Seattlejohn Poker Life

New address same blog

2007-02-27T09:48:00.000-08:00

Hey all, I am going to redirect this site to my new web address in the next few days. You can go right now to www.seattlejohn.com. I decided to break away from Blogger. I also did a little bit of a redesign . I have only played lower limit poker and online the last few weeks. I owe everyone a post. Will try to get it up this week. In the meantime update your tag to go to my new site. I don't know how long blogger will let me redirect before they get pissed. Talk to you soon and hope you are all winning..SJ

Thoughts on Running Bad

2007-02-15T18:15:00.001-08:00

So I continue to beat my head against the wall at the Muck this week on Tuesday. My bad run of sessions continues. I have not been able to play live that much so while is seems like a two month bad run it had only really been 4 sessions of live play in Washington this year. I guess I can look on the bright side that if I were playing every day it would be less than a week of playing. The downside is that is still feels like a two month bad run.

A couple of thoughts on the game up here in Seattle. I played at both Commerce in LA and the Muck in Seattle this last month. I can tell you without a doubt the game in Seattle is 50 times harder than the games in LA. There are not very many bad players in the game up here this last month so there are not really any easy spots to make money. I wish some fish would come back to the game up here. In one session this year we had a WSOP bracelet holder, a highly successful WSOP, WPT tournament player who plays very high, two full time pros, and the rest of the table were very good knowledgeable players. You could say that was actually a very shitty game to play in, but when left with the choice of either playing in that game or not playing at all, I make the choice to play. You just don't have the game selection options that you have in LA.

So what do I think about when running poorly. #1) Try to keep a positive outlook and table image. When you look down, get down, feel down the other players pick up on it. They already know you are running poorly and will pick on you when given the chance. There was a player last week who was running poorly at the table. He had raised the pot in middle position and was three bet by the button with Q,10 hearts. That is a very questionable three bet hand in that spot against this player, but he had been running poorly so the thought was I want to isolate this player and I will win the hand anyway. That did happen, and to his credit, the player who had been running poorly quit after that hand. He knew he was not going to win that night and recognized he was in a tough spot. Good management.

#2) Discipline. I try to tighten up when running poorly. Really tighten up. If you read my blog you know that I fight with good preflop discipline all the time. I really try to concentrate on this when I am getting the shit kicked out of me. Chasing weak hands only makes it worse.

#3) Take more breaks. After taking a stupid beat or playing a hand poorly take a break. Collect your thoughts, cool down, and try to refocus. You are already in a shitty state of mind because it sometimes feels like you will never win a pot. There was a stretch of time this week were I felt like I forgot how to play poker. I could not make a pair, I could not make a move, I could not make a draw, I was just getting run over. To top it off we were 4 and 5 handed so the variance was even higher. This makes it very hard to stay positive. Taking a break will at least try to get you back into the right frame of mind.

#4) Lastly, this too will pass. If you believe in your game and your skills it will turn. Just try to minimize the loss and come back and get them the next time.

Tuesday was a shitty session. I played $50/100 and lost 1 and 1/2 buyins. The curse of Dr. Chako lives still. I started losing before he even got to the casino as if I knew he was coming or already there. While I was taking a break I did sweat him a bit in the $4/8 game and then I watched him in the $10/20 game. If you read his blog you know he is going through a tough time at the tables as well. His is a bit self inflicted at this time however.

So how about a few thoughts on lower limits. #1) Discipline is KEY in lower limits. Be vary careful playing weak hands in early position. What I mean by that is playing hands that have a high probability of being dominated by hands that will most likely be in the pot from later position when they call. Hands like A,9, Q,10, K,J, 77's and below, etc. I would almost rather take 4,5 a 6,7 or 8,9 sooooted hand and raise in EP than call with those other hands. But only if you can get away from them when played back at or you miss. #2) You almost can never bluff in lower limits. You have to make a hand. Never try to force a hand through. If you don't have a strong hand after the flop don't try to bluff at 3 people. It almost never works. Lastly I subscribe to the thought of if you are going to open the pot, ALWAYS open for a raise, never ever limp. Even if you are going to play a weak hand. In lower limit games you want to drive as many players out of the pot as possible. Too many people see flops in the lower games. At least try to give people a reason to get out. In some of the bigger games it can be ok to limp with KK or AA's every once in a while to try and trap. NEVER do it in a $10/20 or lower game. You are just asking for 6 callers and a stupid hand to beat you.

If you noticed I have not talked about LAPC. I got my trip vaporized by work and will be unable to get down there. I am bummed about it, but hey it happens. Joe is ripping up the $40/80 games down there. Go JOE. He tells me the games are super fishy. Hope you are all winning and we will try to get them again next week. Talk to you soon...SJ

Lack of Interest or Time

2007-02-12T17:07:00.000-08:00

I don't know about you but when I look around the blogs that I read I have noticed that there has been a real lack of posts, and when there are posts, there is not a whole lot of content in them to read. I put myself squarely in that group.

Is it a lack or waning interest in poker? Is the new legislation getting everyone down to the point that we are all just apathetic to poker these days? Is it that I read blogs that have been around for a few years and now they are getting bored, moving on, not wanting to post? I don't know. What I do know for myself is that I have had very little time to devote to this blog or to poker, and thus the posts have been very short and just talk about my results. Which of course there are very few of you who give a shit how I do. Some of you which play against me love me to lose because it means that you most likely won. I would like to try to devote more time to making this blog better. I will try to write a bit more about topics or analysis that I am thinking about these days. Maybe even some other stuff going on in the poker world that I know. Who knows. I would ask if anyone has any topics they would like see addressed, researched, or questions?

Right now however I am not playing a ton of poker. A little online still. Anyone playing in the FTOPS? So there has not been much to blog about. Last week was a complete bust. I played $50/100 at the Muck on Tuesday for almost 8 hours and won 5 hands. In that entire session I only took one bad beat. I just kept ending up on the short end of the stick with good starting hands. That happens. The curse of Dr. Chako lives. Hope today is better.

Talk to you soon and hope you are all winning..SJ

Late Post

2007-02-05T17:25:00.000-08:00

I have been late in getting up a post. Work has just kicked my ass this last few weeks. So much so that I am not going to be able to go to LA this week and play in the LAPC. This will be the first time I have missed it in about 5 years. Bummer.

I did only play once last week on Tuesday. I got down there a bit late after work but to my surprise there was a seat open in the $100/$200 game. I jumped right in and after 1/2 hour of play they put the 1/2 kill into effect making the 1/2 kill $150/$300. I don't know how I feel about the 1/2 kill right now. I don't mind the level, but the 1/2 kill pot always ends up with the wacky 1/2 kill player in the pot defending with a stupid unknown hand. This can lead to some good/painful action.

I ended up playing just about even all night and just as I was about to quit on the blinds and up around $300(nothing) I pick up AKo in a kill pot. I raise, kill player calls, one behind him calls and we take the pot off 3 ways. Flop K,10,8. I bet, get called, then third player raises, I three bet to $450, both call. Turn a 6, I bet again, this time the 2nd player raises, third player now three bets, and I dump my hand. I know the 6 helped nobody so I was toast on the flop. They both flopped two pair, K,8 and K,10? How the hell did we hit a king and then both hit kickers. WOW. Now stuck over $1,000. I lose another right on its heels with AK diamonds, when low cards come out with two diamonds, I check raise the flop, but the other player came with me the whole way and I brick out on the river but decide to bluff at it anyway and he raised the river and I just dumped the hand. He showed me QQ's. Damn, guess he was not going to lay that down. I wish I could have hit my 15 outs however. Now really stuck. I then proceed to play one more hand about a round later. I pick up AK again. I raise in early position one other calls. Flop comes A,A,6. I bet he calls. Turn a 9, I bet out again, he raises, I three bet, he caps(oops). I just call and then crying call the river. He hit a 9 on the turn for a turned full house. Nice two outer sir. I am now stuck my entire buy-in in less than 45 minutes. I was kicking myself for not getting up to leave but when you get AK you are going to play. That is poker sir. Stupid game sometimes.

The one item in the game that really gets magnified is when you play a hand poorly it shows up in your stack immediately. Playing lower limits you go up and down but you don't really notice until the end of the night when look to see how you did. When you lose a pot in this game you get whacked for $500-$1,000 right now. You notice that even if you are not paying that much attention to where you are at the exact moment. If you run poorly like I did for 45 minutes you lose enough to get pissed about.

Aaron Katz is down in LA. I think he is going to play the $10k heads up championship at the Bike tomorrow. Good luck to you AK. Win the damn thing will ya. I will be down at the MUCK tomorrow to get my last 45 minutes back. Talk to you soon and hope you are all winning...SJ

Out of the Woodwork

2007-01-24T10:30:00.000-08:00

Wow, the highlimit poker players from Seattle came out of the woodwork yesterday to play at the Muck. There were two big games going yesterday, one was the biggest we have had in a long time, and both were full ring games with a list for the biggest game. We were only missing a few regulars, but the others that showed up more than made up the difference. There were guys there that I had not played with since the WSOP in Vegas. That was nice to see. Unfortunately it made for a rather tough game. A mix of good players thrown in with the gamblers, all in all it was fun and slightly profitable for me.

So the games... There were two bigger games going. One $50/$100 and one $100/$200 with a 1/2 kill to $150/$300. That is a pretty big game for Seattle. I jumped into the $50 game and proceeded to get stuck right out of the gate, of course. I only played there for about 30 minutes, played three hands, lost all three, and went over to the bigger game stuck $1,200, nice. I got it back right away and then proceeded to do nothing most of the night. Never down more than $500, never up more than $2,000. I could just not get over the hump with that one big pot to get going. I would always either walk a big hand into another, or take a stupid beat, or just stupidly beat myself. It happens.

The game did have some fun players in it however. Barry of course was there, Tweety the nightmare from my last session, she was super buried this time however and burning her chips playing terrible. Of course very few of those went to me. Then we had the guys that I have not played with since the WSOP. Rep was there, good, very wild player, see a few posts ago for the picture. He cycled about $15,000 over the course of the night. Then we had an appearance from Ian Johns. Young internet player who won a bracelet last year at the WSOP.

Nice quiet kid with a solid game. I enjoy playing with him in the game. He brought his friend Travis who is also a pretty solid player. OK, for those who have read this far a little trivia. How many bracelet holders are there from Seattle and can you name at least 4 of them?? Potential cash bonus(maybe $25) in your online account to the first person who can name all of them, and those that were in the game cannot claim the cash.

How about one hand which describes how I just could not get over the hump. The game was getting late, people were starting to gamble and press hands a bit, and I look down at Q,J diamonds in 2nd position. We are playing 8 handed right now. I open limp with the hand. This is a hand I would almost never play from upfront, and if I do I will raise with it 90% of the time when I do decide to play it that 10%. I was not happy with this move right after I put my money in the pot. I was trying to create a limp pot and see a cheap flop. Usually if you limp in an early position you create a cascade of calls behind you and get volume in the pot to hit your hand. This was not one of those games however, way too many aggressive players, it was a mistake. Ian immediately to my left raises, and then to my surprise three more players call behind him and we take the flop off 5 ways. The flop hit me hard. Q,J,7 one diamond. I bet right into the field. #1) I knew Ian would raise and drive out any stupid draws or make them pay to draw. #2) I wanted to find out if Ian had a real big hand or just AK. Ian did raise, it did drive all the others out, so I just called feeling pretty good that right now I had the best hand. The turn came the 3 of diamonds. Now I have top two, with a diamond draw. I check again, Ian bets, I raise it up to $400 and he just calls. I am now 100% I have the best. Boards pairs with the 7 of hearts on the river. I bet, Ian raises, I make the crying call, he shows me AA. I go back to even. I should not have bet the river, the better move would have been to check call, but I should have read the big hand and made the laydown. I have been having trouble finding folds on the river too much. I need to work on this part of my game. Ian was doing this well all night. I really liked that part of his game. The best move would have been to just fold the damn hand preflop like I do 90% of the time.

Results, the good news is that I won a few dimes, the bad new is that it was only about 1/2 a buyin in this game so essentially I broke even. It was fun however. Hope you are all winning and talk to you soon..SJ

Stuck to My Plan

2007-01-22T12:10:00.000-08:00

So I did make it to the Commerce this past week on Friday after business was done. The place is starting to fill up in anticipation of the tournament this week. It could also just have been it was Friday night but I think it was a combo of both as I saw some regular Vegas players and others who are not there all the time at the tables.

I am happy to report I stuck to my plan for the Commerce this year. I played $60/$120 only with a short 30min at the $40/80 table while waiting to get into the $60 game. The games down there were great. The $60 game is full of $40 players playing a little above what they normally play. The tables were full of weak/tight, and loose/weak players. As long as you could stand the suck outs it was a spectacular game. Lots of limping from early position(and not the dangerous kind), lots of callers when that happened, and lots of hands that could get you in trouble. My plan in this game was to play super tight, as there was not any reason to gamble here. There was enough money in every pot that you did not need to win many to make money. I was even dumping some good draw hands in late position as lately I have been leaking too much money in these spots. What astounded me was that after I had been in the game with the same people for a few hours, not playing almost any hands, when I did play I still got action. People would try to raise me of the nuts, people were calling me down after I would three bet the raise, and I would show them the nuts and then one round later they would make the same mistake again. There was not much learning or observation going on from the rest of the table. Here is example A: I had been playing with this guy for over three hours and he had even commented how tight I was playing. I picked up K,10 off on the button and there were 5 limpers in the pot, I even said outloud that even I can limp in this pot. The flop came A,Q,J rainbow. I flopped the joint!! There was one early bet, a few mucks another call, and I pop it on the button. This guy who had been in the SB and directly to my left 3 bets it. The other two get out of the way and I cap it just in case he had a set and/or was just trying to narrow the field and play me heads up. 8 on the turn, 6 on the river and he check calls me all the way down with A,10. That hand is going to be good against me 0% of the time in that spot if I can call a 3 bet or cap on the flop. He had been playing long enough with me to know that, yet called anyway. Can you see how nice that game was?? He was actually one of the better players at the table. Makes for a good game. I went card dead and did not play a hand past the flop for about 3 hours and leaked back a little money, but the last hour I was there I made a ton. I ended the night up almost 4.5 dimes, happy to finally book a win in 2007(1-2) and will be back in the middle of Feb. for the tournament.

A few posts ago someone asked me what I meant by too much cheating going on in the $100/$200 game at the Commerce. What I meant by that is that there are a few teams of players down there that when there are not that many games(1 or 2) they collude. I don't think there are marked cards, but I have heard stories there too, so I would not put it past them. I just don't like that game unless it is tournament time and the tables get watered down and the teams can't play together. I really wanted to play the 3rd $100/$200 game that got started Friday night. It was 4 handed with KMS and Tommy from Seattle in the Game with two others I did not know. I knew with the way they played however that it was going to be a high variance game and I did not want to take my profit and vaporize it in two hands over there. So I stayed out and took my money back to Seattle with me.

I think I will play tomorrow at the Muck. And by the way, don't get too bummed out on the Neteller thing. Another one will pop up to take its place in a very short amount of time. There is just too much money to be made for that not to happen. The US Government chasing this stuff is a waste of taxpayer money and frankly I am sick of it. Find something better to do with my money, like give it back to me if you are going to waste it fighting a war we can't win, and arresting guys who live in other countries because you don't like who they do business with. Talk to you all soon, and I hope you are winning. SJ

Small Update

2007-01-17T14:47:00.000-08:00

I have only played once since the nasty session from last Tuesday. I had a buddy in town last Friday and he wanted to play a little no-limit so we went down to the Muck on Friday night. The game is $5/10 blinds with a $500 max bet, and $500 max buy-in. So not quite no-limit, but close enough. He was doing quite well, up about $2,000 then gave most of it back in about 5 hands. I on the other hand did nothing all night. Had AAA once and won a small pot, other than that played a few hands that went nowhere. I ended up stuck less than one buy-in but once again not a win. 2007 0-2 in sessions.

I chose not to go play poker on my usual Tuesday night because Cleveland and LeBron were in town. I went with my brother and the game was great, the Sonics actually won. This has been a rare occasion this year as the team really sucks. We have some pretty good seats, see pictures below...

I am traveling to LA tomorrow. Have business during the days on Thursday and Friday. Going to the Kings game on Thursday night with my buddy Joe.

I might squeeze in a session at the Commerce. We will see. Hope you are all winning and talk to you soon..SJ

Drunk Poker(Not Me)

2007-01-12T15:59:00.000-08:00

So my 2007 gets off to a rocky start. I did go down to the Muck this last Tuesday, and when I got there they had a $50/100 ring game going. I got on the list but a few of the players asked if we wanted to start a short handed $100/$200 game. The players that were going to start the game had one person who I thought would make the game good so I said sure. We started the game only three handed with me, Chris, and Barry. That is an ok game, but I really wanted a woman named Tweety to play, should be careful what I ask for.

I got off to an even then down start. I was not catching cards and was playing a bit too passive for a three handed game. My game is not sharp after a long layoff but I was hoping to overcome that with a good mix of players. Tweety finally came over from the other game and I managed to get back to even and then up a bit. During this time however the other three started to drink. It was Chris's birthday last weekend(happy b-day) and he got the others to start drinking. I did not partake as I never like to drink when playing cards, especially at this level, but I guess it could not have hurt. The game turned into a loud and druken game with too much gamble. The one place it really hurt was that Tweety, normally a very weak tight player, changed her game drunk. You can make money bluffing her and getting her to lay down 2nd best hands that would still be good. When she got drunk she stopped folding hands, ANY hands. She played everything and the game turned into a no fold-em Hold-em game. Usually not bad if you play good cards and they hold up. I went on a run where I was getting good cards 4 handed and I would whiff with AK and she would catch with 8,4 off and call all the way down with 5th pair. I just could not make a hand. It was even more painful as the table was loud and getting goofy drunk. She was so drunk that she called down Chris on a board of 9,9,8,6,3 with J high and unfortunately for Chris who bet the whole way it was good. Who the hell calls with J high?? How could it possibly be good? At least bluff raise the river to try and win the pot. She just called?? That is a play she would never make playing her normal sober game. PAINFUL. I dumped 1 and 1/2 buy ins and decided to quit. I had enough pain and could not take the drunk game anymore. The other two were stuck as well. Tweety was the only winner. UP big I suspect. I hope the others got some of their money back. I did not stick around to try.

That was a shitty way to start the year. Already in a hole after one session. Hope you are all winning and talk to you soon. SJ

Hello 2007

2007-01-08T18:25:00.000-08:00

Hello people. I hope you had a great end to 2006. I spent mine in 83 degree weather and golfing in Hawaii rather than playing poker. I have not played a live hand in over 4 weeks, but I have played a bit online, nothing to write home(or blog) about.

Most blogs I have looked at lately talk about what goals they have in poker for the coming year. I only have one. I will play in the WSOP main event this year. I don't even care if they don't get as many players as last year. I have to find a way to clear my work calendar enough to make that happen. I will probably play even less poker this year than 2006 and that was less than 2005, but that is they way it goes as family and work are the priorities, and poker is taking more of a back seat than ever. I still hope to play somewhat regularly at the Muck, but that was a lot less regular the last half of the year than the first half. Let's just play it by ear.

On the poker front I finished 3023rd out of 3966 in the Player of the Year standings for cardplayer 2006. I would like to improve on that standing this year, but that would actually mean playing more than 4 tournaments that qualify for points, which is what I did in 2006. I do hope to do that this year however.

I also am looking to update some of the blogs that I read. If anyone has any suggestions of blogs to read/link up hit me with suggestions. I like to read blogs of players that play mostly live, or if they do play online, they play high enough to have some content worth reading or are just entertaining in their own ways. Not that mine has any content worth reading, but I don't want to read any more garbage than mine, the others need to be worth my time to read. I also am taking down two that have been linked up for a while. I am dropping Flecia and Cardspeak. Neither is updating anymore so I am giving up on them. I am adding www.rileypokerlife.blogspot.com as he has linked me up and is entertaining to read as he mixes in sports as well as poker content. Good luck to him as it looks like he is contemplating quitting his job to play poker. Tough choice, one I could/will never make. I am also adding Iggy's second blog at pokerwoks, always a good read.

Congrats to local player Ralph "REP" Porter for placing 30th in the Pokerstars event. His cash should pay for his travel expenses, maybe.

Hope we all have a great beginning to a new year and we all win this year. I might actually get to play tomorrow. Will post later in the week if I do. I also heard their was an Aaron Katz sighting at the Commerce this last weekend in the NL cash tables. Good to see him back at the tables. I predict good things from him this year finally. He is super due. SJ

End of Year, On Vacation

2006-12-28T18:30:00.000-08:00

I figured since I was finally on vacation I could find some time to post. The end of the year was just stupid busy at work. There was very little poker played and what was played was online, no live poker since my last post three weeks ago. Wow, I think I remember doing this last year at this time as well.

I did actually do one poker related thing while at work. I met with the owners and reps of the Ultimate Blackjack Tour. They are looking to raise some money and actually came to Seattle to meet with a few people who they thought might be able to invest with them. Why they were in Seattle I really don't know. I could not think of one potential investor who would put any real money into their venture. They are looking for SERIOUS private money not pocket change stuff. The business I am in had a couple of crossover interests so I wanted to at least talk to them. I don't think it will get very far but the meeting was at least interesting. The lead guy in the UBT is Russ Hamilton(former WSOP champ.) who lead the meeting, and one of the poker player/investors/pitch person Annie Duke was also in the meeting. I had never met her in person and after reading and hearing much negative stuff about her I was pleasantly surprised to find out she was really nice and had a great personality. Now I only got to spend about two hours with them and her, but they seem like they are going to be successful, and they were all good people. I even tried out the product. You can play it on UB under the blackjack tab. It was pretty fun, but I sucked at the tournaments. I don't like pit games, and even though this is like poker, it is still blackjack. Hope they do well. I will let you know if we end up doing any business with them.

As for poker, I will get back to it the 2nd week of January. I am also planning on taking a trip to LA in early February to the LA Poker Classic. I love the tournament, but the bigger games at the Commerce I am going to avoid for the most part. I had very little good happen in those games in 2006 and there is too much cheating going on in the $100/200 limit game. If the game gets really diluted with tournament players I may get in, but I think I will just play $40/80 or $60/120 down there this time and see how that goes.

I am glad 2006 is over, it was the least amount of poker I have played in over 10 years, and my results were pretty much break even all year. I hate to say that, I made no money in 2006. The one month that they ran a big game in Seattle, $150/$300 limit, I ran like a pig and got stuck all my profit for the year to that date. Then I spent the rest of the year not playing much after the WSOP or playing so low compared to the $150/300 game it really had no impact on profit or loss for the year.

I look forward to a much better 2007, and I hope you are all winning. I am not even playing on vacation. ALOHA and talk to you in 2007. SJ

Lower Limit Frustration

2006-12-07T11:10:00.000-08:00

I have played two lower limit sessions this week at Parkers and have walked away frustrated both times. Neither one of them were big losses in fact last night it was a huge $15, but the sessions themselves were just painful. In these lower games $8/16 and $12/24 patience and discipline are key factors that go into the game. At these limits you are seeing many multi-way pots pre-flop, so not getting into trouble spots with weaker hands will pay off in the long run. I was lacking a little of the discipline but all in all I was happy with my pre-flop play. What was so frustrating was that I was not getting a lot of hands to play in position. I would look down at K,Q or AJ in 1st or 2nd position and have to muck them, but then in late when I could have played them in multi-way pots with position I could not find them. I was also not getting many big pairs or AK to play at all. Very tough to just sit there and watch.

When you are not getting a lot of good hands to play, the ones that you do play need to hold up. It was coming down to one pot where if a hand where I had a big pair or big A hit and I could hold I would win a decent amount for the night, of course those two pots went the wrong direction and turned a winner to a small loser. I also was playing after evening work events so I was not getting in as long a session as well, just little 3 hours sessions which I don't like. The hand that killed me the first night, which was typical swing session fashion, was I pick up Pocket KK's in 2nd position and raise, I get called in LP and then 3 bet from the button, blinds muck and I cap, both call and we take the flop off three ways. Flop came 10,10,7 rainbow. I bet out, get called in two spots, I am pretty sure I have the best hand, the guy in the middle could have the ten but the button cannot have it. The turn brings a 2, I check to get a read, and the middle player bets, the button calls and now I check raise. If he three bets I can either muck or call read dependent. He actually mucks right there and the button calls. Fade the river, nope, A on river. I bet out, putting him on QQ's or JJ's or lower pocket and bet for value, not putting him on naked A, to my surprise he just calls me and I ask you hit A huh? Yep he shows me AK and I lose the big pot, that's poker.

One of the cool things I do like about playing up at Parkers is all the new college age kids playing up there and seeing how they play. There are some good players up there today, I like the styles. They don't know me from boo, which is cool, they think I am just some older dude who just came in to play a little cards. I get to learn a bit and watch them as they may be in a bigger game when it counts latter on. All in all just some run of the mill poker session that went no where. Hope you are all winning and talk to you soon. Good luck to all the Bloggers and have fun down in Vegas this weekend, one the these trips I am going to make it. SJ

A Little Friday Poker

2006-12-04T11:28:00.000-08:00

I got out last Friday to play just a little poker. I went down to the Muck to see what they had going. Unfortunately, not much. I put my name up for $10/20, a little $5/10 NL and the $20/40 game. I got into the $20/40 game first and just stayed there the whole night.

The game started full but because I got there late it started to breakdown almost the moment I sat down. That is not a bad thing as I would rather play short anyway, I just did not want the game to break. I pretty much went nowhere all night. Playing pretty tight and not wanting to make too many plays at pots. At this limit, you get a lot of people calling you down with weaker hands so you pretty much must turn over the nuts or a very good hand to win the pots. Not a whole lot of bluffing allowed.

Then as the game started to get real short 4 handed, we had a Christmas gift drop in our laps. A really drunk guy, who I had not played with before, but I guess is a regular on the weekends sat down. He was an absolute action junky, he had to raise and bet at every pot. His bold aggression started him out winning a few pots, but I adjusted to his game and just started to isolate 3 bet, and pound on him with what I knew to be stronger hands than his. We got down to 4 handed as one of the players just did not want to play with this guy, and I managed to pound on him and the other players sitting at the table. Turned into a good night.

One of the byproducts that an action player will bring to the table is that it will cause others to play hands and call down with weaker holdings than they would normally play. There was one player in particular, who I thought had a good game, that started to play very bad hands against the drunk and then played passively once in the pot. This is not a good strategy. The way I like to play them is to first of all try to seat to their immediate left, which I did. Then keep playing the hands that you would normally play short, but play them for 3 bets almost all the time to isolate. If the others want to call so be it but it will cost them some extra bets. Then just play aggressively post flop. If you flop what you think is the best hand just go to war with it. The drunk will try to out aggression you, don't let him do that. If you are reading ok, and use some basic probability to narrow holdings, you will end up on the right side of that equation at the end of the night. I do not adjust my preflop hands played much. He may steal a few more blinds or pots that are small, but when you catch him you will win the big pots because he can not lay a pair on a draw down, and will call you down with A high a lot.

The other thing that happens is that others will call you down with the same weak hands as they think you are just trying to push them out of the pots to get heads up with the drunk guy. If you keep your prefolp strategy strong you will catch them along the way as well.

All in all a pretty good night, ended up north of a dime but less than two. I have a pretty busy week this week so I will not be playing any higher limit this week. I may get in a low limit session at Parkers on Tuesday after the Sonics game for work. Hope you are all winning and talk to you soon..SJ

Should Have Kept My Mouth Shut

2006-11-28T10:15:00.000-08:00

Of course as soon as I thank Party Poker for closing its doors to US players and saying how well I was doing on FT it comes and kicks me in the ass. I had my worst one day drop online ever last Saturday after I posted about FT. Should have just kept my mouth shut. O well, back to the grind.

With the blast of winter weather here in Seattle I will not get to play today. Too much risk in getting stuck in the snow. Might play later this week however. Hope you are all winning. Talk to you soon....SJ

Random Poker

2006-11-23T11:12:00.000-08:00

Happy Thanksgiving to all. I hope this day finds you doing well and that you all have much to be thankful for in your lives. Even with all the government intrusion into our game this game of ours is even bigger and better than last year. I think 2007 will be just fine for all of us. I am looking forward to next year and hope that I get a chance to make it to more tournaments than 2006, and even possibly play in the main event of the WSOP for the first time.

I have not posted much in the last week or so but that does not mean I have not been playing poker, just random poker unfortunately. I have been playing at Full Tilt and UB, mostly FT. The games there continue to be great, and I have made more money in the last month on that site than I have the whole year. Thank you Party for closing your doors to US players. I did play one live session since my last post, this last Tuesday at the MUCK. I got down there late and was unable to get into the $50/100 game. It looked good, but did not turnover much so I did not get a seat. I ended up playing $10/20 for a bit, then went to the $5/10 blind NL game, and finally played in their Tuesday night $65 buyin tournament. This was the first and probably last time I will play this tournament for a long time. I remembered why I did not play it in the first place. The structure just sucks. The blinds go up way too fast to give you any play. It turns into an all in fest after the first two rounds. We started with around 100 players, I won my first two all ins with underdogs pre-flop and got a little lucky with those. Then with about 25 players left, I had pocket QQ's and we were playing $500/1000 blinds and I had about 12,000 in chips. There was a limp from early position and I made it $4000 to go. She called the $3,000 raise and we saw a flop of 2,3,5 rainbow. She checked to me and I just moved in for 9,000. She thought for a long while and I thought she was going to muck but then called for the rest of her chips which was about $7,000. She turned up pocket JJ's and I was in great shape to have a pile of chips. 10 on the turn, and I had her down to two outs. BAM, J on the river. Damn. The very next hand I had pocket 10's and pushed my last 2,000 and got called by A,Q who hit a Q on the flop and I was done.

I then still could not get into the $50/100 game and just called it a night early and went home. I did end up close to a dime, so all was not lost. Have a great Thanksgiving and I hope you are all winning. Talk to you soon....SJ

Hey there's a game??

2006-11-13T20:30:00.000-08:00

I was not planning on going down to the Muck on Friday, I was already at home and then got the green light to go late. I had the stench of my Tuesday session hanging in my nose so I wanted to go erase that memory and maybe recover a little bit of the money. I achieved one of those goals.

When I walked into the room it was the usual Friday night jammed. I walked over to the board and as usual for Friday night there was a nine mile long list for $10/20 games and up. I put my name on the list and was resolved that I was probably only going to walk around talk to a few people and leave as I was not going to get into a game for at least and hour or two. Then to my surprise I walked by a table that was short and saw that there were some regular high limit players at the table. This table was not on the board, what is this?? To my delight it was a short handed $100/200 game with a very good lineup. I took my seat to the left of Chris, perfect seat by the way, and he proceeds to quit 3 hands in. He claimed he was tired and did not want to play a full ring game. Dude, we are still 5 handed, that is not full. It did not matter, he quit anyway. That is ok, he was the best player at the table so not a big loss. He did take quit a few chips out of play when he left however.

