No Love in Mookie as I More or Less Bubbled

Wednesday night and we all know what time that is. MOOOOOOK Time . I double up very early on when my set of nines outlasts Waffles big slick. He called my check raise all in on a T29 board. I think he could have found a fold there; but what do I know. 99 was interesting tonight. As one time I got all my chips in with 99 and ran into KK. A little later I get KK and get all my chips in against 99. The Cowboys held up on both occasions amazingly enough.

Other than that, I can't remember anything too awful exciting. I played my normal game I chipped up. We had 78 runners tonight with all of the final table paying out. My big hand was where surflexus went all in and I went over the top with JJ. He showed AJs and it was over be it started as an ace came on the flop.. not to mention the river as well. What goes around comes around I guess as I believe I knocked him a few weeks ago on a bad beat when I cracked his Queens with A6 or something like that.

That left me crippled and I pushed with K6 on the next hand and called by 77 and AJ I think I went out in 13th just short of the final table. So far, I have gotten real close as I have a 12th, a 5th and now a 13th to go along with 2 bad finishes (again on suckouts or lost races) so I feel I am playing well; but just not well enough to finish it. I really need to work on restealing. There were a couple instances that it was a prime spot for a resteal; but I couldn't put the bet in.

Here is a look at the My Mookies this via Mook's Live Blogging...

Jan 2... 11:49 … willwonka runs into AA and guess what??? So did I!! Riding a shorty, it folds to me on the button and I jam with a “top ten” hand…J4o and of course run into riggstad’s AA in the BB. GG me.

Jan 9..

11:23 … Ouch! Battle of the wonka boys…KQ for willwonka and Q8 for wwonka69. 8 on the flop keeps the defending champ alive. KngofKngs is out in 17th.

12:18 … Bayne gets lucky, lucky, lucky with AQ vs. willwonka’s AK….Queen on the river.

12:34 … willwonka’s A9h is no good against Mattazuma’s JJ. Final four.

Jan 16..

11:04 … willwonka is all in preflop as is TheCloserX5 …KK for willwonka and JJ for TheCloser and crack go the Kings when TheCloser rivers a straight leaving will crippled.. PirateLawyer takes out GCox with KK vs. QQ.
11:06 … willwonka loses a race with 66 vs. QJ and is out in 25th.

Jan 23..

10:12 … Stat man willwonka lost a couple of races and is the next to leave followed by dnasty13.

Jan 30..

11:49 … UnTiltable15, KngofKngs and lightning36 have all been eliminated. willwonka takes a tough beat against surflexus when his JJ is outflopped by surf’s JackAce. willwonka is out followed by VinNay. 11 left with 9 getting paid.

So, as you can see, I just a little break and maybe I have a better finish.


Speaking of Mook, he is still surviving as I write this. Here's to hoping that he can make a comeback and take this thing down

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Only 75 hands 3/6 tonight as I decided to just concentrate on the Mookie. I started playing while on first break and played for about 45 minutes. The session went well as I was going at a 19.33 bb/100 clip (had I played 100 of course).

Only one semi interesting hand; but nothing too spectaculer. The nice thing about this mini session is that I started off red hot. I gave back about 1/2 of it; but then finished up nicely although not quite reaching my high water mark for the night.

Anyway, as I said I was hitting early and I looked down to see 98s (clubs) on the button. It is folded to me and I raise of course. SB blinds folds and the BB 3 bets which he had done a couple times before (He was a 37/29 player). The flop comes 6h 4c 10d giving me nothing but a guy shot really. BB leads out and I go ahead a peel the flop to see what comes on the turn as I had some cards that could help. One thing that I always do is call out (sometimes out loud as I did this time) the exact card that I would like to see. So this time I said "let me see a 7 of clubs". Sure enough the beautiful 7 of clubs came out; but unfortunately, the BB didn't lead out this time but he did check call both the turn and river (with Ace High) to give me a nice pot. It was just humourous that I called the card that I wanted and it came.

Well, that should do it for today. I day left in the month and I am a huge $6 to the plus side. Hmmm, should I play tomorrow or should I just book the positive month. Of course, that number doesn't count bonus and rakeback which makes for a better (but not good) month. Lost starts tomorrow so I may be tied up most of the night with that as we didn't finish the warm up show tonight.

One final check on Mook... He is sitting in 5th place out of 7 with a little over half the average stack so he needs a double up. Best O Luck Mook!!!!

EDIT: DOH... Once again a bridesmaid. Sorry Mook, I was pulling for you.

Have a Nice Day!!!

It always happen... Every Time

What a great time to be in the Midwest. A nice breezy 71 degrees at lunchtime today (Tuesday). When I went back into the office at 1PM Central, it was a little breezy; but it was 71 degrees. 5 hours later I'm running into a restaurant and it is below 0 with the wind chill factored in. Without the wind it was around 15 degrees. 15 degrees and 40 mile and hour guts make for good times. NOT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I must be really getting old. I was going into the restaurant to pick up my Visa Card that I had left in there. The restaurant was Red Robin, a Wonka family favorite. Your kids can pretty much be as loud as they want and it really doesn't faze anybody. You guys with kids know what I mean. The funny thing is that I have recently left my Visa card in a restaurant 4 or 5 times in the last 2 or 3 months. The even funnier things is that it has always been Red Robin. I don't know what it is; but it is just odd.

Speaking of falling numbers. My poker game. It just seems like every month, I grind my way up. No big wins or no big losses; bu I am at least above zero; albeit barely as I was just 1BB/100 over a little over 8,000 hands. Not that is depressing; but then there seems to be that one day where just everything seems to go wrong. Your rockets don't hold up; or you get them UTG and raise and everybody folds. Those kind of things. Your draws don't hit and if they do they are only second best. You know those kind of nights.

Well, that was tonight. I found myself down over $350 in just 267 hands. It just seems like I do this every month. Now, I was able to get it back to down just a bit over $200 through 523 hands; but still a pretty big hit. A big enough hit to me back in the negative for the month. I am down $80 for the month; but somehow I am positive .8 bb/100 hnds.

3/6 was a problem again for me as the 50 and 70 percent VPIPer just keep hitting. The 50 one in particular. He hit runner runner on back to back hands that really put a damper on things. Oh well, that's poker.

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

Two hands for thought today.

Hand 1

When do you give up on a hand?

The SB is pretty solid but pretty LAGy (34/23/2.67 893 hands)
UTG is unknown but seems loose and passive so far

The

Vegas Poker 24/7
Limit Holdem Ring game
Limit: $3/$6
5 players
Converter

Stack sizes:
UTG: $109.50
CO: $159
Hero: $85.75
SB: $204.50
BB: $136

Pre-flop: (5 players) Hero is Button with :as :7d
UTG calls, CO folds, Hero raises, SB folds, BB calls, UTG calls.

I'm raising to isolate here? Don't mind going HU with loose passive guy

Flop: :9c :6h :7c (6.67SB, 3 players)
BB checks, UTG checks, Hero bets, BB calls, UTG calls.

OK, not good; but not terrible. I hit my pair; but everybody is staying in. Are they drawing or do they also have a pair. I'm not really putting anybody on an over pair or a set.

