09.12.08
Hurricane Ike 4:49
Well. This is a boring storm so far. We’ve taped all our windows and eaten our junk food. We went for a ride to see what was going on. Everything is closed except gas stations and a few fast food places. Oh and bars. Bars are always open.
I haven’t seen so many businesses closed since they got rid of the Blue laws that forced businesses to be closed on Sundays. It always amazes me how many empty cars there are in parking lots when the businesses close down. We went by Wal Mart. There were a number of cars stranded in the parking lot. I wonder where the people are and why those cars are left there.
So far we’ve had a few sprinkles. The story in Galvaston is amazing. There is already so much water and it’s not really even raining there yet. They estimate that there are 40,000 people that stayed on Galveston Island. Are they nuts?????? I guess they don’t have cable and get the Weather Channel. I mean when Jim Cantori tells me to get out I’m going. He’s the MAN!!!!!
That’s our news for now. Will check in soon.
Hurricane Ike 2:27 PM
Not much is happening here. The sky is a little darker but that is it. We’ve just heard a child has died. His parents were cutting a tree in preparation for the storm and somehow it hit their 10 yr old child. It is so sad. I wish I could reach out to those parents.
The waves in Galveston are amazing. The island is already flooding and they are rescuing people who didn’t leave. No one expected flooding this early. The tv reporter joked that this will be the only time he has gotten a sunburn covering a hurricane. It’s really a weird storm. What do you expect from a storm named for a Republican. LOL ( I couldn’t help myself.)
Gyla is still taping………..
I just talked to a friend of mine named Shirley. She was telling me that she had called her best friend here in Houston. Her friend said her kids had come in and said “Mom, you’re eating all the snacks. We won’t have any left for the hurricane”. Right after Shirley told me that Gyla came in with a Ding Dong and said “That hurricane better get here soon or we’ll be out of Ding Dong’s”. We all got a good laugh out of that. I guess we are all alike. In stressful situations we want comfort food.
More later.
Janice
Hurricane Ike
I hope you will pardon an off poker post but this Hurricane Ike is taking over our lives right now. We are sitting at home watching the constant news coverage of impending doom for our city. Gyla has taped up the windows. That’s what you do to protect yourself from shattering glass. I don’t know if it works or not but it is what you DO during a hurricane. It may be like the old story of the woman who cut the ends off her roasts because her Mom did it. I don’t know but we did it so I guess we are ready.
Gyla also went and bought a generator yesterday. Everyone needs one, right? She has bad asthma and cannot be without her breathing machine if we are without electricity for a long time.
Our refrigerator (it will run on the generator) and pantry are stocked with Hurricane essentials like Twinkies and Ding Dongs. I can’t tell you how long it’s been since I ate a Ding Dong but I’ll tell you that I didn’t know that they weren’t wrapped in foil anymore. How do you make foil balls?????? I have great memories of the kids and their foil balls in times past.
My son works for the local NBC affiliate in their news room. He called a little while ago to see if we needed him to help us with anything. He’s off today but has to go in at 3 am. That will be in the middle of the storm so he will be going in early and catching some z’s up there. I know he will be safe. That place is a fortress and it will have electricity. He will have air conditioning. I imagine he’ll be spending a lot of time up there. During Rita they allowed their staff to bring up their family but not this time.
Gyla is running around plugging in everything that needs to be charged. She says she is running out of plugs. Life has gotten complicated with all our cell phones, portable computers, hand held games, etc. Last night we stopped in the Verizon store to get a car charger for my phone. The guy tried to cell us a wireless card for our computer at $59 a month. He says we can watch the local news on it after the power goes out. The problem would be charging the computer battery after it runs down. We decided to pass. We will just have to go compterless when we get to that point.
I’ve been through a lot of hurricanes before but the last one for me was Hurricane Camille. I had just graduated from high school when that baby struck. It was one big hurricane. It came in so fast that my boyfriend at the time got stranded at our house. I had a gall bladder attack in the middle of the storm and couldn’t get to the hospital. It was really bad. That was the closest we came to flooding. The aftermath was terrible. There was a huge mess everywhere and the heat was incredible.
We are safe here. Or should be anyway. We live in NorthWest Houston. On the map you would see it as Jersey Village. All the warnings about facing “iminent death” are directed at the areas around the coast. There are still those crazy human beings who decide to ride out the storms in evacuated areas. I hope there won’t be many lost in this storm.
We actually got a call asking us NOT to evacuate. The problem is there are 6,000,000 people in Houston. We can’t all leave. They want the roads cleared for those that have to leave. We could have left this morning. The roads were clear. We have decided to stay in case there are problems we can deal with them right away. If the drainage system lets us down and we have rising water we want to be here to get stuff up. It will be a miserable time of it but we can save a lot of things.
