Update

I cashed in Daily Double A for a small amount. I fizzled out in the B around 660th. I'm currently sitting on a nice chipstack in the 50/50 though with 277 left.

*Edit*

And I'm fucking starving!

***

This guy on my left is very good and making my life miserable right now. Tough table.

***

In the money...hanging by the skin of my teeth.

***

Bah out in 147th.

In

I'm in the 50/50. I played both $14+1 satellites. Jeciimd took me out in the first one when my 77 ran into his AA. In the 2nd one I had the pleasure of sucking out on him as I took him out when my QJo > his ATo. I managed to pretty much fold my way in from there.

BTW

So far today, I've taken 1st in a Limit MTT and won 2 heads up double table token races and also won a 2 table token race. I did lose one 1 table heads up token race though. Overall it has been a good day. Now if I can pull some magic off in the Daily Doubles tonight!

I'm also going to try to satellite into tonight's 50/50. Maybe I can pull off a Hoy there too.

T$

So, Full Tilt has this cool tournament $ feature now. Yet a tournament token is not treated as tournament $. So basically this feature is useless. Awesome job guys.

LOLLimitDOnkaments

Put another MTT notch under my belt for this month. My 2nd MTT victory in as many weeks (I think). Again, this was was about as lackluster as winning the Donkarama rebuy a couple weeks ago.

Why can't I do this in a real tournament?

All in all, I feel I played the perfect tournament. It was limit which made it much easier on my since limit is my comfort zone. I started off slow running my KK into AA and losing a lot of my stack. But I continued to grind it out. I played a LAGGy game in this tournament trying to either win it or go home. I had some swings and survived a few all ins. The only big suckout came when I had to go all in KJ offsuit preflop with 3 people in the pot. The flop came 3, 4, 5. A bet and a fold later, I'm looking at a set of 4's. The turn came a 7 and river a 6 and I fist pump as we chop it up.

The final table was a breeze. There was one guy playing LAGgier than I, but he was what I would call maniacal. No concept of position. Just blindly flinging poo in the middle of the table. I took most of the chips from him. When it got down to heads up, things were simple. The guy was way too tight and folded 3 out of every 4 hands. I raised 100% of the time and took down most pots uncontested. He eventually let himself get down to nothign and I finished him off with my 76 offsuit.

Sick Days

I'm still sick and not working today. I feel like someone has beaten me. Even after a 12+ hour sleeping session yesterday and a good solid 8 hours last night, I'm still feeling beat down. I'm afraid to eat for fear of it coming out of one end or the other without giving much notice. Nothing a little Pepto Bismol won't fix though.

I ended up grinding another late session yesterday after my post and managed to donk away all my winnings plus a little more for the day. I just kept getting check raised on ever C-Bet or 3 bet on every steal attempt. It was just one of those sessions. I don't recall losing any big pots, but just a long string of small pots.

I'm going to grind out a bunch more hands today. I'm setting a mark of 2000 hands. The only problem is that Full Tilt is broke at the moment and I'm not sure when it'll be back up.

I also want to do some studying today. One thing I've never really took a lot of time to mess with is Poker Stove. I have this icon sitting on my desktop and I know what it does and what it's for, but I really don't know how to "use" it for real. I want to play around with it today because I can really see the value in this tool. I'll probably also go through my sessions and post some hands in 2+2 and over at Stoxpoker.

That's all I got today...nothing really exciting. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going back to bed.

Done with tournaments

I got my ass handed to me today in tournaments (sick day today). I couldn't get shit to hold up. The only tournament I did decent in was a $11 tourney with 174 entrants. I took 20th. 18 got paid. Blah! I lost in a few token races with huge favorite hands KK < 33 and 99 < 22. So I said fuck it and started playing some cash games.

I was up and down in the cash games, but did manage to grind out a moderate win for the day. I played a bunch of hands. All of the hands were at the $25 NL 6 max tables. On the month, I'm winning at a > 14PTBB/100 pace at those tables. If only I would have just stuck to those games this month and avoided the $50 games and all the tournaments and SnG's, I'd be in a much better place bankroll wise.

As it stands right now, I got a lot of grinding ahead of me to get to the $50 NL tables again before the end of next month. I feel comfortable at the tables and I'm recognizing a lot of my mistakes. Too bad some of them aren't until after the hand has played out, but progress is progress.

I'm making such good decisions right now because I'm not really keeping track of how much I'm winning or losing during a session. I keep Poker Tracker on, but only to import hands for my PAHUD. I'm in good shape bankroll-wise for the $25 NL games, so I don't worry about taking bad beats or a few coolers in a row. I know it's not going to sting that much. This helps my game tremendously.

I've also upped my aggression lately. I was always agressive at the tables, but I've opened my raising range up a little bit more. Also, with the good table and seat selection, I do a lot more isolating than I used to. Also, I try to steal the blinds as much as possible.

I have one more day in February and I'm just writing this month off. Most of my problems during the month were my fault. Some was due to bad play. I also ran into a lot of coolers and beats, but that comes with the game. You can't put your money in as a 100% favorite every time. I feel that March will be my best month yet. Again, I'm ready to take that next step in my game and that will require spending a lot of time on the tables.

Follow up on some posts

I wanted to follow up on some posts I made earlier in the month.

30 Day Water/No Caffeine Challenge

I'm pretty sure I'm on day 11 of this challenge. Things are going decent. I did have one major slip up when I accidently drank a sweet tea with my dinner the other evening. I didn't even realize what I was doing until I was 3/4 finished with my meal. I have had to switch up water with some other non-caffeinated forms of drink on occasion. I've had a Gatorade, A Sierra Mist (Yuck!), and that accidental sweet tea.

I'm feeling better as far as not feeling the effects of the caffeine withdrawl. Those effects only lasted a day or 2. After that I was able to sleep again! I was hoping this would be a good side effect of the no caffeine thing, but much to my dismay, it doesn't seem to be the case anymore. I'm back to my non-sleeping ways. On Friday, I tried getting to bed early, but it was closer to 4:00 a.m. before actually falling asleep and I was up again before 9:00 a.m. I blame this for my sub-par performance in the City Bowling tournament. On Saturday night, more of the same.... finally sleep at 4:00 a.m.... back up before 9:00 a.m. And then the rest of the week has been me trying to catch up. Nothing doing. I suck @ sleeping.

Following the money

I also made a promise to track my expenses this month to see where it all goes. I did this for the first half of the month. It wasn't hard to see where I'm wasting the majority....food! I'm always eating out and it gets expensive... especially when sometimes you eat out 3 times a day. This is bad for my health and my checkbook.

There are other places where I'm leaking money, but this is the most obvious. This month, I'm going to try to challenge myself not to eat out for the entire month. I figure for $50 at the grocery store one week and then an additional $15-20 per week after that to restock on lunch/dinner supplies, I can keep the kitchen stocked up with plenty of stuffs to eat. I love to cook, I just hate grocery shopping.

Another obvious place where I'm leaking money is with snuff. I've never been able to kick this habit. It costs me about $4/day (~$1500/year). I'm going to hold off on this one as it's a difficult habit to kick. To kick this habit will probably require me making some huge prop bet with a friend. Something that will really sting. 1.) I don't have enough cash on hand at this point to make such a bet and 2.) I'm not sure any of my nicotine abusing friends would be willing to make such a wager. I guess I could try hypnosis or a patch or something. I just don't have faith in any of those remedies. Willpower and determination. 2 qualities of which I lack.

-------

So here's to March being greater than February! I expect it to be a good month financially as I trim expenses in real life and take the first steps to moving my poker game to that next level!

I have a confession to make. This is almost too embarrassing to post. However, if I don't get it out of my system, it might drive me crazy. Here goes nothing...

I watched American Idol last night and enjoyed the shit out of it.

The top 10 guys were singing last night and there was some real talent. The guys got to take on 70's music. BOOM! Some of the greatest music of all time was created in the 70's. I might not like the typical hippy's politics, but damn they can make some awesome music.

Last night, I felt there were 3 standout performances.

Performance #1: Chikezie. Last week, I caught his performance only because I walked past the Tv and my eyes started bleeding from the suit he was wearing. The song he sang was horrible. I stuck around to hear what Simon had to say about the suit.

This week, I was expecting more of the same. I heard Ryan plug his performance of a David Hathaway song and all I could think of was "Who the fuck is David Hathaway?". All these great 70's songs and you pick shit I've never heard of? Well, I was shocked when came out and nailed it. It was like I was watching a completely different guy from last week. He was having a good time and he knew he was nailing the song.

The song choice was great in my opinion. It was clever with the title, but I wasn't aware it was clever until they let me in on the name story. Anyway, Chikezie has a very good voice with a lot of "soul" to it. His charisma is unmatched in this competition. I feel he will do well just because of his name and his charisma. His talent will catapult him into the top 3-4 guys but I think that's limit. His "old" style will end up being his demise.