Turn: :5h (4.83BB, 3 players)
BB checks, UTG checks, Hero ?????

Dang.. Pretty terrible card. I've been gutted to death tonight so I'm going to check.

River: :7h (4.83BB, 3 players)
BB checks, UTG checks, Hero ????

Is this card good or is this bad?? I'm not adding to this pot as I would hate to see me get check raised. Results below in white. Thoughts?

Results:
Final pot: 4.83BB
BB Shows Kd 6d
Hero Shows As 7d
UTG mucks Kc 2h

Hand 2

This a HU with a flop with a Draw. Do I want to keep the lead after I check/raise?

Villain is solid player... 22.3/12.6/1.62 103 hands

Vegas Poker 24/7
Limit Holdem Ring game
Limit: $2/$4
6 players
Converter

Stack sizes:
UTG: $139.37
UTG+1: $98.50
CO: $79.75
Button: $300
SB: $178.25
Hero: $63.01

Pre-flop: (6 players) Hero is BB with :ah :10h
UTG folds, UTG+1 raises, 3 folds, Hero calls.

Flop: :5h :qs :7h (4.5SB, 2 players)
Hero checks, UTG+1 bets, Hero raises, UTG+1 3-bets, Hero ????, UTG+1 calls.

Any good/aggressive player is most likely going to 3 bet me if they any part of that flop as I am know to check raise not only made hands; but draws. The question is do I want to cap it and keep the lead? The villain had normal numbers about going to showdown and winning at showdown so I thought I could get him off of anything except maybe a Queen.

Turn: :10c (6.25BB, 2 players)
Hero bets, UTG+1 calls.

Well, heck... The turn kind of hit me. I can't stop betting now.

River: :7d (8.25BB, 2 players)
Hero ?????, UTG+1 calls.

Ah Heck again. No way I winning this pot unless I bet; but is he really calling me with anything that I can really beat? I bet out and he called.

Results below. Thoughts?

Results:
Final pot: 10.25BB

oops.. no results here. He had KQ and took her down.


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I finally broke down and bought/ordered an Ipod (compliments of Absolute Poker and their Rewards Points). Up until now, I have been taking my podcasts and putting them on a CD to listen to in the car. That is getting to be a pain. There are a bunch of good radio shows out there. I was going to list a few; but the better thing to do would be to run over to Hard Boiled Poker as he does an excellent job of keeping track of all the poker podcasts... not to mention he is a great blogger. Now, we may disagree on the whole Absolute thing; but his points are more than valid; especially when he talks about some crazy stuff going on at Ultimate Bet . I would have never even guessed that with today's hub bub about all the cheating scandals that two people could log on with the same account from two different places at the same time. YIKES!!!!!!!!!

That's it for now.

Have a Good Day!!!!

When is Flopping Quads Bad?

Nothing too exciting this weekend. Should have worked, but I didn't. Should done some stuff around the house, but I didn't. Should have gotten outside more as it was relatively nice this weekend, but I didn't. Shouldn't have played poker, but I did. OK, it wasn't that bad as I did finish up for the weekend; but it was a constant struggle.

Most of it was played Sunday. I had my RaketheRake 12K freeroll on Sunday; but nothing doing there as I finished in the mid 150s where 70 paid. Nothing exciting there. Just lost the big race when I needed a win.

So I played in the afternoon during that and then again in the evening. All told a little over 700 hands. I found myself in catchup mode all day. One of the first hands of the night was pocket aces and it went four handed and lost when bottom pair couldn't fold and hit 2 pair on river while the other 2 also came along so that would have been nice. I almost caught back up and ready to call it a night when this hand came up.

Absolute Poker
Limit Holdem Ring game
Limit: $3/$6
4 players
Converter

Stack sizes:
Hero: $66.50
Button: $372.72
SB: $125.50
BB: $209.75

Pre-flop: (4 players) Hero is UTG with :4c :4s
Hero calls, Button folds, SB calls, BB checks.

Flop: :4h :9d :4d (3SB, 3 players)
SB bets, BB folds, Hero calls.

Turn: :9s (2.5BB, 2 players)
SB checks, Hero bets, SB calls.

River: :9h (4.5BB, 2 players)
SB bets, Hero raises, SB 3-bets, Hero caps, SB calls.

Results:
Final pot: 12.5BB
Hero Shows 4c 4s
SB Shows 9c 3c

This guy was very passive 48/0/.5 stats so I should have just called 3 bet on river; but what can you do. When you flop quads, you just expect to win. Luckily, this wasn't really on Absolute (it was on VegasPoker247) because this wouldn't have qualified for the bad beat jackpot that Absolute has running on most of their tables.

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The new pokertracker is out in beta release now. It only works for FTP, Stars and Party at the moment and the HUD is also not working at the moment. I, for one, will probably just wait for the commercial release which should be in the next month or two.

I'm sure there are some people that are already using it such as nsidestrate and will like it. I know there is a bunch of stuff being posted on 2+2. I haven't really had time to browse over that just yet. I am looking forward to it, I believe. Anybody else using it yet?

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

Also, if you aren't reading MiamiDon's (former St Louisian) blog lately, then you are missing some good stuff.

That's it for now.

Have a good day!!!!

A Few Things

Got a few things to cover today and all will be pretty brief.

1) Site Traffic. So this is what a blog is like that has site traffic. Fuel was good enough to link to my post on StoxPoker Free Videos and got more traffic that I can remember in a long, long time. So, from people that watched the videos, are there any that you particularly would recommend to watch or even recommend to NOT watch. I have not had a chance to watch them yet.

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

2) Mookie. Things were rolling exactly as planned in the Mookie last night. I was gradually chipping up and that is usually the plan. I'm not one that is usually on the top of the leader board early. I hang around the middle of the pack (if things are going as planned) and make more aggressive moves toward the latter half of tourney. Things can change quickly in this game of poker. Here is a brief look at 4 hands.

Hand 1. AJs in BB. Early Position raiser (tight player.. sorry can't remember who is was). I just called and the flop came J high. I decided to check call to make my move on the turn. But unfortunately a K came on Turn and a smallish bet was put out there and I called. Nothing on river and he bet out almost all in for me and I had to fold my JackAce. Slowplaying never works does it?

Hand 2. Speaking of slowplaying. Hoy may have something to say about that. Right before the 1st break. Rakefeeder raised and Hoy called before me. I am on the button (I think) with 77. I'm ok with this call although Hoy thought it was terrible. Anyway, flop is 886 and Rakefeeder puts out a bet and Hoy goes all in. Dang... that was my move... I obviously have to fold here. Good thing as Rakefeeder flopped quads and Hoy had KK. Slowplaying never works does it?

Hand 3. While chatting about 77, Hoy is severly crippled from above hand goes all in and I try it again with 77. I lose the raise, I believe he had AT.

Hand 4. A few hands later, I get something similar to AT and go allin only to get called by 66 and again I lose the race and I go home pretty early in the Mook something like 63rd out of 85ish.

Congrats to bdiddle for taking her down.

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3) Limit Play.

