LOL Blonkaments.

Played in Kat's $1 Rebuy blonkament last night on Full Tilt at 9:00. 32 Bloggers showed up to play in this one. It was my first time playing and the play was a little strange, to say the least. Early in the "tournament" I get Queens in the Big Blind and the under the gun player pushes. A late position player insta-calls, I don't know what to do. (Could be crushed here.) I figure it's only $1 to rebuy so I call. They both have the hammer unsuited?? I had them both covered so 2 quick rebuys. One player next to me rebought 5 times in one orbit. The tourn. was a good way to blow off steam. I will play in it again. It's also good value for you money, with a good structure. First place paid over $150, ended up in 15th. May post about some other hands later on. Good luck at the tables. Tony

Another Night Another Sit-N-Go.

Played one $22 SNG last night. Good news is I came in 3rd, bad news is that I came in 3rd! When we got down to 3 handed the short stack had around 1000 while the leader and I had around the same. He had me covered by around 300 chips. Normally in this situation I will avoid him until we get the short stack out. That way I lock up 2nd place money. I don’t want to let the leader run away but don’t want to battle him while one player is on life support. Anyway I get dealt pocket eights in the big blind. The short stack folds and the big stack just calls. Flop comes 9-8-6 with two hearts. Big stack insta-pushes, now what do I do. I have flopped a monster, unless he has flopped a straight or a set of nines I am way ahead. Being he insta-pushed I don’t put him on either of those hands. Put him on a flush draw with overs or a pair and a straight draw. Should I call of fold? I decided I want to win this one so I call. He turns over A-2 of hearts. Of course you know where this is going, heart on the river and I finish in 3rd! Did I make the right move? Please post a comment about the call I made. Good luck at the tables. Tony

Running Good Ends

Last night my running good ended. I was due for a losing night anyway. Played one $22 No Limit SNG and couldn’t get anything going. I hung on until we were down to six but was getting low. I open pushed a few times to gain some chips. Then I got low again and pushed from the button with K-10 off. The Big blind who only had me covered by around 100 chips went into the tank. He finally called me with K-Q off and knocked me out. I like his call there, he knew I was getting short and desperate. Also played a $5.50 HORSE tournament on Full Tilt. Really couldn’t get anything going in this one either, finished in 52nd out of 81 players. Limit HE didn’t treat me any better. Moved back up to $2-4 and lost 22 BBs. One hand I had pocket nines and the final board was J-J-2-7-9. My opponent had brought it in for a raise so I put him on high cards. He capped the river and I knew I was in trouble. Keep thinking he had pocket Kings. Nope J-9 off was his monster pre-flop hand! I played $1-2 also at the same time and did great. Won over 20 BBs in an hour. I have been running so good at $1-2 lately. Just want to move up as my bankroll builds back up. Tonight I will grind it out at $1-2, then take a shot at moving up in a few days. That’s it for today. Good luck at the tables. Tony

"Poker's nice, I like to play Poker."

Those are the words of Chiau Giang, probably said after he won a big pot! As seen on ESPN during the 2005 WSOP Pot Limit Event.(It may be 2004 but you get the point.) I played one SNG last night and took first place. I decided to move back up to $22 ones, even thought my bankroll isn’t quite there yet. Coasted through this one without much trouble. Just love poker when everything is going right. When we were down to four players I got dealt Aces in the big blind. The short stack, on the button pushed right into me. I insta-called to be shown K-8 off. He flopped a King but my hand held up for a change. It’s funny when I am running bad I will lose this hand often. When I am running good, like now things like this happen over and over again. I am actually winning my 80-20 hands all in pre-flop! What a luxury that is. I am now playing fearless poker thinking I am going to win everyday. This sometimes is bad being playing too confident has always killed me in the past. As for the Limit HE grind I lost a few BBs last night. No big deal was just trying to grind out some points on Full Tilt. I need the points to qualify for the Aussie Millions Free roll and to maintain my Iron Man status. Also Rake back is always nice to get at the beginning of every month. Would love to make an AC trip this weekend but it doesn’t look good. Have a wedding to go to on Sunday and some other things to do on Saturday. Maybe we can do a hit n run on Friday night. Watch out $10-20 players I am running goot! Good luck at the tables. Tony

Sit-N-Gos Rule!

