2008 WSOP Plans

Almost forgot to tell you all our WSOP 2008 Reservations are made! That means from now until June you will have to read me saying I can’t wait to go to the WSOP! This year I am playing in the $1500 RAZZ and $1500 Stud events. Want to play in the 5K Hi/Lo Stud Championship but it’s a little too high for my bankroll. Who knows if I have a big score in the Razz I may spring for the 5K buy in. My wife is playing in the $1500 Razz and most likely the $1500 Stud. Remember she was the last woman standing in last year’s $1500 Stud, 19th for a cool $4900! She got beat up not believing Greg Ramer had a hand so she’ll be looking for revenge. Thanks for reading. WSOP 2008 I can’t wait! Tony

Micro-limit Sit-N-Gos

Wanted to start my Sit-N-Go playing over last night so I went back to my roots. Played in 2 Micro limit SNGs, just to get my feet wet. Oh my I forgot how bad people play in these. You need to play a whole different way in the micro limits. I think just playing tight will get you in the money every time. Forgot about this and paid the price. Check out this hand at 50-100. It folds around to the button, who limps. In the big blind I have Q-10 suited, standard shove for me with 900 chips. Keep in mind the button has around 1200 and we are 6 handed. He insta-calls me, like he trapped me with the nuts. What monster did he trap me with? Why A-2 off of course.(75% of his stack with A-2, WTF?) This hand dominates no other I could shove with. Of course flop comes A-A-10 and I get knocked out of this donkfest also. Must be going something wrong in these SNGs. I have a positive ROI, yet for the last week nothing I do is right in them. SNG Variance just sucks big time. As for live play it went well for me last night. Didn’t win a ton of money but was positive anyway. If I take cleared bonus and rake back into account I did well last night. Looks like another crazy home game this week on thursday night at Neil’s house. Should be some good posts about it on Friday. Thanks for reading and good luck at the tables. Tony
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Playing Scared is Bad

Only played a few Sit-N-Gos last night. Was still shell shocked from the craziness of Sundays play. Think I played too tight/scared last night. Played a Step 2, got knocked out 5th, on the payout bubble. Never got anything going so I finally made a move with A-10, got called by A-Q and couldn’t suck out. Played 2 Step 1s, in one got a repeat Step 1 ticket the other 6th place. These are turning into total donk fests, usually 2 players get knocked out in the first orbit. Then everyone tightens up and waits for a push able hand. Just running so bad in SNGs right now that I don’t feel like playing them at all. On the good news front I did very well in $2-4 limit HE on River Stars. At the same time I ran bad in low limit Stud on Stars also. So my live play was basically a wash. Think tonight I will mix it up by playing in some Hi/Lo Stud SNGs on Stars. BTW I watched the WPT last night from Mandaly Bay, it was awesome! If you missed it catch the replay on Sunday night at 7:00pm eastern. Thanks for reading and good luck at the tables. Tony

Crazy Sunday Online Play

Kings suck, have said it before and I will say it again. Last night I lost with them 3 times, against an under pair! I wasn’t short in any of these confrontations. Twice it was on the payout bubble. The worst hand was all in on a flop of 8-8-2. He checked and I pushed, insta-call, know why? He flopped quad eights! Just for a tease River Stars turns me a King for the nut full house! I lost 4 times straight yesterday as a 4.5-1 favorite pre-flop. The odds of that happening are 4.5x4.5X4.5X4.5, you do the math!(It’s over 400 to 1 for your info.) Yesterday was a total minefield playing online. I really am starting to hate to play online on Sundays. Oh well it’s not all bad, switched it up to Hi/Lo Stud at the end of the night. Took 3rd in my last SNG being it was Hi/Lo Stud. At least ended on a winning note. My WSOP Step quest has taken a few steps back. Now have 1 Step 2 and 2 Step 3s left. I will be at it again tonight. Thanks for reading and good luck at the tables. Tony

Tenafly Elks Donkament

Big shout out to my brother Dave and Cousin Tony, they both cashed in the Elks Club Donkament. Dave took 8th and Tony took 9th. Both got knocked out by hands that had no business calling them. It's no small feat to cash in the tournament, it's the equvilent of walking through a minefield blindfolded! More details to follow later. Today I am looking to qualify for the Sunday Brawl on FullTilt. Thanks for reading and good luck at the tables. Tony