I loved Chikeze's performance and in the solitary comfort of my living room, I applauded his performance. He nailed it.

Performance #2: David Hernandez. Another "soul" song caught my ear as well. David sang "Papa was a Rolling Stone" by the Temptations. His voice is probably the best of the competition with the exception of David Archuletta. The guy has some charisma, but not a whole lot. I think he felt the song and just moved with it, making his performance one of the best of the night. It was a great song, and a really good performance.

Bottom line is that this dude can sing and can do different things with his voice without being annoying. Some people just over-do it in the voice department. David's sounds so natural, effortless, and it comes out very full and rich. I suspect, he will be around for a little while, but probably fizzle out around the top 5 or 6 overall.

Performance #3: David Archuleta. He sang John Lennon's "Imagine". I hate this song and he just came out and made it awesome. Bottom line is that this dude can sing. He's young and has the look about him. To sum it up, he's an American Idol producer's wet dream. The only thing I hate about David is that he's destined to get put in a Boy Band or become a Boy Band type singer. He's too good for that. Hopefully he has some taste to go with the talent.

David is hands down the best singer and performer in the season 7 lineup. You can tell he's been groomed for this. I'm sure his parents realized his talents at an early age and have been guiding him along this path for many years. You can tell this ain't his first rodeo.

He does play the shy routine a bit too much though. Just go out there, be yourself and freakin' sing! David is my pick to win American Idol.

Disappointments for the night: Robbie Carrico: I wanted to see him shed this "you're not authentic" projection that the judges put on him. They opened the door for him to come out and be a rocker. He failed miserably IMO. He took the softball they threw him and got defensive and pretty much proved the judges right. I was pulling for David early because his parents are actually from my area. So he's close to being a local boy. After last night, he should definitely be in the bottom 3.

David Cook: The other rocker. This guy is much better than Robbie Carrico. He's got the rock sound. This will only get him so far. I thought his guitar playing was horrible last night. The tone was awful and his timing was terrible. I think David should save the guitar for something acoustic. He will be around for a while, but with Robbie going down in flames, he needs to do a lot better than he did last night to take over the "Rocker" title and grab the "rock vote". Even still...this guy's got nothing on Archuleta.

$13.5K Guarantee

I'm 49th out of 365 left in the $13.5K guarantee on Tilt. I've really chipped up nicely without ever getting myself into trouble. Let's see how hour 2 goes.

****

4th out of 301 after this one:

Full Tilt Poker Game #5412496172: $13,500 Guarantee (40468475), Table 79 - 60/120 - No Limit Hold'em - 19:18:24 ET - 2008/02/26
Seat 1: Ropes (6,060)
Seat 2: SuprDonk (1,635)
Seat 3: MissFaith21 (3,958)
Seat 4: Dihxm (1,465)
Seat 5: theesupream (6,490)
Seat 6: WiredAces77 (5,685)
Seat 7: Tulaneholdem (1,215)
Seat 8: rubbersoul (7,347)
Seat 9: Waylonizer (4,570)
MissFaith21 posts the small blind of 60
Dihxm posts the big blind of 120
The button is in seat #2
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to WiredAces77 [9h 9c]
theesupream has 15 seconds left to act
theesupream raises to 360
WiredAces77 calls 360
Tulaneholdem calls 360
rubbersoul folds
Waylonizer calls 360
Ropes folds
SuprDonk folds
MissFaith21 calls 300
Dihxm folds
*** FLOP *** [4s 7h 4h]
MissFaith21 checks
theesupream checks
WiredAces77 bets 1,450
Tulaneholdem calls 855, and is all in
Waylonizer folds
MissFaith21 raises to 3,598, and is all in
theesupream folds
tycon12 (Observer): your off man?
WiredAces77 has 15 seconds left to act
WiredAces77 calls 2,148
MissFaith21 shows [3h 3c]
WiredAces77 shows [9h 9c]
Tulaneholdem shows [8h 8d]
*** TURN *** [4s 7h 4h] [Ah]
*** RIVER *** [4s 7h 4h Ah] [Kh]
MissFaith21 shows a flush, Ace high
WiredAces77 shows a flush, Ace high
WiredAces77 wins the side pot (5,486) with a flush, Ace high
Tulaneholdem shows a flush, Ace high
WiredAces77 wins the main pot (4,485) with a flush, Ace high
MissFaith21: nh
Tulaneholdem stands up
MissFaith21 stands up
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 9,971 Main pot 4,485. Side pot 5,486. | Rake 0
Board: [4s 7h 4h Ah Kh]
Seat 1: Ropes didn't bet (folded)
Seat 2: SuprDonk (button) didn't bet (folded)
Seat 3: MissFaith21 (small blind) showed [3h 3c] and lost with a flush, Ace high
Seat 4: Dihxm (big blind) folded before the Flop
Seat 5: theesupream folded on the Flop
Seat 6: WiredAces77 showed [9h 9c] and won (9,971) with a flush, Ace high
Seat 7: Tulaneholdem showed [8h 8d] and lost with a flush, Ace high
Seat 8: rubbersoul didn't bet (folded)
Seat 9: Waylonizer folded on the Flop

****

And 2 horrible beats and I'm out in 170th... I hate this game.

BBT3

I was never a part of BBT or BBT2. I do plan on playing in several BBT3 events though. I think everything kicks off Sunday with MiamiDon's Big game. I'm not sure of the exact time at this point, but I'm pretty sure it's a $75 buyin event. That's too rich for my bankroll at this point, but I do have a couple $26 tokens saved up that I can parlay into a $75 token or three. I'm not sure what all other events are part of the BBT3 series. If they are a bunch of $75 events, then I probably can't play in too many because I'd have to keep satelliting my way into them. Assuming that's not the case, I'll probably make an effort to play in a lot them.

Playing blogger tournaments might be -EV, but having some of them at your table can make you a better player. Myself, I consider my MTT game mediocre at best. Hopefully BBT3 can help me increase my MTT skills without hurting my bankroll.

Life and poker goals

First of all, congrats to Hoy for taking down the FT 50/50 tourney. I've only played a few blogger tournies, but he has been, BY FAR, the toughest opponent at my tables. He also seems to be on a MTT tear lately.

TGIT. I'm starting to love Tuesdays. With the exception of American Idol doucheing up the cable TVs across America, I have time to play a good deal of poker. Tonight should be no exception. I've already got a token for the $13.5K guarantee and I also plan on grinding out a ton of cash game hands.

I've pretty much given up on February being a great month. I had such high hopes for the month early. I was starting the $50NL level and ready to have big things happen. A couple downswings and a rusted out water heater later and I'm just now inching towards that level where I can try $50NL again.

I was able to recoup my losings and water heater cash out just recently at the cash tables. I think I'm up maybe $200-300 on the MTTs thanks to the some frequent small cashes and a couple final table appearances.

I didn't set any goals for February that I could find in my blog posts (shows you how much I devote to meeting my goals huh?). So, I'm going to take this opportunity to set goals for March (and stick to them).

• 20,000 hands. This is a big number for me, but now that I'm back on the short handed kick, I don't think it will be too difficult to obtain. Especially since I'm scheduled to be out of town a few days with nothing to do but lay around in a motel room and play poker.
  
• Move up to $50NL and not look back. This time, I've got my wits about me. I feel comfortable with the $50NL limit now. I'm not going to turn tail and run so easily this time. If I take some hits early, then I'll grin and bear it. I might wait until I get the bankroll up over $1200 before moving up though.
  
• Set myself up for a new lawn mower in May. Spring is just around the corner and I still have this huge yard and only a push mower. I want to grind out enough money in the Months of March and April to buy a new mower with cash. I got my eyes set on a John Deere zero turn radius, so some grinding will need to be done!
  
• Focus on MTTs and work on my game in that department. I have much work to do in my MTT game. Up until a couple weeks ago, I never played them. I really like the MTTs and I want I'd like to hit some nice scores over the next couple months.
  
• Have fun with the game. I've never made this goal before. However, despite my shortcomings in February, I had more fun with the game than ever before. I think the variety kept it from getting old. I donked off some money playing PL Omaha, Sit N Goes, MTTs, MTTs, and even threw in some mixed games. This helped keep poker fresh and not so much of a grind. I'll probably continue this throughout my poker "career".
  

I have done a lot of soul searching the past few nights. I have just been trying to figure out what I want to do with my life. I know it's not what I'm doing now. I have decided that I need to take that next step to allow poker to get me out of the rat race. Right now, I'm sticking to it being a hobby instead of a job like I had intended at the beginning of the year. I'm not devoting enough time to the game as far as studying and grinding out the cash games. I feel my game is fairly decent for a small stakes donk at this point and I feel like I have room for much improvement.