I proceed to get nothing to play for the first hour, miss a few preflop calls, and get stuck a pretty good amount right out of the gate. Now this is not what I was hoping for to help ease the pain of Tuesday. I only had to worry about the game breaking because I knew if I played well I would get it back and then some with this lineup. Then an Asian player comes and takes a seat to my direct left. He plays the bigger games sometimes and so I thought he would be good to keep the game going, plus he is an action player so I may get my money back faster. Well, my run of bad cards continues, I stay disciplined and do not play, and he proceeds to take some deep swipes out of the other players stacks. Then he QUITS. HOLY CRAP!!

This is one of my biggest pet peeves. On the internet you can hit and run no problem, there is always a game going on. While I don't really like it that much, online I can live with it, hell even I do it sometimes when I don't have a long time to play. Live is a completely different story. #1)Our game was short to begin with, which means there is no list #2)This game was bigger than most we have been playing down at the MUCK so the players were not fully bankrolled. Even I did not have as much as I would have liked to play this game, but I had no clue this game was going when I left my house. #3)If he quits he takes a lot of chips out of play and he knows this, I think he knew all three. I was super pissed. I will never play with him short handed again. I will just quit if he sits down. It is just plain rude to sit in a short game if you do not have the time to play. If you get busted that is one thing, but to win a rack or so and quit is just RUDE.

So back to the game. I finally start to get a few cards, the other players are starting to break even on their draws and pre-flop bad play, so the good play starts to pay off. I finally get up a few dimes, and we get down to three handed. My plan was to bust the short stack and quit as I did not want to play heads up with the other player. So what happens. I get AA's in the SB, Button raises(the player I want to bust) I three bet, BB mucks, Button calls. Fop came 5,7,Q. I had already bet out dark. He called. I bet dark again, turn 10, he calls. I bet dark, river a 9, and he calls all in and says I got lucky I think. NO SHIT, he showed me 9,5 off for a rivered two pair. WOW. NH Sir, well played. Next hand I get pocket 10's on the Button. I raise and get called in two spots. Flop came 9 high I bet out and got raised. I just called to the river when nothing higher than the 9 came out and he showed me AA's, same guy who just beat my AA's with 9,5. NH sir, well played. Then very next hand I get JJ's in the BB, I three bet out of the BB from a button raise and the BB calls the three bet cold. He says I hope you have AA's as I have an AA cracking hand. Short story he flopped a straight with a 5,8 of clubs, and I went to the river with it. I then said that is it I quit. The player we wanted to bust went with us on the last hand with a flush draw and missed so he only had $400 left. I was not going to risk anymore chips to get his $400. I quit almost dead even. I actually made $29 but who cares in this limit. I went home satisfied with my play but pissed at the results in the last few hands. I should have won at least one of those to win a few dimes. O well I guess I will get them next time.

Hope you are all winning and talk to you soon. I will not be playing tomorrow night as I have to work....SJ

Lessons in How to Lose

2006-11-09T12:45:00.000-08:00

Well as I mentioned in my last post I was playing enough to be happy about my time at the tables, and then I hit the wall at work and have not played almost a lick of live cards. I did manage to go down this last Tuesday to the Muck and I should have just stayed at work. Let me give you some lessons on how to lose.

#1) Go to the card room distracted and thinking about work or something else. When your head is not fully in the game you are not going to be at your best. I was clearly distracted. I knew it when I walked into the room but I chose to play anyway. Bad idea.

#2) Don't play a disciplined game. For some reason I was not being patient. I was calling raises with weak hands I would not normally call with, and I was protecting waaaay too many blinds with marginal hands out of position. LEAK.........THUD.

#3) As a result of playing way too many hands, I was catching way too many draws. I would flop four to a flush, OESD, Overcards, etc. I was playing them because I was getting the odds or sometimes marginal odds to call so I did anyway, see note on patience, and then I was missing. The worst is when you actually catch your flush and then make second best hand. I did this twice and it was painful.

#4) Flop monster hands with those marginal cards and get outdrawn. One of the reasons you don't play marginal hands is because they have a tendency to get outdrawn even when you flop the nuts. For example, I had 8,9 clubs on the button. A late position raise came in from a player who I knew was capable of playing some marginal hands himself for a raise. I just cold called the raise and we took the flop off heads up. Flop came 6,7,10. I flopped a straight, he bet into me on the flop and I just raised right there. He called. 8 on the turn, he checked I bet, he called. River a 9, he bet right into me, I just mucked face up and said nice J,10. He showed me to boot. When you flop bottom sets, or weak flushes, you can be beat. Tuesday was one of those days where I got beat. It was my own damn fault as I should have not been in most of those hands anyway.

#5) Don't play aggressive enough. If you do decide to play some of those weaker hands, three bet before the flop. That way you can take control of the hand, and may be able to bluff at a weaker flop or even a big flop that may scare the other player. Try to give yourself two ways to win not just one. I was only giving myself one way to win most of the night. BAD PLAY=STUCK.

All in all it was a bad night of poker for me. I deserved to lose, and I did. Some nights you deserve to lose and you actually win. This was not one of those nights. I ended up dumping two buyins. I should have only lost one, but because of bad play I gave an extra one away. I also think the curse of Dr. Chako showed up. Everytime I see that guy at the cardroom I lose. Coincidence, I think not...

One last note, there was actually a $200/400 game going four handed. I am proud of the fact that I chose not to play in that game. I was a little short for a buyin, but I could have borrowed it if I really wanted to play. I recognized that I was not in the best frame of mind and frankly it was not that great of a game. Three good players and one poor one. The poor one ended up dumping $19,000, ouch, by the grace of God that could have been me. By the way I was playing $50/100. Hope you are all winning and talk to you soon...SJ

Very Little Poker

2006-10-27T16:24:00.000-07:00

Wouldn't you know right when I start to get back into the grove of playing again work goes nuts and I don't get to play at all last weekend, this week, and now it looks like next week is shot too. O well. I have been playing a little bit online at FullTilt. The games there are just great. Very profitable right now. Lots of players from Party must be there. I also here that Pokerstars is going nuts as well. I need to put some money over there and check it out.

I was in Central Washington yesterday for work and I decided to check out the only card room in Wenatchee, Wa that has poker. I went to this place called Kegler's. It was a bowling ally, a card room, mini-casino, and also has a car service shop. The Kegler's have a nice business going over there. Get a lube, and get lubed playing poker, sweet. The room was pretty small. The biggest game they had going last night was $3/6, and they said they get a $4/8 going on Sunday's. Most of the people I met were locals and regulars. They all seemed to know each other. It was a very pleasant game full of typical $3/6 players. I sat down, chatted it up a bit, and had no intention of playing very long. Just wanted to check out the room. I played somewhat solid poker for about 1/2 hour, and was up $15. I then had to go, so on my button I announced I was going to raise every hand pre-flop when it got to me. I played solid after the flop, but pre-flop I put in as much as I could. It was fun to see the reaction at the table. I created so much action that three people busted in that one round. I did not get one playable hand so all the hands but one I dumped on the flop. The one hand I played to the river I flopped bottom pair and knew it was good and bet it the whole way, then checked the river when I knew someone else hit a pair. It was still checked around and I was right. Very funny and fun. I made this one guy, who happened to be the only decent player at the table, a ton(relative to $3/6) of money. He also happened to be the lucky guy at the table too during that round. He flopped a full house with 22's against a pair of KK's when it was capped pre-flop. The KK's went with him to the river. How about a few observations.

#1) No one was aggressive pre-flop. Lots of limping and multi-way flops. When I did raise it did not matter anyway. That was typical $3/6. #2) No one could lay a hand down. If anyone picked up a draw or a pair on the flop it went to the river. This is a symptom of low limit. If you even want to have a chance to win you have to get rid of that habit. The only other somewhat decent player at the table had this problem. He had pretty good pre-flop hand selection, but once he saw the flop he could not lay it down, even given a substantial preponderance of evidence he was beat. That is a recipe for losing.

The rest of the people at the table had horrible pre-flop hand selection, showed no aggression to protect hands, and called way too much. All pretty typical low limit action.

I did have a great time however, the players were all very nice, and having fun( I think) while losing. The rake was 10% up to $3 with no jackpot drop which made the game somewhat beatable. I will be back when I get a chance to go over there again for work and try to play a little longer. For those of you who care I lost $48, all in the last round of raising. Just my little contribution to the poker community in Wenatchee. Hope you are all winning and have a great weekend....SJ

Lots of moving Around

2006-10-20T17:34:00.000-07:00

I am sure with all the internet poker news that has been flying around there are lots of you who are moving accounts and opening new ones. With the demise of Party Poker lots of new players have shown up at Pokerstars, Full Tilt, and a few at Bodog and Ultimatebet. I pretty much play at UB, and Full Tilt, but I have played at Bodog and a few others. I would assume you would also be looking for a good rakeback site. If you are, I would ask you to sign up under my banner link. Rakerebate.net is a great site and they have rakeback at all the major sites. I don't think Pokerstars allows rakeback but Rakerebate.net does have Full Tilt, UB, Bodog and many others. They just upped their rake at UB to 30% at the bottom level for rakeback. Pretty good deal. If you need help signing up feel free to e-mail me at Seattlejohn@gmail.com. Have a good weekend and I hope you are all winning....SJ

Muck Report

2006-10-18T11:40:00.000-07:00

I am starting to get back into a groove of actually getting to play poker, it feels good, I am getting a little feel back, and of course it never hurts when you win to top it off. I did get to go to the Muck last night so here is the scoop.

I unfortunately got down there later after work and there were a few games going and all had long lists. The Muck is under construction to expand the poker room, but what that means is that they are down to only two class III licenses to run bigger games above $10/20. Really the highest would be $15/25 but that is such a stupid structure that it never really gets spread. I guess they just don't make enough money there to fix the cameras and move them into the right place to get the third table up. Seems pretty stupid to me, this is just a continuation of poor customer service that the Muck is known for. I really wish our state would increase the limits on poker like they did casino games and let others compete with the Indian poker rooms for business. I would be first out the door to play higher anywhere else but the Muck. Alas I am stuck with them for now.

So, I chatted up a few friends I had not seen in a while and waited for a seat. I first got into a $10/20 game. I proceed to not win a hand in about 45 minutes, and went to the $20/40 game stuck about $300. At the $20/40 table I managed to get back about $150 of the loss in about an hour and finally made it to the $50/100 game. This was a scary good game. The cast of usual people who had been playing before the WSOP have not been around for a while, and have been replaced right now by a bunch of just terrible players. This game played a bit like a $4/8 game, there would be a raise in EP, and one caller would create a cascade of calls in which the table would see the flop 6,7, and even 8 handed a few times. There were people calling three cold with 5,7 off, K,8 off, etc. It was just amazing. I had not seen a game this good in months. TASTY. Now I have to have some hands hit and hold.

I would love to tell you some great stories but really there were not that many. I did win one HUGE pot with a J,2 sooootied in the BB when I flopped trips and they held. Two things were very evident in this game and are good lessons. #1)Position matters, duh? In this game it was huge. Because there were so many people seeing flops you could play lots of speculative hands on the button, and in the cutoff and hijack positions. If you flopped a huge hand or a draw to the nuts you could call almost any bets as the pots were laying huge odds to get there. Also, play in the Blinds were very profitable if you knew how to play them. Because the table was playing very passive there were a number of hands that were limped for 6 or 7 people. You would get a free look or a 1/2 price look. There were a few times were if you were just the first to act you could fire at the pot on a pure bluff and win the $300 pot with a $50 bet. It only has to work 1 out of every 6 times to break even. It was working way more than that last night. #2) Be Aggressive. Even though the table was playing very lose and passive that does not mean go along with them. There were times that you just had to three bet in LP or MP to try and lock out those behind you. If they wanted to call 3 cold with K,8 so be it, but that is a negative EV play over the course of the night and you will go broke doing that unless you have a complete horseshoe up your ass. I can not tell you how many times I was let into a pot with a draw hand on the button because someone who should have three bet, with a legitimate three bet hand, did not because they knew that everyone would call anyway. There were a few of us playing tight poker, and I most definitely would not have called three bets with some of the hands I called two with into a 6 or 7 person pre-flop pot and then flopped a big draw or a big two pair or trips. I was actually surprised at the passive play of one players who is know for his super aggressive style, he was just off last night and it cost him a ton, at least it did against me because I adjusted my play to his weaker style and played more pots against him. I would have avoided him a lot more if he were playing aggressive three bet poker.

All in all a very good night, up over 35 BB, and the running average to good continues. It makes you feel so much better when you have a big pair and it holds up on a regular basis. Makes it easier to not push hands and try to make winners out of losers when you actually play good and it works. Hope you are all winning and talk to you soon. I may play this weekend but for sure again next Tuesday. SJ

A little weekend cards

2006-10-16T11:32:00.000-07:00

I managed to get out this weekend to play a little cards. Friday at the Muck and a charity tournament on Saturday night.

I decided I wanted to play a little higher than my normal Friday night fun trips to Parkers $8/16 game so I made the longer trip to the Muck in hopes of finding a bigger game. Unfortunately, the biggest game they had was $20/40 limit and a $5/10 blind NL with a $500 cap bet. The line for the $20/40 game was huge when I got down there late, so I put my name on the list for both games not really wanting to play the funky NL game. Of course what comes up first is the NL game, so I plug my nose and go take a seat. The game was full of some of the regular $50/100 or $100/200 players and a few new guys that I have not seen. This of course would not be news because I have not been down to the Muck much lately so I would not know anyone who has started to play down there in the last three months. Also, because this was a NL game there might be some new players coming down to play this game. This is the first time I had ever seen that game down at the Muck. Most of the NL action in Seattle is up at Tulailup.

The game seemed full of really tight timid players, and a few that kept coming in to take a quick shot. I sat down and bought in for the cap amount of $500. There were a few players that had accumulated more than $1000 so there was some ok money on the table. I sat back and watched the table for a bit and then made a few moves to see how they would get reacted to. I was going nowhere for about an hour and then I picked up J,10 off in the BB. There was a raise to $40 UTG, then a call UTG+1 by a large stack who I know very well, then we got a third call in LP. I figured this was a good spot to hit a hand so I called the $30 into a $135 pot preflop. Flop came down J,10,6, nice. I checked, UTG checked, UTG+1 bet $100, LP fold and I check raised to $300. UTG folded and the other player put me all in for another $100. Unlike tournament poker you do not need to turn up the hands when there is no more action, so I had no idea what he had, but because he was willing to put me in I felt I was in bad shape or he had a big draw or an over pair. Turn paired the board on the bottom with a 6, crap that makes overpair good, then river a K, crap that makes K,Q open ender good. Wow there is no way I am going to win this pot. I turn up my J,10 two pair and he mucks showing A,J. That is the only possible hand I could beat, and wow did he play that stupid. Thank you sir.

I then pick up one more good hand a 1/2 hour later. I have QQ's in MP and raise it up to $30. The same guy I clashed with before makes it $100 to go, and a blind player goes all in for $140. I just call, and the other player just calls the other $40. Flop comes 10,7,6 all clubs, I have the Q of clubs. I check, player behind me bets $100, I check raise him to $300, he just calls. Turn was the A of Clubs, nice I have 2nd nut flush assuming no straight flush. I bet $500 he mucks, and I win with the Q high flush over the other guy who did not show.

I played a few more hands but was pretty tired after a long week at work. They called my name for the $20/40 game and I got up to take that seat and then looked at the clock, it was a little after midnight and I would really have to play until 2:00 or 3:00am to get a real session in. As I said I was tired so I just decided to book my win and go home. Because I don't play much NL I don't even no how to quote a win. Do you count it in terms of big blinds?? Do you count it in terms of buyins of 20 times the BB, 50 times the BB? What is a good hourly win in NL? Looking for feedback there. Help?

The charity tournament was just for fun. It only had 16 people in it, and I might have been the only one who knew how to play cards. This is always a fun adventure when you do that because you can never put anyone on a hand. They could have the nuts or they could have straight air. I played three hands the whole night just choosing to play big hands super hard and get the chips. I did, then I got down to the final three and just decided I was tired and wanted to go home so I pushed on consecutive hands with Q,3 clubs, lost of course, and 6,3 hearts, lost of course to AA's this time when she made quads by the river. I took my $50 and whet home to sleep. I did not even find out who won yet.

All in all still feeling good about my game. I will go down to the Muck tomorrow and try to play a real session of limit. Hope you all winning and will talk to you soon..SJ

Shorty

2006-10-13T11:25:00.000-07:00

Just wanted to check in. Thanks for all the kind words on the tournament finish. Reflecting back on it now, it was pretty cool to make the final table even though I only stuck around for 15 minutes. It was better to make it then not even if I had to come back 12 hours later.

I did go out and play a little $8/16 at Parkers on Tuesday. Kept it to a short session and ended up winning 20BB in three hours. I hope to return to the Muck next Tuesday. Will be good to get back down there as I have only played there twice since the WSOP. Talk to you next week and I hope you are all winning..SJ

aaaaaaaaaaaaaah.....

2006-10-09T16:50:00.000-07:00

That is the sound of relief from a great weekend in Vegas. I had a plan before heading down, I stuck to it, and came out of the weekend feeling a little better about my game. So, what happened? To sum it up quickly for those who don't want to read a trip report, I played only $30/60 limit cash games, three sessions, booked a win in all three. I then played in the $1500 NL tournament at the Bellagio on Saturday and made the final table and finished 9th out of 360.

For those of who wish to read a long report here we go...

I got in Thursday night after working in Seattle and went right to the poker room at the Bellagio. My game plan was to just play $30/60. I used to go down there and jump into the $100/200 game but the last few times I have been down there the game has not been that good. In fact at times the game is downright brutal to beat for a any amount of money. With my confidence not all that high I felt it would be a mistake to jump into that game right now. Plus I just wanted to make enough to freeroll myself into Saturday's tournament as my goal. Can do that easily in $30/60 without risking all that much money. The $30/60 game was just as I remembered when I was down there for the WSOP, but did not play the last time when I should have been there the whole time. This is the middle game between the lower limits and the bigger games. It is big enough that wealthy poker wannabes or guys stepping up in limits jump into the game and take some shots. The games were all good. It was so nice to be able to just sit in that game and actually feel like you were the best player at the table or in the top two. It also helped that I actually ran average to maybe even a little above average at times. I still am not seeing very many large pocket pairs, but the AK's AQ's and middle pocket pairs if they flopped the best hand actually stayed the best hand and did not get sucked out on more than average. I actually went 10 hours on Friday and never saw pocket AA's once. I was reading really well all weekend, I made some sick value raises on the river a few times to pick up some larger pots, and was making some laydowns that I been having trouble making the last few months. I did make my share of mistakes, but not so many that I was disappointed with my play. Overall I played three sessions. One Thursday, and then Two on Friday. All winning sessions. Felt nice to book some wins. I am most proud of the fact that I stayed out of the $100/200 game even when I really wanted to go to that game Friday night after booking two wins in the $30/60 and could have freerolled a shot in that game with profits. I just played once again in the $30/60 game and booked another good win. There were no really memorable hands, just a bunch of run of the mill hands. Off to the tournament.

I was feeling pretty good about my game coming into Saturday. I went to bed around 2:30am on Saturday morning and got some good sleep before the noon start. I have never even cashed in any of these larger Buyin events in LA or Vegas so I had no real expectations coming into the day. Now my sample size is still small, less than 10 total events with buyins above $1000, so I have not been too disappointed with my results. I got close a few weeks back in LA so I felt my NL tournament game was good. The day started at a good table, not too many really aggressive tricky players, and of the 10 people 7 of them were playing really squeaky tight tournament poker. Me and two others were mixing it up. I also got a table that was not going to break for a while so I could get some momentum and a really good feel for the players. I almost went bust right away. I was hovering around even for about 30 minutes and then I picked up Q,9 in the BB. There was a raise from MP, one of the two players mixing it up so I knew it could mean almost anything. We were playing 25/50 blinds and he made it 200 to go and I called the raise hoping to hit a hand. Well I did as the flop came down 9,9,7 rainbow. I checked hoping to check raise and unfortunately for me he checked behind me. The turn came a K, perfect if he had a K I would get some chips. I bet 300 into the pot and he flat called me. OK he has a hand but what, he showed no aggression on the turn. The river brought a 10, that was not really what I wanted to see but I still thought it may be a safe card. I wanted to bet enough to get called, I thought, but not a huge amount to get me pot committed if he had a hand like 10's or KK's and was trapping. I really felt KK's were unlikely, but 10's were a real possibility. I bet only $300 into a $1000 pot and he thought about it for a long time, then he flat called. I thought he was thinking about folding at that point, but what he really was thinking was should he raise. He had J,8 and made a gutshot on the river for a straight. I think my bet really through him off, like I had a made full house and I wanted a call. This worked out to my advantage because if he had raised a small amount I might have called, instead he just called and I lost the pot. The next round I was UTG with 6,7 of spades. I mixed it up and raised to 175. There was a goofy guy who had been moved to our table who was not paying attention to my raise and announced raise himself and put out $175. The problem was I had already raised to that amount and he was informed he would have to raise at least another $175 or more. He chose to just put out another $175. I knew he really did not like his hand that much at this point. The flop came out 5,6,3 one spade. I bet out $400 into the pot with top pair and the gutter. He flat called. The turn came the 2 of spades, and I just moved in for my remaining $1500. He thought for a really long time and tried to talk to me to get a read. I just stayed quiet and he finally decided that I had him beat and said I have outs, but I am going to lay it down. He showed me pocket 77's and laid them down. If he calls there I am likely out of the tournament. Instead I am back up to $3,000 or so and back in the race.

The next round playing $50/100 blinds I am still not doing much but holding my own when this hand comes up. A guy in seat two who had been mixing it up and getting some hands called the $100 BB with a ton of chips, the same guy who beat me earlier with J,8, then another MP player called the $100, and then a third LP player made it only $500 to go. This dude was playing super tight, I knew this was a big hand. I had the button with 5,7 of diamonds and decided it was time to gamble a bit to see if I could flop a hand to bust this guy or get some chips off the table chip leader. I called the $500, the two blinds dumped, the EP player with chips called, the other limper dumped, and we took the flop off three ways with about $2000 in the pot. The flop came perfect 5,5,K. The only hands I had to worry about was KK or A,5. The first player bet $2,000 into the pot, I knew he did not have either one of those hands as he would have checked the flop to trap, as he was not the aggressor preflop. The super tight guy moved in for his remaining $3,000, and I moved in over the top for my $3,500. The first guy now dumped his hand, which actually surprised me as he had plenty of chips and the pot now had over $10,000 in it and he only had to call another $1,500 with no chance to lose any more chips. He did however, and the other player had the hand I hoped for and not the disaster hand, AA, I held on to the river to win the pot. I now had some chips to play with. I used my stack a bit to build up during the next round and then while playing $100/200 I busted a shorter stack for around $3,000 when I had AJ and made a MP raise and he moved in with K,Q diamonds and did not hit. I had my stack up to over $20,000 now and they moved Jimmy Tran to the table. If you play any tournament poker you know who he is. He is not super famous player but you see him at all the tournaments. He is a middle aged Asian with black hair that has kind of a white patch in it that makes him a very recognizable gentleman. I had him to my direct right and he had a good stack but not as big as mine. He is a super nice guy and I got to play with him at my table for almost 3 hours before we broke. He is a really patient player, I actually learned a lot from him during that time about being patient and picking your spots.

I only played one decent pot with him the whole time. We were at $200/400 blinds w/$25 ante. He had the button, and I in the small blind had A,3 spades. He limped on the button, I called and the BB checked his option. The flop came 2,4,5, sweet. I checked, BB checked, Jimmy bet $2,000 into the pot and I raised it to $7,500. He thought about it for a long time and mucked pocket AA's faceup. Wow, how did you get away from that hand? I can not believe he did not take one more off, but great laydown. I did not show him my hand or tell him he made a good laydown but that was impressive. One of the things I disliked about his game was that he limped with big pocket pairs all day hoping to trap. He limped with KK's twice that I know of and with JJ's at least once as well. He lost all of those having been outflopped and getting away on the flop easy. I choose to just raise and take the blinds if that is what happens.

The next big pot I played, which essentially got me to the money as it turns out, was also a hand at the $200/400 level w/ $25 ante. A larger stack of about $15,000 sat down and had played about three orbits at our table. I once again had the button. This player raised it up to $1,500 and got called and I had 6,9 of diamonds and also called the $1,500. I had about $20,000 in chips at the time. The flop came down K,9,9 rainbow. The early raiser bet about $$6,000 at the pot, the MP player mucked and I thought about it for a bit to make it look like I was not sure and then counted out some chips, then moved in. He was really confused. He did not call right away so I knew he did not have KK's, I once again did not think he would have played KK's that way anyway. He then said I think you are bluffing and put the rest of his money into the pot with get this 88's??? Wow put 1/2 of your stack into the pot, calling all in, to be out of the tournament if you are wrong with 88's. I expected AK there not 88's. So I now had like $38,000 in chips, and our table broke. Crap. I was having such fun. I got moved to a new table with this big stack and was the big stack there as well. I now never got a big hand the rest of the day get paid. I stayed right around $40,000 the rest of the day. I just kept stealing blinds and antes when needed but could not build up my stack. I kept being patient and had the stack to do so, so I did. We finally took the dinner break at 9:15pm and we were at 34 players and they were going to pay 27. At this point I was starting to get shorter stacked. I never got any great hands and I was getting worried I would not even cash.

We came back from Dinner and I just wanted to be patient to cash and see what would happen. I never got a pair, just a few big A hands to steal the blinds to stay alive and then we got to 28 to go hand for hand. It took 45 minutes and I was getting deathly short playing 800/1600 with a $300 ante. There was only one shorter stack at my table and she finally put it in UTG with A9 diamonds against the BB K,10. The K,10 outflopped her and we were in the money. Cool.

We were then down to three tables and I finally got a few hands. I picked up KK's and took down a pot moving in after a raise. I then had $20,000 then I got AA a few orbits later and took down another pot after a raise, and a call to win another $20,000, at $40,000 now back in business sort of. I managed just to stay alive as stacks were busting all around me. I went from barley cashing to making it down to the final two tables. I then got moved to one of the two tables with Quinn Do and JC Tran at the same table.

Both of these guys had very big stacks, and played them well with opposite styles. Quinn was a pretty tight player that I could see, JC was just the opposite, he was raising lots of hands and trying to out flop or out play people. When played back at however he was getting away from hands. I was still card dead and got short once again. I then moved in for my last $15,000 playing $1500/3000 with a $500 ante with K,10 hearts in MP and only got called by the BB who had fortunately K,4, I held and lived again. Then I got moved to the other table to balance out and the table behind me went on a bust out tear. AA vs KK, and Jimmy Tran was gone 14th. AA vs 10's and another player out, 12 left. The I got moved back to balance again and KK's got in vs AQ and busted number 12 to have 11 left. Then the very next hand Quinn had AA vs. AK and the AK over played his hand pre-flop and went bust. This guy had $50,000 in chips and Quinn raised on the Button. This guy had been over playing hands all day and getting lucky, well his luck ran out. He re-raised Quinn and Quinn pushed and the guy could not get away from the hand and called. Busto down to 10 and we are at the final table.

Now my plan, because I was very short now playing $2000/4000 with a $500 ante, was to push before my next blind so I could either finish 10th and not come back the next day or double up. I really did not want to wait 12 hours to play 1 hand. But three hands in, once again a guy with plenty of chips, just pushed in EP with what turned out to be 88's for $57,000. Why he did not just make a standard raise to get away from the hand for a re-raise is beyond me, but he did and Quinn woke up with KK's on the button called and busted him. Great I made the final table, shit I have to wait 12 hours, miss my flight home, to play one hand to see if I can double up. Obviously I was excited to make my first real final table, but I knew the reality of the situation was I was most likely done on my next hand. I liked the fact that if I could just get lucky I had a chance for a massive payday. First was $194,000 plus a $25,000 seat at the WPT Champ. event. I wish there was a happier ending to this tale, but I made it past my first orbit pushing in the SB with J,7 diamonds and the BB not calling, so all I picked up was the blinds and antes to survive another orbit. I got down to two before the blind on the next orbit and picked up A,6 not suited and just pushed for my final $20,500. Quinn in MP called with pocket 55's. I thought this was about as good a spot I could hope for, a coin flip to double up. Flop came 5,10,5 and I was drawing dead. I play for 15 minutes and go to catch a flight home. I did not even stick around to see who won. Some dude I don't know won. I was hoping for Quinn because he is also from Seattle, although he does not live or play there anymore, but we both used to play at the Muck. He is a very nice kid who started the day with the chiplead at $267,000 so I would have bet he would have won but you never know in these things.

Also, my lone star sighting was that Shannon Elizabeth was also in the tournament. She was there with her boyfriend, don't know who that is but here are a few shots....

She is not as hot as you would think from the movies. She is attractive but not anymore than any other good looking girl you would see on the street. Never did get to play with her at the tables so I don't know if she is any good. I do know she did not cash or even get that deep, maybe 1/2 way through.

All in all a great trip, had fun, and actually won over 10 dimes. Long time coming, hope it keeps up through the end of the year. Hope you are all winning and talk to you soon...SJ

Black Monday

2006-10-02T12:58:00.000-07:00

Wow, I really did not think the Internet Gambling Act would make it out of session this time around. I knew we were in danger but they snuck it through on the Safe Ports Act over the weekend.

I am really pissed that they got it though in such a backhanded way. Tie it to some must pass legislation and then it gets passed because we need to pass the bigger bill. I am sure there are some senators that did not even care that it was attached or maybe even knew what they were passing, and think this will just pass below the radar screen. I hope us poker players out there will learn where their fine legislators voted on this and never vote for them again based on this one piece of legislation, I know I will. I would have not voted for them anyway as our two state senators are doorknobs, but if they did vote for this, I for sure will never vote for them again. I also hope I get the chance to tell them in person how stupid this bill is.