The Sit-N-Go Reverse

Poker is funny sometimes. Lately I have been running so bad at SNGs yet winning at live play. Last night the complete reverse happened. I ran great at SNGs yet couldn’t win at the live tables. I won a WSOP Step 2 and a Step 3 seat. Now my WSOP quest is alive and well. Now have one Step 1, one Step 2, and 2 Step 3s. My plan is to build it up to 5 Step 3s and then start playing them to get to the goal of Step 6. Then I want to get a cash at Step 6. As for live play I couldn’t win a hand at low limit Stud at all. Lost 50BBs in an hour on Ultimate Bet! Thankfully I was playing at the micro-limit of .25-.50. Played some 9 man Limit HE on Stars and lost like 10BBs in 2 hours. Couldn’t get any traction going last night at all. Thanks for reading and good luck at the tables. Tony

Sit-N-Go BS

I am running so bad in Sit-n-Gos lately. Went 0-4 cashes in turbos last night on Stars. One loss really stung bad last night. Not because it was better than a 60-40 favorite for me pre-flop either. I have been losing 2.5-1 and 4.5-1 pre-flop favorites all week. Let me step back and tell you the hand that knocked me out of my last turbo last night. We were 4 handed on the bubble, was the short stack but not by much, still my M was 4. Had been playing pretty tight all SNG, only showing down real hands. On the button I open-push with Q-9 of diamonds, not a great hand but I need the blinds and antes. The small blind goes over the top, didn’t have much more than me. While the big blind is in the tank I keep thinking, just let me have 2 live cards. Finally he folds and the cards are exposed. What do you think my opponent had, Aces? Nope f****n 2-4 off? Flop comes 9-2-3 rainbow. You know where this is going right? River Stars rewards the idiot with a 2 on the river to knock me out as bubble boy once again. He immediately started apologizing saying he mis-clicked. I believe it being he insta came over the top and I had 90% of his chip stack. So this idiot can’t keep his windows straight and River Stars makes me pay for his stupidity. What a brutal way to get knocked out! I hate SNGs sometimes. This hand put me on tilt so I took a 15 minute timeout after it. On the bright side I came back and played a WSOP Step 1 and took it down. Thanks for reading and good luck at the tables. Tony

Short Session

Didn’t have much time to play online last night. Played 2 Sit-N-Gos, won one and bubbled in the other one. The one I won was a step 2, had no business winning it. When we were five handed I was super short, with one person having all the chips. Lucky for me the other players at the table decided to go to war with the chip leader. I just squeaked into winning a Step ticket. The turbo I played in didn’t go very well. When down to 4 handed, was very low, so I made a move from the button. I pushed 10-5 sooted into K-5 sooted. My move was right, he should have folded. Why call off one third of your stack with that cheesy hand? He was comfortably in second chip position. This is one of my problems in tournaments the players don’t always think the way I would. Oh well he knocked me out and I bubbled, won’t be the last time I bubble. Did ok playing live on River Stars. Played some short-handed Limit HE. I won around 6BBs in less than 20 minutes. It was a quick hit-n-run session. I was tired; we went out to dinner at my in-laws house. This weekend I may be playing in one of those Donk-a-rama tournaments at the Elks lodge. These are so soft, yet so filled with mines. The players are as good as ones you find playing in a $5.50 MTT online. A typical hand would be me pushing with pocket Jacks and getting knocked out against A-9o. It may sound sick but I have gotten knocked out of there 3 times in a row with pocket Jacks. As a 2.5-1 favorite every time. Maybe I should just muck my Jacks from now on there! Next time will try a stop-n-go with them. Also will probably be playing the Sunday Brawl this weekend on Full. That’s it for today. Thanks for reading and good luck at the tables. Tony

