Cracked Aces

Final PokerSavvy / Mansion Update

2006-07-06T10:20:00.000-04:00

I promised I would keep you up to date on the PokerSavvy promotion at Mansion. It sounded to good to be true, but I have found that it is exactly as advertised.

I have received the funds from both Mansion and PokerSavvy in my Neteller account. The only hitch was having to send copies of my driver's license to Mansion, but I considered that a minor inconvenience. Within 24 hours of emailing the ID to customer support and requesting a cashout, I had the funds in hand. On the PokerSavvy side, the SavvyPoints were in my account within a day or so of completing the promotion. All it took was a quick email to support and they converted the points to cash and dropped it in my Neteller account.

I couldn't be happier with this promotion, and the next time I'm looking to do a little bonus whoring I will check out PokerSavvy first.

A Nice Reward

2006-07-06T09:48:00.000-04:00

I've been playing well lately, and the bankroll is up substantially. I've decided that it's time to use some of those winnings for other endeavors. Now I have the opportunity to let my poker hobby fund some toys for my other hobbies. In this case, the other hobby is photography, and I've cashed some funds out from Neteller to order a shiny new digital SLR camera.

This is significant for me, as it marks the first time that I've built my poker bankroll to a level that I can cash out significant funds and still have a playable bankroll left over. It's a nice feeling, sort of like the feeling you get when you pop open that first cold beer of a long weekend - like you know there are a lot of good times ahead.

PokerSavvy / Mansion Update

2006-07-05T10:36:00.000-04:00

Just a quick update on the status of the incredible promotion that PokerSavvy is running with Mansion poker. The deal is - deposit $50, play $50 anywhere on the site, get 900 Savvy points (or $90 cash) from PokerSavvy.

As I posted previously, I signed up and completed the promotion last week (the whole process took about and hour and a half). When I returned from the lake last night, I checked my account and found that the 900 Savvy points had already been posted to my account. I've emailed support and asked them to deposit the $90 into my Neteller account - so far, so good.

I do have a caveat about Mansion. I don't think it's a huge deal, but you should definitely be aware of it if you are considering doing this promotion. Mansion requires you to send them copies of the front and back of your driver's license before they will allow you to cash out. You can send it by fax or email, so it's pretty painless, but it does add to the cashout time. I sent mine to their customer support email address last night, and recieved a notification today that they were processing it. Tonight, I will be requesting a cashout for my $80 balance at Mansion. I will definitely let you know how that goes.

Back to Work

2006-07-05T10:24:00.000-04:00

I can think of many places that I'd rather be than work right now. The good news is that I'm feeling refreshed after an uber-relaxing four day weekend at the lake. The bad news is, well, I already told you the bad news - I'm back at work ;) I've just got to get through the day here at work, so I can get back to work at the poker tables tonight! I've got to tune up for this weekend when I'm heading over to Caesar's Indiana with a couple of buddies to play a little live donkey poker.

Happy belated Independence Day to everyone here in the States!

PokerSavvy and Mansion Poker

2006-07-01T00:40:00.000-04:00

Alright, here's the deal. I got an email from Matt at PokerSavvy, the good folks who have put on a couple of nice blogger freerolls so far and offer online poker room promotions similar to VPP and PSO. They are running an insane promotion at Mansion Poker right now.

Sign up for Mansion through PokerSavvy, deposit $50, wager $50 anywhere on the site - poker, casino or sports book - and you get 900 Savvy points. 900 points will normally get you $90 worth of gift certificates or an iPod shuffle at Savvy, but for this promotion, they will actually credit $90 direct to your Neteller or Paypal account!

I signed up and completed the promotion tonight (just now, actually). The shocking part is that Mansion is actually quite good. I had very low expectations going in, because I had never talked to anyone that had played there. The software is surprisingly nice and very smooth. Player volume looks pretty low, but I was able to find a decent selection of games. It looks like mostly cash game players there, as I waited about 10 minutes for a $5 SNG that never filled up.

My strategy with my $50 was to buy in for a .25/.50 NL game for the max and play through the $50 in wagering. If I lost, no big deal (lose $50, but meet the wager requirement and gain the $90 Savvy bonus). As it turns out, it took about an hour to wager through the $50 at that game. In the process, I felted two shorter stacks and left the table with a little over $80. I completed the entire process - sign up with PokerSavvy, download and sign up with Mansion, make the deposit, and play through the requirement - in about an hour and a half! Actually, I could've done it in about 30 min, if I'd have skipped the poker and just put the $50 on Brazil over France in the World Cup.

I plan to cash out the $80 from Mansion and have the $90 from Savvy put into my Neteller account. I'll let you know how smoothly both of those processes go.

For right now though, you should definitely check out PokerSavvy. They have a couple of rooms that are not represented at either PSO or VPP, and their bonuses and promos look fairly easy to clear (though they're not all as easy as the Mansion promo ;).

1.5 Seconds of Fame

2006-06-22T07:47:00.000-04:00

I was mentioned (sort of) in this week's PokerDiagram podcast. Henry and Zog are struggling a little bit with 5 card draw this week, and it reminds them of the time that they played PLO/8 the first time. While they are reminiscing about the Omaha show, Henry mentions that the listeners had a good laugh at their expense, and that one of the users laughed so hard that he almost had milk come out his nose.

Actually, it was Diet Coke, and that listener was me. The Omaha episode was #19, and you should definitely give it a listen (you can get it from their archives). Here's my original post about that episode. That was a great one, and this week's (# 40) is very good too. Keep up the good work PD!

Back Home at Stars

2006-06-21T10:25:00.000-04:00

I snuck in just under the wire last night to make a deposit at PokerStars in time to qualify for the June reload bonus. This means that I now have money at my three favorite sites and nowhere else. As an added bonus, I'm playing quite well right now and am back to just enjoying playing poker.

Here is my impromptu ranking of all of the online sites that I have played:

1. PokerStars - In my mind, PokerStars and FullTilt are in a virtual dead heat for first place. They both have excellent software, solid customer service and a good selection of games. Stars gets the nod for the number one slot because of the number of players there.
2. FullTilt - Ditto. Great software, good tournament structure, good selection of games. My only complaint is that during off-peak times I usually don't find more than one or two full tables of .5/1 or 1/2 limit HE. Six max games can be had, but I'm not a fan.
3. UltimateBet - Their software is quite good, but a notch below the Stars and Tilt. I've always liked the SNG structure at UB and I can usually find a game. I really like the way that UB's bonuses clear. You work the bonus off in real time as you earn player points rather than a lump sum at the end.

5. PokerRoom and Hollywood - I like both of these sites, and may play there again at some point. Software is good, game selection is good, customer service is good. I know the software and player network is the same, but I like Hollywood just a little better than PokerRoom - the colors and graphics are just a little more pleasing to the eye.
4. PartyPoker - The software has improved a great deal, but is still not the equal of my top three. With the recent upgrade, the SNG structure sucks even worse than before. Yes, you start with T2000 and the levels are 10 minutes, but the blinds increase to the stratosphere in just a couple of levels. I can't put my finger directly on it, but their policies just don't seem to be as "player oriented" as some of the other sites. I haven't deposited money here in about 1.5 years. The only time I play at Party is when I get a free comeback bonus every 2 to 3 months which I promptly cash out as soon as it is cleared.
5. RoyalVegas and GamingClub - Yawn. I'm not a huge fan of these sites, but I don't really have anything against them either. The software is not terrible, the game selection is not terrible (during peak times), and I've not had to deal with customer service. I probably won't play at any of the other Prima sites unless I'm chasing down a PSO or VPP bonus.
6. Absolute - I'm not a big fan of this site. I'm not sure why, but it didn't wow me. The software is about par, and there is a decent selection of games and players (especially if you like six max), but there's just nothing here to get excited about.
7. Titan - Blech! This is the worst site I have played on. Fortunately, I never deposited money here - I played on an Instant Bankroll promotion through PSO. In my opinion, this site is bottom rung in every aspect. I've not played at Noble, but I have to assume that my experience would be exactly the same.

Hiltons Revisited

2006-06-13T10:55:00.000-04:00

If you don't mind, I'd like to go back and critique my play in the hand I posted yesterday. I'm going back even if you do mind - it's my blog.

From a pure results perspective it doesn't get much better than that hand in limit hold'em (the pot was around 40 BB). Still, in thinking back on the hand throughout the day yesterday, I started to feel all scaly and slimy. I'd be interested to hear what y'all think about the hand.

Pre-Flop - I really like the pre-flop play. I raised in EP with a big hand, both to limit the field (didn't work) and to build the pot (worked like a charm). The re-raise and cap behind me concerned me, but there's no way that I don't call here.

Flop - Here is where I start to have problems. The flop is king high, and I KNOW that one or both of the raisers had at least a king. Given the pre-flop action, I had to know that one of the players had AA, KK or possibly AK. Again, I like the early position raise. With the raise I hoped to isolate, or at the very least get a couple of players out of the hand. Plus the raise could buy me information that I couldn't get with a call. So far, so good.

The re-raise and cap on the flop behind me gave me all the information that I was looking for. This should have been a clear fold when it came back around to me. Instead, I was weak, stubborn, and couldn't let go of my QQ, though it was obviously no good.

Turn - Though I don't like the fact that I made it to the turn, I think my play there was OK. The T on the turn tremendously increased the value of my hand. I now had second pair, plus a big straight draw. I had four outs to the nuts (any ace), plus six more outs to improve (two queens + four nines). The pot was gigantic, and I had the odds to call along.

River - The river obviously played itself in this hand - to paraphrase Jordan, it's easy with the nuts. On this street, the donkey play reverted to my two opponents that were willing to keep raising with sets when there were four cards to a big straight on the board.

So that's how I see it. Good play that turned into fishy play that turned back into good play only after a runner-runner suckout. Let me know what you think.

Fun Hand Courtesy of the Hilton Sisters

2006-06-12T17:03:00.000-04:00

The Hilton Sisters provided me with one of the most fun hands of poker I ever played last night (a great hand job, perhaps?). Not coincidentally, it was also the biggest limit pot I ever won (in terms of BB's, not $).

Pre-Flop:
I raise from UTG + 1 with our beloved ladies. Two donkeys cold call, the button reraises and the big blind caps. Already I'm thinking aces or kings, but this is an easy call. Five players eagerly await the capped flop.

Flop:
Kd, Js, 7d - BB bets out, I raise to try and get heads-up if I can, both donkeys fold, button three-bets and BB caps. By this point I'm pretty sure that I'm in trouble but call anyway.

Turn:
Tc - Giving me an OESD. BB bets, I call, button raises, BB reraises, I know that a cap is coming from the button, so I go ahead and beat him to it (to save a little time, dontcha know).

River and Showdown:
Ah - NUTS! Bet, raise, reraise, cap. I'm pretty sure that we're heading for a split pot here, but... BB turns over AA for a rivered set. I show my Broadway and the button mucks! (A quick check of the hand history reveals KK for a flopped set). Holy cow, a three way cap on every street and I SUCKED OUT!!!

Now first off, let me say that I don't - for an instant - believe that online poker is rigged. That being said, if online poker is rigged I'd like to give a public shoutout to the guy pulling the strings and ask that you please send a little more love my way :)

How Do You Read Poker Books?

2006-06-08T16:01:00.000-04:00

This is a question that's been on my mind about as long as I've been reading poker books. What is the best way to consume a book about playing poker in order to maximize your benefit (your ROI, if you will)? My typical style is to read the book as though it were a work of fiction - get through it, then put it away. Guess how much material I retain, and how much my game typically improves when I read a poker book this way? Yup.

My New Plan
I'm trying a new approach with Small Stakes Hold 'em, and it seems to be working OK so far. Not in terms of results (though I am winning), but in my perceived grasp of the material. Here's my strategy.

