11th out of 1351......

Well, maybe the poker gods are on my side now...I didn't used to believe in the "cashout curse" saying that if you cash out winnings, you will catch a bad run of cards, but I haven't cashed out since my $35 deposit a couple of days ago and I have been doin good...

My highlight is that again last night I cashed in one of pokerstars "ocean-like" MTTs. That means that I played in two MTTs on stars since my last deposit and cashed in both of them...Last night was a little more rewarding than Sunday however. It was a $10+1 buy-in with a total prize pool of $13,510 and first place a little more than $3,100...so I played for about 4 hours again and won $108.09 for my efforts, it kinda sucks though to be so close to the big money and then get busted out right before the final table. My fatal hand came when I got KQo in the small blind..a big stack put me all-in from under the gun with another short stack calling all in...I figured I might be the underdog, but had good drawing cards and was shortstacked so I went with it. So it was my KQo against big stack's AJo and the sort stacks Q7o...2 live cards, but the flo came with and A...the turn was a J giving him 2 pair and me a str8 draw...but no 10 on the river and I was eliminated in 11th place...Good tourney, proud of myself for finishing in the top 18 2 for 2 in BIG tourneys...

I have also had some decent luck at the cash tables....I won a $100+ pot last night in a $1/2 NL table when I flopped an A8 top two pair and I guy moved all in with KK and I called...but I lost some back at the $2/4 limit table I was playing at the same time...so my current stack on pokerstars in right at $250....All in all, a very good week in my book so far...hopefully I can keep grinding it out and get to $500+.....I will give a MTT another shot tonight after work and see what I can do....until then, aces and faces....lol, how gay...

Good Weekend Session...

Well, no live play to discuss this weekend as I never could get a game together. I did however play quite a bit a online poker and did pretty well, atleast in my substandard book. I think I am starting to like playing limit cash tables online. I don't know who gave me the idea, and I used to despise limit anything, and Supastarr(Twitty) tells me I will learn to hate it again eventually, but it has been paying off for me. I like it because I can three-table $1/2 or $2/4 limit without a problem and see a shitload of hands per hour(esp. at high-speed tables), and capitalize on all the fish in the sea known as Pokerstars. Yes, you can get drawn out in limit, but it you hit the nuts on the flop, its a lot easier to drag 2 or 3 people down to the river and build a big pot and then slam them. I deposited $35 on fri night, and my first session proved successful. I hopped in a $1/2 cash game with $20 while playing a $6.50 45-player turbo SNG. At the cash table, I couldn't lose....sets, boats, and even one 4-of-a-kind...I went from $20 til a little over $100 in a bout an hour. I also happened to make the final table in the SNG, but busted out in 5th when my KK got beat by a set of 7s....but it still payed like $30 think.

My highlight of my online play was last night, I played in a $3 MTT...I usually get in these b/c there is nothing else registering and bust out early b/c I don't have the patience. At the start there were 1911 people playing with a prize pool of about $5700 with a lil more than $1200 going to first.

I didn't even play one hand for about the first 20-25 minutes because I wanted to sit out and let the tru fish go ahead and get out or move up into the top 10 after beating out 3 other all-ins with something like J9o...Matter-of-fact I only saw the flop 5 times in the whole first hour(9%) because I remembered telling Twitty(supastarr) my progress at the first break. Anyways, time goes by and I only am playing when I have a solid hand. Its gets down to about 225 and I have become shortstacked...only 180 cash in this tourney...oh shit, have I just played this baby tourney for about 2.5 hours just to find out that I won't even get a consolation prize of a lil more than my buy-in back...precisely $4.58 was the payout to 136th - 180th places. Well Nate Dogg gets off of work right as I am approaching the bubble.... I am sitting at 172 out of the remaining 182 with only about $3000 in chips...needless to say, but the bubble burst and I made the money, happy with my $4.58...so I go all -in and end up at about 10,000 in chips....then I just decide that I got to make moves or get out, they diff. in money from now until about the top 36 isn't that great. I end up doubling up again to about $25,000...I have some breathing room, so i sit out for a bit....The comes my big run....I catch AA twice with in a 3-hand stretch...Well, I limped with it the 2nd time and got an all-in raise which I loved, so i went all in with about 50k...and to my suprise a good size stack calls my all in behind me with AQo, and i think the other hand was J10o...I am such a favorite and it holds up boosting me up from 60th to 4th with about $140,000 in chips. Well, I had some bad beats and lost a big portion of my stack, but I made it down two the last two tables...i had to make a move and did after a raise with A 10o...up against JJ and he even hit a set on the flop...So I went out in 17th cashing $43.00, an exact profit of $40...this relates back to Nate Dogg's post " Is it worth it?"...I played for 4 hours and made $40....I think so I played well and managed a short stack to perfection....I beat out 1894 people and although it was a $3 tourney, thats worth something....I think played well and almost mistake-free....as they say on stars..."gg".....good game