I’ll blog here as long as we have electricity. Right now the sky is clear. There is a slight wind. Gyla says the first rain is showing up on the radar. Parts of Galveston island are already flooded. They are expecting devestation down there. I hope everyone leaves.
More later.
Janice
Sept 12, 2009 11:10 am
09.09.08
A Trip to Louisiana
After having our trip to Biloxi canceled by Hurricane Gustov Gyla and I were really really wanting to riffle some chips. We hadn’t played any live poker since the WSOP and it was time. Our options were the local “Poker Pits” (underground poker rooms) or to travel to Louisiana to the Isle of Capri. We opted to forgo the massive take in the Pits and go to Louisiana. We hunted for a good deal on a hotel room as poker players don’t get much respect when it comes to handing out rooms at the Isle. We found a room for 50 bucks using a couple of discounts. That was all it took and off we went.
Understand that Gyla and I aren’t huge cash players. We only play very low limit cash for entertainment. In Lake Charles our options were 3/6/12 limit or 2/4 NL. The NL games at the Isle is packed with crazy gamblers. This might be Heaven for a Pro but for amateurs like us it can get quite expensive. We opted for 3/6/12 this trip.
My first table was made up of the usual mix of North Louisiana rookie rednecks. It didn’t take long to figure out how they were playing. I won a nice pot right off the bat but then got stuck in what I call the “Curse of the Nurtz”……or a string of losses with the second nuts. I lost a big one with a King High Flush. It never quits amazing me that give me the Kx in a flush suit someone always has Ax in that same suit. I mean what are the odds. UGH
Another bad hand hit when my JJ found a board of Q3Q3Q. The board falling like it did the post was quite small. The final round was checked around to the young poker punk in front of me and he bets 12. I normally would have called but the pot was way to small to call a $12 bet. He didn’t have the Queen and I would have won the small pot but it really pizzed me off. I thought it was a chicken sh*t bet and told him so. I’m not proud of the way I reacted but it happens.
It was a pitiful round for me. All my hands were second best or fell apart. I lost my $100 so I got up from my seat and went to check on Gyla. She was holding her own. She wanted me to play in their Friday night tourney. I hadn’t planned to play in the tourney. It was a rebuy and had a rebuy structure that encouraged rebuys. I don’t like playing against the depth of someones pocket. It was a $120 buy in. You got 2,000 chips. Rebuys were available at $100 for 4,000 chips when you were below 4,000 chips. There was an add on (4000 chips for $100 and 8000 for $200) along with a dealers special (2,000 chips for $10). I decided to play the tourney and see how it went.
There were 16 in the tourney. My table started with alot of betting. One guy went all in and lost. He reached in his pocket for a rebuy. This was the first of many. He ended up being into the tourney for about a grand when it was over.
The players were not very good. They would call three bet raises with QJo. They thought any two face cards were the nuts. There were a lot of chips changing hands and rebuys being made. I decided to hold very tight and try to get through the rebuy period as cheep as possible. I knew I could outplay them when they couldn’t reach in their pocket for more money. I made a few hands. At the end of the rebuy period I had $7000 chips. I did the maximum add on for $210. I made a mistake of not checking the chip stacks of the other table before I did the add on. I just assumed (dumb) that they were playing the same way but I was wrong. They all had tiny chip stacks. Obviously there hadn’t been a lot of rebuying there. All the chips were on our table. Had I seen that I wouldn’t have done the maximum add on. It wasn’t necessary.
After the rebuy I was 2nd in chips. 12 players remained.
Right off the bat I found myself in a hand with AJs. The flop came Jack high. The big money man bet out. This was his style……to push the betting. When he did show down a hand he usually lost.
I reraised his raise with my top pair top kicker. He called. The turn was a blank. He went all in. I went into the tank. I was sure I had him but it put all my chips at risk. I was still a chip leader without this pot but would have just about been out if I called and lost. I folded.
Soon we were down to one table. A couple of the short stacks proposed a chop but it didn’t go to far. I was 2nd in chips still. There were some very short stacks at the table. A couple more went out and the short stacks were offering the chip leader 1st place money and me 2nd place money and they chop the rest. I was up for that but the 3rd place guy said no. We kept playing.
I thought the guy who was 1st in chips to be pretty solid. He seemed to gamble and hit at the right times. He had 70,000 in chips. I had about 15,000 and everyone else was on life support. I was disappointed that the chip leader didn’t know how to play the big stack. If someone would limp he would limp and see the flop then put the other guy all in. If it would have been me I would have been pushing them all in before the flop. Unfortunately several players doubled up. One tripled up. It was going south. Another chop was proposed. We chop it even for $560 and each give the chip leader $50. That way there would be no 1099’s. It was agreed to by everyone and we called it quits. There were a couple really lucky guys there who had like one bet left but I wasn’t going to rain on the parade. The blinds were going up and even the chip leader didn’t feel comfortable with his lead.