One of my favorite bloggers out there (The Surly Poker Gnome) wrote a book review about the the book The Poker Mindset . I wish I was more of book reader because I would really like to read this; but unfortunately, I seem to buy books read a few pages and put it down. I really like Matthew Hilger and still may pick this one up some day. One of the thoughts was about steady poker sessions and not quitting while ahead and not chasing when behind.

My last two poker sessions. Guilty on both counts. Tuesday, I called it quits after only about 160 hands after I had gained around $200 playing 1/2, 2/4 and 3/6... quite the mixture. Last night after finishing the Mook, I found my self chasing losses until 12:30 in the morning. The fact that I made up my losses (if you include bonus) is besides the point. I really need to work on this area.

2 hands for review..

Absolute Poker $2.00/$4.00 Limit Hold'em - 5 players The Official 2+2 Hand Converter Powered By DeucesCracked.comPre Flop: Hero is BB with 9c 8c
UTG raises, 3 folds, Hero calls
Flop: (2.25 BB) 7s 2s 6h (2 players)
Hero checks, UTG bets, Hero raises, UTG 3-bets, Hero caps!,
UTG callsTurn: (6.25 BB) 2h (2 players)
Hero bets, UTG folds

Any comments? Mixed results over at 2+2

Absolute Poker $3.00/$6.00 Limit Hold'em - 6 players The Official 2+2 Hand Converter Powered By DeucesCracked.comPre Flop: Hero is CO with Qc Qh
UTG calls, MP calls, Hero raises, BTN calls, SB calls, BB calls, UTG calls, MP calls
Flop: (6 BB) 5h 8s 9h (6 players)
SB checks, BB bets, UTG calls, MP calls, Hero calls, BTN calls, SB raises, BB calls, UTG folds, MP calls, Hero ?????

Consensus seems to be a flop raise. I was not likely the family pot plus this flop so my plan was to wait until the turn to see what my action would be.

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

Rented the 1st season of UK conman show called The Hustle. Should get it in the mail from Blockbuster today. Anybody seen this? Any good?

That should do it for now..

Have a good day!!!

Mr Irrelevant and Free Poker Videos

Like I have been saying, I am going to take a look to see how I am doing towards my one and only poker goal for the year. BE A WINNING LIMIT POKER PLAYER. Well, I have played 6,435 hands this month. Am I ahead or behind, made money or lost money, have a thrown a strike or do I see a 7-10 split. As always, we'll see later.

But first, I want to continue to support and recommend poker video training. We all know, that Stox Poker is my site of choice at the moment so I wanted to let you know of something new that they have going on. If you are not sure if this the right thing for you, what is the best way to find out? Free Videos. Well, Stox Poker has just that.. Here are some of the titles:

Matt Matros video of session winning a seat in the Aussie Million. [PLAY]

Ed Miller's first video in the Poker Made Simple series: "The Art Of The Fold ". [PLAY]

Kyles latest video. A classroom video on C-Betting in NL Hold'em. [PLAY]

Dusty's recent NL Hold'em small stakes table play video. [PLAY]

Collin's video where he first played a SNG without looking at his hole cards. [PLAY]

Group commentary video on all coaches NL Hold'em session. All hole cards shown.[PLAY]

Bryce Limit Hold'em head-up match with Benyamine. [PLAY]

Bryce Limit Hold'em 6-max blind play quiz. [PLAY]

First DrRazz video. [PLAY]

If you do sign up for an account free or premium, feel free to use willwonka as a referral code.

Take a look a let me know what you think. I have not seen all of the above videos yet. I did read something where it might be a little slow due a bunch of people going to watch these.

Back to our regularly scheduled program. The last guy in the NFL football draft is typically called Mr Irrelevant. Nobody will remember that he was drafted and he will be a long shot to even make the team. That may not be as true as it used to be when there were more rounds that there are now. You know, he is the guy that was probably pretty good; but maybe just not good enough to make it to the next level but yet good enough to get drafted. Well, that guy may very well be me. Will "Mr Irrelevant" Wonka.

After 6,435, you can probably guess that I am not a winning player. But how bad am I losing, that is always my question. The answer will be told.... right now. After all of those hands, I have lost a grand total of one dollar and 49 cents. Yep, a whopping $1.49 to the negative. I guess I should be happy or maybe not as angry to be at least break even; after all, I am getting bonus and rakeback, right? WRONG!!!!!!!!! While I am looking to make money and that is OK, my goal is simply to be a WINNING LIMIT POKER PLAYER!!!! I really hope to try and study the numbers a bit this week to help identify what is going on.

One thing that you can say is that I am consistently inconsistent

I have the upswings always followed by the big downswings.

I have played most of my poker at the 1/2 level; but I also played some 2/4 and some 3/6.

Here is the breakdown:

1/2 4,825 hands 29.28 VPIP, 14.76 PFR and 2.44 AF down $14.25

2/4 1,019 hands 28.95 VPIP, 13.05 PFR and 2.01 AF up $78.87

3/6 591 hands 26.73 VPIP, 11.68 PFR and 1.73 AF down $63.36

So, it definitely seems that I get less aggressive as I go up in stakes which of course is not necessarily good. This is all a small sample size; but we'll see how things progress. Also, just on the surface, it seems that I am limping preflop too often. I might be able to get away with that in 1/2 land; but higher stakes (not necessarily 2/4 or 3/6) will make you pay for passiveness. Aggression Factors seem OK. My highest aggression factor is on the turn which is probably where I would want it to be (this stat not shown).

One thing that alos sticks out is my W$WSF (Won $ win seeing a flop). At 3/6 this number is 42.69% which is a good number. Even though I was an overall loser at this limit, things will level off if I keep this number above 40%. Both 1/2 and 2/4, I was below 40% which I will need to improve.

All three levels I am winning $ at showdown at greater than 50% so that needs to stay there.

I will look at more stuff in the days to come including positional stats.

Here's to keep fighting the fight.

Have a Nice Day!!!!

Nothing to see here

Not much going on here. I played a little bit (probably 1500 hands) with not so good results. I still hope to get a look at my play thus far this month. I really have no idea how I am in total. I know I have had more positive days; but it is those big negative days that unfortunately offset the gains.

Every once in a while there is a guy that just catches everything (and plays everything). I just can't decide if I should leave that table or play through it. For example, I would have AJ and the flop was AJ4 and I' m betting the whole way and he hits his 3rd 4 on the river. No biggie as this kind of stuff happens all they time; but when it happens time and time again (not to just me by the way), do you stay at the table or leave?

I can honestly say that I have no real desire to watch the Super Bowl. Of course, I absolutely hate the Giants (as any true Cowboys fan does) and I don't really like the Patriots other than being in awe of them. I'm not sure that I want to see a perfect season and I know I don't want the Giants to win. A tie doesn't really work as that would still be a perfect season. I can't think of any scenario that would work for me.

I will watch the Super Bowl as it is football. And if it is football, I am most likely watching.

That is it for today.

Have a good day!!!

Mookie/Phil Helmuth and Could this be the Week?

