Monday, December 31, 2007

FullTilt Sunday Brawl Results

These days I am starting to feel like the designated bubble boy. I played for four hours in yesterday’s Sunday Brawl on FullTilt. They had 1310 players with 126 spots played. I finished a few spots out of the money. The tournament only cost me $7.60 to enter being I won my way into a $55 Super Satellite, then into the $256 buy in Sunday Brawl.(Not totally true also spent $26 on another satellite into it earlier in the day.) Also had three chances to win a $40 Knockout Bounty but lost all three pots. I was ahead pre-flop in two of them and the third one I flopped four hearts with two overs but couldn’t suck out. One hand early in this tournament really put me behind and in danger. It was early, think 2nd level with blinds of 15-30. I got dealt pocket Kings and brought it on for the pot. Only the big blind called and the flop came 5-6-7 with two spades. This is a really bad flop for pocket Kings. So many hands can crush me here, 6-7, 8-9, and even 7-8 is a flip. The big blind made a huge over bet all in for 1500T chips. This was half my stack and I went into the tank. In a normal, non-bounty tournament I can fold this hand easily and continue on with my 2900T. I hate risking so many chips early with only one pair. Of course there were some reasons why I knew I was ahead and should call. First thing is he saw the flop and insta-pushed. Why would he push so fast if he had a made straight. Next thing is I hate to stereotype but his country of origin was Norway, players from this region tend to play pretty wild with draws. Also it was early in the tournament and he was already down to 1500T. Another factor was he had played the last four hands straight. Last but not least if my hand held up I would get the $40 bounty for knocking him out. Add all this up and it made a call the right move for me. So I called and he showed me the mighty 6-9 off? Of course and eight peals off on the turn and bad play is rewarded in poker as usual. This game can be so unfair at times. This hand put me on tilt for a few minutes so I took a five-minute break to shake it off. I came back and played really well, within an hour and I was back over my 3000 starting chips. Later in the tournament I was up to 10,000T but I was never able to bust anyone to win a bounty. My last hand came when my M was down to 1.5 with 3500T chips.(I was a push monkey for the last hour being my M was never over 4.) I got dealt pocket twos and open pushed, only the big blind called me with his A-10 off. He was priced in and my bounty was up for grabs so he made the right call win of loss. Of course he flops an Ace and I am knocked out close to the bubble. If I win that hand I have enough to squeak into the money with the lowest pay out being $336. One of these days I will make a big score in an MTT. Just hope, for my sanity, that it’s soon. Good luck at the tables and happy new year. Tony

Sunday, December 30, 2007

Sunday Brawl at FullTilt

I won a $7.60 sat. into the $55 sat. for the Sunday Brawl. The won my way into it for a total of $7.60! Wish me luck. Tony

Borgata Saturday Tournament

Cousin Ant and I played in the Borgata $340 No Limit Tournament on saturday. 148 players started with 10,000T and 30 minute blinds. We both got very deep with me finishing in 21th and Ant in 20th.(18 places paid.) Live tournaments are very tiring/frustrating when you get far and don't cash. I may do a post about some of the hands later on. For now trying to win a seat into the FullTilt Sunday Brawl. Good luck at the tables. Tony

Friday, December 28, 2007

Cousin Tony's Home Game

Played a home game at Cousin Tony’s house last night. It was a lot of fun playing with my cousins, brother, and some of their friends. I always enjoy these games even though I always lose! Always seam to run into coolers or get sucked out on. In the first SNG I was doing fine when we were down to four players, with two getting paid. I woke up with A-K in the big blind after my crazy brother open pushed. (Actually his play is crazy, not himself, lol.) The blinds were 400-800 and he pushed for 5000 chips from under the gun. Being he plays reckless I couldn’t put him on a big pair. I insta-called and he had pocket Aces! An ace on the flop sealed it up for him. I wasn’t getting away from this hand anyway, after the flop came Ace-rag-rag. In the second SNG I was again doing fine when we were down to four players. My Cousin Ant(ShipThis) was just pounding on everyone at the table. He had like four times the chips as everyone else at the table. Kept raising my big blind and I never had anything to defend with. I finally got to see a free flop in the big blind with 7-9. The flop comes 8-6-4 rainbow. I open push for 3000T and Carlo goes into the tank. After a minute he makes the right call with pocket tens. Of course I can’t suck out on anyone as usual. I am done in this one in forth again with two places paid. The night wasn’t all bad, before I went to Tony’s house I played in two $22 Turbo SNGs on FullTilt. I won both of them! In one of them I was all in on the bubble with A-9cc vs A-A. I flopped a nine and one club. Then caught running clubs for the major league suck out for once! Been loving these turbos on FullTilt. Just need to attack the right players to acquire chips. That’s it for today. Good luck at the tables. Tony