So here's my game plan. First things first... I need to get to the $1/2 level. So that means grinding out and building the bankroll as best as possible. I wouldn't feel comfortable playing $1/2 without at least a $5000 bankroll if not more. However, at that level, I feel a decent earn can be made with some decent play.

Step 1: Take my $1000 bankroll and turn it into $5000 as I grind my way up the $50NL, and $100NL levels.

Step 2: Find a coach to help me take my game to the "next level".

Step 3: Continue to grind out $1/2 to pay off my credit card and any other "bad" loans I have.

Step 4: Continue to work on my game and grind $1/2 until I can reach about $12000 bankroll. Then I can work on playing $2/4 and beyond.

Step 5: Horde poker winnings and invest said winnings to establish some flows of passive income.

Beyond Step 5: This would include continuing to learn the game (with the help of a coach) and just move up. I'd be happy being a successful mid-stakes grinder. There's good loot in those games if you can beat them.

I want to note that this is not a path to making poker my sole source of income. That's the last thing I want to do. Poker and I have a love/hate relationship and I don't want to rely on it as my only source of income (although it would be nice to tell my boss to shove it). Poker is more like a part time job that can lead to an early retirement. That's my ultimate goal... early retirement. Between my salary, poker revenue, and some good investments, I feel I could be in good financial shape.

The problem is that I make these goals and they sound great, yet I don't follow through. Why? Partly because I'm lazy and partly because I kind of puss out. I'm what if I actually did all this and could quit my job at an early age? Gasp! What would I do? I don't know...maybe I'm just fucked in the head. All I know is if I want it to work, I'm standing at the bottom of a very tall mountain that needs to be climbed. This mountain doesn't have an escalator either. It's going to be hard work climbing that bitch.

Taking the night off

I'm taking the night off from poker. I feel like I've been devoting to much to the game lately and not enough time to the rest of life. So a night off is warranted. I'll be back tomorrow though. Tuesday is the night I'm free to play as much poker as I want.

Depression

I get depressed in the winter time easily. I hate the blah weather, the lack of activities, and just the sheer boredom of it all. I guess I could just move. I mean, the only thing I have here is my friends and family. Maybe a move is what I need to get my head out of my ass. But what would I do?

I've been in this funk for the past few weeks. I have been secluding myself from the outside world as much as possible. This is probably the worst thing I can do as it makes me more and more depressed when I have to leave the comforts of my home for the real world. I no longer have any desire to go out on a Friday or Saturday night. All I want to do is stay locked up and wallow in my self pity.

I really wish I knew what to do to "fix" my problem. I always feel better when I actually get out and do stuff. The problem is that I can't really think of anything to do. My friends aren't any help either because they are usually busy doing their own things like having babies, supporting families and such. I'm happy for them, but that's not who I am. But there are times when I feel left out. And there are times when I purposely leave myself out.

It always helps to take a step back and ask myself "What do I have to be depressed about?". Really nothing as far as I can tell. Aside from my day job, I pretty much like my life. Can a job make you feel this way? I try not to let it, but maybe subconsciously it is... I just don't know. All I know is that something has got to change.

Let me introduce...

.

10 in the Pit!

I still have some work to do on the site such as tweaking the elements, adding links, tweaking the logo. However, the base is there. I'm excited. There is a lack of bowling content on the web, so I figured I'd cater to that niche. It also helps that I love to bowl.

Loose Change Freeroll, Bowling, and Castro

Yesterday was a good day on the tables, spoiled by bad play by myself. The results were still good, but I felt dirty. I made some good plays and a bunch of horrible plays. I didn't suck out to get my wins though. I just tilted a bit and got impatient. I had a huge fish with a huge stack on one of my tables. This guy was 8 buyins deep at one point. I had direct position on him. He had a VPIP just south of 90% and I raised him relentlessly. He started firing back at me, throwing a ton of bluffs. I got the best of him most times, but once I stacked off very light against him (impatient) and once I called down when I knew I was beat. However, for the most part, I won all my money from him and one other guy. It was weird because 90% VPIP fish was running like God against everyone but me. Money was transfered to him and then to me through him. Results wise, it was a good day, poker wise, I'd rather forget about my horrible play. I have video footage too.

Don't forget that this Sunday is the Loose Change Freeroll. All you gotta do to be part of these freerolls is sign up for rakeback at one of the sites listed on the right and opt into the freeroll. This weeks prize pool is over $5200. There aren't a huge number of entrants either.

I'll be in a rush on Sunday because this weekend is the city tournament for bowling. I have made good showings in these the past 2 years. 2 years ago, I finished 1st in the singles, and our team finished first in the team event. I also won the best all around / all events prize. Last year, I finished 3rd in the singles, 1st in the team, and 2nd in the all around events. This year, with my buddy Rog back in commission and him having a SHITLOAD of handicap, I expect to do well. We have a pretty solid team. The singles and doubles events will be held Saturday (I'm scheduled to bowl at 12:30), and Sunday the team event will be held at 12:00. Hopefully I can be done in time to get home for the start of the freeroll.

In other news, Michael Moore is still a douchebag. Now he's wanting to have Fidel Castro as his guest at the Academy Awards. Hey, fine with me! Just make sure he gets to walk the streets of Miami for a couple hours before he leaves. I'm sure a lot of defected Cubans would love to meet him. What the fuck is wrong with people in this world? Why is this fat piece of shit even famous? Honest, if I ever meet this man, I will throw a punch just out of principle. I'll take some handcuffs just to get one good punch.

$25NL 6 Max is my bitch

Limit is dead

It's a sad day. I stopped by some limit tables on Full Tilt just a few minutes ago. I thought I'd donk around on a couple tables to pass some time. What I found out is that the games are now playing more aggressive than a $10/20 6 max game. It was actually amazing. There were some solid players, some thinking lags, and some turbo idiots, but no loose passives. NONE... I found one going through all the tables. He was almost broke.

I'm sure there are better games on other sites, but what has this world come too when we can't sit down at a 50 cent table on any site and be able to crush the game? As it stands now, I'm sure the game is more than beatable. But not like I've seen before. Maybe I just sit down at a bad time or something. I dont' know and I really don't care anymore. NL is my game these days. Limit is just... well, annoying, yet fun.

Schwag and more

I had a few FPPs left over on PokerStars, so I thought I'd put them to good use. I bought an Isabelle Mercier poster and "Winning in Tough Holdem Games" by Stoxtrader. Hopefully Stars will get that stuff to me ASAP.

I have been trying out the SnG's on Full Tilt, but haven't faired too well. First of all, the games are terrible for a SnG. They are chock full of regulars and very tight. Not like I'm used to seeing. Secondly, I can't win a fucking coinflip to save my soul. I'm due to win my next 1789021470172 coin flips...so mark that down.

I'm back to cash games tonight. No tournies, no SnG's, just straight up cash games. I'm even thinking about making another video. This might be my weekly Thursday thing... make a poker video and watch Lost...God, my life sucks.

Reads

This, little kiddies, is why we pay attention to what is going on at the table:


Full Tilt Poker, $0.10/$0.25 NL Hold'em Cash Game, 6 Players
LeggoPoker.com - Hand History Converter

UTG: $39.65
MP: $64.25
CO: $7.65
BTN: $110.45
Hero (SB): $25
BB: $32.95

Pre-Flop: 8 A dealt to Hero (SB)
4 folds, Hero raises to $0.75, BB calls $0.50

Flop: ($1.50) 6 9 7 (2 Players)
Hero bets $1.25, BB raises to $3.50, Hero raises to $11, BB raises to $32.20 and is All-In, Hero calls $13.25 and is All-In

Turn: ($50) A (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

River: ($50) J (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

Results: $50 Pot ($2.50 Rake)
Hero showed 8 A (a pair of Aces) and WON $47.50 (+$22.50 NET)
BB showed K 5 (Ace King high) and LOST (-$25 NET)

** Edit ***

It's also the reason we play within our bankrolls, because sometimes we have to get it in light and sometimes they win.

Victory!

My calculations from Saturday were correct. When I got to the bowling alley last night, we were 2 points behind the leader. There was a team behind us (only 3 points behind the leader) too. This team had 2 of the best bowlers in the league. It was position week, so here was the lineup for the contenders:

1st place: Silver Bullets

vs.

2nd place: Got Wood (My team) -2 pts


3rd place: Pocahontas Rodriguez -3 pts

vs.

4th Place: Phoenix -way the fuck back.

The approaches last night were almost like glass. I guess they thought with all the rain and snow that an extra buff to the approaches were in order. They were treacherous and I struggled with them all night long. The good news is that I bowled decent too.