Read through the book once. I did this in my normal half-attentive fashion, just to get through the book and be exposed to the material once.
Play poker trying to incorporate as much of the style as I remember. [This is where I would normally stop - Read the book, put it on the shelf, try to remember what I could from the book, then go back to my own style.]
Re-read the book - one section at a time. This is the piece that I believe that I was really missing. By really zeroing in on just one section of the book at a time, I can read, re-read and highlight just that section until if finally 'clicks' in my brain - trust me, sometimes this takes a while.
Play poker, focusing on the element of the game that I am currently studying. Here is where the effort pays for itself. By concentrating on just one aspect of the game at a time, I can really tune into that part and focus on one little sliver of my play in detail. When I do this, I discover a ton of mistakes that I can correct. I'll continue to repeat steps 3 and 4 until I really get it. Then it's on to another section.

My ability to pick this particular material up and begin using it is notable because the SSHE style is nearly the polar opposite of my natural limit game (SSHE actually felt a little loose and donkey-ish to me at first). For example, the single biggest leak that I have discovered in my game (so far) is not calling enough on the river when the pot is large. Here I was, thinking that I was making the solid, tough laydowns on the river. Donkeys call and pay off; winners fold and save a bet, right? WRONG! It turns out that I was making what Ed Miller calls the biggest mistake in limit poker. The error of wrongly calling an extra bet on the river when you are beaten costs exactly one big bet. The error of wrongly folding on the river when you have the best hand costs the entire pot. Who's the weak-tight donkey? Yeah, that'd be me - but no longer.

Back to the Beginning

2006-06-02T14:44:00.000-04:00

May was a month of going back to the drawing board for me, poker-wise. In late April I picked up a copy of Small Stakes Hold 'em, and my intent was to begin really focusing on my limit ring game. I dropped back to the stakes where I would have a full bankroll (300bb, according to 2+2) and no worries about timid play or saving bets here and there. In my case, the starting point was .25/.50.

My plan is to consistently play a given limit until I have a comfortable bankroll for the next limit and then move on up. Ultimately, I'd like to reach the 5/10 or 10/20 level. I think that if I can develop my game to the point that I am a winner at those stakes, I will be able to pull money out of the bankroll for "extras" and still have a good amount of working capital to play with. Right now, my bankroll is so tiny that even a small withdrawal has a crippling effect.

The real challenge this month has been altering my playing style. The attacking style put forth in SSHE is about as far away from my natural game as you can get. My natural limit game is to wait for premium starting hands, bet when I have a good hand, raise when I have the nuts or close to it, and get out of the hand when I'm pretty sure I'm beaten. As an interesting side note, this is NOT the way I play NL (SNGs and MTTs) - in NL tourneys, I'm quite a bit looser and much more fearless about attacking the pot. I guess the difference is that in a tournament it's just chips - not real money. Let's just say that Ed Miller see's the low limit ring game much differently than I do. I've worked REALLY hard this month to change my style. My SSHE book already looks like it's five years old, because I've read and re-read parts of it so many times.

The good news is that the work is beginning to pay off. I've moved from .25/.50 to .5/1, and I expect to move to 1/2 this week. The Ed Miller style still feels pretty unnatural for me, but I feel like I'm starting to "get it". Right now I'm focused on playing by the book, but I expect that I'll eventually work parts of my own style back into my game. There's some good poker ahead, for sure!

I'm In

2006-05-26T17:39:00.001-04:00

I have registered to play in the PokerStars World Blogger Championship of Online Poker!

This Online Poker Tournament is a No Limit Texas Holdem event exclusive to Bloggers.

Registration code: 7330476

PSO Blogger Freeroll

2006-05-14T23:17:00.000-04:00

If you're not signed up for the PSO freeroll yet, go now! You've only got through Monday May 15 to get registered.

I am registered to play in the
Online Poker Blogger Freeroll
Win your share of $25,000 and a set
of Nevada Jacks poker chips.
Hosted By: Absolute Poker
Sponsored By: Poker Source Online
Registration Code: 37921332

Tonight O.A.R., Tomorrow Ezra and The Femmes

2006-05-03T14:00:00.000-04:00

Derby week rolls on here in Louisville. Tonight is the draw for post positions in the big race. The "pill pull" will be at Fourth Street Live this year, which marks the first time ever that it has occured away from Churchill Downs. ESPN will be televising if you're bored and want to watch. Slightly more interesting is the fact that O.A.R. will be giving a free concert this evening, right after the draw. Perhaps hearing "Crazy Game of Poker" performed live will inspire me to make a jaunt across the river to get a little poker on at Caesar's.

Tomorrow I'll be getting my first pony fix of the season at Churchill. The Thursday before Derby has evolved over the last few years into a really fun day at the track. The infield is open for the "Festival in the Field", and they usually have a couple of decent bands playing. The last couple of years they've had Silver Loop, Cheap Trick, The Spin Doctors and The Gin Blossoms. This year it's Better Than Ezra and The Violent Femmes. It's a perfect storm of loud music, degenerate gambling, nice weather and cold mint juleps that is sure to put a smile on the face of anyone who attends. See you there.

More From Vegas

2006-05-02T19:46:00.000-04:00

I'm long overdue for a poker report from the last trip to Vegas. Up front, let me just say that this was a work trip, not a poker trip (just in case the boss is reading ;). Also, since this was the first time that my bride had been to Vegas and we only had three nights there, I wanted to maximize the amount of sight-seeing and quality (read: kid-free) time with her. Those factors conspired to not allow me much time at the tables, but I did get out a couple of nights.

I played a little $2/4 at both Aladdin and Flamingo. The Aladdin room has improved since last October. Then the room was out in the middle of the casino, now it has been moved over near the front. I think they've got a couple more tables now, but it's still pretty noisy in there. I made about $30 in a couple of hours there and had a pretty good time while I was at it.

The Flamingo has about 10 or 12 tables, but I never saw it much more than half full while I was there. Overall it wasn't a bad room, but it wasn't terribly exciting - I broke even after a couple of hours. Neither of these rooms can rival my Vegas favorite - MGM. I'm a little bummed that I didn't make it down to play at MGM this trip, but it's a sure stop next time.

The pictures in this post are from the 25k WPT Championship that was going on at the Bellagio while we were in town. The first pic is of the tournament monitor. As you can see, the blinds were already pretty big by the time we made it over to the Bellagio (day 3). You already know who the next picture is from the signature Sox cap. Yup, it's Dan the man Harrington, in the flesh. Sorry the pictures suck, but the tournament was in the Fontana Room behind a very large bar. Since I wasn't on 'the list' to get into the play area, I had to try and shoot through the bar window. My sole regret from my visit over to the tournament area was that I didn't get to see the Doctor. I didn't hang around too long, since there wasn't much that I could see from out in the casino area. It was cool to see such a big tourney in progress though - gives me something to shoot for.

Work? It's Derby Week!

2006-05-01T15:50:00.000-04:00

That's a popular T-shirt and bumper sticker slogan around town, and it nicely sums up my sentiments. This is by far the best week of the year here in Louisville. Of course, I am officially working this week, but just between me and you I plan to spend a fair amount of time at the track and enjoying some of the other Derby Festival events as well.

The Kentucky Derby is a nice showcase for Louisville. Not only is it the event that we are most known for (the "Greatest Two Minutes in Sports"), but it draws a lot of visitors that would otherwise never see this particular patch of flyover country. Mindful of this, the city does a nice job of sprucing up to make sure that the visitors see Louisville at its best.

So the question for all of my blogging brethren is, "Who's coming to the Derby?" If anybody is going to be in town, I'd love to meet up and grab a brewskie or three. I'll be at the Downs at least a couple of days this week, but my arm could definitely be twisted if anybody wants to wander across the river to sling some chips at Caesar's ;)

*Edited for grammar

Back From Vegas

2006-04-24T14:56:00.000-04:00

Boy, do I love Vegas! The shot above was taken out of our Window at the Flamingo. We were on the twentieth floor, and paid twenty bucks extra per night for a room with a strip view, and it was well worth every cent. The view of the fountains at night was unbelievable, and you could see all the way South to to Mandalay Bay from our window.

I did get to play a fair amount of poker at the Flamingo and Aladdin. I'll post more details on that soon, but I'm back at work now and ready to get back to some virtual felt poker at home.

Back in Vegas!

2006-04-17T16:58:00.000-04:00

Is it just coincidence that I happen to be arriving in Las Vegas the same day that the 25k WPT championship begins at the Bellagio?

Um, yeah, it is. I have a training class beginning Wednesday, so I'm flying out dark and early tomorrow to spend the day being a tourist in the best city on the planet. My bride is going with me on this trip, so I know we will have a great time. She's a Vegas Virgin, so I can't wait to show her around.

I'll definitely be heading over to the Bellagio at some point tomorrow to do a little stargazing. I've never been to one of the big tournaments before, so I'm seriously stoked about seeing it for myself. I'll definitely keep you posted, so check back.

Heilige Scheisse

2006-04-11T20:29:00.000-04:00

Can somebody say, "Overlay"?

Whoa, the PokerSavvy.com freeroll is getting ready to kick off, and there are 47 players registered. That's right, a $1000 freeroll, and 47 players.

We just got seated, I think I'll try my hand at live blogging again. Let's see how it goes...

8:31 - At my table: doublerockets (yes, it's Double A's), nealcassady (Poker Jones), Irongirl03 (Irongirl01), and some others I don't recognize, but I'll find out who they are and update later...

8:33 - American Airlines (3rd hand) in late position. EP min-raised, and I re-raised. Folded around for a huge pot. I was gonna show since Double A's is at the table, but I had the auto muck box checked. Better remedy that situation now, so I can show the hammer later...

8:43 - Matt from PokerSavvy just stopped by the table. It's extremely cool of them to put this tournament on. Thanks guys!

8:51 - AA again. This time I busted kaellinn18 with them. I'm at T2,760 which I believe is third place overall.

8:57 - Just busted doubleuwhy with JJ. 40 players remain, I'm at T4,550 - second place. My table broke after that hand. Let's see who's here: Uh-oh, it's Sir Waffles!

9:10 - Dang the blinds go up fast at Titan. 50/100 next hand.

9:14 - Waffles just busted.

9:18 - Moved again. This time I'm with Tripjax, Double A's and Badblood, oh my!

9:26 - Busted in 27th. I'm all in with JJ and HeroDonkey calls with A8 sooted. Flops the A and I'm finished. Good game everybody.

In summary - 47 players, $1k of free money on the table, better than 1 in 3 get paid, I don't. Night all.

PokerSavvy Freeroll Tonight - Be There

2006-04-11T13:15:00.000-04:00

PokerSavvy.com is hosting a 1k blogger freeroll tournament tonight at 8:30 EDT on Titan. As of this writing, only 22 bloggers have registered for the event. What the heck are you waiting for? Go sign up now! You can use the link on the right or just go directly to pokersavvy.com. They need at least 30 players for the tourney to go off. Hmm... 30 players - $1000... GO NOW!

By the way, I've not forgotten that I still owe a trip report from LA last week. It's coming, I promise. I've been shockingly busy at work this week. I'm still getting caught up with being out of town last week, and I found out that I'm being forced to go to - wait for it - Vegas again next week! I'll be in the promised land Tuesday through Thursday of next week, and I'm taking my lovely bride along this time. She's never been to Vegas, so it should be quite an experience. I always get a kick out of watching someone else experience Sin City for the first time. It'll be twice as much fun experiencing it with her.

LA Bound

2006-03-25T19:10:00.000-05:00

Yes it's true, I am leaving this weekend for a week in Los Angeles, where I hope to get in a night or two of crazy SoCal card slinging. I'm planning to hit the Bicycle for sure, and if the planets align properly I may be able to make it to the Commerce as well. That's the good news.

The bad news is that no, my itenerary does not include a stop at the Playboy mansion. That is obviously an affair for A+ list bloggers only. Congrats to Pauly, CJ, Al, Spaceman, Joe, BG, Bobby and Chad. I'm sure that a night at the mansion with that crew will be one for the record books. I can't wait to read the accounts - and see the pictures!