Sunday Poker

My WSOP Step quest is alive and well again. I now have 2 Step 2s and a Step 3. Decided to give it one more try, sunk $50 more into Step 1s this weekend. Won’t spend more than $50 on top of that before I give it up. As for regular SNGs I have switched to the non-turbo type, to mix things up. Different structure same results! I can’t win a hand as a 2.5-1 or 4.5-1 favorite. Running so bad in them that it’s just sick. I called an open push, which barely had me covered with pocket Aces; he had Q-10 off with an M of over 10. Why he pushed here I have no idea? It’s ok RiverStars rewards his bad play by giving him his qutshot on the river. After this beat I gave up the SNGs for the day. I went 1 cash out of 4 trys yesterday. Maybe I will ease back into them tonight. I played in the BoDog $109 Sunday major. Got deep but let myself get too low before making a move. When I finally pushed my M was below 2 and my A-3 couldn’t beat his K-4. Lasted to 120 out of 756 entries. Really got bad cards most of the tournament. I had Aces twice and Queens once but that’s it. No A-K, A-Q, Kings, Jacks, or Tens. Was really an easy tournament to play, just folded every hand but doubled up twice with Aces. Love the structure but I really dropped the ball on this one. It’s just when I am running bad start playing scared which is a recipe for disaster. As for live play yesterday, couldn’t get anything going all day. Lost a small amount but it was very frustrating all day. I seem to run real bad every Sunday. It’s Donk day and I don’t play well against donks. Thanks for reading and good luck at the tables. Tony

Finally an MTT Score.

Played the 7:45 1K Razz last night on RiverStars. Did quite well when we got to the final table I picked up the chip lead by stealing a few bring ins and antes. At this point the Antes/Level was so high. As the leader I had enough to get to the river 1 and a half times! Well I got trapped on a monster draw when we were 6 handed, 2-3-4-6 on fourth. I called all the way to the river, only to brick out 3 times. That hand put me as the short stack and I got knocked out shortly after it. I won $55, 5 times my buy in. Not bad but first was $360. Oh well at least I cashed in it. Started off great in SNGs yesterday but then the mo. just out. Once I got all in with Aces and lost to Q-10 off(bluffed off his whole stack and got rewarded for it) knew it was time to quit. Had a winning day at SNGs but nothing to write home about. Thanks for reading and good luck at the tables. Tony

I Hate Playing With Donks

Had a horrible night playing yesterday. I played in the Stars 8:00PM 25K. This hand pushed me over the edge. Raised 3x from late position with pocket 7s. Both blinds called me. Flop came 7-6-2 with 2 diamonds. I flop yatzee! The small blind leads for 1/2 the pot. The Big blind raises him the size of the pot. I licking my chops just counting up all the chips I will win! Being it was a draw heavy board I decide to just shove right here and take down this nice pot. If I get called I have top set so I don't mind. My shove was for 2x the pot, which almost coves both other players. The small blind called and the big blind folded. I dare you to try and put him on a hand? Kept thinking maybe 2 big diamonds, makes sense right. I am getting steamed up just thinking about the hand again! Drum roll please....idiot calls off most of his stack with 3-4o, with 1 diamond! Got to be kidding me. Of course RiverStars to the rescue. Runner-Runner Diamond and his flush knocks my ass out of the tournament. How can I beat BS like this. Hasn't happened to me once this week but like 20 times. Pocket Queens lost to 8-7 off, Pocket Aces to Q-J off. I run so bad. Thanks for reading and good luck at the tables. Tony

Home Game

I run so bad in Home Games these days. My cousin Neil had a game last night at his new house. The house is awesome and the game setup was top shelf. He had plenty of booze, snacks, and heroes. All the usual suspects were there, my brothers, cousins, and some of their friends. These games are a great way to blow off steam from a tough week. In the first SNG I got hit with the deck and had a ton of chips early. When we were 3 handed I lost a big race which crippled me. I was under the gun with 2X the big blind and looked at my first card, a ten. I open shoved and everyone folded to my nemesis, my cousin Ant M. He was about to fold when everyone egged him to call for pot odds. (Which by the way, with all the chips he had, calling with any 2 was clearly the right play.) So he calls me with 4-7 off, I turn over my hand and its 2 tens! Of course I can’t beat 4-7 off with an overpair. I run so bad in SNGs these days. F***Kin 4-7 cracks my tens! So I get knocked out in 3rd and just get my buy in back. The second SNG went decently. We got down to 4 players with 3 of us having about the same stack size. This went on for like 30 minutes with no one getting knocked out. My brother John was getting a little low, so I should have just waited it out. Then I kept thinking I could play loose and get away with it being we were on the bubble. I get dealt A-6 off on the button and go into the tank to decide how to play it. I was going to bring it in for 3X the big blind but the blinds were high and my M was around 9. So I open shove and my other Nemesis, brother Dave, insta-calls. He wakes up with pocket 8s. No luck for me and I am again crippled. I get knocked out a few hands later on the bubble! I just run so bad and play so bad In these stupid home games. Shout out to my cousin Ant(ShipThis) for taking my brother Dave down and winning the 2nd game. Dave deserved to lose, due to bad karma, when heads up Ant had a big chip lead but proposed a chop. (Only thing extra he wanted was Dave’s $10 bounty.) Dave refused to give him the extra bounty. Pretty bad decision being 2nd was $150 and first was $300. So he gave up $75 equity to not give the chip leader $10 extra!(On principle he said.) Ant played well and deserved to win so it worked out. Thanks for reading and good luck at the tables. Tony

