No Limit on Inane Banter

Back in Black (cue ACDC)

2005-06-15T08:01:00.000-07:00

I’m back and would like to start posting again. If there is still anyone who still navigates to this site I will be most impressed, most likely I’m posting this only for myself.

I haven’t posted in nearly 6 months, but I’ve come around and would like to revive this dormant blog. I’ve been living in Dublin with my wife for nearly 3 months now, but I’m still able to get online and play on most weeknights. I’ve also enjoyed playing at the local casino – PL Omaha is the popular game here in Ireland so I go and play on a weekend night about 1 night every other weekend. I had a great night about 3 weeks when I was playing at the main table, I more than quadrupled my 500€ cash game buy in. Two big calling stations called my preflop pot raise to 435€ and thankfully I hit an ace on flop (didn’t matter I was committed anyway and was going allin on the flop) – they folded off their money and I only had one partial all-in guy to hold on against – I did and probably won one of my biggest in person pots in $’s – probably close to $2000.

Online I spent April and May trying to qualify for the World Series of Poker – man what a huge heartbreak! I got 2nd, 2nd, 3rd, 5th, 6th….everything but the 1st place I needed to get my buy-in to the main event. Only 2 times did I have a realistic chance for 1st place. The first time I got moved off the best hand, because of a rookie call by a player that I attributed to much skill to – he had A9 and I had 99 and he called off 35% of his stack – I figured I was beat and he was slow-playing, wow was I wrong…but of course w/ my luck I would’ve lost anyway because an Ace hit on the river – so the moral of the story is that you want to be playing me heads up w/ a WSOP seat on the line! The last chance I had was the most heartbreaking – I played a guy from Dublin heads up for over 45 minutes at one time I had 400,000 in chips to his 300,000 – I was playing excellent poker, but so was he – and then I got down to 275,000 and he overbet the pot and I was fooled into thinking it was a bluff and he took me down – I made a big rookie mistake, but I’ll live and learn. I definitely feel I’ve taken my fair share of heartache in tournaments lately – I was spending all of my cash game winnings in April and May, now that June has come around I’m back to my bread and butter and starting to make huge gains (helps to be consistently winning when you should).

I think I’ll take my brothers advice next year and focus on the cash games to build my bankroll and I’ll just consider buying straight into the WSOP. I don’t regret the 2 months of hard core tournament poker though, I improved my tournament game a lot and will be getting back into it when I return to the US in August – but for now it’s back to basics or as Chuck Knox, former coach of the Seattle Seahawks said, "Dance with who brung ya".

I’ve primarily been playing shorthanded NL cash game poker. I’m really enjoying the competitiveness of shorthanded poker and Bodog has been a great site for that. I like learning other people tendencies and feel I’m getting much stronger at pattern recognition – a skill that after 2 years of semi-professional play I feel is really coming around. I’m primarily hitting up the $400 cash games – usually 2 short handed and lately I’ve been playing a full ring game of $1000. Hard to pass these full ring games up when you get people pushing all-in pre-flop w/ AK for $850 and you autocall w/ AA.

I’ve also continued to bonus whore – I just finished the UB bonus by hitting up their new 6 max $200 tables – my preflop raises were averaging 20% for nearly 2000 hands – I was the complete LAG (at least preflop and on the flop – but eased up if I got played back at it) – but man was I getting action – I caught cards and won about $1000 plus the bonus – I consider these games my stress release while I play my serious games on Bodog (or occasionally PP – but PP has been slow for me lately – the games at the $400 and $600 level have seemed fairly tight lately – but I know that’s just me, overall I’m sure they’re still great) and they are very enjoyable. One guy quoted my game as, “one foot in the grave and one foot on a banana peel” – LOL – I loved that and will definitely reuse it. 2-3 players gave me very strong compliments and were afraid to enter pots w/ me – so I guess the reaction to my style ran the gamut.

I’ve been playing some PL Omaha at PS – I like the $200-$400 tables, but the swings in Omaha are monstrous, because it’s tough to ever be that much of a favorite on anyone – you can go up $1000 and back down quite easy – but I find it enjoyable as my 5th or 6th table. NL Hold-em at PS is very tough – most of the $400 and $600 tables have a 20-25% saw the flop % and that’s just too tight for my liking.

I will be back in the US from July 1-9th and hitting Vegas w/ my brother from Tuesday the 5th to Friday the 8th – I may try for the WSOP – but I have to come back to Dublin, so most likely I won’t be going for it, though I’d like to get my brother in.

I have been working on a “Poker Encyclopedia” in addition to my “NL Cash Game Details” document. The Encyclopedia is a way to model the different variables you face in poker – I have started it off w/ AKs and will try to attach some of the details in a later post – if anyone is interested feel free to email me at chadf1975@hotmail.com

Vegas Trip Part Three: Fontana's

2004-11-10T17:10:00.000-08:00

Saturday proved to be a little less fruitful than Friday. First of all, no hookers were offering me freebies. Second, I got my ass handed to me at the craps table. Why did all those 7s keep coming up at inoppurtune times?

I said fuck it, time to try something I can really control, like sports gambling. The sports book is the best place in the world for arm chair quarterbacking. Most of the people in there don't know jack shit about horse, football, or odds. The beauty is everyone has a tip. I usually just make some up, if asked.

Random dude-"Fuck man, is the SC/UW going to top the over in its game this week."
Faler(lying through his teeth)-"Well, last week they looked a little slow, I read(implies you read, hence are smarter than him), that Norm Chow(name dropping, even better as this is the offensive coordinator, so you really know what you are talking about) made some changes, so expect a higher scoring game(note, you don't tell him to take the over)." The end result is Joe Blow drops a few bones on the over. Guaranteed.

I placed one bet on Miami/NC St with Miami to cover. I figured Miami never loses to teams in the Carolinas and usually blows them out. This week was no different(note, Miami does in fact later lose to UNC this season). Then, I see UNM/SDSU. I take New Mexico to cover. Why, because State sucks, and they were on the road. Plus with the altitude... sure enough UNM 19-9 over State easily covering 5. Wow, an easy $80 right there.

After playing some poker, and watch DaGamer continually hit trips against retarded players who foolishly pushed anything over Ace high, I decided to go see if I could talk to some women who wouldn't charge me.

I ended up in Fontana's listening to possibly the worse band ever assembled. They had about 13 members and a string section. Strings might be imperative for the Wiener Philharmoniker, but for a band playing Foreigner and Styx they merely get in the way. The crowd really sucked too. Apparently, in the Bellagio you aren't cool if you act like you are enjoying yourself. You must sit down and look all tough and dour in your sport jacket. The band tried hard to fire up the lackluster crowd, however the cello solo during "Lady" inspired no one. Another point. The name. Some jerkweed with a degree in marketing probably thought the name Fontana symbolized class. How little do they know. Fontana, is in fact a city in Southern California. It has a racetrack. Jim Rome calls it Fon-tucky. At this race track they have a NASCAR race. So when I think of Fontana I think of NASCAR, which makes me think of Busch Light, which makes me think of Kentucky, which makes me think of trailer parks, and on and on. Notice nothing high class.

The night being a total disaster, I took off and called it an evening. Next installment, is about more Poker and some some sex advice from a cab driver.

Vegas Trip Part Two: Monica, The Personal Entertainer

2004-10-27T14:00:00.000-07:00

I sit down in a 4/8 game at the Bellagio. It is a full table. Lots of action. Not too many hands for me, however the guy sitting next to me kept bitching about people chasing and presumbably beating him. Ironically, I flopped a lowball flush, and this guy and myself were heads up. He bets, I raise, he calls. Turn nothing. He checks, I bet, he raises, I reraise, he calls. Flop nothing, he bets all in, I call. The bad news for me, I was assuming anything not a heart was nothing, alas my friend here had J10 in the pocket. On the flop was 10....the turn a J, the river a 10. Talk about chasing. He never bitched about that hand.