Best LA Card Room?

2006-03-20T10:20:00.000-05:00

I'm heading out to Los Angeles for a training class next week. I've never been to LA, but I've heard a lot about the fabled Southern Cal no fold'em games. I hope to have at least one night where I can get out and sling some chips.

Assuming I can only get out one night, where should I spend it? I'm thinking either the Bicycle or Commerce, but I'm open to any other suggestions as well. Keep in mind, I'm a low limit guy so $2/4 is probably the order of the day if I can find it (a low buy-in NL tournament that starts in the late afternoon/evening would fit the bill as well). I'm staying in Monrovia, so the closer the room is to that end of town, the better.

MTT on Hollywood

2006-03-16T22:58:00.000-05:00

I'm playing in the Michael Woods Celebrity Invitational on Hollywood Poker tonight. It's the first break right now, and 160 out of 382 players remain - I'm sitting in 7th. This is a 10+1 tournament, but I got a free entry ticket as part of my sign-on bonus. I can't lose at this point - this tournament offers $20 bounties for knocking out the celebrities who are participating. About 15 minutes ago I knocked out Melany Lorenzo, one of the Hollywood calendar models - too bad she didn't leave me her number before she left the table!

I started playing at Hollywood last week to do a VPP promo. I really like playing on PokerRoom, so I figured I'd give HP a whirl (same network and all). I've completed the VPP promotion already, but I've not yet completed my sign up bonus at the site.

I'll live blog this tourney the rest of the way out, we'll see how it goes...

11:29 PM - 107 players remain, 40 places will pay. I'm currently in 41st with T5,555, blinds are 200/400.

11:31 - 99 on the button with 1 caller in front. I raise to 1,200 and everybody folds.

11:32 - Next hand, AA in the cutoff. I raise to 1,200 and get two callers. Flop comes queen high and ep bets 1,000. I bump it to 3,000 and both players fold. Just like that, I'm at T10,355 and in 17th place out of 91.

11:40 - Just got moved to a table with Michael Woods. Another bounty opportunity, perhaps? Uh oh, I'm sitting right next to the big stack for the tournament (T23,608). At least he's on my right and not my left... Blinds are now 300/600

11:45 - Took the blinds from mp with A9s

11:49 - Big stack just took out another big stack. He's at T31k now. I've stolen a couple of times and am at T13k (10 of 69)

11:53 - Just doubled up a small stack. I had JJ v. KK. I'm at T8,300 now. Blinds just moved to 400/800...

12:02 - Not much to report. Cards are pretty cold right now and we're coming up on the second break.

12:07 - OK, second break and I'm in trouble. I'm at T8,395 which is 27th out of 52 (blinds will be 500/1000 after the break). I can probably fold to the money from here which wouldn't be too bad for a freeroll. Places 21-40 pay $32.40 plus the $20bounty I've already earned.

12:15 - That stuff about folding into the money? Scratch that - I'm out in 52nd. Overplayed TPTK like a donkey and I'm finished.

Good night.

Cash in LouisvillePokerLeague.com MTT

2006-03-02T10:54:00.000-05:00

I got another taste of sweet MTT success last night when I cashed in 7th place in event #5 of the Louisville Poker League series. LPL is a series of 15 bi-weekly $10 tournaments on Stars. Naturally the players are mostly from the Louisville area, but there are some from out of town as well. The tourneys are every other Wednesday at 9, and have been a pretty good time so far. I found out about the series after they had already begun, so this is only my second event, but I plan to play in as many of the future events as I can.

If you're a local (or not), go check out the website for the upcoming tourney details and password and I'll see you there.

MTT Success!

2006-02-20T10:35:00.000-05:00

PokerStars Tournament #20017324, No Limit Hold'em
Buy-In: $5.00/$0.50
45 players
Total Prize Pool: $225.00
Tournament started - 2006/02/19 - 14:51:10 (ET)

Dear cmyoung4,

You finished the tournament in 2nd place.
A $48.38 award has been credited to your Real Money account.

Congratulations!
Thank you for participating.

I finally had a little bit of vindication for my MTT game this weekend. I played in a 45 person SNG on Stars and battled my way to second place!

This is good news at a good time for me. I consider my single table SNG game to be pretty strong, but I've really been struggling with my MTT game of late.

Today's MTT word of the day is Patience. I'm slowly learning that the skillset that breeds success in the single table arena is not the same that is needed for MTTs. In a single table as the blinds increase, the number of players at the table steadily decreases. This means that you have two solid factors for loosening your starting requirements and stepping up the aggression - namely lower M and fewer players. In a multi-table, you have to balance the agression indicated by your ever shrinking M with the fact that you are still playing at a full (or mostly full) table.

As I said, I'm still learning the ropes as far as multi-tables go, but this is a definite step in the right direction.

View From the Other Side of the Table

2006-02-14T13:50:00.000-05:00

Dealing Hold'em
This weekend was the annual PTO card party at the kids' school. In previous years, this event has basically just been a loosely organized event where people could bring their own games and hang out for a while with other folks and play. Each class at the school would collect money and put together some sort of themed basket, and these along with other donated gifts were raffled off during the evening. As a quality Catholic event, drinking and gambling were encouraged.

This year, our men's club decided to help out the PTO in order to boost the funds collected. We decided to use one of the 'special event' allowances on our charitable gaming license to sponsor a casino night event in conjunction with the card party. We brought in several tables for blackjack, beat the dealer, horse race, showdown - and hold'em. The event was set up in the gym at the school, and all of the components of the original card party (raffles, etc.) were still there. We set up the casino tables in the back of the gym.

I spent the night alternating between dealing blackjack and hold'em. I have dealt blackjack many times before at our summer picnic, but dealing casino style hold'em was a new thing for me. I've always respected the casino dealers for this game, and that respect was only enhanced when I found out exactly how much work is involved to deal properly. Even with another guy helping to shuffle cards and take the rake out of the pot it was tough just to keep up with the flow of the game! After I while, I got into a rythm and had a lot of fun tossing the cards.

This was a very good learning experience for me. After I got a routine down for making sure that the button was moved and the blinds were posted, etc, I was able to really pay attention to the players in the game. Boy do I miss out on a lot of free information when I'm playing live! When I'm playing, I know that I focus too much on my own situation (stack, cards, draws, pot odds, position) and don't pay enough attention to my opponents. I'm getting better at my observations, but I still have a long way to go. From the more detached position of the dealer's chair, however, it was easy to observe the players in the game.

I mostly watched the players' hands. There was one guy at the table that I noticed would always hold his cards in his and shuffle them back and forth when he didn't have a hand, and leave them under a chip on the table when he had a big hand. Then there was the lady that was in the 5 seat. Her boyfriend/husband was sitting behind her most of the night. When she had a big hand she left her cards on the table, and when she didn't she would invite her SO to peek at them. Those were both big tells that you probably wouldn't see from more serious players at a casino, but there were other subleties that I was able to see that probably do occur at lower limit casino tables. By the end of the evening, I could reliably predict the hands that were going to be shown down (and there was ALWAYS a showdown) a good portion of the time. I have really got to open my eyes when I am playing!!!

Church Rules Blackjack
The rule that always infuriates me when I play blackjack at church events is that the house wins on ties. Does anybody know what this seemingly small rule change does to the house edge? I'm guessing that it is HUGE. I know, I know, it's a church event, and the games should really be considered a charitable donation, but darn it - I like to win!

In any case, towards the end of the evening I was not enforcing that rule. By that time of night, most of the visitors had left, and the people that were still playing were primarily my friends from the church. They were there to play until we shut the tables down and headed out to the bar, and I didn't really want to apply the extra "screwage" to my buddies.

SNG Challenge update
I've had to temporarily step back to level 1 on my SNG challenge. No big deal though, just a few tough losses in a row right at the beginning of level 2. I don't get the sense that the quality of play is measurably better at the $10 level than it is at the $5, so I expect that when I get back to level 2 I'll get through it and on to level 3 in short order.

My Face is Red...

2006-01-27T09:19:00.000-05:00

...and I should never blog from memory. It was TripJax rather than Jordan that begot the SNG challenge. My apologies, TripJax, and thanks for setting the record straight.

Just so you know, karma is making me pay for my mistake. I took two brutal beats in the late stages of my first two $10 SNGs. The worst was when I got it all in pre-flop with KK versus J7o. My worthy opponent flopped an 8 and then runner-runnered his 9 and T for the straight. That stung just a little.

The details on the SNG challenge can be found here. Just to make sure you don't miss out on anything important, you should go ahead and add both TripJax and Jordan to your daily reading list (as if they're not already on there).

SNG Challenge Level 2

2006-01-26T13:53:00.000-05:00

Good news! My bankroll-rebuilding project at PokerRoom is well underway and I've reached level 2 of my SNG challenge there. You'll recall that the bankroll at PokerRoom had dropped well below critical levels, so I decided to either build it back up via single table SNGs or bust it out completely.

Fortune smiled on me as I kicked off my challenge and I monied in my first 5 SNGs at the $5+.5 level. I'm continuing to play well in these tournaments, and the 'roll is now over $110, so I'm ready to move to $10+1 tourneys. If you're not familiar with the SNG challenge, I believe that Jordon has all the details at High on Poker. Blogspot.com email addresses are now blocked on the firewall here at work, so I can't get the actual link to the challenge page, but it would do you some good to browse around HOP anyway. In a nutshell, you start the challenge with 10 SNG buy-ins for your selected start level. In other words, if you want to start with $5+.5 SNGs you would set $55 aside for the challenge (I started with $8, but desperate times call for desperate measures). When your challenge banroll reaches 10 buy-ins for the next level ($10+1 in my case) you move up. If you bust out on the first level you are finished. If, however, you hit a losing streak on one of the subsequent levels and the bankroll drops to 10 buy-ins for the previous level you move back down. The challenge continues until you bust or you reach your goal.

I don't really have a specific target in mind for this challenge. So I guess that "See how far I can go" is my goal. Next stop - Level 3!

5 for 5

2006-01-18T11:46:00.000-05:00

After a nasty cold streak at the SNG tables, I feel like I'm finally back in control of my SNG game. About three weeks ago, I decided to really focus in on my NLHE SNG play. I felt like I was ready to go after reading the chapter on inflection points in Harrington II. I got back to the SNG tables with my newfound confidence - and got completely hosed!

I went 0 for about 15 in $5+.5 SNGs on PokerRoom. I don't know exactly how many because PokerTracker doesn't handle PokerRoom tournaments and after 9 blanks in a row I stopped writing down my results. I was at completely at a loss as to what was causing my bad streak, and my PR bankroll was almost entirely depleted (down to 8 bucks).

I decided to take a week off from the tables to really study and focus in on what Action Dan was trying to say. When I really paid attention, I discovered a couple of major flaws in my game. It turns out that I had been really focusing in on my own 'M'. I calculated my number before every single hand. The problem was that I was not paying attention to everybody else's 'M'. Worse yet, I was not properly adjusting my play as the table got more and more short-handed. I was starting tournaments well, and playing well through the early rounds, but then consistently allowed the blinds to gobble my stack while waiting for premium hands as the table conditions deteriorated. I was close to the felt and desperate way before I reached the money.

I'm happy to report that that little bit of insight has helped to turn my SNG game around (so far at least). I've finished ITM in all five of my last five SNGs on PokerRoom, and the bankroll has improved dramatically. Since the 'roll is back over 10 SNG buy-ins, I'm now officially starting an SNG challenge - I'll keep you posted on how it goes.

Nice Poker Night

2005-12-23T10:07:00.000-05:00

I had a really good night of poker last night. I had plenty of time to myself, since the kiddos were spending the night at my mom's and my bride had to work. I wasn't really sure what I wanted to play, but I was thinking about some SNG action. I logged on to Pokerroom and noticed that the nightly $5+.5 MTT was getting ready to start and didn't look like it had too many players so I jumped in.

