my biggest cash ever, but I surprisingly feel very comfortable. I play a LOT of SNGs. MTTs just aren't my thing. They take a long time and my window of opportunity to play poker is usually limited. But I've definitely been in this spot before. I technically didn't take him out until the next hand, but he was totally crippled.

Heads up arrives and it looks like: Seat 2: KngofKngs (110,446)Seat 3: OhCaptain (42,554)

Not quite a 3:1 chip advantage, but pretty close. One advantage of playing a lot of SNGs, I feel very comfortable playing heads up. All I needed to do was ignore the fact this win would represent 66% of my current bankroll.

I started playing with the idea that I had nothing to lose. I'd be proud of the fact that I took 2nd. This is only the second time I've played this tournament, but I definitely wanted to win more.

We battled on for a while and I grinded my way back to a more manageable ~70,000 to 80,000 stack sizes. This helps by making my pressure more useful. He calls and looses and he finds himself with a big hill to climb.

The tide turned when KngofKngs found his JT behind my QQ. I doubled through him! Whew!

This swung the chip lead 6:1 in my favor. I kept the pressure on, trying to avoid doubling him up and letting him back in.

The final hand of the night was both exciting and a little disappointing. I really didn't want to win this by sucking out, but I did. We got all the chips in. Me with AT KngofKngs with AJ. A luck ten on the river and it was all over.

Wow, what a ride. Many thanks to Bodie25 for not only talking me into playing, but getting most of these screenshots. I kept forgetting to click the button.

Way past my bedtime! Thank god I'm on vacation this week. Hopefully I didn't donk this up too much. BTW...welcome to my blog!

See you next week!

FTP Pro slumming in the cheap seats

Wow, you I've never seen this before, but Full Tilt Poker pro Lynette Chan decided to play $1.25 45 person sng tonight. She busted in 27th position. Got mixed up in a horrible spot with 99. Not sure a pro would realize that 5 people will likely call her with dang near any hand.

I played no hands with her and our table got busted pretty fast. When our table broke, she still had most of her chips. I'm still in the tournament, not sure about this crowd, I haven't seen a hand yet, but floating appears to be working against most of the chip leaders.

My First Mookie

The question is, could I have done this any different?

I played my first Mookie. I've been watching the past few weeks. It's definitely a gambler's paradise. L9t's of crazy plays with hands that are...not as strong as you'd think. It was very interesting to have Columbo on my left. How bad could I be playing, I hung right around his chip stack until...

I decided to start it playing passive. Letting people get the better of me. Not bleeding chips like crazy, but just not playing very strong. I really figured that this would give me the best chance to get action when I have a strong hand. And for the most part, this really worked for me. I finally get one hand, pretty strong and I get action from fluxer. Not sure which blog is his.

I raised in an MP with TT. A bit loose for me, but I've pretty much been a folding limp monkey, so this raise should seem out of place. fluxer insta-calls from the BB. Now I've been trying to pay attention here and as far as I could tell, he likes his aggression. Lots of big raises to push people off hands. The flop comes JJ3. I raise it pot size to 450 and he instantly goes all-in. Just like he has been doing to people. This tells me he's really not likely to have a jack. He'd want value if he's got a J. It also tells me that he thinks my hand is too weak to call so he probably doesn't have QQ or better. I'm actually thinking he's got ace something. As it turns out, he's got just that. A3. I called him because I knew I was ahead, but the poker gods decided it just wouldn't be the Captains night.

My Mookie dreams are dashed for the week. Maybe again next week.

Well...that sucked - AIPS is done

Well, that sucked. After folding almost ever hand in 47 deals, I get QQ. The board has nothing scary...and KK won't let go. D'oh! My AIPS II Main Event is over. I busted in 78th place. POOP!

Good luck to everyone else still in this. OhCountess had a list of things for me to do...thanks for getting rid of my only excuse!

See ya on the felt!

The stars began to align - I got a Satellite Token!

Bourbonators was last night. I'll post about that later...bigger news this morning. First, OhCountess is home from work sick today. She's on the tail end of the flu. She's a nurse and works with people with weak immune systems, so there department has extra tight rules for sick calls...I'm so jealous.

Second, I took one last swing this morning at a $26 Satellite Token. A long hard fought battle and some choice words for each other. The guy that took second and I will probably not be friends in the near future...but I'm registered for the AIPS Main Event! Shamus! Where are you?

Is Full Tilt down for everyone?

You guys playing the Riverchasers, did Full Tilt go down? I'm seriously in the running to cashing in a micro buy-in MTT! DAMN!

Here's the last hand in my log.

