WSOP Steps on my Brain

WSOP Steps, can’t stop thinking about playing in them. I now have 2 Step 4 tickets and 1 Step 3 ticket. Lost a brutal Step 4 yesterday. Had A-K and brought it in for a raise. Flop came down A-8-9 and my opponent checked to me so I bet 80% of the pot. He called and the turn brought an 8. He checked and I bet half the pot, keep in mind 75% of my stack was now in the pot. At this point my opponent check-raised me all in. Considered folding but then I would be a total short stack so I called. Of course I was drawing thin to only an Ace, he had 8-9 off for a turned full house. No improvement for me and I get knocked out first in this 9 man SNG. This is really bad being if I last to sixth I at least get a step 2 ticket back. This is only my first step higher than 1 where I got nothing back at all. Of well tonight I will be at it again. Thanks for reading and good luck at the tables. Tony

Kicking Some Ass

Doing well today, after a tough start. I won 3 Step 4 seats on Stars, 2 more steps to go! I am playing in the Bodog Sunday Major right now. (Want to sweat me, "AVIGANOLA"?). Half the field is left and I have an average stack. Also down to 25 players in a bounty tournament on Ultimate, deep in the money right now. Hope to final table it. Will update with results later. Happy sunday!! Tony

Kings Suck

Kings are killing me today. Just got knocked out of 3 SNGs with them. In a satellite I ran them into Aces with 20BBs!! As for live games, forget about it, three times and an Ace flops everytime. Ace-rag is killing my Kings Today. It's not all bad I won a seat into the Sunday Brawl Super, on my first try. Also the Steps on Stars have been treating me great. Last night I won another Step 3 seat and won my first step 4 seat. Two more steps til a main event seat for me! Thanks for reading and good luck at the tables. Tony

Nice Score

Had a nice score last night in a 9:00pm Bounty tournament on Ultimate. Cost me $12 to enter and I took 3rd out of 433 players, good for $461. Also got four bounties. I love the structure of these tournaments. Will be playing the steps again today. Thanks for reading and good luck at the tables. Tony

WSOP Step Update

WSOP Step update from PokerStars. I now have 2 Step 3 and 3 Step 2 tickets. Step 2 has been easier then Step 1 for me. I have been winning either a Step 3 ticket or a repeat Step 2 ticket like 50% of the time. If all this sounds crazy to you it’s because it is! Playing these Step SNGs is addictive for sure. I hope it pays off for me in the end. In order to make money while doing this I need to get up to Step 6. Then I will earn $500 or more by finishing in 6th place or better. So far I have invested about $250 in these. This may wide up being a big bankroll eater, if I can’t get to step 6. We will see what happens. Thanks for reading and good luck at the tables. Tony

WSOP Steps

I just love playing the WSOP steps on Riverstars. Today I played in 3 step ones and won 2 of them. Then I played a step two and won a step three ticket. I think the week off from playing has really helped my game. I seam to be focusing very well today. I may play a step three tonight. Just three more steps for me to win a main event package!!! Thanks for reading and good luck at the tables. Tony

Posting Here From Ireland

Sorry for the lack of Posts this week. We are here in Ireland for my Brother-In-Laws Funeral. Needless to say it wasn't a fun week at all! Being we stayed hours away from everything I didn't have Internet Access at all. So I haven't played any poker all week. We are flying back in a few hours so I may play later on today. Thanks for reading and good luck at the tables. Tony

P.S. - This is a very scenic country.