MTT Action

The tournament started with 463 players, and 40 would get paid. I really feel like I played well in this tournament. I don't have any big hands to report, because I mostly avoided confrontation in the early going. For a while my table was playing very weakly and I was able to take several small pots uncontested. As the blinds went up I was able to make a few timely steals to stay ahead of them. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to stay ahead of them forever. I lost a moderate pot two hands before the blinds went up to 100/200, and my stack was down to about T2000. I started to feel the pressure and began looking for an opportunity to double up. I found it a few hands later when I was dealt 55 in middle position. I pushed and was called by the button with AQ and the race was on. Unfortunately, he flopped a Q and I was finished - 83rd out of 463.

Overall, I was pretty pleased with my play. I was patient in the middle game and aggressive when I needed to be. Had the coinflip at the end gone the other way, I would've had a pretty good shot at holding on for the money.

Titan IB Status

Alright, what's the deal with Titan? I'm doing the Instant Bankroll there through PokerSourceOnline, and needed to earn 6000 Titan stars to get an additional $25 bonus. I missed the extra bonus by not completing the requirements on time, but I still needed to get 6000 stars to cash out the original $50. Unfortunately, Titan has now replaced the stars system with a new points system so you no longer earn stars for your play. Anybody know what I need to do to cash out now?

My new plan is to get the bankroll back over $50 (min. cashout amount), and then try to cash it out. If I can't, I'm sure they'll be more than happy to let me know. I made a pretty good stride towards that goal in a .05/.10 NL game last night. I bought in for $5, and had almost tripled up when the Mrs. arrived home from work. The bankroll there now stands at $43, so I'm pretty close to the $50 I need. The players at the micro NL games there are awful, so I think I'll stick with that game to build it up.

Family Poker Night
Tonight is the monthly family game at my Uncle's house. I'm ready for a little loosey-goosey rainy day baseball action to get ready for the big Christmas weekend. I'm going to introduce them to Crazy Pineapple tonight, so I'm interested to see how that goes over. I think pineapple will be a good fit for that game.

I'll try to check back in at some point this weekend, but in case I don't - Merry Christmas!

Two Days to Go

2005-12-22T11:22:00.000-05:00

After today and tomorrow I'm off work for the rest of the year. Yup, all next week I will be in my PJs playing poker all day (um, except for the whole visiting with relatives, playing with the kids' Christmas toys, spending time with the family thing). Maybe I should revise that to say that I'll try and fit some poker into my busy schedule next week. I had planned on knocking off very early tomorrow, except I now have a 3:30 meeting. Who in the world would schedule a 3:30 meeting on Friday, the day before Christmas Eve?! Oh yeah, my boss would.

I'm planning on getting in a ton of poker tonight. The kids are spending the night at Granny's house, and my lovely bride is working this evening until 10. Woo Hoo! Look out PokerStars, here I come.

By the way, I busted out on Party last night. I decided that I would go for broke with the $30 that remained of my free bonus there, so I played two $10+1 SNGs and bubbled out in both (have I ever mentioned that I detest the SNG format at Party?). I then tried to take the remaining $8 and build it to $11 for one more SNG attempt. Alas, my mildly lucky streak at blackjack came to an end and I was successfully able to zero my Party balance. I don't ever plan to deposit any more money at Party, because I really don't like the site. If they give me another free bonus in a couple of months, I'll play through it and attempt to cash it out, but that's the only way I'll be playing there.

See ya' at the tables!

Live SNG Results

2005-12-19T14:54:00.000-05:00

I just realized that I never posted my results from the men's club tournament last Thursday. Right after the meeting we started a $20 SNG and ended up with 10 players. As usual, we agreed to pay first and second place ($150/$50). I won't go into too many details, but I ended up finishing in second place for a nice $30 profit. For me, that is about the highest EV game around. The overlay is huge, because there are three or four players gauranteed to go out early every time. The 10 player prize pool is only seriously contested by about 4 players - very sweet indeed.

Next live poker will be this Friday at the family home game. For about six months now, we've been rotating hosting a monthly game with the family. It's a $.25 dealer's choice game (rainy day baseball is by far the most popular game). I think I'll introduce them to crazy pineapple this week. I usually call either hold'em or omaha when I'm dealing, but pineapple is probably better suited for that environment as the third card allows for a little more action and some more interesting decision making.

Good Study Weekend

2005-12-19T09:45:00.000-05:00

It's been a good weekend to watch football and study poker. It's taken a lot of effort, but I've purposely stayed away from the tables over the weekend. I wanted to really spend some time digesting Harrington's second book , especially the problems around inflection point play. My plan is to start a personal SNG challenge at a couple of the scattered sites where I have really small bankrolls - $30 at Party, $30 at PokerRoom, $40 at Titan. I'm going to go for broke and either build the bankrolls to respectable levels at these sites or bust out altogether. Once that is finished, I will transfer the winnings to Stars and focus my play there. Stars is #1 in my book, and I'd rather give them my business than any of the other sites that I have played. I'll still chase a PSO promo every now and then on some of the other sites, but I will pull the money back out as soon as the promo is complete. The only other possible site where I may play long-term is FullTilt. I give Stars the edge, but Tilt is right there in terms of software, tournament structure and game selection.

I've learned so much about what I have been doing wrong with respect to the inflection points in my tournament play. First of all, I've never properly adjusted my play as I fell through the yellow and orange zones. I always had a pretty good sense that I either needed to go all-in or fold as I got near the red zone, but I never gave as much respect to first in vigorish as I should have. I'm anxious to take my newfound knowledge back to the virtual felt and test it out in some SNG action - that starts tonight!

Good news on the fatasy football front - my team, the Pack Attack, is in the super bowl for my league next week. I'm gauranteed a pay day of at least $80 and possibly $120. The bad news is that in the wake of the Colts' loss yesterday, I probably won't be able to count on much production from Marvin Harrison. At this point I don't know if he will even play. Hopefully Johnson and Johnson (Larry and Rudi, my running backs) will have big games and take some of the sting away from not having Marvin. I've got my fingers crossed, so we'll see.

Lazy Bugger

2005-12-15T12:57:00.000-05:00

Say it with me, "L-A-Z-Y, You Ain't Got No Alibi!"

Yup, that's the reason I haven't blogged in a few days. Not too busy at work. Not too busy at home. Just plain lazy.

I have been making pretty good use of the time at the poker tables though. I've completed my free $50 welcome back bonus at Party (it looks a lot more like $30 than $50 now, but it was free). O8 is most definitely the way to go for clearing bonuses on Party, I think. The .5/1 games are waaaaaay looser than the same limit hold'em games, usually 8 or more players see the flop with little or no pre-flop raising. It's a virtually lock that approximately 98.996% of the hands will be raked. Keep nice, tight O8 starting requirements and you'll clear the bonus with pretty small risk. I dropped $20 while clearing about 75 raked hands of hold'em before I switched over. I two-tabled O8 and cleared the other 425 hands in a few hours with the bankroll dead even. The minimum to cash out at Party is $50, so the money is stuck there for while. Maybe I'll start a personal HU or SNG challenge there to see if I can either build up the bankroll to a respectable amount or bust it altogether.

The only other place I've played recently is Titan. I've completely given up hope of earning the $25 bonus on the PSO Instant Bankroll promotion there, but all is not lost. I dropped the banroll so low there, that I wasn't even comfortable playing the lowest limit hold'em games (I was down below $10 at one point). What to do except blow the rest on a little bit of -EV fun, right? Well I tried to blow the remainder on blackjack, but the game wouldn't let me lose! The $10 is now $40 exclusively from playing a couple of sessions of $1 blackjack. I guess it's back to poker to try and finish earning the 6000 stars I need to even be able to cash the original $50 of IB (I probably only have about 5900 or so to go).

Tonight is the men's club meeting at church, so I'll have a little live SNG action and a lot of cold brewski. I don't have any more cousins who are expecting right now, so I should be able to actually make it to the meeting this month <fingers crossed />.

I finally picked up volume 2 of Harrington on Hold'em last week, and so far I am hugely impressed. I enjoyed the first volume immensely, and I really like Harrington's style. While many of the topics in volume 1 were covered in some of the other books that I have, volume 2 is unique. I haven't seen any other book that gives as much quality treatment to the late stages of a tournament. The discussion of inflection points is easily worth 100 times the price of the two books together. I'm really looking forward to finishing up the second book and then going back and studying both books together.

That's a wrap for today. Hopefully I've gotten the laziness out of my system and will be back with ya soon!

Ouch!

2005-12-09T09:53:00.000-05:00

I'm not typically one to belly-ache about bad beats and such, but I just have to relay my session on Party last night. I've never experienced a spell like I went through last night. I was on a fantastic rush of starting cards - and losing nearly every time! I really though my mind was playing tricks on me, so I went back and reviewed Poker Tracker after the session just to make sure.

I was playing two tables at .5/1, and in a little over an hour I saw 134 hands. I was dealt aces three times and lost twice. One time my flopped set of aces lost to 6h4h which caught a runner-runner straight flush. I laughed when it happened, but I laughed a whole lot more at the chat box banter that ensued. Another player was screaming that the site was rigged and the first player was a mega-fish because his runner-runner flush lost (he had Th2h!). Both of these 'players' cold called pre-flop raises and a flop check-raise with these hands. They were both immediately added to my buddy list. Unfortunately I was two slow with my fingers to get a screen grab of the hand - it would've made a nice decoration for the Cracked Aces blog!

I was dealt kings once UTG, and won the blinds when everybody folded to my raise - I think that was the only hand the whole night on either table that at least 3 or 4 people didn't see the flop. Lost with queens and jacks, once apiece. Won once and lost once with Tens.

For a while it was getting to the point where I was dreading being dealt big pairs, because I just knew that I was going to lose money on them. The crazy part is that I ended the session close to even. Just as big pairs were my downfall, little pairs were my salvation. I flopped sets with deuces and sixes late in the session and won good size pots both times.

Check Out Bestpokerblogs.com

2005-12-07T18:58:00.000-05:00

Jordan's High on Poker was recently the blog of the week on bestpokerblogs.com. If you've not been reading High on Poker, go read it now - I'll wait...

OK, now that you're back you should also check out bestpokerblogs.com. BPB provides feeds and reviews of a ton of poker blogs. I probably should stay far away from there, as I already spend more time reading poker blogs in bloglines at work than the law should allow. I can't stay away though. Must. Read. More. Blogs.

Seriously though, thanks to Jason for adding this humble blog to the listings. It's an honor to be included among such talented poker writers.

Nervous in Vegas

2005-12-06T14:51:00.000-05:00

I have to admit, I held something back from my initial Vegas trip reports but it's time to come clean. I mentioned that I was nervous the first couple of sessions, but I didn't go into any detail on exactly how nervous. I was petrified.

Everything was new, and I didn't have a clue. Didn't know how to sign up for a game. Didn't know how (or where) to buy chips. Whatever you need to do to play live poker in Vegas, I didn't know how. Prior to the trip, I had minimal casino poker experience. I had been to Caesar's Indiana exactly twice, both times with a buddie of mine that played somewhat regularly. And yet here I was in the poker mecca, getting ready to sit down and play against [I imagined] the hungry sharks just waiting to take my bankroll.

Here's a little illustration from the first couple of sessions. My second night in town, I was playing at the MGM Grand. About ten hands into the session I picked up KQs in the cutoff and raised. Four players saw the flop of AJT, rainbow - my nut straight. BB bet out, MP called, I raised and button folded. BB and MP called. Turn is blank. I raise MP's bet and BB folds. River is blank, and the betting is capped between me and MP. MP turns over AJ for two pair and my straight is good. No problem, right?

Then the dealer starts pushing a very big pile of chips towards me. As I begin stacking the chips, the Australian guy across the table says "You OK, mate?" When I ask what he means, he tells me that my neck is bright red. My hands were shaking so badly that I could hardly stack. MP jokes, "I think we've got a pretty reliable tell for when you've got the nuts, right?" I tried to laugh, but my throat was too dry.