On Life Tilt

The Sit-N-Go BS started right away last night. I have pocket aces on a K-10-4 rainbow flop. (After I had re-raised the under the gun raiser pre-flop.) He checks to me on the flop and I push all-in, putting him on A-K, hoping to get my money in good. The Blinds were at 50-100, this was a turbo, and we still had 8 players left. He insta-calls me, for my whole stack, has me covered by 50 chips. What does he have you think, hmm….. J-Q off was his monster to raise pre-flop, under the gun. I don’t even have to look I know an Ace is coming sooner or later. Stars doesn’t disappoint, brings the Ace on the turn. Can I please re-suck out for once, nope! Three Aces isn’t enough for me to win a turbo SNG. That’s 8 $16 turbos in a row, without a cash. I decide right there not to play another one. Instead I played my Step 1 ticket, wise choice being a miracle happened I won this one. Really didn’t have to do anything but sit back and let the chip leader destroy the table. When we got 3 handed, it was like 10,000T to 1500T for me and the other short player. The other shorty player got sick of the big stack bulling us so he open pushes with 10-6 off from the small blind. The big stack, called with J-Q off, being it was only 15% of his stack. Queen high holds up unimproved and we both get a Step 2 seat. For once I get rewarded by someone else’s bad play! Anyway I am on life tilt today. Driving home a car hit me and then takes off. Not much damage to my car but is sucks that I have damage, thru no fault of my own, and he gets away with it! Should have got his license plate, right way but it happened so fast. People just suck in general these days. There is no civility at all. Everyone is out for themselves and don’t care whose property/life they damage! I am in a bad mood today. Thanks for reading and good luck at the tables. Tony

Running Bad in Sit-N-Gos

I ran so bad at SNGs last night! It was just sick. Lost 7 straight, without a single cash. Worse yet 4 of them were on the bubble. Forget about winning coin flips I couldn’t win as a 2.5-1 or a 4.5-1 favorite at all. The last one I played was just so bed I had to quit for the night. 5 handed with the blinds at 100-200 a donk pushes under the gun for 1600. I am in the small blind with pocket Queens, he has me slightly covered. I make the call and he has the mighty 8-7 off? The flop comes 9-6-2 and I call me wife over to see this horror. I knew what was coming on the river without even looking. Of course a five rivers and I get knocked out once again. F***in RiverStars killed me last night. I ran bad on Sunday but nothing like last night. I lost with Tens to Fives, A-Q to A-6o, and nines to A-7o. If I would have won just have of the hands, when I was a favorite, would have cashed in half of those last night. Nights like this make me want to quit the game for good. Funny thing is I was playing low limit Stud on Ultimate Bet and could do no wrong. I won 25BBs playing Stud in less than an hour. Of course that only covers one SNG buy in! I will be at it again tonight, looking for revenge. Thanks for reading and good luck at the tables. Tony