SNGs are awesome! Funny how when you are running good everything about poker is great. Played one SNG last night and took it down. Granted it was only an $11 one but once the bankroll gets a little healthier I will move back up to $22 ones. Ran great multi-tabling Limit HE last night also. Won 25 BBs in two hours. I am trying to get a lot of hands in, want to qualify for an Aussie Millions Freeroll on Full Tilt. Need to earn 5000 points in a two week period. For someone working full time it’s not an easy task to do. Closest I ever came is 3800 points in two weeks. I will probably fall short again, but it’s ok being my rake back should be huge over this time. Tonight I look forward to some more grinding at Limit HE. May get a SNG or two in also. Tonight is WSOP Main event night on ESPN. Can’t miss that Monday and Tuesday nights are fun these days. High Stakes on Monday and the WSOP on Tuesday. Looking forward to a new season of the WPT which will be on Monday nights on GSN also. Good luck at the tables. Tony

Another Sit-N-Go

I broke the SNG bad streak that started yesterday morning. I took second in the last one I played in for the night. I should have won it, had a 11,000 to 2,500 chip lead at one time heads up. I blew it big time. He decided to go uber-aggressive on me, pushed all in like 6 hands in a row. I should have looked him up but decided to wait him out. Bad move being a few hands later we both flopped an Ace but his kicker was a little higher A-Q to A-K. After this hand he owned me the rest of the way. Oh well I went 1 for 5 in the money yesterday. Also won 10 BBs playing limit HE, so the day play wasn’t all bad. Good luck at the tables. Tony

Sit-N-Gos ARG!

I went on a SNG rush 2 days ago. I cashed in five straight, 2 firsts and 3 seconds. That for me was great being I have been running so bad at them lately. So this morning I was all pshyched up to kick some ass at them. I got coolered in 4 straight today! Ran Kings into Aces twice, nines into tens once, and Aces into 4-6 off! 4-6 off hand was just so sick. I make a 5x the big blind raise after 3 limpers when we are on the bubble. Just the Big blind calls me. The flop comes j-4-2 with 2 clubs. He bets the pot and I push for 1000 more. He insta-calls me, being he is pot committed. A 6 peals off on the turn and I lose my forth one of the day. The variance in SNGs is just so brutal. I have cashed in 9 straight and gone 16 straight without a cash. It's such a rollercoaster ride. All the articles I have read say to play them to cut down on your variance. I beg to differ on this! I may try a few more later. Good luck at the tables. Tony

WCOOP $215 RAZZ Tournament

Played in it last night. Finished in 798 out 1176 players. Really was surprised I lasted that long. Is it possible to be card dead for a whole deepstacked, slow structured, tournament? Not only that I swear I was the bring in with a King like 50% of the hands! Every wheel draw I had didn't get there. Except once I made a wheel after a guy with a King on 3rd called my raise. I had a wheel in 5 cards, we capped it on the river. He caught his wheel on the river, we chopped! This post is sounding like a total whinefest, that's because it is. RAZZ will do that to the best of us :-). I hung on with less then 500chips from 1000 people left until my bust out. I am the master on the RAZZ short stack. Anyway may play in the $215 HORSE on Stars tonight. Good luck at the tables. Tony