By the end of the trip I was feeling fairly comfortable at the table. OK, that's a lie, but I was less uncomfortable. I had the mechanics of the game down enough to start paying a little bit of attention to my opponents. I was able to get into a rythm and start enjoying the game. I was finally able to talk and joke with the others at the table and the dealers. What I learned from the experience is that I really need to play more live poker. I'm missing out on a lot of fun by sticking to internet only play. It's much cheaper (and faster) to play online, but it's a heck of a lot more fun playing live.

I bring this up now, because I am insanely jealous of those of you that are getting ready to head out to Vegas for the blogger tournament. I can't wait to get back to Vegas to play some more, and I really wish that I was going on this trip! Ah well, maybe next year.

Churning on Titan / New Bonus at Party

2005-12-01T23:11:00.000-05:00

Woohoo! I've got roots in my sewer line again! Looks like I get to take tomorrow off from work and rent a power snake with a root cutter on it. Nothing like spending the morning getting covered with splashback poopie from the main drain line. Maybe since I'll be off anyway, I'll reward myself by spending the afternoon playing some poker.

Speaking of poker, I just got an email from Party letting me know that they've credited a $50 come back bonus to my account. Sweet, a bonus that I'll actually be able to clear (500 raked hands). That's in stark contrast to the Titan instant bankroll promotion. I've decided that I'm not going to worry about the additional $25 bonus at Titan too much. I've got a free $50 to play with there, and I'll eventually play through enough to be able to cash it out. Or I'll bust out. Either way, once the IB is completed I doubt that I'll be playing at Titan any more. By the way, I know that I'm nowhere near earning enough Titan stars to even be significant, but does anyone know how I can find out exactly how many I have? I don't see any place in the software or on their website where I can look it up.

Posting catch-up / Grab bag

2005-11-29T15:50:00.000-05:00

Somebody please beat me with a wet noodle. I've been severely delinquent in my blog posting, but now I'm back with a vengeance - just try to keep up!

Thanksgiving Weekend Recap

As expected, I had an awesome time with the family this weekend in wild, wonderful, West Virginia. I'm trying to stay as far as possible away from the bathroom scale, because I personally consumed enough food this weekend to feed two developing nations. After all of the food, the adult beverages, the dessert, the movies, the shopping and the poker, I was completely spent when we got back home Sunday evening. I had planned a catch-up post for yesterday, but circumstances conspired against me. I completely forgot that blogger.com was now nixed on the firewall at work. After getting the obligatory warning that my attempt to access a forbidden site had been logged, I tried to get a remote desktop on my laptop at home. Unfortunately though, it was still turned off from the weekend's travels.

Anyway, back to poker. I broke out the Nevada Jacks chips for their first live game experience this weekend. I got the family together for three $5 SNG style tournaments. We had seven players each time, and paid $25 and $10 for first and second. The NJ's were a big hit! A couple of people in the family have the suited/dice style plastic chips and were amazed at the difference beween playing with those and the Jacks. I cashed in 2 out of 3 events (1st, 2nd, 7th) for a net win of $20. Shockingly, the big winner for the weekend was my lovely bride who won 2 out of 3! She's been playing in the free games on ESPN card club and PokerStars, and is learning pretty quickly.

PSO Instant Bankroll at Titan

It took a bit longer than expected, but I finally got the email from PokerSourceOnline yesterday stating that my Instant Bankroll at Titan was approved. It took about a week and a half, but I'm sure that the delay was due to the holiday. Once I got the email, I called the PSO Chat number and got through right away. I held for about two minutes, talked to the rep for another two minutes and was done. I checked my account at Titan about 2 hours later and the money had already been credited.

This is going to be a booger of a bonus to clear, though. The way the IB promotion works is I get $50 credited right away. I have 30 days to complete the play requirement after which they will credit me $25 more. To get the $25 bonus, you have to earn 6000 Stars (Titan's frequent player points). To put that in perspective, you earn 1 star for every raked hand at .25/.50 limit games. Starting with a $50 bankroll, .25/.50 is about all I feel comfortable playing. I'm going to try and build the bankroll up a bit, so I can play .50/1.00 games which earn 6 stars per raked hand. Regardless of whether I earn the extra bonus money or not, I need to earn 6000 stars before I can cash out. I'm going to stick with the lower limit games to try and build up the bankroll and not worry too much about the bonus money at first. First priority is preserve/build up the $50: second priority is try and earn the $25 bonus.

It looks like selecting the right table is not going to be much of an issue during my time at Titan. Both times that I have been on so far, there have been no full 10-person .25/.50 tables and only 6 or 8 full 6-person tables. Total players has been between 1500 and 2000 each time. As always, I'll keep you posted on my progress.

Happy Turykey Day!

2005-11-24T09:22:00.000-05:00

Today is Thanksgiving here in the US. This is my favorite of all the holidays because it's all about appreciating friends and family - and eating!

The family and I made the traditional drive to my aunt's house in West Virginia yesterday where we're spending the weekend with the extended family. Numbers are down a little bit this year, there are only 16 of us in the hous this year. My cousin and his wife stayed home with the new baby and my Navy uncle is now stationed in Hawaii so he and his family couldn't be here.

This weekend is always quite an experience. My aunt's house is quite large, but has only three bedrooms. Sleeping arrangements get pretty creative with people stuffed in bedrooms, on floors, in closets and on couches. The real miracle is with this many people in such close proximity for 4+ days everybody gets along famously. Tonight we'll have the wicked huge Thanksgiving feast, then settle in for some late night horror movies. Tomorrow morning we'll head out early (4 AM) for the Black Friday shopping bonanza!

I've got the laptop with me, so I'll escape for some poker here and there but this weekend is all about enjoying the family. Happy Thanksgiving to everyone in the States! For those of you elsewhere, I'll enjoy some turkey and stuffing on your behalf today (trust me, I've got room for it).

Poker Tips Website

2005-11-22T14:33:00.000-05:00

While I was surfing last night looking for some tips on heads-up play, I stumbled across PokerTips.org. I didn't have a whole lot of time last night to dig through this site last night, but from what I saw the content looks very solid. They have a strategy section that includes a ton of articles broken down by beginner, intermediate, advanced and expert level. I read a couple of articles including one on Shorthanded Limit Hold'em, and thought they were very well written and thought out.

I keep my poker bookmarks at del.icio.us. Whenever I stumble on a useful poker site, I add it to my bookmarks at del.icio.us so I can get to it from work or home. There's a link on the right side of the page (and here) to my poker tagged bookmarks. Check 'em out, you may find something useful - or you may have seen them all before.

Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Men's Club

2005-11-18T13:42:00.000-05:00

Last night was the monthly men's club meeting at my church. This has become a quality catholic gathering (complete with plenty of drinking and gambling). Each month we play a $20 winner take all SNG tournament. Most of the players are pretty poor, so the tournament is definitely +EV for me. I've one it once so far out of the five times we've had it (plus 2 thirds and 2 seconds). I was really looking forward to playing last night.

As I was getting ready to head out the door last night, my aunt called. My little cousin's wife was in labor. The news came as quite a surprise, because she wasn't due for six more weeks. Time for a change of plans - hospital instead of men's club.

The family has been pretty excited about the baby for a while, and many were in attendance at the hospital last night. This is the first grandbaby for my aunt and uncle, and everybody was understandably nervous since it was coming so early. After a couple of hours of intense waiting, we go word that the baby was born - mom and baby were both fine. Celebration and hugs all around. Welcome Nicholas Eric!

I was initially bummed about not being able to go hang out with the guys and play some poker, but that was all put into perspective. The baby arrived safe and healthy, and my family has yet another thing to be thankful for this year.

New Favorite Tournament Format

2005-11-17T11:49:00.000-05:00

Bugger! They've blocked blogger.com on the firewall at work. It really ticks me off when they do stuff like that. How do they expect me to waste time blogging if they keep blocking stuff?! No matter, I still have bloglines for reading the latest bits of wisdom from my fellow poker bloggers. I also have remote desktop into my home PC for when I need to publish an entry (like now). It's a little inconvenient, but hey, you can't come between an artist and his canvas, right? Right.

Anyway, I was back to online poker for the first time since my return from Vegas last night. I played $10 NL for about an hour and doubled my buy-in. I've decided to focus on NL for a while, both tournaments and ring games. Whenever I go back to playing limit, I feel trapped. There really is no way to protect your big hands or make the chasers pay to draw out on you. In NL (yes, even at micro-blind NL), you are able to do that. It doesn't keep people from chasing or sticking around when they shouldn't, but at least you get to adjust the pot odds such that they are making a mistake when they decide to chase.

After a little bit of ring game play, I was looking for a tournament fix. I'm trying to rid myself of my tendency to donk off chips in the middle of MTT tournaments, but I didn't really feel like getting into one of the 1000 person crap-shoot tourneys. PokerStars to the rescue once again! Their 3 and 5 table SNGs are just what the doctor ordered, I think. Big enough to feel like a MTT, but small enought that I don't have to play all night to get into the money. I chose a 5-table $6 turbo tourney and got started.

I think that I played pretty well in this one. I made some well timed steals when I needed to, got away from hands when I knew I was beaten, and played tight enough in the middle stages to avoid crippling myself. My stack stayed slightly above average until we were down to two tables. The tournament payed 7 places, and when we were down to 12 my oldest daughter issued the kiss of death. "Daddy, wouldn't it be funny if you got to the final table and then went out in 8th or 9th place?" No, honey, it wouldn't be funny - but thanks for sealing my fate. Long story short, I made the final table as the short stack (3x BB). I pushed with AJo one hand before the blinds got to me. AJo ran into AQo which held up for the bust. In 9th place. Out of the money.

I really like this tournament structure, and I expect that I will play many more of these 3 and 5 table tourneys, though I think that for the 5 table tournaments I will opt for the non-turbo variant. The turbo structure is great for speeding up the game play, but it really makes the final table a little too wild for my taste. By the time we got down to nine players, the blinds were at $600/1200 with a $50 ante (and rapidly increasing). The average stack was only $7500 and the biggest stack was just a little over 10x BB, so it was essentially an all-in fest. That close to the money, I'd rather have poker skill rather than luck play a bigger role in the outcome.

Vegas Recap

2005-11-15T20:00:00.000-05:00

Total for trip: $-56

Well the Vegas trip is over and I had to return to reality this weekend. I had a great time and am already looking forward to my next trip. I'm planning to head back for a long weekend either in June for my anniversary or maybe next November for my wife's birthday. New York, NY or MGM Grand are the most likely places to stay on the next trip. Mandalay Bay was very nice, but when the trip is on my nickel I'll be looking for more reasonably priced accommodations.

I played six poker sessions last week for a total of 11-12 hours. I had two winning sessions (1 big) and four losing sessions (1 fairly big) for a net loss of $56 or 14BB. I feel pretty good overall about the trip, but in thinking critically about my play after the fact I've come up with a few conclusions:

I need to bring a bigger poker bankroll next trip.
I need to play more aggressively.
I need to be more observant at the table.

The first two items go hand in hand, I think. The bankroll that I brought with me this trip was way short to support a week of poker play. When I was at the tables, I was constantly watching my stack. When my stack got short, I was thinking about when to cash out rather than how much to rebuy for - even when the game was good. As a side consequence, I wasn't playing enough hands or playing them aggressively enough.

My online game is much more aggressive than what I showed at the tables last week. One reason, I'm sure, is because I was playing a bigger limit ($2/4 as opposed to $.5/1 or 1/2). I think there is a more subtle reason, though - I knew that the chips in front of me could be instantly converted for cash. Online you never see the money; it's much more abstract. The pros say that the real secret to playing aggressive poker is total detachment from the money. I'm more inclined to buy into that theory now.