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WSOP Step Bad Beats

My WSOP Steps quest is looking really bad. I am really frustrated and sick of all the BS that has been happening to me in these. The Step 4s have been really brutal to me. I don’t know how many times I will call an all in or go all in with pocket Kings and lose to Ace rag! Yesterday a complete Donk was going all in every other hand at level 1 in a Step 1. I knew he was going to get looked up and lose all his chips. So around the 10th hand of the SNG he goes all in once again and I have pocket Kings. I insta-call him looking to double up being he has me covered by 20 chips. He has the monster A-10 off, of course first card off the deck is an Ace. I get knocked out 2 hands later. It’s just sick how many 2.5-1 favorite hands I have lost in a row on Stars. I now have only 2 Step 2 tickets left. Think I will play them and once they are done will give up on the Steps. I have been playing $16 Turbos and just crushing them. Have cashed in 50% of them since Sunday with 4 firsts out of 15 of them. Am trying to make a run at their Battle of the Planets promotion. The steps started out as fun but have become a huge money pit for my bankroll. Stayed home sick yesterday, had really bad allergies, so after I went to the doctor grinded out Turbo SNGs on Stars. Felt I ran really bad but still had a winning day. If the cards would just break even I could make some real money in these. Thanks for reading and good luck at the tables. Tony
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Lack of Posts This Weekend

Sorry for not doing a post this weekend. I ran so bad on Saturday that I didn't feel like writing about it. I lost 9 out of 10 all in hands as a 2.5 to 1 favorite! Pocket Kings, Queens, Tens, or Nines all kept losing to Ace Rag! It was so bad that I lost all my big WSOP Step tickets. I had to start rebuilding on Sunday, now have 2 Step 2 tickets. I ran bad again yesterday but somehow managed to have a winning day. My new obsession is the Poker Stars Battle of the planets SNG challenge. So I have started grinding out $16 turbos yesterday. Need to play well and get many cashs in a block of 20 SNGs in order to make the leaderboard. Doing well so far, played in 10 of them with 2 firsts, 2 seconds, and a third. They also have a different division where they take the leader over a block of 100 SNGs. Don't think I will be on that board. I work full time and playing 100 SNGs in a week will be tough for me. I will try to do some hand history posts this week. Thanks for reading and good luck at the tables. Tony

Don't Play on Cake Poker!

It’s Friday and I need to warn all my users about not playing on Cake Poker! I built up a nice roll there and have been trying to withdraw my money for 2 months now. They don’t have a phone number you can call so I have been sending them emails trying to get this resolved, with no satisfaction. After sending them emails for a month someone finally sent me back an email stating which documentation I needed to send them to have my account approved for check withdrawal. I sent this into them three times already and haven’t received an email back from them. So basically I am screwed, they have my money and they won’t give it back to me. This is a warning to you all, don’t play on Cake Poker! TGIF. Thanks for reading and good luck at the tables. Tony

I Run Bad

I am running so bad at SNGs again. The cycle seams to continue, every few weeks I can’t win a 2 and ½ to one favorite hand for a whole night. Last night I kept running Jacks or Queens into A-9o and A-6o, losing to a turned or rivered Ace! Not only that but on a bunch of bubbles I started to play aggressive and ran my 2 overs into pocket 9s three times! Why does Riverstars tease me like this? I pushed my J-K sooted into the chip leader for 75% of his stack on the bubble and he insta-calls me with his pocket nines. No thought involved at all, he must have ESP, didn’t know nines were such a monster hand. This from someone who played the whole SNG super tight. I hadn’t showed down a bad hand the whole time. Well my WSOP Step quest is now going in reverse big time. I am down to 1 Step 3 and 1 Step 4 ticket now. Also sunk another $22.50 down the Step 1 hole. A few times I won a repeat Step 1 ticket but I lose all of those also. Live play didn’t bale me out last night either. I lost around 12BBs in an hour of short-handed Limit HE. Things were worse; at one time I was down 40BBs in less the 30 minutes. I ran my Aces into flopped raggy straights twice. On one I lost to the big blind’s monster Q-8 off on a flop of J-10-9. Full Tilt is famous for those brutal setup hands. I did win a little money playing low limit Stud on Ultimate Bet, like 7BBs. I will be at it again tonight. My cousin Ant(ShipThis) and I(Aviganola) will be playing the 8:00pm 25K on Stars tonight, see you all there. Thanks for reading and good luck at the tables. Tony