Taj Tournament

This is the second post about my tournament experiences this week in AC. I played in the $300+50 Hi/Lo Stud tournament at the Taj on Tuesday. Yes the juice was $50, 16.6% is excessive! Still I played in it being don’t get a chance to play live Hi/Lo Stud that often. It’s probably my best tournament game. At my first table I just crushed everyone. I had double my chips by level three. (Busted 2 people myself.) Really myself and one other player knew how to properly play Hi/Lo. When the table got broken up the 2 of us left with most of the chips. My next table was made up of a bunch of Hi/Lo Stud regulars. Included in this bunch was Chris Reslock, bracelet winner in Stud this year. I have played Hi/Lo with him before, very solid player. He almost always gets his money in ahead. Well I got to this table and started crushing it also. First hand I played I had a straight on 5th with a low draw. I made the low draw and scooped a huge pot against 4 players. At this point we were down to 70 players, 16 getting paid. I was close to the chip leader of the whole tournament. I had 22,500 chips with at the 600-1200 level. Crazy as it seams I only had enough to get to the river 3 hands. I should have totally tightened up and waited for premium hands. Instead I decided to bully people, whenever I started with big pairs. On one hand I made four nines on 6th street against all in. He had a draw to a low, which got there on the river so we chopped the antes. I put him all in 3 other times, only to double him up all 3! Still had plenty of chips when the coolers started. Three times heads up against the same player I lost huge pots with 2 pairs against straights. Actually this player was just killing me every time we were in a pot together. His low draws always seamed to become straights against me. I sucked it up and tried to come back only to go all in against him. I had 4 to a straight with 3 over cards to his hand. I caught 3 bricks, was ahead until he made a pair on the river. I got knocked out in 45th, was so brutal. Felt like someone punched me in the stomach. I have noticed there is always one person at the table that totally holds over me. Should have avoided him, instead wanted to get my chips back from him. Never make it personal, play your hands in limit poker, not for revenge! Really thought this was to be the tournament to give me that big score I have wanted. Oh well I will be at it again tonight in the $216 Razz on Stars. Look for me there, Screen name AVIGANOLA. Good luck at the tables. Tony

WPT $2100 Super

I arrived in AC on Saturday looking forward to winning my seat into the WPT Main event. The Super started at 1:00pm with 10,000T an 40 minute blinds. It seamed like a great structure, with a lot of play. Really by the 4th level no one at the table was that safe. My plan was to play super tight for the first five levels and then use my table image to my advantage. It worked out very well for me. I was up to 20,000 by level six. Felt my play was great, had a read on most of the table. We lost 2 players and had 3 very short stacks at our table. I decided it was time to make some moves. On one hand I raised 3 times the Bid Blind with 8-9 suited. If folded around to the big blind who thought and thought about his decision. He was very short so I thought he would push for sure. He showed me A-K and folded!! That's when I knew my image was working perfectly. I was able to chip up nicely for the next few levels. Then the worm turned on me. I went card dead, my steals were met by re-steals. Then I called a shorts push with Queens only to run into Aces. Then my Jacks got cracked by A-10 off. BTW - we started with 285 players, they gave out 60 seats to the main event. When we got down to 120 players left I was a short stack myself, actually half the table was. I went into push monkey mode. I was pushing twice every orbit. It was working but then I ran Queens into Aces again. I became short again when we were down to 100 players. Nothing major happened and my stack just slowly got eaten away. I finished in 90th place. Played for six and a half hours and won nothing for it. I wanted to play in the main event so bad! Of well next time I guess. I will write about my other tournaments later on today. That's it for now. Good luck at the tables. Tony

I am back home.

Back from my trip to AC for the last 4 days. Played in four tournaments, went deep in three of them. I am too tired tonight to write about them. I will do a few posts about them starting tomorrow morning. Did very well in live play also. Good night. Tony

Borgata WPT

I am leaving for the Borgata, in a minute. Am playing in the $2000+100 Super Satellite for a Main event seat. One in five win a seat, so I like my chances. Wish me luck! I will try to post some chip updates tomorrow, during the main event. Good luck at the tables. Tony