Like a 1o time or is 11 time (I can't remember) WSOP champion has always said, if it wasn't for luck, I would win every one of these Mookies . Every week, I get my chips in with the best of it and just wait for whoever the donkey of the week. Just like last week, I get money in where I dominate the hand and I lose.

For example, I get AK and and lose to KQ. I get KK and lose to JJ on a rivered straight. I lose a race and I'm out in 25th out of 68 players. What a waste of a few hours. I don't know why I even play these anymore.

OK, just kidding. I just had to get that out of my system. You see, I forgot to mention that my A8 ousted Surflexus's pocket queens. I forget to mention that I hit a 2 outer on the river against Wraith. It is easy for me to justify those as I was in BB against shorty Surflexus.. I had to call, right??? Wraith was min raising me with his huge stack. Surely, he didn't have an ace that was flopped, right? My reads are never wrong, right?

WRONG!!!!!!!!!!!!

I don't think anybody will argue that you need a bit of luck to win any tourney. I'm sure this week's winner will tell you the same. But probably more importantly, it is how you set yourself up to prepare you to win those pots. Oh well, there is always next week.

But even more importantly, who did we find out the final table? None other than Mook and Hoy.
Was this going to be the week, that one of them finally got off their first win? No, it just wasn't meant to be.

----------

I didn't play any poker yesterday as I was down for the count and went to bed as soon as I got home from work.

I plan to post my half way through the month results this weekend. Unfortunately, I'm not getting to where I wanted. I'm not even sure where I stand. It will interesting to take a look at the results. I've played 1/2, 2/4 and 3/6 and it will be interesting to even contrast the three. We shall see. Hopefully, I will at least above break even.

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One final thing. I have mentioned Stoxpoker many times and even have a banner over on the right. They are now offering the new Poker Tracker 3 as one of their gifts for premium membership. Find more information about it in the forums there under public... general. I am really looking forward to giving it a try as I'm hearing a lot of good things about Hold'Em Manager (see cmitch for a post on his blog) and PT needs to do something. Competition is good, right? They have also changed around the point system for premium membership, so if you haven't been by there lately, it might be worth a look.

Single Dad, Most Underated People and 16 Blocks

Well, Mrs Wonka was forced to take a short 2 day business trip so I am Single Dad. With a 4 and 1 1/2 year old, they can certainly be handful; but usually they are pretty good with me. But I got to tell, there are people that are easily the most underrated people. More on that later (of course).

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I just played a little poker at Absolute Poker. I was playing with a new data mining program for Absolute called Absolute Solution . It's a great program and best of all, it is free (donations accepted). Basically, you set up some parameters and it will open up tables and start data mining them for you.

I played about 150 hands tonight and was at 15.89BB/100 so a good night and called it early to get some sleep as tomorrow night will be a little difficult (see below)

My hand of the day is with nothing less than Pocket Rockets which I also posted on 2+2 . I have a few hands lately that I have be charged with over bloating the pot so that is something that I am working on although here I decided to bloat. Give me your thoughts? I won't post what he had; but will do so in the comments, if needed. The villain in this case was pretty LAGgy with stats of 48/28/1.8

Absolute Poker

Limit Holdem Ring game

Limit: $2/$4

6 players

Converter




Stack sizes:
UTG: $93
UTG+1: $98.37
CO: $16.83
Button: $67.50
SB: $44.62
Hero: $99.88


Pre-flop: (6 players) Hero is BB with :ah :ac
UTG calls, UTG+1 calls, 2 folds, SB raises, Hero 3-bets, UTG folds, UTG+1 calls, SB calls.


Flop: :5d :8s :7c (10SB, 3 players)
SB checks, Hero bets, UTG+1 calls, SB calls.


Turn: :9d (6.5BB, 3 players)
SB checks, Hero bets, UTG+1 raises, SB folds, Hero 3-bets, UTG+1 calls.


River: :9s (12.5BB, 2 players)
Hero bets, UTG+1 calls.


Results:
Final pot: 14.5BB



The big question is on the turn... folding... calling... raising.. We obviously know what I did.



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Back to the underrated people; but first I must add that we had a pretty scary moment 2 Fridays ago where my 17 month old had some problems. Her lips turned blue and had some problem breathing and was really, really cold and shivering. This happened at Daycare. By the time I got her home and called doctor, it was obvious that I needed to call 911 (probably should have done it sooner). The ambulance came and we spent about 6 hours in the ER. Thankfully, it turned out to be nothing. Just a virus so they say. We are actually taking her to get an EEG on Wednesday to make sure that there was no seizure of any kind. Talk about scary when the nurse says to hang up phone and call 911 and I say that I can take to hospital or Urgent care in 5 minutes and she responds by saying that she might not make it to Urgent Care. I'm normally a real calm person; but that set me back and I lost all track of everything and just hung up and called 911. Again, scary stuff.



Anyway, Mrs Wonka's parents (who live about 15-20 minutes away) took no time and came over and watched our 4 year old while we were at the hospital and grandma is going with Mrs Wonka to get the EEG. For this test, they want us to keep our baby up until Midnight and wake her up at 4AM. For all of you that have kids this age know that this will be almost an impossible task. Again, grandma will be here to help as Mrs Wonka will not get home until around 10PM. So who are the maybe the most underrated people? Grandparents.



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Did anybody buy TOs crying about the question about Tony Romo. I'll go on the record and say that I did. I don't know why. Based on his history with QBs, I don't know why he would fake something like this.



-----------



My latest movie that I watch was not even rented but watched on HBO as we just subscribed to this so that we could watch The Wire. OK, I'll go on record and say that I am a Bruce Willis fan. Of course, he has made his share of bad movies; but for the most part, I have like his movies. 16 Blocks was one of those movies that I really had no real desire to watch; but it was on HBO so I decided to record to watch later. Almost 2 weeks later, I decided to watch it. Really, the reason was so that I could make some space on my DVR for the football games last weekend. The first half of the movie was nothing really special, just a typical cop and bad guy movie. But, to me, this movie really turned around towards the end. To me, and this will be obvious, but the ending is really what I base my opinions on and this one had a really good ending. So, I am giving the 2 thumbs up to this one and will give it 4 stars out of 5.



I also watch Poseidon; but it is not really worthy of a review. Not bad and not good. Pretty much what I expected. I watched it in one sitting which is always a good sign for me.



Have a nice day!!!

Disappointed, RakeTheRake and Home Tourney

I can't begin to tell you how disappointed I am in my Dallas Cowboys. Way too many mistakes to win the game. 11 Penalties for the Cowboys vs 3 for the Giants. The Cowboys had a great 10 minute drive to almost end the 1st half; but let the Giants drive down and score a touchdown in less than a minute (again aided by a big 15 yard penalty). So many things went wrong that it would be hard to assess blame; but you got to start somewhere.

1. Coaching. Were the Boys really prepared? Could they not adjust like Giants did. The Cowboys have been a great 2nd half team all year; but could only muster 3 points yesterday. I think it starts with he coaching. Also, do the massive amounts of penalties also lie on coaching? Hard to say? On the plus side, I think it was a great coaching move to start MBIII. Barber proved that he is worthy of being a starter. Well, at least in the first half.