In game #1, I started off with a 9 count spare. Then proceeded to strike on the next 6 frames. I finished game #1 with a 234. My buddy Rog also bowled a 221 and we picked up the slack for the "power" bowlers on our team which had a lackluster performance. We won game #1 by 57 pins.

Game #2 was just horrible as far as my footwork was concerned. Early in the match, I stumbled on the approach. This played with my mind as my feet were sliding every which way. I settled down a bit towards the end of the game though and just slowed everything down. I only finished with a 162. We lost that game by 3 pins.

Meanwhile on the pair beside us, Pocahontas Rodriguez overcame a huge defecit in the first game to win that game and then just spanked Phoenix in Game #2. This brought up the scenario. We had to win game #3 and Pocahontas had to lose their game #3. Any other scenario and we wouldn't win the quarter. If we won and Pocahontas won, we would lose the quarter by 1 measly point. If we lost, then the Silver Bullets would win the quarter. Ugh!

The good news is that in Game #3, it was only a tight race on our side for the first few frames. Our anchorman Devon finally found his line and ripped shit loose for a nice 200+ game. Everyone else bowled a decent game (I shot 177) and we took 6 out of 8 possible points from the Silver Bullets. Victory was not ours yet.

I don't really have a problem bowling under pressure. Hell, I just shot a 573 series when I could barely stand up under the pressure. The worst part about these bowling tournaments or leagues is having to rely on someone else to win or lose. It's gut wrenching.

By the time I got all my equipment packed up, Phoenix and Pocahontas were in a dead lock going into the 10th frame. Phoenix had already blown a 145 pin lead that they held only a few frames ago! Cocksucking old bastages! In the 10th though 2 key players for Pocahontas tossed splits on their first ball. Add a timely double from one of the weaker players on the Phoenix team and we clinched it.

We are quarter #3 winniners. What does this mean? Well, $100 extra for starters. We will bowl the winner of quarter #4 (unless we can win that quarter too) in a roll-off at the end of the year. The winner of that bowls in a roll-off against the 1st half winner for the league championship. I'd love to just win quarter #4 and bypass that rolloff and head straight to the championship. That's my plan anyway.

In other news, I'm bowling better now than ever before. Despite my fancy footwork last night, I'm getting awesome ball reaction with all my equipment. I'm hitting my mark and have figured out how to adjust better. The result is my average jumping up 4 pins in just a few weeks. I think my average right now stands around 175. I'd love to hit 180 before the end of the year, but I don't think we have enough games to make that mathematically possible. ***Edit***: I did the calculations..if I can average 195 for the remainder of the year, then my average will get above 180. I'm not sure if I can maintain a 195 average, but I'll go down trying!

Doyle backs Obama

It looks like Doyle Brunson has backed Obama for the presidential race. That's probably not any surprise to anyone. Obama seems to be the poker players choice. I'm still leaning towards Obama, but I'm not making up my mind for a while now. I highly doubt that McCain will get my vote this fall.

I'm not basing my decision on just poker though. I would love to see our whole tax system reformed. If you want to properly stimulate this economy, that's the way to do it. I highly doubt Obama or Clinton either one are interested in the Fair Tax. Only Huckabee seems to be interested in this great idea.

Day 4: Holy poop!

Wow, 4 days without caffeine and I'm feeling fine. The #1 result from this challenge is sleep! Can it be that all these years the one thing I haven't tried to help my sleep schedule could have been the most obvious? Or is this an anomaly? Fuct if I care! I'm getting 7-8 hours of sleep a night!

Last night wasn't filled with all the grinding I had intended. I just wasn't in the mood after my dismal showing in the $13.5K guarantee. I also didn't play a single cash game.

I did however play several $11 SnGs. The results were bad at those too. I played 8 SnG's. I had a 2nd, a 3rd, and the rest were out of the money. I won zero coinflips. The only 60/40 I won was 1 time when I was on the 40 side. It was just one of those nights.

I had some fun grinding out the SnGs and really wanted to do another set of them, but decided against it since it was getting to be bedtime and I was already yawning. I might do a couple sets tonight or play some cash games or maybe a tournament. That's what great about poker these days. I can play what I want!

I'm going to start running a bunch of token races in the next few days because I'd really like to be part of the upcoming BBT3. It sounds like fun and I have found a lot of the bloggers participating in this tourney to be weak/tight and most of the time, easily exploitable. I'm not putting down their play by any means nor will I point out any specific people. There are also a few bloggers out there that I hate to see at the table. Again, I won't mention any names.

Tonight's agenda includes bowling. In fact, it's position week. By my calculations we are in 2nd place, merely 2 points behind the 1st place team. It's kind of hard to say because we are due 8 points that aren't showing on the standings because another team never made up their games. I'm not exactly sure what other teams they didn't make their games up against either. However, if everything is indeed the way I had it worked out on Saturday, then we will be playing the #1 team tonight. If we beat them, then we win the 4th quarter. We have yet to win a quarter this year which sucks. Hopefully tonight is the night. I'm ready!

After bowling, I'm going to wind down with a nice dinner and some online poker.

Tuesday night agenda.

I'm going to do something differently tonight as far as poker is concerned. I'm going to try to play tournies and cash games at the same time. I'm going too start out playing the $13.5K guarantee at 6:00. I'll also have cash games going at the same time.

Depending on how things go in the 13.5K guarantee, I'll probably either jump into the $3K guarantee (Limit) or the $2K guarantee (Razz). If I'm still in the $13.5K, I'm not joinging any other tournies.

What's up with Paul Phillips?

So, did someone pull a gun on Paul Phillips or something? Judging from his last three posts, evidently a cop held him at gunpoint. I'm assuming they confiscated his weed too :). He's been on a roll the past 2 days spewing out some sort of hippy, gun hating, cop hating, B.S. on his blog. What's the deal Paul?

In all seriousness, I like Paul Phillips. Sure, he's your typical liberal hippy, but the man has made his way in life. He liberated himself from the IT prison and has gone on to lead what seems like an envious life. Respect there.

As for Paul's politics, I'll shovel them to the side like I do with Daniel Negreanu's. At least with Paul, he doesn't annoy the shit out of you. Daniel, on the other hand, is just a fucking annoying idiot. He made a couple of obvious reads on TV and got this "great reader of poker hands" rep. Since then he's been riding that rep by saying "I knew that's what you had" after every hand. He then spends his spare time regurgitating Al Gore quotes and telling me I'm going to rot in hell for having a V-8 engine in my truck.

Paul Phillips > Daniel Negreanu, but both are idiots when it comes to how the world really works.

Tuesday night's are for poker

I love Tuesday night's. American Idol stinks up the teletubes for most of the night, and I really don't ever have plans on a Tuesday....except for poker (and House when a new episode comes on). Tonight, I plan on playing the $13.5K guarantee with one of my tokens and I will also be playing some cash games as well. I don't plan on doing anything else other than poker.

I've been thinking about my poker bankroll and all the things I can blow it on. There are quite a few things out there that I really really want. The problem is that they are wants and not needs. Also, I'm having so much fun with poker right now that I don't want to blow my bankroll on anything. However, I do want to put my poker earnings to good use.

This is going to take discipline, but the first order of business for my poker earnings is to pay off my one remaining credit card that has a balance. This credit card balance shot up during the remodeling of my house and I've been working to pay it off since. However, when I refinance (which I'm going to start looking into doing sometime soon), I should be able to pay off the credit card with the added equity in my home.

The good news is that the credit card balance isn't outrageous, but I hate having credit card balances and I hate paying interest. So it's first on my agenda. However, I think the refinancing thing will happen before the poker earnings become high enough to pay off anything. I'm OK with that because all the stuff on the credit card was used in remodeling my house. It wasn't like I was out buying plasma TVs or anything.

The 2nd thing on my agenda with my poker revenue is to pay off my balance on my kitchen appliances. I did a 12 month same as cash deal with these around August (maybe) of last year. I have been paying off a little bit at a time. I'd like to have a real good month and just finish this thing off before spring.

Aside from those to "bad" debts, the only other debt I have is my house. I don't mind paying that though.

Once the discipline pays off the bad debts, then it's time to set up a reward fund using poker money. Basically what I'll do is take 1/2 of my earnings each week and put it in an account. When I want something to reward myself (like a nice BIG TV), I use the money from that account. In fact, any "treats" like that will have to come from the reward fund.

This will allow me to take my regular salary from my job and spend that money wisely. When I get the urge to splurge, then that money comes from my reward fund. No money in the reward fund? Tough shit...go grind out some hands and put some in there!

Day 3, feeling better

I never actually realized how much caffeine keeps a person awake. Here I am bitching and moaning all these years because I can't sleep for shit. I then take 2 days off from caffeine and I'm sleeping like a baby. Again last night, I felt no desire to stay up late and watch TV or anything. When it was my normal bedtime, I was ready for bed. Once I got in bed, I fell asleep. Nice!