OK what do we do now? Nothing really. #1) The big poker sites like Party and Pokerstars that are public are most likely screwed. As a public company they can not openly break the law and hope to survive. They will most likely ban US based players and block our IP addresses. I would look to see if these sites go back private to continue to serve the US market. They also might find a clever way around the law but I would not bet on it right now. #2) This is a boon to sites like UB, Full Tilt, and the other larger private sites. They will continue to serve the US market and most likely collect those of us who are going to keep playing anyway. I pretty much only play there anyway so I guess I don't change a thing. #3) Start looking for offshore payment sites like netteller and get an account set up there so you can use it. It takes a few days so start the process now. We may have to get a little more creative depending on how hard the US is going to try to enforce offshore payments. There may have to be one more step in the process like actually getting an offshore bank account and fund that to fund netteller, but that is not that hard to do. #4) The last step is to look at mirroring sites and software to allow you to play from offshore. I have not gotten that part figured out, but I will let you know what I do if we have to go to that extreme. It really bums me out to think we have to go through this to continue to play the game that we love. Right now however I am going to do nothing. I already use Netteller, and the law is not signed( a certain formality), and it will take some time for the law to catch up with the practical ways to enforce. I just hope the sites don't do some kneejerk stuff to make it tough on us. I also doubt this will happen either.

What is really a bummer to think about is that this will certainly put a damper on poker growth in the US. The marginal players, and those that are scared will mostly likely stop playing for some time, maybe forever. It is certainly going to be tougher to get started, and there are going to be lots of hoops to jump through to open accounts. Those that do not have the courage of their convictions will likely give up trying. What is also sad to think about is the size of the tournaments and prize pools. I would take the under on number of participants in next years WSOP events. There will not be as many online qualifiers next year I would think, and this is going to translate into all tournaments across the board. I would only say this right now. I may change my opinion as we see how this law actually impacts both players and sites. Only some time will tell.

I guess we all have to go back to live rooms for a bit. I am fortunate enough to live next to some rooms that are easy to get to. I mostly play live anyway so not that big of a deal, but I feel for those of you who can not get to a live room easily. Don't kneejerk however and give up on online poker. We just have to wait and see how this starts to pan out.

As for Quit Lion, I have never seen him at the Muck, but that does not mean that he has not played there. Also, I did go out and play up at Parkers on Friday night. Pretty much a continuation of my year. Get nothing to play, take a few beats on good hands, get bored not playing the junk I am dealt, go home a small loser. I am really tired of that story as well. I am still planning on heading to Vegas this weekend. Should be lots to talk about at the tables. Hope you are all winning and talk to you soon..SJ

All Internet

2006-09-28T13:05:00.000-07:00

I have not had any time to play live this past month except for three sessions and one was a quick and painful one in LA a week ago, so I have turned to the internet this month. I don't usually post about that because it is still illegal in Washington, but it appears that they are not taking any action what so ever to enforce the law, so I post about that as I have had nothing live to post about and I am feeling a little guilty about the lack of time on this Blog. Not that there are that many of you that stop by, but for the few that do here goes.

I have been playing at Ultimate Bet("UB") and Full Tilt("FT") only. I play in the $5/10 6 handed games at UB and $10/20 and up at FT. UB is like crack for poker players, the cards come at lightning speed and you get in twice as many hands there than almost any site out there. The only site I have found that comes close is Bodog and I don't really like the action there. Just not that many games or players. On UB I have just been breaking even, sucks, but so goes my game right now. In that game you get a lot of marginal calls and I can just not hang on to lead on that site right now. Seems like whatever the most improbable beat you can take on that site it will come on the river. Just eerie how they seem to come in bunches. I am not in the camp that I think anything funny is going on, just that I am losing more than my fair share of favorites right now on that site. Variance is a bitch sometimes, and I have been on the wrong side a lot this year, live and internet.

I just started playing a lot more on FT. I used to not really like the site. I still don't like the avatar thing, it makes you feel like you are playing a bad video game. I would like to get one of me, but they want to charge you 1,000,000 points to get a custom one. I guess if I ever got that many I would think about it, but at my pace it would take me about two years to get that many points. Not likely to happen. I think they run some tournaments every once in a while to get one, I guess I will keep my eye out for those.

The games on FT have just been HUGE. I like the chance to watch some of the pros play some really big games. They have been running some $1000/2000 games on there. There has been this guy names TexaslimitKing just crushing the high limit games on there. There was a game the other day where he beat Jdags for about $100,000k and then at the end reloaded to show a balance of over $1,000,000 online. That is just a sick amount of money online. Ivey is fun to watch as well as David Opp. He was playing TLK heads up two days ago in the $500/1000 limit game and beat TLK while I was watching but I left before the session was over so I don't know how it turned out. Just fun stuff however.

The games over there move slower so it is more like a live game, and I have found the players over there to be easier to beat so I think I will play there a bit more to see how I do. I played in a $30/60 game two days ago with Richard Brodie over at Lion Tales. Nice guy, willing to chat at table, never played with him live yet, good player to boot. Crappy session for me at that table, but fun to have the chance to play with these guys. If I can build up a decent roll on there I will take some shots at the $100/200 and higher games. Probably will take me about 6 months to get there but I think right now with the lack of real quality players in the $10/20 game I can get there.

So there is my poker the last month or so. I wish I could get out live more but work has just vaporized my time. I am still planning on going to Vegas next weekend to play in the Sat. Tournament at the Bellagio. Talk to you again probably after I get back from Vegas. Hope you are all winning....SJ

Monday Blues in LA

2006-09-20T15:20:00.000-07:00

Poker continues to just suck for me this year. I have had one good string of sessions and the rest of the year has been up and down. Monday in LA was straight down in the cash session. But before we talk about that I will give you a quick update on the tournament which is why I went to the Commerce in the first place that night.

The tournament was a $540 buyin NL tournament. We had 281 players, which was a little less than I thought but still a top prize of $55,000, not too shabby. I started off pretty well. We had a table with two fast players. The first one got lucky with some crap hands and accumulated some chips but I knew they were going to go someplace fast, it was just going to be a matter of time. The other came to our table after a bust early, and he sat to my direct right, perfect. I was going to try and trap him. As it worked out he played fast with his chips and decided to get involved in a coin flip with me that I also decided was the right time to take a risk. I had built my $2,000 up to about $2,800 in a few rounds and picked up pocket QQ's UTG. We were playing $25/50 blinds, and I made it $250 to go. I did not want to mess around too much with this hand early so I wanted to make a bit of an oversized bet. It got folded around to Mr. Fast player in the BB and he just moved in for over $3,500. I figured a smaller pair, or best case AK, I did not put him on AA or KK, if that happened then so be it. I thought about it for a bit, then just decided that I need some chips and this is going to be the best way to get them. I called all in. He showed me AK which did not hit and I doubled up. Then one round later I had A,J off in the SB, there was a limper in EP and I completed the blind, and the BB checked his option. The flop came down A,J,9 rainbow. I checked the BB bet $150 into the pot, which was the size of the pot, EP mucked and I made it $600 to go. The BB now just moved in for his remaining $1,500. Wow, again? I figured any hand that could beat me would have raised, maybe 99's might have checked but I did not think so, He must have a bad A or maybe even same hand. I called and he showed me A,9 for a worse two pair. I held again and now had some chips.

I did not have any great hands or confrontations to speak of for a few hours after that. I really did not get that many great hands to try to pick up some pots, but managed to stay around $6,000 until this final fatal hand. We only had 75 players left, and they were going to pay 27. We were playing $100/200 blinds with a $25 ante so I was starting to get short but not dangerous yet. There was an early raise to $800 and then a flat call to my immediate right. I looked down and saw pocket KK's. There was $2,125 in the pot at that time. I felt my only move was to move in, if I raised again to say $4,000 I was pot committed, and that was only twice the pot so I would have priced in a few calls. I felt mucking was not an option, is it really ever and option with KK's?? I guess if you have a pile of chips and raise and get the action I did you could muck. So here is what happens behind me. I moved in for all $6,000, the chip leader of the whole tournament with about $30,000 in chips is two to my left, he looks down and then he moves all in. That did not scare me too much, he had been playing fast and lucky so I felt I had him beat and that would basically protect my hand. Then the player to his left also moved in for about $6,000 as well. I knew at that point I was dead to AA's somewhere. Crap, what a perfect storm. I had KK's, chip leader has JJ's, and third player had the AA's. Here comes the board, 10,8,6, no help for me, turn 9, river a Q making the chip leader with the worst hand a straight and busting both of us. When it rains it pours on the luckbox. I am now out, no money, off to cash game.

This was a quick night for me in the cash game. I sat down in the $100/200 game, and proceeded to lose the first five hands I played and quit. I picked up pocket KK's second hand I played UTG. I raised got two callers, and an A hit the board on the flop. I bet, got raised and cold called behind me so I just mucked on the flop. The winner had hit a set on the flop with 33's so I went from 1st to 3rd on the flop. Easy lay down, just cost me $300. The very next hand in the BB I get Ad,Kd. I call a raise from EP because there are 4 people in the pot. The flop came down K,K,6. I check one bet from LP, I just call waiting to raise the turn, turn came 5, I check again, he bets, I raise, he three bets, I just call as I am a little gun shy here. River a 2, I check call and he shows me K,5 for a turned full house. I miss on an As,Qs hand, then play pocket 10's from MP, get three bet and give up on that hand on a J high flop, when the river boards looks like J,5,4,3,2. I did not call the river, but I could not think of a hand that I felt I could beat there. At that point I call it a night down 20 BB. It was not going to turn, and if it did it was going to take me all night to get out. I had to be fresh for a meeting the next day so I just hung it up.

When is this going to turn for me? Who knows? Poker can just suck sometimes. I hate not playing regularly as these shitty sessions just linger in your mind for a week or more in between. It happens. My next trip will be down to the Bellagio the weekend of the 6th to the 9th to play in their tournament and some side games. Hope you are all winning and talk to you soon..SJ

No poker, but some bad Football

2006-09-18T09:30:00.000-07:00

I have been too busy to play cards this last week, so instead I watched ND get the crap kicked out of them by Michigan. Bummer, not even a good game. We flat sucked. Here are a few shots off the web. No high fives for you....

Not even Joe could save us.

I am going to LA tonight for work tomorrow. If I get a chance I may stop by Commerce for a little poker. Talk to you soon, and I hope you are all winning. SJ

Return to the Muck

2006-09-06T18:00:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the lack of posts lately. Work is just killing my poker time right now. I actually played at Parkers last Friday and made a return trip to the Muck last night after an almost 3 month absence. I have not had time to write up an update so here is both.

Last Friday was a little $8/16 late at night. The games were good as usual, and the kill game was really good. I just had to get a few hands, and then have them hold up. I got up right away, hey a new thing. I have been starting out stuck for almost the whole year. I think I am starting out not completely focused, or playing too loose right out of the gate which is causing me to get stuck, then I focus and get out to win. This time I either managed to hit the hands I chose to play early or I just started out more focused this time. Either way works for me. I was not up a ton and then got moved to the main kill game. This game was super fired up, with lots of gamble. My strategy was to play super tight, as you had to win showdowns, and push good draws with lots of players to maximize pots. This plan got only half executed however because the super tight part had me sitting out of play for over and hour before I chose to play anything but a quick look at the blinds. I then managed to get a few big pocket pairs to hold up, and low and behold I had the KILL button. I picked up K,9, clubs with the KILL button in middle position. An early position player raised, I called the bet with my $12 bucks already in there getting half price, and two other player called behind. The flop came down K,9,7 two diamonds. EP bet, I raised, two players behind cold called, EP three bets, I called, one behind called and now button capped. NICE POT, hold-em baby. Turn a 3 not diamond. EP bets I raise again, this time all three call. River a 5 not diamond, perfect. EP checks, I bet, two players muck and EP calls. I win the HUGE pot around $540 with top two and she had AK. I play one more round, and call it a night up almost 1 dime in an 8/16 game. Huge win for that game, I go home happy. Funny part is I would not have even been in that pot if it were not for the KILL pot. K,9 suited in MP after a raise is a hand I would muck 100% of the time. Luck can have a positive side as well. I just have not been on that side much lately.

Last night at the Muck I got into the $50/100 game. I was hoping for $100/200 but that game has not gone since before the WSOP when we were playing $150/300. I tried to get it kicked up all night, but there was always one or two that said no. No big deal, this game will do. It stayed pretty much short all night. 5 or 6 handed for a while, then 4, then 3. The problem was that the lineup had mostly good players in it. Regular Pete, Chris from LA who I think is going to move back up here, REP who cashed twice at the WSOP and one of those was a final table of the $1500 limit shoot out. He also played in the $50,000 HORSE event. Tough table. I basically tread water all night. Never up more than $1,200 never down more than $300. I did have fun playing 3 handed with Chris and Pete at the end of the night for almost two hours. Pete mostly watched Chris and I play pots against each other as he was not running that good and was playing too tight for 3 handed. Probably a symptom of not running good. Makes you really gunshy. A trait you have to fight really hard against if you want to win very short handed. As a result he dropped probably another $2k 3 handed as he just got outflopped and out played on almost every pot he was in. Chris unfortunately for me got most of it. No great hands to talk about.

I did win again however, almost a dime. Funny how I was slightly disappointed in the win last night of the same amount as Friday, hey a win is a win right?. The difference was I won around 62 BB in the 8/16 game but only 10 in the $50/100. Damn, I would take the reverse.

If you got this far and don't have a rakeback deal please use my link to RAKEBACK.com to the left and sign up. Hope you are all winning and talk to you next week. I will not be playing this weekend. SJ

HA, I played anyway

2006-08-25T13:50:00.000-07:00

I was not going to play on Tuesday this week, but after I got home on Tuesday I wanted to play anyway. I jumped in my car, late for me, at 9:30pm to head over to Parkers to play a little low limit again. To my surprise I got right into an $8/16 game. This was the tightest game I have been in up there in years. Everyone was playing super tight and no one was chasing. This was not going to be too much fun. I started to gamble a bit becuase I knew no one else was going to play, and I felt I could outplay everyone at the table, so I wanted to get into pots heads up. I used this to perfection and then the game got short, even better for me, 4 handed. I started to push the table and they quit on me after only two rounds. CRAP. I was only up a bit and now I had to wait to get into the main game. Lower limit players don't really like to play short. Most don't understand the game changes necessary, and get really pissed when you beat them with a K,7.

I waited for a short bit and then a seat opened up. I got to the table and realized there was an absolute mountian of chips at this table. What was going on?? After the first hand I found out. This table had two or three players that were just gambling on every hand. Not just calling but raising and re-raising with crap. I went from the tightest game ever to one of the most wild games you could play in. One dude rebought in to the game for $3,000?? I knew all that money was in play. This was going to be a great spot to make money. You just had to hold some hands. There was going to be no bluffing at the table. Some of these pots were $500-600 pots, in an $8/16 game!! I picked up a few hands and was up a good $300-$400, then right before I was going to go home I got a K high flush draw out of the blind on the flop and of course with all flops being taken 6,7,8 handed I was getting odds to burn chips, whiff. Then three hands later in late position I picked up A,Q raised pre-flop with only 3 players in the pot, one player called out of the blind and we took the pot off 4 ways with me in position. Flop came Q high two clubs. There was an early bet, a call, I raised, blind dumped, early bettor three bet, sandwich player called cold, and I just called. Turn another Q, no club. I checked, bet, call, I now raised, cap, cold call, I call. I guess the sandwhich is on the club draw. I know I have the capper beat, he has a crap Q. Bingo, club on river. Check, bet, I make the crying call into a massive pot and he shows me clubs. K,2 of clubs. Sweet hand sir!! That burned a few too many chips for my taste, and with the way I have been running I wanted to book a small win. So I did. Whoo Hoo $125 bucks. That game had the potential to make $1,000 in, and some did. The guy who hit the K,2 of clubs had at least $1,300 in front of him. Just not to be for me. O well at least it was a win.

To the comment on the last post why don't I try NL for a while, I whish we had a game up here. We don't, no real NL games. Tulailup runs a NL game with a $500 cap on bets, so not a real game. Once you hit the cap it becomes a $500 limit game. Plus they won't let you buy in for more than $500 anyway. How do you play $5/10 blind NL with only $500 on the table?? I just have not been focused on playing NL. I may try a bit when I go to LV or LA again, but the limit games call me too hard when I go there. I am going to go to LV in October to play in the tournament on the 7th. Hope you are all winning and I will be at the MUCK on Tuesday next week almost for sure..SJ

PermaFrost

2006-08-21T10:30:00.000-07:00

It is getting to the end of summer and I am FROZEN. I decided to go down to the Muck on Friday night and I got into the $30/60 game after a 15 minute or so wait. Good to see some faces I had not seen in months. The game was pretty good, good line up of both good and poor players, good company. I took my seat, won my first hand, then never won a hand the rest of the night. Correct, NEVER won a hand the rest if the night. 3 1/2 hours of folding, missing flops, draws, and second best hands. I never even took a bad beat post flop. I had some pocket pairs get out flopped by overcards, but that is not a bad beat just some bad luck to have none of them hold up. I just missed everything right on the flop, mostly so bad I could not even think about trying to make a hand. I never put a beat on anyone. WOW, that was about as cold as it gets.

This summer had just been horrible. I am ready for the fall and hope I thaw out then. Someone throw me a lifeline. Maybe that was the run I needed to end it. I hope so, because poker is not any fun if you don't even have a chance to win or play. I was actually reading really well that night. I spent the whole night calling out hands and amazing people(after action on the river of course), sucks to not be able to use that skill for anything other than folding overcards and pairs when you know you are beat and drawing slim to dead after the flop. O well, poker life goes on. I dumped two buy-ins for those who care.

I don't think I will even play this week. Hope you are all winning, you are if you are at my table, and I will talk to you soon or maybe next week. SJ

Lower Limit Again...

2006-08-15T21:00:00.000-07:00

So I have been unable to get down to the Muck or up north to play in any bigger games lately. Just too much stuff happening at work, and not enough time to play cards. I have been resigned to quick stops up at Parkers. So last Thursday I had time after dinner to head out for a few hours. As it turned out a few friends from a company we do work with happened to be there and they were playing a little $8/16. One is a more of a NL player and the other I think is just learning the game and not a very strong player. Good spot to play. I got the best seat in the house. Directly to the left of both players. I spent the whole night isolating them with strong hands, and the rest of the table seemed to cooperate with my isolation plays so I ended up having a pretty good night for $8/16. No great hands to speak of so I won't bore you with the details. I did end up winning more a little more than 2 buyins.

Since I have not had much to talk about, how about I talk about managing. You can be one of the best poker players in the world but if you can't manage your game selection, bankroll, and personal life to keep playing, you are not really one of the best poker players in the world are you?? Poker is more than just playing the cards, you have to play yourself.

If you are not in the right frame of mind to play, you will lose most likely, so the right decision is to not play. If you have many distractions in your life it makes it very tough to concentrate and play well. You need to recognize that, and maybe not play. If you have been up for a long period of time, or been playing for a long period of time and are sleepy, you need to quit and go to bed. Don't take a winning session and turn it into a loser because it was a good spot. If you can't concentrate because you are tired, you will most likely loose.

Let's look at game selection. There are many articles about this but I see many people make this mistake so I guess people are not reading, they are not comprehending, or they just choose to ignore the information and gamble. There might be the best $1000/$2000 game going in the world with 5 guys that have no clue how to play, or do know how to play and are drinking and gambling it up, but if you are not bankrolled correctly you can go broke. If you go broke you can not play poker any more. That is the worst sin of all. Tough to get even, when you can't even play. Poker does have a luck factor, duh? 90% hands do lose, lots sometimes. Take a 50 BB loss in that game and you just lost $100,000. Don't sit in a game that can break you. That seems obvious, but not well understood. Don't take shots with your whole bankroll, hell 50%. You take shots with 10% or 20% of your roll. It still hurts, but does not put you out of business. This applies to all limits. If all you have to play with is $1,000 don't play $20/$40. Play $8/$16 and give yourself a chance to win over many session. That might even be too big for $1,000 but I can't recommend $4/$8, you can not beat that game with a $4 rake. I don't care how good you are, you will not win in the long run unless you are super good, and lucky. If you are both then you are not in that game anyway. That is another post however.

The other mistake, one which I make too often, it to sit in a game with too many good players in it. If you are trying to make money, it gets tough when everyone plays well, and then it becomes a card catching contest. Now sometimes there is only one game going around my limits, so I just decide I am going to play. At that point however I put a stop loss in place. If the game is full of good players, and it looks like I am not going to run well, I just quit. Having that discipline is really important over the long run. Don't book a huge loss that will take you days to get out of. I made this mistake at the WSOP this year. There were only a few $100/200 games going down there, and most of the time they had some really good players in it. The game was tough for me and to add insult to injury I was in the middle of running really poorly. I did not lose much, but the $30/60 games were just awesome down there. I should have just decided to play those games. I know it would have been a much better spot to make money. Bad choices.

The most lethal combination is to take a shot in a big game when you are tired or your head it not right. That will kill you fast. Seen it done, far too often. I am sure there are more thoughts on managing, but I have to run off to another meeting. You guys add to my list. I hope you are all winning and I will talk to you soon..SJ

Easing Back into the Water

2006-08-07T09:34:00.000-07:00

I went down to the Muck on Friday night because I knew that there would be a $20/40 and maybe a $30/60 game going. I did not want to play $100/200 as I am easing my way back into the bigger games and until I feel my game is better I don't want to jump back in.

I was lucky enough to walk in and they started a new $20/40 game within 5 minutes of me getting in the room. I got the last seat and we were off to the races. It was a pretty tight game for a Friday night, but that was ok with me. I would have preferred a little more gamble to try and make money, but a tight straight forward game is fine too. I started off playing tight as well until I could get a feel for the table, but I noticed that it was playing too tight and there were going to be some opportunities to steal and bluff. The flip side to that was that these players were not going to lay down hands if they hit top pair so you had to hit the steal attempts or really set up the bluffs well and only bluff at those guys that could actually lay a pair down. Which turned out to be about one person. I am still having a bit of discipline problems with playing a few too many hands, but kept adjusting all night and reminding myself not to push hands.

At the end of the night I had played in both the $20/40 and $30/60 games, and was overall satisfied with my game. I think I am ready to jump back in to the $100/200 game here and will do so next week. I can't this week as I have to travel again for work. I finished up the night up a little over a dime so not a bad night in that game for 4 hours of cards.

Sorry for the lack of posts lately, just not playing that much cards, and nothing really interesting to say even there. Will try to come up with something soon. The WSOP is winding down. Hope everyone down there had a great time and came back a winner. Talk to you soon....SJ

Aaron Out

2006-08-02T08:52:00.000-07:00

So Aaron went out just before the dinner break last night. He continues his string of really bad luck in big tournaments. The three big pots he lost were with KK's and AA's twice. All three times the money went in with him either being a large favorite or a HUGE favorite and ended up on the short end of the stick. Last hand he had gotten all the money in pre-flop with AA vs 77 and lost when a 7 hit the flop. This after building his $20,000 stack back up to $48,000 so he would have had a decent chip stack if he had held on. Not to be, on to the next tournament. Talk to you soon, hope you are all winning. SJ

Another Aaron Quickie

2006-08-01T16:42:00.000-07:00

Aaron corrected the Card Player recount of his big hand. He said all the money went in on the turn. This is way worse as the guy with the double gut flush draw is now down to one card to come. Way worse play calling all in for all the rest of your chips with that hand. Same shitty result however. Aaron said he lost another pot to the same guy a little while ago and is now down to $21,000 in chips at this last break. Crap. Get lucky time now. SJ

Aaron Update

2006-08-01T16:25:00.000-07:00

Aaron is still in Day two, but not moving up very fast. In fact he has taken two beats. He lost with AA vs. 33, don't know exactly how it went down. Then lost KK vs. 6d,7d on a flopped double gut, flush draw that got there on the river when all the money went in on the flop. Shit happens. Keep up the good fight. Can you tell he is pissed in the picture below??

Finally

2006-08-01T10:01:00.000-07:00

Wow, I finally booked a real winning session last night. I have been going up to Parkers to work on my game as I feel a bit out of sorts with my game right now. I don't want to play bigger until I feel like I have it back under control, and I feel like I am starting to run better. These may be related, funny how when you play better you feel like you are running better??

Short session of $8/16 really fired up game, when is it not at Parkers? Nothing to write home about on hands, except I flopped quads and got paid off. Happy to book a win.

Aaron starts day two today of the marathon that is the WSOP. He finished day 1 with 72,000 in chips so he is in good position to have a decent run. Good luck today AK, go get-em. I hope YOU are winning today. SJ

Not as Planned Part Two

2006-07-28T17:02:00.000-07:00

So Aaron was not going to play in the main event and actually came home to Seattle to think about it. He was just burned out from the last month. I was at dinner with him last night, and he had just won 30K and was feeling a little better about going and then at dinner just said fuck it I am going. He tried to get out last night and could not get a flight. He did get a 6:00am flight out today. He got there and his bags took almost and hour to show up, then as he rolled into the Rio he put one of his bags on the ground to get the other and it was run over by a cab and broke his laptop and new sunglasses. That had to piss him off as that is not a good start to the day. Then when he showed up he was told that he could play today or Monday. He did not want to wait until Monday so, in I am sure a bad mood, he took his seat today.

This would not have been my plan of attack after that morning but hey he wanted to get going. So I just talked to him and he has almost tripled up to $28,000 and has to be among the chip leaders right now. Good for him, go dude. Many hands to play and many cards to fade. Good Luck AK

Not as Planned

2006-07-26T16:10:00.000-07:00

So my Tuesday turned into a day not as planned. I first thought I had to travel on Weds so I decided I could not go down to the Muck to get into the $100/200 or whatever they were running that day because I needed to get some real sleep. Then of course the trip gets moved so I had the night to go out. By then I had already committed myself at work and going home so I did. Then at home I decided I did really want to play anyway and try to play my way out of this horrible run of cards. What better way than to go up to Parkers and play a little $8/16 and work on my chops.

Boy am I glad I did that, really. I picked up right where I left off, I won a total of three small pots the first 4 hours I played. That's right 3. I got nothing to play, when I did it was out of position in the blinds with 5-7 or more in the pot already, so I could not raise and protect my hand, and then I would hit complete air on the flop. AK, 4,5,8 two suits not mine on flop, I check, many bets, muck. Pocket 10's A,J,x board, I check, many bets, many calls, muck. Pocket KK's A on flop I bet many calls, turn miss, I check many bets and calls, muck. Wonderful. Whose dog did I shoot? I got into the game 4 buyins and almost just gave up, if I were playing $100/200 I would have gone broke before I could have gotten out. But then a friend of mine from LA who just happened to want to play a little low limit came into the room, and I decided to stay. I played with him for a while and had some fun and actually started hitting some hands. I went on a mini rush and almost got back to even but gave away a big pot to a player who made a great bluff that I might have been the only player at the table who would have laid down to and kept myself stuck a tiny bit. I had K,Q of diamonds and had turned a flush and check raised the turn on a paired board. The river brought the third card to the paired board making three jacks I bet out and he raised. I just mucked the hand, what can I really beat, any pair now beats me he was calling to whole way and betting on the flop, he has to have me beat right?? Nope he made the play with the naked A of diamonds no pair. That is not a move you see EVER in an $8/16 game. It is a move you rarely see in $100/200 and if it did happen you did not see it. I loved the move, it was awesome, creative, and won him the pot. He was so proud to show me the bluff, and I am glad he did because now I know he has the ability to make that kind of move and I will never forget it.

Lesson here, never show the bluff. I know it makes us feel really cool to pull off a huge bluff and we really, really want to show the world, but don't. Just know that you pulled off a world class bluff and gloat to yourself. Don't give the table information that can come back to haunt you. It will always come back to haunt you, unless of course you decide to quit poker after reaching such a high or the player is too stupid to remember, which of course the bluff would not have worked on because who lays down a K high flush??

So the run continues, I lost 1/2 a buyin. Getting nicked to death right now. I may play again this week and possibly at the Muck.

Also, I played against Schnieds of 2+2 in LV when I was there and did not know it. This was the kid who beat me with the AK when I turned a set from a few posts ago. It appears he is writing a blog for his local newspaper. Go check it out here www.startribune.com/blogs/cardshark Good luck to all those at the WSOP main event starting Friday. I really wish I were there. Maybe next year. Hope you are all winning. Talk to you soon..SJ

Sorry

2006-07-21T15:08:00.000-07:00

I want to apologize for not posting much in the last few weeks. After my trip to the WSOP for the first week I have been busy at work and on a number of trips and vacations but not for poker. I have played very little, and the poker that I have played has been up at Parkers in the $8/16 game for fun and to work on a few things in my game without putting any real money at risk. I have played three small sessions. One I wanted to play as a complete maniac pre-flop and then adjust on the flop to work on reading skills. The other two I went back to normal poker mode. Funny thing is the only session of the three I won was the maniac session. I don't know what that says about my game right now but it was fun. I have been on a horrible run for the last month. Even worse was that it started just as they kicked the game up to $150/300 at the Muck and I played $100/200 at the WSOP. Almost all of the sessions had losing results, not big, but it is all relative at the limits played. It hurt the bankroll and ego. I feel like I don't even know what I am doing right now. I can't even beat the $8/16 game at Parkers, depressing. I am trying to work on a few things as well as just play my way through an absolute horrible run of cards. 90% of the big pairs I have had in the last month have lost. Unfortunately for me I am not seeing them much right now either. Don't even want to know the percentage I am losing with AK right now. Just ugly. I am missing steal hands completely on flops, it seems like I miss every draw, and get picked off on every bluff, just depressing. I know that there must be some leaks in my play right now as well. You can't lose every session based on cards, but it sure feels that way right now. I just need to get better somehow, someway. I will be down at the Muck next Tuesday to try to get back into a regular groove, hope this will start me on the right path again. You also might have noticed that I once again went to not posting actual numbers. I have been concerned that with the new law passed in my State that there are probably too many people who are not poker players, and who may be State related, looking at this site. I don't want to draw anymore attention to myself from the non-poker world. I don't want to be an example, I just want to play cards.

On the other front I have not posted much about my friend Aaron down at the WSOP because there has been nothing to post about. He has played in only 3 or 4 tournaments, all non-cashes. He did play the $50,000 HORSE event and made it to day two but everyone(ok all but 14 of the 143) made it to day two so that was a non-event as well. He has also done nothing in the cash games. He started on a good note and then has slide back down to around even on some crushing beats in the NL game. He is feeling much like myself right now where nothing seems to be going right and the cards feel like they are conspiring against you. They suck you in and then stomp on your bankroll. I hope he has a good week leading up to the main event and finally breaks through in the main event, but with 8,000 players the odds are not in ones favor. Good luck to all that are going to be in the main event, it will happen again without me this year as I just can't get away from work for a day let alone two weeks for a deep run. If you go to the event knowing you need to bust and get back to work you might as well just put up $10k on a single blackjack hand. At least you have a chance of getting some money back on that play.

Lastly I updated my blog roll to those that I am really reading. I dropped a couple, and will look to add some, but right now just subtractions. I dropped Josh because he just does not post. Shame as I like some of his stuff, but he just must not be interested anymore. Might have something to do with his lack of success lately in any events as well.