So a good weekend as far as net profit iin online poker for me...I put in $35 Fri night and now have a lil over $150....maybe I can keep this up and make some good money playing this week...and since I actually have some money in the bank with more on the way, I don't have to immediately withdraw my winnings for once....I can actually work on building a bankroll...

Quote of the Day: "Aces are larger than life, and greater than mountains..." -Mike Caro

Lil Tilting on pokerstars

I didn't do too much playing last night, I more or less drank with Nate Dogg. But when we drink together and we don't have anything to do, we like to play cards, if you haven't already noticed this from my previous posts. So I hopped in another FPP satellite tourney and totally wasted my time, but I had some big hands and it was fun since we were having a lil to drink.
The whole time though we were watching Jacksonville Jaguars vs. Atlanta Falcons...All I got to say, is MATT JONES IS THE BEST...2 catches, 55 yards....did you not love that one-hand reaching catch for TD.
Nate also sent me $10 on stars when he went home...I am really good at blowing lent money quickly...I hopped in a $6.50 turbo and lost, then quickly lost the rest at a no limit cash table....later...hoping i can go play in the Conway tourney tonight!!!!Somebody help me talk my woman into it...its an investment of sorts....

Quote of the Day: " MATT JONES IS THE SHIT..."
- Anonymous

I'm A Donkey...

Last night sucked pretty bad for me. We had our mid-week cash game which we are now going to always try and have on wednesdays. We atleast had a good game, 6 strong most of the way through...Im not sure if I played shitty or if I caught bad cards but I didn't much. I would grind my way up to having a decent stack, and then I would get involved in a BIG hand that I didn't need in or I would get rivered! Sometime the river can be the worst, but sometime I keeps you in the game...its poker....I haven't have a good winning session in a week or so, not any horrible losses, just no good wins. I haven't even had a chance to play any online, well except wasting my FPPs on stars for those FPP satellite tourneys. So, last night I lost $50...i went to sleep before the game was over, but I think Big Phil was still on top, but Nate Dogg was making a beautiful comeback and had amassed a big stack.

Update

Sorry I haven't posted in awhile, I've been really busy since school started Monday and also trying to get everything done for my wedding. But I have been playing very little poker anyway, just because I simply haven't had the time.

I did however play in a FPP(frequent player points) buy-in tourney on Stars Sunday night. it was a satellite tourney for one of the events of the upcoming World Championship of Online Poker. There were 651 entrants when registration closed who started with 1500 chips and blinds at 15 min. intervals. I played almost mistake-free poker for the first couple of hours and at one point got up to 2nd and stayed in the top 10 for some time. Top 6 finishers got a seat in the tourney and number 7 got the leftover 650 FPPs from the prize pool. To cut it short, I got dicked on one hand that hurt my stack pretty bad and then I just hung around tryin to make it to 7 and finally ended up getting busted in 12th place...Don't get me wrong 12th out of 651 is a strong finish and in the usual cash buy in would have payed well...but to play for 4.5 hours only to get nothing kinda sucked...but enough complaining...

We also had a cash game last Fri night and believe or not I didn't do good...lol...I didn't lose much and what I did i lost to my buddy Justin Belew, for obvious reasons called simply Belew. he was long overdue for a winning night, as he has probably lost $500 easy in the last month at our game...but he comes for the love of the game and has un losing most of the time so its aight...Congrats Belew and i'll see you at the table tonight to redeem myself.

We are having a cash game tonight at the house, we are goin to try to make it a pretty regular thing to have one every Wed. night...i think Big Phil is coming down from Benton and prob bringing his buddy, so atleast there will be enough 'bank" at the table for a change...Anywayz, im out.....