In the end I had fun but I wouldn’t play in it again. It didn’t change my idea about rebuy tourneys and there wasn’t enough money in the pot to make the rebuys profitable. If it hadn’t been for Mr Big Bucks and his deep pockets I don’t think I would have even gotten my rebuys covered. Nope! Uh Uh!!! Not for me!!!! No more rebuy tourneys. I was happy with my play though. I liked the way I adapted my play to the make up of the table. I profited $200 so it’s not all bad.
Back to 3/6/12. Gyla had run up against some bad hands so she went off to take a break. She came back and joined me at my table. I stayed on the snide but Gyla kicked some major poker azz. She was really pushing these good old boys who had accumulated some nice stacks. Before long Gyla had them all stacked up in front of her. She could hardly see over the massive pile of chips in front of her. The guys got quieter and their faces got redder. It was great!!! (Kicking the good old boys azzes at the table………Priceless!)
We finally packed it in about 2am. We had a great time but it was time to go find a Waffle House. We were hungry!!!
09.02.08
Poker is a Cruel Game
Ugh!!! Poker!!!!
Just as you start to see some growth in your game the Poker Gods decide to put your ego in check and slam you to the floor and stomp on you. I’ve been reading and studying more trying to improve my game. It is improving a lot. I have had 2 wins and several final table’s recently. I’ve been most pleased with my improved play. My bank roll was growing and I was grinning.
My most noticable improvements came from reading Daniel Negraneau’s book on Small Ball Poker and Gus Hanson’s new book “Every Hand Reveales”. These two books really helped me see what I was missing in my game. Actually it showed me what was right about my game but kicked me in the butt to use it more. One memorable evening last week I was playing a tourney on Full Tilt with about 1500 people at the same time I was playing a tourney on PokerStars with 2800 people. At the end of the 1st hour I was 1st on the Full Tilt tourney and 7th on the Stars tourney. In the end I fell from those top spots. Probably a lot having to do with playing two big tourneys at once. I also took some pretty big hits with major suckouts in both. I met my demise when going all in with a big pair only to be called by a 10 4 s and getting beat. Need I say more. I went out of the other tourney on just such a beat. I cashed nicely in both and I’m not complaining. It was a perfect example of what a roller coaster poker can be. I’m still learning and my problem hasn’t been building a stack but holding on to it. I’m getting better but have a long way to go.
I also have to say I’m learning to take the risks I need to take. If I lose I walk away knowing I did what I needed to do. My day for the big finish will come. I know it.
Having said all of that………………
This Labor Day weekend we were supposed to go to New Orleans and pick up my Mom. We were taking her for a mini vacation at the IP Hotel and Casino in Biloxi. It was to be a fun weekend for us and an opportunity for my sister and her hubby to get away for a weekend on their own. Unfortunately that weekend was interrupted by the bad manners of Hurricane Gustov and we ended up stuck at home.
Because of some recent successes online I had built up a nice (for me) bankroll in both Poker Stars and Full Tilt. We settled down for a nice weekend of online poker……………………
NOT
The whole weekend was miserable. I don’t know that I cashed in anything. It was a weekend of bad beats and donkey plays. To be fair to myself I have to say that we were all set for a rare weekend of LIVE poker and didn’t get it. We were disappointed and not thrilled to find ourself behind our monitors playing more online poker. I also find that I’m getting bored with online poker. Things can be rocking in my game. I’m getting ahead and then for some reason I get the idea to call someone’s all in with some odd hand like a 2 gap suited hand and rationalize the call by saying “I can afford it and it MIGHT hit”. It dosen’t and then I start to tilt a little because I’ve just dumped off some of my chips. Then some poker punk calls MY all in with a 2 gap suited hand and hits. Now I’m pizzed. I have chips left and I’m going to hurt him………..LOL
All of this because I was getting bored with the game. Yesterday I was playing a nice tourney on Stars. I took a big hit early and built my stack up from air to a nice stack of 10,000 chips. After that hard work we decided we were hungry for Mexican and I donked off my chips so we could go eat.
That’s where my head has been.
After two days of losing I decided to play one seriously. Last night I chose a tourney on Stars that was a $11 buy in with one rebuy and one add on. That was interesting structure to me. There were 850 players. For the first hour I was rolling. I amassed 24,000 in chips and I was 4th in chips. I had it going on. I knew I could do it. I wasn’t losing my game. I still had it. I just needed to focus.