Sensing, limit wasn't doing it for me, I wandered over to the 2/5 NL game. I bought in for 200, hit trips once and walked away with about $275. In true, TJ Cloutier fashion I felt a visit to the craps table was in order. Lots of sports jackets at the craps table. Way too many in fact. Hey fellas out there, it takes more than a sport jacket to be high class. First, cut the porn stache. Second, try to use a word other than "fuck" in every sentence. Third, try to keep the jewlrey to a minimum.

Anyway, the action was fast and furious and I played for awhile. Overall, too many 7s were rolled and I went down about $200. Feeling sorry for myself, I traversed to a bar in the bellagio and ordered a shot of Petron. Meanwhile, this really trashy lady struck up a conversation with me. Her name was Monica. Apparently, her job is that of a personal entertainer which is loosely defined as someone who makes visits to hotel rooms and entertains. Apparently you call her dispatcher/pimp and she shows up. Apparently she wasn't working at the time, though definetely on call.

According to her she makes $2000 on a good night, and the Venetian is the worse place to entertain. I told her, I couldn't afford her services. However, Monica possessed some good sales skills and offered to buy me a drink at Caramel. So we went to Caramel and Monica bought me another Petron plus Coors light chaser. She mentioned among other things that she had two kids, a green camaro(like me), and was a native of Portland, Oregon etc....

A few minutes later her phone rang, and she was dispatched on a mission. I asked her for a ride back to my hotel and she glady obliged. For free too.

Next part......The Visit to Fontana's plus some Sports Betting

Vegas Trip Report Part 1.1

2004-10-27T10:43:00.000-07:00

This is "TheGamer's" contribution to the Vegas Vacation. I arrived Thursday night just ahead of F2aler and got instantly started in a 2/5 blind $100-$500 buy-in game (I came in for $400) at the Mirage. After about 3 hours of play I got down about $300 (but still kept rebuying my stack back to $400) - but won most of it back when I hit a set of Jacks against a guy w/ TPTK. This guy was a good player (he made an astounding call w/ Ace high when he thought a player missed his flush - and he was right) - because of this, he was able to get away from my monster hand - and only lost ~$150. Anyway - I ended the night up over $100 - so overall it was successful - but the game at the Mirage was pretty tight and wasn't as loose and rocking as the Bellagio game I had played months earlier.

F2aler arrived early Friday morning and we quickly set out for the Bellagio. I tried my hand at a $240 satellite to get into the $1000 Friday NL tourney. I ended up 4th out of 10 when I was shortstacked and pushed allin w/ Jh9h and got alled w/ A4 offsuite - he held up and I was busted - only the top 2 in the SNG got the buyin.

I then went and signed up for the 2/5 $200 (exactly) game and F2aler got into a 4/8 game. My game had 2 absolute fish (see F2's comment about morons) and I called for f2 to get into my game, unfortunately he got into a diff. game - that wasn't quite as rocking. One of the first hands I see when I sit down is one guy raised to $30 - and got one caller for $30. Raiser bets the flop that is Kc8c9d and then the pre-flop caller goes all-in. Raiser thinks for 2 seconds and calls. Preflop raiser has 2c6c (for a flush draw) and the other guy has Kd3s - utterly amazing they both played their garbage hands - and we're willing to go allin!! I knew right away this was a goldmine table. After that hand they both got all-in preflop plus one more guy - the 2 stooges had 88 and 99 the third guy had KK - of course the turn brought an 8 and the river a 9 - so the stooges were loaded (temporarily) w/ chips.

Then I get hand where I'm matched up w/ one of the stooges - I had about $500 in front of me at the time - and the guy raises to $20 preflop - I have TT and call. Flop comes KcTs2h - perfect board for me. Well to make a long story short we get about $300 into the pot and he bets the river (I have him correctly pegged w/ AK) for about $100 - I raise him all-in for about $275 more - obviously a monster bet - he sits and think about it for a minute - I then go get F2 and have him watch (an obvious tell I think I have a winner - but this guy is utterly oblivious). The guy then says - I bet you have me beat w/ 2 pair (oh if he only knew..) - he says he has to call though and flips over his AK for the loser. So this session was just made a big success thx to that big payoff.

Next report will contain my chat w/ Linda Keenan (author of PokerWorks) and playing NL w/ Mel Judah and just missing playing with Leonardo DiCaprio.

Vegas Trip Part One: Introduction

2004-10-25T23:57:00.000-07:00

I am going to attempt to cover my Vegas trip in Serial format. Each post will cover something different. This one is the introduction. Most our time was spent at the Bellagio engaging in various gambling activities. Some of the highlights:
1. The Bellagio has lots of prositutes. It is very bad when a 14-15 beer + several shots fellow says to himself, damn they are pretty ugly
2. Sometimes a prostitute will give you a ride(in a car) back to your hotel, if you are too cheap for a cab, and use some persuasion
3. 80% of the Bellagio male clientele feels the need to wear a sport jacket.
4. Some people play poker like morons.
5. Some people play poker worse than morons.
6. You won't make any money, unless your monster hands are against versus aforementioned morons.

That is all for now. Part Two Tomorrow, will be titled Monica, the Personal Entertainer. Stay Tuned.

Re-entering the poker universe

2004-10-11T16:41:00.000-07:00

Well, I haven't played too much poker lately, hence not much blogging, but here I am. Quite frankly the cards or whatever haven't been going my way. I seem to be finding myself holding second best all too often, and getting limited action out of my good hands. That of course is a recipe for failure. For example, a recent hand earlier today at .5/1 NL, I was holding KK and raise preflop to 5. Some guy doubles me to 10, I put him all-in. In variabialy he has AA, and I down a cool $60. Now, I know all the monday morning QBs out there will say, to drop the KK there. Generally, I agree, however from the play I saw at the table this guy wouldl likely have played QQ, and AK the same way maybe even JJ. I figure I had a 60% chance at the best hand of the possible hands he would of played that way. Unfortunately, I was wrong.

I must say as the online poker universe grows exponetially the amount of self proclaimed poker experts has grown as well. I wouldn't belive anyone who says they make $X a month especially if X is a large number, anymore than I would believe a finanical statement from Enron. Another thing to think about is that as poker booms, when will its bust be? I'm sure there are people out there right now figuring that poker will grow endlessly. To all of you, please give me a call, I have some tech stocks you might be interested in.

I'm back to the playing. Need to prep for Vegas in two weeks.

Rookie Night at No-Limit - Here's my Cathartic Attempt to Fix What Ails Me

2004-09-29T10:27:00.000-07:00

I’d like to write about the NL mistakes I made last night on 3 specific hands:

#1 Don't call a raise with an inferior hand (unpaired face cards - even if they are suited)
$2/4 NL $400 game on PS I was in CO ($400 stack) with QhTh and called the BB of $4. The SB raised up to $16. Here is where I made my first error – I have made it a rule not to call raises with any hands except pairs or AK. I violated this rule and called the extra $12 because I saw 3 players in ahead of me. Until I get better at playing these unpaired cards I can’t call raises – and even if I do – it’s usually not profitable. The flop comes Qd8d2h. It’s checked around to me and I bet $40 on a ~$70 pot. The SB (who raised initially) comes over the top of me for $65 more – I feel committed to the hands (even if he has an over pair I have 7 outs or roughly 25% chance of wining the hand. So $65 to win $280 is roughly 1 in 4). I was right about the overpair – the SB had AA – he held up and I lost $120. My call on the flop raise was accurate, however I don’t feel I should have called the pre-flop raise in the first place – that call precipitated me going down this path.