During my first couple of sessions, I was pretty overwhelmed by all of the action at the table. I was paying attention to alot of things (cocktail waitresses, the music at the Centrum bar, the trainers playing with the lions in the lion habitat, etc.), but I was NOT paying attention to my opponents. It proved to be pretty difficult to put opponents on hands when six or seven players were in every pot, but at first I wasn't even trying. When I started paying attention, I noticed that my expectations of player quality were very, very wrong. I expected casino players to be better than my online opponents. In truth, most of the players that I sat with were far worse than the majority of the .5/1 or 1/2 players online. The gameplay felt much more like an online play money game than 2/4. Had I been on my game (my aggressive game), I really feel like I could've exploited them. Next time.

I need to apologize to Gary at Low Limit Grinder. I've been remiss in not thanking him for the link last week. Gary's blog is one of the first stops in my daily Bloglines reading. You should definitely go check him out. Thanks, Gary!

Back at the Grand

2005-11-10T03:19:00.000-05:00

I don't have a heck of a lot to report tonight. After the conference today (and a nap), I went back to the MGM Grand. I bought into the 2/4 game for $80 and played for about 4 hours. After about an hour I was down to around $20 and considered cutting my losses and packing it in. I then hit a couple of decent hands and eventually built my stack back up to a little over $100. I ended up cashing out at $60 (-5 bb). Not a great night, but I am proud of my comeback. Overall, I'm still up a little poker-wise on the trip.

After I cashed out, I noticed quite a few people hanging out by the rail on the other side of the room. Moneymaker was playing 5/5 NL. I walked over and railbirded him for a little while (he seemed to be doing quite well) and then headed back to the hotel. I'm going to try and catch up on some sleep tonight. I'll have one big push tomorrow night before I fly back home on Friday morning.

The MGM is Grand!

2005-11-09T15:16:00.000-05:00

MGM Grand
Originally uploaded by cmyoung.

I think that this break in the conference proceedings is as good an opportunity as any to give an update on last night's action. There's not a session that really grabs my attention during this slot (plus I'm really tired), so I'll catch up on the blogs to kill time until lunch. I'm hoping my battery holds out, I've been using the laptop all morning, and like the dummy that I am, I didn't bring the power cord down from the room (and I'm too lazy to go get it ;)

I started out the evening by wandering down the strip checking out the casinos and grabbing some dollar chips along the way. I was working my way down to Caesar's to see about getting in to watch the final table of the tournament of champions today. Unfortunately I was a day late, because the final table was yesterday. I'll blame the brain freeze on continuing jet lag, I suppose (I don't think I'm old enough to claim a senior moment yet). Speaking of chips, some of the casinos (Excalibur, for one), didn't have any pretty chips on hand - is there a good way to clean the grime off without damaging the chips?

On the way to Caesar's, I stopped by the Bellagio to railbird at the poker room for a while. I only stayed for a little while, but it was evident that this is a room that I don't belong in - yet. The only players I recognized in the high limit room were Layne Flack and John Juanda. The wall was obscuring their table, so I couldn't see the whole thing but it looked like they were playing heads-up. I'm not entirely sure what the lowest level game is that qualifies for the high limit room, but I can say with authority that none of the players in that room had any stacks of $1 chips in front of them! I caught a couple of the famous fountain shows while I was there as well - one on the way in, one coming out. The first show was a classical piece that I didn't recognize, but the second was Lee Greenwood's "Proud to be an American" which was very impressive.

After Bellagio and Caesar's, I started working my way back down the other side of the strip back towards the MGM, anxious to try out their poker room. The Alladin sucked me in with a free $1,000,00 slot pull for joining their player's club. I didn't hit the million, but I got $5 of free slot play which I doubled at Jacks or Better video poker and then cashed out. The Alladin had a $2/4 game running, but the entire poker room only had about 25 players so I decided to pass.

Now we come to the highlight of the evening - the MGM Grand. I hadn't yet eaten, so I planned to grab a bite to eat before playing. The poker room grabbed me though. It's right up front, and as I was walking by they announced that they were starting up a new $2/4 table and had immediate seating. Eight players sat in and started playing. In about 30 minutes I was up around $10.

That is when the poker gods decided to bestow an amazing gift on our table. A young couple sat in, and each of them bought in for $50. They both called every single hand, all the way to the river (I'm not exaggerating, either). They could not be pushed off of a hand for anything! Call, call, call. The lady busted out and rebought for another $50 within 30 min. She lost that in another 30. The man lasted for about an hour on his original buy-in, then they both left. One hour, and a $150 gift split among the rest of the players at the table - who could ask for more?!

The most memorable hand of the session for me was when I flopped the ace-high straight (I was dealt KQs). The guy to my right "came to play", and he bet then called my raise on every single street. Beautiful. Long story short, in about 3 hours I more than doubled up. I bought in for $80 and cashed out $172 - sweet!!

I finally got to eat when I grabbed a slice of pizza in New York, NY on the way back. I couldn't walk past the poker room at the Excalibur without sitting in for a little while. I played there for about an hour, then cashed out down $12. Excalibur was OK, but I think for the rest of the trip I'll split my play between Luxor and MGM. I'll wait until after 8 to play at Luxor though, so I can avoid the $1 jackpot drop.

OK, I've rambled long enough - Chris out.

Live Poker in Vegas

2005-11-08T09:30:00.000-05:00

It's a nice morning here in Vegas. I'm here in my [gigantic] hotel room at Mandalay Bay. Directly out my window I see the McCarron airport. As of last night I can officially confirm that this airport is busy around the clock. Whether it's big planes, small planes or helicopters, there is always something coming or going. Looking out my window to the left I see the emerald MGM Grand and behind it (actually behind everything) are the mountains. By the time I finish this post the sun will be up over the mountains behind the airport. There's quite alot of cloud cover in that direction right now, so it won't be a very pretty sunrise but I expect that I'll see a couple of good ones this week.

Well it's official - I'm no longer a Vegas poker virgin! I played for a couple of hours in the 2/4 game at Luxor and I had a blast. The staff and dealers at the poker room were all very friendly and courteous. The game was very good for a while and I was up quickly. After I had been there for a while, the game got pretty crazy. Luxor runs a high hand jackpot from 4-8PM, and you need to be in your seat by 4:30 to qualify. At around 4:15, we had two open seats at our table. The dealer knew both of the people that filled the seats, so I can only assume that they were locals who come out frequently to try and hit the daily bonus. People were playing anything trying to get lucky and hit the bonus, and were calling far more than they should've. I know this is a good situation to take advantage of, but alas the cards were not with me yesterday. I finished the session down $38, or 9.5 BB.

One thing I noticed when thinking about my results after the session is that it is quite a bit more expensive to play live than online. I finished down 9.5 BB, but I spent at least 1.5-2 BBs on dealer tokes and waitress tips, so really the card play wasn't too bad. I didn't win, but I'll still consider it a respectable first session. I've got the conference all day today, but I'll get back out this evening. I'm going to try out either the Excalibur or the MGM Grand tonight.

Off to Vegas!

2005-11-06T16:41:00.000-05:00

I gotta keep this one short today, as I'm getting packed and ready to head out to Vegas! I've got an early flight out in the morning (6:31) so I'll be in town early in the afternoon. That'll give me time to get checked in and take in a little bit of poker action before I settle into the sports book to watch the Colts beat up on the Patriots.

I'll have the laptop with me, so I'll post a couple of updates while I'm out there. Wahoo! I'm off to Vegas!

Be the Donker, Not the Donkey

2005-11-02T14:52:00.000-05:00

Donkey
Originally uploaded by cmyoung.

Thanks, TripJax for the timely bit of inspiration that is the title for this post!

For about a week or two now, I really feel like I have been the donkey. I've only been in the money in 3 of my last 10 SNGs (1 win, 2 thirds). That doesn't sound too terrible on the face, but it includes a painful six game losing streak. Couple that with a few good size back to back losing sessions at .5/1 limit and it's really got me frantically scrambling to plug the leak.

I've started to really question my game. Is this downturn simply a variance smack-down and I will soon return to my winning ways? What if I don't really have any winning ways, and the past wins were really the fluke (in other words, maybe I am the donkey)?

Resolution: As of now, I will play only tight/aggressive poker with zero tilt. I will be the donker, not the donkey!

Jesus in Louisville

2005-11-01T16:11:00.000-05:00

Pimp Jesus
Originally uploaded by larrykang.

Holy Cow! I can't believe I missed it. Jesus freakin' Ferguson was boozin' it up here in my home town and I missed it!

Apparently he was ready for a good time, having busted out early in the WSOP circuit event at Caesar's Indiana. I'm bummed that he busted out. Chris is one of my favorite pros and I was hoping to see him when I go over to check out the action at the final table tomorrow. I'm double bummed that I didn't get to see him pimping it up downtown. Maybe next time.

Goin' To Vegas

2005-10-27T22:10:00.000-04:00

Mirage Volcano
Originally uploaded by cmyoung.

I thought that I had mentioned it before, but I'm not finding a previous post on the subject to link up. Could've been in one of the posts that Blogger ate before I was able to publish it.

Anyway, I'm heading to Las Vegas in a couple of weeks for a conference. I'll be staying at Mandalay Bay Nov. 7-11. It's been about three years since I've been to Sin City, and I'm really looking forward to the trip.

I'm a little nervous about playing live poker in Vegas. I've played at Caesar's Indiana a few times, but that is it for my live experience (other than home games, of course). Any suggestions on where I should play while I'm there? Grubby and Pauly always have good things to say about Excalibur so I'll probably start there. Luxor and MGM Grand are also close by so I'll give them a shot as well. Where else should I go?

PokerStars Blogger Tourney Recap

2005-10-24T10:41:00.000-04:00

Thank you, PokerStars for hosting the first ever blogger championship yesterday. I had a great time with this event. Nobody is even on the same planet with PokerStars when it comes to organizing and running online tournaments!

I was pretty pleased with my play yesterday. For the most part, I consistently accumulated chips and kept an above average stack almost the whole time. About mid-way through level VII I lost a good chunk of chips when my trip aces ran into trip aces with a bigger kicker. I'm really pleased that I survived this hand without losing my whole stack. Thankfully the board looked like an obvious flush or straight, which slowed both me and my opponent way down. After that hand, I was in a lot of trouble stack-wise, so I was lucky to double up when my all-in with 6-6 held up against A-T. At the second break I was still alive but my stack was well below average.

I busted out about three hands into level IX, right after the break. I was dealt Q-Q in the cutoff. UTG (who was none other than Mourn) raised 3x and it was folded to me. I raised 3x his raise hoping to get the button and blinds to fold, which they did. I was in between 1/3 and 1/2 my stack at this point and UTG reraised me all in. It took me a while to think about this, because with the big re-raise I was fearing a bigger pair. The only three hands I could reasonably see him making this play with were A-A, K-K or A-K (A-Q would've been too much to hope for). I called, hoping for a race and to my relief he turned over A-K suited. My relief was short lived, however, when he flopped two pair to bust me.

Overall, great tournament. I finished 247/1473, well short of the prizes but I'll take it anyway. Thanks again, PokerStars!

From the tournament summary:
You finished in 247th place (eliminated at hand #2875709565).

187 hands played and saw flop:
- 12 times out of 20 while in small blind (60%)
- 11 times out of 22 while in big blind (50%)
- 20 times out of 145 in other positions (13%)
- a total of 43 times out of 187 (22%)

Pots won at showdown - 5 out of 7 (71%)
Pots won without showdown - 22

Busted at FullTilt

2005-10-24T09:52:00.000-04:00

As I mentioned before, I left a little bit of cash at FullTilt to try and chase the elusive first deposit bonus. When I cashed out to go for the PokerSourceOnline Nevada Jacks promotion, I left only $2-3 at FT. I built that up to around $25 with .05/.10 NL ring game play. I decided to play a $10+1 SNG on Saturday and bubbled out, then I played som .10/.25 NL and quickly lost the remainder.