Then we started the 2nd hour.
Just as I was getting my confidence back the Poker Gods cruely snatched it away. I couldn’t get a hand. Nothing……..Nada. The table I was at was very active so stealing was difficult. All in’s were being called at a curious rate and I couldn’t get a hand I’d risk it on.
Then…..I was moved to a new table. Yes…..that was all I needed. I was going to be able to repair the damage of the previous 20 or so minutes. WRONG. There was a guy 2 to my right with a giant stack that was playing every hand and calling every all in. Even if I had an interesting hand I had to muck it. No limping here.
Finally I catch a PP and go all in. I get called and win and double my stack. Yes. Reprieve. Then the final cruel blow came in the form of AK suited. The guy before me min raises. I go all in. The guy behind me calls as does the first raiser. I’m up against 88 and JJ. I knew the Poker Gods would reward my stellar play and patience with 1 measly Ace or King. It was not to be had and I go down in flames 240 out of 840. A very sad ending for someone who was kicking azz and taking names a little earlier.
My Mom would tell me to take the experience and learn from it. I just wanted to drown my sorrows but we were out of Diet Coke. I went to bed and couldn’t get the image of Dancing Jack Puppets with grins on their faces being puppeteered by some faceless poker punk by the name of Drags_on.
Such is life in the world of poker.
Okay………….
I’ve gotten this off my chest now.
I think I’ll go see what’s up on Full Tilt and Stars.
05.15.08
More on your Inner Guidance and Poker
My last blog covered the existence of your IB (Inner Being) . (If you haven’t read that post you need to go read it first in order to get the full benefit of this post.) You have another energy working within you all the time. This energy is called the IDK. It is with you all the time whether you are aware of it or not. It is well known that children are more in touch with their Spiritual sides and their knowledge of the IDK has come to surface with their new cell phone “language”. They tell the world that IDK stands for I Don’t Know but inside they really know it is the force that is working inside of them.
You can get in touch with your own IDK when ever you want. Listen very closely and you will here it speak to you. It will sound something like this…………Hee Haw. Yes , that is correct. Your IDK is your Inner DonKey. When parents ask their children why they did something wrong and they answer IDK they are saying that their Inner DonKey made them do it. They know their parents won’t believe in the existence of their Inner DonKey so they refer to it simply as I Don’t Know.
It is your IDK that makes you call a raise and a re-raise with a 9 10s just because it’s pretty. When you call a bet on the flop with a back door flush because it MIGHT hit……..that’s your IDK at work. She’s good at making you call 2 raisers on the river with your top pair while looking at possible flush and str8 draws just to see what they have. Her job is to make an AZZ of you. This is something she does quite well.
IF you want to rid yourself of your IDK find a quiet place and go into a deep meditative state. You do this by closing your eyes and taking deep breaths. Now, count backwards from 100 slowly until you loose track of the numbers. Keep breathing slowly and deeply and picture your IB clearly in your mind. It may be a bright light or a mirror image of your self. It is your choice. Now picture your IDK clearly in your mind. Again this can be the image of your choosing. Now…..very carefully……picture your IB kicking your IDK’s AZZ back where it came from.
Now you can go back and play some good poker.
05.09.08
Law of Attraction and Poker
As some of you know I have become a student of the Law Of Attraction. The study of this has had a very powerful impact on my life in a positive way. Several have asked what it is and I’ve done my best to describe it. I received the following quote in my email today and it really sums it all up. I thought I’d share it with you all.
You will notice that those who speak most of prosperity, have it. Those who speak most of health, have it. Those who speak most of sickness, have it. Those who speak most of poverty, have it. It is Law. It can be no other way… The way you feel is your point of attraction, and so, the Law of Attraction is most understood when you see yourself as a magnet getting more and more of the way you feel. When you feel lonely, you attract more loneliness. When you feel poor, you attract more poverty. When you feel sick, you attract more sickness. When you feel unhappy, you attract more unhappiness. When you feel healthy and vital and alive and prosperous—you attract more of all of those things.
Excerpted from a workshop in “The Law of Attraction, The Basics of the Teachings of Abraham” on Saturday, July 1st, 2006
Read the remainder of this post with an open mind.
The basic explanation is that it’s all about how science and religion combine. Human beings are energy. We vibrate. Like attracts like. We have to vibrate at the same frequency as that which we want to attract. It’s not hocus pocus; it is quantum physics. To understand it you have to study some of that. I have on a very basic level and it is fascinating. It puts a new face on science.
It’s not about Religion but it can be studied in conjunction with religion.
To me it’s not something you believe or not believe……..it’s more like something you know about or don’t know about.