A) Don’t call raises with hands like KQs, QTs – not worth it until I can square myself away with how to play these hands.

#2 Don't slow play a set
$2/4 NL $200 game on PP I was in the BB w/ 77 and someone in middle position made it $10 – and there were 6 callers (gotta love PP). The flop came 9h7c2d – picture perfect board for my set of 7’s – so I check (this check is what I’m taking issue with – my attempt to trap players on PP – a violation I shouldn’t make, because players on PP usually aren’t good enough to know when they’re getting trapped – you’re better off just leading out with the best hand). So everyone checks around and the turn is the jack of hearts. I bet $35 (another error – I should have made a pot sized bet or at least ¾ - close to $45) and got one caller. The turn was the Ace of hearts. I check recognizing a backdoor flush has been made and the other player goes all in for $125 on the pot that is now $130. I think about it and call and he turns over Kh6h for the flush. Another mistake on my part when I call this all-in thinking he’s bluffing. This hand was riddled with mistakes – and I’m going to keep replaying this one in my mind. Here are the steps I’m going to take to fix this:

B) Bet out sets on PP – NO SLOWPLAYING (unless prudent when the board is one suit or 3 cards in a row – but even then I will bet out and see if I get raised to make my decision)
C) Bet ¾ of the pot or the entire pot when you have hit a set – don’t bet too little – make any one that will draw out on you (and they will on PP) – really pay
D) Don’t call all in when you check the flop and then get a call on the turn and a flush hits on the river

#3 Don’t Bet High Pairs on the Turn if you raised Pre-Flop ($20-$25) and you bet the Flop Big
$2/4 NL $200 game on PP I was in MP 2 w/ KK and I bet out for $15 (this is mistake #1) – from now I’m going to bet $20 and most likely $25 when I have high pairs so if people want to call me with inferior hands (and they will on PP) then they have to pay for it. I get two callers. Pot is now ~$50. Board is Qc9d4s I bet $35 (I need to bet $40-$45 here and get one caller. Turn is an 8. I check and player X bets $30. I raise him to $60 putting him on AQ and he calls. He only has $80 behind now. This was a foolish raise on my part – I should have called him down and folded if he pushed – even though PP players play horribly I need to respect his hand. I also need to watch the board as I missed the fact that a JT draw was made (big hint as to his hand…). Anyway I push on the river and he calls the $80 and turns over JT for the winner. With a high pair, from now on I will call someone down for smallish bets – I can’t get away from this hand, but it definitely isn’t a made hand and I need to make my losses less expensive instead of foolishly pushing this hand.

E) Bet bigger on JJ, QQ, KK and AA – I will start betting $25 and make weaker players pay if they choose to call.
F) Bet ¾ of the pot or the entire pot on the flop – if I get called, I will immediately slow down into check/call mode so I can get to a showdown if I think I may still have the winner. If I get pushed – I will get away from the hand.

Funny Story at Hollywood Park

2004-09-10T10:00:00.000-07:00

I stole this from the blog: http://cardsspeak.servebeer.com/ - but it's too funny not to share:

A quick post to recount one of the most memorable hands I've ever participated in.
Welcome to Hollywood Park, the place where the gambler's dreams can come true. Any two cards will do, no matter what limit you're playing. The game is $15-30 limit hold 'em, and you just sat down in a loose-passive game where most hands have 4 or 5 players seeing the flop.
You're in the big blind and watch as the pot is raised under the gun, and by the time the action gets to you, 6 players have called 2 bets cold. You throw in $15 and close the action, getting 15:1 on your call.
The flop: Kd 9c 6s
A young asian guy bets out, and a couple people call, include a middle aged black dude who keeps two dice on the table and rolls them periodically for luck. You chuck your trash hand, not catching a piece of the flop. There is now over $300 in the pot.
The turn comes the 7c, and asian guy bets out. Everyone folds to the dice man, who calls. The river is the harmless looking 2d, and asian guy bets, but dice man comes to life and raises. Asian guy looks puzzled and calls, turning over KTc for top pair. Dice man looks around the table, and rolls a 7 of hearts... and the 2 of hearts, scooping the $500 pot.
The table pauses for a moment, and the Asian guy awakes from his shock: "What the hell? How could you call with absolutely nothing on the flop?"
Diceman just stares at him.
30 seconds pass.
Asian guy: "That's the worst play I've ever seen!"
The rest of the table hears tapping on the aquarium and grows restless.
Diceman just stares at him.
Asian guy: (continues whining) "How could you call on that flop? Seven-deuce??? Worst play ever."
Diceman, finished stacking his chips, struggles with himself, showing a slight frown. He finally opens his mouth and calmly says,"That was not the worst play you've ever seen. Now look, I'm going to break my rule of not speaking at the table. I never speak at the table, but I feel like I have to explain why that was not the worst play ever. Now, you're not going to understand this unless you've jumped out of a plane before, but I'm gonna say it anyway... When you jump out of a plane, you have to trust your parachute."
The table sits in awed silence, and finally the asian guy says: "I don't understand what that means."
Diceman, getting up, says: "I told you, it won't make sense unless you've jumped out of a plane. You have to trust your parachute. And now, since I've broken my rule, I have to leave this table."
(groans from the rest of the players)
Diceman proceeded to sit in the $20-40 game and lose all of his money. Asian guy continued to call away most of his money, until he cracked my pocket kings by rivering a straight, at which point I was wondering what was wrong with my parachute.
Poker wisdom from Hollywood Park: You have to trust your parachute.

Home Games

2004-09-01T18:31:00.000-07:00

I'm off to play in a law school home poker tourney. I have some theories on how to be successful at these games(if you take pride in winning money from your friends)
1. act like you know what you are doing, use lots of poker terminology
2. play beyond aggressive
3. never, ever call

This assumes NL structure. You will get a few calling stations, but most people will be intimidated and drop strong hands into powerful bets. Some of the more astute players , will realize this and start calling you, this is where you can make it big if you hit your monster. Very rare will a newbie player take the initiative.

Some of my competitors read this blog, hopefully I haven't given them too many tips. I will report back tomorrow.

Theory of Poker Essays

2004-08-31T23:16:00.000-07:00

Here's a quick link to some good articles on Poker - scroll down to the bottom and you'll see 4 essays.

Poker Essays

More on tourney play

2004-08-31T15:34:00.000-07:00

One thing I noticed from the tournament last Sunday on Pac Poker was the impact of the increasing blinds. With the blinds increasing every 10 minutes, it becomes imperative to play super aggressive. I am sure this is common sense to any person who has played in any casino tournament. In the last hour of the Monty, I can only recall a few flops being played. If there is ever a Monty Part Deux, I would hope the blinds would go up a little slower, otherwise it just becomes an all-in fest, which does require a good deal amount of skill, however I enjoy playing at least one flop per hour too.

Thegamer made an excellent point in his previous post. Building on that, I believe any serious p0ker player needs to keep track of his/her play. If you think this is silly, imagine being a CEO and not looking at your company's past performance, or a football player and not looking at game film.

Unrelated point, a few of my law school buddies and I have started a blog title USD Law and Politics. Check it out, it is kind of like crossfire, but way better.

Setting Goals and Tracking your Play

2004-08-31T14:14:00.000-07:00

One skill I am working on is setting goals and tracking results on my poker play. The #1 stat to track while playing poker is money won or lost. This is a relatively easy thing to track, but you'd be amazed how many people neglect to track this. I have done $ tracking on an overall basis, but I need to work on getting better at tracking my $ game by game and on weekly basis (see this link if you want to see an impressive 3/6 limit performance http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/showthreaded.php?Cat=&Number=651145&page=0&view=expanded&sb=5&o=14&fpart=1 ). The easiest way I do this is through poker tracker http://www.pokertracker.com/ Problem is I play on Ulimate Bet a good amount and that site is a total pain to track hands.