Quote of the Day: " If you can't pick out the sucker at the table in the first half-hour, you are the sucker..." - Matt Damon in Rounders

Instant Bankroll

Last night was a good session of some online poker. I found this site www.instantbankroll.com that will give you $75 in real money for free on PartyPoker....you have to have never had a real money account on Party and you have to play atleast 500 raked hands to be able to withdraw any money...And when you get the 500 raked hands you get another $25 bonus, making a $100 total, pretty tight huh? Well, I did very good at the beginning of the night, with in an hour I was up from $75 to about $140. I 3-tabled $1/2 and $2/4 limit...But I got a bad streak of cards on my second sit down to play and hit a bad run and dropped to about $50....which I am pissed about, don't get me wrong, but I have played 275 raked hands so far, so only 225 more to go before I can withdraw and get the extra $25. So if I can keep any kind of bankroll, I should be able to get to 500 today or tonight sometime...So for anybody who kind find a way to do this, you should its worth it..its better to play ateast a 1/2 limit game, i hate limit, but it makes your money last longer I think...And to be considered a raked hand on Party it is any hand you are dealt into, you can fold, that has a pot size of atleast $5...There are so many fish in limit games, but man, if you catch cards you can take advantage of it.

And I had a hand I wanted to show you, but Im not sure exactly how to do that yet and I can't find the hand anymore. But I 22 in the hole and I'm in it with only one other guy, Flop comes JJ4 I think...this guy bets into me big and i call and the Turn is a Q, this time I bet and he raises and I know hes got the Jack, but I'm stupid and I call....Then the River, anabsolutely gorgeous Deuce....A Duck....filling me up and giving me the boat and I know i had it then and he played his set hard and I took down a big pot...Sometimes being a fish can be beneficial, but I don't recommend it.

Okay, Ive been playing at work and I just finished off my bankroll that I had left, but I have played over 300 raked hands now, only 200 left....Later..

Boring Game

Last night I tried to get a last minute home game together at the house. We started with just 4 of us and we decided to start things off with a little speed tourney. We all put up a BIG $5 and played until the winner for a total of $20. I won every hand for probably atleast the first 15 before anyone wanted to play with me. I was playing pretty loose, raising everytime from late position. And for the majority of the time when someone did call me down, I had the better hand and wasn't bluffing...Anyways, I got it down to heads-up play with Nate and had him covered 2-1 in chips, so he decided not to chop it, b/c I would only do a $15/$5 split, and that meant he just played for nothing, so he went for it...As fate would have it, I played a little stupid calling like all of his all in bets and he was catching cards and he came back and won it.

Then another player showed up and we had 5 for a cash game. the game was actually pretty boring b/c no one but me and nate was drinking and we just didn;t have much exciting action. We played for a couple of hours and I ended up coming out $5 ahead of what I had put in, which I see as a total waste of time, but it was a lot better than losing $20 or $40 like some. Thats all that went down last night; no online poker partly b/c I had to get to bed, and partly b/c I don;t have any money in my account right now.

Wedding planning...

I figured I would go ahead and post today even though I have no poker to report about. I didn' get a chance to play any cards last night because the night was devoted to time with my Fiance Jen. We went out to eat at Red Lobster and then we had a bunch of running around to do for our upcoming wedding on the 1st of October.

Quote of the Day: "You can't win if you don't enter.."
My dad always told me this, but I don't know who he got it from

No More Tunica, Back to Work...

My first trip to Tunica was a blast...I hated to see Monday come so quickly but overall had an awesome weekend. I went to Tunica Friday immediately after work with my buddy Craig and we met two others friends, Twitty and Joe, there. We went down for the beginning of the WSOP circuit event at the Grand Casino. I was very impressed with the setup and the organization of the whole tournament. I was in the casino from about 9:30pm Fri night to 6:20am Sat. morn. on my first visit.

As far as bankroll and profit is concerned, I came out about $35 ahead by the time I left late Sat. Afternoon. I went to play mostly poker and tried to keep from playin what i call "no win' games to increase my chances of making money. I did however play blackjack, and thankfully, because that is the only reason I had the little profit that I did. I also broke down and made one $10 bet on black on a roulette table and happened to hit and walked away.