Thursday, December 27, 2007

Sit-N-Gos Rule!

I have decided that Sit-N-Gos are awesome. I taught my wife how to play poker a few years ago. Now watching her play Sit-N-Gos has taught me how to beat them. Played in three 6 man ones last night on FullTilt, two seconds and one first. Two of them were Turbo and one was regular. Aggression is very important but need to choose the right player to attack. All I did last night was attack the tight players and avoid the maniacs. In one of them I just pounded on one player every orbit when we were three handed. The one time he played back at me I let him have my raise of 2 ½ times the big blind. It was great he wanted to make the money real bad so played extra tight. All it did was assure his third place, out of the money finish. I have been there myself. On some nights I want to just cash so bad that I fold my way into being the bubble boy. It’s not the right way to play in these. Just bad poker to try to squeak into the money. Need to play aggressive and go for the win always. My wife has the right idea and style to beat Sit-N-Gos. Start off playing really tight and then when the time is right start pushing people around. I have watched her do it time and time again. Think I will start playing a bunch of them myself. Plus FullTilt has a Sit-N-Go leader board every month. The top 100 Sit-N-Go players win multiple buyins of their favorite level. In other words if your most played SNG for the month was $26 and you finish in say 20th for the month then you win ten $26 buyins. They have a low and a high contest. The high is for all SNGs $24 and above, low is for below $24. Next month I will focus on them and see how high I can finish. Will post about it on this BLOG. That’s it for today. Good luck at the tables. Tony

Wednesday, December 26, 2007

Turbo Vs. Regular Sit-N-Gos

My wife has been doing great playing Sit-N-Gos on Stars for the last week. I set up an Excel spreadsheet for her to enter her results into. The $39 Turbo and $27 Turbo ones have been her best. She’s also done well in the $33 regular ones. I have read the pros and cons of playing in the regular vs. turbo ones. The turbo have been a much better value for her. The rake is 8.3% vs 10% for the regular ones. Also the amount of time invested in each one is like half for the turbos. The turbos really seam to fit her “let’s gamble” sit-n-go style. Being I tend to play Sit-N-Gos more like a knit the regular ones are for me. There really is a totally different way you need to adjust your play in each one. Does anyone have any comments about what needs to be adjusted when playing in the Turbos? It will really be a help to read other people’s ideas about them. Good luck at the tables. Tony

Tuesday, December 25, 2007

Always Protect Your Hand.

This Post is the hand history from ShipThis's last hand in the Sunday Million. He played great poker for the whole tournament but was very upset at how he played this last hand. You be the judge:

PokerStars Game #14062660194: Tournament #70317429, $200+$15 Hold'em No Limit - Level XXX (65000/130000) - 2007/12/24 - 00:37:00 (ET)
Table '70317429 198' 9-max Seat #7 is the button
Seat 1: jason1984a (1211357 in chips)
Seat 2: Romanoff11 (6665347 in chips)
Seat 4: TheSlyOldFox (1149425 in chips)
Seat 5: hasdepik (4400407 in chips)
Seat 7: Richoon (2514296 in chips)
Seat 8: TRUMA (5296944 in chips)
Seat 9: ShipThis (3912816 in chips)
jason1984a: posts the ante 13000
Romanoff11: posts the ante 13000
TheSlyOldFox: posts the ante 13000
hasdepik: posts the ante 13000
Richoon: posts the ante 13000
TRUMA: posts the ante 13000
ShipThis: posts the ante 13000
TRUMA: posts small blind 65000
ShipThis: posts big blind 130000
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to ShipThis [4s 6s]
jason1984a: folds
Romanoff11: folds
TheSlyOldFox: folds
hasdepik: folds
Richoon: folds
TRUMA: calls 65000
milooser [observer] said, "gogo hasdepik"
ShipThis: checks
*** FLOP *** [6c Jd 5h]
milooser [observer] said, "allez la france :)"
TRUMA: checks
ShipThis: bets 260000
TRUMA: calls 260000
*** TURN *** [6c Jd 5h] [6h]
TRUMA: bets 1040000
ShipThis: calls 1040000
*** RIVER *** [6c Jd 5h 6h] [8h]
TRUMA: bets 1950000
ShipThis: raises 519816 to 2469816 and is all-in
TRUMA: calls 519816
*** SHOW DOWN ***
ShipThis: shows [4s 6s] (three of a kind, Sixes)
TRUMA: shows [7d 9d] (a straight, Five to Nine)
TRUMA collected 7890632 from pot
sharkie_44 [observer] said, "nh"
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 7890632 | Rake 0
Board [6c Jd 5h 6h 8h]
Seat 1: jason1984a folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 2: Romanoff11 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 4: TheSlyOldFox folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 5: hasdepik folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 7: Richoon (button) folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 8: TRUMA (small blind) showed [7d 9d] and won (7890632) with a straight, Five to Nine
Seat 9: ShipThis (big blind) showed [4s 6s] and lost with three of a kind, Sixes

Merry Christmas and Giid luck at the tables. Tony

Monday, December 24, 2007

Sunday Million Results.

Big Shoutout to my Cousin Ant. (ShipThis on PokerStars) He took 19th in the Sunday Million. He won $4676! Played great the whole tournament. I don't know how he did it while he was home sick. This is the first, of many, big scores he will make. I hate to say it but I predicted he was due for a nice win. Happy Holidays and good luck at the tables. :-) :-) :-) Tony

Sunday, December 23, 2007

Sunday Million.

Cousin Ant (ShipThis) is kicking ass in the Sunday Million on PokerStars right now!!!! 185 left, he has 413,176T. KidPoker is at his table with 211,000T. Go Ant go!! I will post his finish on here later, hopefully much!! Tony

Sunday Million.

I won my seat into the Stars Sunday Million. So far so good. 4939 left out of 6680 starters. Wish me luck. If you want to sweat me my screen name is Aviganola. I will give an update later. Tony

Update - I am out in 3265. Got no cards, biggest pair was Jacks. My cousin Ant is still in it. Go "Shipthis"!!! I will update his standings later.

Sunday Poker

I am going to focus on qualifing for the Sumday Million on PokerStars Today. May also try to play in the new Sunday Brawl Knockout tournament on FullTilt. They have a $40 bounty on each player that gets knocked out. Sounds like fun, hope I can win me a seat. Also plan on playing a lot of No Limit today. Happy Holidays and Good luck at the tables. Tony

Friday, December 21, 2007

Finally an MTT Score!

Stupid Bad MTTs

I am sick of playing online MTT, looking for a big score. It seams every night I have been winning at the live games and giving some of it back playing in the “big” tournaments. Played in a stupid Limit HE tournament on Stars last night. Felt I played very well but got coolered in one hand that took most of my stack. Finished right in the middle of the pack. Guess it’s better then playing for four hours and bubbling. Played two Heads up SNGs last night and won them both. Also played in a 90man Knockout on FullTilt, finished in 28th. So last night I lost a little in MTTs/SNGs. Good news is I crushed the No Limit Ring games again. I am multi-tabling three of these games at once. Not really paying attention to what I am doing. (Watching TV, reading emails, and riding an exercise bike also.) Granted the games I am crushing are only .10-.25 No Limit. Also have been beating the .25-.50 games also. I should move up to the .50-1.00 games soon, probably will have to be more attentive to the table at this level. In the mean time I am earning my double points and maintaining my Ironman status at FullTilt. They really have soon great promotions this month at Full! Competition with PokerStars is really good for us players. Happy Holidays. Good luck at the tables. Tony