Finally Broke the Jinx

Yesterday I finished in 18th out of 353 players in a Knockout MTT on FullTilt. The money wasn't huge but it felt good to cash, got 2 bounties to boot. Also had a mildly winning day at the cash tables. After Sunday's slaughter it felt good to be a winner yesterday. This may be my last post, for a week, being I am going overseas for my brother-in-law's funeral. I will try to maybe post about Ireland but don't know if I will get to a computer. Thanks for reading and good luck at the tables. Tony

Running bad

I will never again do a post about running good!!!! It's the ultimate jinx. I can't win anything today. So far played in 9 MTTs/SNGs and haven't gotten a penny back from them. (Really bad being 4 were bounties!!!!) I am getting my ass handed to me at live play also. I feel I am playing ok just keep running A-K into A-7, A-9, A-Q, etc., and losing. After making this post I will test my theory and see if I start winning. ARG!!!! Thanks for reading and good luck. Tony

Running Good Today

I won myself a Step 3 ticket on RiverStars today. It was my first try today playing a step 2 so it felt good. Also won a $7.60 sat. to the $55 Sunday Brawl Super for tomorrow morning. Looks like life-tilt has helped my focus on my game today. Played a lot of short-handed Limit also, so far am up 20BBs. May play some more later. Thanks for reading and good luck at the tables. Tony

RIP

My wife's brother-in-law passed away today. We are both very sad. Kind of puts something as insignificant as a bad beat into prospective! He was only 45, Paul RIP! Sorry for the depressing post, but this is the mode I am in. Tony

Please Help!

Hello readers. This is Tony's wife doing a guest post to ask for you help! My wonderful brother-in-law Paul has been in intensive care for over five weeks and is now fighting for his life and desperatly needs prayers! To any spiritual readers out there I would be grateful for your help. Thank you so much!!

WSOP Step Madness

WSOP Step madness has got a hold of me! I go to sleep and then wake up thinking about getting up to step 6 and taking it down! In case you don’t know what I am talking about, the WSOP Step SNGs have started on RiverStars. I am only playing Step 1 right now. Have won a number of Step 2 tickets as well as a ton of repeat Step 1 ones. Want to get at least 6 Step 2 ones before I start playing there. Basically at every level you can win a ticket to go to the next level, repeat your current level, or go down a step. (Obviously at step one you can’t go down a step, instead you get $1.50 back from a $7.50 buy in.) You keep at this until you reach the final SNG, Step 6, which would cost you $2100 to buy into. This is the step I am dying to play, 6 places get paid out of 9! First wins a WSOP main event package, actually these days they put 12K into your account and you spend it as you please. The thing I like about this is the challenge everyday of trying to move up to the next level. This may turn out to be a big money pit if I am never able to get to Step 6 or if I do and don’t finish in the top 6. We will see how it goes, at the very least I will have some good material to BLOG about. Right now I can’t seem to win a coin flip on the next step bubble. In other words I have been 3 handed 5 times and lost a coin flip 4 of them. So I got a repeat Step 1 4 times and a Step 2 once! If these go my way will be moving up pretty fast. I will keep you all informed of my progress. Thanks for reading and good luck at the tables. Tony

WSOP Step Madness

WSOP Step madness has got a hold of me! I go to sleep and then wake up thinking about getting up to step 6 and taking it down! In case you don’t know what I am talking about, the WSOP Step SNGs have started on RiverStars. I am only playing Step 1 right now. Have won a number of Step 2 tickets as well as a ton of repeat Step 1 ones. Want to get at least 6 Step 2 ones before I start playing there. Basically at every level you can win a ticket to go to the next level, repeat your current level, or go down a step. (Obviously at step one you can’t go down a step, instead you get $1.50 back from a $7.50 buy in.) You keep at this until you reach the final SNG, Step 6, which would cost you $2100 to buy into. This is the step I am dying to play, 6 places get paid out of 9! First wins a WSOP main event package, actually these days they put 12K into your account and you spend it as you please. The thing I like about this is the challenge everyday of trying to move up to the next level. This may turn out to be a big money pit if I am never able to get to Step 6 or if I do and don’t finish in the top 6. We will see how it goes, at the very least I will have some good material to BLOG about. Right now I can’t seem to win a coin flip on the next step bubble. In other words I have been 3 handed 5 times and lost a coin flip 4 of them. So I got a repeat Step 1 4 times and a Step 2 once! If these go my way will be moving up pretty fast. I will keep you all informed of my progress. Thanks for reading and good luck at the tables. Tony