So, after a good night's rest, I'm feeling much better this morning. I still hit the snooze one time this morning, but never really went back to sleep. I felt chipper too. I caught myself whistling in the shower. What the fuck is wrong with me? I've even come into work and not called any customer a Cuntrag.

It's official.... I must be sick.

In all honesty, I feel pretty damn good. I think a week with a sleep pattern like I have now and I'll be feeling awesome.

Easy game

I'm perfect on these 2 table token races. I just finished another one to add another token to the arsenal. Now I'm trying to win this 45 man SnG ($11). I'm 3 of 12 in chips.

***

Final table... 4 of 9 in chips.

***

Ghey, out in 8th... My KQs ran into AQo and JJ. I got short stacked and was trying to make a move.

As the day wears on...

I feel more tired and keep yawning. I don't expect to be able to play much poker if any this evening. I really wanted to make a video, but I don't think that will happen.

I VNC'd into my home computer and fired up some tables to datamine so they'll be ready when I get home. I'll just make that call when I get there.

------

I've been thinking about my poker game and what I want to do with this "hobby". I know my ultimate goal is to make money. That's the main reason I play. It's the real reason I started grinding again (pay off some credit card bills). When I first started my grinding again, I wasn't really enjoying poker. I wanted to win money, but I treated it like a job that paid very little. In no time, I hated it. This made it hard for me to grind out the hands to build my bankroll. It also made it hard for me to play good poker when I did play.

A few months later and I'm enjoying poker more than ever before. It's almost like poker is new to me for some reason. I can't explain my new found love of the game, nor how long it will last, but it's nice to have some motivation. I think the results have followed my positive outlook as well. This, in turn, makes poker even more fun. I have yet to hit that heater (unless you can't that 94 hand video I made last week...I call that a mini-heater because I've lost 5 buyins in less hands than that.)

Right now, I have no problem grinding out countless hands. However, since I've been hitting up the MTTs, I've been really enjoying those as well. MTTs are tough at times for me though because sometimes I don't have 5-10 hour chunks of time to dedicate that some MTTs require. I'm goign to keep playing them when I can though because I'm looking for that big score and I keep getting so close I can taste it.

I'm pretty positive my decision to mix things up a bit and play different games (PL Omaha, SnGs, MTTs, HORSE) have really kept the game fresh. This has helped my bankroll and my game overall. I sit down expecting to win. A few months ago, I sit down hoping to win, but expecting to get kicked in the nuts.

Can someone explain the purpose of Myspace?

Myspace is all the rage these days. Everyone flocks to it. People everywhere are "addicted" to the social networking site. Hell, I'm on it. That's where I have questions. The main question is "What is the fucking point?".

When I first joined Myspace, it was OK. It was fun searching for people I know or have known throughout my years. Then once I added them all or they added me, I really couldn't figure out what I was supposed to do next. I have my friends. I've seen their pictures. I've read their stupid fucking bulletins. I didn't reply to any of the bulletins and my pet hamster didn't die of rickets and I have yet to spontaneously combust. So, whats' the point? What does this site accomplish that photobucket/Flickr and an email address doesn't?

The only useful thing I can see about this site is the local music. Myspace is great for local bands. That's assuming the local band has enough common sense to make a Myspace page and figure out how to use it. It has been my experience that most bands in the genres of music I prefer have no computer skills. However, there are a few local bands that I follow and like the fact that they keep their schedules on Myspace.

Other than the music, what's the point? I have somewhere around 100 friends on Myspace. Some are bands, most are real friends, the rest are random poker players or pro bowlers that I've conversed or had some sort of contact with in the past. Out of all my friends, there might be 4 or 5 active on Myspace at any time. But what do they do? They send stupid fucking messages and bulletins all day long. Maybe they are updating their page with tons of glitter graphics and such making their page unviewable to most web browsers. Maybe they are just stalking 14 year olds with feet fetishes. I don't know. And I don't care!

Here is a list of the uses I could come up with for Myspace:

• See when your favorite local band is playing
  
• Stalk chicks half your age that love to put up half nude pics of themselves
  
• Learn how to properly throw up some gangsta sign or "The Shocker" every time someone snaps a picture of you.
  
• Tell me I don't believe in God and then promise my whole family will get herpes Fibromyalgia and die off at a rapid pace if I don't change my ways.
  
• Post a bulletin so I'll be sure to know what color underwear you're wearing.
  
• It's a great place for fat chicks to take pics of themselves from the shoulders up (after primping the hair and makeup) and give the allusion that they are fashion models.
  
• Also, if you ever get the urge to post a glittery Ron Jeremy picture wishing a person Happy Birthday, then Myspace is your spot!
  
• It's an awesome place to find ringtones, porn sites, cam whores, and other spam that clutter up your inbox and bulletin board.
  
• Last, but not least, if you ever wanted to find out what percentage of the population is dumb enough to fall for Phishing scams, Myspace is the spot to see just how little common sense people have.
  

Cliff Notes: Myspace is gay.

Water Challenge: Day 2

So far, so good. Nothing but water. I survived my first early morning with no Diet Dr. Pepper to clean my pallet. I was hating life this morning. I was fighting the feel to hurl back down into my guts. It took some will, but everything stayed inside.

Now that we're half way through the day, I am feeling a bit better. My tummy has settled anyway. I still have some lingering effects of my early morning headache though. I'm also sleepy, even though I went to bed early enough to get a good night's rest. My head and belly didn't want to cooperate though and I figure that's why I'm so sleepy. Of course, it could be the fibromyalgia. :P

I don't think I'll have any problem completing this challenge. It's pretty easy. I don't have a thing in my house to drink other than water (and a little bit of milk that is past the expiration date). So, the only thing I really have to worry about is forgetting to get water instead of soda or tea when I eat out. Again, I don't think that will be a problem either.

I hope day 3 will leave me feeling a little bit better. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to pee again.

Finishing the month strong

Thanks to do MTT cashes, I've pretty much crawled out of the hole I dug early this month. I'm right around break even when it comes to winnings for the month. Now, there's 10 days left in the month and I'm determined to make a profit.

I have gotten away from the cash games lately though. The only cash games I have played are some ultra micro donk stakes on Stars (thanks to Saturdays w/ Dr. Pauly for wiping out my Stars roll) and the few hands I played while doing my video. I need to get back to them.

I have one more $26 token left. I'll probably use that tomorrow and play in the $13.5K guarantee at 6:00. That is the most convenient tourney for me. After that, I'm going to try and restrict my MTT play a bit.

----

Don't forget to check out the rakeback deals I have going on on the right hand side of the page too. The website is pretty nice as far as functionality goes and I have been using these guys for years. The support is awesome as well. Plus, who loves free money?

Day 1: Isn't this supposed to make me feel better?

Day 1 of my water only kick has been completed. I really thought this was supposed to make me feel better, but I'm sick today! It all started last night. I was watching Weeds on my computer and just all of the sudden felt very tired. It was only 9:30 or so, but I was ready for bed. I managed to last until 10:15 before finally giving in to the drowsiness.

Once I got in bed, I instantly fell asleep. However, around 12:00, I woke up with a horrible headache. I was having cold sweats. Plus, I felt like if I moved abrubtly in any way, I was going to hurl. I managed not to hurl and finally fell back asleep around 12:30. A couple hours later, the same thing. Then again, 2 more hours later. This recoccured all through the night.

I did manage to get out of bed this morning and make it to work, but I ain't happy about it. I still have that headache and a sour stomach. So far, everything has stayed down, but I skipped out on breakfast this morning just to be on the safe side.

30 Day Challenge

Trish @ Building an Empire had a cool post the other day. She has decided to take a 30 day challenge and cut out TV. 30 days with no TV...cold turkey. I think she was incorporating television into her daily routine more and more and it was finally starting to take over. I had the same problem once before. Now I've been watching 2 shows a week myself, Lost and House (and sometimes Iron Chef America).

I wanted to do a 30 day challenge myself. I just wasn't sure what it was. Sure, I could say I'm going to exercise for the next 30 days, but I know that wasn't going to happen. Then this morning it hit me. I drink a ton of soda (pop for the hillbillies like myself). It's mostly diet soda, but it's a lot. I'm talking 6-8 cans a day. That can't be good on the kidneys.

So, I've decided to do a 30 day challenge where I drink nothing but water. No caffeine, no soda. Wow. I might go into some sort of shock. Today is day #1 of my challenge. So far, blah. It's morning time and this is when I need my soda the most. Water tastes like ass in the morning to me. After I've been up a few hours, I can deal with water though.