Thursday, December 20, 2007

Finding What Works II

Like I wrote in a previous post it’s important to find what works for you in Poker. This week my wife seams to have solved this mystery for herself. She is just crushing the Turbo 6 man Sit-N-Gos this week. Has been cashing in 80% of the ones she has played in. Granted this is a small sample, like 30 SNGs. More then half her cashes have been firsts, not too shabby! She took a meager bankroll of $100 and drew it into a nice working roll. Started at the $6.50 ones and is now up to $38 ones. Sheer aggression and a will to gamble is paying off nicely for her. I tend to play too nitty in these to have any success. As for me the No Limit cash games have been a windfall. Won three buyins last night, been on a roll all week playing in them. Only had one small losing day. Good thing is I am earning enough points to maintain my Ironman status. This keeps me very disciplined everyday. I play enough to earn my 50 points for the game. Want to be silver this month so I will start the year off with more money in my bonus account. Happy holidays and good luck at the tables. Tony

P.S. – Been getting a lot of readers from Europe lately. I would love to know how people are finding my BLOG. Please leave a comment about how you found me here. Thanks so much.

Wednesday, December 19, 2007

Playing on FullTilt

Didn’t get a chance to play much last night, had another Christmas party to go to. Just played a few minutes of No Limit on FullTilt. Lost a very small amount, maybe a half a buy in. I am getting excited about the promotions Full is running in December. One they are running is you earn double points everyday that you earn 20 or more. This is great for me being I am trying to earn enough to get a new 19-inch flat screen monitor. I have 25,000 points but need 40,000 to get it. (This will help me earn it a lot faster.) The other cool promotion they are running is if you earn iron man status this month you get bonus dollars for every month you were an iron man this year. I will earn at least bronze, maybe silver this month. So I am looking at least $125 bonus dollars in my account come January. I just love free money! The no limit games on Full have been so soft lately. Read my last post about this. Tonight I will be back at it again. Got to earn my 50 points to work toward maintaining my Ironman status. Good luck at the tables. Tony

P.S. – If you want to give FullTilt a try please click through on my banner above this post, need the referral bonus : - ).

Tuesday, December 18, 2007

Online No Limit HE

Wow No Limit Online can be really profitable. I made two buyins at .25-.50 and six buyins at .10-.25 last night in less then two hours. Thinking about giving playing Limit HE Online for good. The money wasn’t won from my brilliant play either. Players on FullTilt were just so bad last night. Played a little on CakePoker but it was super tight so I left. Won one of my buyins on Cake but it wasn’t as easy as FullTilt. I can’t believe how light people were calling my all in pushes last night. Also was shocked at how light they call pot sized opens. One hand I had pocket Aces in early position. I brought it in for the pot, my standard bring in(I am lazy just click the pot button to bring it.). Got called by two donks. Flop was K-4-9 with two diamonds. I was playing on a short buyin so I just pushed on the flop. Both donks insta-called me like they both had the nuts. What was I against you ask? First donk has 3-7 of diamonds for a flush draw. (Why did he call my pre-flop raise?) Second donk, who overcalled my push had K-10 off, for top pair weak kicker. Then a miracle happened my hand held up against both of them! That was the weird thing about last night, my good hands held up over and over again. Also I was in the zone with making the right lay downs. In one hand I had K-Q and had turned top two pair. On the river he pushed, had me covered. The only hand I had to worry about was A-J, for a turned broadway. I put him on it and folded. Donk behind me looked him up and that is exactly what he had broadway. The donk had bottom two pair. With the way the hand played out there was no way they were good. Didn’t play perfect poker but felt I played great last night. Will be at it again tonight but not for too long, have another Christmas party to go to. I am so worn out from going out in the last week. Can’t wait for this season to be over so I can relax. Good luck at the tables and happy holidays. Tony

Monday, December 17, 2007

Doing What Works.

