Updateaments

Finally getting around to making a post and I'm halfway thru the month and my results have been so-so. Made a few final tables but I've only managed to snag one win which was in the $10 PLO8 tourney. I got close to shipping the 2500 KO guarantee but ended up getting another 3rd in the event which I think is the 3rd time I've finished in that spot. Frustrating to say the least. I managed to satellite into FTOPS event 13 but due to technical difficulties the event had to be rescheduled (stupid full tilt). I ended up playing in the "Not FTOPS event 13" instead which was also a $200 HA tourney but not for the jersey. Got off to a good start in the tourney but lost two coin flips after 1st break QQ < AK and TT < AK and that was that. I also played FTOPS event 24 and got off to a good start in this tourney as well but as usual I lost a huge pot right after first break with AQ < A9 *yawn*. I've started to hate playing online holdem but its a necessary evil since the higher prize pools are all NLHE. Hopefully one time I can pull off that win when I need it.

In other news, I played a live tournament at a local home game. It was a $40 rebuy and we had around 39 ppl. We ended up chopping it 4 ways as it was getting late (it was round 1:15am when we decided to chop) and ended up shipping $730. Not bad since I was only in for $80. I had forgotten how easy live poker is. The average live player is just so easy to play against compared to average online player who tend to be a little bit more loose/reckless. I did however manage to crack aces twice which definitely helped. Im hopefully going to start playing more in this tourney to get back used to playing live, but we shall see.

School starts next monday, bleh. Which unfortunately means my tourney schedule is going to change. Right now looks like mon & wed ill be able to play the same tourneys I play now but tues & thurs ill only be able to play at night. So I'll prolly just play the 32k, 28k, 4k, & 3k, which actually wont be a bad schedule and I might just do that every night of the week but we'll see how tough the school load is. Til then.......

End of Month Results

Its the beginning of a new month and time to recap last months results. July was nowhere near as good as June but still ended up in the positive. I never did get my four figure win but did have a nice win in the $11 HA and a few other final tables in some guarantees. Overall I had a 17% ROI throughout SNG & MTTs (June was 215%). This past week has been pretty frustrating to say the least. I was playing some of the best poker Ive played in a while but yet wasnt able to produce any results to show for it, except for the 3rd place I got in the 2500 guarantee. Hopefully I can keep up the good play though and just get some solid results under my belt for this month. Full Tilt Online Poker Series (FTOPS) starts next week and would be awesome to get a nice score in one of those tourneys before school starts back up. See ya at the tables...

Bad Beat 101

The other day I came across this great post from another poker players blog. You can find her blog here. Yes thats right, I said her. Not only is she a great poker player, but she also possesses excellent literary skills. Anyways heres the post enjoy:

"I want to spend a little time talking about one of the ugliest aspects of poker... Bad Beats!!!

Bad beats are non-exclusive. They are blind to race, creed, and gender. They are merciless. Every single player that sits down to play cards, takes bad beats. The more you play, the more you take... the more hands you are dealt, the more likely it is statistically that you will take a bad beat.

So now if every single poker player is taking bad beats across the globe.. how is everyone dealing with them?

What is your standard reaction when you get bad beat?

*Do you curse and chat box spew?

*Do you donk out of all other tournies that are going well?

*Do you throw things or punch walls?

*Do you reach for alcohol and/or drugs?

*Do you tilt off your roll?

*Do you copy and paste your hand history and send it to all your buddies on messenger so they can now relive your bad beats along with their own?

*Do you take it out on your family and/or significant other?

*Do you take it out on yourself?

or..............

-Do you assess your play, your own decision, your role in the hand, learn what you can and move on?

The true damage of a bad beat isnt the hand itself....it is the aftermath that ensues...It is our inability to accept it for what it is...The damage lies in the snowball affect it has on everything else... when we allow it to permeate into other tournies... into a bankroll we grinded so long and so hard for... into our personal lives.... that is where the true damage of bad beats take place.

Imagine all the players in the world in one huge field...with a bad beat firing squad constantly firing bullets. Each bullet is a bad beat. Are you wearing the necessary armor to repell it...to let it bounce off you? Can you turn what is a deep muscle wound, or a life threatening injury to the majority, into a mere superficial graze?...Like a paintball pellet..making contact and splattering fake blood... while the weak company around you, bleed profusely...

How many poker players are equipped with the armor to tolerate the "blows" poker will undoubtedly fire at you?

The field is narrow...Most fall victim to the grimy hands of 'Tilt,' and SELF-defeat...Don't let this be you...

Poker is all about perspective.

Don't wallow in your defeats or self-pity...
Don't question your abilities or skills...
Don't let yourself fall into a cold, dark abyss, with a tape recorder on repeat playing
"you suck at cards...you are a loser...how could you not have folded that hand? you donkey...stick to your day job...you have no hope...."

And Please don't surrender to bad beats...

It's all about our perspective...
Mind over matter...it is amazing how powerful self-perspective can be...
it is what we make of it...
what our mind creates of it...
it is what it is...
what we allow it to be...

Once you are able to keep bad beats in proper perspective for what they are.. an inherent part of the game that every participant has the choice to deal with, in his or her own way... then you will see how much more of your time and energy is spent constructively, as opposed to destructively...

and not only will you emerge a stronger Poker Player...but a stronger Person..."

FINALLLLY

After going 0/8 cashes in my HA tournament, I not only cash I shipp it. Finally. I was oh so close to also final tabling the Hi/Lo tourney which wouldve been extra sweet but ended up getting 11th place. Ive been playing so well, it was just a matter of time. Now on to take down a guarantee to complete the month. *fingers cross* Ahh feels good to have that winning feeling again.