The benefits I expect to get from this challenge: better sleep (lack of caffeine), better health (I'm sure 6-8 cans of soda a day does wonders for the kidneys), and more money in my wallet. WHen you buy a 12 pack every day or a 24 pack ever other day, then that shit adds up. Hopefully all the water will flush out my system and I'll just be a happier, more healthy person.

$26 Tokens

These $8.70 token races have to be the easiest thing I've ever seen. Here's my strategy. Win 2 decent pots early, then sit out. Easy as 1,2,4.

***

And PL Omaha is the most fun game ever. I <3 Saturdays with Dr. Pauly.

Summary of the night

Full Tilt Poker Tournament #39355994 Big Double - B NL Hold'em
Buy-In: $60.00 + $15.00
255 players
Total Prize Pool: $15300.00
Start Date: February 15 10:02 PM ET

Dear WiredAces77,

You finished the tournament in 11th place.
There has been $191.25 added to your account.

You have earned leaderboard points for this tournament.
To view your current leaderboard points use the link in the Cashier window.

Congratulations!
Thank you for participating.

-----

This is an automated message sent from Full Tilt Poker.

Full Tilt Poker Tournament #39349769 Friday Nite Blogger Donkament NL Hold'em
Buy-In: $1.00 + $1.00
23 players
Total Prize Pool: $180.00
Start Date: February 15 9:00 PM ET

Dear WiredAces77,

You finished the tournament in 1st place.
There has been $90.00 added to your account.

You have earned leaderboard points for this tournament.
To view your current leaderboard points use the link in the Cashier window.

Congratulations!
Thank you for participating.

FullTiltPoker Game #5272736009: Friday Nite Blogger Donkament (39349769), Table 3 - 1200/2400 Ante 300 - No Limit Hold'em - 0:27:42 ET - 2008/02/16
Seat 1: WiredAces77 (71,494)
Seat 4: Zeem (35,644)
Seat 9: Julius_Goat (81,862)
WiredAces77 antes 300
Zeem antes 300
Julius_Goat antes 300
WiredAces77 posts the small blind of 1,200
Zeem posts the big blind of 2,400
The button is in seat #9
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to WiredAces77 [7d 2h]
Julius_Goat raises to 7,500
WiredAces77 has 15 seconds left to act
WiredAces77 has requested TIME
WiredAces77 raises to 17,899
Zeem raises to 35,344, and is all in
Julius_Goat folds
WiredAces77 has 15 seconds left to act
WiredAces77: lol...this one's for the bloggers
WiredAces77 calls 17,445
Zeem shows [Ah Kc]
WiredAces77 shows [7d 2h]
*** FLOP *** [4s 2c 9d]
*** TURN *** [4s 2c 9d] [8s]
*** RIVER *** [4s 2c 9d 8s] [Qd]
Zeem shows Ace King high
WiredAces77 shows a pair of Twos
WiredAces77 wins the pot (79,088) with a pair of Twos
Zeem stands up
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 79,088 | Rake 0
Board: [4s 2c 9d 8s Qd]
Seat 1: WiredAces77 (small blind) showed [7d 2h] and won (79,088) with a pair of Twos
Seat 4: Zeem (big blind) showed [Ah Kc] and lost with Ace King high
Seat 9: Julius_Goat (button) folded before the Flop

FullTiltPoker Game #5272787756: Friday Nite Blogger Donkament (39349769), Table 3 - 1200/2400 Ante 300 - No Limit Hold'em - 0:32:17 ET - 2008/02/16
Seat 1: WiredAces77 (132,782)
Seat 9: Julius_Goat (56,218)
WiredAces77 antes 300
Julius_Goat antes 300
WiredAces77 posts the small blind of 1,200
Julius_Goat posts the big blind of 2,400
The button is in seat #1
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to WiredAces77 [7d 2s]
WiredAces77 raises to 7,200
Julius_Goat raises to 55,918, and is all in
WiredAces77 calls 48,718
Julius_Goat shows [Ts Ah]
WiredAces77 shows [7d 2s]
*** FLOP *** [3h 9s 2h]
*** TURN *** [3h 9s 2h] [Kh]
*** RIVER *** [3h 9s 2h Kh] [3d]
Julius_Goat shows a pair of Threes
WiredAces77 shows two pair, Threes and Twos
WiredAces77 wins the pot (112,436) with two pair, Threes and Twos
Julius_Goat stands up
WiredAces77 stands up
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 112,436 | Rake 0
Board: [3h 9s 2h Kh 3d]
Seat 1: WiredAces77 (small blind) showed [7d 2s] and won (112,436) with two pair, Threes and Twos
Seat 9: Julius_Goat (big blind) showed [Ts Ah] and lost with a pair of Threes

Score!

Yea! I won the $1 rebuy blogger tourney... 1st MTT of the year.

In more important news, I have a big chipstack with 57 ppl left in the $75 Big Double tournament (B tourney). BBL.

***

I just took a bad beat AK < AJ all in PF yadayadayada. I'm now just below avg stack with 35 left. Top 27 get paid.

BTW, I dropped the hammer on the last 2 eliminations in the blogger tourney. 72 > AK and 72 > AT.

***

I'm 24th out of 28 in chips. One more until the money. Stupid breaks. Let's go!

***

In the money! Chipstack at critical levels. Let's go go go!

***

Double up... rivered flush with AK > 44 all in preflop. 22 left.

***

Down to 18, I'm 15th overall.

***

Made the next tier of money. 15 left.

***

14 left, I'm 12th in chips.

***

Double up, JJ > 22. 13 left, I'm just ahead of Huck seed in 8th.

***

Another fucking beat blew my chance at close to chip lead. AK < A7. I'm still 9 of 12 in chips.

***

Out in 11th. That was a disappointing $200. My A8s < 66 all in preflop.. The AK < A7 hand earlier was just fucking hideous.

Rakeback is here!

I told you it's coming and it's here. I now offer rakeback on several sites. The sites and percentages are listed on the right hand side of the page. If you are looking for a new room to play in, you might as well get some rakeback while you're at it!

Sign up is simple. Click the link and follow the instructions on the next page. It's so simple, even I can do it.

Members will get their own status page that is updated daily with the amount of rakeback owed to you for each site. There are also referral contetsts, MGR contests, and a weekly "Loose Change" freeroll that has a prize pool of over $7000 this week. The Loose Change freeroll is an opt-in program where you can have your extra cents on your rakeback taken out and put into the Loose Change pot. The pot is seeded with $2500 every Thursday and then each day, all the users opted into the Loose change pot have their change added to that $2500.

Lastly, there is a great support team working behind the scenes to make things as easy as possible.

My PokerStars ultra-micro update

I forgot to mention that I moved up in my ultra micro games on Stars. I had been playing $0.02/0.04 limit, but now I'm up to .05/.10. Go me! I'm moving up every time I have 100 BB's for the next limit. Even at the micros, I'm somewhat of a bankroll nit.

The penny games are a throwback to the hayday of poker a few years back. All you gotta do is value bet, value bet, value bet.

Great, now I have Fibromyalgia

For the past few months, I have been getting these bad cramps in my sides. I'm usually leaning over or twisting around or something when they hit. And when they hit, it's like someone shoved a lightning bolt up my ass. They hurt! I thought it was a product from bowling. Then I took a while off from bowling, but the cramps kept coming.

I decided to ask Dr. Google what was wrong with me today. Dr. Google wasn't very responsive until I figured out how to word my question. Then I think I hit it on the head: Fibromyalgia. Huh? What the fuck is this curious disease?

So, I've done some research and this disorder pretty much hits the nail on the head with me. The symptoms:

• Chronic pain and cramps...check
  
• Moderate to severe fatigue...check
  
• Chronic sleep distrubances...double check
  
• Irritable bowel syndrome...pretty sure that's a check, although I had chalked this one up to eating more roughage over the past few months.
  
• Cognitive Disfunction (brain fog)...check (chalked this one up to lack of sleep)
  
• Anxiety and Depression symtpoms...check (I thought it was boredom and winter weather)
  

So I pretty much match all the symtpoms of Fibromyalgia. According to Wikipedia, the disorder is not directly life threatening. However, due to the depression symptom, I guess I could decide to have a bullet for dinner one night and end it all. That's a good ways off for right now though.

The treatments are the fun part though. I have some options:

1.) I could smoke weed.
2.) I could exercise.
3.) I could get accupuncture.
4.) I could take one or more of many other drugs listed on the page.

Since I'm not a big fan of options 3 and 4, I'm left with 2 other options. I'm a big fan of weed, but those of you that have read my old blogs know that I'm too big a fan and try to keep away from it. That leaves exercise. Bah!

So, after all this research I've done this afternoon (on the clock no less!), you're telling me that I'm fat and lazy and that's why I get the shits frequently, get depressed, and have muscle cramps? What a ripoff!