I deposited $50 at FullTilt in August. With almost daily play I built my account up over $100 and cashed out most of it. I am now busted having claimed only $20 of the $50 bonus. For the purposes of comparison, since I made my initial deposit at FullTilt I have earned a $40 deposit bonus at PokerRoom (took less than 1 week) and a $25 reload bonus at Stars (just a little over a week). I may play again at FullTilt someday because I really like the software, the customer service, and the level of play there. This is definitely NOT a site to play for low-limit bonus whoring.

Poker Podcasts

2005-10-20T13:53:00.000-04:00

In a previous post I mentioned the PokerDiagram podcast. PD is one of three poker related podcasts that I listen to each week. I've given a brief description of each one below, and included a link to their RSS feeds.

PokerDiagram Poker Podcast - This is a weekly podcast from London featuring Henry and Zog playing in an online tournament. The guys will often try out a specific strategy and discuss the situations as they come up in the tournament.

Card Club on Lord Admiral Radio - Top notch weekly podcast featuring Cincinnati Sean from the Lord Admiral Card Club in Canada. This show always has lively discussions on poker strategy. Frequent contributors to the show are Dr. Pauly and Columbo (with his one minute mysteries) among others.

Rounders the Poker Show - The rounders podcast is a taped edition of the Rounders poker radio show which is heard on sports radio in Canada. This show always has an unbelievable lineup of big name guests from the poker world.

MTT Strategy - Middle Stage

2005-10-19T22:57:00.000-04:00

Somebody help! I seem to be playing exactly W-R-O-N-G when I get into the middle stages of multi-table tournaments. I usually start out by playing quite conservatively. I almost always have accumulated some chips and am in a pretty good position when the blinds start getting larger. That's when the trouble starts.

I don't know if it's boredom or if I'm just thinking that my position is better than it really is, but I really start to loosen up at this point. I start playing marginal hands and staying in hands a little longer than I should. Invariably I start to bleed my chips away until I find myself in an uncomfortable situation. By the time I recognize what's happening, the blinds have become a major factor and I'm not too far from having to make a move to stay alive.

The only thing that I can come up with as I try to diagnose this is that I play many, many more single table SNGs than I do MTTs. At about this same point in a single table SNG, the strategy that usually works for me is to start loosening up a little bit. Obviously the key difference here is that in a single table tourney 3 or 4 players have dropped by this point and the table is short-handed. In a multi-table tournament, whenever one player drops out of the table a new player takes his place so the tables are always full (until the final table, of course).

I guess that identifying the problem is the first step towards finding a solution. Has anyone else experienced this? What do you do to maintain your perspective during the grind that is the middle of a large tournament?

PokerDiagram Does Omaha

2005-10-19T10:19:00.000-04:00

I'm still trying to get everything caught up from vacation, so I'm a little behind on listening to my favorite poker podcasts. I listened to this week's edition of PokerDiagram on my way to and from work yesterday, and it's a miracle that I didn't get into a wreck because I was laughing so hard.

If you've not listened to PokerDiagram before, you really need to check it out. Each episode features Henry and Zog playing in an online tournament with one playing the tournament and the other offering color commentary. As the tournament plays out, they discuss the hands and the situations that are coming up. The guys usually play an NLHE sit and go on PokerRoom, but sometimes they venture into MTTs as well.

This week they decided to play a pot limit Omaha/8 sit and go. I really enjoy Omaha/8, though I haven't played as much of it lately. Thinking back to when I first learned the game a couple of years ago, it was very easy to identify with their stuggles. For example, early on in the tournament Zog was dealt 4-5-6-Q (total crap in O/8), and he played it. His comments were that it looked good because he had three low cards and the Queen was suited. Fair enough, but if you're not familiar with the game, O/8 (especially the pot limit variety) is a game of nuts. With a suited Queen, they would likely be second or third best if the flush came (or worse if the board paired). With low cards of 4-5-6, they would need a miracle board of A-2-3 to hit the nut low. In other words, this kind of hand can cost you a ton of chips in O/8.

The absolute funniest moment of the show comes about 40 minutes into the podcast. It was like a lightbulb went on over Henry's head, and he casually reckoned that perhaps the best pots to win are the ones were there is no possible low, and you get the whole thing. Or possibly hands that have a shot at winning both the high and the low. Scoop is the name of the game in O/8. I'm not doing their comments justice here (it's not nearly as funny when I type it out), but at the time it was so funny that I almost had Diet Coke come out my nose.

Seriously though, you owe it to yourself to check out the PokerDiagram podcast. The show is always entertaining, and they often have very good discussions on poker strategy along the way.

WSOP Circuit - Caesar's Indiana

2005-10-18T12:44:00.000-04:00

OK, folks. Tomorrow begins the closest thing to big time poker that this part of the country has seen in a long time. The WSOP Circuit event begins tomorrow as Caesar's Indiana. Caesar's (soon to be Horseshoe) is in Elizabeth, IN which is about a 20 min drive along the river from Louisville.

My meager bankroll won't get me a seat at the tables, but I'll definitely go over a few times during the tournament to see how things are going. The 10k main event doesn't start until the last week of October, but there are several smaller buy-in events over the next couple of weeks.

I'm not sure whether this event even appears on the radar screen for most of the big time pros (or big time poker bloggers), but I'll take the camera over and try to grab some shots if I see anyone. Today's Courier-Journal has an article about the event and they list Jesus Ferguson, Kathy Liebert, Robert Williamson III, Scotty Nguyen, Men the Master, Ron Rose and Dave Pham as "expected big guns". Stay tuned...

Back From Vacation

2005-10-12T21:45:00.000-04:00

Sorry I haven't blogged in a while, but it's been a very busy week! I drove down to Disney World last week with the family for some fun in the Florida sun. Only trouble is, it wasn't very sunny there. Wednesday, Thursday and Friday were all overcast with intermittent showers. Saturday and Sunday were pretty nice though.

Everybody had a great time at WDW. Funny thing is, I wasn't really looking forward to this trip. I wanted to do it for the kids, but really I just wanted to get it over with. Turns out I had a blast and can't wait to go back.

Last Tuesday was a pretty good day as well. As I was packing up the van for the long road trip (14.5 hrs), the UPS guy showed up with my Nevada Jacks! This is a great set of chips, but I was really surprised at their texture. The top and bottom of the chips feel sort of like fine grain sandpaper. They stack really well, but they don't slide together when shuffling quite as easily as I would've expected. They do sound great though, and overall I really like them.

Quick bankroll update: I'm waiting on a cashout from PokerRoom right now. I deposited $100 there, and am cashing out $100. I still have about $50 there, so net profit on my PSO promotion was a $40 bonus, $10 winnings and a $200 (guesstimate) chip set. Not too shabby.

I was originally planning to use the cashout to go for another promotion at PSO, but I see that PokerStars is offering a 25% reload bonus right now. I love playing at Stars, so I may use the cash there instead - we'll see.

Also, I still have some money left at FullTilt. When I cashed out to go for the PokerRoom promotion, I only left about $3 in my account. Starting with super micro-limit NL, I've built that back up to around $25. That's enough to get me back into some $5+.5 SNGs and continue chasing the ever-elusive FullTilt initial deposit bonus (I'm up to $20 out of $50 now).

Blogger Tournament on PokerStars

2005-09-30T09:11:00.000-04:00

I have registered to play in the
Online Poker Blogger Championship!

This event is powered by PokerStars.

Registration code: 4404781

PSO Confirmed + PR MTT

2005-09-29T15:04:00.000-04:00

I just got an email from PokerSourceOnline stating that they had confirmed my account with PokerRoom and that the Nevada Jacks will soon be on their way! Wow, was that ever quick. I just created the account on Saturday and I've already completed the requirements and the order will soon be here. Thanks PSO, and thanks for the link, Chipper (btw, I clicked through your banner, so I assume you should get some referral bucks - maybe it'll take the sting out of the Titan downswing a little ;)

Speaking of PokerRoom, I earned a ticket into their weekly freeroll last night. The tourney started at 9:30, and I was ready to go. I watched the first couple of hands play out, and everybody was just min-raising when they raised (which was rare). I was licking my chops thinking that I was at a table with a bunch of passive players that had never played NL before. About the fifth hand I picked up AQs in middle position and was ready to show these guys what a 4x raise looked like when... WTF? Where's the bet slider? Where's the box that I can enter my raise amount into? OMG, it's a LIMIT tournament!?! What an idiot. So I put in my "min-raise" and then settled in for the long-haul. A limit tournament with 866 players would have to take forever.

Long story short, I finished 116 out of 866 (100 places paid). With about 150 people left I was in bubble zone. I knew that if I tightened up I could pick up a pot or two and hold on for the money, but I decided instead to shift gears a little bit. Everyone else seemed to be tightening up and I tried to take the opportunity to accumulate some chips. My thinking was that the real money was in the top 10 spots (100 to 80 only paid $10), so I would rather take the gamble to try and get to that position rather than be blinded out at or near the bubble. It was the right plan (I think), but my aggressive attempts with decent cards kept running into defenses with better cards. Oh well, better luck next time.

PSO PokerRoom Bonus Cleared!

2005-09-28T11:05:00.000-04:00

In my last post I mentioned that I had signed up for the 300 pc Nevada Jack chip promotion through PokerSourceOnline. I chose to play out the bonus at PokerRoom, but Titan and Party were also offered. I signed up Saturday morning, and as of last night (4 days) I had completed the 400 pt requirement for both the PSO promotion and the $40 PR first deposit bonus!

The bonus has already been credited to my account, so now I'm just crossing my fingers hoping that I didn't screw anything up with the PSO piece of the registration - they are verifying my account now. Of course I'll post an update as soon as I find out anything.

The way I went about clearing the bonus was pretty risky, but it sure was fast! I started out playing the $1/2 limit tables to get a feel for the site. I won a little bit the first day, and had already started to put a dent in the bonus (about 40 pts). On Sunday I decided to play $2/4 for a little while and see how it went. My bankroll was a little shorter than I like it to be (I like to have a session bankroll of about 30 bb for limit), but I planned to find a loose table and play really tight. The strategy worked and by the end of the day I was up around 10 bb ($40) and had earned about 150 pts total.

Here's where it turned crazy. Monday night I really wanted to put the 400 pts to bed, so I decided to play two $2/4 tables. I was waaay under-bankrolled for that, but I figured since I had a $40 bonus on the way I could lose up to around $80 (the $40 I was ahead + the $40 bonus) and still be even on my deposit. I played for about 1.5 hours, and for a time I was ahead on both tables but then my luck went south (very quickly on one table, not quite as quickly on the other). After around two hours I was down close to my loss-limit for the night which was the $60 bankroll level, so I called it a night. The good news is that I had earned over 200 pts on the evening so my total was over 350 - so close I could taste it.

Last night I picked a loose $2/4 table and was planning to play extremely tight. I figured I only needed to sit for about 4-5 orbits or less to earn all of my points. I abandoned my super tight strategy within the first orbit. The deck was absolutely smacking me across the face!!! I was getting good starting cards, matching flops and my hands were holding up through the river! In just about an hour, I had completed my point requirement, earned my bonus and won back all of the money I lost on Monday - and then some. What a fantastic night.

Now I'm just licking my chops looking for NJ chip delivery...

PokerRoom

2005-09-25T16:10:00.000-04:00

As I've mentioned a couple of times before, I'm getting pretty frustrated by the payout rate for earning the bonus on FullTilt. I've been playing there consistently since the first week of August, and have only earned $15 of my $50 bonus. While surfing some of my favorite poker blogs, I saw a link to a special promotion at PokerSourceOnline.com on Chipper's Blog. The promotion is going on now, and they are offering a 300 pc set of Nevada Jacks casino style poker chips for doing just one new account sign-up at either PartyPoker, TitanPoker or PokerRoom. Party was out because I've already got a real money account there, and the bonus payout at Titan sounds eerily similar to the structure at FullTilt.