Playing Against Idiots

I have decided that I hate playing with idiots. Everyone says that these are the best games to play in, yet I always seem to lose in these situations. Last night I played a quick session of short-handed Limit HE on FullTilt. I got pretty beat up in a short amount of time. I lost 20BBs is less than an hour. I don’t mind losing sometimes but not like this. I would raise with A-K or A-Q and the donk on my left will call my rasies with ATC! He would have j-8 off and flop a jack, while I would flop an Ace. I would bet the hand hard and he would raise me on the river. Either the turn or the river would hit him perfect. This went on for awhile, I was getting so frustrated. I paid him off a number of times, just to see the trash he was calling my raises with. I got him good one hand when I raised with A-Q of clubs. I bet the hand to the river, unimproved. On the river I checked, just knowing he would bet. I was calling him, no matter what. He didn’t disappoint me, bet the river. I insta-called and he showed me A-9 off, took down a nice pot. Other then that I couldn’t get any traction at the table. Was actually down a lot more but was starting to come back when he sat out. Donk wouldn’t play while I was at the table! This started to tilt me so I called it a night. Oh well I will get them back tonight. Thanks for reading and good luck at the tables. Tony

Bad Site to Play at

We interrupt this BLOG for another important Announcement. Don’t put money on Cake Poker!! They finally emailed me back about getting my money off the site. They want like 5 pieces of documentation to prove I am who I am! That’s ok but I emailed it to them on Saturday morning and my account is still locked. On top of that they only write checks for a $500 minimum. Also charge you the rip off fee of $35 to mail you back your own money. I am warning you to not do business with these crooks. We will return to our normal BLOG Posts tomorrow. Thanks for reading and good luck at the tables. Tony

Playing like a Donkey

Yesterday I played like a total Donk in the Sunday Brawl. Instead of my usual patient TAG game I tried to make something happen. My normal game has been working great, cashed in 11 of my last 15 MTTs! I tried a stop and go bluff against a calling station. I raised with A-Q off against the table short stack, who had half of my stack. Flop came 10-3-2 rainbow, I had decided I was pushing any flop. I pushed and he insta-called me with pocket jacks. I was down to 750 chips with the blinds at 25-50, had time to wait. Instead 5 hands later I get A-10 off and push all in, over a limper. Dumb play, risk whole tournament to win 125 chips! A player two to my left over pushes my short push. Guess what he has, pocket jacks! IGH in less than an hour in a tournament I tried so hard to satellite into.(Spent $72 to get in, not bad for a $256 tournament.) Just dumb bad play by me. It’s not all bad , I final tabled a $3.30 knockout tournament on FullTilt, finished in 8th for a ten times buy in win. Also almost won a round 2 WSOP tournament on FullTilt. With 17 left I pushed A-K into a chip leader who had A-J. He rivers a jack to knock me out. If I win that 2 and ½ race am in the top 3 chip stacks with 2 WSOP final tickets awarded. FullTilt is giving away 50 free seats to the WSOP main event, but it’s not easy to win one. First have to win a round one free roll, 225 players with 2 advancing. I won this on Saturday, on my third try. Then have to come in the top 2 in a round 2 tournament, mine had 264 players. Then to win your 12K package have to come in the top three in a final event, around 300 players in these. I will try but this is really like hitting the lottery to win a seat, oh well nothing lost but time. Thanks for reading and good luck at the tables. Tony

Sunday Brawl.

Finally won something today. I won myself a seat in the Sunday Brawl at FullTilt. My favorite Donathon of the week. Come sweat me if you like. Good Luck at the tables. Tony

Important Annoncement.