In all seriousness, I guess I should see the doctor to see if this is really what I have.

*Edit*

Well, here's some news. Evidently Fibromyalgia is the reason I hate my job too!

Excerpt from Wikipedia:

Fibromyalgia can affect every aspect of a person's life. While neither degenerative nor fatal, the chronic pain associated with fibromyalgia is pervasive and persistent. FMS can severely curtail social activity and recreation, and as many as 30% of those diagnosed with fibromyalgia are unable to maintain full-time employment.[citation needed] Like others with disabilities, individuals with FMS often need accommodations to fully participate in their education or remain active in their careers.

In the United States, those who are unable to maintain a full-time job due to the condition may apply for Social Security Disability benefits. Although fibromyalgia has been recognized as a genuine, severe medical condition by the government, applicants are often denied benefits, since there are no formal diagnostic criteria or medically provable symptoms. Because of this, if an applicant does have a medically verifiable condition that would justify disability benefits in addition to fibromyalgia, it is recommended that they not list fibromyalgia in their claim. However, most are awarded benefits at the judicial level; the entire process often takes two to four years.

Here is the video

I haven't tested this video since it was converted to the WMV format. However, I'll post it anyway just for testing purposes. If it's broke, I'll try to fix it later this evening.

Click Here to download the video (99MB 33 Minutes).

TGIF

Whew, Thank goodness it's Friday. However, it's feeling like a Monday. Let me tell you how tired I was yesterday... I went to bed at 11:20 p.m. or so and woke up at 7:33 a.m.... non-interrupted. Over 8 hours of sleep! The problem was that my alarm went off at 6:30 a.m. and I never heard it. Whoops... so here I am at work... having not showered, I'm regretting my decision to let my hair grow out a bit (I think I'm turning into a hippy). I pretty much stuck my head under a sink and tried to groom myself a bit before getting to work (20 minutes late). My last walk by a mirror was hideous and I think I need a hat. Oh well, it's all worth it for a great night's sleep.

I'm in the process of converting my new 1st poker video to a smaller format that I can host myself. Hopefully the quality will be decent. If not, I'll keep trying. I'm still awaiting instructions for uploading it to Stoxpoker as well too.

In other exciting news, I have teamed up with a partner to offer rakeback to anyone interested. I'm working on getting everything set up right now, but assuming all goes well, I should be able to offer rakeback at the following sites: Bodog, Full Tilt, Ultimate Bet, Absolute, Noble, SunPoker, Battlefield (Prima/Micrograming), Poker Heaven (BOSS Network), Betsson (Ongame), Cake, and I can't offer rakeback on Pacific, but I can offer Loyalty (which is the same thing, you just can't call it the "r" word). In addition to rake rebates, you can also be part of an MGR contest to earn extra cash. Also, there is a weekly Loose Change freeroll that you can opt into. What this does is take the extra cents on your rakeback and put them in a pot. There is then a freeroll at the end of the week and this pot is the prize. This week's prize is around $7K, so it's not a joke freeroll.

I plan on putting one of my $75 tokens in play tonight. Depending on what time I get home from bowling, I might put both in play for the Big Daily Double tournies. If not, I'll probably play the $75 KO tournament at midnight. I also plan on raping the cash games much like I did in under 100 hands last night. Except, now I'm not tired anymore and I have an open schedule to play!

Wow

If I can run like this in every video I make, then every hand I play will be recorded from now on. The video is encoding right now. 94 hands, 5 buyins. Super duper!

*** Edit ****

F'n shit... During my tests: perfect audio AFter the real video: I can't hear shit.

*** Edit #2 ***

LOL, nevermind, headphones were still plugged in. I suck @ life.

*** Edit #3 ***

Now I need to figure out how would be the best way to host the video myself so my non Stoxpoker subscribing members can watch. Anyone?

New Egg rocks

New Egg rocks the party. I've already got my new headset. Now I'm all pumped up and ready to make a video tonight. I'm going to get my datamining started now.

Draggin' Ass

I'm draggin' ass today. It feels like one of those Thursdays from last year when I was bowling in the late late league and would never get home before midnight. Last night's lack of sleep was due to poker though. I went deep in a $4.40/180 tourney on Stars and missed my bedtime.

Never fret, though. Even though I went deep in the tourney, I still busted out as the bubble boy before the final table. I spent a majority of the tournament in 2nd or 3rd in chips. Then in just a couple hands it all blew up. The first hand of my demise was while there were 19 left (18 paid). I pop it up to 3x BB from MP with pocket 3's. The BB called (he had about 6 BBs left after the call). Flop came T, 9, 4 with 2 spades. We both checked. The turn brought a lovely 3 (non spade). He bet out the minimum, and I put him all in. He instacalled with A9 of spades. Of course, he got there on the river. A couple of hands later, I'm in the BB and open shove with A9o and get called by A5o. Of course A5 > A9. I'm down and a couple hands later, out in 10th. I doubled my buyin for my effort.... bah!

I also decided to play the Mookie last night. I started out slow and got to a critical chipstack early. However, I switched tables and stayed aggressive and built that chipstack back up to a top 10 chipstack. Then I turned into a cardrack for a few hands. In the span of about 6-7 hands, I was dealt kings twice, qq, and JJ. Of course, I ended up with about 1/4 of the chips I started with by the end of those 6-7 hands. The key suckout was when my JJ < A7 all in pre-flop with someone of which I didn't recognize and can't remember their name. Then I got it all in with another person which I can't remember with QQ vs. A9s. Guess who won that one?

I also blew monster a monster chipstack in a $3.30 KO tourney on Tilt. I can't remember exact hands, but it was more of the same old shit. I get my money in good, donkey takes the pot. I'm getting sick of it.

Ah well, it won't be long until it all blows over...it always does.

Keeping your bankroll secure

How safe is your bankroll? With the rise of scumbags on this planet, it's important to practice good security measures to keep both your money and your information safe. The days of being able to use your pet's or baby's name as the same password on every site are over! At least if you want some sort of security they are.


I can't tell you how many times I've been at a customers site and unintensionally saw their password as they typed it in. It's that easy. Assume you use that same password to log into your poker account? Bank account? You're in trouble!

A tool I have started using is Password Safe. It's easy to use and free. All you really need to do is generate a random password (a good one) and then store the info into Password Safe. You only have to remember one single password, yet your accounts are protected by many secure passwords.

This is a fairly simple, preventative measure to take to make sure your money, identity, and information are safe.

Card Dead - Bowling

I didn't get any cash games played last night because I was still stuck in Donkament mode. I'm glad too. I was so card dead last night that there is no way I could have won anything in a cash game. I played a 4/180 on Stars, 3 $3.30/90 man KO tournies on FT, 2 token races, and the $13.5K guarantee. No cashes, no tokens, nothing. I got dealt aces one time. I was in the big blind and everyone folded to me *sigh*.

The bankroll has went down a little bit since I went on this tournament binge. I have had a few cashes to keep my head above water. Add in the tokens I've won and I'm just above even. I have 2 $75 tokens left, and zero $26 tokens. I'll probably save the $75 tokens for this weekend though.

I won't get any poker in tonight because it's bowling night. Our team is doing good this quarter. We have this week and next week left to win the 3rd quarter. We are 2 points (1 game) behind the 1st place team, but we are on a roll. Our team had a total of 3 300 games bowled last week. Moose bowled a legit 300 in league on Tuesday and then followed it up with a 300 in the no-tap tourney on Friday. Devon, our anchor man, had a no-tap 300 on Friday as well. I have even been bowling well lately. I worked on my game a bit and my elbow is feeling better. My average has moved up from 171 to 174 in just 4 or 5 weeks.

That's all I have for today kiddies. Make sure to check out the NEW Demise of Sanity. Just don't mind the mess while I work on the site.

God Damned American Idol!

It's worse than turning on the TV in March when every channel is showing basketball. Now I sit down to watch me some House. Much to my dismay, American Idol decides to suck up 2 hours of TV tonight. Fuck you Fox!

Token in play

I'm using up my $26 token on the $13,500 guarantee that's starting in a couple minutes. Wish me luck!

I'm single tabling this bitch. I want to have 100% focus on the game so I can hopefully turn some of this satellite work I did over the weekend into a MTT score and get some real cash. I might do some semi-live blogging during the downtimes.

797 runners, 1st gets just under $5K.