Playing SNGs again

Feel like my SNG problems are finally resolved. Started playing them again last night. My first one was a disaster, flopped a set of Jacks and got it all in on the flop. At this point I was second in chips. The flop was very scary K-Q-J. The chip leader called me with A-K and rivered a ten to knock me out. I was thinking here we go again. I keep at it and took third in my next No Limit SNG. BTW got coolered in this one too, at least was in the money. Then I played a HORSE one on Full Tilt. Took down first place for a nice boost to my confidence. Lost a small amount playing live but had a winning night overall. I went back to my old style and it paid off. Play super tight for the first few levels. Once some people get knocked out open up my game. In the HORSE tournament I hadn’t played a single hand until two people had gotten knocked out. At that point I had 1300 chips left and then took half of a huge pot in Hi/Lo stud. This put me up to second place, with some breathing room. In these limit tournament it’s good to have enough chips that you can absorb the bad beats you are surely about to receive. This is the nature of limit poker, take the bad beats and shake them off. I have learned this from playing many Hi/Lo Stud tournaments over the years. Starting with Aces up on forth and someone going for a low will back into a straight more times then you think. A straight and a low is such a monster in this game.(Also a flush and a low is too!) Speaking of Stud Hi/Lo tournaments may be playing in the Taj one on Tuesday. I hope not because that will mean I got knocked out of the WPT main event at the Borgata. Of course this all depends on if I win my seat into it on Saturday. My vacation plans have all kinds of contingences build into them. Wish me luck in whatever tournament I play in. Good luck at the tables. Tony

Getting back on the Horse

Last night I played more $1-2 Limit HE. My motto is if you fall off the horse to get right back up on it. Also to book a win the day after I take a big loss. That is exactly what I did last night, booked a win of 12BBs. I even won a little on Absolute Poker last night. That site has been the death of me, for the last few weeks. Even when I got hammered on Tuesday night, won a small amount on Full Tilt. It was Absolute where I lost all my money. The play on that site is just bizarre. I wrote about it yesterday. I raise under the gun with Aces and the button cold calls with 5-4 off. He flops a five and rivers one to crack my Aces! Shit like that just kept happening all night. I was playing at a short-handed table. Have had no success at short-handed limit HE lately. My biggest loses have been at them. When I used to take shots at short handed $5-10 on Stars made money regularly. Now I can’t beat .50-1.00 or 1.00-2.00 short handed. (I have only been playing them on Absolute.) Tonight I may get some practice in a MTT No Limit tournament. Want to get tuned up for the WPT this weekend at the Borgata. I hope I win my satellite on Saturday. Have never played in a WPT main event. Have had some success in deep-stacked tournaments on Stars and Full Tilt. If I don’t qualify will be playing in the Stud and Stud Hi/Lo events at the Taj on Monday and Tuesday. If any of my readers will be at either event stop by and say hi. Good luck at the tables. Tony

Brutal Limit HE Game.

I almost forgot how brutal Low Limit HE can be. Things have been going fine for me this week, until last night. Played 2 hours of $1-2 Limit HE and lost 80 BBs. It was just sick, Aces losing to 5-4 off. Flopping top two pair and losing to runner, runner straights. Nothing held up at all for me all night long. One hand was just totally sick. I had 7-8 suited in the Big Blind. See a flop heads up against a player that, didn’t have a clue. He played so bad is wasn’t funny! Flop come A-7-2. I bet out to see if my seven is good, he just calls. So I think/know I am ahead. Turn brings a two, bet out again and he calls. River brings a nine, which looks like a safe card for me. For some reason I am cautious and check to him. He fires out a bet, which I call. Turns over 9-10 off and wins the pot! This is the way I was running last night. People chasing me down with no draw, other then 2 under cards to the board. Getting there and beating me in a pot they never should have been in. This is not a bad beat post, just me venting about how frustrating limit can be. On the live Poker front we plan to go to the Borgata this weekend. Will try to win a seat in the WPT main event, took some time off from work. Wish me luck. Good luck at the tables. Tony