I feel this affects poker in many ways. The obvious thing is that you have to expect to win in order to be a winner. Before I learned about the LOA I noticed that very often in a race both parties seemed to get the cards they wanted. How often do you see Pocket 8’s against pocket 10’s ,for example, when both the 8 and 10 show up on the board. I felt that this happened much more often than chance demanded. Now I believe it is the Law of Attraction. Each player puts themselves in the position of positive expectation that their card will arrive. This puts their vibration at a certain rate and it attracts the card they desire.
How about those days when you wake up and you just know you are going to win. You feel GREAT. You are ready to play. You can almost feel yourself vibrating with antcipation to get to the table. That’s it. You are vibrating. You are sending out your Intention to win to the Universe. When you get it just right the Universe will send it right back to you. It might be in the form of great cards, great reads, some real dumb opponents (I call them Angels….LOL). I don’t know how it works but it does.
Other days are the opposite. You may have been waiting in great anticipation for a tourney to arrive but that day you are just feeling off. You know the drill. Your vibration is down and you just don’t get a whole lot in return.
There is another element of this “thing” that is going on. It’s your Inner Being or Spirit Self. It is always with you. It talks to you and whether you realize it or not you hear it.
Your IB is responsible for those gut reads you make. Last night I was playing at the end of atourney. I was in the money and had about 18,000 chips. I was dealt AKs on the button. I wanted to either chip up or chip out. It was well past my bedtime so it was time to make a move.
A guy with 30K in chips bets 3000…..standard raise. I insta go all in. Without hesitation he calls. He has 88. (I wouldn’t have made that call but maybe he wanted to go to bed too. LOL) I instantly knew in my gut, even before I saw his cards, I would not make this had and I’d be out. In truth, I did not improve and was out. I tell you I felt it before it happened.
How many times have you been dealt two cards and you knew it was going to be a pp before you looked at them. I think London calls it Poker ESP. It’s coming from somewhere.
Another hand………Another button hand with KQs. Folds to the seat before the cut off. She limps. Cut off folds. I have KQs. I call. Flop comes 3j9 rainbow. She checks. I raise. She re-raises me double my bet. Now I was basically on a steal here. She has check raised me. Normally I would fold with a gut shot here even with the two overcards but my gut is telling me to call. I think about it …….argue with my gut a bit……..but finally decide to call to keep from sending out vibes that I’m weak.
I’m thinking to my self….”Self, I need a 10 to win this pot”. That basically gives me 3 outs. At this point I’m not thinking that pairing an overcard is going to do it. I’ve got her on 2 pair or a set. The Turn comes a big beautiful 10. I’ve got a K high str8. It’s rainbow so there are no possibilities of a flush. I feel I’m looking pretty good. She bets out. I go all in and she calls. She has a set of 3’s. I double up.
Earlier I was on the button with 76o. I was kind of short.
An early mega stack limps in. This would normally set off alarms in my head because I hadn’t seem him limp one hand. It is folded to me and my gut tells me to limp. SB folds and BB goes all in. BB has been making large stealing bets. My gut tells me to call and I did so with a lot of confidence. The BB had A5. I hit the 7 and won the pot.
Explain these scenarios. I know every poker player has experinces like this and call it coincidence. I call it LOA and Spirituality. How exactly it works I’m not sure. I just know it is real.
I know this is far out stuff to some. As for me I love it. It makes me feel more in touch with myself. More in control. I could tell many more stories about it and why I believe in it so completely but this is a poker blog so I’ll leave it here.
Thanks for “listening” and please don’t think me completely nuts. If you send that thought out to the Universe it might make it true. LOL
03.28.08
Gambler or Gamer
I prefer tournaments over cash play. I’ve been thinking about the reason for this and I think the answer comes down to the fact that I’m a Gamer not a Gambler.
I used to play poker with a woman I’ll call Gertie. Gertie was a gambler. We played 1 / 3 pot limit. Gertie loved to “gamble it up” more than anyone I ever knew. When I first met her I thought she was the worst poker player I’d ever seen. Also the “losingest”. She got into the local poker room for over 30 grand and had to sell one of her rent houses to pay off her debt. I guess she had the money to lose. In time I got to know Gertie and found out her problem was that she was an adrenalin junkie and loved the rush she got from the bluff. The problem is she didn’t bluff very well and she did it way to often in her regular game. I believe you could call down Gertie in every hand and come out ahead in the long run.
I am the opposite of the gambler. For me it’s the intellectual challenge to beat myself. Whether it’s poker or the game of Zuma that I play compulsively on my cell, I am always working to improve my game. I’m looking for the strategy that will take my game to the next level.