We interupt this BLOG to make an important public service announcement! Don't play Online at Cake Poker! They are a bunch of crooks! I deposited $200 there three months ago and have run it up $600. That is the good news, bad news is I can't withdraw my money! I have been trying for a week and for some reason my cashout options are locked. I have sent 5 emails to support and no one has even emailed me back to say we got your email. Thay don't have an 800 number so I am basically screwed. Should have realized how bad they were when I first joined them I had to send them 10 emails before they set up rakeback on my account. This was supposed to get set up automatically. The players are real weak but what good is it if you can't get your money out when you need it. Do yourself a favor avoid the site like the plague! We now return to our original programming. Good luck at the tables. Tony

More Online Grinding

Nothing much going on online last night. I had a winning night of grinding it out playing short-handed low limit HE. Also played some full table Limit HE on BoDog. It’s true what they say about that site, it’s full of donks! Of course it can be frustrating when my Aces or Kings lose to 10-3 sooted, lol! In another hand I raise with A-K and the flop comes K-5-5 rainbow. I bet every street, only to get raised on the river by guess what? Of course the button calls my raise cold with Q-5 but it was sooted. Even with these bad beats I managed to win 10BBs there in two hours. Also broke the bad streak at FullTilt to win 15BBs there. So it was a nicely profitable night. Plan on playing some big MTTs this weekend. Expect a good post about it. Thanks for reading and good luck at the tables. Tony

The Grind

Nothing very exciting happened last night. I grinded out some cash games on FullTilt and BoDog. Have started to get the Full roll healthy, after a bad few weeks. Of course now I get my ass kicked on Bodog. Overall lost 15BBs last night, no big deal, haven’t had a losing cash day since 2/26/08. I was due for a dose of reality anyway. Don’t mind grinding it out, helps to generate points, rake back, and clear bonuses. If I just play as a break-even player I am making a nice profit. This weekend want to hit one of the BoDog Open events, also maybe the Sunday major on Bodog and UltimateBet. We will see how much time I have to play. Until then thanks for reading and good luck at the tables. Tony

Jackpot Fever

Jackpot madness has hit UltimateBet this weekend. As of last night the Bad beat Jackpot had hit a sick 440K! I chatted with one player at the table and he said he had been playing for 50 hours straight! Funny thing is I played on Saturday, Sunday, and yesterday and he was on all three days. Could have been on only the same times as me but I had jumped on and off multiple times all three days.(He was on at all these times!) I got hooked myself being the Jacpot is “Due”! Best chance to get a piece of it was to play at the .50-1.00 Limit tables.(Being there were 20 tables going.) When it’s hit everyone at tables of the same denomination gets a piece of the Jackpot. The players at the actual table get the most but everyone else gets a share. It’s fun, but it adds a lottery fever to the poker tables. I wonder if it really is worth playing at these tables, they rake an extra .50 of each pot over I think $5.00. Which means you are losing .75 on pots of 5.00(5 % + .50). Can you really win playing under these conditions? Well I tried it out this weekend with positive results. I played over 10 hours and won over 2 BBs an hour, over this period. Not a lot of money but I cleared a lot of bonus and am helping maintain my VIP status. Tonight, if it hasn’t been hit I will be at it again. Thanks for reading and good luck at the tables. Tony

I Run Goot

I took off from work today. Just cashed in my 9th of 11 mtt in a row. Most of them were off the Bounty or Knockout if on FullTilt. I seam to have a good formula worked out to cash in them. I am off life tilt, at least for now. My wife is back in the states so things will be less crazy for me. Her brother-in-law is not doing well so I might go back to tilt soon. May post again, about Poker, later. Thanks for reading and good luck at the tables. Tony

Playing on Tilt

I can't stress this enough don't play Poker when your head isn't 100% ready for it. This is such a simple leak in my game that I can't seam to fix! Had a terrible week at work, was tired, and not feeling well last night. All the signs were there, don't play tonight! Instead I play and take a bad beat to set me off even more. I wind up doing nothing by losing last night. Thankfully by nine I realized I am playing bad and I gave up for the night. Just don't play when on life tilt, you will thank me for it. Thanks for reading and good luck at the table. Tony