I have learned in Poker you need to do what works. This weekend I realized Limit HE is always bad for me on weekends. So I didn’t even play a single hand of it. Instead I stuck with what works for me on weekends. I crushed the Low limit No Limit games on three sites I played on; FullTilt, PokerStars, and CakePoker. Also won every Heads up Sit-N-Go I played in, like I stated in my previous post. Personally I think those weekend No Foldem Holdem games are just total luck. Not just because I have been getting beat up in them lately. It’s just that once 5 people have called a limp any two cards can limp behind and win a monster pot. All the books say these are the games to win your money in but for me it never works that way. Feels I am very unlucky in this environment. It’s the same way for me in Atlantic City. I do much better in tight games where I can steal a few pots here and there. Well now the weekdays are back so I will grind a little in Limit and see how things go. If they don’t go well I may be hooked on live No Limit games now. Tonight’s the last episode of the 500K buy in on High Stakes Poker, can’t wait. Wonder if Sam Farha will loss another 300K or so, hmm? He seams to play like a total donkey on High Stakes. My wife thinks he is advertising to get better games the rest of the year. Who knows? Good luck at the tables. Tony

Sunday, December 16, 2007

Weekend Online Play.

My plan to only play No Limit and Heads up SNGs this weekend turned out great. I won 5 Buyins playing Low Limit No Limit on Full Tilt. I also went 4-0 in Heads up SNGs. It's nice when a plan works out. Good Luck at the tables. Tony

Friday, December 14, 2007

Last Night's Results.

I had mixed results playing online last night. Kicked some ass playing Short-handed Limit HE on Full Tilt. Again I have tagged some fish that I will follow around. This is starting to remind me of the old days of Party Poker. I now have a list of five fish that I will go to any table that they are playing at. I need to look into getting some third party software to help locate my fish. Ultimate Bet has their Buddy List which is very useful when looking for a known “fishy” player. So I did great at Full Tilt and Poker Stars last night. I got my ass handed to me playing short-handed on Cake Poker. Should have left the table when it got four handed. We had too maniacs that were raising and re-raising each other every hand. First I kept folding to bluffs, that they would show. Then I fell right into the trap of calling them down with bottom/middle pair when they had the nuts. I even got caught bluffing the river with a missed draw. The donk called me down with A-6, unimproved! So I lost more at Cake last night then I won at the other sites. Overall it was a slightly negative night at the tables. Only played one MTT, a $5.50 HORSE on Full Tilt. Never really got anything going in it, finished in the middle of the pack.(Which is rare for me, always get deep in HORSE tournaments online.) The weekend is here tonight so I will avoid playing too much Limit Poker. I have noticed a trend for me, been getting killed playing Limit on the weekends. This weekend I will play No Limit holdem, MTTs, and a bunch of Heads up SNGs. The Heads up SNGs should shore up my bankroll nicely. Good luck at the tables. Tony

Thursday, December 13, 2007

A Crazy Hand for Me

A crazy hand took place for me last night on Full Tilt. I was playing in an $11 90-man Knockout Sit-N-Go. I had pocket Aces in early position, brought it in for three times the big blind. Got called in two places. The flop came A-2-3 all diamonds. I decided to push for two times the pot. Both players insta-called me. First donk turns over A-10, with no diamonds.(BTW – Had them both covered, barely.) Second donk had a decent draw, Q-J with the Queen of diamond. What was crazy about this hand you ask? Unreal my three Aces held up! That’s right I dogged the diamonds and back door draws to knock them both out. I collected $4 in knockout bounties to boot also. This put me third in chips with 45 people left. I wound up getting knocked out close to the bubble anyway. My point is that some of my big hands are starting to hold up. Also had another winning night playing live short-handed Limit HE. Played one heads up SNG and took that one down. My record now is like 50-8 in these. (Of course only playing in the $10.50 ones, when I moved up to $21 ones went 2-4.) Just that it feels like I am turning the corner in my online play. Two winning sessions in a row may not seam like much but when you have been getting beat up for weeks it sure feels good. I feel I have plugged many leaks in my game lately. Biggest one was playing 4 games at once just wasn’t working for me. Two games at once for now seams to be the right mix for me to be a winning player. I will be at it again tonight. Are you all ready for the big snow storm today? (Northeast is supposed to get hit hard today.) Good luck at the tables. Tony