Tsk Tsk Full Tilt

Nothin much has really happened in the past couple weeks. I've only managed one final table and it was in an $11 omaha hi/lo tournament where I eventually got 7th. I had a great chance to get a good score today in the 2500 KO guarantee (PLO) but ended up bowing out in 10th place, when I couldnt pick up any pots when play got down to two tables. Bleh. After such a good month in June, I was hopin to carry it over into July but the results havent been there. Hopefully I can get a nice four figure score this week.

In other news, Full Tilt has really been fuckin up. For those who don't know Full Tilt recently had a string of checks they sent out to players end up bouncing. This is just pathetic. Luckily I was not one of the unfortunate people to get one of these checks. but if I was I would be furious. Not only would the money be taken back from my account, but the I'd hav to pay the return item fee and possibly overdraft fees. Im still waiting on a check that was approved on June 19th but had to be re-issued on July 3rd (Probably when full tilt realized that checks were bouncing). I hope online poker gets back to the neteller era where getting money on and off was a breeze, but the way our government is stalling with the clarification of the UIGEA bill it doesnt look to happen anytime soon. Til next time.

Double Final Table??

Well as usual I started off the day with the $11 HA tourney. This is one of my favorite tourneys to play because the field is so soft and the change of games from Hold'em to Omaha is nice. I do wish it would get more entrants though because it definitely is one of my favorite games to play. I started off the tourney fairly up and down not really getting into any big pots and went into the first break with around 3600 chips of the starting 3k. Shortly after the break i was dealt KK and was fortunate to run into another players QQ and doubled up to 7200. Then in the omaha round this hand happens and for some reason it really put me on tilt. I started spewing chips and when we got back to hold em i was down to 5500 chips. Then i win a very nice pot here to get back to an above avg stack. I hung around 8-10k in chips for a looong time before finally getting a nice suckout with about 15 ppl left. I do some nice chipping up to enter the final table wit 26k in chips which is good for 3rd highest in chips. At the final table i was pretty card dead and didnt play a pot til we were down to 6 ppl. I was down to 16k in chips with blinds at 800/1600 and i get KQdd in the big blind. It folds to the small blind who pots it to 5600 and I have an automatic shove having only 10bbs. I had him covered by 5k and he calls wit ATos. Flop comes a beautiful and AJT and he doesnt catch up and i knock him out in 6th and move up into 4th chip position. Then this very interesting hand comes up. This was the 3rd hand in a row that marek had raised preflop and i decided to defend with the 98hh. Just had that feeling the flop was gonna hit me. The flop was a good but not great T98 and marek leads out a c-bet of 7500 into the 17k pot. I only had 18k in chips and had an automatic shove and Im pretty certain this flop didnt hit him but figured he could hav an AJ or KJ type of hand that he would be forced to call with. I shove and he calls with JJ (much better hand then i thought hed show here).. so i had to fade 13 outs twice and of course i luckbox my way to 2nd. The guy of course starts going on a little tirade on wondering how i could call preflop, but watever i gambled and it paid off. I eventually knocked out marek and stl in 3rd and 4th and it was pretty much over from there. I entered heads up with a 3.5:1 chip lead and held on to win.

I also decided to enter the $11 PLO Hi/Lo tourney which ive had no success in the few times I've played it. I really would like to get better at hi/lo so i can add another game to my rotation, so i'll prolly start playing this tourney more regularly. Coming into this tourney i had decided i was really gonna concentrate on my starting hand selection as i think this has been the first problem with my success in the game. So I was pretty nitty in the early going, but of course i get super unlucky in the first big pot i play. Guy overplays hand, I of course am not rewarded. So im now down to 792 in chips and pretty much have written off the tourney as another failure. But remarkably these donks didnt want me to leave just yet and i chipped up and doubled up twice to go to the first break with 4198. Then the first two hands after the break were a doozy. Non-diamond king one time?! & Sorry sir.. your 9 hi flush is no good. Those two hands put me over 19k in chips and the chip leader of the tournament with 55 ppl still left. I then went on to play what i consider some of the best hi/lo ive ever played. I was stealing pots with busted lows, and scooping more pots than i was splitting. Heres a nice 17k pot i win with A high for the hi and A6 for the low. I carried this momentum all the way to the final table where i still had the chip lead and a 2:1 advantage over 2nd place. Even though i had never played shorthanded hi/lo i still liked my chances for taking down the tourney. Unfortunately I had a mental breakdown three handed and pretty much got eliminated on this hand. I still dont know what the fuck i was thinking here. I think his min bet confused me and so i decided to try to steal the pot from him. Once he raised i then figured i still could salvage a low but of course he had me on both fronts and i was out the very next hand. Overall i was very happy with my play and hope to make more final tables in the near future. Well its time for sleep. Hopefully i can produce some more good results tom..

Cash Games Are Evil

Today i went 1/6 in token sit n go's which is very uncharacteristic of me. So it kind of tilted me a little and caused me to break one of my rules and play a couple cash games. The session started off pretty bad with me being stuck 50 bux within the first few hands. I grinded it back up and was up a small bit when in rapid succession these two hands happened..

Hand 1 - This hand, the guy overplays his bottom two pair and essentially sucks out on me when the turn and river brick out. I love missing 20+ outs

Hand 2 - This is standard omaha cooler. The guy has a monster draw on the flop and decides to just smooth call my bet. His lead on the turn is speculative, cause he just as easily could have had the KQ with just the dry king of spades. Unfortunately he had the flush as well and no way im getting away from the hand with second nuts and a boat redraw.

All in all I ended up down ~$140 at the tables. I need to just stick to my plan and stay away from cash games for now and dominate the tourneys...

And it begins

Soon everyone will know my name....