I think if you play in person you should also start a log and track wins/losses. I started a tracking sheet in Excel, but need to get back to it when I finally get up to playing in person. If anyone has put together a good spreadsheet for tracking stats, post a comment. If anyone is interested in any of the spreadsheets I've used feel free to post a note.

There are other key stats to track, preflop raise %, Big Bets won/per 100 hands (a sub-stat of overall winnings), Showdown win % and there are others as well. Tracking these stats on a monthly or weekly basis will help give you some insight into how you've been playing.

Monty Memorial

2004-08-29T21:03:00.000-07:00

I managed to have a nice run in the tourney. I went out on QQ, to Iggy's AKs when he hit a straight. I finished 6th which I feel was a pretty solid performance for a tournament with players of this caliber.

Last night at a home game with players of much less skill, I went down in flames finishing 6th out of 12. The money started at 3rd. My general philosophy, in home games is to play super aggressive for if I win great, if not, there is plenty of beer to be consumed, and I'm not too keen on playing 6 hours to win $30. As our USD law school readers will tell you, I am damn near unstoppable in the USD Law School tournaments, with several "bracelets" to my credit. I exaggerate only slightly :).

This week, will probably not consist of much poker, though I will try to post. It is the dreaded on campus recruiting week, and writing cover letters, and such will consume lots of time. We are lucky enough to be getting a pretty solid showing of legal firms, though the word on the street, is that the San Diego legal market is about as robust as the market for Hybrid vehicles in Saudi Arabia. Any readers lawyers? Need a summer associate?

Seriously, the Monty was great fun. Thegamer and I are kicking around organizing one, and of course inviting everyone in the blogosphere, and additionally signing up some of our friends who love to play, yet haven't discovered the joys of online poker. I'm not certain what the name should be, maybe we should take suggestions?

Anyway, much thanks to Iggy for putting on a great tournament.

Inane Banter plays in the Blogger Tournament

2004-08-29T19:34:00.000-07:00

Iggy (Great Blogger, see link to the left) finally got Pacific Poker squared away and kicked off the 2nd annual Blogger only tournament. TheGamer finished 34th out of 77 and F2aler is currently the chip leader w/ only 13 people left (he's been white hot and has been taking names and kicking ass). My best hand was 1010 and I had to play that 5 way, when my chips were down to just 340 and the blind were 150/300. I didn't get a whole hell of a lot of cards...The tourney was fun though - playing an online tourney w/ good players is such a novel concept (compared to the ram and jam fest of Party Poker), but was a great time - especially the side chat (F2aler heard a guy ask where the nearest Wendy's was - very funny considering both of us ate their last night and in high school we made someone quit while working there).

Anyways - if you read this (all of 2 of you) and are interested in an online tournament - F2aler and I are thinking of organizing one like Iggy did. Just post your comments into this blog and if there's any interest we'll get it together.

UPDATE: F2aler is 3rd in chips w/ 10 to go - so he's in the money guaranteed a minimum of $30, but could win $460 for first.

For our few readers I apologize for the lack of posts. I was in Orlando all week for work and have been busy w/ house stuff lately. Played some NL cash on UB this weekend. Stepped up to the $5/10 NL $1000 game. I've been experimenting w/ that game a bit, but I'm definitely out of my comfort zone at that level. If I'm just playing 1 table I definitely like the 2/4 $400 game - much more conducive to my bankroll. I've been debating about multi-tabling $100 NL party games - I feel real comfortable on that limit and feel I can play 3 at a time. The players at that game are very subpar to most other levels so you can sustain a ton of bad beats, but on the other hand there's tons of money to be made, you just need a bankroll to sustain it. Problem is, I feel like a machine playing NL $100 (no reason to try any fancy moves - it will be lost on this level of player). So I go back and forth for the time being...

That's it for this ramble, talk at y'all later.

More Poker

2004-08-24T22:40:00.000-07:00

I have been away from the poker scene the past few days. Law School has started back up in earnest and my poker time has been slightly curbtailed. I was planning a grand sit and go tracking experiment, alas bad play by me, put a huge hole in my bankroll, so I've been struggling to win it back at the 1/2 NL tables on PS. So far so good. I need to win back about $200 more to continue to the trial. Until then it is suspended.

I will post more soon.

Vacation Update

2004-08-21T13:07:00.000-07:00

I haven't played poker much lately, explaining the dearth of posts. Last night was the high school reunion and it was quite a festival. Some large amounts of alcohol were consumed and only one person was escorted out by security. Thegamer organized it and he did an excellent job. His best accomplishment was passing the torch off for the 20 year to someone else. I am loath to post pictures, however, my prom date senior year and I took a recreation of our dance photo from 1994 and I am debating posting a now and then shot. This will show our younger readers what they have to look forward to.

Overall, I'am quite impressed with our class. Many people from school have successful careers and/or families. On a slightly political note, our high school is an average public high school and I think all the Cassandra's out there predicting doom and gloom for America's school's should be rightfully ignored.(Our professor friends at the right coast, as expected, have numerous posts whining about public education). There is a lot more to education than a fancy campus in La Jolla or gaudy SAT scores.

All that aside, my gambling career will resume tomorrow with the online tournament. Also, coming up soon, Anna Furniss reports a gambling story involving "the most white trash casino in Tahoe", this will be a good one.

Finally, I finally got my summer grades. No one will be shocked to learn I got a rather mediocre grade in Professional Responsibilities. The good news is I did quite well in evidence, so I will be fully competent to defend myself when I am charged with ethical violations.

Pillaging at Party Poker - One Man's Story of Mild Success

2004-08-20T10:35:00.000-07:00

Ok, time to share some positive results. Lately I've switched to multi-tabling NL $100 tables at Party Poker, been playing 3 ata time lately. It's definitely a different game than UB $200 and $400 where I was playing most of the time. Obviously the PP $100 is a lower limit, but more than that the players are infinitely less sophisitcated. Many of the "moves" I try (w/ mild success I must admit) are for the most part worthless on PP - as people love to ram and jam their stacks. Playing technically sound poker on Party is definitely the way to go as people love to see flops and calling raises is a way of life (It's a calling station nation!).

So w/out further ado here's some stats from the last week on PP NL$100:

Total Hands 1,297
Amount Won $330.15
Big Blinds won/100 Hands 6.32
Went to Showdown % 18.9%
Won at Showdown % 55.93% (this # is a little low - I must have paid off a few too many peeps)
PF Raise % 6.63% (on UB this # is consistently 10-12% - I don't bother bluffing/raising much on PP - just not worth it w/ all the fish)

Now included in the $330 amount won is a big suckout/bad beat on my part when I called a big bet w/ JJ preflop to QQ and I hit a J - so my win rate should be lower - but...the same thing happened to my QQ to 88 when I was a big fav. post flop. So it evens out - but it doesn't excuse my bad play w/ the JJ - I won when I shouldn't have. As you improve your game you'll learn that as a good player in a NL cash game you shoud rarely ever bad beat someone. If you start doing that w/ any consistency you have (no doubt about it) a significant flaw or hole in your game.

So my PP account is back in full swing. I would really love the PP tables if the NL blind structure for the $100 game was .50/100 (just like UB & PS) instead of $1/$2 - but wth I'll adapt as the quality of play on PP is just nowhere near UB and PS.

Worse Poker Play, Ever

2004-08-18T00:15:00.000-07:00

An allusion to the comic book guy in the title......Here is the scenario...Sycuan, cash game. As it currently sits, there is approximately $50 in pot, and the turn has just landed, and it is the third club. The first player to act ponders, and moves all in for around $70. The second player quickly folds. The third guy, can barely contain his exuberance, he not only moves all in for around $80, additionally he flips over his cards revealing the nut flush. Little did he realize, that the gentlemen to his left, wiped his brow in relief, as he held the king high flush and was saved a potentially expensive call. Oddly, the initial all-in player had the J high flush. Lesson to all poker players, and paraphrasing, Winston Wolf, "dont start fellating yourself too early".