2. Offensive Line. Such a great offensive line all year long. They let us down in the second half as Romo was constantly being pressured and knocked down. That may be the first time that I have really seen him frustrated. The running game was almost nonexistant in 2nd half.

3. Penalties. It bears repeating. You just can't have all of these silly penalties in a big game.

4. Special Teams. As usual, this one needs help. Some of the tackling was just plain embarrassing.

I could go on and on; but it is what it is. I guess I will pulling for the Packers now to make the Super Bowl and knock off the Patriots unless the Chargers can do it..... nahh.. they can't happen, can it?


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


I have two rakeback sites that I use. Recently I really plugged ThisIsTheNuts as the rakeback site that I would suggest mostly due to their web site. Now, I think it is only fair to mention my other rakeback site that I use, RakeTheRake (see banner on right). Let me give you a few more details. First, between the two that I use, they were the first to have monthly freerolls. There freerolls go something like this:


Poker room
Rakeback
Network
Promotions
Sign-up bonus

Absolute
30%
Absolute
$15,000 Freeroll & $6,000 Race
100% up to $500

Betfair
30 - 37%
Independent
$5,000 Freeroll & $5,000 Race
100% up to $5000

Cake Poker
33%
Cake
$10,000 Freeroll & $3,000 Race
100% up to $500

Full Tilt Poker
27%
Independent
$20,000 Freeroll & $13,750 Race
100% up to $600

Interpoker
Up to 50%
Cryptologic
$10,000 RTR Race
up to $1000

PokerHeaven
30%
Boss Media
RTR Free Gift Promotion
100% up to €500

PokerPlex
Up to 50%
Cryptologic
$9,000 RTR Race
up to $1000

UltimateBet
30%
Independent
$10,000 Freeroll & $2,500 Race
111% up to $1100

William Hill
Up to 50%
Cryptologic
$5,000 Freeroll for RTR players
up to $500


But what they have really improved on is their website. They have finally revamped their website so that you now see your rakeback for the month (which they always had); but now you can see when it was last updated which was always a question mark especially when you use Absolute Poker as they typically don't update daily. They also track the number of hands that you have towards the promotions such as the freerolls. Also, they have a better way know of tracking your referrals and how much you have earned off of them. I've always plugged TITN so I can really speak to this; but if you would like to give them a try click on the banner on the right to sign up or get more information.

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

I was basically sick the whole weekend starting Friday night which is never fun. Just the usual cold, fever and aches thing. I just couldn't shake it. I did, however, make it to a home game on Saturday night with some of my softball buddies. It was a $35 buy in and had between 30-35 guys. I never did see a final count. I just basically kept on surviving. I lost a few big pots late which put me in bad shape. In this tourney, all 8 people that made final table got paid so I was relieved when I made the final table as the huge short stack; but at least, I would get my money back plus $5.

Again, I kept surviving. I won a pretty big pot when I shoved with AQ and got called by KTs. The flop was AKT and I thought I was a goner; but a beautiful Ace came on turn to keep me alive. I won't bore you with all the details; but I made the final 3. Again, the huge shorty. I had something like 12K in chips to the other two about even with 40K chips (blinds at 2k/4k). Then the strangest thing happened. The big stacks went to war in a couple of hands and finally the one guy called with second pair on a huge all in call on river. I guess he was tired of being bullied around by him and he called... and lost. He would go out on the next hand. No one was more surprised than me; but I wasn't complaining. So now I am heads up with. I went all in blind as the tourney lasted longer than he thought so the hand before this he jumped blinds to 5K/10K (I couldn't really complain the structure was pretty good as he had 30 minute blind levels). Of course, the chip leader called.. officially he put me all in and I called without looking. Just my luck, he tabled JJ. But wait.. I finally looked at my cards and turned over KQs so I'm not in too bad of shape. I had already won 2 pretty big races so my confidence was not too high and the Jack on the turn confirmed my thoughts and I was gone; but finished 2nd which I can't complain about. It paid out $305.

----------

Finally, just a report on my goal for the year (to be a winning limit poker player). I really haven't played too many hands but I want to keep tracking my progress so after 2,787 hands I am running at a 2.1 BB/100 hands clip. Not great; but positive so for right now, I am happy.

That should do it for now...

Have a nice day!!!

Gutshots, Runner Runners, and Rivers Oh my

Poker is Fun, Isn't it? I need to keep remind myself. I had a little 550 hand session where it didn't turn out too well. As usual, started down again and made a slight comeback. Again, around the 300 hand mark, I had won 33% of my showdowns. Now, I know we all have bad beats (and some people don't like to talk about it); but they sure get old... especially when the happen in near consecutive hands. and especially when the villain is a uber LAG type.

I continue to play on Poker Stars. I'm still not sure why when I set down, Pokerstars is usually the first site that I open; but it is what it is.

Below is a series of hands that happened over just a 9 hand stretch. The villain in each of the hands below was a guy that say 75% of flops and raised nearly 30% and I usually had position on him. So between not giving him credit for hands and others things, this was the biggest chunk of my losing session. Enjoy. They might not be in the right order?


Poker Stars

Limit Holdem Ring game

Limit: $1/$2

5 players

Converter

Stack sizes:
UTG: $150.50
CO: $36.75
Hero: $34.75
SB: $144.75
BB: $60.75

Pre-flop: (5 players) Hero is Button with :jh :ad
UTG folds, CO raises, Hero 3-bets, 2 folds, CO calls.

Flop: :7s :td :5h (7.5SB, 2 players)
CO checks, Hero checks.

Turn: :qs (3.75BB, 2 players)
CO bets, Hero calls.

River: :jd (5.75BB, 2 players)
CO bets, Hero calls.

Results:
Final pot: 7.75BB
CO showed 9s 8s



Poker Stars

Limit Holdem Ring game

Limit: $1.1/$2.2

6 players

Converter

Stack sizes:
UTG: $50
Hero: $75
CO: $75
Button: $4.25
SB: $75
BB: $9.50

Pre-flop: (6 players) Hero is UTG+1 with :kc :kd
Hero raises, 2 folds, SB calls, BB folds, UTG 3-bets, Hero caps, SB calls, UTG calls.

Flop: :tc :8h :5d (1SB, 3 players)
UTG checks, Hero bets, SB calls, UTG calls.

Turn: :3c (0.5BB, 3 players)
UTG checks, Hero bets, SB calls, UTG folds.

River: :jc (0.5BB, 2 players)
Hero bets, SB calls.

Results:
Final pot: 0.5BB
Hero showed Kc Kd
SB had Q9 (and didn't raise) I wonder if he even knew he hit?

Poker Stars

Limit Holdem Ring game

Limit: $1/$2

6 players

Converter

Stack sizes:
UTG: $42.75
UTG+1: $144.25
CO: $71.25
Button: $149
SB: $39.50
Hero: $18.75

Pre-flop: (6 players) Hero is BB with :ac :3s
2 folds, CO calls, 2 folds, 2 folds, Hero checks.

Flop: :as :4c :2s (2.5SB, 2 players)
Hero checks, CO checks.