Borgata Ladies Event

Got back from the Borgata, late last night. Actually it was early Monday morning. I am so tired today, got to bed at 2 am, and woke up at 7am for work! Good news is that my wife cashed in the ladies WPT event. They had a good turnout of 385 ladies for $300 each. She took 20th for $500, very frustrating, played 10 hours to win $200. She was chipping up nicely all day. She was 10th in chips when the following bad beat occurred. Keep in mind her table image was super tight all day. A late position donket pushed all her chips in the middle from the button. My wife has A-K off suit in the big blind. After asking for a chip count she went into the tank for 5 minutes. Blinds were high like 3K-6K with a 1K ante. My wife had 80,000 and donket had 50,000. If she wins this hand would be close to the chip lead, first prize was over 30K! She finally decided to call and we all stood up to see the hands. The donket had A-Q off? My wife had made a great read/call would she be rewarded. Of course not, this is No Limit HE tournament poker. The river brought the Queen, for the 3 out suck out. She was totally devastated. Her opponent started to giggle loudly, hee-hee hee-hee hee-hee. I wanted to pick up a table and drop it on her head. I could never play in these ladies events, they are worse then men! Play like a donkey and get rewarded. She had her eye on the final table prizes, they were so sweet. After playing great for 10 hours she was knocked out within 10 minutes of this hand. Of well we will be at it again next week. Good luck at the tables. Tony

Crappy SNGs!

Played three SNGs yesterday with the same crappy results. Came in forth twice and fifth one. Felt I played very well in all three of them. Always seam to lose on the bubble in them. It’s just so sick a nine man SNG and I am not finishing in the top three. I am only playing $11 ones right now. If I can’t beat these there is no sense playing for higher stakes. Played some Limit HE on Full Tilt and did fine at it. Won around 10 BBs in two hours. Not a great result but a win is a win. As always clearing Bonus and getting rake back at the same time. Looking forward to the Borgata this weekend. Hopefully the wife will dominate the Ladies event on Sunday. If she just builds up some chips early has a good shot at it. She won a ladies event, at the Taj last year, actually a three-way chop for first. In the mean time I will grind it out at $10-20, can’t wait. This online play gets old after awhile. Nothing beats riffling some chips at a real table against players you can see. Even I am observant enough to see if someone isn’t comfortable with his or her hand. Monday should see a good trip report about this weekend. Good luck at the tables. Tony

Tournaments Revisited

Last night I eased myself back into the tournament scene. I played a $5.50 HORSE Tournament on Full Tilt. I started at 5:45 and I lasted until 9:00. Took down fourth, good for $35. It wasn’t a huge score but feels like I have broken the bad streak. Fourth was actually disappointing being I was the 2nd biggest stack when we got to the final table. I was getting tired, as a result of a glass of wine I had with dinner. Also really wasn’t paying attention being I was sweating my wife who moved up to $55 SNGs on Stars.(Even though her bankroll isn’t big enough for them.) My tournament paid $117 for first, hers $225. They were down to 3 players so I was more interested in what she was going then my own final table. She took 3rd in here for $90, got coolered a few times. This weekend we are going down to the Borgata. Wife is playing in the Ladies event on Sunday. Will post about her play on Monday. Also will give a trip report about the $10-20 Limit HE games at the Borgata. Yum-yum should have a nice score from them. Good luck at the tables. Tony

A Small Win

Booked a small win last night. I always do this when things are running bad for me. It helps to boost my confidence by having a positive day. Even if it’s only 6 BBs, at least it’s not a lose. I didn’t have much time to play being I wanted to see the WSOP main event on ESPN. Last night’s episode was very entertaining. Love watching Daniel Negreanu play in tournaments. Think he could have a job doing stand up or as a poker commentator. His reads last night were on so often it was scary. It’s a shame he made that terrible call to get knocked out on the main event. 8-10 on a flop of 8-7-6 is not where I would want to risk my tournament life. He could have folded and had enough chips to wait for a better spot. If he had 8-9 it would have been a different story. I don’t like his call there one bit. Problem is we don’t have all the information that led up to that call. Maybe his opponent was caught bluffing or was speeding before the hand took place. I read his BLOG entry about that hand and he wasn’t happy about his call either. His BLOG is great, I would highly recommend reading it. You can get there on card player’s home page, the BLOG tab will take you too it. Tonight I may try to play a SNG or two. Want to ease myself back into them, as for MTTs will continue to avoid them. Good luck at the tables. Tony

P.S. – Please remember to click trough on my Google banner above this post. I need to pay the bills : - ).