Also, remember any of you who don't have a rakeback deal online to use my link at the left for Rakeback.com. I use them and have been really pleased with the way they do business. Good luck and I hope you are all winning. Talk to you next week....SJ

Additional WSOP Observations

2006-07-14T10:40:00.000-07:00

I was only there for a little bit at the beginning of the WSOP, but this year sure felt different than any of the last years prior. First off there seemed to be a lot more people interested in the WSOP this year. Not just from players, and there were definitely more players this year, but from people just interested in seeing it. Both at the RIO and Bellagio. Tons of bystanders just wanting to see the person they see on TV playing cards. Sounds exciting huh?? Can't quite figure out that phenomenon.

The action seemed to be around the RIO and the Bellagio. I visited a few other card rooms and they were pretty dead. Even Ceasar's new room was dead. Nice big room, but no games, other than a few low limit tables. Nothing higher than $10/20. Wynn had a few games, but that was pretty dead too. I guess Bellagio still has a lock on the action, there was some brief interest in other places but you always come back to the best. I never even played anywhere else except Bellagio.

The last thing that really struck me was the young age of the players with a ton of money. The internet has really consolidated a lot of money into a few hands of some really good young players. I mean good, and I do mean a lot of money. These guys were around 21 to 25 and they had hundreds of thousands of $$. That is just amazing. Even if they did not have a hundreds of thousands they were a ton of them in the $100/200 games and up, so they had decent sized bankrolls. Some of them were nice kids, but a lot of them were really cocky, arrogant people. They have not been humbled yet by the pain of poker. It will come, but I am sure the internet will keep making them.

One side effect of all these smart young players playing poker on the internet for a living is that they will not get into the mainstream economy. These guys are clearly very smart, fast thinkers, and have good brains. They will not go to college, get real jobs, and produce something of value for the US economy. These guys would make great wall street traders, bankers, start there own businesses, etc. Maybe this is not a bad thing, as there are plenty of kids that do want to do that, but are we losing some of this talent to poker? I just think down the road when these guys are 35 and did not go to school, have lived the life of poker and now want to do something else. What else can you do now? Internet poker player does not look that good on a resume? These players will never make it back to mainstream society. I hope they know that.

Aaron got busted out early on day two of the $50,000 HORSE event. Too bad. The structure was not as good as it appeared. They did start you with $50,000 in chips but the blinds went up really fast, and there was not a lot of play in this event. I think they should make this a 4 or 5 day event and really let some poker happen as opposed to still having to have some short term luck. The final table is a pretty good list of top players, but heck the whole event was pretty much full of names, so you could not go wrong. Final table should be fun to watch. Hope you are all winning and I will talk to you soon. I will not play next Tuesday again as I have to go to LA next week. Maybe get back to cards in a week or two. Will update with any Aaron WSOP if they happen. SJ

Continue of Delayed WSOP Trip Report

2006-07-11T16:53:00.000-07:00

So I went to bed after a fairly disappointing day and was ready to play the $1500 limit event. Now I play limit as my 1st game and I was feeling pretty good about this event, but the way I had been running for the last month needed to change for me to have any chance.

I started the event as good as I could have hoped for. We started with only 5 of the players at the table. I started with the BB and the SB was not there. It was folded to the button and I looked down at K,6, he raised of course to steal the blinds. I made the call and flopped a K on a ragged board. I bet right out he raised, I three bet, he called. Turn was a nothing and I bet out he raised, I called, river another nothing card, I checked he bet I called and showed him my K which was good. Take the pot. Next hand in the SB with the BB not there, also was folded to the same player who just tried to run over me, and of course he raised again. This time I three bet him out of the SB with pocket 77's and he called. Flop came 7,5,5. I checked and he checked behind me, turn a Q I bet out and he just mucked. O well did not make much on that hand. I proceeded to win a few more pots and then cracked AA with an A,6 of clubs when I turned a flush. I now had $2,800 in chips before the end of the first round and was feeling really good.

That was all she wrote however. I went absolutely card dead for the rest of the day. They broke my 1st table about 45 minutes into round two, and right before they were going to start the final table of the $1500 nl event #2. I was sitting right up against the final table so it would have been a good spot to play and watch but alas it was not to be. I got moved to a table which had Dutch Boyd and Josh Schlein

This picture was taken of him at my table early in the tournament, he finished 3rd in the event. He was a very aggressive player and good to boot. I did not play a pot with him, heck I did not play a pot at the table I think. Funny dude however, you can tell just by looking at him he was goofy. Someone asked him about his final table hands at the WPT Aruba event and he told some good stories. Dutch was short stacked and went out about 15 minutes after I got there.

I then got moved for the third time. I made it about half way through round 4 when I just had to take a stand because I was not going to get any cards. With about $900 in chips left playing $150/300 there was a raise in late position and I had pocket 55's on the button. I three bet the hand all in, and to my surprise, the SB four bet it and the BB called, both of them all in and now the original raiser called with no more action to come. The flop came 4,6,6, turn a 10 river and A. I was up against SB=99's, BB=A,Jo, and original raiser A,6 off. Wow I went out two straight tournaments to A,6o. The worst hand won the pot, shitty. Time to go back to Bellagio.

I return to Bellagio and get into the $100/200 game, same guys as day before. Same shitty run of cards. I play another really long session from mostly behind again, but this time I manage to get myself a small win. Not much consolation however as I did not come here to make nothing. I decided to go to bed and skip the shorthanded event on Friday as I wanted to play another session of $100/200 all day Friday and I did not want to get a late start. I did get to go to Joe Bartholdi's party at Carmel on Thursday night while I was taking a break from my session. Just a bunch of poker players sitting around drinking, nothing great there.

I got up around noon on Friday and took my seat in the $100/200 game again. This time I go straight down making hands that get sucked out on and paying off. Prime example #1, I have pocket QQ's in late position. I raise and get called out of the SB and BB. Flop comes 9,10,J. No a great flop for me but not horrible. Checked to me, I bet, SB calls BB mucks. Turn a Q, really not the hand I wanted to make now. Checked to me I bet now and I get raised. I call almost sure I am beat but still call. Please pair the board on the river, nope a 3. Bet, and I make the crying call, and he shows me AK for the gutshot on the turn. Nice 5 outer sir. Whole day and night went like that, just a whole lot of crap. I end up booking another small loss and decide I am done playing for the trip. Nothing was going my way and I was tired.

I did watch Aaron play some $600/1200 Omaha, 2-7, and badugi. I also got to meet Chris Fargis of www.twentyoneoutstwice.blogspot.com Nice guy, although he was not having a good night, and may not even remember meeting me as it was around 2:00am. Aaron won enough to buy a small house that night. The game was 5 handed and there was one dude who was in for -$220,000, ouch that is a bad night. I guess my losses don't look so bad compared to that guy. It is all relative.

On a side note there are two players from Seattle in today's HORSE event. Aaron Katz and Rep. Go guys, here are the shots form today courtesy of Cardplayer site.

Hope you are all winning and I will talk to you soon about some other observations on the trip. SJ

Delayed WSOP Trip Report #1

2006-07-10T17:04:00.000-07:00

Ok, I have been really late in getting this up here. I have been back for over a week and been busy at work and did not feel like posting over the weekend. So for all two of you who have been waiting here it is..... Day 1. I got down there late Tuesday evening/Weds morning of the 27th/28th. I went to go check out the poker room at the Bellagio and it was pretty early like 2:00am so there was not a whole lot going on. There were still a few games going, a $100/200 and a few $30/60 and smaller, but not packed. There was also a few big games going on and Aaron was still up playing. I can't even remember what he was playing I think a mixed triple draw game around $200/400 or $400/800. I watched a bit and then went over to the Rio to check in to the WSOP get my card and sign up for the PLHE $1500 event the next day. That late at night there was no one there and I zipped in and out in less than 15 minutes. I popped back to the Bellagio to say goodnight to Aaron and my buddy Joe who was also there playing $30/60 and went to bed to play the days event later.

Event #3 $1500 PLHE. I sat down at my fist table and recognized no one. I also did not recognize any cards. I was looking down at garbage for the first hour. When you start with very little chips my strategy is to play tight and wait for a hand to try to get started. This was not going to work because I was not going to get cards so as the second round started I started to gamble a bit to collect some blinds. I stayed around even $1500 for a while at least, but could not make anything good happen. We broke tables and I was put at a table with Hasan Habib and Robert Mizrachi, both Hasan and Robert went bust soon after I got there as they were pretty short stacked when I arrived. I then got moved again right before the end of the 2nd round and once again to a table with no one that I knew. At the start of the 3rd round I picked up pocket 10's in second position. I made it $400 to go playing $50/$100 blinds and got called to my immediate left and a late position caller. Flop came 6,6,4 rainbow. Good flop for my hand. I bet $800 into a $1350 pot and got called in both spots. Now I only started the hand with around $1600 so this left me only $400 left. Turn was a 9. I went all in for my last $400 and the first player dumped but the last player insta called, oops, he showed my A,6 off for flopped trips and I was done. I guess I could have just moved in on the flop but the result would have been the same. After the guy called with A,6 pre-flop I was doomed. I would have had some chips if I would have caught a 10 on the river but a J sealed my fate. Off to the Bellagio to play some live games....

The room was absolutely packed in the afternoon, I put my name on the $100/200 list and talked to Aaron and Joe and everyone else from Seattle down there. There were lots of guys from Seattle down there. Old ones that had moved to LA and Vegas and guys that were from our game. Now I don't know what the Bellagio was/is thinking, but they are running a $1000 buy in tournament at 2:00pm in the afternoon and taking up tables in the main cardroom. I know they are trying to get all the players that bust out of the main WSOP events into the Bellagio, but they could have run this in the Fontana room and left the tables for live games. They have to make more off the rake than the juice from this tournament, it just killed the live games for a good chunk of the afternoon. So that said I had to wait a few hours for them to free up some tables and they started a 3rd must move $100/200 game. I jump into the game and proceed to get up a quick $2,000. It is all down hill from there. I never get any more hands to hold up, and I just get buried. The other aspect to the game was that there were not very many soft spots. Lots of really good limit players in this game all week. You had to really time and set up bluffs well and for the most part you had to turn over the winning hand, which of course I could not manage to do all week. There are some really good players coming out of Canterbury in Minnesota. There was a pack of them maybe 6 or 7 that rotated in this game and all of them were good. I played with all of them over time and very few of them booked a loss. Good players all and nice as well. I liked them all. One in particular that went by the name of Sketch(sp?) was super good. I played with him every day, and he never went on tilt, or played poorly, never. I am sure he is going to kill this game if he stays for the entire series. I played until 5:00am and could never get anything going, booked a loss, and went to bed to play in the $1500 limit event the next day. I will try to follow up with tournament day #2 tomorrow. Hope you are all winning and are having fun at the WSOP. Aaron had a good picture taken during day one of the $1500 NLHE #2, here it is for all to see from Cardplayer site......

I Am Not Dead

2006-07-06T10:28:00.000-07:00

I am not dead yet... I got back from Vegas last Saturday and then took off on vacation with the family for the 4th. Just got back into Seattle today and working. I will try to put up a few posts maybe tonight and over the next few days to let you know what happened. It was a very fun, but alas unfruitful trip to the WSOP. Some good stories and observations coming. I had delusions that I would try to post while down there but I played way toooooo many hours of poker to try and post. Good idea but not enough discipline to post. Talk to you soon and I hope you are all winning...SJ

Vegas Bound

2006-06-27T15:36:00.000-07:00

Heading to Vegas in a few hours. Just checked in with Aaron, he is still alive in the first real event. Wow just huge 2200 people with 550 alternates. 1st place is going to be over $1,000,000. Nice way to start the WSOP. I will be in tomorrow's event. Talk to you soon..SJ

WSOP Update #1

2006-06-23T08:39:00.000-07:00

I know it is right before the WSOP so this can't count as an official WSOP update, but Aaron is already down there. He said there is not really anyone there yet, but there will be soon. He got off to a great start booking a nice win last night. Played $25/50 NL and $600/1200 mixed games. He said he played with David Williams and Eskimo. Sounds like fun to me except a little over my head on the limits. Talk to you soon from Vegas..SJ

Quickie Post

2006-06-21T18:18:00.000-07:00

I don't have time to write up a big post of last night. Don't know if I want to. Summary of night. Miss every hand on flop, miss every OESD, miss every flush draw, get sucked out on river when I actually flop a hand. Played in $150/300 because $50/100 game was not going. Lost money. Sorry, I may describe this one in more detail next week, but most likely just want to wipe this one out of my memory. Talk to you next week from the WSOP. SJ

Nothing to See here Move Along

2006-06-20T10:02:00.000-07:00

I played no cards over the weekend. I can also neither confirm nor deny the comment on my last post that I may be SJ_Tilt as Online poker is now a felony in this state. I do not play for real money(money that matters) online.

It is almost WSOP time, I hope everyone is getting ready and as excited as I am to head down. I will be there starting on Tuesday next week. I will only be there through the weekend so if any of you are going to be there drop me an e-mail and let me know. I would love to meet you. I will be at the Bellagio, and most likely in the $80/160 game when not in a tournament. I plan on playing the PL on Weds, the limit on Thurs and the short handed NL on Friday depending on how deep I run in one of the other tournaments. I hope I only play in two as that means I ran deep in one of the first two. I will be down there with Aaron and my buddy Joe. Joe has been tearing it up UB online lately. He lives in LA so he can still play legally. Joe is a musician and I had to put up a shot of him at his show over the weekend. You suck dude, you get paid to do that??

I hope all of us do well next week. Aaron of course will be there for two or three months. Hope you are all winning and I will talk to you soon as I will be heading down to the Muck tonight. SJ

Subdued Session

2006-06-14T15:00:00.000-07:00

So I took my usual trip to the Muck last night to get in a little poker action. The big game in Seattle $150/300 was going again. This is becoming a regular gig in Seattle to my surprise, but was full when I got there(again?). I got a late start yesterday because of work so I had to work my way up the fish ladder to get into the game. I almost did not go yesterday as I was tired, but I went anyway.

I was actually having fun playing in the lower limit games as I was walking up to the big game. I started in $10/20 and was just goofing around in the game. It is amazing, now that I have been playing almost exclusively above $100/200 for the last two months both in LA and Seattle, how easy that game seems to be. Super easy to read, and really soft action games. I really had fun in that game. I then moved to the $20/40 game and played with a few friends that I have not had the opportunity to play with in a while. Two friends from LA who are in town for a bit were in that game. That game was fun too. I made a few more dollars and went to the $50/100 game. That game was good. Some good players mixed in with a bunch of weak ones. Most of the sharks have all moved to the $150/300 game so that left this game with most of the weaker players that want to play big, but not that big. I had control of the table, was able to bluff and make moves and was feeling really good about my game. I actually thought about staying in that game, but I wanted to see if I could make some real money and took my seat in the $150/300 game when it opened up. The game was only full for about 30 minutes after I got there. We busted two people and one quit and soon we were 5 handed.

I went just absolutely card dead in that game. Up to that point I was feeling good, but when I got in that game I was feeling really passive and subdued. The mood was exacerbated by the fact that I was getting nothing to play and there was one player who was just raising every pot and playing 75% of his hands. The problem was he was hitting them as well. Every time I picked a spot to play he would either suck out on the flop and I would dump or he would river me and I would lose a big pot. I tried a number of things to change my luck, took walks, changed seats to the direct left of the aggressive player to get position and isolate, but nothing worked. I could just not get any hands to play. I gave back what money I had made in the fish ladder, $1,000, and then some more. Right at the end of my night a complete fish player sat in the game and short bought in for $1500. He proceed to lose that in one pot. Then he short bought in again for only $500 and lost that in a pot with 9 high. Of course not to me, as I was not in either of those pots. I then picked up JJ in MP and he had raised in EP, I three bet and he called. Flop came 10 high, he checked I bet, turn a middle card like a 7 or 9 and he checked, I bet, river an A. He checked and I bet again. He showed me A,8, for the three outer. He may have picked up a gutshot draw on the turn, but I am not positive. Either way, that was the last straw. It was not going to be my day so I packed it in early.

One other aspect to this game is that it is not all that much fun. I was having fun at the lower limits but at the $150/300 limit there is too much pressure. There is too much money on the line and I don't like swinging $5000 a night on a normal variance. Hell if you have a standard large variance night of down 30BB you lose $9,000. Not fun, not really what I am looking for on a weekly basis. I may not even play in that game next week. I may just stay in the $50/100 game as that is big enough and I can have fun at that level, like I was last night until I moved games. So final tally another bad night of -$5,947 which puts me back into the red for the year. Crap now I have to start digging myself out again. Hope you are all winning. Talk to you soon, I can smell the WSOP from here....SJ

Thank You

2006-06-12T11:27:00.000-07:00

Hey, the guys over at Wickedchopspoker www.wickedchopspoker.com actually put up a small interview they did with me regarding the new law in Washington state making online poker a felony. Thanks for the press guys. They actually made me sound like a real poker player.

Also, for all two of you that don't have a rakeback deal make sure you use the link to Rakerebate.net on the left of my blog to sign up. Don't leave your money on the table.

I did not play this weekend, most likely will be out and about tomorrow. Hope you are all winning..SJ

Clarity and Manners

2006-06-09T12:55:00.000-07:00

First off I want to clarify a few things from the last post. Yes, I was whining about losing. I don't do it in the game, so I get to do it here. Its my blog I can whine here if I want. Selfish, yes. Second, I did not say anyone played poorly. In fact when we got down to four handed I was the dog in that game. All three of those players are better than I am and I knew it. I should have quit. I know that. I also did not say Aaron played poorly, in fact he played brilliant. His hyper aggressive style works very well short handed, and with his reading ability he will kill a short game. He did. He is a favorite short handed in every game he sits in.

Aaron also has the disadvantage of being a friend that I have known for a long time, so I have seen him play many many times. Most of the time I am not in the game with him as I just watch the bigger games he plays, but his personality comes out when he plays, and frankly there are parts of his game that I do not like. I am not saying it is bad to talk, and whine in a game, in fact it works to his advantage most of the time because it puts people on tilt, and they want to beat him more and gun for him. That works to his advantage, as he plays a killer game. He killed me. If you combine that with losing that night which I did, and you do that over a number of sessions you can see how that would impact what happens away from the table. I can not separate the two, maybe that is wrong, but it is the truth. His table talk bugs me, and not just this one night of it, this has been a pet peeve of mine for years about his game, mostly when I just sweat his game. My opinion will not change on that so I just need to not play that much with him. I don't have to like most of the people that I play with, in fact most of the players I only see at the casino, so I do not have to have a relationship with them. Heck, most of them probably don't like me, that's fine. I do have a relationship with Aaron, he is a good friend and I don't want a game to harm that, so I will adjust. Nuff said, so off to table manners.....

It is interesting to note that the higher the game played or witnessed, the worse manners the players have. I have witnessed some really poor behavior in some of the biggest games played in Vegas and LA. I think it has to do with the more money you have, or success you have in poker, the more arrogant you get that the world revolves around you. So here is my list of table do's and don'ts.

#1) Respect the dealer. The dealer has no impact on the cards, why get pissed at the dealer if you get sucked out on, they can't help you. Why beat them up? Also, ask if rabbit hunting is allowed at the casino. If it is, every once in a while you can ask the dealer to show you the river or the flop. Don't do this a lot as it slows the game down. Never just grab the cards without asking. That is their space, and they will take offense if you just grab the cards.

#2) Pay attention in the game. If you are in the game, please pay attention when it is your turn to act. I see a lot of players that are playing really long sessions and get super tired and start to sleep at the table. You have to keep reminding them that it is their turn to act. If you are tired take a break, or quit. There will be another game. Also, don't read or play with your cell phone as this also distracts you from paying attention. I sometimes break this rule with my phone but try not to do it much. It just slows the game down.

#3) Respect the other players. You don't have to like the other players, and you can even use table talk to put them on tilt. Never make it personal, call people names, or use derogatory or racist language. Poker is a game which has brought all nationalities together. In fact a lot of the time when I am in a game, a white guy will be the minority at the table. Making ignorant or hurtful comments just hurts the mood at the table and the game. Don't do it.

#4) Don't throw cards or chips. Subset of number one. It slows the game down. If you throw your chips around or splash them into the pot, the dealer has to take time to collect the chips, make sure the right amount has been bet, or even in extreme cases count the whole pot down. It just slows the game down, and in my case just irritates me. It also can open the game up to stealing. When there is a sloppy pot someone can rake chips back out.

Also, don't throw the cards or muck them hard across the table. If the cards hit the floor they have to ask for a new setup, if they hit the dealer it pisses them off, and if they hit another players hand it could kill their hand. It just slows the game down, and once again just irritates me. It shows your character and lack of self control.

#5) Don't slow roll, or fail to act in turn. If the hand is over and you are first to act, either muck your hand or turn it over. Don't try and wait to see if you are beat to show. If you are embarrassed to show your hand why the hell did you play it in the first place. Don't call out "you got it", and then when the other player shows you realize you have the winner. This really gets under my skin. Also, in a lot of the bigger games if you are fist to act you just call out your hand and the other player will just turn over if they have you beat. Now this is not a rule but it is just good game manners. Don't force the other player to turn over his hand. If you win, table your hand and take the pot. Who cares what two cards they had, if you are good you should be able to figure it out anyway. Some people will just want to see the cards anyway, I think it is rude and it happens a lot in lower limit games. Lastly, if you are not involved in the hand don't ask to see the cards. I see this also happen a lot in lower limit games. The only time you should ever do this is if you suspect collusion among players. If not, you don't need to see it. Who cares if you finished 2nd.

I am sure I have missed a few things. If you have one that I missed feel free to leave it in the comments section. Hope you are all winning and I will not play this weekend. Talk to you next week..SJ

Good Night Gone Ugly

2006-06-07T09:40:00.000-07:00

.....To depressing. What a fucking ugly night last night. I don't even really want to write about it but I will. There was a leftover big game from Monday that got kicked up to $150/300 early morning Tuesday that stuck into the day. I got called at lunch to tell me the game was going but could not get down there right away. When I did finally get there the game was FULL??? What?? This was $150/300, that is a huge game for Seattle. That is a huge game period for straight hold-em. I had to wait a bit and played $50/100 and of course got stuck $2,000 right out of the gate. I had pocket KK's cracked by a J,2 off to start my day and set the mood.

I then finally got a seat in the $150/300 game. Now that is up there with the biggest limit game I have played, and I really did not have enough money on me to feel comfortable, but I played anyway. I managed to get even and then up in the game over a period of a few hours. This game had both Aaron, and Tommy. Both high limit pros from the area, both hyper aggressive, both with WSOP and WPT final tables among them, and Aaron has a WSOP bracelet. While the game was full you could pick your spots to get involved, and I managed to have some hands hold up, and even hit a few from behind. As the night wore on however, the game got short. It eventually got down to Myself, Barry, Aaron, and Tommy. Now fasten you seatbelts.

I was still up just slightly at that time, and even thought about quitting. I should have as it turns out. Aaron had gone back to the old Aaron I know. Hyper aggressive, playing just about every hand for a raise or three bet, and talking and bitching, and being just generally annoying. He actually cycled up $13,000, then stuck $22,000 and all the way back out to up over $6,000 when I left. When you play that style you better catch cards and he did. Add Tommy to the mix who plays a very similar style and you have a game that turns into a card catching contest. All pots once entered are played to the river, and all draws and hands are possible from either one of them. I really don't like to play that style of poker, but I can and I will, but you have to have at least a few hands hold up. I did not. In fact I went on a super negative rush in about and hour and 1/2 that I just gave up and left. I lost KK's to Aaron's 3 bet A,5 off when I capped it on the button and a A spiked right on the flop. I then lost AA to Tommy's 3 bet with 8,5 clubs when he turned a straight on me. I lost 99 to a J,6 3 bet by Aaron, you get the picture, even Barry started to spike on me, demoralizing.

Not much else to say other than is was a sick night, I am really pissed at the result, and myself for not quitting. I only get to play one night a week mostly, so I want to play, not go home early. I guess I need to adjust my thinking. When I feel the game is no longer a good spot and I am up I need to quit no matter what time it is. Maybe I will learn this lesson, maybe not. At lest I don't think I will have to play with Aaron any more for a few months, as we will not be in the same games down at the WSOP, and he is most likely done in Seattle in the short term. If I did one of us would have to quit to preserve our friendship because I could not stand to put up with him in my game for an extended period of time. Between the talking, the constant pressure, and the inconsiderate way he bets and handles his cards I would go nuts. I will write up a post about table manners later this week or early next, not today, still steaming. So result, I fucking lost -$4,809, can you tell I am still pissed about it the next day? That is not even a big loss in that game, a whopping 16BB, just the way it happened just pissed me off. Hope you all are winning and had a better night than I did....SJ

Nice Comeback

2006-06-05T12:40:00.000-07:00

Sometimes a nice comeback from the depths can feel as good as a win. This was my lot on Friday. I did decide to go up to Tulaliup on Friday night as they had the $100/200 game up there that day. I arrived a little late, 9:30pm, and they had been playing since 10:00am that morning. The game had been well defined by then. The winners were up pretty big and the losers were trying to get some back, but were pretty short stacked. There was one seat, so I jumped in. The game was going to change shortly however, and I could sense it. A few of the winners cashed out, and we busted one of the short stacks, so we were going to get short. I sat down and there were three players I had never played with before so I watched a bit. I did get involved early with one of the new players and had to look him up with 2nd pair when he showed no aggression in the pot when I bet out on the flop. He had top pair and very weak kicker so I had the info that I needed. He was a terrible player and would call down with any pair no matter how weak. I then managed to get a few big hands cracked right away and got stuck $5,000 before I even won a pot. Then the worst case scenario happened.

Aaron showed up to play, and one of the players I did not know quit, then some of the other players quit, soon we were down to 4 handed and I felt the game might break after I got stuck, CRAP. Well we busted the 4th player who was a weak player, and it was down to me, Aaron and Barry. This was not a good game, but I was stuck already and was going to stop loss at $7,000 so I kept playing hoping they would not quit me until I was even or broke. I got down to my last $800 and then won a few small pots to put me back up to $2,000 and then this hand happened to start the run at 2:00am.

I had the button w/ 22 and Aaron had just limped on the last hand with AA and won the pot. I figured I would play the hand the same way, and see what developed. I wanted to see a cheap flop and dump if I missed, or if a good bluff board showed
try to steal the pot. Well I did not miss. Flop came 2,2,5 with two diamonds. Wow, I had not flopped quads in a live game in two years, I had no idea if I would even get any action, but Aaron checked and Barry bet in to me. I just called hoping to trap Aaron in there but he mucked and it was just heads up with me and Barry. The turn brought the 3rd diamond a 6. This now could make straights and a flush, Barry bet in to me again. I raised this time, and Barry to my surprise 3 bet me. Perfect he had a hand. I called the three bet hoping for more action on the river. River was a black K. Barry bet again, I raised, he three bet, and I capped. He called the cap bet and I showed quads, and he had the nut flush with a straight flush draw that thankfully missed. The hand played out perfect. He was rightfully not going to put me on 55, 66, as I would have raised preflop. If I just had a big pair he had me unless I hit the two outer on the river with KK's. He was not going to put me on quads, does anyone ever put anyone on quads? So he thought he was good. I would have done the same thing. Just a bad match up three handed. Nice $3200 pot.

I continued to run well against both players for the next 30 minutes and by 2:30am I was up a few bucks. I said I quit, and booked my $347 profit, but in my mind I won $6,000 as I was mentally prepared to go home stuck that amount. Sweet, nice comeback. Aaron of course pulled another good chunk out of the game and went home happy.

I don't know if I feel great about him becoming a regular. I know he will be gone soon to the WSOP so I guess I can put up with him in the game for the next few weeks. Just don't take it from me sir. I wish I could talk some of my bad player friends into playing rather than one that I am a dog to, but at least I get to test my skills against someone I feel is in the top 10 hold-em players in the world today. Maybe I can learn a few tricks. Hope you are all winning. I will be down and the Muck tomorrow so update on Wednesday. SJ

Rake Back Deals

2006-06-01T10:08:00.000-07:00

I know that some of you that read this blog play online. I hope that most of you already have a rakeback deal of some sort. If there is actually anyone left that does not have a rakeback deal yet I wanted to point out that I use rakerebate.net. You can find the link to the site on the left of this blog. I have been using it for about a year now and they are as good as anyone else out there. Good site, good updates and they pay when they say they will. I now have an affiliate agreement with them. This does not impact in any way what you get back as a percentage. Just go sign up with them to get your money back, but use the link on the left. I also think you can tell them Seattle sent you. http://www.rakerebate.net/?ref=seattle

If you already have an account and want to get rakeback it is a little more complicated but still can be done. Let me know if you want me to explain how to try and do this.

If you have any questions please feel free to e-mail me and I will help you out. Hope you are all winning...SJ

Another Freeroll

2006-05-31T15:46:00.000-07:00

Hey, another blogger freeroll at Pokerstars for a WSOP seat. Don't know if I will be able to play but figured I would register anyway just in case. Hope to see you there.....SJ

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: 1928334

The Sessions in Between

2006-05-31T11:50:00.000-07:00

Hope everyone had a great memorial weekend. I took the whole weekend off and did not play one hand or click of cards. Just relaxed in the rain of Seattle. I hope the summer is not like this last weekend or we are going to be moldy by the end of summer.

Of course I was out and about last night at the Muck which is why all five of you are here. I walked into the usual crowd of the bigger games now on Tuesdays. I got there and they started the $100/200 game but made it a controlled move from the $50/100 game, so I ended up getting a seat right away in the $50/100 game. Last night turned into one of those sessions in between. I say that because there are sessions where you run great and you are just going to win in spite of yourself and are playing to maximize your win. Then there are those where you run terrible and are destined to lose or you must really grind it out to squeak out a win/breakeven. Then there are those where you run normal breakeven cards, nothing happens, just a boring normal non-event session where really most of your sessions occur. I have not really had many of these lately so it was fine by me yesterday. This is where you get to spend time working on your game. Working on reading people, controlling your boredom but staying alert, trying to learn something from the session. Controlling your emotions, and watching those that are not, or seeing how they change when running other than normal, hot and hitting, or cold and cold decked. In other words, trying to get better. I don't think most players really think about that part of their game. You don't always need to be in the action, sometimes you can just be an observer and work on other things that will make you a better player in the long run. Last night was just one of those nights.

I think I only played one orbit in the $50/100 game before moving to the $100/200 game. Usual cast of players with a few sporadic regulars as well, nothing out of the ordinary. The one out of normal occurrence was that my friend Aaron came down to play as well. He showed up a little later than I did, but there was a seat open when he got there so not a problem. He actually proceeded to play a good controlled game. He did not talk much, which was a plus, and did not do too much whining, again a plus. He did not even get too aggressive with his hand selection, just a good solid controlled game. His big hands held up and he played to maximize most of them. He booked a good win and left after about 4 hours leaving me to fend for myself and took a decent chuck of change out of the game.