Wednesday, December 12, 2007

Found a Fish on Full Tilt

Last night I did quite well playing on Full Tilt. I cut down the multi-tabling to just 2 tables. Seam to work for me being I focused on the players a lot better. I played in a short-handed Limit HE game and a full Omaha Hi/Lo game. The Omaha game didn’t require much attention. That game I can play like a robot and squeak out a few BBs per hour from it. Have always been able to beat that game for a profit. It’s just so boring, really not many moves to make in it. As for the Limit game really played differently based on who was in the pot. Got to a table with a real fish. A player who would bet/raise with A-K unimproved every time he would get it. One hand I had A-9, which on the turn became three nines Ace kicker. The board was 9-2-3-9 rainbow and we capped it. The river blanked out so I bet. He raised me and I got scared of some crazy full house so I just called. At this point I didn’t know how bad this player was but I learned fast. The rest of the time playing with him I would call him down with bottom pair, if we were heads up. It was good like 80% of the time. I made 40 BBs at this table in 2 hours. Will look for this particular player again tonight when I play. Game selection is more important these days online. The days of all easy games,(Partypoker) are long over. That’s it for today. Good luck at the tables. Tony

P.S. – Full Tilt please don’t throw the bad beat switch on me : - ). (Being I have written a post about a winning night!)

Tuesday, December 11, 2007

Sit-N-Go Leak

Think I have identified a major leak in my Sit-N-Go play.(Besides not being able to win hands where I am 80-20 pre-flop!) To go off on a tangent, I have lost my last six 80-20 hands in SNGs on FullTilt. Five of them were when I had an over pair, other one was Aces against the Ace-cracker 7-8 suited. Back to my leak I seam to be playing way too tight on the bubble in SNGs. Last night I was second in chips when we got 4 handed. No one was super short, 3rd and 4th had around 1200T each. Big stack had like 7000T and I had the rest around 3500T. Anyway I decided to not play a hand and “guarantee” making the money. Only thing I guaranteed was me being the bubble boy. I folded A-Q to the big stacks 4X BB raise. I folded pocket sixes to a shorts push. I folded 9-10 suited for 3X BB from a short, who was no longer that short. What happened is the shorts pushed pots back and forth, the big stack bleed chips slowly, and I lost my chips blind by blind. Got to the point where I was short so I pushed with J-Q suited. Got called by A-J off and I got sent home on the bubble. Looking back I know I should have called with the A-Q, at the least. Am I playing too tight on the bubble? Anyone have any opinions on this? Good luck at the tables. Tony

P.S. – Thanks to my readers for clicking through on my google banner above this post. Please keep doing it!

Monday, December 10, 2007

A Winning Day

Finally a winning day on Sunday. My Limit HE game as suddenly improved, in the last few days. I have been playing shorthanded and have noticed the fish have schooled to six handed play. Playing in a ten handed game has just gotten too hard. I can beat 1 or 2 fish in a pot, but not 6 of them! Seams like there is no skill in these no foldem holdem games. All the books say these are the great games to play in, not for me. I never win in games where 6 or 7 players are seeing the flop. Have read many articles on how to beat these games but still havn’t mastered this skill. Yesterday I lost a little in Stud but won enough in Limit HE to have a positive live play day. Also went back to my best SNGs, Heads up. Played in two of them and won them both. Think I need to stick to my two best things online, Heads up SNGs and live Hi/Lo Stud play. Good luck at the tables. Tony

Sunday, December 09, 2007

Switching Things Up.

Whatever I am running bad in Poker I try to play different games to turn things around. I have been running unusually bad at Limit HE for a few weeks. So I decide to play less of it and more of Seven Card Stud. So yesterday I played a little Limit HE and a lot of Stud. What happens you ask? I finally start to win at Limit HE but I got killed at Stud. I almost forgot how brutal this game can be. It's worse then HE in the sense that there are five betting rounds, so it cost more to bet to the river. Also the rivers are really brutal when you have Aces up in four and someone chases with a baby straight. They always seam to get there when I start with a monster. It's a good game being there is a lot more skill involved then in playing HE. The variance in this game can be really brutal! I am talking 50 BBs in a hour can be lost really easily. I will write more about the game this week. Good luck at the tables. Tony