Damn Stupid Tournaments

Damn I hate tournaments. Yesterday I decided to end my break from them so I played a few. Six to be exact, cashed in a SNG but bubbled in three mitt. When I say bubble I am talking one hand from the money in one. In a HORSE Satellite on Stars it was paying 14 places. I got the high card in the Razz leg, putting me all in. Got knocked out and at the other table the other short stack got knocked out 15 seconds later! Sure it was only my buy in back but would rather have my $39 back then get nothing. The satellite was paying 10 places to the WCOOP $215 HORSE tournament. I plan on buying into it, if I don’t win a seat. Well yesterday I wasted $78 trying to win a seat and 2 weeks ago I spent $44. It appears I should have just bought in and not wasted my money on satellites. Also finished two out on the money in a Hi/Lo tournament on Full Tilt. This was very depressing being I had a ton of chips the whole tournament. Went card dead toward the end. Then the short stacks kept winning their all ins. I also played in a freeroll 630 man satellite on Full Tilt for a round two seat for their Aussie Millions prize package. I got it heads up with a 2-1 chip lead. Had him all in and he 2 outered me on the river. I lost this one, didn’t cost me anything except time wasted. Even the SNG that I cashed in was very frustrating. When we got heads up he had a 4-1 chip lead on me. I chipped up by stealing many small pots. I had a 3-1 chip lead on him when I put him all in. I had flopped trips so it looked like I would win one. Nope again two outered on the river. Tournaments are just too frustrating. I may have to take another break from them. Cash games weren’t very good to me yesterday either. I bled around 40 BBs at $1-2 yesterday. Wasn’t that bad being earned much bonus/rakeback, around $35 worth. I will keep at it tonight. Good luck at the tables. Tony

Borgata $10-20 Limit.

I had fogotten just how great this game can be at times. I started out at a must move table and treaded water for an hour. Then I get moved to the main game. Sat down to pocket Aces the first hand and boy did I get action. I was in middle position and it was three bet before it got to me. I of course capped it and four of us saw the flop. It was J-10-2 offsuit. The big blind led out and 1 person limped. I raised and the three of us saw the turn. Turn was a blank, he checked and I bet. (middle player folded.) River was the worst card for my hand, almost worst. A King fell on the river. I kept thinking he had pocket Kings or Queens. He checked and I wimped out by turning over my hand. He had A-J suited! Saw a capped flop, called 3 bets cold from the big blind with A-J suited? I could tell this would be a great game. I later started with pocket Queens that held up also. The beats were bad being the play was just so awful. This game reminded me of a $3-6 beginners game. People calling down with bottom pair, that just can't be good. (When there is a pre-flop raise and the flop comes with an Ace.) I can't wait to go back and play again, maybe next week. I will post more about this game tomorrow. Good luck at the tables. Tony

Borgata Trip Report.

Great news to report from the $10-20 Limit Holdem game! We played for 3 hours with great results. I won 20 BBs and my wife won 12, not bad for a hit and run. We had an early dinner and drove home. Some great hands will be posted about later. Good luck at the tables. Tony

Running Good - NOT!

My running good at Limit HE has come to an end, in a big way! Took the worst $1-2 Limit HE beating yesterday. Lost 106 BBs in three hours! Couldn't do anything right. Over that time flopped around 40 open ended straight draws, got there once! Flopped around 30 flush draws, got there 3 times, lost 2 of them! It was one of those days. Got pocket Kings/Queens in the Bid Blind and everyone would fold to me. It was just sick, after 14 days of winning I was due for a loss. Oh well today we are off to the Borgata, wish me luck. Got to go get ready. Good luck at the tables. Tony