Collateral Estoppel makes reference to a great show today. I think the family guy is great. My favorite character is Stewie. However, I strongly disagree when anyone, even remotely compares the Simpsons in their prime to Family Guy. Nothing with maybe the exception of Seinfeld at its peak comes close to the Simpsons at theirs. And if you are ever on PS and see "Brian" from FG out there, it is Thegamer. As for my icon, I am Borat. If you have to ask who Borat is then you need to watch this show.

I am still on a poker break.......

Back from the Beach

2004-08-17T18:41:00.000-07:00

I just arrived back from Lake Chelan Washington where I spent 3 days w/ my wife, family and friends. Our activities constituted:

#1) Consuming vast quantities of Coors Light (amazing how many you can drink when it's 95 out)
#2) Laying around by the lake (when we weren't riding waverunners)
#3) Cleaning off ash (I thought Mt. St. Helens had re-erupted w/ all the ash that blew over every afternoon from multiple forest fires in the vicinity)

All told it was a fun trip, minus the ash and sleeping in a tent on the ground (I'm already getting too old for that). My poker posts will be thin the next few days and f2aler and I prepare for our class reunion and I get back into my real job. Anyways I'm alive and will post something witty in the next few days.

Don't Fear the River

2004-08-17T14:35:00.000-07:00

I love it when launchcast gives me post title ideas. For our younger readers or non-classic rock fans check this song out. Well, the sad news I am fearing the river, as it has been my reaper lately. I am taking a poker hiatus of a few days to get some other things done, and I might not play much until the much awaited Monty Memorial Tournament this sunday on Pacific Poker. Quite frankly, I have been playing rather poorly these past few days, so I need to sift through poker tracker and try to isolate my mistakes and additionally catch up on some poker literature I have neglected lately. I will probably try to post some preliminary results from my poker tracker and maybe a non-poker post in the next few days before I go on my brief vacation on Thursday.

Another Law Student/Poker Player Blogger

2004-08-16T09:57:00.000-07:00

In what I consider to be one of the wittier titles for a poker blog, Matt from Chicago has one named Collateral Estoppel. He writes mainly about poker, the law, and Chicago Cubs. For our non law school/lawyer readers, collateral estoppel is a legal term sometimes also referred to as issue preclusion. Essentially this means once an issue is litigated between two parties(in a civil suit), it cannot be relitigated in a subsequent suit. See F2aler's Civ Pro Outline. There is also a similar doctrine known as Res Judicata, known as claim preclusion, which essentially means that a plaintiff must join all claims against a particular defendant that arise out of the same transaction, or series of related transactions. Ibid.

Very fascinating stuff. Anyway, add Matt's blog to your never ending list of legal and poker blogs, if you so desire. After all the blog universe is much like the law, quid pro quo. I'm off to work, where I will have little to do, so I should get some solid poker in.

The Cure

2004-08-15T23:48:00.000-07:00

It is good to hear one of the greatest bands of the recent era is still going strong. This band of course is The Cure. I went to their concert in June of 1992, and I think I still remember the entire set list to this day. I remember telling all my grunge obsessed friends that the Cure would far outlast the Seattle music craze, and getting strange looks, and being told that Robert Smith is gay and had "no sack"(number 1 is certainly untrue as his wife is probably hotter than anything us non rock stars could attain and number 2 is somehow a reference to his music not being tough). Now I'm sure most Seattle grunge era bands would be happy to play the hip the Native American Casino tour and serve as the opening act for Journey or Loverboy, while the Cure continues to tour in major venues(not as a nostalgic Styx or Chicago-esque act either). Thegamer is on vacation, so I am filling up his workload. I'll probabaly add the link to the Cure's website to non poker links on the left sometime soon. Final note, my links are all to Yahoo! launchcast, artist sites. For the record, I think launchcast rules, you should check it out.

Sycuan Report

2004-08-15T18:03:00.000-07:00

I am going to start something new here. I am going to attempt to report on various cardrooms/casinos I visit. The first victim is Sycuan Casino, located in El Cajon, CA about 20 miles east of San Diego. Basically to get there from San Diego you hop on I-8(or the "8") head East to El Cajon, take the El Cajon Blvd. exit, hang a right on Washington Street, then follow the signs. Overall it is about 15 minutes from the freeway exit. If for some reason you do not desire to drive, you can take the San Diego Trolley to stop #13 on the Orange line, and the good folks at Sycuan have a shuttle to pick you up, and take you to the casino.

When I first arrived yesterday, being a little hungry my first stop was to the buffet. It was a little pricey, $13.95 for dinner, however the food was rather edible. For that price I managed to consume some prime rib, chicken, some sort of tortellini, salad, and ice cream. It is not fine dining, however it was at least comprable to Bally's Buffet in Vegas. With a 5 being exquisite cuisine worth waiting in line for, and 1 being be sure to grab a bag of Wendy's on the way, I would give the buffet a 2.5. There is another deli, that seemed pretty mundane, but I will try to check it out next time.

The overall gaming floor is pretty much dedicated to slots. There are a few table games such as pai-gow, blackjack, etc....but I would estimate at least 75% is dedicated to slots. There is a lone craps table open from 6 pm to 4am. From what I have been told, dice games are not legal in California, so apparently this craps somehow involves a deck of cards. I have not seen it played yet. Avid "inane banter" reader Lee Patajo has played craps in California and knows how the game works, and I will try to get the 411 from him and update this post accordingly.

Some other interesting tidbits about Sycuan is that it is alcohol free. This can be a good or bad thing. For a poker player/drunk like me, it can be a good thing as it keeps me sober at the table. However, if I was there with some non-poker playing friends, I would find blackjack almost unbearable without a bud light or watered down vodka cran in hand. Also, the age limit is 18. This makes San Diego a wonderful place for the under 21 set. You have Tijuana for drinking, and Sycuan for gambling. All under a half hour away. And to think I drove to Vancouver, BC(150 miles) when I was under 21 to drink. Furthermore, most of Sycuan allows smoking. For some reason, the general indoor smoking prohibition in California does not apply to Sycuan. Thankfully, the poker room is non smoking.

Lets get to the poker. The poker room is fairly large, I would estimate it has at least 20 tables, ranging from limits of 2/4 to 6/12, hi/lo 3/6 omaha game, 1/2 $100 NL, and 2/4 $200 NL. I played about 6 hours over the past few days of $1/2 NL and to be frank I wasn't too impressed with the skill level. Lots of wild all ins, crazy ass calls, and the typical mullet player "f*ck-it-i-dont-care-if-it-is-stupid-im-playing-this-because-i-didnt-drive-all-the-way-to-sycuan-to-fold" attitude. For example, I was at the cut-off, holding KK, and there was 4 callers in front of me, I made it $20, and 3 mucked, one dude went over me for all in for $40. I thought for a sec, and called. Half expecting to see limped AAs, he flips over A6x. As I am congratulating myself, I barely saw the A hit on the turn, and watching $40 down the tube. Aside from that my cards were fairly weak, and I ended up down $75 for the weekend. The rake is a little steep, for every flop seen regardless of amount in the pot, Sycaun rakes $3. On small pots(which there are some) this is an large percentage, making it imperative to win the big pots to show a profit.
As you play poker, you can get a comped meal, and sodas/coffee etc.. are free.