Poker is a game with so many options available that I can always find a place for myself. I can study it to my hearts content. I can watch endless hours of poker on my television. I can play it 24 /7 in my home on my computer. I can play it for money or for free. I can move up or down in my buy in. I am totally in control of my own game. I can never beat the game but there always is the next challenge. I don’t get an adrenalin rush from throwing my chips in the pot with nothing to back it up. I get abject fear and I don’t like that. I get my adrenalin rush from making a great play and knowing that play is a result of hours of studying and absorbing the wealth of information out there about the game. I get my adrenalin from raking chips and knowing that I earned them.
To get the maximum benefit I can from poker I have to play on a level playing field. That is why tournament play is right for me. In a tournament everything is equal. It doesn’t matter how much money the players have in their pockets. Everyone starts at the same place with the same number of chips.
In every game there are roadblocks to reaching the eventual win. In Pacman it was little purple ghosts that rushed around eating up all the Pacmen it could find. In Zuma that roadblock is the clock. Eventually it will run out and I’m back at square one. In poker the roadblocks to my getting all the chips are my competitors. It is up to me to determine what type of competitor they are and what it will take for me to outplay them and get all their chips.
The great boom in poker the last couple of years has been credited to everything from Chris Moneymaker to WPT on TV. One aspect that has gone unnoticed is that a whole generation of gamers came of age. They are the kids who grew up on video games and have now progressed to the granddaddy of games, Poker. These are the Young Guns of Poker. For the most part they are perfect for the game and have spent a lifetime preparing for it. They have little or no financial responsibilities. They are morally opposed to working a J*O*B. They are able to exist by crashing on someone’s couch and consuming nothing but Taco Bell and Red Bull for long periods of time. They are intelligent, intense, and able to totally consume themselves with the smallest nuances of the game.
Just as with everything in life there is a continuum in force here. On this continuum pure gamblers like my friend Gertie are on one end and pure gamers are on the other. Everyone who plays poker falls somewhere in between these two points. What is the difference between players that put them at different places on that continuum? I guess that is a question for another day.
03.23.08
You just never know in Poker
It’s Easter morning. With no children to hide eggs for I’m spending it here behind my computer with my nemisis. The $24 FT deep stack tourney. If you’ve been following my blogs you know that I’ve not faired too well in these. I’ve cashed in a couple but not enough to do more than cover what I’ve lost in others. Yesterday morning I found my self at a table with some really good players. Last night I went out on a really bad beat. In both tourneys I didn’t get any good raw material to play with. My cards stayed in the nether regions of 82o and 103s.
I thought about it all night and decided to try it again. This probably being my last chance for awhile. I tend to not play deep stacks during the week because they take too long. Then Gyla’s Mom is coming for her surgery and we don’t play a lot of poker when she’s here. She thinks we are addicted. LOL
So anyway. My tourney starts this morning. I have my coffee ready and I’m set to take em on. I’ve decided to play super tight during the first hour. The first hand comes. I wisely fold an 8 6 from mid position. The aggressors go at it building a pot to over 2000 chips with a scary board of 8 J Q K 6. I’m regreting folding my 86 but know we have set against straight based on the betting. When the cards flip up a K3 loses to a K5. WTF? My 86 would have been good. Where are all these stellar poker players?
As I type this I just picked up a nice pot off a guy who called me down with bottom pair. It just goes to show you never know in Poker.
It’s scary though. You just can’t read players like this. I’m still going to play very tight. Currently we are on hand 22. I’ve got 3790 chips. I plan to keep them today. The guy in front of me is a raiser but I haven’t gotten a chance yet to see what he is raising at.
We started with 434 players and we are down 100 players already. I just had qq and had to lay it down losing a big chunk of chips. Guy behind me either had KK or AA or went crazy with AK. The flop was trash so you never know. Back donw to 2600 chips. I was just getting comfortable. Darn. I feel that tilt creeping in when you wonder if you’ve been out played. hmmmm I don’t have a clue. Just flopped top pair with a fair kicker. Guy behind me goes all in. Had to fold. Darn… He just did it again. Once again I’m thinking like Phil Helmuth. “What’s going on here?” I don’t know what is worse …..playing with guys that are maniacs or those that overvalue their hands. Both will drive you nuts. I’m just going to lay low with my 2245 in chips and see what happens. Man, those QQ killed me.
Just picked up a hand with an AJ. Up to 3650 chips. It was scary when a guy called my big post flop raise. I put him all in on the turn and he folded. This is a friggin’ minefield.