Turn: :4s (1.25BB, 2 players)
Hero bets, CO calls.

River: :6h (3.25BB, 2 players)
Hero bets, CO calls.

Results:
Final pot: 5.25BB
CO showed 6c 6s
Hero showed Ac 3s


Poker Stars

Limit Holdem Ring game

Limit: $1/$2

6 players

Converter

Stack sizes:
Hero: $9.25
UTG+1: $44.75
CO: $127.25
Button: $97
SB: $147
BB: $37

Pre-flop: (6 players) Hero is UTG with :3s :ks
Hero calls, 2 folds, Button calls, SB calls, BB checks.

Flop: :kh :9s :8c (4SB, 4 players)
SB checks, BB checks, Hero bets, Button calls, 2 folds.

Turn: :4c (3BB, 2 players)
Hero bets, Button calls.

River: :9d (5BB, 2 players)
Hero bets, Button raises, Hero calls.

Results:
Final pot: 9BB
Button had a 9


And then there was this hand on another table where I gave up with Pocket Aces and would have hit runner, runner. Who knew? In reality, the pot was probably too big to give up on and probably could have called down.


Poker Stars

Limit Holdem Ring game

Limit: $1/$2

5 players

Converter

Stack sizes:
Hero: $30.50
CO: $65
Button: $14.50
SB: $18.75
BB: $30

Pre-flop: (5 players) Hero is UTG with :ad :as
Hero raises, CO 3-bets, Button folds, SB caps, BB calls, Hero calls, CO calls.

Flop: :kd :5d :qh (16SB, 4 players)
SB bets, BB calls, Hero raises, CO 3-bets, SB folds, BB caps, Hero folds, CO calls.

Turn: :4h (13.5BB, 2 players)
BB bets, CO raises, BB calls.

River: :4d (17.5BB, 2 players)
BB bets, CO calls.

Results:
Final pot: 19.5BB
CO showed Kc Qs

BB showed Kh Jh


Oh well, there you have it. You can't win them all.


Have a good weekend!!!

TV Show to Watch Plus Poker and Mookie

Well, I played a few more hands with both good and bad. But we will get to that in a minute.

First, I want to mention something about TV. Recently, a series ended that has catapulted to one of my favorite all-time shows. Sometime during the summer, I rented a show called Dexter which seemed to be right up my alley regarding what shows I like. It is shown on Showtime which I do not get so I had seen it before; but had read a little about i. Well, season one did not disappoint and was one of the best seasons I have ever seen. Basically, if you don't already know, it is about a serial killer (who works for the Miami Police, by the way) who goes after other serial killers that have escaped justice. I guess it isn't always serial killers; but definitely bad dudes. Very good stuff. Season Two just ended a few weeks ago and it did not disappoint although not as good as season one.

Now, there is a void on Sunday night where we (myself and Mrs Wonka) used to watch this. With the writers strike and the end of football season, my DVR is becoming more and more empty. Having said that, I was glad to hear that Season 5 of another one of favorite all times showed started last Sunday. First, if I had to say what my favorite show of all time is, it would have to be Sports Night. It only lasted a few seasons, but what a show. It is the only TV show that I have ever bought the DVDs.

Anyway, on to last Sunday, HBO premiered the first show of The Wire about some Baltimore policeman fighting the fight in the big city against drugs, politics, unions, media, ... you name it. Wonderfully written and acted and I am really looking forward to this season. So we dropped our Showtime subscription and got HBO. The Wire is a close second to Sports Night with Dexter making its move up the charts with a bullet.

On to poker.

I started off by just playing my normal 1/2 limit on Poker Stars. Again, I try to get 200 hands in a night or session to try to stay at the Gold level for FPPs. Things went pretty well and I got my 200 hands finished in about 50 minutes. I ended up the session only up $50; but that is still 12.13 BB/100 hands which equates to about $60/hr. Not bad. I will say that I left the session with a bad taste in my mouth. My last hand on the remaining tables that had open were QQ and 55. The QQ I folded on turn to much pressure only to see a Q hit the river that would have bested KK. I folded my fives on the flop only to see a 5 come on the turn. Who knew???? That would have almost doubled my session as it turns out. DANG!!!!

Here is a chart of the session

I then switched over to my new site, Vegas Poker 24/7 and things went back to normal and I found myself down around $225 on what seems as my typical beats. One of my first hands was KK and hit my set and turned my boat; but that was not a foreshadowing as to how it would go as I only went 2 for 5 for KK over 571 hands. To keep things short since I few days late on this post, I worked it back to be only down $70 and I quit. Add in the $25 in bonus and it really isn't too bad and it did make my a whopping $4 profit for the night in total.

Here is the chart:

Now on to the Mook from last night.

As usual, this was a coulda should woulda night.

Things are going good early on. I'm not getting to showdown; but building chips which is always good. There were really 3 big hands that really cost a chance at my first Mook win of the year.

Hand #1.

I am in the SB with the Evil Wonka in the BB. Having played with him plenty, I know that he loves to push on any sign of weakness. I get KQ in SB and it is folded to me. So, instead of typical raise, I decide to just call and hope for a raise. Not only did he raise, but he pushed all in. I did pause to think about this; but called. He turned over Q8. Perfect!!!! But wait, this just in, an 8 on the flop gives him the pot and he stays alive (or maybe he had more chips.. can't remember)

Hand #2

We are down to 6 handed and I am 3rd in chips. I am in the BB and get AKo and cmitch does a standard preflop raise from button of 5,250. I reraise to about 13,250 and then he pushes for 15K more which puts him all in and mostly all in. I took about all of my time and finally gave him some respect and folded. He later told me that he had AQ.. DOH!!!!!!!!!!!!! Nice play sir. And congrats to CMitch for taking the chips plus other and taking down the Mook . I like my chances with AK vs AQ.... or do I? next big hand

Hand #3

6 hands later, I get AKs again and again in the BB. Shortstack Bayne/luckbox (just kidding) pushed and I had an easy call with AKs. He turned over AQ. Flop was 556 and I thought I could see a chop coming. Turn... Ace... Oh boy, here comes another Ace or 6 for a chop... River... Q... YIKES!!!!!!!!!!! That is not a chop... I lose half my chips and become the shorty.

I actually built back up but ended up calling a push with A9s and lost to Mattazuma's pocket Jacks and went out in 5th. So yeah, shoulda woulda coulda.

That should do it for now...

Have a Nice Day!!!!
(I really need to get a better ending slogan)

New Site and more hands

I don't know that I have ever really commented on the whole Absolute Poker ordeal. While I don't wish to rehash any old news; but basic view what they was deplorable; but for whatever reason, I decided not to abandon them. Part of the reasoning was that perhaps any news followers to this scandal would indeed leave the site (which alot obviously did) and that would leave easier targets online. Also, the scandal was more geared towards the higher limit players... not us low limit guys play 2/4 and 3/6. Yes, that is not the point; but it is what it is.

Absolute remains the number 10 network with UB the number 9 per poker scout so they still do get OK traffic. I have been with since July of 2004 and has always been one of my better sites that I made money on.