I on the other hand was going nowhere. I was watching a lot of hands go by, and those that I did play were not great, I had to make some stuff up as I went. Neither up more than $2,000 nor down more than $1,000, which is a pretty tight range in a game of this size, but that was the nature of this session. The one hand which could have made my night was when I picked up pocket KK's on the button and it had been raised, called and then three bet by LP and I capped. We took the flop off 5 handed for $400 each, and an A spiked right on the flop. Muck you very much, send the pot to the guy who called two more bets cold with 88's and flopped a set that held up for a $4,000 pot. Nice Hand! I ground my way through a few people hitting and running and finally called it a night at 1:30am up +$1,144. Not a very good win rate, but still a small win. I will take it. I may play this Friday up at Tulaliup where they have been running $100/200 up there now on that day. Same players with a few north end regulars added in.

I lost a comment on my last post that asked about how I try to minimize my emotions and tells. Blogger ate it. The first thing that comes to my mind is to be aware of yourself. Know thyself as Thomas Aquinas once said. Know what feelings you are having, then try to neutralize them. If you are happy and rushing, don't get too cocky. Don't rub it in, play it down as lucky, which sometimes it is. If you are running poorly, don't get too down. Don't let the other players know you are depressed and running poorly, don't show them weakness, they will pick on you. Try to keep a positive attitude. If you can't, then take a walk, or quit. Better to come back in a positive state of mind then to keep getting beat on and let a small loss turn into one that takes more than one session to get back. Lastly, ask some of your friends in the game to watch you as you play. You may be playing hands predictably, or betting in patterns, or making movements with your body during certain conditions or hands that you are unaware of. You may not like the answers or agree with them, but there is usually a grain of truth in what you may hear. Aaron gave me some feedback last night on a few things. I may disagree with him, but I also know there is something to the feedback and I will work on it. I am not going to talk about it here as there are a few players in the game that read this blog, but I will work on it the next time.

Also, to the comment of how poker players are in relationships, I have this thought. I am very lucky to have a wife that while she may not like the fact that I play as much as I sometimes do, she is mostly supportive. She understands that I love this game, and would hate to give it up. She puts up with it, and even sometimes encourages my play. I scale it back when life at home gets busy, and sometimes she asks me not to play. Which I do. I have no idea how a full time player could have a real relationship. They play stupid hours, usually all night and for long periods of time. The other person in the relationship will not understand why you need to put in that many hours "gambling" which is how they will see it and not with her/him. So you need spend a ton of time and energy explaining that it is not really gambling but controlled gambling and not against the house with an edge but against other players separated by skill. Energy spent on that other than the game, which will detract from your game. The other side to that is to have a relationship with another player, which I am sure can work, but I would not want that either. I am lucky I have a job and am married because it adds balance to my life which in turn makes me a much happier person and hopefully a better player. I would not want to do this full time. I don't think I even could, to be honest with myself. I get bored with the game pretty quick if I am playing for 4 or 5 days straight. I also know that I would not be that much fun to be around if I did this full time either. I guess good news I have a job. Bottom line new or newly forming relationships and poker are not a good mix. If you have a good strong foundation to build from then I think it works fine, but otherwise I think is sounds like a disaster. I am a lucky person.

I hope you are all winning and will talk to you soon....SJ

Emotions, Emotions

2006-05-26T16:30:00.000-07:00

As promised I wanted to put something else up this week on the blog. I have not played this week, except online, which does not really count in my book for playing as I play $3/6, $5/10 and $10/20 short tables and it does not have any real impact on my bankroll or results. Just fun and practice, and of course some loose pocket change to spread around on the internet. I did want to talk about emotions, and how they can impact your game, winning, and table selection.

I was playing with a friend last week and witnessed some very hard emotional swings on his part and it got me to thinking again about emotions so I figured I would share them with you.

Emotions are feelings that really need to be well under control if you are going to play poker seriously. You can learn a lot by watching others emotions at the table. By staying alert and observant others will put their emotions on display. Are they winning and confidant? If they are will they "play the rush" and push marginal hands, or are they just really feeling confidant and playing their A game and you need to stay out of their way? Are they losing and looking depressed expecting to lose every hand that they play and playing passively. Can you take advantage of that attitude and push them off winners, because they expected you to hit your hand? Are they "On Tilt" or "Steaming", have they just lost with a big hand and now just trying to RAM a hand through? You need to be really aware of your own mood and emotions and make sure that they are not outwardly visible. Good players can pick up on them and use them against you in the game.

Emotions will cloud your judgment and make you chase or make a play that you would not have otherwise made if you were thinking clearly. Don't get mad at players. I see people take a bad beat and then feel like they must pay them back. They get into pots with hands they would not normally play just so they can put a beat on them. Bad idea. If you are playing a solid game and making good decisions you are happy when they make a bad play and get there. Rap the table and say "nice hand". It will encourage them to do it the rest of the night. The thought and the rush of chasing and hitting will be fresh in their head all night. I guarantee you that if you keep playing your game they will chase against you all night. Don't give them free cards and they will pay you back and then some as long as you have made the right decisions with you cards. That is provided that they just don't get lucky all night. Which does happen, and then you are just destined to lose. Don't let emotions cloud you desire to keep playing. If you are up against one of those days where the fish just hit all day on you, set your limit and leave. Even if the game is good, and you are really pissed that your big hands are not holding, you are probably steaming a bit, and not playing your A game anymore, get up and leave. There will be another day. When the fish smell a feeding frenzy, they will keep on you all night as you have shown them they can suck out on you. They will still make bad decisions, but they will get there more than they should. If you punish them a few times with the best hand, they will stop chasing as hard and even lay hands down or just go broke. When they hit it just is not your day. Pick up and leave. Don't let ego, or emotions make the call. Use your head and get up with what you have left. Last thought on this. If you don't have enough money to play a hand hard all the way to the river, pick up what is left and leave. Don't sit there and lose all the money in front of you. That money will be in your stack the next time, and the numbers when you add up results at the end of the week, month, year.

I was asked earlier about table selection as well. Emotions can definitely impact your game there. You should always look to play within your bankroll. Don't let ego get the best of you and sit in a game that you know is too big or you can't beat. I was in LA on Sunday and went to the $100/200 game. Now that we have a $100/200 game in Seattle it is not that big of deal to play that game down there. But I did not want to play $40/80 even though that game was a much better game to make money in. I just said I want to play 1/2 so screw it I am playing 1/2. I knew it was full of regulars, no soft spots, and most likely not a money making game. But I made an emotional decision to play, I just wanted to play. Had I been using my head I would have played the $40/80. That game is big enough, and plenty hard down there, but I made the wrong decision and guess what it cost me almost $5,000. I hope I relearned that lesson. Aaron, my friend, is famous for not being able to play in smaller money making games. He has to be in a very big game, usually too big for his bankroll. He is always taking shots. He will play $25/50 NL and win $50,000 and then take that to the $200/400NL or higher with a backer. Stupid. He can't afford one bad beat in that game, and it invariably happens. He will run it up a bit and then someone will hit on him and felt him and he is done. He will turn a winning trip of up $80,000 or $100,000 into a dead break even trip in one hand. STUPID. If I had his game and my game management skills I would making over $1,000,000 in poker a year. I just wish I had his game. I have offered to come with him on trips to tell him which games to play in and make sure he does not get into the big game, but he just won't listen. Maybe one day he will learn. I hope this WSOP. He needs the win. Hope you are going to have a great 3 day weekend and play some cards. I might get one night in. Talk to you next week and hope you are all winning. SJ

Heater Over

2006-05-23T12:15:00.000-07:00

I had to go to LA for work on Monday so of course I had to go down just a little early on Sunday night to visit one of my favorite cardrooms in the word, The Commerce. I arrived there around 8:00pm Sunday night and the place was busy as usual. The main event of the week or so long tournament they were running had started that day so there were a few names of the poker world in the room. There was a decent sized no-limit game going that had Kenna James in it and by the looks of it doing well. There was also a $400/800 mixed game that had Freddy Deeb, and JC Tran banging around. I decided to play a little $100/200 hold-em and got a seat pretty quickly. The games were not good. No one was gambling, all the players were pretty much regulars, and there were no soft spots. I really did not want to go play $40/80, although that might have been a better spot to make money, so I took my seat in the $100/200 game because I am stupid. I did nothing all night. I sat there and played a decent game, but could just not make all my good hands hold up. Of course you don't expect to, but in this game to make money you needed them to. I got stuck right out of the gate and never recovered. I would start to make a run and then get KK's cracked. I would win a few small pots and then gamble on a hand and wiff. No one would give their money away. The $100/200 game down there the last few times has been real poor. Tough games, good players, not much chance to make money. I have just not had any luck this year in LA. Two trips, 0 for 2. Not much of a sample, but losses nonetheless. I still love the place and will still go down there to play cards, but the games are just not as easy as they used to be. I may go play $40/80 next time down just to see how those games are playing.

OK heater over, well maybe not in Seattle, but that run of good cards and good play came to an end when I ran out of time to play before I had to go to bed. So I went to bed stuck -$4,708, not a big loss, as I have not had a big one yet in LA. I wish I could have stuck around. David Pham, and my good friend Chris from Seattle, were in the other $100/200 game and were coming my way. Looked like there was a little gamble going on over on the other table and it would have come my way if I felt like staying up all night. NOPE, I have a job, and I would have been a mess on Monday had I done that. Getting close to taking a real poker trip where I can just keep playing if I want to. Soon, WSOP soon.

I will not play tonight as I am tired from the trip. I may take a shot on Friday somewhere. I will also post later in the week on some other random poker thoughts. Hope you are all winning, talk to you soon..SJ

In the Middle

2006-05-17T12:07:00.000-07:00

I hope this is just the middle of the run. I have been running well lately both online and live, feels good. My game has been OK, not great, just OK, but I have been catching some breaks and timing my hands well which slowly adds up to a nice run.

Online I have been slowly building my meager online roll by multi-tabling 5/10 and 10/20 limit games. Goes up goes down, just slightly more up than down which is fine by me. I am still dumbfounded by those that just win tons of money online, like $10,000 to $100,000 per month. I don't know how they do it. Some of the time the players are bad, but for the most part I don't see the massive losers in the games that seem necessary to win that amount of money. Can the players at the 300/600 limit games be that bad? If they are they should go broke pretty quick at that limit. Most of the time I run into pretty average players, not great, but not to the point where one just pummels them all night. Maybe I am just not that good, and I don't see the massive edge here, but I win so that is all that should count. I did finally win a $30 MTT short handed NL on Ultimatebet on Monday. Not a huge field of 170, but a good win for $1,600. Cool.

So as usual I went down to the Muck again last night. Tuesday is turning out to just be a huge day down there for the larger games. I walked in last night and there were two $50/100 games going and a list. WOW! Just as I walked in however I was asked if I would play a short handed $100/200 game. I am not one to turn down a short game as you know, so sure fire it up. Four handed to start, Me, Pete, Barry, and one other guy who has been coming in for the last few weeks, don't know his name. At this point the joint had two $50/100 games and a $100/200 game. Now that is a lot of high limit poker going on in Seattle. I did not know we had that much money in the poker world here. Love to see it. I hope we crank the $100/200 game all the time. That would be cool. I am going to assume that it is going to get thin around here as we get to the WSOP and most of the high limit guys leave to go play down there so I guess we will see. So on to the game......

The game starts 4 handed but surprisingly it filled up to 6 and 7 handed for a while. I don't really mind either way, but a good short handed game is always fun. Allows you to get much more creative. I was really card dead most of the night. I did a lot of watching and winning small pots when the moment presented itself. I was never stuck more than $1,000 all night and not up much more than $2,000 for a very long stretch of time. I like to gamble it up once in a while. I shift gears in that game when I think the table is getting too predictable(tight), or my play is getting too predictable. I have a pretty loose image in that game, especially compared to Barry and Pete. I like to play up that image, joking around, making fun of myself as just a bad lucky player. I think that some of the regulars there really do think I am a really bad lucky player. It does get me a little more action than I sometimes want, but I think it works to my advantage most of the time. I might actually be a really bad lucky player, but I keep winning year after year so something must be working there. In reality I usually play tight for long stretches of time and then mix in a few stupid hands to donk it up a bit and keep the image. In supersystem by the great Doyle, he talks about winning lots of small pots and building up your stack so you can gamble when the moment presents itself. This is much more of a No Limit concept but it applies to limit as well. If you steal, bluff, and have some of your real hands hold up, it allows you to take a shot when you know you are behind and draw at something really stupid. If you fight harder for the smaller pots when everyone misses you can make those few extra bets that put you in a position to gamble when the time is right. I will also get caught raising with a really crappy hand once in a while that I will hit. Now I did not say call, I said raise. I don't really raise that much with crap, but I do like to mix it in to the game a little more than the average player. This really adds to the image when you turn over 5,7 sooooooted for the nut straight after you raised in EP with it.

Prime example number one from last night on the timed gamble. Early on in the night, I have won a few small pots and was up just a touch, and was dealt 3,5 of diamonds on the button. I had been playing pretty tight so far, so I watched this hand develop and said "gamble time". One player limps in EP, a middle position player raises, late position player calls two cold, and I call two cold on the Button with the 3d,5d, and both blinds called I think. Now I know I am in bad shape, I have a really small chance of winning this pot, but if I can hit the hand it will be disguised and easy to get away from if I wiff. I did not exactly hit the flop, it came down something like K,9,5 one diamond. I am not exactly sure of this fact other than I did flop bottom pair, and there was a diamond on the board. So there is a bet in EP, a raise, a cold call by the LP and I call here. This is a really questionable call, I know that, I am gambling here. I figured I had outs to a 5, 3, and running diamonds. You think I don't know I am putting money in -EV. Cut to the end of the story, I make running diamonds here and win the pot. It was a huge pot, and got me up pretty nicely for the session. When I rolled it over at the end I called out "Donkey Hand" and tabled the 5,3 for the win. I took all kinds of shit, but that set the stage for the rest of the night. I was a donkey, cool.

The game got short and then down to three handed, Me, Barry, and Pete. Once again not a great game. Both Barry and Pete were running bad at the end of the full table session so I figured it would be a good spot to keep playing. It was. Three handed a pair is huge, even bottom pair. Sure there are times when you are going to get caught in a bad match up, but if you stay aggressive, pick off bluffs or just out flop slight favorites you are going to have a good night. I was raising a lot of hands on the button and out of the SB. Barry was playing me really passive out of the SB when I had the BB so I had to be a little careful with the raise, so I tightened up my raising standards but loosened up my calling standards against him as well. I then proceeded to pretty much either outflop him or just bet in position to take the pots. Now both of these guys know how to play short handed, but both were running poorly, and both were playing really passively short handed so it actually made it pretty easy to know where you were. There was not a lot of aggression out of either of them and not a lot of raising going on. Made for a profitable night.

So final tally up +$5,691, not a huge night but a run of the mill normal deviation win. If I would have run even slightly better and picked up some better starting hands I would have had another huge night. On a side note I have not posted much about Aaron lately because frankly there has not been much to post about. He did play in the Mirage WPT main event and went out on the first day on a horse race. JJ VS AK, he had the JJ's. He just can not get over the hump. I actually feel badly for him, he deserves to at least have a little good luck in one of these events. He also has been just breaking even in the bigger NL games down there as well. He did not even feel like staying down there after the main event and is already back in Seattle.

I know there are players from the game last night that will read this post. Let the flaming begin...., Talk to you soon, hope you are all winning...SJ("Donkey")

P.S. There seems to be a lot more traffic coming to the site lately. I think that is really cool. Not many comments however. If any new people coming to the site want to do a Q&A session post some questions. I would be happy to do another post and answer some stuff.

Now that's What I am Talking About

2006-05-10T09:50:00.000-07:00

So off to the Muck last night to play a little cards. Much more normal night down there this time. $50/100 game going, short list, usual cast of characters, back to normal. I am 2nd up on the list so I jump into the $10/20 game to bide my time for a bit, besides the jackpot is up over $150,000 and that would be a nice poker roll to take down to the WSOP. The $50 game does not have a jackpot drop, so this is the only game you can hit it in, or lower games as well. I don't really like the jackpot anyway. I have never even come close to hitting one, heck I have not even been in a cardroom that has hit one in over two years. They just don't hit when I am there and no chance at my table. I am bad jackpot luck. I have put thousands into that box and have never received a dime out of it. I will keep my dollar thank you.

So I play $10/20 for about 45 minutes, and I get to play with Dr. Chako for about 15 or 20 of that time. Not enough to really play with him, and I don't think we even played a pot together. One of these days we are going to get him into the $50/100 game. I think he just likes beating up that $10/20 game too much. He did not even stay that long, but every time I went over to look around he had more chips in front of him. Don't blame him for just staying in the game you are crushing on a regular basis, but step up man, take a shot. You might surprise yourself. Looks like he cashed out another pile. Good job.

When I finally get into the $50/100 game things went fine. Nothing exciting, not running poorly, but not running great either. No big hands, not even any memorable ones. Just run of the mill poker, just the way I like it. This is where you make your money. Just making small decisions well, staying away from trouble hands, and getting off of hands you have a good read that are beat. My timing was pretty good last night as well. The pots just kind of played themselves. When I was in the BB or in late position and had lots of limpers or a raise and 4 or 5 callers I would look down and see a great drawing hand. 8,9 suited, 8,10 suited, J,10 suited, so you call. Then if you miss you get away, and if you hit, which I did a few times in that game, you get paid. I almost never timed it wrong where you caught a trouble piece of the flop and went with it or chased. I was feeling really good about the game.

So as fate would have it the guy Brian I was talking about from last Friday decides to come down to the Muck and we start talking about starting a $100/200 game. Of course with the brilliant staff at the Muck it takes us about an hour and 1/2 to finally get the game cranked. We were going to go 4 handed, me, Barry, Pete, and Brian. Then one other regular sat down, and then one more from the $50 game who I would not think would play, took a shot at the game as well, and we were 6 handed. Really nice game, short enough to loosen up a bit, but long enough to play tight as well. I learned my lesson from Friday and had adequate bankroll on me this time just in case this happened. Besides I was also up $2,500 in the $50/100 to start with. All was good.

So I start off just like the $50/100 game. Nice, comfortable, not up a ton but slowly inching up, then BAM. I just got into zone, timed everything right, hit everything in site, bluffed at the right time, laid down against monsters, all was perfect. I was cracking AA's, hitting flushes, making straights, making nut full houses to second nut houses, it was a beautiful thing to behold. I don't even know how long it lasted but before I knew it I was up over $10,000. I have not run like that in over a year, I almost forgot what that felt like, nice to have it happen at $100/200 and not $8/16. I coasted for a bit and then just decided that this was a nice day, and called it a night. I am sure I might have made a few people upset that I took all my chips and went home a little early, but on the flipside there was no guarantee I was going to cool of either, so maybe some were happy that I left. There were some stuck bummed out guys at the table. Some were running as bad as I was good, which makes for a very long night. Been there, not fun, tough to keep a good attitude, but the table stayed stable all night.

Brian was as bad as I had heard. He was playing way too many hands, raised with way too much crap, and tried to run you off hands with garbage. When you hit you make a ton, when you miss you lose a ton, and I think he was in for $7-10k when I left. I am sure he got in further, and hopefully made everyone a winner that night. Don't know where the money comes from, probably don't want to know. It all spends the same at the store.

So final tally, WAY UP +$10,986. Biggest win in Seattle, up there in the top 5 all time. Of course it does help when you are playing $100/200 as that is only 54.93 BB's. Just like winning $1,098.60 in the $10/20 game, just add a couple of zeros. This helps get the year back on track, as you all know I had a really poor start to the year. I will not be playing this weekend, so next shot to take my money is next Tuesday. Hope you are all winning, talk to you soon.....SJ

Sleepless on Friday

2006-05-08T09:04:00.000-07:00

I decided to go out late Friday last week to play a little cards. I am trying to get back into the swing of things and have been playing a little more poker now. I was just going to go goof off again up at Parkers and play in the $8/16 game like I did last Friday, but when I walked in, the place was jammed. The list for the $8/16 game was 30 people long. I was not going to get into that game and Barry told me last week that the $40/80 game up at Tulaliup was good on Friday nights, so I called up there to see what was going on. They had the game, and now I had to decide if I wanted to drive another 20 minutes up there, and leave myself a 30 to 40 minute drive home. Of course I came out to play so I make the call to go up there and see what is going on.

I get there and the cardroom is jammed as well. I was 4th on the list when I called and I was still 4th on the list 20 minutes later when I walked into the room. Damn, this might turn into a wipeout. Barry shows up and tells me he is going to play a guy heads up $100/200. This person Barry is going to play is a weak player who loves action, and I thought I might play as well. Three handed with one bad player is a pretty good spot. I had not planned on playing any higher than $8/16 when I left my house so I did not have enough bankroll to play the game. I asked Barry to spot me, but he declined. It was getting late anyway and I did not have that much time to play, and I think Barry wanted this guy all to himself so I was not that bummed out. I just wish I would have come adequately bankrolled. Lesson learned.

So I sit around a bit and finally a seat in the $40/80 game comes up. I was chatting with Barry before his guy came in so it was not that bad of a wait, but I had a decision to make. It was 12:45am, I had not played all night, and I really did not want to play to morning. If I jumped in this game I am going to have to play for while. I may hit and run, but I must commit at least 2-3 hours to play if I don't start off winner. So question out there for you. What is the minimum time you think you need to play to get the results out of a session? Poker is not blackjack. If you sit down and play less than an hour, then I think you are just gambling. I think you need about 3 hours to really get a good feel for the table and players and to take the luck factor out of the cards. Of course you can get crappy cards for 3 or more hours, I have before, but at least you give yourself a shot at breaking even on the cards and letting your play come through for the edge. I like to budget a 4 hour minimum for a session. If I can't play 4 hours I usually don't go out to play. That said, I break my rule and I take a seat. I am not going to play for 4 hours.

So what happens? Of course I start off loser to take the hit and run out of the question. I start off getting no cards to play, and folding my way into a hole. I play one hand over an hour and 1/2 period and am stuck $1,400. Crap why did I decide to play? Then the table gets short, 6 handed, 5 handed, then 4 handed. Now this is a great spot for me! But it is now 2:30am. I am sitting with 3 guys who have no clue who I am, and I just start to play my short game. I start making plays, still not getting cards, but winning some pots and grind my way up back to close to even. I want to say but I have to go home. I know if I stay I will break the table one by one, but I can't. I should have not broken my rule. I just should have went home after some good conversation and gone to sleep without playing cards. Lesson learned again, but I don't know if I will learn this one. If I go out to play cards, I want to play cards damnit!

So results for the night stuck -$256, and 4 hours of sleep. Dumb. I will play tomorrow at the Muck. Talk to you soon, hope you are all winning...SJ

Atypical Night at the Muck

2006-05-03T08:48:00.000-07:00

If I had to script a return back to poker at the higher limits(for me) that I play, last night would not have been it. It was a VERY Atypical night down at the Muck. I arrived down there last night to see a massive list for the $30/60 and $50/100 games going. There were about twenty names on the $50 list which is just unheard of normally. I was about 14th on the list for the $50 game and about 5th on the $30 game. I resigned myself that I was not going to get in right away so I figured I would catch up with a few players I had not seen in about a month or so.

I finally get into the $30 game after about 40 minutes of hanging around, and the game is just nutty. It was playing like a $4/8 game, and was even worse than the $8/16 game I was goofing around in last Friday night at Parkers. This game was seeing 5,6,7 way flops for raises, and the same number for limps. The pots were just huge and no one was laying hands down. All passive players with the exception of Barry, who I have mentioned before in this Blog. This was not the game to jump right into after taking 6 weeks off. Too much thinking, and too much variance. It was very hard to hang on to a hand as with that many people in the pots you were getting odds to draw to everything, and everyone was. There were a few that were just plain playing every hand to the river and seeing if they could make a draw, hell just a pair, even if they were not getting the correct odds. For example, a pot that I was not involved in, but was just so stupid I had to put it up here was typical of what was going on.

I actually had the BB, UTG raises with AJ he said, two callers behind him, and Barry on the Button 3 bets. Now with that many people in the pot it could only have been two hands KK's, or AA's. He had AA's, I knew that his hand was huge out of the BB and insta mucked my hand, even though I was getting pretty good odds to put money into that pot. All players call. $405 in the pot preflop!! Flop comes down 6,6,4 one heart. UTG I think bets out two other players call, and Barry raises, UTG mucks, two middle players call. $615 in pot. Turn a 5 of hearts. Two players check, Barry bets. Both call. River the 8 of hearts. First players bets out, second calls, and Barry mucks his cards face up in disgust. Barry was nice enough to point out in my comments that he did in fact muck and not call as I had originally put in here at first, thanks for correcting me. First player had K,9 hearts for flush??? Second had 7,4 off for the straight, and Barry's AA's go from first to third on the river. Now that is just STUPID, only outs on the flop for these two were runner runner for K,9 and two outs to the 4, or runner runner and both got there. What the hell was 7,4 off doing in the pot to begin with calling two raises. Just nutty I tell ya. Must of thought he was playing blackjack, SWEEEET I got eleven, double down for $90. OUCH, send the $705 to mister K,9. This game continued to just be up and down. I was up then I buried myself when I called Barry's early raise with pocket 66's and we saw a five way flop again. Flop came A,Q,6. Perfect, I thought. Barry bet out, I raised, one other caller, Barry flat calls. Turn pairs the A, Barry checks, I bet, other calls, I now put him on just a naked A so Barry can't have AA's, maybe A,K, or A,Q which I am buried on, Barry now raises, I three bet, other player calls and now Barry caps. I should have mucked right there. I now know he has A,Q or QQ's. There is so much money in the pot I call the last bet and even say out loud that I have one out. River a blank and Barry bets out, I have no idea why but I call that last bet too and so does the other player. I gave Barry an extra $120 for no reason whatsoever, your welcome. In hindsight I should have just mucked the 66's preflop as Barry is not going to raise in early position in this game with anything I can beat, I am either 50% heads up which I knew was not going to be the case in this game with all the players calling preflop, or I was a huge underdog to an over pair. Stupid call preflop and it cost me a pile of money. My Bad. I actually made it to the $50 game even after two hours of play and was prepared to try and play better over there.

So what happens when I get to the $50 game. The game that had a list of 20 people just two hours earlier, it gets short, then it gets shorter, and after about 30 minutes of me getting there is gets to three handed?? What?? It is down to me, Barry, and Pete. Not exactly the game I was looking for. Both solid players, and three handed. Once again a big variance game for even more money against good players, and after 6 weeks off not really a spot where I wanted to play. Short handed you are playing lots of hands, you can't play tight, and there is lots of post flop reading and moves being made. I am not warmed up for this, I am rusty, and I get put in the pressure cooker on my first day back. This could be a disaster, but I am not ready to go home at 8:00pm. I manage to hold my own, we pick up a 4th player, then a 5th who was really bad, and the 4th was not a whole lot better so now it is a better game. I then proceed to go on a good rush and make some good hands hold, hit some flops and suck out on one big hand when I had KK's vs. Barry's AA's. I also had AA's cracked by K,Q off, made the nut flush with A,Q on the river only to find out I ran into a full house when the final flush card paired the board and cost me $300 on the river and a $1000 pot. So I was not running that great. Just a very weird night.

At the high I am up around $5,000 and then proceed to just go card dead. We bust the 5th player and are now back to 4 handed. The blinds are coming fast, and I am getting nothing to play. I miss everything I try to play, and don't win a hand for over an hour. I have seen this movie before and even though it was early I know it is time to quit. I wanted to book a win my first time back, and I just had this feeling if I stayed it might not get any better, and short handed you can give it all back in hurry. If it would have been a full or close to full ring game you can protect your chips better, and just hide out. 4 handed there is no hiding, and if you are not going to play aggressive, then you should just not play, so I did not. I ended up the night $3,117 to the good happy to book a win.

I hope that I continue to run well for the next few months as I am due and it is getting close to WSOP time. I will spend the next month warming up for WSOP play, and building up my bankroll. Hope you are winning and I will talk to you soon. It is good to be back....SJ

Hooray, Back in Action

2006-05-01T12:02:00.000-07:00

I decided to start out small and finally get back into live play action on Friday the 28th of April. It has been 5 full weeks since my last live play session. That has been the longest time between live play sessions in seven years maybe, for sure five years. That was a long time. I missed it, but not as bad as I thought I would. I am ready to get back at it and hopefully with a different attitude and approach. I was on a pretty long bad streak, but won't be able to tell for sure if I am done with it until I play some more poker for real in a shorter period of time. We are approaching WSOP time and I hope to make at least two trips down there. I was going to go down to the Mirage this weekend and play in a tournament, but that trip now got moved to the end of the month to play in a tournament at the Mandalay WPT event. Never played there, should be fun.

So how did I do on Friday? I went up to play at Parkers in Seattle. I did not want to drive to the Muck, and not get into a game. I also did not really want to just jump right into the $50/100 game without at least getting a little cards in to warm up. I called up my friend Jason, I posted his picture last year from the WSOP with Clonie, and he agreed to meet me up there to splash around in the $8/16 game. He is a way better No-limit player and loves to play tournaments mostly, but plays a pretty mean NL cash game as well. We both got into the game at about the same time and at the same table. I had him to my direct right which was where I wanted him. He started off playing just about every hand and hitting just about every hand. He was playing pretty poorly for a limit game however and left a lot of bets on the table. First off his starting hand selection was very questionable, second once you decide to play a weak hand in limit, don't call with it, raise. Third, once you hit that stupid hand don't bet with it, check raise. No one is going to put you on that hand to begin with so get some value out of it. That said he did just fine and ended up winner for the night. He was playing a more NL style, which is usually a good way to end up losing money but it worked for him that night.

I was not going to play loose in this game tonight. I wanted to start to warm up for next Tuesday so I played a very tight aggressive game. The few hands I did get goofy with early I missed and then vowed to not even get into that mode in this game. It was not even necessary in the game anyway. Nobody would respect a raise and all pots were 4 or 5 handed anyway. Typical Parkers on a Friday night in a low limit game. Some things just never change, always good to see. I built my stack up slowly but surely all night. Not a huge night, but not a small night either in terms of bets. Change of course here. I stopped posting numbers a while back because I did not like the e-mails about the money. Well if Daniel can post about $400,000 swings I can post about $5000 swings. Besides, right around when I stopped posting actual numbers I started my downswing. So here it is, I won $451 in 5 hours, 28 BB or 6.76 BB per hour. Good win rate, I will take it. Now I hope to repeat that in the bigger game on Tuesday.