WSOP Steps Update

Good news to report on the WSOP Steps front again from last night. I won a step 3 seat last night. I now have 1 step 1, 1 step 3, and 2 Step 4 tickets. Only had to poor $15 more down the Step money pit. Maybe tonight I will play one of my step 4s. Just need to run good one time and I know can win a step 5. So far I have won 3 step 5s but had no luck at all in them. Just want to make it to Step 6 and get back $500, so it doesn’t feel like all this time and money invested was for nothing. On the live front low limit Stud was just brutal to me last night. Every time I had trips someone would fill up on the river. Kept missing 4th street flush draws, that means had 3 cards to come and couldn’t make a flush! Oh well I have been running so good playing Stud on Ultimate that I was due for a letdown. Ran ok playing short-handed Limit HE on FullTilt, won a few BBs in an hour of play. Great thing about all this grinding is the points, bonus, and rake back I am earning by playing so much. As for the Steps they will make me a silver, maybe gold on Stars this month. Thing is you earn 35FPPs for a step 3 and 75FPPs for a step 4. Not sure what you earn for a Step 5, but a step 6 earns 500FPPs! So if I play 3 step 6s a month it’s more than enough to maintain Silver status alone. (The first month it earns 1500FPPs, second month over 2000 being you earn FPPs 50% when a Silver.) All I am trying to point out is that if I just break even as a player am still receiving a bunch of other benefits. BTW Have I told you all that I can’t wait to go to the WSOP this year? I am sure I have but will say it again, WSOP 2008 here we come!!! Thanks for reading and good luck at the tables. Tony

Grinding the WSOP Steps

Played more Step SNGs last night. Played six of them, cashed in 4 of them. 3 of the cashes were repeat the step tickets so really I just spun my wheels and didn’t make any real progress. I now have 1 Step 1, 1 Step 2, and 2 Step 4s. Also sunk another $15 into the Step money pit. Seams the early steps, 1 and 2 are easier to win on the weekends but the later steps 3 and 4 are easier to win during the week. On the weekends Steps 4-6 are filled up with sharks. Anyway this has been my experience so far. Starting tonight I will play my Step 4s to test this theory. As for the cash games last night they were juicy! I made 40BBs in less than 2 hours. What a difference from the night before. My flush draws actually came in last night. Shout out to the Deliman, he cashed in the 25K at 8:00pm on Riverstars last night. Not an easy feat being there are many land mines to avoid in this one. Also ShipThis is building up his SNG roll again, always a good thing. Thanks for reading and good luck at the tables. Tony

Steps and the 2008 WSOP

Started to turn my Step play around last night. I played 3 step 1s, with good results. In one I took a bad beat to only win a repeat step 1, in another I won a Step 2 ticket, and in the third played well but didn’t cash. Now I have 2 Step 4s and 1 Step 2. If you add up the value of these steps, they are worth more than the amount of money I have spent on Step 1s. Not a whole lot more but I am showing a profit. The big question is, will I be able to get to Step 6 and extract some money out of this money pit? Read all about Mitch’s quest on the steps at O-Poker and he seems to consider the Steps a big money leak also. Problem is I love the challenge of getting up to Step 6 and making a nice score from it. Every day I go home from work’s grind and look forward to playing a Step SNG. I have paid for over 50 Step 1s now, a little over $400 invested. So to show a small profit I have to come in at 6th in a Step 6 for a $500 cash. Of course if I come in 5th or better it will be a $1000 or better score! Than the dream of taking a Step 6 down and going to the big dance is always in the back of my mind. Thing is the Wife and I have a trip planned for the WSOP this year but can only go once for around a week. We have been holding off making the reservations to see if I can take down a Step 6. If not we are going week 3, I believe. We are playing in the $1500 RAZZ and Stud events, at the very least. I really want to play in the Hi/Lo Stud $5000 championship event, being this is my favorite/best game. Problem is 5K is too steep for me to pay for one tournament. Will either get my brothers to take a piece of me or will try to satellite in. Satellite route is just so brutal. I tried that last year and got coolered so bad that it stung for 2 days. I had a King high flush in 5 cards, with a big lead when down to 5 players. I played it aggressively only to lose most of my chips to a player that rivered an Ace high flush on me. If I win that hand I have most of the chips at the table. Would have been in a position to cut a deal for a big percentage of the tournament chips awarded. Otherwise I would have been able to bully the table around being next closest person would have been at a 5-1 chip disadvantage. Of well no use crying over spilled milk. I really wanted to play in that event last year, was the $2500 Hi/Lo Stud event. Of well I will get them this year. Of course this is all a mute point, if I win a Step 6 it will be the main event for me! I can’t wait to go to this year’s WSOP! Of no I have said it now you guys/girls will read it a hundred times before June – LOL. Thanks for reading and good luck at the tables. Tony