Poker was fun, but not profitable...I never got to get in on any cash game action, mainly b/c I didnt have enough bank, but also b/c of the wait and the amount of "rich" fish playing in those games. I did however play in four $65 satellite tourneys. They were single-table tournaments with a winner-take-all prize of $550, but some of the times there would be a split of the pot when it got down to two. ( actually a lot of the time). I played in the my first one almost as soon as I got upstairs to the poker room @the Grand and took in all the sites. I was surprisingly nervous when I sat down at my table, amongst mostly older guys, with one younger Asian girl...i played extremely tight b/c everyone was playing anything. Sometimes there would be 6-7 people limping into a hand on a 10 person table. Regardless, I went all in shortstack with K something offsuit and got called by J 6 os, only to see a K and a J on the flop to give me a lead and then another J on the turn to give him his set...0-1...
I took a break and felt ready to grind it out when I started on my second. I again played prob to tight, and tried to make a move on the big blind...i had K9 suited and raised all in and two limpers folded and it got to the small blind..who was some kid(prob older then me) with his hat down low and dark sunglasses on with a grim look across his face as if he were at the final table of the WSOP main event...Anyways, to make a long story short, he called after thinking about for awhile with J8 offsuit. He hit an 8 on the flop and to make it worse caught four clubs on the board to give him a J high flush and put me out...0-2....
My third one was even more painful, b/c I played almost mistake-free and had built up a decent stack when it got down to 5. I was under-the-gun with AA....the best hand...and raised to 3 times the BB...couple of calls and a guy reraises me another 2BB..????what could he have?...wait, it doesn't matter I have AA, I move all in and he immediately calls and shows KK and I am happy to turn over AA....the flop was all blanks and the turn.....a K one of two left in the deck assuming that no one else had one..that sucked...0-3....
My last one hurt, but I was proud to have done that good...I built a massive stack early on, and made it two the final 3 easy...I got hurt on a couple of hands there until the guy to my left puts out No. 3 man...All I could think was split, but I asked him, and seeing that he has me about 2-1, he wanted to play it out...b/c of the blinds I had to move all in with crap and he high carded me for the win...So I went 0-4 in my poker tourneys, but got some good exp. and had fun..

Can't really describe blackjack, but I can tell you I had an awesome time playing and was catching everything and the dealers and pit bosses and the Grand and Gold Strike were all real cool...If you go to Tunica and you are goin to play table games, sign up for a player's card and eat "comped" food..I received a $40 comp to a nice rest. at Gold Strike after playing only 15-20 mins at a blackjack table with maybe $100 on the table, and in the time period, I made about $55...We ate "comped" food all weekend, it was great...

Also, went to Beale St. in Memphis with Craig and my fiance, Jen Sat night and had a hell of a time...Alright, for all of you that read all this crap, congrats, and I am done because I am tired of typing. All in all, an excellent weekend and can't wait to go back...

Big thanks to Twitty for "staking" me in two of the satellites I played in despite my failed efforts to win....

Quote of the Day: " It's not a gambling problem unless you are losing"
-Anonymous

$$$ 4 Tunica

Good morning to everyone, I hope that you morning is good, because mine is shit and I feel like shit....Thats what happens when you stay up late playing cards and don't set your alarm clock. Anywayz, last night was good for me, I had a fun time playing cards and won pretty good too.

We started off by playing a $5 speed tourney...we set the blinds a 7 minutes and it seems to go pretty quick, and its just a change from always playing a cash game all night. Jake, my bro-in-law won that he got lucky with me, i raised all in with A6s...he calls with K7os, and says "im tired of being pushed around" and of course hits a 7 that holds u to give him a 2-1 chip lead and put me out...

Then we played the cash game, and I promised my fiance that I would only buy-in for $20 and once that was gone I would quit...(i love you baby if you read this)....But I never had to even think about buyin in again...I built up a good stack and help it the whole time. I played a lil looser than normal last night, but I've been trying that lately and its paid off, and not being scared to bet big on a bluff, b/c the person sitting across from you might be just as scared to call, and you soon fin out.

Good night in the way of poker, but didn't get my shit moved out of the living room( we are having our wood floors redone) so I had to do that this morning after I already woke up late and was running 30 min behind.

But I bought in with $20 and cashed out with $69 so more or less I made $50 in 2 1/2 hours...know I have a little bit more money to go to Tunica on...pumped up about it....One of my buddies is already down there and said its pretty big for the event to have just started...let you know what happens by Monday or maybe Sat.

Quote of the Day - "If there weren't luck involved, I'd win every one..."
Phil Hellmuth -- 2004 World Series of poker

Don't stake me...

Last night started off good, but ended quickly with an early bedtime after losing the $13 the Nate Dogg provided me with. I started by playing a single table SNG and getting 2nd place...my bankroll was up to $23.45, which wasn't anything to write home about, but I had a little more breathing room...I decided to go to a ring game, but only play 50 hands(Nate Dogg's Advice)...after building up to a little more than $30 at a $.10/.25 NL table, my stack was hurt bad when my flopped nut str8, got drawn out to a higher str8...Then of course the rest is history, I was on tilt horribly and lost all my stack shortly...I tried to convince myself to never play on pokerstars again, but I will, prob tonight as a matter of fact. Later for now...