FullTiltPoker Game #4495714432: $1 + $0.25 Sit & Go (34067267), Table 3 - 500/1000 - No Limit Hold'em - 0:00:48 ET - 2007/12/14
Seat 1: 31fordtudor (7,630)
Seat 2: Sweetcafe (18,100)
Seat 3: OhCaptain (15,290)
Seat 4: BBSpen (4,260)
Seat 5: we3kings (2,850)
Seat 6: maverikdr (4,000)
Seat 7: 19Kaylee69 (5,915)
Seat 9: drliu (9,455)
BBSpen posts the small blind of 500
we3kings posts the big blind of 1,000
The button is in seat #3
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to OhCaptain [9d 2s]
maverikdr folds
19Kaylee69 has 15 seconds left to act
19Kaylee69 folds
drliu folds
31fordtudor calls 1,000
Sweetcafe has 15 seconds left to act
Sweetcafe folds
OhCaptain folds
BBSpen has 15 seconds left to act
BBSpen has been disconnected
BBSpen has 90 seconds to reconnect
BBSpen is sitting out
BBSpen has timed out
BBSpen folds
we3kings has 15 seconds left to act
we3kings has timed out
we3kings checks
*** FLOP *** [Ah 2h Qh]
we3kings checks
31fordtudor has 15 seconds left to act
31fordtudor has timed out
31fordtudor checks
*** TURN *** [Ah 2h Qh] [7c]
we3kings checks
31fordtudor checks
*** RIVER *** [Ah 2h Qh 7c] [Kd]
we3kings checks
31fordtudor checks
*** SHOW DOWN ***
we3kings shows [Ks Qd] two pair, Kings and Queens
31fordtudor shows [Qs As] two pair, Aces and Queens
31fordtudor wins the pot (2,500) with two pair, Aces and Queens
31fordtudor is sitting out
we3kings is sitting out
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 2,500 Rake 0
Board: [Ah 2h Qh 7c Kd]
Seat 1: 31fordtudor showed [Qs As] and won (2,500) with two pair, Aces and Queens
Seat 2: Sweetcafe didn't bet (folded)
Seat 3: OhCaptain (button) didn't bet (folded)
Seat 4: BBSpen (small blind) folded before the Flop
Seat 5: we3kings (big blind) showed [Ks Qd] and lost with two pair, Kings and Queens
Seat 6: maverikdr didn't bet (folded)
Seat 7: 19Kaylee69 didn't bet (folded)
Seat 9: drliu didn't bet (folded)

My Quest for a token - and a milestone

I'd like to thank Short-stacked Shamus over at Hard-boiled Poker for the plug in his blog today. Funny thing about that, I was actually playing in a $4 token sit-n-go at Full Tilt trying to get me one of those tokens when his post showed up. I sometimes like to read my favorite blogs while playing poker.

Well, that tournament was a complete disappointment. One poor sap at the table just couldn't lose. I minded mine own business, playing quiet sng strategy. I should warn you, that most of this weekend was spent either donking off chips on the one hand I'd chosen to "mix it up," or running AK in 88, when I was all-in preflop. This tournament was no different. My M is fallen to just below 10, I get AK suited, push it in and get called by the poor sap that couldn't lose. His 88 holds up.

So let's do the math. 4 X $4.40 = $17.60. I've won back 2 X $10 = $20. So my grand total for quest for a token sits at +$2.40.

Another snag has also reared its ugly head. It would appear that now OhCountess has to work next Saturday. Ante Up! Intercontinental Poker Series II: Electric Boogaloo Main Event starts at 12:30 PM. Long before she gets home from work. I have no idea how to pull this off. The OhKids have never been big fans of Dad playing poker all day with no other parental figure in the house. Any ideas on how to play online poker with two kids running around the house?

The Milestone:
While Sharkscope has its good points and bad points, it also shows that I've played my 1000 online real money tournament. My results aren't the worlds most impressive and many other bloggers have way more skills than I do, but none the less, I've only made one deposit. Put another way...in 1000 online tournaments, I've never gone broke. I've only made $171. Yep, 1000 tournaments and my average win is 17 cents.

I'll keep reading, keep playing and hopefully improve.

November in review - a toot of the horn

I've never really recapped a month before, but for reasons I hope you will soon understand, I think this time it deserves a little attention.

I had planned to do this last night, but I found out when OhFamily got home from movies (we see Enchanted), our Internet connection was dead. Seems Charter Communications thinks we were attacking their servers with a virus and shut it down.

Well, after all the scanning was done, I remember what the downside is to the beautiful snowy winters here in Minnesota. We got 5 inches of snow followed by freezing rain. We still haven't completely dug out yet...but we've got a good start. More pictures and stories of the rest of this fun filled day on my other blog later.