I decided to give PokerRoom a go. I'm not very familiar with them other than I know that that's where Henry and Zog play most of their SNGs during the PokerDiagram podcast. The bonus seemed pretty attainable. The requirements are: sign up for a new real money account, deposit at least $100, and earn 400 player points. PokerRoom has a 40% deposit bonus as well, and that runs concurrently with the PSO bonus. So - earn 400 pts, get $40 + a $200 set of chips!

You can earn points at PokerRoom based on either the paid rake for hands in which you are dealt cards (you don't have to bet in the hand for it to count), or paid juice for tourneys you enter. You get .7 points per $1 rake, and 5 points per $1 juice. My strategy for working off the bonus is to play super-duper tight at the loosest 2/4 tables (bigger pots = more rake). My hundred dollar bankroll doesn't really support that level, but with a max rake of $2 per hand I can earn 1.4 points per hand and work off the bonus pretty quickly.

The strategy has worked rather well. I deposited yesterday, and have already earned 150 pts + a couple of tickets into frequent player freeroll tourneys. And the uber-tight strategy at the limit tables? I'm up $47 so far by playing only super premium hands (around 15 VPIP%)! By the end of next weekend, I should have earned my bonus and the chips should be on their way. I'll post my overall thoughts about PokerRoom in a later post after I've had time to play a little more. By the way, I still have a little cash left at FullTilt for working on my bonus there but I'm not optomistic about earning it all before it expires.

Nice SNG Run

2005-09-20T08:53:00.000-04:00

Holy Cow! This run of SNG success is so good, it must be my birthday. Hey, it is my birthday (or rather it was, yesterday).

I have now finished in the money in six of my last seven 5+.5 tournaments on FullTilt. That includes 2 wins and 4 places (and one bubble-out). I skipped out of work a little early yesterday (did I mention it was my birthday) and got second place in two afternoon SNGs. After I got the kids to bed last night, I capped off the evening with a victory!

I really, really wish that PokerTracker would add support for FullTilt tournaments. I'm keeping my results on a spreadsheet, but the numbers are so good that I'm not sure they are correct. Maybe somebody could double check my math?

FullTilt SNG Results
Entered / ITM / ITM%: 41/21/51.22%
Buy-Ins / Winnings / Net: 226.40 / 343.00 / 116.60
ROI: 51.5%

Obviously this is still a really small sample, but I really like the results. Now the question is whether I should step up to the 10+1 tournaments. I'm considering it, but I think I want to build my bankroll a little more first. Maybe I'll try a couple and see how the competition stacks up relative to what I'm playing now. The thing is, I don't think that the 5+.5 games are super soft. There are usually one or two very weak players in each event, but there are also usually a couple who are pretty good as well. I think I'll continue to try and build my bankroll in the $5 events while I dip my toes in a few $10 to test the waters.

FullTilt Bonus

2005-09-14T16:06:00.000-04:00

OK. About a month ago I deposited $50 at FullTilt to take advantage of their 100% first deposit match. At the time I was pretty bummed that I didn't have more to deposit in order to maximize the bonus. Now, well, let's just say that I'm glad I didn't.

Don't get me wrong, I love FullTilt. It's my very favorite place to play right now - the software is top notch, the games are good (though there is a definite dearth of Omaha/8), customer support is prompt and friendly - what more could I ask for.

Only problem is that the bonus is released PAINFULLY S-L-O-O-O-W-L-Y. I've played nearly every night for a month at various games (.5/.1 and .1/.25 NLHE, .5/1, 1/2 and 2/4 LHE, 23 5+.5 SNGs) and I've had a whopping $10 of the $50 bonus released - Ouch! You work off the bonus at the rate of $.06 per FullTilt point (1 Tilt Point = $1 rake for ring games, $1 in juice for tourneys gets you 7 Tilt Points). So for an entry in a 5+.5 SNG I get 3.5 TiltPoints and earn a whopping $.21 of my bonus. Better yet, for a limit game where the pot hits $5, I get .25 Tilt Points and earn a whole 1.5 cents of bonus. Best of all, in a micro NL game where the pot hits $1, I get .05 Tilt Points and earn - wait for it now - .003 cents (almost a third of a penny)!!!

I've worked off bigger bonuses at both Party and Stars, and It's never taken over a week of consistent play to release the bonus. Fortunately, I have until December to work off this bonus before it expires. Unfortunately, I don't think that even if I play every night until the expiration date I'll be able to earn the full amount.

Like I said, I love FullTilt and I really enjoy playing there. I'll recommend the site to anybody that asks. I just want to warn any low limit grinders like myself that if you're looking for a quick bonus to help you build a bankroll, you should probably look elsewhere first. If you play higher limits (and therefore bigger rakes), this bonus may or may not be a problem for you - I can't say for sure.

FullTilt SNG Comparison

2005-09-14T11:59:00.000-04:00

In a previous post on the Spaces blog, I compared the lowest level SNGs between PartyPoker and PokerStars. I've been playing the SNGs on FullTilt for a while and I want to add them to the comparison. I really, really like the SNG format on FullTilt. It's like they took what was good about the PokerStars SNGs, and made some minor improvements which result in a really enjoyable tournament experience.

First and foremost, the FT SNGs have 9 players and a starting stack of 1500. I've come to realize that in NLHE, this is a crucial difference between the good tourneys (Tilt and Stars) and the not-so-good (Party - more on that topic below). At Stars, the blinds increase every 10 minutes, and they mostly double. At Tilt the blinds increase more frequently (every 6 minutes), but the increments are smaller (15/30 to 20/40, for example). The Tilt tournaments tend to move just a little quicker - not too quick though, they feel just right.

As a side note, I've changed my stance on the SNGs at Party quite a bit since my first post on the topic. After playing SNGs extensively at the other two sites, I've decided that I really don't like the Party format. I feel cramped right from the start in Party's SNGs. The starting stack of only 800 coupled with 10 players and rapidly increasing blinds means that you have to get very lucky very quickly just to stay around. If you don't win the first pot or two that you get involved in, you may as well write off that tourney and move on. Even a small (1/3 to 1/2 pot) probe bet in one of the early pots cuts deep enough into your stack that it feels like a gamble rather than a request for information. I think this format gives the edge to (or at least levels the playing field for) the less skilled player. If I want a crapshoot, I'll go play craps. I'm staying away from the SNGs on Party.

SNG Results

2005-09-13T10:42:00.000-04:00

I played two SNG's last night in an attempt to recover my winning ways. The first tournament ended pretty quickly (8th place) when I got QQ. I was one from the button and raised 5x BB and was only called by the BB. Flop was KQ8. BB checked and I put in a 1/2 pot bet hoping to get a call and keep him around. BB check-raised me all-in! I thought for a minute and put him on a range of hands including AA, KK, AK or KQ. KK was the only hand I was scared of, and I didn't consider it very likely so I called. He flipped over KK for top set. A little frustrating, but I thought he played the hand well (as did I, I think). Anyway, that's poker and the losing streak continued.

I had time for one more tournament last night (since the first went so quickly), so I played again - and won! No spectacular hands to report in this one; I just feel like I played solid poker and the cards fell my way when I needed them. Whew! It's good to have the monkey off my back.

Anyway, here are the results for my most recent 20 SNGs on FullTilt. I'm having to keep these records by hand since PokerTracker doesn't yet import FullTilt tournament hands. [Open plea to Pat at PokerTracker - PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE add tournament support for FullTilt!] Somebody please correct my math if I'm wrong.

SNG Results (19 $5+.50, 1 $4+.40 for entry token)
Tournaments Entered: 20
In the Money: 10 (5 wins, 2 places, 3 shows)
ITM: 50%
Total Buy-In: 108.90
Total Winnings: 163.00
Net Profit: 54.10
ROI: 49.7%

Obviously a non-statistically significant sample size, but the results are pleasing nonetheless. Now if I could just discipline myself to stick with the SNGs rather than the NL cash games, my bankroll would certainly appreciate it ;)

The Heater is Over + Lucky Suck Out

2005-09-12T09:33:00.000-04:00

Well, Lady Variance has decided to let me know that she can indeed be a cruel mistress. After a nice little SNG heater where I finished in the money in nine out of fifteen attempts (including four wins). I've now gone four straight without a cash. Three of the losses (which included two ultra frustrating bubble-outs) came yesterday, so I'm going to partially attribute the dry spell to having my attention divided by the return of the NFL - any excuse is a good excuse, right?

Another possible reason for the downturn may be that the poker gods are seeking revenge for a lucky suckout that I delivered on Friday night. It's late in a 5+.5 SNG on FullTilt. I'm bubble boy but there are two other small stacks that are pretty close to me; the boss has us way outchipped. I'm down to around 10 BB, so when I get 9d8d it's time to push. The other two short stacks fold (and for some strange reason I feel like they are rooting against me). Boss calls and shows AA - argh!

The fun really begins when the flop comes AdJc7d. Boss gets his trip A's but I pick up a gut shot straight draw and the nut flush draw. Turn - Th. I hit my straight and I'm chanting as fast as I can, "don't pair the board, don't pair the board". River - 2d for the flush. Wahoo! Former boss is now officially tilting (I can tell by the really unfriendly comments in the chat box ;). I bust out a short stack on the next hand with AT vs. 98s (yes, I see the irony).

I went on to win this tournament, but I haven't cashed since. The run was nice while it lasted. I'll try to right the ship tonight and get things back on track.

Update: Edited for clarity

Links to Cracked Aces on Spaces

2005-09-01T13:22:00.000-04:00

I haven't yet found a clean way to import my blog from Spaces to Blogger, so I'm going to have to hack around it a little bit. I'm keeping the link to the old blog up in the description section of this blog, and I've created this post to link directly to some of the notable posts on that blog. Thanks for reading, there's much more to come.

Hooked on NLHE - Brief thoughts on the origins of my continuing addiction to No Limit.

In the Money! - My first cash in a NLHE SNG.

First Live Win - In an ad hoc SNG of Sorts.

Hurricane Relief Tournaments on PokerStars

2005-08-31T21:58:00.000-04:00

Wil Wheaton has posted information on his blog about several charity tournaments on PokerStars aimed at raising funds for the Red Cross and the hurricane Katrina relief efforts. The buy-ins for the tourneys are being matched 100% by PokerStars, and the proceeds are going to the Red Cross. Wil is donating a bunch of signed books for the final tables, the winner, and the person that knocks him out in each event. PokerStars will be donating some prizes as well.

I hope that these efforts can make some small difference and help out a few of the hundreds of thousands of people who have been so dramatically effected by this disaster. My hat's off to Wil and to PokerStars for taking this on - great work! As for me, I've been mostly playing at FullTilt recently. I'm going to move some money back to Stars so I can participate in these events.

New Home for Cracked Aces Blog

2005-08-30T15:06:00.000-04:00

After much frustration with the blog over at MSN Spaces, I've decided to transport my Cracked Aces poker blog over to Blogger. I've been a big fan of blogger for a while, and my main blog is hosted by them. I'd heard some pretty good buzz about Spaces, so I wanted to try it out for my poker journal. I feel like I gave it a fair shot, but Spaces is just too limited for what I want to do. I'm no blog guru or anything, but I do like the ability that I have on Blogger to edit the template and customize it a little bit. Plus I've had two very frustrating experiences with Spaces, where I spent twenty to thirty minutes cranking out a post only to lose it when I attempt to save it and the server is unavailable - grr! Also, Spaces doesn't always seem to play nicely with Firefox (which I love). I use the MS Word editor for Blogger, so this is not an issue here.

I'm looking now to see if there is a clean way to import my posts from Spaces to Blogger. If not, I'll either copy all of the postings over manually or make a new post here with the permalinks to my previous posts. If any of you used to read the old site, welcome to the new one - I'm glad you found it. For you new readers, welcome to Cracked Aces - I hope you find it at least mildly entertaining and not a total waste of your time ;)