Us poker players are pretty funny about being superstitious. I am no different. I always play with something orange on. Maybe I will copy Johnny Chan and start to play with an actual orange in front of me, not. I will stick with the same clothes while I am winning, and change them when I am not. I always wear the same sunglasses, and will take them off and on during a session to change my luck. I have a lot more but that list will suffice for now. Something an overeducated person like myself, who knows better, just should not do or believe in, but I do and I actually think it is funny. At least I can laugh about it. I get a kick out of other poker player superstitions as well. If you have one post it here, love to hear them.

I hope you are all winning and will talk to you again soon as I will make my re-appearance down at the Muck tomorrow. SJ

Check out the New Design

2006-04-26T19:10:00.000-07:00

Hey another non poker post. Too many of these lately. I wish I were playing instead, but work calls after vacation so no poker for me until next week.

How do you like the new skin of my blog. Need to work out a few kinks, but pretty cool huh? The Irish guy in is there, for those of you who don't know, because I graduated from Notre Dame. No comments on that here unless they are good ones. You either love ND or hate them, I get enough of the hate, give me the love or give me nothing thank you.

The guy who did the design is a dude named Seven. You can reach him at Blogs Gone Wild at the link on the bottom left of this blog. Good work there. Hope you are all winning, talk to you soon....SJ

Just Checking in

2006-04-22T22:44:00.000-07:00

I just wanted to check in and let you know that I have not died, or quit poker because I suck now, I am just still on vacation. I will be back in Seattle on Tuesday next week. I will not play next week, but will be getting back to the Muck starting a week from Tuesday. I will also be going to Vegas on the 5th to play in a few events at the Mirage. Talk to you soon, hope you are all winning...SJ

Not about Me

2006-04-13T19:30:00.000-07:00

I have not played cards live since the 21st of March, wow, that might be the longest time I have gone in over three years. Work has just kept me too buys to even think about going to the casino. I am jonesing to play cards but it will have to wait a little longer as I am going on vacation next week and won't be back in town until the 23rd. I am not even going to a place that has live legal card rooms.

That said I told you Aaron left about a week ago to head to Vegas for tournament time. I think he has only played in three events so far, but has logged a lot of live action. He has been playing NL exclusively. Anywhere from $25/50 to 200/400 blind NL. He was an alternate on the GSN High Stakes TV game but did not make it in. They told him that they wanted more tournament players and he was a cash game player. The players did not really want him in the game, they wanted the tournament fishes that don't play cash that often and are uncomfortable at those limits. Makes sense to me, but bad beat for him. Aaron has been up and down. It sounds like he is stuck a bit right now on a few stupid beats he keeps taking in big pots, or just bad match ups of big hands or bad flops against better hands. He is mentioned in the Liz Lieu blog on her 10th update. She can't even spell his name right. She spelled it like a girl. She took him for a big pot in a set over set flop. He flopped a set of 22, she had 88's. Not a bad beat, and frankly I have no idea what he was doing in that pot in the first place, but hey if you are going to flop set over set you are going to go broke. And to top it off she took his money and went out and bought two new purses. OUCH.

Daniel just posted about him in the game with him as well. I think Aaron is the guy he flopped a straight on when Aaron caught the third 8 on the river and then DN looked at his cards and raised $20,000 and Aaron paid off. OUCH. The guy that owns the Cirque de Soleil also owns Aaron right now. He has hit two outers after the flop in two different sessions for pots of over $80,000 both times. Bad beats for tons of money. Tough luck there. You are not going to fade beats like that in those games and come out a winner.

Hope you make a comeback and good luck in the WPT final event. Talk to you in about a week or so. Hope you are all winning. At least I am not losing because I am not playing. That is a sad statement. SJ

Blogger WSOP Tournament

2006-04-04T09:05:00.000-07:00

So I had the pleasure of playing in my first Blogger tournament. Iggy had set up what was the best online tournament structure I have ever played in. Now I have not played that many so my sample size is not great, but 5,000 in chips and 30 minute rounds online is an eternity. Deep stacks, and plenty of time. Perfect. Those that were on the east coast were going to be in pain as this thing was going to last a loooooong time. I think it actually finished at around 4:00am Eastern time. OUCH. Not much work getting done today by the last finishers. Now as I have said I am not a huge fan of Online poker but this one was great.

I actually started at the table with Iggy and I had him to my direct left. The guy steps up and puts his own money up to make two seats available. That was just awesome. I have never met him in person, and someday I hope to, but that was a class move all the way around. So how do I repay him, I pick on him all night. Now I don't think he was getting many hands so maybe I just had the best hand most of the night against him, but I keep raising the blinds heads up, and leading into pots that we were in. Eventually he started to get a little short chipped, and maybe even a little bored, and he then started to move in on a pretty frequent basis. This worked the first two times, its always that last one that gets ya. I was then in the small blind when Iggy was in the big. We had a limp on the button, and I raised the pot out of the SB with pocket QQ's. He decided to move in again, and of course I called the third push in maybe one orbit. He had A,8 clubs and no help came, so I busted Iggy. Sorry dude I would have rather that be the last hand of the night.

After that however nothing happened for me. I went card dead. I was up to 2nd in chips and slowly bled to death. I could not even find a good spot to steal some chips. I still was not in bad shape. I had around 20,000 playing 200/400, and I limped in middle position with 77's. A late position player raised a small amount and I called as we had I think 4 or 5 in this pot now. Of course I flop a set on a board of 7,10,K. We get all our money in the pot and he has a set of 10's. Ouch there goes 1/2 my stack. I then bleed some more, and we are down to three tables. I am the short stack with around 10,000 playing 300/600 with a 50 ante. Finally I look down at pocket AA's in the BB. I am thinking someone raise, please. Everyone folds to the SB. He completes his bet, and I of course wanting to get a little more into the pot, but not wanting to chase him away make a min raise to 1,200. He calls. Flop K,3,6. He checks I bet, he raises, I move in, he calls, I loose. He had 3,6 off for a flopped two pair and I did not improve and go out 19th. That sucked. That is the risk you run not playing AA's aggressively. I knew the risk and I lost the pot. It happens.

I had a great time, Snake of wickedchops stopped by to say HI although he did not play, and I had fun chatting with a few of the bloggers. I don't play much with any of us, nor have I played in any other blogger tournaments. This was my first. I hope to run into a few at the WSOP this year and say hi in person. Great job Iggy, maybe one more before WSOP time??

On a side note it is Vegas time for poker players. This week starts the long summer run of tournaments in Vegas. Hope those of you who do this for a living run well for 6 months and make a ton of money. Aaron leaves today for Vegas. I hope I don't see him for 5 months and he comes back millions richer. Hope you are all winning. Talk to you soon....SJ

Online Poker Sucks!

2006-03-31T08:52:00.000-08:00

Not really but I thought that would at least get you to read a little farther into this post. As I have not really had the time to go to the casino lately I have been playing a little more online. I enjoy it but not nearly as much as live play. Also, because I don't really want to wire a bunch of money online I only put a few hundred in there and try to walk up the limits to get a game that I would like to play. So right now I play $5/10, $10/20 6 handed tables and try to run it up so I can play higher. That is frustrating in itself because the game is too small to make a difference and the play has to be much more straight forward as people can't lay down second pair, third pair, TP weak kicker, Ace high... you get the idea, you had better make a hand or you are not going to win. You just can't bluff at those limits. Not really that much different than a live game at those limits. It does take away some of the creativity of the game however. So why do I like live play better? Let me list some of the reasons....

Being Physically present allows you gather so much more information and influence the game. You can't pick up on physical tells online. There are some other subtle tells online but they really aren't that reliable. Are they taking a lot of time because they are slow playing a big hand, do they have a weak hand and are thinking about folding, or are they just Multi-tabling 3,4,5,12 tables and just can't react that quickly. I don't mind if players are multi-tabling that much as it means they really are not going to concentrate on one game and will give up a little edge by doing so, but when it really slows the game down it bugs me, just a little though.

You can learn a lot about a persons playing style by seeing what they look like and finding a little about who they are. Why are they playing? Do they need the money, do they dress nice, crappy, what do they do for a living? Are they there to gamble? Are they drinking? Are they young,old? Are they a woman, man? I have talked about this here before but people just play differently against women than men. You can pretend to be a woman online or vice versa depending on what your goals are. I think that if you are a good player and took the persona of a woman online you would actually make more money. Men just play harder at women and pay them off more. I would imagine that great women players earn more online than men. Just a theory, never tested it.

You can't really intimidate people or stare them down online. If that is part of your game, and you have a good physical presence, you can get people to do things differently than if they can not see you. As I mentioned before Aaron really uses this to his advantage with his table talk and comments. You just don't get the same reactions online. Another aspect I find negative online is that people will type crap they would never say live into the chat box. You see people swearing, telling you they want you to die, etc. What is up with that crap? You would never get away with that live. I would turn the chat off, but you do get some info that way, so I just ignore the crap. Sometimes I think that I am playing against a 12 year old, and because we are online I might be.

I have never really trusted online poker. I know this is unfounded, silly, and not true but it still sticks in the back of my mind. They are offshore businesses, and could just disappear with the money if they wanted to, and there is absolutely nothing anyone could do about it. There is also political risk that congress finally figures out a way to make it really illegal, as opposed to today which is just kind of illegal, and shut down poker sites to US based players. Now I think this has a pretty low chance of happening, but there are some bills moving through congress right now to limit online gambling. I think they die in committee before even getting to the floors, but it could happen. I think they should be doing just the opposite. They should stop fighting the online gambling and legalize it so they can tax the sites. Think of all the tax revenue they could make if it were legal. The the sites could come back to the US, lease up space in US datacenters and be subject to US laws, which would make me feel a whole lot better, and pay some taxes. Of course that is too obvious for our government to think that helping our economy grow, creating US tech jobs, and increasing tax revenue is a good idea. Instead they want use the issue as a political football to prove who has higher morals, GTF out of my life and focus on getting the economy on solid ground. I even mostly vote republican, but this is just a BS issue and the republicans should just drop the social issue shit and move on to more important stuff and stop wasting our time and money on this if you are not going to get on the legalize it side.

Another aspect to not trusting online poker is that it is really easy to collude. I know it happens, how can it not. It is too easy to pick up the phone and talk to your friends also playing online. The Zee Justin thing did shock me a bit. I would think the sites could be a little more diligent tracking down players with multiple accounts playing at the same time. This is not really that tough to detect with the right technology. These sites make enough money to invest in that part of the system. But if there is enough money to be made someone will figure out how to beat the system. I am sure there are a ton of Zee Justins out there that have not been caught One more reason to not really have that much money online and play in a big game.

Lastly, the bad beats seem to come more often. Now this is because of a few things. First, there are a lot more bad players that are calling down to hit all kinds of hands. They do get there and they do hurt. This should not hurt your overall earn rate but it will increase your variance a bit. Second, the hands are coming much faster as well, so the beats seem to occur more often, but not really any more frequent, just closer together in time because of all the hands you are playing.

I think this post has gone on long enough. I hope to maybe play next week live and will talk to you soon. Hope you are all winning....SJ

Aaron out at Reno WPT

2006-03-28T15:59:00.000-08:00

Bummer for Aaron again. Made it to the last level of day one and got all his chips in with KK before flop and called by an AQ. An A right on flop and out. Better luck next time. Aaron can just not get over the hump in these things lately. Too bad. I guess there is always the big one in Vegas coming up. Rather win that one anyway. Talk to you soon..SJ

Rooting Post

2006-03-27T10:12:00.000-08:00

Aaron is playing in the WPT event in Reno today. Just a quick post to root on the big A. He needs a win or at least a good showing. Go Dude. SJ

Death in a Heartbeat

2006-03-23T15:57:00.000-08:00

Well the fun(pain) this year won't stop. I took my trip to the Muck on Tuesday this week as normal and the list for the $50/100 game was massive for that game. Ten names on the list. The good news for us was that there were some higher limit players in the room so we asked the floorman if we could jump the $50 game and start a $100/200 three handed. To my surprise he actually agreed. Now this was a shock because they rarely are customer friendly here but I guess you can always change your ways.

So we start the game with Aaron myself and Chris. Not the best spot in the world to make money, but I figured if we started it we may get one or two others. We did pick up one player right away and stayed 4 handed for a while. I got stuck right out of the gate. Aaron was playing his super aggressive style and hit me with a 9,7 offsuit three bet raise when I had A,Q. Flop came 7,7,10. I checked he bet and I raised, he three bet the flop and I called. Now I could have just laid it down right there putting him on a real hand like a big over pair but I did not. I put him on a pair of 55, 66, maybe 99's but nothing big. The turn came and A. Trouble card for me. I check raised him in that spot and he three bet me again. OK trouble. I called again with the intention of check calling the river as now the pot was too big to lay down to him as he has it well within his playing style to bluff here in that spot, but I had a feeling I was in deep water. The river came Q, so now I had top two but still decided to check call the river as he was representing a big hand, and yes he showed me the 9,7 off for a flop trips. Nice hand sir. BAM stuck. I worked my way from stuck to even to stuck to even all day. The table actually got up to 7 handed at one point, and a few guys hit and run, but of course I went nowhere.

The end of the night came quickly. Aaron after running it up over $8,000 then went on a terrible run of big hands matching up against weaker hands that hit the flop or the river and he lost back all his profit plus another few thousand. He was super pissed, and in a grouchy mood so he quit leaving me to play with Tommy(pro player) has won some events in LA and now owns the Midway casino up here in Seattle and another Asian dude who was just a horrible player with a lot of money. I figured it was still a good spot for me so I decided to play for a little longer. I was dead even at 1:00am and stuck a rack and 1/2 by 1:10am. I lost 5 big pots in a row to the Asian guy when he hit me with great match ups every time. I had a A,10 flop two pair and he flopped a straight. I flop top pair and he would flop second and get there. Last hand of the night I had Q,6 suited in the SB and he raised on the button, I called out of the blind and hit top pair on a Q,9,5 flop. Now I know some of you are saying you dumbshit Q,6 out of the blind. This can go either way in a three handed game. It was the bad Asian player and I figured I could get away from the hand if I missed or out play him. Turned out to be a really stupid idea. Mucking would have been a much better option. I bet out to see where I was and he called. Turn a 6, perfect for me I thought, I bet our again, he raised now, I three bet and he capped. Shit trouble again??? river a 9, I check call and he shows me pocket 55's for a flopped set. Ouch. I quit now stuck and pissed. I have just been running horrible for over three months. I have only played a total of 14 sessions this year and really only 11 as the others were $8/16 and $3/5 blind no limit just goofing around and have lost 8 out of those 11. None of them have been big losses, but a loss is still a loss. I am getting really sick of this.

I am not going to play next week so I may be sparse in posting. Hope you are all having a way better year that I am so far. Talk to you soon. By the way Aaron will be playing in the WPT event in Reno this weekend. Good luck dude, you could use it as bad as I can. SJ

Negative Year Continues

2006-03-16T08:51:00.000-08:00

I can just not get off on a winning streak this year. I win, then the next session I loose. As was the case on Tuesday I lost after I booked a win last week. This is getting depressing. I have not played that many sessions this year so I guess you can not say this is a trend yet, but it sure sucks. I feel like a complete donkey right now. Nothing is going right and I am now starting to question my game. Time to reassess my game. Here are the gorey details.

Same game, same night, Muck $50/100, Tuesday. I play for 4 hours and go nowhere. Can't get cards, go up and go down. I watch a new young guy who has joined the game the last few weeks 4 bet AK three times into a field of at least three people and one time out of the BB. What happens, he hits it all three times with two pair and it holds up? Wow, first I hate the play all three times and then no one actually has the big pair to beat him. Now that is running good. I of course can't pick up a hand and just sit there and try to stay positive. Then I get my run of cards. KK's flop top set with three spades, they bring the 4th spade on the turn and I loose to AA's with the A of spades. I know I was a 4 to 1 dog before the flop but did I have to hit my set? Very next hand I get AA's flop comes 5,7,8 rainbow. Lots of action on flop, turn comes 9, early bet and I just fold. Lost to K,6 out of the BB, nice. Then a few hands later I get KK's again and run in to AA's out of the blind on a 10 high board, of course I paid that off as well. Then I get A,K, and an A hits the board with two low cards. I bet, get raised on the flop. I check call the turn when the board pairs, and then a Q hits the river. I did not like that card putting my lone opponent on A,Q so I check call the river as well. What does he show me but pocket QQ's, nice two outer sir. I guess I don't like my lack of aggression here, but this guy would not have gone anywhere as he was paying off all night with second best hands and I would have just lost more. Finally I get QQ, and run into AA's AGAIN on a 9 high board. WOW great run of cards into the "perfect storm" I hate those. FLUSH there goes a rack and 1/2 half in about an hour and I decide to call it a night early. I was now in a shitty mood, and knew it was most likely not going to turn for me tonight.

On a side note I bumped into Dr. Chako. Go check out his blog at www.pokerdoctor.blogspot.com. I just linked him up so you can go to the link on the left. Sounds like he had a great short night. I can't even remember what a good run feels like, nice to see someone else hitting it. Also, don't worry about stopping by to see me when I am playing. Winning or losing it won't bother me. It's only money, just wish it was coming my way instead of moving away from me. Hope you are winning, talk to you next week.....SJ

Poker with Friends

2006-03-09T10:00:00.000-08:00

So I finally ginned it up on Tuesday to go play at the Muck. The usual cast of players that had a guest appearance by none other than my good friend Aaron. I talked him into playing just to go have some fun and play a little. He begrudgingly agreed but I think at the end of the day he had a good enough time to think about maybe doing this on a somewhat regular basis with me. I don't know if that is a good thing or not as he is a great player and I don't think I want him in the game all the time. One of the unique things last night was that I had two good friends in the game with me. Sean was there too and I feel badly when any one of us lose, but of course some of us have to. I play hard against all players, including friends, and they will play back at me, but of course I would rather get my money elsewhere in the game, and you get your cards when you get them so you play them the best you know how. I HATE when players play soft against friends. It borders on cheating when there is pile of action with two friends in the pot and then when it is down to heads up they check it down. That said off to the game.

The game was good as usual, with some soft spots and some good players. Aaron changes the dynamic of any game he is in. The first of which was that we kicked up the usual $50/100 game to $75/150 because he kept insisting we play higher. Second, he is super aggressive, and playing at a limit well below what he normally plays this allowed him to amp up his aggressiveness even more and feel totally comfortable. The final aspect to his game is he is a non stop talker and loves to complain and whine and tell you how well he played a hand and how poorly you played a hand. This is just part of his game and if you are not used to that in a game it can really get to you. He actually drove Pete out of the game I think because he just did not want to play in that atmosphere. He will put you on tilt fast, and his personality will create confusion, anger, and the need to feel like you need to pay him back. He will bluff you out of a pot when you have the best and then you will pay him off when he has the nuts. He clouds the game with his persona, it is a wonder to see. The other thing the criticism does is that if you listen to it you start to play tighter and more predictable which plays right into his hands. He will play a marginal hand aggressively, and if you are playing tight and predictable he can put you on a hand or assume a big hand, but you will not be able to put him on a hand. I have played with him enough to ignore the comments and actions, but I too fall victim to some of his tricks every now and then. I don't think he is doing this on purpose it just is the way he plays, part of his natural style. He also maximizes almost all pots that he has the best hand in. He gets check raises in spots I would bet out, and raises on the river when no one has the nuts but he just knows he has the better hand. Getting those extra value bets and raises really add up over the course of a night. I am working on making better reads and value betting hands better on the river, but still don't have it to his level in my game. I also am a work in progress on not paying off on the river when I know I am beat. He actually errors on the paying off too much side, but because he wins so many marginal pots with bets and bluffs this works for him and is probably positive EV in the game for him. One hand last night that I watched at the end which still confounds me and wrapped up a hole lot of what Aaron is in a nut shell.

Aaron raises from early position and I think he gets 3 or 4 callers. That is a lot of callers in this size of a game, but because he has been fairly aggressive over the course of the night and because of his personality he gets called. I did not start watching this pot until the turn so I am a little foggy on the details before the turn but Flop comes I think 9 high clubs and he bets out and gets raised by a late position player. Aaron of course three bets and gets called by the one late position player. Turn came a Ks, Aaron bets, LP raise, A three bets, LP cap. River some low and meaningless card also not a club. Aaron checked, LP bet and Aaron now raises. LP thinks for a long time here and then FOLDS. WHAT?? I thought LP was thinking three bet or call, fold is not even an option here. LP is getting over 15 to one or so on the river bet to pick off a bluff or some other draw. I don't know what either party held nor am I going to believe either one when they tell me, but you have to pay off the river check raise. Once you decide to put that much action in on the turn and make the pot that big you must call one more bet even with A high. Wow he can make people do some strange things.

Also, I learned a new term last night. I love the concept. Aaron coined the phrase "Value Cheating" a play on the value bet or value raise. This is when you pretty much know you are behind on the turn and have a draw, second pair, or overcards and make a play at the pot and check raise or raise in LP and then hit your hand on the river and bet out and get called. It achieves two goals, #1) You get more money into the pot so when you hit you have won a bigger pot. #2) You put you opponent on tilt because you raised with the worst hand and hit your 2,3,9 outer on the river and completely pissed them off. This is just hilarious.

So how did I do? I sat there and played pretty tight, I had Aaron to my direct left which could have not been a worse spot to have him in, but hey that happens. I did not get too out of line because I knew he was going to be super aggressive and if I raised with a goofy hand hoping to get a few callers and hit a well hidden hand he was most likely going to three bet me and drive all the value out of any goofy hand I played. So I sat and watched most of the night and played my big hands hard. I ended up the night up just short of a rack which was cool and went home happy. Aaron ended up the night good winner, he stayed after I left and played 4 handed with two really bad players and one good one. I am sure that was fun to watch, they had no chance. They could be put in that spot with Aaron and lose 9 out of 10 times. The only chance they would have is luck.

Fun night with friends, hope we get to do it next week. Hope you are all winning and talk to you soon...SJ

Aaron Out

2006-03-01T10:07:00.000-08:00

It was a quick day for Aaron as he took two stupid beats on the way out. No luck for him in a tournament that required luck at the beginning to get going. Bummber for him. I also put up two more blogs that I have started to read. Pretty good stuff. Hope you are winning...SJ

An Aaron Sighting

2006-02-28T11:05:00.000-08:00

My friend Aaron who has been playing very sporadically has turned up in San Jose for the bay 101 today. I hope he kicks some ass. Looks like a crapshoot format. Only 10,000 in starting chips and they blasted 2/3 of the day one field yesterday. Looks like luck will play a big part of who wins this puppy. With 500 players should be a decent payday. Go Aaron. He needs a win, look for a deep run from him in this one. He is DUE!!. Talk to you soon...SJ

Checking In

2006-02-27T11:56:00.000-08:00

I know I have not been playing much or posting much so this blog has not been all that great or exciting to come visit. I have not been motivated much to go play right now, and need to find some motivation and some time. If there is anyone out there with some good poker reads please pass them along to me. I am looking for some new poker thoughts or stories. Got any good ones? Anyone even still coming to this blog?

Also, I have a new link on the top for Rakeback. If there is actually anyone who has not signed up to play poker online, I find this hard to believe, go ahead and sign up for rakeback using the above link. Make sure you use the referral code Seattlejohn if you do. I have a rakeback deal at UB and at least you get a little back when you play. I guess you can create some new accounts and then sign up for rakeback at places you already have an account. I have just been too lazy to do that. Maybe the link will motivate me to do that.

I will not play until next Tuesday as this week is going to be too busy at work. Anyone going down to Vegas in April or May. Drop me a line as I would love to meet some of you down there. Hope you are all winning. Talk to you next week most likely. SJ

I had to play

2006-02-22T09:58:00.000-08:00

Well I broke down last night and went to go play. I just could not stay away from the game that long. The beats and losses have started to fade in the memory banks, so it was time to take a small shot. I did not want to drive all the way to the Muck so I just went to Parkers last night to jump into the 8/16 game with a 1/2 kill to 12/24. I have not had a great couple of last sessions so this is what the doctor ordered. Go play in a lower limit game just to get some sense of winning back. I got a late start so I did not play a very long session. I did end up in some great games as always up there. Lots of gambling and big pots, just like I remember. I have not been up there in about 6 or 7 months so it was good to see some old faces I had not seen in a while. Some of them I had seen in LA just last week and even one regular from the Muck who had the same idea I had, which was to not drive that far to play cards. I played tight, played somewhat aggressive. I think this last month or so has made me a little gun shy on being super aggressive and taking more shots at pots that might be had with a bluff. I need to work on that the next session.

Good news is I booked a win, a small win but a win. Cool. I will be too busy to play next week so I will probably get back at the second week of March. Talk to you soon..SJ

Still Not Playing

2006-02-21T17:04:00.000-08:00

I have still not played since I have been back from LA. I just wanted to pass on my congrats to Sean Ly who made it deep into day three of the LAPC. He unfortunately busted around 58th to not make the money, but had a great trip nonetheless. He will cash huge this year sometime. He is too good not to. I also noticed that the TV bubble player was a player named Anahit Galajian, I played with her in the $100/200 game for about three hours. I was not that impressed with her game or her personality. She was really grumpy and cynical at the table. I did notice that there were a lot of really mad/mean players at the Commerce this year. I don't know if people are just getting burned out on the game so they take it out on other players or that is just what the culture is turning out in LA right now. Either way it is not fun to play around people like that and it will not attract new players to that game. I know that I quit when it got down to just some of the regulars in the game as it just was not fun. Hope you are all having a great Feb. I will probably get back to the game in March. Talk to you soon. SJ

To live and DIE in LA

2006-02-14T14:35:00.000-08:00

So I have not been playing that much poker lately as I am sure you can tell by my lack of posts. I did manage to take my trip to the LA Poker Classic last weekend. Left on Thursday to get down there for the $2500 buy-in limit tournament. I really wanted to play that one as limit is my game of choice and that is all we really have to play in Seattle. I thought I would have a reasonable chance to do well and I was excited to play in the event. I got down there about an hour before so I had plenty of time to buy in and go make the rounds downstairs in the main card room. It was just jammed. This event just gets bigger every year and is tied with my favorite event of the year with the WSOP. I like LA even better than Vegas as a city, but the tournaments are more fun at the WSOP. There were tons of guys from Seattle there. I ran into at least 6 people. Some regulars in our games in Seattle and some from Seattle that had moved down there recently. All fun stuff.

This event gave you plenty of play. We started with 5,000 in chips and blinds of 25/50 playing 50/100 and 60 minute rounds. I had Kenna James at my starting table as well as John Myung. Kenna was just hilarious. He was singing at the table, making fun of people, and even brought two pens to sign autographs(I think it was only a half joke, as they were real pens to write on pictures) He said you could take a picture of him for $5 and he would sign it for $10. That was of course a joke too I hope. He played super aggressive poker and was out fast, maybe into round three. He might have even been the first out of the tournament. If not first he was in the first 5. His style did not work for limit very well, but it worked the next day as he actually won Friday's $2,500 no-limit event. Good for him. I played tight aggressive and actually got some hands during the first two rounds. I built my stack up to about 8,000 and then nothing went right. I picked up AQ twice in three hands and lost both when an A hit the first and someone else was slow playing AK and I had my hand in the SB and called a limp out of the bind. The second I raised in EP with the hand and got called by K,9s and a 9 hit the board on the flop and I lost that as well. I then went card dead and was just treading water. At the 200/400 level just before the dinner break I had my key hand that cost me a run at the tournament. Here it is and I am still pissed at myself for the play. I had about 4,000 in chips in the BB with J,8 spades. One middle player limed for the 200 and the SB limped as well I checked my option. 600 in the pot and the flop came 10,7,4 with two spades. I checked the middle position bet and the SB raised. I had a flush draw with the gut shot and called. 1800 in pot now. The turn brought a 6, not spade. I bet out representing the straight(which might have been a bad play right there) and got raised by the middle player and then three bet by the SB. I now had a double gutter with a spade draw, at best I had 15 outs and at worst I had 6. I was getting 5.25 to one to call the 800 and was likely getting 5.75 to one to call because the middle player was going to call the raise. I reduced my outs a bit because I did not know if my flush draw was the best, and then I talked myself out of calling completely because I did not want to invest another 800 into the pot from my ever shrinking stack. I got conservative when in a tournament sometimes you need to take chances and here I was getting the right odds to take a gamble and I still talked myself out of it. Just bad play all the way around here, I sucked on that hand. Of course I would not be telling the story if an offsuit 9 did not hit the river giving me the mortal nuts and of course I was not there to collect the 5,000+ pot. That would have propelled me much further. I did manage to survive until about 40 people were left, but never made any real noise and went out w A,4 in late position. Even this hand was fun. I went all in at the 300/600 level for about 800. The SB three bet and got called by the BB. The flop completely missed me and the SB bet, the BB mucked and the SB turned over pocket KK's. Cool bring and ace and I triple up. BAM and ace hits the turn, then BAM a K hit the river, OUT. BUMMER.

I went down to play $100/$200 and did nothing all night. I continue to not get my fair share of good starting cards and just about anted myself to death that night. Lost a little not enough to write home about and went to bed to get ready to play the next day. The room stayed jammed most of the night and there were 5 $100/200 games, yes 5!

I hit it just after noon on Friday and got into a newly started $100/200 game, I think the 4th table of a must move game. I played well all day and built up my stack to recover my buy-in from the day before plus the loss from the game and a little extra. Then after 10 hours of play I made it to the main game where there was a really drunk guy going off for about $25,000 that night. Of course he is the one guy I can't beat and he proceeds to take a nice chunk out of my stack before losing it to everyone else at the table. Then I play tired and poorly for a little longer and lose all the money I had made in about two hours. How demoralizing. I decided to quit at that point and call in a day. I did not want to get any more stuck and I was tired and not playing my best anyway. O well, I had a fun time seeing my friends, playing some cards, and taking another beating. This has been the story so far this year. I think I am going to take a few weeks off and get back to cards at the end of the month. Hope you all had a better weekend than I. Good luck, and here is a picture of what could have been just to make myself feel bad. This is a shot of my stack just before the big slide. I took out my phone to take a shot of Liz Liu but could not get a clear shot without looking like a complete stalker fan so I just shot my stack. Makes me depressed just looking at it.

Comments Response

2006-02-01T13:52:00.000-08:00

Wow two real posts in one day. Might be a record. I just finished reading all the comments I missed and here are some answers to them right here rather than go back to the posts and answer them there.

#1) Foodbanker is a player here in Seattle. I don't see him that often, but have played with him at both Parkers and at the Muck. He plays mostly medium limit but he has played in the $50/100 game on occasion. He is a good player, and hopefully is doing well in his pursuit as a pro poker player. I actually saw him last night, but he did not come over and say hi. I was in the game and by the time I was unfocused on the game I did not see him anymore. I don't even know his real name. Really nice guy though.