Anyway, I say that to say this. In a move to help the depleting bankroll, I have signed up with an Absolute Poker Skin called Vegas Poker 24/7 via the ThisIsTheNuts rakeback site (see banner on right). One of the great reasons to sign up with Vegas Poker or Absolute is that they pay a 100% bonus plus the 30% rakeback and the bonus dollars does not deduct from your rakeback dollars. The one bad thing that I am seeing is table selection. Although Vegas obvious uses the same tables and players as Absolute, they do not carry the Bad Beat Jackpot tables that Absolute has which means that there aren't very many Limit tables between 1/2 and 3/6. I may need to switch to Micro No Limit during this period.

So far so good as I'm up about $150 in just a few hands. I hope to get some time to play there a little more often now that we are past all the holiday stuff. While doing that, I am also playing a lot (relatively speaking for me) on Poker Stars. I want to try and keep my Gold Level Status which gets some rakeback after so many VPP points. Not a whole lot but some. The table selection is so much better there?

That raises a question that I have never really figured out? The biggest online site pays no rakeback? Why do people continue to go there? Kind of rhetorical, really.

------

Well, my St Louis buddy, jestocost, seemed to think that 5 or 6 hands wasn't enough to judge your poker results. Upon further review, I think the 12-15 hands that he suggest is probably more appropriate. Thanks Jest

Having said that, I played 109 hands and did the one thing that I'm not supposed to. I quit while I was ahead.

In 109 hands, my W$SD (Won $ at Showdown) was an impressive 71.43%. That almost never happens to me. I even caught some river cards. Like the below hand of 1/2 Limit at Poker Stars.

Poker Stars
Limit Holdem Ring game
Limit: $1/$2
6 players
Converter

Stack sizes:
UTG: $42
Hero: $46
CO: $12.25
Button: $33.75
SB: $73.50
BB: $56

Pre-flop: (6 players) Hero is UTG+1 with :4c :4s
UTG folds, Hero calls, CO folds, Button raises, 2 folds, Hero calls.

Flop: :6h :5c :2h (5.5SB, 2 players)
Hero checks, Button bets, Hero raises, Button 3-bets, Hero calls.

Turn: :4h (5.75BB, 2 players)
Hero checks, Button bets, Hero raises, Button 3-bets, Hero caps, Button calls.

River: :5s (13.75BB, 2 players)
Hero bets, Button calls.

Results:
Final pot: 15.75BB


Some folks at the 2+2 seem to have a bit of problems from my preflop play and my turn play.

Let me go through my thoughts.

First off, I am playing 1/2 Limit with no reads from anybody at my table. For better or worse, I have been limping with pkt pairs between 4 and 7 from early position. One, you can usually get away with it at 1/2. Two, it encourages others to limp to give proper set mining odds and if you get the late position raise, it is likely that you can have 4 or 5 players. Plenty enough runners to get a set.

OK.. this didn't work out as everybody folded to the button who raised.

The flop was great against a raiser. I obviously think my 4s may good here and need to find out so I check raise. The button 3 bets. Oooops.. Now, my first instinct was to fold here; but I decide to call given the extra straight out with the outside chance that my little pair is still good, I called.

Turn. As usual, I hit my set on an extremely scary board. I check because I know he is betting and sure enough I check raise again. Again, he 3 bets. Now, we need to think more closely what he has. Given his raise preflop, reraise on flop and now reraise on turn, he either has a big pair (with a potential high flush draw) or already has a flush with something like AKs. I decide to challenge him thinking he may have the big poket pair and of course by now he is calling down with whatever.

River. Boat!!!! Now, I am 99% sure I am good and I go ahead and bet out and again of course he calls.

Now, for the million dollar question? What does the villain have here? Flush? Over pair? Bigger Boat?? Straight??? So many possibilities..

Scroll down a bit to see.



It wasn't a bigger boat... so nice hand me.


It wasn't a flush.... hmmm.. thought that might be it..


It wasn't an overpair.. OK.. this is what I really thought it was...


That really only leaves a straight... Yep, he raised with 63s (diamonds... not hearts) giving him top pair on flop and straight on turn. Who knew? Anyway, it was nice to suck out on somebody instead of the vice versa as it typically has been. I realize things will even out; but I enjoyed it tonight.

So after 109 hands of 1/2 (45 minutes), I made 32.55 BB/100. Not too shabby.

---------

Well, I'm off to watch the highly UN-anticipated National Championship Game. I'm a Southeast Conference fan so I will be pulling for the Tigers.

Also coming up in the next day or two will be one of my favorite TV series of all time starting it's 5th and final season right on the heals of one of favorite new shows after 2 seasons.

Have a nice day!!!

5 and done plus Apocalypto

Well, my goal to to be a winning Limit poker player did not start off well. But to be honest, I did not give a chance as I only played 6 hands. Perhaps, that is a small sample size. One of the things I am trying to improve on is my attitude going into and during the sessions and this one didn't start off well.

First, I was on hold on the phone and thought I would get in a few hands while waiting. So here is how it went.

Nothing exciting in my first hands. I folded Q7o and 82o from the blinds. The next hand from the cutoff, I got 98. Ah heck, let's but in a hand history since I know so many people like them.

One thing to note is that there are 2 main things that I am going to try to work on this year (maybe 3).

1. More aggressive from position
2. Improved Blind Play (alot more to come on this in the coming days/weeks)
3. Something that I am terrible at is table selection. I will also work on that.

OK, From the cutoff..

STAGE #866317375: HOLDEM NORMAL $3/$6 - 2008-01-05 11:17:02 (ET)
Table: CHARLESTON (Real Money) Seat #2 is the dealer
Seat 2 - GOLFBAD ($408.25 in chips)
Seat 3 - TYTYC ($230.59 in chips)
Seat 4 - JSJEJEMD ($62.50 in chips)
Seat 5 - DUKERS10 ($110.50 in chips)
Seat 6 - CLINTONGENE ($205.75 in chips)
Seat 1 - WILLEEWONKA ($90 in chips)
TYTYC - Posts small blind $2
JSJEJEMD - Posts big blind $3
*** POCKET CARDS ***
Dealt to WILLEEWONKA [9d 8s]

OK.. not a good hand, but working on positional aggressiveness, this is an OK hand to raise. It eliminates the button most of the time and then I have position on the blinds. Since it was early, I decided to let it go to see if I could get some better reads on players.

DUKERS10 - Folds
CLINTONGENE - Folds
WILLEEWONKA - Folds
GOLFBAD - Raises $6 to $6
TYTYC - Calls $4
JSJEJEMD - Calls $3
*** FLOP *** [8d 9s 5s]

Figures.. These are the kind of different/reverse tilt things that get to you. You fold and then hit the flop... or you raise and totally miss the flop.