Lost a few to AJ in the blind. Called because of pot odds and didn’t hit. I just laid down 10’s on the button when the guy in front of me goes all in. Uh uH I’m not getting sucked in this time. He gets one caller. The cards are flipped up. 55 vs 22 and the 5’s win. I hate to repeat myself but WTF???????? I’m afraid to play anything here. No telling what the guy had that put me all in when I had the QQ. Well, I don’t think he’s played a hand since so I guess he had the goods. Actually he just lost a bunch calling someones all in with 10 10. Oh well I’m letting it go. We are almost through the first hour and I want to come back today. LOL
Another all in. This time 4’s agains 2’s. I’m in the House of Horrors.
REprieve I guess. They have moved me. Let’s see what is going on on table 46.
Moved again before I could play a hand. Good thing. They were all in fools. They just had a 3 way all in where the worst hand won (of course). I’m now at table 39. And we are on break. Yeah. I make it to break with 3195 chips. That is great for me. The last few I’ve gotten here with 1500…..or not at all since I went out on the last hand before the break yesterday. I don’t even have to circle my chair 3 times today. 
BRB
Hour 2 begins. I’ve got 3195 in chips. I’m 162 out of 212. The average stack is 6141. The chip leader has 20,000 chips so need more than 2 double ups to catch the leader. I’m far behind where I like to be. I just got AQ sooooted UTG.
I raised but got no callers. More All iner’s here. Again worst hand wins. This is getting old. If poker were always like this I’d never play. I just folded A6 on the button because there are too many limpers. Augh……Flop A6J rainbow. My bio rhythm must be at an all time bottom. Maybe not. The turn came a Jack. They folded. I’ll never know but I someone had the Jack. A6 again. fold. The guy in front of me raised and he likes to go all in. Flop came all clubs. I was right this time.
I’m monster hunting now. I’m not donking off my chips. I want big hands. These guys aren’t small ballers. Just folded J2 and flop comes 226. How sad for me.
I was just going to call in the sb with 69 but the guy in front of me goes all in. He has a8 and is called by KQ. He gets beat when a K hits. He’s a goner. As they say…..”All in works every time but the last.”
Another hand another all in. AJ against QQ. The QQ goes down. Once again the worst hand wins. Why go all in and give someone 5 chances to hit thier hand?
Just hit a set but it’s all diamonds. What do I have? 22 lol Someone bet and I reraised to the pot. Got a caller. Turn comes. He checks. I check. River……. QUADS. DOUBLE UP!!!!! He had the nut flush.
Next hand 88. Hit a set on the turn. I bet it and no callers. Nice pot. I’m up to 7,190. Oh yeah baby. I got my Monster.
I’m up to 75 out of 175. A little less than average chip stack. Chip leader has 31,000 chips. 2 double ups would take me to 2nd place. Right where I like to be. No matter how this turns out if I hit this point in this position I feel good about my play ( and the quads I hit along the way).
Ever since the quads my cards have gone south. That’s okay. I like easy folds.
UTG I get 55. I raise hoping they will fold as usually happens. I get 2 callers. Flop comes with 2 10’s. Everyone checks. On the turn we are 2 suited. There is a bet and I’m outta there. TJ once said if there is a 1o on the board that can beat you someone has one in their hand. I have found that to be great advice. I’ve seen it time after time.
Who hoo. I just hit the bottem end of a straight with the k high flush draw. On the turn the guy who lost to me with the quads tried to raise me out of the pot. I didn’t back out. I went all in. He took a long time but he folded. I’m glad this wasn’t live. I am very proud of myself to go for it. I’m up to 10,000 chips. I’m sure that guy is after my azz. I’ve taken a lot of his chips.
Now I have some chips I pretty much stick to postion. I did let a pot slide by a few minutes ago that I would have won. I relaxed for a second. Blinds just took me below 10,000 chips. Time to stop basking in my glory and start playing again.
I’m 54 out of 142. I just had an A3 and it was folded to me. I started to raise buy my Nemisis was in the BB and I figured I wasn’t strong enough to take him on. I folded. It was folded to him and he got the blinds. That’s okay. I just had the idea if I raised he’d go all in.
Ante’s have started. This is when the tourney really starts.
My nemisis just busted out. His AQ hit a queen on the flop but some one else hit a set of 6’s. Boy I’ll bet that guy really feels beat up. I can feel for him. I’ve been there……a lot lately.
I’m going into the blinds again and no hand to play. 
I’m patient though and a lot of people start getting edgy when the antes start. They play less than stellar hands and I can pick up chips.
Oh Oh 77 in BB. Could be a cooler. Folded to button. he calls. sb folds. I raise to 1200. He folds. Whew. That was nice. I’ll take that with 77’s.
On the button with A3s. someone raises and it’s called twice. I’m folding. I know the pot odds are there but I hate going in with Ace bad kicker. The only think I could bet with are spades. Good thing. flop 10 q q. 2 ended up all in. AQ vs Q9. Guess who wins. Q9 hits the boat.