#2) I have never been to the new Tulailup casino up north. It is really out of the way for me. I work in the South end of Seattle so the Muck is only 15-20 mins away. To go North from work would take me an hour and a half. From home it would be an hour. The game never gets that big and the NL game is not really no-limit. The max bet in Washington state is $500. So if you get a big pot, you can not push someone out with a big bet. Not my idea of a good game. May try it once though this year sometime.

#3) Sorry to the person who posted the question about money and limits. I never saw the post so I did not mean to blow you off. To be adequately bankrolled to play the $50/100 game on a regular basis I would use about 200BB to have in reserve. You may never need it but it is nice to know it is there. You could argue you need more, I have been told you would need less. I like to know I have $20,000 in reserve. With respect to how I got the bankroll to play the game it came from a job, not playing poker. I have been lucky enough to work at something I love and make a lot of money doing it. The downside to that is that I do not get to play that much. Comes with the job part. No big deal. I play enough to make me happy. The average net worth of the people in that game is all over the board. There are some of us that have good jobs and I suspect the money part is not that big of a deal as consideration to play the game. They like me don't really keep a bankroll. We keep some money around to play cards and then take out more to play bigger and put it back when we don't need it. If I started losing on a regular basis I would rethink my playing. Hope that won't happen soon. There are professional players, I suspect a few have $100,000 plus bankrolls. There are some that are just taking shots at the game. They have enough to play one session or two. If they lose they are back to the 10/20 game or lower to build back up to take another shot. If they are lucky or good or both they stick. They win enough to stay in the game on a regular basis and never look back. I don't see too many of those. They usually go broke and then we don't see them for a while.

With respect to moving up limits, I guess that I just did it when I felt I could beat the games. I had enough money to play higher many years ago, but I was not a good enough player to jump up in limits. Even if I could afford to lose the money, I HATE to lose money. I play cards to win, and that means the money. Until I could beat the lower limit games on a regular basis and started getting bored, then I moved up. It was also a function of the games not being available in Seattle. The bigger games only started happening in Seattle two years ago. The $50/100 game only started happening in October of 2005 so not that long ago. We actually started a $100/200 list last night but could not get the game going. It is only a matter of time however. It will happen soon in Seattle. The move up in limits does change your game slightly when you first start to play. You are scared shitless the first time you jump to a really big level, like going from $10/20 to $80/160. I did that the first time, went right to $80/160 in Vegas from the local $10/20 game. You play a little scared at first but then you realize there are the same types of players every limit. They all make mistakes, they all make moves, some just better than others. You tend not to find as many bad players at the higher limits but they are all there. The money is just relative. They are super rich and like to play a little cards so they sit in the $80/160 game, just like the local recreational player will sit into your $10/20 game. Once you sit there for while you get used to it and then you don't even think about it. They way I got used to playing $50/100 was to go to Vegas and jump into the $150/300 game. I did that and then came back down. The money then did not register as an emotional feeling. They are just units or bets. You get chips, you bet chips, then you add up the chips at the end of the night and see how you did. They just happen to be chips of a different color. don't know if that would work for everyone, but it did for me.

I do hate it when you lose $10,000 straight, but it happens. You also win $10,000 or $20,000 straight. My biggest streak last year was $19,000 almost straight up, felt cool. I have mentioned before that I have a friend Aaron who plays super huge. I have had the fun to go sweat him on a number of occasions. He won't even play the $50/100 game locally because it is not fun for him. It is like playing $4/8 to me. I have a hard time fathoming that comment but I guess I know what he means. The first time I saw him put $65,000 dollars in a pot on what looked like a bluff I just about crapped my pants. It was about 4 years ago and I sill remember it. Aaron was playing $100/200 blind pot limit hold-em heads up at the Commerce with someone I did not know. I was watching behind him as he picked up pocket QQ's on the Button and raised the pot. The other guy re-raised the pot and Aaron just called. The flop came A,6,6 two diamonds. The guy bet the Pot of like $6,000 and Aaron called. The turn came the 3 of diamonds. The guy bet around $20,000 into the pot and Aaron moved in all his money of around $65,000 with the two QQ's and no diamond. The guy thought for 15 minutes and then folded KK's face up with the K of diamonds. I thought holy crap you just put all of your money into that pot drawing to two cards. He had the read that the guy could not call so he went with it. I can't do that, it is not in my blood. That is a lot of money to anyone, even a super rich guy. Just amazes me when players can do that and distance themselves from the money that much. I guess you get used to it the way I did with the limits I play. I don't know if I could ever feel that way about $65,000, but some of you might say that about $3,000 and that to me is part of my game. It is what makes him such a great player. That and he is a damn good player anyway. He has since played in the big game in Vegas and won and lost like $750,000 pots. I watched him run $10,000 into $200,000 at the World Poker Open in Reno a few years back. I also was there when he won his only WSOP bracelet in a limit event at the 2004 WSOP and cashed for $234,000. I got to carry the money back in a bag to the Bellagio. It was heavy and looked very cool laid out on the table. So I guess it is all relative. If you can get comfortable you can play. He was the one who told me to play a short session way above what I wanted to play and then go back down. It worked for me, of course it cost me like $8,000 to get comfortable. But it did work.

I hope that answers everyone's questions from the last month of missing posts. I promise I will not do that again. Talk to you soon. SJ

Great comments

2006-02-01T11:47:00.000-08:00

I just read some of the comments. Great comments. I feel really badly that I missed them when they hit. I feel really stupid. I will try to write a post and answer them latter today. Thanks for reading, send me some luck in LA. SJ

UGLY,UGLY,UGLY

2006-02-01T11:13:00.000-08:00

Wow, I just found out last night while talking with Barry that my comments section was not working and that is why they were not popping up on my BLOG. I must have come off as a complete asshole for not answering any of the comments or allowing them to post. What a dumbshit I am. I am feeling really stupid right now, but I accepted all the comments and now need to go back and read them to see what you all said. I thought because I am such a crappy writer everyone just stopped reading. Glad to see that there are a least still a few of you around. You might still think I am an asshole, but at least it won't be because I was ignoring your posts. SORRY.

On the side of poker I went down and played last night at the MUCK in the $50/100 game. As you can surmise by my title is was UGLY. The last time I played in the game I won the second most amount of all of last year. Well yesterday I posted the 5th biggest loss from all of last year. Ain't variance a bitch. I can accept that my variance will be a little higher than some of the better players in that game because I tend to action it up a little more that most decent players, and I think I can play post flop better than an average player in that game so in the long run I should come out positive EV. But last night was just brutal. I was getting my money in with the best and just getting rivered to death. I had people right where I wanted them and then a 2,3,4,6 outer kept happening. Over and over and over. It was just super frustrating. But hey that's poker. You have those days. I just had one a month ago in Vegas so this should not have happened so soon after, but I guess there is not much I can do about it. I am not going to bore you with bad beats but I took all of them last night. The only thing I did not have happen was full house over bigger full house. I did have the dreaded set over set happen twice last night, and those are expensive hands. I think I handled it pretty well. I did not tilt, I did not start playing weaker hands to make it back, I just sat there and kept playing my game. I might have come off as a little bummed, but all in all I was happy with not tilting.

I continue to run pretty mediocre, I had AA once in the blind and had one player come with me to the river. KK's twice and went 1 for 2. I still don't have a full house ticket in the box. I actually made a full house last night that qualified, but they did not give me a ticket. I forgot to remind them, o well what's one more bad beat. Not like they draw my name ever. I spent an inordinate amount of time folding crap all night. I probably played three hands I am not happy that I played which all cost me money because I caught a piece of the flop and paid off, and I paid off maybe 6 or 7 river bets into huge pots when I lost on the river to the suckouts. Other than that I was ok with my play. Just one of those nights. The game was good too, a few weak players and some of the usual good players. We are starting to get some new blood into the game which is good. Maybe this game will get going every day now. I still can only play on Tuesdays, but good for the other regulars down there. I need to work on not making that payoff bet on the river when I know I just got beat, but it is so hard into those big pots not to pay that last bet off. You only have to catch a bluff about 1 out of 10 to make it worthwhile but last night they were all wrong.

I will most likely not play next Tuesday, but I am planning on going to LA next weekend of the 10th to play in a limit tournament on Thursday and maybe the NL on Friday, as well as the cash games at the Commerce which are always just awesome during tournament time. Hope you are all running better than and I am and good luck. SJ

Sick as a dog

2006-01-24T13:07:00.000-08:00

As I mentioned in my last post I may not get a chance to play for a while. Well I did manage to squeeze in a little poker at the Muck last Friday and played a little $30/60. There were some people there that are not usually there in the game. There was supposed to be a $200/400 game going so some of the bigger players came to play that game. It did not get going so they opted to play $30/60 instead. It took me about and hour to get a seat but I did manage to get one and played pretty well as follow on to my last session. Unlike my last session however I was getting crushed when I had big hands. Lost pocket KK's to a flopped set of 66's from a guy who called a three bet cold out of the small blind with pocket 66's. I obviously did not put him on that hand and paid off to the river. OUCH. Very next hand I had pocket QQ's and got three bet behind me. Played the 9 high flop to the river and paid off again. Maybe not the best move in the world but was also looking for a bit of info for future play as I had not played with that guy before. Managed to grind my way back to even and then played this to go back down. I had pocket 88's in middle position. Three callers already so I elected to call as a raise would do nothing here to thin the field. It then did get raised behind me and all 7 of us took the flop of J,8,6 rainbow. I thought that was a pretty good flop for me. I suspected that there will be some straight draws out there and someone would bet so I checked it when it came to me. The raiser did not disappoint and bet. It got called by three more people and I check raised. The raiser then three bet and it was down to heads up. I just called the three bet. A 7 came off on the turn and I wanted to find out where I was so I bet into the raiser. He just called me. Good. A 3 came off on the river and I bet out again thinking I was good. He called, good, oops NOPE, he had pocket JJ's for a set over set flop. OUCH. I played a little longer but it was not to be. I lost very little but a loss nonetheless.

I then went home and proceeded to get sick as a dog over the weekend. Spent the whole weekend on my ass. I did not even enjoy the Seahawks making the super bowl that much as I was pretty sick on Sunday as well. Cool though, GO HAWKS. I will not play tonight my regular night as I have to work, but will try to get a day in before Tuesday next week somewhere maybe. I also added two new blogs to my list of reads. Josh Arieh seems to be updating more regular so I added him and Twenty-One outs Twice is a good read. I have been reading a while but had not added. He plays some big games and tournaments so I enjoy hearing about his poker.

Hope you all had a better weekend than I did, and are winning. Good Luck....SJ

Break Through Day

2006-01-18T09:59:00.000-08:00

Finally had the breakthrough day. If there is anyone actually following(reading this crappy blog) of what has been going on for over a month now knows, I have been running like shit, and not playing particularly well to boot, which is a lethal combination. It has lead to a very frustrating month or so of poker and I was getting really tired of saying the same thing every week. "Ran like crap and played like crap". Well I can say today that last night I actually played very well, and finally ran ok. Funny how those things seem to go together.

When you lose you always think the world is conspiring against you and the cards always seem to miss whatever you decide to play. Sometimes you need to take a step back and realize that yes the cards are not coming your way, but that does not mean you need to play them anyway. I truly was playing too many hands, which was costing me money because I tend not to draw after the flop so I was doing a lot of calling and missing, then mucking. Not a recipe for success as those $100 bets add up fast. The other aspect of lose play is that you get no credit for a hand, and people tend to draw at you more often or call with weaker cards on the flop. So when you finally do pick up a premium hand no one thinks you have it and you get drawn out on more often(at least it seems that is the case). You also lose almost all of your bluffing equity. You can never bluff because you are going to get called and must turn over a winner. That said I was determined to play tight last night.

I got down to the Muck and the $50/100 game was full with a list. I was third up and no one seemed poised to go anywhere. I jumped into a short handed $30/60 and proceed to play pretty well and tight for a short game, which frankly is not very tight, while I waited for the $50/100 seat. I went nowhere shorthanded and then the game filled up so I had to bide my time and try to execute on what I came down to do today. So as the cards continued to mock me I just sat there and watched. I did not play a hand for over an hour, I was not going to gamble today. Endless strings of (10,4) (8,6) (7,2) (K,5) etc. Not even raising in late position to try and steal. I was going to play good cards today. I sat there for two hours and got stuck $400 in blinds. Then I was moved to the $50 game. The game was super rocky. No one was gambling, and I mean no one. This was the tightest $50/100 game I have seen in months. All the usual suspects with only one face I had not played with before. I posted and actually won my first hand with what I don't remember, it was not memorable. What was memorable was that I got even on that hand and never looked back. I actually got some cards today. Not great cards mind you. I only had AA's twice all night, and KK's twice as well, winning all but one of them with KK's and it was easy to get off the flop of 5,6,7 two diamonds with a pile of action on the flop not coming from me. I had three bet an early position raiser and got called by both blinds and the original raiser. I was second to act and it was checked to me, I bet out on the flop and was raised by the SB, the BB called and the original raiser three bet. I mucked and watched as the original raiser had flopped a straight with 8,9 (don't ask why he raised with that I don't know myself and he was not there when the game was considered rocky) and proceed to lose to a flush that came on the turn. The Muck also runs a full house ticket drawing every tues for the last weeks full houses of 10's full or better. I have not had a ticket in the box for the last two weeks and did not have one yesterday either, so it is not like I am running that well yet. Barry, who asked if I ever mentioned him in this Blog, there you go Barry won $1400 in the drawing. I have yet to win any money and have been playing down there over a year and a half. I did manage to hit when I needed to and was able to bluff yesterday as I had some bluff equity from playing tight and reading ok.

So final tally I have made up the money I had lost the previous two sessions this year and got solidly in the black for 2006. I posted the second biggest win in that game from all of 2005 so you could say I had a good day. Hope this ends the streak of bad play and we can now get back to our regularly scheduled programming. I am not going to get to play much in the next week as next Tuesday I have to work so I will not be at the Muck, but maybe I can find a day to squeeze in somewhere. I am also hoping to get to LA for two days in February as the LA Poker Classic is my favorite tournament of the year and I would hate to miss it. I like it even better than the WSOP. Good luck and I hope you all had a winning week. SJ

Opening Day at the Muck

2006-01-11T15:24:00.000-08:00

So opening day of 2006 at the Muck occurred last night. I went down there ready to start the year off on the right foot and it took me a little time to get into the game. I got a seat after about 1/2 hour of waiting and the game was tough. Some of the regulars back from break like myself as well as a new/old one who is no picnic named James. He used to play at places I used to moving up the limit ladder but had moved to LA to play 100/200. He is now back based in Seattle, but still travels to LA a lot and supposedly is moving back to LA for while in February. I hope so because I don't want to see him in the game on a regular basis. He is very good, super tight and aggressive, but the worst part about him is his attitude. He uses a style that is very abrasive at the table and tries to intimidate people that play pots against him. It works for him, but it is really annoying to play with at the table. He is always bitching about something and just seems downright pissed off at the table all the time. He even bitches when he wins. I actually like him, but man he is a downer at the table.

The game was ok, seat one who I had not played with before was just tearing up the table all day. By the time I got into the game he looked like he was up about $6-8k, and was still on fire. I played a few pots with him and he beat me almost every time. So I tried to stay away from him for a while. I just could not get anything going all night. The donkeys in the game kept winning as I hovered around even for most of the night, watching people come into the game and take a rack and get up and leave. I on the other hand could not get above even. As soon as I would get up, I would get pushed right back down by getting AA, or KK cracked in a big pot on the river. Then the game got short at about 11:00pm, perfect for me. Of course right at that moment when you need it most I go card dead. The blinds are coming every three hands and I can't play. When I do pick up a playable hand short handed I raise get called miss the flop and have to lay down. The pots I do push I loose as well. At the end of the night I went a full hour without winning a pot and just gave up conceding once again that this was not going to be my night.

I have forgotten what it feels like to win. I have not seen any good luck in months, and everything is hard. Why does it seem like the bad luck seems to go on for longer than the good luck. Why do you get 2,7 off four hands in a row, when you have the same odds of getting AA four hands in a row but of course don't. I just need to minimize the losses until it turns. It always does, but I hate having to play through these stretches. I only get to play one or maybe two nights a week and the bad runs can go on for what seems like months when you only play 6 sessions a month. O well enough bitching. I lost a bit as you can tell, less than one buyin, but damn to start off the year with the same crap as December is painful. I played ok, not great, but good enough that if cards would have even remotely come my way it would have been a win. I will play even better next time and will book a win. I need to reexamine if there is something else that I am doing to cause these losses. I don't feel like my game has changed much but the results are not there. It can't all be the cards. Talk to you next time, hope you are winning...SJ

Happy New Year

2006-01-09T17:05:00.000-08:00

I am back and ready to play some poker. I actually played a little on Friday night up at Parkers. I had not been there in 6 months so I thought I would ease back into the poker thing. I got a late start and did not want to drive down to the Muck as it has been raining and downright yucky here in Seattle for about a month. But hey this is Seattle and it does rain a lot here, so get used to it. The place is great now that they have banned smoking in all public places, you can play and not smoke a pack yourself. The only problem is they can't play any bigger than 12/24 and they usually only have an 8/16 game going. I knew that going in but wanted to play smaller than usual anyway just to get back into the swing. Glad I did because my run of cards has continued from the end of last year. I played a little over 4 hours and won a grand total of 5 hands. Yeah for me! I mostly sat there and watched as I really did not want to gamble it up with weak hands, and when I did come in with big hands I was really missing badly. As you can tell I lost, not a lot, but I booked a loss to start the year.

I am going to play tomorrow for real at the Muck. I need to work on a few things. I am reading poorly right now. I am having a hard time putting people on hands. I don't know if this is from a lack of playing or lack of attention, but I am not doing it well right now and I need to concentrate on this. This makes me a bit more passive in the game as I am not sure where I am. I need to amp up the aggressiveness as well. I need to get back to more than one way to win. Right now I am down to one, turning over the best hand, not a good way to book a winning session. I will work on those two aspects of my game tomorrow. Hope to get the year off right. Also, I bumped into the foodbanker in the game at parkers. He is going to give the pro poker thing a go it sounds like. Good luck to you and I hope you have a great 2006, just don't take any of my money. Hope you all have a winning year. SJ

Late Post

2005-12-19T18:29:00.000-08:00

Sorry, I got too busy to post last week. I did play however on Tuesday at the Muck. It started as a full $50/100 game but soon became short handed with players I really did not want to play short handed with. I continue to just run horrible, and my play might be lacking as well, but it gets exaggerated when you are running poorly to boot. Put on top of that a short handed game with good players, and you have a recipe for disaster. Well that is just what happened. I ended up loosing a buy-in in that game and just called it a night. We were down to three handed and my run of cards showed no sign of getting better so I just quit. If you can take anything away from that it is game selection. I had no edge so I quit.

Not much to learn form this post or that night other than the month of December has been a disaster from a poker standpoint. I had some fun in Vegas if you take away the cards, and only played two other times this month with crap results. I am going to take the rest of the year off and get back at it in January. I think most players are out of town anyway so no big deal.

On a side note if you have been reading this blog for a while you know that my friend Aaron quit playing a while back. I put the over under on a return as next February. He beat it by a mile maybe. He went to Vegas last week to do a little business and ended up staying the whole week. He played in all the big games, and even got a quick mention in Daniel N's blog for playing in the $2000/$4,000 game. The results were not stellar but were not disastrous either. He may be back, or he may quit again. Only time will tell. I hope he gets back into it as he is a great player and you need to keep playing to stay good. I think if he just gets a little confidence back he could make a big splash in 2006. He could also shock me and not even play cards. Let's see. Hope you are having a great holiday season, and look forward to a really profitable 2006. Good Luck and talk to you in the New Year. SJ

Vegas Frustration

2005-12-06T18:10:00.000-08:00

So I headed off to Vegas this last weekend and got back last night. It was another frustrating trip. I got to the Bellagio on Saturday night around 5:00pm and put my name on the $80/160 list. It had to be 50 people long, you have got to be kidding me right? The place was just jammed, all tables in use, except the other table in the private room. So I go play $30/60 while I wait. I do a whole lot of nothing in that game and make like $4 in two hours so I decide to go eat at Michael Minas with some other guys in town from Seattle. It was an awesome meal, highly recommend, French-seafood fusion style. I tipped the floorman some dough to call me if my name comes up and to lock up the seat. Well at dinner the phone never rings, and we get done at 10:30pm so I walk back over there to check to see where I am. HE blew through my name and did not call. GREAT?? He does the honorable thing and puts me in next which only took like 15 minutes. The game was super tight and full of good players. Where were all the bad players in town for the tournament? I went to Eric's blog at Threebet33 and he mentioned the same thing about the game. It was not good at all. I was frustrated all night and continue to just run like shit. I played until 5:00am and only made enough to pay the buy-in for the tournament the next day. It was 5 so I needed to get some sleep to play well later so off to bed with a small win, at least it was a small win.

So tournament on Sunday shows. No one that I knew at my table except for some guy that I played with in the $80 game. He is to my direct right. We started with $3000 in chips and a $25/50 blind structure and one hour rounds. Plenty of play in this one. Looking to play tight. I pick up KK's and just get the blinds about 1/2 way through the round. I play a few more stealing hands that go foul on the flop and am down to $2300 of my stack as we start the next round. Time to pick up some chips or get out. About 15 minutes into the round I pick up AQ clubs on the button. The guy to my right from the $80 game, who was playing the $80 game pretty loose and raising with lots of hands, raises to $400. He also had me covered. I figured I had the best hand here and had two options. #1 Raise all in and try to take the pot there, or #2 raise a good amount and if I get called or played with make a decision then. I choose #2 and made it $1200 to go. Now at this point I am pretty much pot committed if he comes over the top so after I did that I was thinking I should have just gone all in anyway and put the pressure on him. He did come over the top and I had to call. I was thinking ok here we go with a coin flip I need to win. He then shows me AJ with the A of diamonds. Cool I am a good favorite to get some chips. Well I would not be telling you this if I won. It comes three diamonds, the turn pairs the board, now he is down to 11 outs. BAM J on the river I am out. I really regret not going all in. He may have laid down right there, but if you would have told me I was going to get it all in AQ VS AJ I would have taken it anyway. At least I was out early and not 11 hours of play with no cash. So off to the $80 game I go.

I got in rather quickly after I ate some lunch and the game was a little better than Sat. night. I just ran like shit however and just got buried. I had to play the rest of the night just to get out. I managed to get close to out by 5:00am and was tired so I went to bed. My play was ok, not great, just ok. I don't know if the game was tougher so I felt different about my play or if I just truly did not have it this trip. O well these things happen in poker. I did get to see tons of players. There was a $200/400 game going right behind me and Liz Liu came in to play. Now I have never seen here in person and I was shocked at how small she was. Not only that but she played poker with almost no clothes on and she looks pretty good. Now that is a distraction. There was the usual list of everyone. You name it they were there. It looks like the Bellagio has not lost anyone to other rooms. They tried, but this place is the best in the world. Best place, best service, best action, best games spread. They still got it all. The only difference now is that it is on steroids. There are just thousands of people playing cards there. I was in disbelief at all the people. Where do all these people come from? Tons of young kids too playing $80 and higher, and they are good. Where does a 21 year old get a $20,000 bankroll to play $200/400 that night? I don't know if I want to know the answer to that question. O well off to bed.

I woke up with the intention of playing $80 all day and go home on the last flight out. I got down to the room at 10:30 am and got a seat in the $80 game. Pete from the Muck was in the game. Great I go all the way to Vegas to play with someone in my regular game. Well the run continues from the last two days only this time it is the perfect storm of bad cards. This is what I call getting lots of great cards that miss or make second best or get sucked out on. I had a run where I had KK vs. AA on a 10 high flop. AQ, VS AK where I flop a Q on a Q,J,9 flop, turn a 10 to make the guy a straight and river a third Q to force me to pay off the river bet. Then I have KK vs. Pete who had 10's. Flop all low cards, turn an A which scared me so I checked the turn, and river a 10, he bets I call he made his two outer. Cool. Take K,Q on the button in an unraised pot, Pete calls with K,J and flops a strait on a Q high board, the turn pairs the Q to make me bet again, which of course I get check raised, and pay off on the river when the board does not pair. Last hand I had QQ's on the button and Pete had raised from early position with AJ, I three bet and of course an A comes off right on the flop. At this time he bets right out and I just ask him if he has the A. He says yes and I fold my QQ's face up and quit. That was enough. It was not going to turn this trip and I was not going to invest anymore time or money. Some days just happen like that. You have to know when it does not feel right and take your loss and go home. Even if it means a two hour plane ride. I was disappointed and frustrated, and questioning why Vegas always does this to me. I love the place, and the games, but I have not run even average in the place in over two years. Granted I only went twice this year, but still can I catch a break?

Next poker trip will be LA in February for the Classic. I love that one too. I think I like that tournament better than the WSOP. Commerce is great and I seem to play better or run better in LA.

I will also stop posting exact amounts of money in this blog. I have received too many e-mails about the money. People it is not about the money, it is about winning bets. If you play $4/8 or $1000/2000 it is all relative. As you can tell however I had a losing trip. No a huge loss but a loss nonetheless. I will not play this week most likely and will get back to it next Tuesday. Talk to you soon and hope you are all winning. SJ

Should Have Stayed on Break

2005-11-30T11:20:00.000-08:00

I decided spur of the moment last night to go out and play with a friend who was in town so I went down to the Muck late night last night. I jumped into the $50/100 game at about 9:30pm and it was all down here from there. I should have just stayed on break. But of course I like to play so I did, and who is to say it would not have happened next week the same way. You run how you run. I of course ran like shit. No cards to play, muck for many rounds in a row. Take off a few flops out of the blind when odds are there with draw hands, and then wiff, wiff, wiff. Get AK, and raise and wiff, muck. All night long. Saw AA's once the whole night and got the blinds.

Only hand of interest all night, that of course I lost, was when I picked up pocket 33's in middle position. There was one limper and then a raise and the two blinds were people I had a good feeling would call if I called as well so we were going to get a nice pot to try to flop a set. I of course flopped a set when the flop came 3,10,Q. There was a bet and I just called the flop as my set was well hidden, and there were all kinds of possible draws, I wanted to see the turn to see what happened. All 5 players called. The turn paired the Q, now I have a full house and there is still the straight draws and now a flush draw to keep people in. There was a bet, a call, I raised, and the two dumped behind me, but two called. The river was a nasty Q, putting three Q's on the board and fucking my full house. Of course the two callers had 10's to chop up the pot. NICE.

I ended up playing short handed for a while when the night got long but the run stayed the same. Just more hands to play and more flops to miss. I finally gave up a little early for me down -$2922.

I am heading to Vegas this weekend on Sat. to play in the Sun and possibly Monday tournaments and the Bellagio. Both NL tourn. $1,500 on Sun, and $2,000 on Saturday. Wish me luck. I will also try to jump into the $80/160 or $30/60 games while I am there. Have not been to Vegas since the WSOP so I am really looking forward to it unless I run like I did yesterday. Talk to you soon, hope you are all winning. SJ

A Hostile Night at the Muck

2005-11-16T09:26:00.000-08:00

I went down to the Muck last night for my usual Tuesday run and it was a rather hostile night at the tables. Lots of ego and anger among the tables. Must have been the full moon. It started out a great night for me. I got down there after work and jumped right into an open $50/100 seat. I played my usual game and before I knew it I was up a little over $2000. Then the tournament was about to start and almost everyone at the table decided to play. I don't know why, as you have a much better chance of making money in the $50 game than at this tournament, but go they went, and bust went the game. There was no available seat in the $20 game so I joined the crowd in this crappy tournament and went out uneventfully about half way through.

There were both a $20/40 and a $30/60 going at this point so I waited a bit to get into the $20 and took my seat. I lasted about 30 minutes at that table and had lost no money and then moved to the $30 game. This is where the night got hostile. I took my seat in this absolutely fired up game. This game had a dude named Smiley in it. He is one of the funniest guys to play poker with, but he is crazy. He will raise with garbage and chase to the river with the smallest draw and just eat up your chip stack along the way. This of course gets everyone in the mood to gamble, there is lots of money changing hands, and people going on tilt. People are barking at the dealer for the beats, the pots are just huge, so making sure all the betting is correct is a challenge, and on top of that we had two guys getting drunk, and one Asian dude who was just running over the table for like $5,000 who seemed a bit surely as well. This was going to be a crazy game. I take my seat and am asked if I want an overs button to play $50/100 overs. I decline. Here is why. I think it encourages bad play. You get to see cheap flops and then get better implied odds to play draw hands. I also don't like keeping track of who has them and who does not. That said I passed. Then this guy in seat one says "I saw you in the $50 game what's up with not playing overs". I said I am happy to play $50/100 hell lets go play $200/400 if that is what you want, but I am not taking an overs button. Well he is drunk and for some reason this just sets off a nerve in this guy. He takes great offense at my comment, and feels like I was challenging him to play a big limit that he could not play. Well I guess this guy owns some computer company and says that he has got more money than I do and its not about the money and that I am a punk. I just sit there quietly. I have no interest in getting into it with this guy. Well that pisses him off even more because I will not engage with him. He starts to just fume, starts swearing left and right, berates another guy at the table who just asked him to stop swearing. The floor gets called by the dealer and this guy is so pissed he leaves. Continuing to swear at me on his way out. Wow that was weird. Then the dealer deals a hand and takes the Asian guys cards that were not protected in front of him in turn as he goes around the table. This Asian guy then goes off and calls the dealer a mother fucker. Wow, nasty table going here. He does not get kicked out. OK now we are really emotionally charges at the table. The next hand goes nuts. There is a raise in early position from the Asian guy, I cold call him with Q,10 spades as he could have anything at this point. I create a cascade of calls behind me, Smiley in the BB three bets into a field of 7 who have all called. This is just a pot building raise and means nothing, the Asian guy caps it, and the rest of the table calls. I call here with my hand as it is a great draw hand, and the pot is already going to be $840 before the flop. Flop comes A,10,7 two spades. Smiley bets out, Asian guys raises, I call, I don't even remember how many other callers we got but I think at least two or three. The turn was a beautiful spade. I don't even remember the card. Smiley checks the Asian guy bets and now I raise. The funniest thing happened then, everyone folded and we did not even see the river. What?? NO ONE has two pair, the K of spades, a set, wow push me the $1300 pot I will take it. Unfortunately, that was about the best I could muster in this game and did not win much from there. I took what was going to be common in this type of game beats with AK, flop a K and get beat by 9,3 off by making two pair on the river. It happens. I ended up making $4 in the game. Woo Hoo. Total for the night +$2225 in the $50 game, -$210 in tourn buyin, and $4 in the $20/40 $30/60 games. Net +$2019. OK a win I will take it.