Friday, December 07, 2007

More Losing Online Play

Playing last night was more of the same crap that had been happening to me for weeks. I don’t know if I am playing bad or just running bad. Think it’s a combination of both. Played last night on RiverStars and got bad beat over and over. Here is a perfect example, I raise under the gun, with A-K. Late position player 3 bets me, I call him. Flop comes K-9-2 rainbow. I bet and he raises me, so I call. Turn brings a brick, think a three. I bet and he calls. River brings a seven, which looks like a safe card for me. For some reason I don’t like that card so I check. He bets and I call. Of course he has pocket sevens. This shit keeps happening to me over and over again. Ever since I moved back up to $2-4 I can’t get a winning season in. Maybe the games are getting tougher to beat since the government’s BS laws were passed. The games don’t appear to be any tougher but my hands just don’t hold up anymore. As for SNGs/MTT forget about it. I played two SNGs last night and again ran into quads twice! Also played the 5:45 Hi/Lo Stud on Stars. Lost a huge pot when I started with rolled up 4s. It was my own fault for not raising with them on third street. On sixth street I had fours full of Aces, with the aces showing on Fifth and Sixth. The bring in chased me down with Jack and eights only to catch an eight and take most of my chips. Never recovered from that hand. My luck has got to turn around sooner or later. Otherwise my readers and going to get sick of reading about my losing sessions. Need something positive to write about. On a good note PokerStars now has echecks, they are an easy, totally free way to fund your account. Money comes right out of your checking account. Only problem is the maximum is only $100 right now. Hopefully tomorrow I will have a positive post for you all to read. Good luck at the tables. Tony

Thursday, December 06, 2007

More of the Same.

More of the same BS playing online last night. 80-20 favorite pre-flop is never good enough for me to win a pot. Last night 5 times I lost with an over pair to an under pair. My Aces were cracked by sevens on the flop. My Kings were cracked by nines on the turn, after I capped pre-flop and three bets on the flop! I could blame it on the FullTilt RNG but I was playing at three different sites last night with the same results. Of course I moved up to $2-4 last night, whenever I move up my luck goes away. Also whenever I do a post about having a winning session the poker gods throw the bad beat switch on me. The amazing thing is I only lost 20 BBs last night. I was down 50 when my luck on PokerStars turned around in a big way. I actually ended up winning there last night. One sick hand I three bet with pocket aces pre-flop heads up. Flop came K-4-2 off suit. He bet into me and I raised. On the turn I bet he called. River brought a brick and he checked. I bet and got check raised. I was totally befuddled thinking my hand got cracked again by a cheesy two pair. There was no way I was laying it down now, getting like 12-1 on my call. I called and took down the nice pot. Idiot had K-J off for top pair weak kicker. He thought he was slow playing by waiting until the river to raise. Very strange play indeed. Also played two SNGs last night. I ran into quads twice in huge pots. When will this BS end. Thanks for listening to my ranting. Good luck at the tables. Tony

Wednesday, December 05, 2007

Finally a Winning Session.

First off I want to say again that Chip Reese will be missed in the Poker community! We lost a Poker Icon, who will never be replaced, two days ago. RIP.

Finally broke out of the Poker funk I have been in lately. Last night was a winning night in all different versions of poker I played, except No limit. Had a very small loss in No Limit. Got to a tough table with deep stacks, should have left right away. Need to practice good table selection, will work on it. Played Limit and did well winning 10 BBs. Also played Stud and Hi/Lo Omaha, won in both of them. When things have gone south it’s a good idea to miss it up. Being I can play all the major poker variations it’s good to try a different one when Limit HE is beating me up. I did play one SNG last night, only to push at the wrong time. Played another of those new 90 Knockout SNGs on FullTilt. We got down to 29 players, 9 places paid. The table tightened up a lot. Everyone folded to me in the small blind and I decided to push, had the big blind covered. I pushed for half of my stack and he insta-calls me with A-10 off. I hate his call there, hadn’t made any moves up to this point. I was playing very tight being I was multi-tabling. What monster hand did I have, really it didn’t matter. I thought I had enough fold equity to make this push right. I had the hammer suited, 7-2 of hearts. After losing this hand I pushed a few hands later with Q-9 of spades, from the cut off, only to get looked up by J-8 off. Got to realize this is a knockout tournament, people will call with a wide range of hands to get my $2 knockout bonus. Tonight I will play another of these 90 man Knockout SNGs on Full, really enjoy them. That’s it for today. Good luck at the tables. Tony

Tuesday, December 04, 2007

RIP - Chip Reese

Last night the Poker community lost probably the best cash game player of all time. Also the classiest player in my humble opinion. This loss will be felt for a long time. Nothing more to say. It's a sad night! Tony

Weak Online Play.