TYTYC - Checks
JSJEJEMD - Checks
GOLFBAD - Checks
*** TURN *** [8d 9s 5s] [Ah]
TYTYC - Checks
JSJEJEMD - Checks
GOLFBAD - Bets $6
TYTYC - Calls $6
JSJEJEMD - Folds
*** RIVER *** [8d 9s 5s Ah] [2d]
TYTYC - Checks
GOLFBAD - Bets $6
TYTYC - Raises $12 to $12
GOLFBAD - Calls $6
*** SHOW DOWN ***
TYTYC - Shows [2s 2c] (Three of a kind, twos)
GOLFBAD - Mucks
TYTYC Collects $51.50 from main pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total Pot($54) Rake ($2.50)

Anyway, I would have lost on the river; but I doubt the pair of ducks would have showed down. But you never know. At 3/6 it is a certainly mixed bag of players. So really, this hand doesn't really affect you; but it is at least in the back of your mind.

The very next hand goes like this:

STAGE #866317719: HOLDEM NORMAL $3/$6 - 2008-01-05 11:17:37 (ET)
Table: CHARLESTON (Real Money) Seat #3 is the dealer
Seat 3 - TYTYC ($258.09 in chips)
Seat 4 - JSJEJEMD ($56.50 in chips)
Seat 5 - DUKERS10 ($110.50 in chips)
Seat 6 - CLINTONGENE ($205.75 in chips)
Seat 1 - WILLEEWONKA ($90 in chips)
Seat 2 - GOLFBAD ($384.25 in chips)
JSJEJEMD - Posts small blind $2
DUKERS10 - Posts big blind $3
*** POCKET CARDS ***
Dealt to WILLEEWONKA [10c 10h]
CLINTONGENE - Calls $3
WILLEEWONKA - Raises $6 to $6

Of course I'm raising my Tens. Get a cold call from Golfbad below who goes to showdown 100% of the time in a small sample set.

GOLFBAD - Calls $6
TYTYC - Folds
JSJEJEMD - Folds
DUKERS10 - Calls $3
CLINTONGENE - Calls $3
*** FLOP *** [Jh 10s 4c]
DUKERS10 - Checks
CLINTONGENE - Checks
WILLEEWONKA - Bets $3

Wow, I hit my set of my first pocket pair. Yes, of course, I bet out. No slow play here.

GOLFBAD - Calls $3
DUKERS10 - Calls $3
CLINTONGENE - Calls $3
*** TURN *** [Jh 10s 4c] [8h]
DUKERS10 - Checks
CLINTONGENE - Checks
WILLEEWONKA - Bets $6

Not slowing down here


GOLFBAD - Calls $6
DUKERS10 - Folds
CLINTONGENE - Calls $6
*** RIVER *** [Jh 10s 4c 8h] [9h]
CLINTONGENE - Checks
WILLEEWONKA - Checks

Dang.. figures... this is the story of my Limit life. I have to slow down here.
GOLFBAD - Bets $6
CLINTONGENE - Folds
WILLEEWONKA - Calls $6

Crying!!!!!

*** SHOW DOWN ***
GOLFBAD - Shows [Qs 7s] (Straight, eight to queen)
WILLEEWONKA - Mucks
GOLFBAD Collects $65 from main pot

Yep, he called me all the way down on a back door, gut shot draw. TILT!!!!

I quit!!!!

This is just typically how it has gone the past few years. But like I said, I plan to docoment it a bit more this year both good and bad. At any time, you see anything that I could have/ should have done different, please let me know.

Hopefully things will get better.

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

Also watched the movie Apocalypto. It took two viewings to get through as I started way late the first time and fell asleep. I will keep this one short. What was the point of this movie? Sure, Mel Gibson did a fine job putting it all together; but in the end, for me anyways, not worth the 2+ hours. It was pretty violent; but probably accurate so that is OK. I really hate violence for violence sake; but that was not the case here.

2.5 stars out of 5.

Have a good day!!!

Stoxpoker

As I have mentioned, I have signed up for Stoxpoker and PokerXFactor . While, I haven't put in the necessary time, I have really enjoyed them so far. Right now, I think I would give the slight edget to Stoxpoker and that is only because I am more interested in Limit right now and they also have some good SNG stuff with Collin Moshman (which of course PXF really excels in).

Anyway, I had previously mentioned a deal where you could get free books and/or software for signing up for their premium membership. See this link; but I knew the deal would only last for so long.

Below is an announcement from their site:

Effective Jan 15th there will be modifications to the Free Gift program awarded with 6 and 12 month new accounts and renewals. The details of the new program have not been announced but acting before Jan 15th will result in the highest free gift value.
If you had a premium membership previously and have considered upgrading again, if you renew your premium membership before Feb 1st you could save $69. Effective Feb 1st, if an account is renewed more than four months after the premium status lapses, you will have to pay the full $89 first month cost and not $20.

So, if you were thinking of video training and Stoxpoker, now might be the best time to do it.

By the way, they threw up some YTD graphs. Pretty sick as all told the Stoxpoker coaches made over 5 Million last year. Bryce alone made over 2.5M, Stox made a cool mil. Some of the others als made solid dollars so obviously these guys know what they are doing.

Are you kidding me? and 1408

Back from the dead...... AGAIN!!!

Let's see if we can keep a pulse on this here blog.

Anyway, I was reading in some forum (I don't remember which one it was) talking about bad runs. It said something like he had gone 5 or 6 SNGs without cashing and was thinking about quitting because he couldn't take the swings.

ARE YOU KIDDING ME???!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1

Anyway, I say that to say this. It is extremely hard to blog when you go on downswings and then eventually decide that it is not a downswing but most likely just bad play. I have just gone through my second consecutive losing year. That is really hard to say; but it is what it is.

Where do I go from here? Do I quit? Never!!! As a matter of fact, I am even more determined to play and improve. Even more stubbornly, I vow to remain playing limit holdem. You would think that after years of playing something that you would be good enough to make money at it. Nope, not me.

So, while others are putting out there goals this year, I will simply put out one goal.

BE A WINNING LIMIT HOLDEM POKER PLAYER.

So what do you do to help achieve that? Here is my list in no particular order.

1. Play poker and continue to learn from experience.

2. Training Sites. So far, I am really enjoying Stoxpoker (see banner to right) as have some good stuff on limit poker. More on some of the prose at stoxpoker later.

3. Hand of the day post. I am going to try and post at least twice or three times a week a hand from my play and analyze a bit. I will do this for two reason basically. To get me back in the hand reivew mode and to seek others opinions. Since my bankroll is so low, it will be mostly and the 1/2 and 2/4 levels.

4. Focus on table selection. This is always hard for me as when I sign on, I want to start playing.

There are some more that I will expand on in future posts.

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I resigned up for Blockbuster.com, so I will also be putting short reviews of movies as I watch them. Again, mostly for review later down the road. Again, most of the movies that I review will old movies because with 2 kids, we don't watch many movies anymore.

First movie up is 1408.

To start with, I must say that I am a huge Stephen King. Also, John Cusack is one of my favorite actors so I this would be a slam dunk; but unfortunately, to me, it was more of a missed layup. I just never really got into this movie and it didn't seem very original or creative to me. I think John Cusack did a fine job; but the story just didn't get me like another one of his movies that was similar to this which was the movie "Idenity". Maybe it was my fault into having to many pre-conceptions about this.

Anyway, I will keep it short this time but will give this movie:

3 stars out of 5.