Home Game Grinding with a Royal flush....

Well, last night actually went well. I had a cash game at my house($.50/1) and actually profited. The guy that runs the Benton game and his buddy came down for the first time to my game to play. Both of them are very good players and are excellent at bluffing and betting in the right situations. They are looser players, but I don't think I can call them "loose" because they are very strong the majority of the time, but on the other hand they provide plenty of action.

I cashed in with $20 to start as well as the rest of the table. I lost that fairly quickly, and it wasnt until I had put a total of $50 in the pot, when I started to catch some cards. I was low and on tilt for atleast the first 2 hours, making bad plays and getting drawn out, but I grinded it out and came out ahead.

There were more than enough bad beats last night, but you are asking for that in a short handed game with loose players at the table. JJ vs JQ(all-in preflop) was slammed TWICE by the underdog by catching one of the 3 remaining Queens in the deck. I flopped top pair a couple of times with a medium pair and drawn out when I was called by two overs.

One hand that my brother-in-law won was noteworthy of details I believe:
It went down like this...He and another aggressive player were both in a raised preflop pot. the flop came... Kd,Kc,10d....Jake (bro-in-law) led out the betting with a decent bet and was raised and he then just called....the turn was an 8c or something small..Jake checks and the other player puts him all-in, he thinks for a while and then calls...The other player shows Kh/x for a set of Kings and a one card draw for a boat...Jake reveals Jd/Qd for a draw with many outs...The River was the Ad, giving Jake the ROYAL FLUSH and winning him the massive pot. This makes only 3 royal flushes I have ever seen in my life, 2 live and 1 online...

All in all it was a good night with killer action and some good play. I ended up only profiting like $20 but I had to grind it out to do that. I made some extra money for Tunica this weekend which is good and one of the guys from Benton went on a cold streak towards the end and left my house "down" which is uncommon, he was on tilt I guess; the other guy though did very well last night and left a happy man. Til Next time, Aces and Faces...MGD

Quote Of The Day - "You call, its awe ova baby!" - Scotty Nguyen, 1998 WSOP final hand

Single-Table Sit-n-Gos

Well, last night started off good but I couldn't keep a decent run going...I didn't have any money on Stars so Nate Dogg sent me $13 to see if I could do anything with it, an investment of sorts. I started off by playing a single table $6+.50 SNG on stars on got 3rd place, should have done better, but my QQ in the small blind got hammered by the BB A6os when the river slammed as Ace on the table...but I made about $4 profit, so I played another, and I got second...the guy had me covered and played KK beautifully heads up. So I had taken the $13 and turned it into around $27 in less than 2 hours, so I was feeling unstoppable.

Well, thing just when down hill from there...I hopped in a little $.10/.25 ring game and immediately lost $10 and got out, due to a bunch of ignorant fish on stars callin me with there meaningless cards but hitting them on the turn and river. Then i ended up losing the rest trying to build my bankroll back up playing some more SNGs. I was playing on TILT, just needing a win, not really wanting to play, so if you are ever in that situation, let it go for the night.

"It's Poker..."

Can't catch a card....

Well, I really sucked it up this weekend. I went to that game in Benton and it ended up being short handed which I didn't like, and the regular people weren't there. I only lost about $75, but i should have done better, I got gullied in a couple of hands b/c of people chasing some really bad bluffs and then catching 2 and 3 outers on the river to take the pot. I will continue to go to this game, b/c when I get on a good streak I capitilize my gains. Anywayz...

The internet was pretty cruel this weekend as well...Played mostly on Pokerstars and lost more than $50..I also was drinking while I was playing and I know that is not good and I do it anyway. Played in 3 50-90 FPP satellite tourneys for the WCOOP and couldn't get a good run goin, or make due with what I had. I get drawn out on Pstars more than any other site and I still play on there the most.

Didn't do much else in the way of poker... me and the rest of the crew couldn't ever get a home game together, hopefully we can mid-week this week so I can try and get some more money for Tunica this weekend.

So to wrap it up, I hate this game sometimes, and this weekend I really hated it bad...when I figure out how to post hands on here then I will start showing some of this crap...later

NL Hold Em

I am going to make the 40 minute drive to Benton tonight to play in a game with mostly older guys. Its just a $.50/1 game but there is more than enuf action for that level...I wouldn't necessarily call them "fish" but some of them play very loose and have the money to spend...Try to post my results tomm or for sure Monday....