Sycaun has a wide variety of tournaments available. I played in the $13 buy in NL tourney with $10 rebuys for the first 30 minutes, plus a $10 add on. I had miserable cards, but I managed to stay alive, steal some blinds, and win an all-in hand, however in the end the ever increasing blinds did me in. I finished 21st out of 170. The money started at 12. With a little more luck, I would have had a shot at the final table. Similar to the cash game, very, very poor play. This is a winnable tournament for decent players. Though, the blinds increase so fast, you do need some cards to make it happen. You can't be too tight, or the blinds will eat you up. I believe the total prize pool was $5600 and the winner took home around $2K. Sycuan's tournament calendar can be found on their website.

In conclusion, as far as Sycuan goes it is an average Native American run casino. It has some strong points, smoke free poker room, and weak poker players. And some weaknesses such as high rake, too many slots, and no alcohol. If you are on a visit to San Diego, and are sick of the faux surfers, general riff-raff and silicon breasts at the beach, I would recommend a visit to Sycuan.

SNG Update

2004-08-14T14:45:00.000-07:00

Not good for now. Basically, here is what happens, some guy, plays a lot of hands and builds up a stack, while I piddle around with usual tight-aggressive play. I end up in several heads up battle with loose player extraordinaire Example...I raise 2x BB to 800. I get a call from LP on the button. Flops hits pretty good for 2510 rainbow. So I bet it out at 800, lightening call. So, I am pretty certain he has a 10. Yet for reasons fueled by my anger, I decided to try see if I can knock him off it. Next card is a 2. Hmm....so I push harder, 1000, quick call. Now with essentiually no chips left, I say screw it(not what I said, trying to keep the blog PG), another blank hits and I go all in. Sure enough call, over turns Q10 of hearts. I never would of have made the initial call. So here is my proposition, is card selection highly overrated. Just call a bunch bets on the button and hope the best . Will this work?

I will give these loose callers some credit. They are so filled with optimism. They always think that runner flush is just two hearts away, or that 710x, is really just 40% of a Full House. Whereas, I think of reasons to much hands, they materialize reasons to stay in. Resolved: I will try to play a few games, extremely loose: this will include....playing almost all aces, never folding blinds to 2x raise, and pretty much playing everything on the button. And oh yes, I will be extremely passive, lots of calling. Lets just see what happens.

Unfortunately, I won't execute this experiment tonight. I am off to Sycuan for a little no limit tourney action. $10 buy in with some rebuys. This should be fun......

Finally, a shout-out to our newest readers. First of all, Anna Furniss snowboarder/surfer/trekkie/aspiring poker player/law student extraordinaire. And also to Charlie May, another law student and asprining poker player(and quite a car expert too). There are more, but hey this isn't the diamond vision so I can't list everyone at once.

F2

Tilt-a-rific

2004-08-13T09:53:00.000-07:00

I can never really pin down exactly what a tilt is. However, when I play poorly, get some bad breaks, and then deal with a faulty internet connection, that pretty much is a tilt. The only known cure is a quick shot of Grey Goose(ok, I'm exaggerating, Smirnoff really) and doing something else for the time being.

I am working on summarizing my month's tally for SNGs. I am trying to keep it isolated to 1/2 tables at $10 buy-in. I have done some omaha games, but I will probably remove those from the analysis, once I figure out poker tracker fully.***on edit: poker tracker does not track non holdem hands so this point is moot***

Fully agree with the bad beat post. Bad beat stories are like fishing stories(or bar stories). You know, I would of caught the world's largest Bluefin only if, my line didnt break., or I would of hooked up with that supermodel, only if her friend didnt make her leave. In poker, it is I would have won 1 trillion dollars if that 3 of clubs hadnt hit on the river. Whatever. I vote for a total prohibition on BB stories here, unless they are told in a compelling manner. I am back to work, er playing poker.

So you got a Bad Beat Story to tell me?

2004-08-12T16:49:00.000-07:00

Ever get tired of people telling you their bad beat stories over and over? (I'm guilty of telling too many myself on occasion, but working on ridding myself of constant complaint) If you are, then this post on the 2+2 forum is for you. To add some context this guy was responding to some dude complaining about how his 97 lost after a flop of 973 when the turn came a 6 the river a 3 and dude #2 won w/ AA and the river counterfeited dude #1.

DISPATCH: "WE GOT A ONE-NINER-ONE, OVER...LOOKS LIKE A BAD BEAT STORY AND POSSIBLE HATE CRIME, OVER."

BAD BEAT POLICE: "I'M OVER IN THE SMALL STAKES FORUM, I'LL BE RIGHT THERE, OVER."

------------------------------------------------------------

PEOPLE HAVE 1 OF 2 REACTIONS TO YOUR BAD BEAT STORY:

1. THEY DON’T CARE.

2. THEY ARE HAPPY.

PLEASE POST YOUR BAD BEAT STORIES AT www.RIVEREDAGAIN.com AND QUIT CLUTTERING UP MY FORUM.

-BAD BEAT POLICE

P.S. YOU OWE ME $1.

Billy Beane of Poker where art thou?

2004-08-12T13:35:00.000-07:00

For those that don't know Billy Beane is the GM of the Oakland A's. See Moneyball. I am looking for a stat or some series of stats that can be used to evaluate play over a period of time. Usually when you ask someone, how are you doing in poker, they will say I am up $X or down $Y. This of course is meaningless really, as it merely summarizes his recent performance and gives no indication to how well one has been playing. Even more so, it isn't really indicative of performance....i.e. I win $100 with a $100 bankroll, is better than $100 with $500 bankroll(think return on equity, or in this case return on bankroll or ROB for short). Or one could of have played more hands, or at higher stakes and so forth.

What I am seeking, is some stat where I can say, where I am down $200 for the week, but if I keep playing like this it will turn around. There is a corollary example in baseball relating to pitchers. As shocking as it may sound, ERA is a rather worthless stat. It has somewhat limited future predictive value, and is more subjective than most people believe. When evaluating a pitcher for future performance(which is all that matters, Kodak might have a been a good investment in 1945....catch my drift) here is what matters:
1. strikeouts per 9 innings
2. BB per 9 innings
3. HR per 9 innings
4. GB/FB ration(want more grounders)

Baseball prospectus is a great site for this, some of it is still free. Any serious fan should check it out.
Everything else is not predictive. This is what I am looking for in a poker stat. Any suggestions appreciated(obviously, if someone has the answer, they won't be eager to share......)

In an attempt to double our readership (from 1 person), here's me "Pimping" Inane Banter

2004-08-12T10:23:00.000-07:00

My humble attempt to get someone to check out our drivel (TheGamer posted this at Guiness and Poker)...

I've been a loyal reader of your blog for the last few months and I am impressed with the quality of your posts. I especially like all of the links to poker articles you put in, I make this my first stop for finding out what's new in the poker world. I have a group of friends (we're not trying to be the Crew - wouldn't want to be...) who consistently play online poker and enjoy commiserating on bad beats and occasionally sharing winning stories.

Anyways...a friend and I have just started (our posts are quite random, but that's the beauty of it) a poker blog, www.nolimitbanter.blogspot.com and would love it if you get a chance to check it out and or "pimp" the site on your blog. I primarily play NL cash games w/ a $200 or $400 buy-in and my friend sticks w/ low limit, SNG's and occassional multis.

Either way I'm planning to sign up for the Pacific Poker tournament and will encourage friends to do the same - I had an old account, but I'll try to create a new one to spread the bonus love (using your link) to a fellow blogger.

TheGamer

**************************************************************

World Blogger Tournament - hosted by Guiness and Poker (poker blog) - if you're a reader check out his link and consider signing up - TheGamer is going to sign up for this later tonight....