Sundays are Bad

Yesterday the variance of Poker landed on my head, like a ton of bricks. When I say nothing went well, am being totally serious. First I played 3 Step SNGs and got knocked out of them when running into Aces. The last one was my Step 5 when I had Kings and got it all on a flop of J-2-3 off. At least I won a repeat Step 4 ticket for this. Well I started the day all confident with 1 Step 5, 2 Step 4s, and a Step 2. Ended the day with my tail between my legs with 2 Step 4s only, also sunk another $60 into the Step 1 and 2 holes. As for MTTs, which I have been hot of late, didn’t get a penny back in even one! Went 0-6 in them and even worse half were bounties which I didn’t get any. Played the crazy Stars $11 100K guarantee. Over 22,000 players in this one with over 3000 in the money. Lasted down to 7000 then pushed pocket 8s into Ace rag! In Step 1s can’t tell you how many times I played like a total nit then close to the bubble would make a move and get called by Ace rag to get knocked out. Then other times I would push with the best hand and get sucked out on. Not talking about flips either, always 2 and a half to one or better favorites! I guess Sundays really aren’t a good day for me to play online. Only bright light of the day was my live grinding was slightly profitable. Over 3 hours of grinding I made 5 BBs and cleared a lot of bonus/rake back. Tonight I will start fresh by playing like 6 Step 1s, to get back into the swing of things. It better be different than playing was yesterday! Thanks for listening to my whining and good luck at the tables. Tony

Sunday Poker

Today just sucks big time. Ran into Aces in 3 straight Step SNGs! In one had Kings and got all in on a flop of J-2-3 rainbow. Then in the Sunday Brawl Sat. I ran QQ into JJ who 4 flushed me out of the tournament. I am now down to only 2 Step 4 tickets and looking to rebuild my invertory. Playing in the Bodog major at 4:00, if you want to sweat me.(Aviganola) Hope things turn around soon! Thanks for reading and good luck at the tables. I mean GL - LOL. Tony

WSOP Step Update.

I had a great Step day. I finally won myself a Step 5! I now have a Step 5, 2 Step 4s, and a Step 2. All for less than $400 invested. Running well at MTTs also. Already won a seat in the Sunday Brawl Super for tomorrow morning. Tomorrow I may play my Step 5, if I see a good spot. Thanks for reading and good luck at the tables. Tony

Crazy Home Game

We had a home game last night at my cousin Ant.’s house. (Not ShipThis, another of my cousin’s Ant. Italian family we have many Anthonys including me - LOL.) Anyway last time we played I suggested we add bounties to our SNGs. We decided on a $10 bounty and $50 for the prize pool. Then we added a wrinkle into the mix, when you knock someone out you have to sign your $10 bill over to him. This was already a crazy, loud game, but now it’s even crazier. People are calling just to get the signed $10 bill. We had yelling and screaming every time someone was all in. It’s a great game to blow off some steam from life’s daily grind. Something crazy happened last night, not even mentioning all the sick beats! (If you think Online Poker is Rigged play in one of our games and you will see the bad beats big time!) How about Aces going all in pre-flop, a flop of 10-2-3 rainbow, against A-Q and losing to runner runner.(Jack on the turn and King on the river.) Anyway my cousin Neil went on a heater and won every single bounty in our first SNG. (9 men played and he knocked out everyone!) 75% of the time he got it in behind and won anyway! I went all in with A-10 of clubs and he called with A-9 off, first card off the deck was a nine. It was just sick to watch his crushing of everyone else. Then went it got heads up he had like a 20-1 chip lead. My other cousin Ant. offered him a deal, all he wanted was his $10 bounty back and he would concede first place. (Personally I would have taken it!) Neil said no and on the first hand Ant pushed with K-9 suited and Neil called with pocket 5s and took the SNG down, with all the bounties! Let me say it again, sick, sick – LOL. Thanks for reading and good luck at the tables. Tony