Today we will have a poker only post. Online Tournament play is just getting worse and worse. I played in an $11 – 90 played Knockout SNG on FullTilt last night. It’s a new SNG and I just love it. If you don’t have a ton of time to play it’s perfect. It pays 9 places and you get a $2 bounty for each player you knock out. The Tournament itself is great, the play in it is hideous! You have to “dodge bullets baby” to play in it. Damn, it would put Hellmuth on Tilt easily, LOL. Last night I had 2000 chips left, out of 3000 we started with. I get pocket sixes in the big blind, we are out 50-100. It folds to the button, who has been very aggressive, he makes it 350 to go. So I push in my 1900 chips left, putting him on a position steal. He insta-calls me in less then one second. What do you think he has, Aces, Kings, hmm….. Nope Q-10 off suit, of course. I made the right move, only to be punished when a queen comes off on the flop. I know we are supposed to try to make the right decisions and not worry about the results but this is getting real old real fast. I am running so bad right now that I am growing more and more disheartened by poker. I will be at it again tonight. Good luck at the tables. Tony

Monday, December 03, 2007

Site Review

This post is to inform Bloggers and Web Site Owners of a new way to make money by writing sponsered posts. I have been using Reviewme.com for 3 months and don't really like it.

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payperpost

Have had tons of problems with Reviewme.com. First off I don't like to have very few chances to do sponsered posts. PayperPost has hundreds of reviews to choose from. Reviewme only supplies me with one or two a month. I have had problems with them excepting my reviews. I wouldn't mind so much except customer support is terrible. I had to emailed them 6 times to get things fixed. Two of my reviews were rejected and they never gave me a good reason why. Haven't had any problems with Payperpost at all. Like the fact you can get paid by check or via Paypal. They also give you the option of donating your payments to a choice of famous charities.

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Don't know what else to say about them other then this is a great chance to make some extra money by doing what we like anyway. That is why not do a few posts a month that make you some direct money. Please give them a try out. You won't be disappionted.




I am going to only do these sponsered reviews once every other week. Sorry for the pimping but trying to make some money for the poker role. I have been running so bad that I need to make it somehow, lol. Good luck at the tables. Tony


Live Poker is so rigged!

Live poker is so rigged! I apologize for this rant about limit poker. My cousin and I spent the weekend at the Borgata. I played about 14 hours of $10-20 and just got beat up the whole weekend. I never got Aces or queens the whole time. Got Kings four times but went 0-4 with them! Twice I got it heads up pre-flop. I lost to 4-9 off and 5-7 sooted. Both of them defended their big blind. They both flopped bottom pair and chased to the river. The 4-9 play was just so bad. He caught a second 4 on the river and I bet out. He didn’t even raise me with his miracle three fours! I am running so bad at live poker right now. This was my third beating in a row at $10-20. Didn’t even feel I played that bad yesterday. Except for one 30 minute period where I seamed off 10 BBs. Everyone talks about these bad periods in poker, but playing through them is just so depressing. Onto the good news. My cousin Ant. kicked some butt in live tournament this weekend. On Saturday he played in the $250 satellite to the Ultimate satellite on Sunday. He won his seat into Sunday’s $1100 satellite. It had 202 entries, giving away 4 50K packages and one cash place paid. The packages were a dream for any serious poker player. Entry into the WPT championship, Entry into the Borgata open, and entry into the Foxwoods WPT event and $4500 in spending cash. A very nice package indeed. He played well, outlasted more then half the field. He went down swinging, pushing A-10 from the button into the big blinds A-K. Also played in a $120 SNG and chopped it heads up. He will acquire a big score in a live tournament one of these days. He like me is long overdue for a big score. I can’t wait for this bad streak to end. I will try to play through it online for now. Good luck at the tables. Tony

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