I've picked a date for our overdue World Poker Blogger and Their Readers Tournament. This tournament is open to EVERYONE. Poker bloggers versus the readers. Otis, from Up for Poker, won the last one and will hopefully be able to defend his title. Trust me, folks, you haven't lived till you've seen Scott, Pauly and Al table-talk in the same tournament. Do yourself a favor and give it a whirl. It's worth the chuckles.Sunday, August 22nd, 9pm EST.Let's make it a $20 entry fee, shall we? This will be played on Pacific Poker. Please, have a heart and sign up with my link to play. There are no bonus codes on Pacific - so you must use my link to sign up if you don't have an existing account there. For the record, I was hoping my man, Dann, was going to do a guest post about playing there because he is absolutely crushing the SNG's.Here's the deal for signing up. You need to email me with your Pacific Poker username and email address by Thursday, August 19th to participate. I have to submit everyone who wants to play to support at that time. I will double-check this time, I swear, to ensure that everyone who wishes to play, can. Promise.

Limit Poker

2004-08-12T10:13:00.000-07:00

Regarding Tim's comment on 4/8 limit, my main advice would be to analyze what type of game it is. If the game is passive-loose, lots of calls, but little raising(esp. preflop), this means you can loosen up your card selection and play hands such as 67s and other suited connectors as they will pay off when you hit them. In my humble opinion, passive loose limit games are your best money makers, as you can see a good amount of flops fairly cheaply. All the rules about position still apply. The more common game seen esp at Diamond Lil's(origin of mullet player) is the aggressive loose(mullet play if you will). This game seems to be the one you described at Parker's(is that on Aurora?). The only answers I can give you for this is:
1. like chad said, get a large bankroll
2. if you are early, or even early mid-position, I would strongly suggest never calling preflop, either raise or get the hell out(notable exception, is if you have AA, you can call, usually a mullet will raise out of principle, and you can knock it to 3 bets. ***on edit*** 8/16: I'm not certain now, whether you really care how many people see the flop(when you are holding AA) with you as long as you get the maximum bets in the pot. Regardless of how many people there are you are still the overall favorite(relative to others). The objective is to win the most money, not the most hands. More on this later.
3. hands like QJx, KQx, pretty much anything unsuited except AK are worthless
4. most of your hands should be late position
5. don't ever, even think about, consider, or contemplate bluffing

A good book to reference on this is Lee Jones winning at low limit poker, mentioned in an earlier post, I'm not sure how to link to my own post, but it was the other day.

Variance Defined

2004-08-12T08:32:00.000-07:00

Tim's comment got me thinking about the inescapable monster in poker known as variance. First off though, to win at poker you must adhere to the following rules (but you will still be subject to variance - I will explain just bear w/ me)

#1 Exploit situations where odds are in your favor
#2 Act creatively when the situation calls for it (bluff occassionally)
#3 Know your players as it affords additional information on how you maximize your EV (Expected Value) for points 1 & 2

Here is a hand last night I encountered while playing UB NL $200. Online I primarily am concerned with rule #1, I occassionally employ rule #2 and am building my poker tracker database (rule #3) to build a library of data on fellow NL players.

Hand #1

(10 handed)Hero (me) ($200) MP +1 (middle position) ($50)

Preflop: Hero is MP+2 with Ah, As. Hero raises to $7, Button calls for $7, SB folds, BB folds, MP+2 goes all in for ($50) Hero calls $50, Button folds.

Flop: ($110) Qc 7c 10h Turn: 8h River Kc

MP+2 turns over 3c5c for the flush and cracks my AA

The point of this story is not really illustrated by just this one example - it's through a series of similar situations. I had the same situation happen last night against another guy who had Qh4h against my AA (i'm a 83.3% fav. preflop) and I lost to a flush again. Against the 3c5c I'm a 81.1% fav. preflop. I also had two more all-ins on the flop where I was a 52% CardPlayer - where I get my stats and 50.5% (very slim favorites I know, but I was putting them all-in and forcing them to call) - and I lost all 4 situations last night when I was everywhere from a huge favorite to a minor favorite. In fairness I did win one big all-in hand where I had KK to AK (I'm a 70% favorite). Overall I was down for the night - but the key here is give me those situations to do over again I will do the exact same thing.

I adhered to rule #1 and exploited situations where my hands were favorites. Problem is variance reared its ugly head and I lost mainly when I was favored. Variance can be very ugly depending on the limit you play. I've read many articles that say if you play even $3/6 or $4/8 you should have roughly 300-500X the big bet so anywhere from $1,800 to $4,000 - just for these seemingly low limit games. Cards are very streaky - when things are going bad you can bank many losing sessions in a row, the key though is to follow the rules above (online rule #1 is key and 2&3 can be interjected sporadically).

The easiest way to address the problem of variance is to play w/ a big enough bankroll. One of the big issues people have is not setting aside a large enough bankroll. If you intend to play seriously - keep your wins in a separate box or isolated from your spending money as this is your bankroll (trust me variance will bring you back down, but hopefully not all the way :) Only when you've banked enough wins to allow you to keep a substantial bankroll can you begin to address the variance problem.

Enough rambling - any questions/comments always appreciated.

Feedback

2004-08-11T23:25:00.000-07:00

We've been doing this for 3 days now and received some feedback. I thought I'd share some of it. I am paraphrasing so if I misquote you, T.S.

Tom Faler aka f2aler senior sez: "it sounds like a 20 something soapbox"
Ryan Devereux sez: "awesome, I love finding diversions from work"
Tim Malone sez: " this site has as much back patting and self congratulatory quotes as ESPN 25th anniversay special"
Ed Jackson sez: "he may chime in with his own stories of mullet play"

In response , I say:
1. yes, true, but if it isnt good, the I'll say the apple didnt fall far from the tree
2. thanks devo
3. we are way funnier and relevant than craig kilborn
4. can't wait to hear them, ed

Thanks for all the input.

Poker Math Whizzes of the World Check this out

2004-08-11T19:57:00.000-07:00

What are the odds of this happening? Out of five hands, get AA pocket three times, win all three at the SD, including one with trips and one with quads? Pretty sizeable haul, put my in first in two different SNGs.

Playing Position

2004-08-11T16:03:00.000-07:00

First of all, I have an online poker observation. It seems that whenever a player is on a roll, the chat room is filled with self-congratulatory quotes, however when his/her luck turns, it is bad luck, a rigged server, phone call from friend distracted etc...I've also noticed that **everyone** in online poker is some combination of the following according to themselves:

1. Genius
2. Multimillionaire
3. Hot wife
4. Extremely cut
5. Highly decorated military veteran

Strangely enough my recent trips to Viejas and Sycuan Casinos(San Diego County), I can tell you 1 & 2 are doubtful, 3 not a snowballs chance in hell, 4 no way, 5 undetermined.

Prelude aside, the meat of my post is quite short. In SNG it is imperative to steal blinds. Obviously, the best time to do this, is either on or close to the button. Usually my strategy is raise 3X the BB, then bet out the flop if there is only one caller. If both blinds called, different story, pretty much need to hit something. I don't think it really matters what hand you do this with, it could be 24x or AKs. It is all psychology. Certainly some hands are better than others, but in the long run, you are playing the odds that the caller(if he calls) doesnt have an overpair, nab top pair, or have a gut feeling you a bluffing. Also, good chance they will all fold and you've bought yourself a trip around for free. All the odds of this are found on our links to the left if you wish to check it out(I confess, I cannot rattle them off from memory).

NL Cash Game Stats - AA & KK

2004-08-11T15:00:00.000-07:00

I posted a screenshot on how I play AA & KK in a $1/$2 NL $200 table online (in person is similar but I usually play tighter when at a casino). This is only the first tab in a spreadsheet I'm building that will explain how I play categories of starting hands preflop. Right now I've divided hands up into Group 1 - AA & KK, Group 2 - QQ & JJ, Group 3 - 10's-7's, Group 4 - 6's-2's and Group 5 my playable unpaired cards. I am planning on sticking to this strategy (as close as possible) over the next few months and tracking my progress on Poker Tracker. I will periodically post updates on how I'm doing here on the blog.