On a side note I did meet DR. Chako who comments in this blog from time to time. Good guy, great to meet some people there who actually read this crap I write. Also check out the picture of Vince Neil and his wife at his charity poker tourn in Vegas last week. That would have been fun to play as some of you know I am a metal head from the 80's and 90's. His wife would have been really distracting to play with at the table, how do you focus on the cards with those staring you in the face.

Hope you are winning, talk to you soon, SJ

Back to the Slog Fest

2005-11-09T10:52:00.000-08:00

I fired it up again last night down at the Muck. Tuesday has turned into a great day as they are now getting the $50/100 game on a regular basis on Tuesday. Unfortunately for me when I got down there after work it was full game and no seats. I sat around for a bit and decided to play $10/20 to warm up. Nothing exciting there and was down $40 bucks in about an hour.

I still could not get a seat so I decided to go play in the NL tournament they run down there. It still sucks, which is why I don't play it anymore. You either #1) don't start with enough chips for the blinds or #2) the blinds go up way to fast for the amount they do start you with and they skip some limits to get the tournament over fast. So I decided to try a new approach. You don't get time to work your chips so I figured I would play a little more aggressively and open up some starting hands to hit some flops. So what happens on my first hand, I am in late position with 8,9 hearts. I raise, and get called by both blinds. The flop comes down 8 high with two spades. It gets checked to me and I make a pot size bet of $300, the SB blind comes over the top for all his chips of $1,500. That smelled really fishy like a spade draw so I called looking to doubble up. He shows me A,8 and I lose my buyin on the first hand. OK rebuy. You only get one rebuy so now I had to play a little more cautiously. I play another hand soon after that in early position for a raise with A,Q and I get four callers including the blinds. Flop comes Q,6,6 blinds checks I bet the pot which was like $600 everyone folds and the BB comes over the top of me again. OK now this sucks, I put him on a 6 and just lay it down right there. What other hand could he have to make that move with such speed and confidence. He shows me 6,7 off and takes the pot. Now I am short stacked, as I pay a round of blinds, and I have like $800 left. I get dealt A,Ko in early position and just move in as the blinds are now $50/100 and a raise to $300 pretty much has me pot committed anyway. I get called in two spots late. A,Qo, and K,Js, prefect I have them both dominated. Nope, K on flop then runner runner to make the K,J a straight. Out fast. Off to $50/100.

This is where the slog begins. I am back to running pretty poorly. If you were reading a few months back I was not getting any cards to play and could not hang on to hands. Well last night was a repeat of that fun. Two outers and three outers galore, and then long stretches of not getting hands to play and mucking everything is site for hours at a time between playable hands. I was focused on playing really disciplined poker and I did. The last session I played I got really loose and gambled it up a bit to try and win. Bad idea. This time I just did not play anything, but then when I did play I just could not get over the hump on a run. I did have fun, and I was happy with the play, but the result was still a loss. Net for night -$40 in $10/20, -$210 buyin to tournament, -$190 in $50/100. Basically a break even session loss of -$440. The sad thing was it was a great game. One player all night just playing super aggressive and lose, and having huge swings in chips, like a swing of $8,000. I did not get any of them. That happens.

On a side note, NYC was great. I ate my way through the city at some great spots and no I did not play any cards. I did want to go see the club where A Rod got busted but my brother did not know where it was. Also to the comment on being too concerned with being stuck and maybe playing too high two things. #1) If you don't keep track of your results you have no clue how you are doing or playing. Those that don't keep score are most likely loosing players. You are also damn right I care about being stuck. I am there for fun, but I am also there to win. I want every chip on the friggen table. I hate to lose, if you like to lose please come sit at my table, I can help you with that. Being stuck sucks, you should never like it, and I surely don't. #2) As for playing too high one should never play with money that you need. If you need the money on the table don't play, simple as that. Pressure to win changes your game and usually not to the good, it goes to weak tight, don't go there. Last, I am lucky to have a great job that pays well. It is why I don't play much, but it also allows me to play whatever level I feel like. So while I appreciate the concern, the $50/100 game can't hurt me. But as I said I hate to lose so it pains me to lose $1 in the game, but it ain't going to make a ounce of difference in my life. Hope you are all winning and running better than I. Good luck...SJ

Friday Night Not Alright for Me

2005-10-31T16:45:00.000-08:00

Friday's have been a nightmare for me the last few months. I just can seem to get off on the right foot. I decided last Friday to test my luck again, and unfortunately I had the same shitty results. I got down there to see a short $50/100 game. Good for me I thought. Last Friday I went down and could not even get into a game, so at least I got a seat right away. It was a 4 handed game, and as soon as I sat down, one person quit. 4 handed still ok, even though the lineup sucked. Three decent players, no real easy spots. Then I proceed to make second best hand for about and hour. I play K,10 on the button for a raise, it comes 10 high and I bet and get raised and payoff only to see A,10 in the blind. That lasted until I was stuck $2000. I then looked at the other players and said are we gong to keep playing? I did not want to rebuy if one was going to quit and break the game as it looked like no one else was going to show to fill any seats. Everyone said they would at least give me an hour, except one who said that sounds about right. So what happens, I play a few more hands lose $600 more and the guy quits which of course breaks the game. Shit, I hate when you can't trust someone. I should know better to trust a poker player, but the guy who lied was someone I thought I could trust. Not anymore.

The game breaks and I don't feel like going home yet, so I look for a seat in a $20/40 game and there is not even a game. What? Friday night and the next biggest game is $10/20. So I go sit in that game as most of the guys in the game want to play $20/40 and we could get it converted. I thought I could at least get a little money back but that did not happened either. I ran horrible all night, played a few too many stupid hands, and just kept on losing. I could say that I took some bad beats along the way, but they were hands I should not have been in to begin with so I deserved to lose. This was just a bad all around session, played poorly, ran shitty, and deserved to lose. Friday night has not been alright with me for a while. I am going to take this Tuesday off as I am pissed at myself for the way I played, and I am going to NYC the weekend so I can't play Friday, which is probably a good thing. I will play again in a week from tomorrow. Hope you are doing better than I last week. Net for the night -$3,949.

As for the comment from the last post about playing K,Q. I would never fault someone for playing K,Q suited. That is never a donkey hand. It may be way behind in the face of a raise and a three bet, but hey if you want to call and see a flop that is an alright play in my book. I would almost never make that play, and I almost never call in early position with K,Q off in a big game, but you also have to look at who you are playing to make that determination. Also, you have to look at HOW it is played. I took the lead, raised from middle position as the first to enter the pot, got cold called behind me, bet the flop, got called, and then only on the turn did I get pressure. I then had to make a decision if I wanted to call based on the pot and what I thought I was up against. I was getting the right odds to call the turn raise so I did. I got lucky yes, but that does not change the fact that the hand was played in my mind correctly based on the reaction of the other player. It would have been a completely different thing if I had just limped with the hand first, got raised, then called, then missed the flop completely(which I did), check, called a bet, saw the turn, checked again, called again and then made the straight on the river. That is donkey poker in my mind, BIG difference, do you see why? It would also have been different had he three bet before the flop. I would have check folded that flop. If I had continued and made the straight then you could call that lose and fishy. Aggression is a huge factor in winning poker, if you can only win by making a hand then you need luck to win, I for one do not like to rely on luck. I would rather be lucky than good yes, but it always helps if you can be good and get lucky, because sometimes you are not lucky and you have to make shit up to win. If all you do is call, you take away the way to win from being aggressive. That can be the difference between a losing and winning session. Had that player shown aggression he would have won the pot. That would have been the difference in my booking a win that night or not. It can be that simple sometimes. He chose to slow play a big hand. That does work most of time, but then you have to fade luck, he could not, I won, that's poker. Talk to you soon..SJ

Waste of a good Poker Night

2005-10-24T18:07:00.000-07:00

I had the ability to go play on Friday night last week so I jumped down to the Muck only to find that the place was just jammed. All 18 tables full and they had messed up the tables so that one of the three high limit tables had a $10/20 game on it and they could not even spread a high limit game there. For those that don't know the Muck card room has only three class C licenses which allows them to run games bigger than $10/20 only on those three specific tables. If they put a game of lower limit on it they can not move to another table and start a bigger game. Given the fact that all 18 were in use they did not much care anyway to start a bigger game as they get the same rake from a $10/20 game as they do a $20/40 or higher. My options were to sit around and wait, or jump into some lower limit stuff and wait there. They had two $20/40 going and no higher, and the list was a mile long, so I chose option B.

I sat around and talked to people for about 45 minutes then decided to play something I never play, but should, to work on different games. I jumped into the 1-4 stud game. Whoo Hoo $4 max betting. At least I can't get hurt much while I try to get better at the game. I dorked around in that game for an hour and then moved to the $10/20 game about $30 lighter for the fun. I love to play in the lower limit games just to get a feel for what is coming up the food chain. I forget how many poker lessons you get a lower limit tables. It's funny in bigger games no one talks about how poorly you played that hand, or insults bad play. It is encouraged, and a highly desirable trait in that game. It does happen every once in a while, but they get told to shut up pretty quickly. In the lower limit games there are all kinds of pro's telling people how to play or making insulting comments to players that just got lucky. People, leave them alone, you want them in your game, why do you want to chase them off? Why do you want them to get better right now? They probably won't get better anyway so don't give out the lesson they don't want to hear. They are loosing money, maybe not that hand, but they will, don't change their play or insult them off the table. They might just be learning the game and truly don't know how to play. Why do you want them to have a bad experience and maybe not come back? Poker players can be pretty dumb sometimes. Would you rather have me sitting at your table, or the old man drinking having a good time and playing poorly? I take the later all day long. Rant over.

I played in the $10/20 game going mostly nowhere all night. The $20/40 games looked great but the tables were not turning. I could not make any money in the game I was in. You pretty much have to play ABC poker in $10/20. It still plays like a $4/8 game, lots of multiway flops and the best hand on the river will win, even if that means 3,5 sooooited. Don't bluff as you will be called down. I finally got to the $20/40 game at 1:00am. Too late for me to play but I was still stuck $100 bucks so I wanted to go for a quick hit and run. I sat down and looked at a few hands and then picked up K,Q spades about middle position. I was first in so I raised. I got cold called from right behind me. No one else called and we took the flop off heads up. Flop came 10,8,3 no suits. I bet out as I wanted to see where I was. I got called. Turn came a J, now I have the open ender. I was pretty sure I was beat at this point but the guy behind me had shown no aggression yet so maybe he had a small pair I could chase out. I bet, and he raised me, ok now I know I am behind, but let's gamble heads up with two over cards and an open ender. River an A, perfect. I bet out as I am not sure if he will bet with that card, not only did he bet but raised me, I three bet it, and he capped it. Crap, I thought, all that work and we had the same hand. Not so fast, I rolled over my nut straight and he showed me pocket AA's. How unlucky was that guy, I was just about drawing dead and got there. That is why you should slow play AA's before the flop very carefully. Granted he had me dead to rights, and the slow play would have worked perfectly except that he would not have gotten a call on the river if I missed, but he definitely would have made more money played that way than not. He just got unlucky, it happens, that's poker. A three bet before the flop and a bet on the flop and I am gone. He wins my $60, instead he looses $280. Cool for me. I get my money back plus a profit of $121 for the night and I head home.

All in all a pretty good waste of a good night to play cards. O well you can't always get in the game you want. I also will not be playing this Tuesday as I have to travel for work this week. So I guess I will update you all next week. Have a winning week, later..SJ

Dumbass Post, New Blogs

2005-10-20T11:34:00.000-07:00

I know that some of you reading the last post picked up on the fact that the first hand I described had 6 community cards. You are saying SJ you dumbass, how does this guy win if he can't even keep track of the cards. I would agree. I was trying to put together how the hand went down. I fixed that hand to the best of my memory. I know the K hit on the turn and could make a possible straight and there was a one card straight on the river. I think I got it right now. I am feeling stupid that I did not pick up on it when I wrote it. YOU DUMBASS SJ.

I also picked up a few new blogs based on some recommendations and the other from one I read a while ago and liked but lost and found again today. It is from a high limit player in Vegas. I tend to like the live play blogs that play or talk about some of the bigger games. I am not really interested in online blogs as I don't really like online play that much and I have not found one that talks about playing high limit on line yet. All you get is tournament results or hand history stuff, some of them do talk strategy and can be interesting. I may change my mind and add them later. Good luck and hope you are all winning, except if you are at my table. SJ

Welcome Back to the Game Sir!

2005-10-19T18:46:00.000-07:00

I came back from my self imposed exile from poker last night to make it down to the Muck. I was happy to see a $50/100 game going again and it looks like this is going to be a permanent game on Tuesday. Perfect. Unfortunately I did not get there early enough to get a seat right away so I had to sit in the $30/60 game and wait for a seat. This was not that bad as it allowed me to ease back into the game and grab a few chips to take over to the bigger game. Today was one of those days where I did not look back. I hit a few decent hands in the $30/60 game and moved an hour or two later to the $50/100 game. This was a great game. There were at least 5 soft spots in the game, and Pete the normally aggressive great player was running so poorly he was demoralized and passive. We have all been there, you just enter every pot knowing that you will lose. He just could not win a hand. Here is how bad he was running. I had Pocket KK's in the SB. Pete in middle position raises with pocket 99's and no one else calls. I think about it for a little then just cold call the raise. I was hoping to keep the BB in for at least the raise but he folded anyway. Flop came 10,9,6 rainbow. I check hoping to check raise as I have not shown any aggression yet in this hand and I did not know what he had. He checked behind me to try and trap. The turn was a K. I bet out this time, he raises I three bet and he caps. That was kind of a scary card as it can make a J,Q straight which was not one of his likely holdings but still a possibility. River was a 7 I checked this time as he just capped it and he checked behind me and rolled over a set of nines to lose to my set of KK's, now that is running bad. He hits the flop with a set and I catch a two outer to win on the turn.

When you are running poorly and have a really negative attitude, it is best to quit if you can't change your attitude. If you think negative, negative things will happen and you do change your game usually to the passive side. That is the kiss of death in an aggressive game with good players. The rest of the table does pick up on this and you become a victim to be crushed. This can be a very brutal game. The weak do get eaten. We are friends, but I will take your money if you are in the game with me. I will show no compassion, as I will get none in return when the shoe is on the other foot. After they quit I will feel badly for them and even tell them that, but I will still take the money. One other point I will highlight today is that you should never play soft against friends or be nice at the table to people and tell them when you have a good hand. You would be surprised how many people do this, especially in lower limit games. Sometimes they lie, but then you can just ignore the info the next time, most of the time this is just a bad habit that people get in to. I think they must feel guilty to take money with the nuts, or they are just so proud of their hand they want to tell you. VERY BAD HABIT. This came up in a decent size pot I was involved in. We went to the river and I was a caller the whole way through as I had third pair and a straight draw that never got there. I checked with the intention of mucking to a bet, but then when I did check and there was a bet I sat there for a moment. The guy I was looking to lay down to usually tells me on the river what he has and he was dead silent. This is a bad habit that he had, and it did not show itself this time, but it was the first time I really was aware of it on the river. So what did I do, I changed my mind and called. He showed me A high and I took the $600 pot. I was nice enough to him at the end of the night to tell him why and that he should change that habit. Let's see if he does next time but last night he paid $300 for that lesson, I think that was a fair trade.

The night just continued to be a run of decent cards and good play on my part. I gambled a bit when it was appropriate as the game was staying pretty passive. Lots of limpers and mutiway pots. I did take my share of bad beats. I lost with AA when I three bet an early position raiser and got cold called out of the BB by 5,7 off. The flop came 7,10,K, and I bet the whole way until the river which was a 5 and we both checked. I rolled over AA and he showed me 5,7 off for two pair. Catch bottom pair and go from there? Nice hand sir, I was thinking to myself, but put it in the muck and keep your mouth shut. That man will go broke before we are done.

Biggest pot of the night for me, and the worst hand I played from a starting hand position by choice, worked out perfectly. As I said this game was passive which allowed you to speculate on a few hands. I limped in middle position with 5,6 hearts. I get raised behind me and then a loose aggressive player on the button three bets. The BB calls cold, and I know the other player will call so I gamble up a bit and call here getting 5 to 1 on my call. If I miss I can get away easy, but if I hit I have a well hidden hand. Flop comes K,10,7 two hearts. BB checks, I check, middle position bets, button calls, BB now raises, I call cold with the heart draw. A bit loose on my part but I still felt hearts would be good for me. Turn a nice looking 4. Not hearts, but now I have the open ender with my heart draw. BB now checks, I check, middle now bets again, button calls, BB calls and I call. River was the nuts for me, a 3 of clubs. I now have the perfectly concealed nut straight and I get bet right into from the BB of course I raise here and the other two players muck. I get called and send the $1,800 pot my way. Wow that hand could not have worked out any better, I did not even have to fade if 6 high hearts were good, I just made the nut straight and took the pot.

I kept on playing pretty well, and the game stayed passive and loose, I gave back a little from the high but still ended up booking a $5,514 win. Biggest win of the year, feels good to get back the money I dumped in the last session I played shorthanded.

On a side note I am going to drop Matt Dean's blog as he just does not update. I may add some others that I read occasionally. If anyone has any suggestions of a good blog out there send them my way. Hope you are having as good a fall as I am. Talk to you soon. SJ

So Close

2005-10-17T11:16:00.000-07:00

Damn, so close but not a win for the Irish. I guess I have to be happy we made such a good game out of it. The Irish are back and will be even better next year. Good to see us playing at a high level again. I will be playing again tomorrow night so I can actually write about poker on weds. Talk to you soon..SJ

IRISH

2005-10-14T16:01:00.000-07:00

Found out today that Snake over at wicked Chops poker(see link on left) is a Notre Dame Grad. I too am a grad, '91. I was there that last time we beat a Number 1 team at home. Greatest football game I have ever been to, ND 31, Miami 30. Beat them when they went for a two point conversion at the end of the game and failed.

Spooky reasons why the Irish will win tomorrow.

#1) Last time we played a #1 at home(Miami '88) we had lost to Miami by a combined total of 93 points the previous three games. We have lost to SC by a combined 93 points the last three games.

#2) It was the first season at home for a new coach (Lou Holt's first year '88) Weis this year.

#3) They had just refinished the Dome in '88. They just refinished the dome again this year.

Coincidence, I think NOT. IRISH WILL WIN.

And I thank wicked Chops for this Great Picture.

Thud!!

2005-10-13T11:19:00.000-07:00

That was the sound of my streak coming to and end last Friday and my poker playing getting curtailed because of my personal life. The session itself looked like a good spot for me. A three handed $50/100 game with one bad player and two good ones. Of course that night the loose bad player won all the money. He hit everything. If he called with the worse hand he got there. If he played the best hand it held up. This went on for about 5 hours until he took all of our money and decided to quit us so he could go eat Lobster. He actually said that. He had to go get some Lobster before the restaurant closed that he wanted to go to downtown. That sucked as we were likely to get our money back. I did not want to play the other good player heads up so I took my lumps and went home. Net for night -$4,256. Just a little under what I won last Tuesday for a net zero week. O well it had to end sometime.

Also, I did not play last night, and I am also not going to Vegas today as I fucked up in my personal life and need to fix it. I will get back to playing in a week or two. I will post poker stuff if I can come up with something besides playing. Hope you had a better week than I did. Talk to you soon...SJ

Wow Comments

2005-10-06T11:13:00.000-07:00

Wow, the last post actually generated some comments. I didn't think anyone even read this blog except for a few of my close poker friends. Cool. Thanks for the comments. I did link up a new blog. Go check it out on the left. I have not been reading it but will start. Local guy, who is going to move to Vegas it looks like.

As for the cardroom comment, New York does not have legal poker rooms in the city, thus the need for the rooms. Also, they have a much larger pool of people to draw from with money to make it work. Have never played in NYC, but they do have some pretty close casinos.

Last, I don't normally let anyone take a piece of my action unless I am going to play in a really big game and that is to lay off a piece of the risk. When I say big I mean for me like $300/600 or 1/2k in Vegas or LA. I have only done this twice so it is not like it happens all the time. Most of the guys that would even do that would play in the game themselves so why do they need me. In Seattle I have never done that as the game is not big enough to need to lay off a piece. Plus I would feel bad if I lost anyone else's money. I feel bad enough when it is my own, I don't want someone else to feel bad on top of that. If anyone does want to come sweat me in the game feel free. I usually am wearing an orange shirt and blue sunglasses. Orange if my favorite poker color. I do go by the name John at the Muck so go ahead and come by and say hi. I am going to be there this Friday night after dinner with the family so I will be there at around 9:00pm. Talk to you soon..SJ

Poker Gods Keep Smiling

2005-10-05T11:50:00.000-07:00

The poker gods keep smiling on me. I took my usual trip down the Muck last night. I did not get there until after work at like 6:20pm. That is usually a bad thing as the games are full and I may have to wait a while. I did. They run a tournament that starts at 7:15pm and that usually turns the game over as at least a few people get out of the game to go play. There was a $50/100 going again yesterday. I hope this turns into a regular Tuesday thing, and by the sound of the talk at the game it probably will, at least while the high limit regulars are in town. The game was full when I got there, but I was first up. The game turned over a bit for the tournament and I got a seat at about 7:30pm. There was not much of a list, as this size game is at the upper limit of what Seattle can sustain. As I mentioned last week, you need a decent size bankroll to play $50/100 on a regular basis. If you go by a common rule of thumb of 200 BB you need $20,000. Now Seattle has some money, but not that many of them play poker. Add to that the need to play it well, or at least really enjoy it, because if you are not a winning or break even player you will lose $10,000 or more per month if you play regularly. This game will break a lot of people. I think if we keep this game up we will lose a few regulars quickly as there are some people dropping $15,000 in the last two weeks. Ouch, that will leave a mark. Seattle is just not that deep for high limit players.

So to the game. It stayed partially full all night. We never had 9 players at the table while I was there, and for the most part we had 6 or 7. Perfect for me as my favorite game is 4 handed. The game only had two of the good regulars in it and the rest were weak tight players, or gamblers. I was able to push the table around almost at will. I was reading well. Running ok, not hot, but my timing was perfect last night. When I sensed I could steal a pot I did, and it worked almost 90% of the time. I was winning a lot of pots without a showdown, and had some big hands match up with some good 2nd best hands to make some big pots. I was not chasing, and I knew where I was almost at all times. I am feeling really good about my game right now. I have a ton of confidence, and that really translates into good poker and table image. I heard one players make a comment that I was the luckiest guy at the table. I love when I hear that. I am lucky sometimes, but when you win with the best hand or make the correct calls with draws that do get there over time at their percentage you will win. It is when you get drawn out on at a higher percentage than you should, or chase, that you lose money. I had my percentage of best hands get beat on the river, I just lost the minimum when I did, and I don't whine or show the hand so people just forget those hands. That is a key point, NEVER show your hands if you don't have to, unless you have a reason. Why do you want people to see that they can suck out on you, why give them the confidence? The had will just disappear from memory. There are some times when showing is good. If you are trying to create a table image of strong, then show some big hands that don't get called. If you want to put someone on tilt, that is prone to tilt, or to set up a play in a later hand, then show the bluff. HAVE a reason however, don't do it just because, or to make the other player feel good about his laydown. Leave the doubt in their mind so they know that they will have to pay you off to see the hand. If they know that if they lay down you will show anyway you will lose those river bets. Those $100 bills can add up fast. I also maximized the best hands and got lots of extra bets out of my hands. Those add up in a hurry too. I stole a lot of pots last night with what I am sure was not the best hand at the time. People see those pots but did not see the hands. They were assuming that I had the hand. It IS good to be lucky, but it is better to be good and have the table think you are just lucky. You get paid off a lot more with that image. It is not luck to win 8 straight sessions and 9 out of ten over that last month and 1/2. I am playing really well and I am getting results that reflect that. But feel free to call me Mr. Lucky if you would like.

Let me relate one fun hand that happened last night three handed to show how the day went. I had pocket 66's in the SB. Button folded, I raise out of the small blind. Why? I most likely have the best hand heads up, I am out of position so I want to show strength, and set up a bluffing opportunity if I miss. You always want to take control of the hand and be the aggressor. You can win two ways instead of one. I can bluff when I miss and he folds, or I can hit the best hand. If you don't raise you don't give your opponent the chance to lay down. Make THEM see the ghosts. If you are just calling, you can only win with the best hand. I did not miss. Flop 6,K,Q, rainbow. I bet out and get raised. I just call as I am pretty sure I have the best hand and want to get the extra bet on the turn when it is worth more money. Turn a 9, I check hoping for the check raise. He checks behind me, crap I just missed a bet I thought. However, I now know he has 2nd pair, I also know he has not put me on a hand yet, if he thought 2nd pair was good he would have bet. River a perfect Q making him trips and my boat. I bet right out. I had a feeling he would raise, and if he just put me on a K or under pair he would feel good about his hand. He raises me and I three bet him, he calls. I drag the pot. I probably did miss a bet here however. If I bet the turn he most likely calls with 2nd pair heads up, and he most likely raises the river anyway and calls the three bet on the river. O well I guess they all can't go perfect.

So after all that verbosity how did I do? I ended up the day $4,561, a whopping 45.6 BB and a win rate if 11.4 BB an hour. HUGE day, feels good, the poker gods keep on smiling at me. I hope this continues into next week as I head to Vegas on Thursday for the Bellagio tournaments. I hope I get deep in one or two.

On a side note I said that I would respond to an e-mail that I received on underground poker in Seattle. It does not exist. Why? A couple of reasons. #1, we have good legal poker in the Seattle area. You can play as high as you would like in Seattle at both the Muck and up at Tulailup(SP?). There is not enough demand to play any higher than $50/100. People just don't have that kind of poker money around here. The $50 game only goes one or two days a month here, and it is mostly $30/60. You need a sustainable amount of high limit players to make a club work. You are not going to have a club that spreads $4/8 or even $10/20. There are a billion places in Seattle with those games, why would you risk playing in an illegal game to win $100 bucks. There are only three of us in Seattle that can play any higher than $100/200 on a regular basis. I only play one maybe two days a week. Also, we want to win. If we just played each other there would be no edge, we need the other people who can afford to play $30 or $50 but lose to be in the game. #2) It is illegal and not the safest place to play. Do you really want to bring $20,000 to a place that is illegal? If it gets raided they will take your money. The people that play there might carry weapons, and be people of questionable character. There are a number of drug dealers and pimps that play in these bigger games. If they can't go to a home game or club they will come to the casino. I much prefer the security of the casino to an illegal club even if they did have a bouncer. There is enough to think about in these big games, to have to worry about weather or not you are going to get beat up or worse when you take their money is not one more thing I want to think about. Because I will take their money over a few session and they do get mad, even in the casino. They just can't do anything about it at the casino. There are home games here, but they are mostly tournaments or just for fun. Sometimes the stakes can be big, I mentioned that I play in an executive NL games sometimes. But never big enough to replace a win at $50/100. Hope you are all winning, talk to you soon..SJ

Sign up

2005-09-30T18:00:00.000-07:00

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

This event is powered by PokerStars.

Registration code: 2125958

Lets see if this works. I just signed up for the blog tournament at Pokerstars. SJ

On a Roll

2005-09-28T10:23:00.000-07:00

I am on a roll right now. Not running hot, but playing really well, I am in the zone right now. I am betting while in the lead, checking when behind, and laying down when beat. I am getting the most out of my pots, and not putting in dead money or extra bets when unnecessary, and getting most of the extra bets when I see they are available. I could still use a little work on value betting the river, but I am not going to quibble with results right now. As usual I went down to the Muck on Tuesday night. But unusual was that there was a $50/$100 game going on. Unfortunately I did not get down there until after work and the game was full with no one moving out of the game. There were two people in the game that had been there since 2:00am the previous day when the game started. I took my seat in the $20/$40 game looking longingly at the game next to me waiting for my shot. I ended up playing a few hours in the $20 game and then I finally got a seat, I left the $20 game up $600. I should have been a little more careful for what I asked for, this game was tough.

The game was started by Chris, who I mentioned a few posts ago as a high limit player in California, and a damn good guy and damn good poker player to boot. Pete had come back from the commerce to Seattle, and Barry who has also been out of town was in the game as well. There were almost no soft spots in this game. This whole game was built around one guy who was gambling like a fish and had a nice chunck of change to lose. I sat down and focused on playing my game. I went no where for hours, basically up and down within a $1,000 of even all night. Then down about -$1,200 I made my move to the plus side and never looked back. I looked down and had pocket 55's in the SB, there was a raise in second position, and by the time it had got back to me there were already 5 callers. I announced to the table that this is my get even pot and if I hit I will let you know. The Flop came 5,Q,6, no suits. I check, BB checks original raiser bet, two callers, I raise, BB calls all others call. I announced that I hit it, but no one believes you anyway, and I did not announce what I hit. Turn a J which also puts two suits on the board. I bet out, and still get called by two players. River a big fat ol' 5, GIN. I did not need the card but it sure was nice to lock out the deck with that card as there were a few draws and I am sure either KK's or AA's out there. I gave the old hesitation move like that card might have hurt me and then bet out anyway and got called by the original raiser. I showed my QUADS and took the nice big $2,000 pot. I never looked back from that point, but I never got much above $1,500 until late in the night when.......

It got short handed, which will tend to happen in a bigger game as the weaker players eventually go broke. At $50/100 if you play poorly you will pay dearly. You can and will lose thousands of dollars in a short period of time if you are playing loose and in every pot. The good players will extract all those extra bets out of you and you will never get a free card when you want one. In the lower games you can just go back in to your pocket to get more money. It's not that bad to buy in 40 or 50 BB if you lose that much at $4/8 or even $10/20 that only $1,000, but at this game that is $5,000. Not that many people travel around with $5,000 in their pockets in Seattle. Hell even I only brought $5,000 as that is plenty for a $30/60 game, if I had known we had a $50 game going I would have brought $10,000 just to feel safe. There were people in the game for up to $12,000 just for perspective. So back to the short game, which if you read this blog you know I love, and I consider myself a favorite over almost any player in Seattle. The good players started breaking the weaker ones as the game got short. We went from seven to six all the way down to just three of us left at around 1:00am. Some just left as they got even or up a little and others went flat broke. I busted the guy who the game was built around at about 12:00am and then some of the other good players left as they did not really want to play with Barry, Chris and myself. I played with those two for another hour or so and did fine. More for fun than for money, as both of those guys are good players and really none of us had an edge. It was going to be a game of who could get luckier than who was better. I was the lucky one and ended up getting another $1,000 during that hour.

All in all the roll continues. I most likely will not play again in September and I did not book one losing session during the month. I have not done that in a while, maybe two years. Feels good and my bankroll thanks me. I ended up the night a positive $3,141 6.28 BB per hour. Not bad. Good luck and talk to you soon...SJ