On to the recap!

Minnesota Poker League: 3 out of 4 final tables this month. One 1st, 4th and 6th place finish and I moved from 12th to 2nd.

Bourbonators: A 1st place finish, a nice cash payment to the live poker bankroll.

Home game: 2nd place finish and an even nicer addition to the live poker bankroll.

All in all - live poker was pretty successful. There was even a trip to a couple of new locations that turned out to be positive. One night at a different free bar poker location and a final table. The only real downside to the month live was a reaffirmation that I suck at Pot Limit Omaha.

Online poker seems to be on track again as well.

Poker Tracker Totals (November):

• 69 Tournaments (Hmm...no wonder nothing else got done)
• $144.70 Buy-ins + Fees
• $200 Amount won
• $55.30 Net amount won
• 38.22% ROI
• 46.38% Finish In the Money

That's a definite improvement from a couple of months ago when I couldn't cash to save my life. The real surprise comes from the $2.25 9 person SNG. 37 tournaments, Net Amount Won - $46.35, 55.68% ROI, 51.35% Finish in the money, Avg Finish - 3.73. Wow...I almost averaged finishing in the money.

Now that I got my confidence back, I think I need to look ahead. Continuing my better bankroll management, I hope to move up a pay grade soon. The online bankroll should allow for a larger buy-in again. I'd also really like to play more of the larger tournaments online. Time is the biggest hurdle to this, but it should be something I can do. I think I'll be giving the Mookie a try real soon and AIPS II Main Event...I'll keep trying for the token, but if that doesn't pan out, I'll have some really thinking to do. But at this win rate, it's hard to justify a $26 buy-in.

The Hunt For a Satellite Token

I really want to play in the AIPS II Main Event. My online bankroll is hovering just over 3 c notes. So a $26 buy-in seems like a pretty big investment.

As I wrote in "I tried something new and survived," I was going to try and win my way in by getting a satellite token. My first attempt, I finished second and won $10. My second attempt, same result. So I figure that gives me $11.20 more to spend in my quest for a token.

I tried for a third time tonight and busted way to early. I just played it badly. Flopped second pair and a got shot straight draw. On raise, surprisingly low for the pot size, so I called. The turn pairs the Q on the flop. Again, the villain raises, but it's only about 60% of the pot. I just don't feel like he has anything. The river was the J I needed to make my straight. Unfortunately, the villain had JJ for the full house. This devastated my stack.

I really think I gotta figure out how to quit with these momentary calling station plays. UGGG! Anyone got a good way to get rid of a leak?

So the quest for the token now sits at $6.80...one more loss and I'll have to make a decision. OhCountess hasn't given me the day off yet anyways...I think I should clear up that little detail too.

Holidays and Full Tilt Poker

OK...call me paranoid. Tell me I'm thinking like Chirs on Ante Up, but is it just me or do the players and the play at Full Tilt Poker just go goofy on holiday weekends.

When I go through Poker Tracker and examine my results and ROI, there is always a dip over a major holiday.

My theory has always been that the truly casual players become more numerous on these weekends, but why do I seem unable to keep winning at the same rate I usually do? Yesterday, I got it all in preflop late in a tournament with KK to a little pair only to come up bust...3 times! I'd expect to loose this 1 out of 5 times, but each time I had it yesterday...WHAM! Variance. Not to mention, putting someone to the test for all their chips and have them call with 33 isn't frustrating enough.

It just seems like variance gets a boost...where is my foil helmet...I think they are listening.

A Replay of my shortest SNG...

Thanks to TK over at http://www.SitNGoTraining.com/ for creating the video for me. Hopefully this works. This is a replay of the shortest SNG I've ever played. Note the complete lack of losing hands...I probably played this too loose, but when you are 5:1 in chips to the next stack...whatcha supposed to do. Click here to view a larger version.

D'oh! I didn't make it past Scott!

I finished 84th. I really suck at most of these games. Plus the whole limit thing...uggg. It was fun though and Bodie25 is still in it!

I finished 84th...just one spot sooner than Scott.

Next event is the AIPS II Main Event. Time to go win me a satellite token.

AIPS II - Stud H/L

OK...to me, this game can be vodoo to me. But when I hit trip 3s with a good low draw by 5th street...IT HELD and scooped.

Now, I keep bringing in 3 to a flush and the nut low draw...that would be good????

So Chris Cosenza is out and so is Columbo. Can't wait to read what happened with those guys!

It's break time, and I'm still in this. Stud H/L was very good to me. Now...Omaha...a game I suck at. Let me get to razz and hook up with some cards. First time through I never had 2 cards smaller than a 9 at one time...ugggg!