I haven't yet finished all the preflop spreadsheets for all groups, I'm currently on Group 4 at the moment (atm) and hope to finish the pre-flop component of this in the next month and then move on to post flop play (where the scenarios are endless).

The colors below relate to the spreadsheet jpg I posted on Aug. 10th and are the notes I have made where divergences in play (for me at least) may occur or I wanted to add in some clarification. Any comments on my undertaking would definitely be appreciated!

YELLOW - Note that when opting to raise with Kings or Aces, very rarely will you raise too much. The normal error a novice makes in a NL cash game is raising too little and allowing people behind you to come in with inferior hands.

TEAL - Every one of these early position calls is made with the hope that someone acting behing you will raise to more than the big blind. If the big blind is raised and you have a 2nd chance to act (Cycle #2 Pre-flop) then you should raise 3-6X the amount of the raise (you raise more depending on how many callers there were)

GREEN - 4th, 5th and 6th position with KK or AA is tricky if there are no callers or only 1 caller. Personally I like to limp and call the blind still hoping for a later raise so you can pop them back, but you can also raise it up here. The decision you make here is definitely a matter of your personal style and your ability to throw away KK or AA after the flop hits (when no preflop raising occurred) and there is a lot of postflop raising and/or rerasing.

ORANGE - A call here (the reason you may call is hoping for a bigger raise in a steal attempt from the 7-9 positions - if you don't get a raise from behind you should play this big hand cautiously on the flop) is definitely risky and depending on your risk tolerance a raise in this spot is usually the safer and/or smarter move. Raise 2X3 timesthe original raise if you feel like going the safe route.

insomniac poker alert

2004-08-11T01:05:00.000-07:00

Lets see it is 105 am and I am still plugging away at some sit and go's on PS. I pose this question to the peanut gallery: What is stupider, calling an all in(approx 1100 out of 1800 left) to a board of QhJh4d holding KsQs, or signing up for a SNG(forever now my acronym for sit and go) omaha hi/low limit, thinking it to be a NL game? I'm voting for the former. I keep telling myself there is no way he played "that" for "that amount" in "that position". I am often shocked(not really) when I see a QsJd flip over. Tonight I made two mistakes which cost me dearly: I called too many all-ins with top pair and I slow played good flops with only top pair.

The good news is I am still alive in omaha SNG. Incredibly, on one hand I was trying to go low, and some how won high with pocket 4s. So far, I am doing ok. I will try to post on omaha later, as I find it an intriguing game. Quick note, just wheeled it, winning a huge pot. I love this game! Anyone who nows of a blog/site devoted to omaha please send it my way.

some non poker links

2004-08-10T22:39:00.000-07:00

Since we figured out how to add links, I figured I would include a couple of websites/blogs I read fairly often, however for various reasons I don't find them quite worthy to add to the "list" at this time.

The Right Coast This is a legal blog written by six University of San Diego law professors. If you are curious about why judicial activism is bad, unless the case is Bush v. Gore, and other sundry conservative legal topics this is the blog for you.

Democratic Underground A very left wing site with a large message board. While I may generally support the same political party as this site, it is far to the left of me, and pretty much everyone not living in San Francisco. I do recommend checking out their weekly top 10 conservative idiots. It is very witty, even the Right Coast crew might get a chuckle out of it.

Snopes.com A fantastic site about urban legends. Whenever, I get a new email yakking about a retarded kid hitting game winning homeruns, or about razor blades in halloween candy(I've heard this one every year since the early 80s), I instanty come here to verify it. Lots of so-called facts are revealed at this site to be anything but. For example, until today, I did not know Fidel Castro never had a baseball tryout in the United States and in fact was not much of a player. Highly recommended.

Internet Movie Database(IMDB) Have you ever been at home, watching Back to School on USA and wondered why the guy who plays the evil frat guy looks familar. You are probably straining your brain trying to remember what other 80s movie he was in. Well, a quick visit to imdb will reveal, that one William Zabka starred in both this fine movie and as Johnny, Daniel-san's arch-nemesis in The Karate Kid. After one visit, you will be hooked as you link from actor to movie and so forth.

Referring my earlier post about poker lingo, it came up in conversation today is there a name for the position that acts right before the button?

2004-08-10T21:51:00.000-07:00

NL Cash Game Stats AA & KK

Poker Lingo

2004-08-10T14:21:00.000-07:00

One of the great things about the English language is it possesses countless words. By some accounts, it has the most words of any language. Furthermore, there are countless dialects of enlgish, from the English spoken in East London, to the Carribbean, and in Louisiana. Even more amazing is that certain professions, groups of people, families etc... have their "own" English. For example, my friends back home in the wonderful suburbs south of Seattle, could speak a language virtually unintelligible to anyone outside the group. This language is probably only really known/spoken by 20 people, but it is a language nonetheless.

Poker is no different. Players use some terms that are well known, like river, turn, bad beat, and gut shot straight. Some others are less known like "big slick"(means Ace King in the hole, I recently learned this one a couple months ago!), or wired sticks(pocket aces). Types of players have names as well, tight, loose, passive are some common ones. What is lacking in my opinion, is a descriptive name for a really crappy player commonly found in lower limit poker rooms. This type of player death grips blinds, plays any ace in any position, will sometimes raise just for fun, and other inexplicable play. I've heard the terms fish and dead money used, but I dont like those. Not descriptive enough.

I remember one night at a card room in Renton, WA where I suffered a few bad beats, drank excessively, watched my play detoriate accordingly, and quickly I was out 3 bills. I noticed one bloke was playing every hand, and had amassed a war chest. I glanced at him, he was middle age, crappy porn mustache, every word out of his mouth was a profanity, constantly smoking marly reds etc....But what stuck out was his hairstyle, the ubiquitous(at least in poker rooms) mullet. Hence, I coined the term, mullet player. Think about it, doesn't it describe everything you hate about a guy who plays every hand and wins. Just like the hairstyle, you love to hate. Personally, I like it best to describe crappy play. Any other good terms for this kind of player? Send them in(if we have any readers yet)!

poker books

2004-08-09T13:37:00.000-07:00

I suppose any good holdem player has a genesis of his/her ability. I would credit(assuming I qualify as good) several books I have read. I recommend the following:

Winning Low-Limit Poker

Holdem Poker for Advanced Players

Doyle Brunson's Super System

Hello

2004-08-09T13:27:00.000-07:00

Hello, I have been playing poker online fairly seriously since summer of 2003. These days I am mainly playing small stakes limit and sit and go tourney's on PS. In the past I have played at party poker and pacific poker. I will be primarily posting on poker, however I will at times segue into topics such as sports, politics, or the law. A little personal information about me: I am in my late 20s, US Army Veteran, and currently attend law school in Southern California.

Favorite Links

2004-08-09T12:31:00.000-07:00

Favorite Links

Guiness and Poker
Poker Works

Welcome to my site

2004-08-08T10:32:00.000-07:00

This is my inaugural blog and I will keep it simple just to test this out. I am a late 20's poker player who has been seriously playing online since August of 2003. I spend most of my time on UB, but some time on PS and a little time on PP. I primarily play NL cash games, either the $200 or $400 buy-in, plus I play sit n go's w/ friends and an occasional multi table NL tourney.

This site will primarily be focused on discussions of NL poker, plus a smattering of sports/politics/business/books and any issues that I'm inclined to write about. If anyone's interested (doubtful), "inane banter" comes from a comment a high school history teacher gave my friends and I when we refused to stop our incessant conversations. Anyway...I hope to create a few decent posts in the future and plan to link this site to many of the impressive poker blogs and reference material that I've come across while trolling "Al Gore's invention".