*****

Once again, table full of tards:

Full Tilt Poker Game #5230116141: $13,500 Guarantee (39024330), Table 77 - 15/30 - No Limit Hold'em - 18:20:18 ET - 2008/02/12
Seat 1: WiredAces77 (1,870)
Seat 2: HookedOnY (970)
Seat 3: FellowesFS5 (1,865)
Seat 4: gball2 (2,745)
Seat 5: philam (1,255)
Seat 6: smeltslayer (1,670)
Seat 7: Chills_Lilley (1,540)
Seat 8: phita42 (715)
Seat 9: BigSarge76 (870)
BigSarge76 posts the small blind of 15
WiredAces77 posts the big blind of 30
The button is in seat #8
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to WiredAces77 [5d Jh]
HookedOnY folds
FellowesFS5 folds
gball2 raises to 60
philam calls 60
smeltslayer folds
Chills_Lilley calls 60
phita42 folds
BigSarge76 has 15 seconds left to act
BigSarge76 raises to 340
WiredAces77 folds
gball2 calls 280
philam calls 280
Chills_Lilley folds
*** FLOP *** [Td Kd 8d]
BigSarge76 has 15 seconds left to act
BigSarge76 bets 530, and is all in
gball2 folds
philam calls 530
BigSarge76 shows [Jc Jd]
philam shows [Th As]
*** TURN *** [Td Kd 8d] [Kh]
*** RIVER *** [Td Kd 8d Kh] [6s]
BigSarge76 shows two pair, Kings and Jacks
philam shows two pair, Kings and Tens
BigSarge76 wins the pot (2,170) with two pair, Kings and Jacks
The blinds are now 20/40
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 2,170 | Rake 0
Board: [Td Kd 8d Kh 6s]
Seat 1: WiredAces77 (big blind) folded before the Flop
Seat 2: HookedOnY didn't bet (folded)
Seat 3: FellowesFS5 didn't bet (folded)
Seat 4: gball2 folded on the Flop
Seat 5: philam showed [Th As] and lost with two pair, Kings and Tens
Seat 6: smeltslayer didn't bet (folded)
Seat 7: Chills_Lilley folded before the Flop
Seat 8: phita42 (button) didn't bet (folded)
Seat 9: BigSarge76 (small blind) showed [Jc Jd] and won (2,170) with two pair, Kings and Jacks

Bummmer...just got moved.

***

I almost donked it all off on a bluff. But I was able to recover from critical levels to back around an average chipstack.

*****

Around T2500 at the break, average is around T3000. I can't get any cards. There are still 375 people left and top 81 get paid.

*****

Honestly, the only hand I've had all tournament was pocket 10's. I got 191 callers on that one and saw an all paint flop. About 1/2 average stack now.

*****

Out in 241st palce. My top and bottom 2 pair ran into top 2 pair. Oh well, at least I won't miss House tonight.

Yay! Another new project

I have started yet another blog. The sole purpose of this new blog is to make money...by any means possible with nothing but a computer. I'm pretty ignorant when it comes to Adsense, SEO, affiliates, etc, so this is all new to me.

The purpose of the blog is to be a learning tool for myself and other readers. I want to explore possibilities of making money with computers, websites, etc from the comforts of home. I will chronicle my adventures as I start out with zilch and hopefully create some nifty new revenue streams.

The URL for the new blog is:

DemiseOfSanity.net

. Yes, I used my old domain. It was just lying around, doing nothing.

Headset

I bought my new headset. I opted for the Logitech USB 250 headset. It's nothing special, but it is USB which makes it easy to hook up only when needed. Plus I got the headset for around $28 shipped. I'm pretty psyched about making another video now.

Back to cash and beyond

I've donked around enough in these tournaments. Now, It's time to focus on the cash games again. I have $176 in tournament entries to use (2 $75 tokens + 1 $26 token). I'm going to use those in conjuction with the cash games and hopefully catch a nice MTT score.

I want to get back to making a video to be critiqued on Stoxpoker. I made one a while back for limit poker, but the audio sucked. The mic I bought was terrible and you pretty much had to deep throat it to get any kind of audio. On today's agenda is to research a fairly cheap but decent mic/headset.

I really want to take my game to the next level. I have this new found motivation to plug leaks and learn learn learn how to win at this game. So, instead of playing a bunch of hands (like I have been lately), I'm going to slow it down a notch and learn. I'm going to hit up the forums, watch some Stoxpoker videos, and practice.

I think I've figured out where I want to be in poker and where I want poker to take me. My goal is to build a bankroll and become a successful mid limit player. If I get to these mid limit ($2/4NL - $5/10NL), then I feel I can make enough money on the tables to "invest" my way out of the rat race. I realize it's a long grind ahead and I'll probably get frustrated with this game moreso than I have been lately. But the fact is that I love the game of poker.

MATH

I played my first Hoy. My first table was cool. Hoy and Surflexus was there, so it was kind of tough too. I played a little LAGgy and donked off some chips early. I caught a yahtzee flop early also and slow played it into destruction as I lost a bit more. Then I chipped up a bit and ended up busting someone whom I can't remember :)

I had a good chipstack for a few hands and then decided enough was enough. Time to donk it all off. I did, back down below an average stack. Finally, in the end I lost 2 races against wormmsu (or something like that) in a row and I went out in the middle of the pack.

There's a lot of testosterone and, in tonight's case, estrogen (I think) flying around those blogger tournaments. Some chick was pissed at some dude. I didn't really recognize but 1 or 2 names in the tournament.

Anyway, it wasn't quite as fun as Saturday's with Dr. Pauly and payout isn't all that great either. I doubt I'll play that tourney very often.

LO Mf'n L

Full Tilt Poker, NL Hold'em Tournament, 20/40 Blinds, 8 Players
LeggoPoker.com - Hand History Converter

MP1: 1,125
MP2: 1,370
CO: 3,190
BTN: 2,465
SB: 1,265
Hero (BB): 1,380
UTG: 1,460
UTG+1: 1,245

Pre-Flop: (60) A A dealt to Hero (BB)
2 folds, MP1 calls 40, MP2 calls 40, 3 folds, Hero raises to 180, MP1 calls 140, MP2 calls 140

Flop: (560) 7 9 7 (3 Players)
Hero checks, MP1 bets 945 and is All-In, MP2 folds, Hero calls 945

Turn: (2,450) Q (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

River: (2,450) J (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

Results: 2,450 Pot
MP1 showed 3 2 (a pair of Sevens) and LOST (-1,125 NET)
Hero showed A A (two pair, Aces and Sevens) and WON 2,450 (+1,325 NET)

* Edit *

Pretty sure I got put at a good table. Check these 2 geniuses battling it out:

Full Tilt Poker, NL Hold'em Tournament, 30/60 Blinds, 8 Players
LeggoPoker.com - Hand History Converter

SB: 1,100
BB: 3,190
UTG: 2,465
UTG+1: 1,245
Hero (MP1): 2,665
MP2: 1,480
CO: 1,355
BTN: 1,390

Pre-Flop: (90) T 9 dealt to Hero (MP1)
UTG folds, UTG+1 raises to 210, Hero folds, MP2 calls 210, 4 folds

Flop: (510) Q 2 4 (2 Players)
UTG+1 bets 60, MP2 raises to 480, UTG+1 calls 420

Turn: (1,470) A (2 Players)
UTG+1 checks, MP2 checks

River: (1,470) A (2 Players)
UTG+1 bets 120, MP2 calls 120

Results: 1,710 Pot
UTG+1 showed A T (three of a kind, Aces) and WON 1,710 (+900 NET)
MP2 mucked K J (a pair of Aces) and LOST (-810 NET)

* Edit #2 *

Same game, same table...how the hell am I good here?

Full Tilt Poker, NL Hold'em Tournament, 40/80 Blinds, 7 Players
LeggoPoker.com - Hand History Converter

UTG+1: 40
MP: 3,070
CO: 2,375
Hero (BTN): 2,565
SB: 2,060
BB: 1,295
UTG: 1,340

Pre-Flop: (120) Q Q dealt to Hero (BTN)
UTG folds, UTG+1 calls 40 and is All-In, MP calls 80, CO raises to 400, Hero calls 400, SB raises to 2,060 and is All-In, 2 folds, CO calls 1,660, Hero raises to 2,565 and is All-In, CO calls 315 and is All-In

Flop: (7,010) 9 4 6 (4 Players - 1 is All-In)

Turn: (7,010) J (4 Players - 1 is All-In)

River: (7,010) 7 (4 Players - 1 is All-In)

Results: 7,010 Pot
UTG+1 showed 7 8 (a pair of Sevens) and LOST (-40 NET)
CO showed K A (Ace King high) and LOST (-2,375 NET)
Hero showed Q Q (a pair of Queens) and WON 7,010 (+4,635 NET)
SB showed 2 2 (a pair of Twos) and LOST (-2,060 NET)

*Edit #3*

I'm chipleader with 9 left. I should be able to fold to a token.

*Edit #4*

In the money, 1 more til I get a chip :). MATH starting up, I'm in.