Back On Track to WSOP Step 6

Back on track for the WSOP Steps. I hope to have a Step 6 by the end of the weekend. I am now back up to 2-Step 4s. I should have 3 being I got all in with A-J on an Ace high flop. Pocket eights made the donkey call and rivered an 8 to send me home on the bubble. Felt I was running bad but playing well last night. Lost some huge coin flips but somehow managed to claw my way though them. Did some grinding at the short-handed limit HE tables on Full Tilt. Had good results winning 15BBs in less than 2 hours. Also been playing a lot of low limit Stud on ultimate, to clear my huge amount on bonus I have built up there. It’s crazy; at one time I had $1200 in bonus sitting there, with only a $150 roll to clear it with. Now I have it down to $1050 in Bonus. Good thing about playing Stud is every hand I earn a raise status point and Ultimate points being there is an ante. While playing HE there, only earn points when I call pre-flop or am in one of the blinds.(Also the pot has to be raked a certain amount.) This is why I don’t play as much at Ultimate, they have really made it hard to clear your bonus there. Full Tilt is so much better for Bonus clearing and rake back. You get credit for every hand you are dealt, as long as any rake is taken from the pot. If even 5c is raked from the pot you earn partial Full points for the hand. So you can be a total nit and still earn something for being at the table. This is even better than Poker Stars rules. At Poker Stars you only earn a FPP when the rake reaches a certain amount. This is ok at the higher levels being the rake almost always hits the amount. For low limit players it takes much longer to clear your bonus and earn FPPs. Thanks for reading and good luck at the tables. Tony

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More WSOP Steps

I played more WSOP Steps SNGs last night. Ran bad and played bad on top of it. I now have 1 Step 1, 1 Step 3, and 1 Step 4. I invested $22.50 in 3 more Step ones. Considering how bad I played I am actually happy to almost be in the same position as the night before, minus 1 Step 2 seat. I don’t have an exact total but think I am in for a $250 investment so far. Not too bad being I own Steps worth $304.50. Problem is I have run into a wall in Step 4. Not only can’t I get past it but I have gotten knocked out 3 times already not even getting anything back! In other words the top 6 get a step back and I have finished in 7th 3 times. Need to adjust to the better structure and players I find at Step 4. The first 3 steps have 5 minute blinds and are full of loose Donks. Step 4 has 10 minute blinds and is full of decent playing nits and aggressive bullies. Maybe I should play my Step 4s on the weekend. Last weekend I did great in them, twice I finished in 3rd to repeat step 4. If it wasn’t for bad beats/lost coin flips I would have been up to Step 5 now. Don’t think I want to touch Step 6 on the weekends, being I have noticed the top Internet players seem to be playing in them all the time. Last weekend no less than 3 top 20 Pocket Fives ranked players were playing in them every time I checked! Anyway hopefully I will play better at them tonight. Thanks for reading and good luck at the tables. Tony

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WSOP Step Trouble

The Steps last night were just brutal. I am now left with 1 Step 2, 1 Step 3, and 1 Step 4. I had a donk put a bad beat on me in a step 4. I was the chip leader with 3100 chips at 50-100. I had been playing totally tight, since I doubled up early and we were down to 7 players on the step bubble. Everyone folded to me in the small blind, I have Q-10 off. I bring it in for 3x the big blind. The villain calls me. The flop come A-J-9 off suite. I do my standard C-bet of 300, probably a mistake being it’s only ½ the pot. Thing is I was playing tight and getting a lot of respect the whole SNG. He calls and the turn comes gin for me with an off suite 8! I bet and he min-raises me, so I push him all in. He insta-calls me and has j-8 off for a crappy 2 pair. Of course you know how the story ends; bad play gets rewarded by an 8 on the river. I lost 60% of my chips and couldn’t get anything going after this. I ended out in 7th place and lost any step tickets I would have gotten had I lasted just one more place! He played the hand badly from start to finish yet he gets rewarded. Of well no one ever said life or poker was fair. Thanks for reading and good luck at the tables. Tony