I’m 53 of 128. That’s what I like about online. You always know where you are.
Back to the blinds. Looking for a monster. here. I love to double in the blinds. OOps moved out of the blinds. OH YEAH baby. At first glance it’s a better table. Smaller stacks. Coming into the bubble that is verrry good. Looks like I’m 3rd biggest at the table.
10 10 in 2nd seat. I raised 4 times the bb. Now that antes have started I’m putting a little more power in my raises. Folded to me. That’s fine with me. It’s a free trip around the table.
Folded to me in the BB Pick up the blinds and antes with j2o Oh yeah…..I LOVE POKER.
BB q3o floped q high bet 1200 get a caller. hmmm bet another 2000 with 3 diamonds on the board. He goes all in. Damn took a big hit with that one. Guy behind me goes all in. I think he hit the flush. I had the q of diamonds but I couldn’t make that call. Picked up the blinds and antes on the next hand and am down to 7000 chips. That’s okay. I’m hanging. I’m 76 of 106.
I pick up the blinds and antes in the bb. Get 22 in the sb but fold to an all in. Aj against AJ and my 22 would have won. Darn.
Break again. I think I gotta circle my chair this time. BRB
Well I did it. Actually there isn’t room here to walk around it so I just stood still and spun it around. Gyla said that doesn’t count and made me pull it out to the center of the floor so I could walk around it. I did and she said ”What are you doing that for anyway?” And I listened to her when she said it doesn’t count. Doesn’t she know anything.
Well break is over. I’m 75 out of 100. I’m watching my fold equity now. I have 7500 in chips. I’m less than 10 m’s. Will be going all in on air soon. I sure wish I’d called with those 2’s. My 4 6 off would have picked up the last pot with 2 all in. Who knew?
a9s in the bb. All in baby. Get the antes and the blinds. 88 in sb. all in against ak. he hits both ace and king on the flop. I’m out. 93rd. I’m sick. I hate poker. Actually I did what I had to do. I played well. I’m okay with it.
Better luck next time.
03.22.08
FT $16,000 Guarantee
$24 buy in 872 players 1st pays almost $5,000. 90 places will pay
Here we go…………..
I swear I’m not getting myself into trouble early in this tourney and first hand I get 55 and it’s folded to me. I raise and get a call. Don’t hit the flop so I lay it down.
The last few of these I’ve gone down at the beginning. This morning I got down to 750 chips. I was able to come back and ended up finishing 40th. I don’t want to experience that again. I’m not going to leak away my chips early. What happened this morning was I had an unusual amount of reraisers on my table. They kept betting me out of pots. That’s okay. I probably outlasted all of them and it reminded me I need to work on my game when I’m playing with reraisers. At the limits I play there aren’t a lot of them. Reraising is very effective and probably the weakest part of my game. Gotta work on that.
This one is very slow. I picked up a pot after limping with A7s and 2 diamonds flopped. I bet the pot and they all folded. I lost some on something earlier. Don’t even remember what it was. I’ve got 2,805 in chips. It’s a real boring start. Picked up a few in the sb. (That one paid off Tina.) A lot of limpers so I called. Trash flop but I hit the 6. I bet out and they all folded except a guy on a flush draw. I drew a few chips from him when he didn’t hit his flush. I’ve back over 3,000.
99 / raise / one caller / Costs me 1000 chips. He went all in with the board of jj33. What do I do? That’s why it pays to be in postion. I wasn’t. Grrrrrrrrrrr Down to 1700 chips. gotta grind my way back again.
I play A8. the flop comes jj10. I’m going to be dreaming about JJ’s. An 8 comes and nobody is betting. I’m in position so I bet and I take the pot. Up to 1850.
sb q 10 call nothing on flop fold Some of that sb leak money Tina was blogging about.
I’m just folding and folding. Getting crap cards. I would have tripled up with a 10 4 o last hand. Who knew? Sometimes I wish they didn’t have that feature where you can look and see what you folded.
SB AJo / Raiser Caller I call. flop 252. gotta lay it down. Guess I should have come out betting. Down to 1580
Button 57 flop 674 going to bet it heavy. Won that one. up to 1900
Gyla’s pacing around here sighing. She’s bored. LOL
I raise with a7s. I’m bored too. nothing there for me.
BB A9 hearts / 4 limpers and me / nothing on the flop. folding
SM KK all in I win that pot. up to 2180
I’m sitting here watching the trash hands I’m folding make into winning hands. It Hurts so bad. What r u going to do? Raise with 3 5 o? UTG I get 56s. I fold it and it folds to the blind. It may have been a monster.
BB (so soon?) gotta lay down A8 to a BIG raise. Wouldn’t have flopped anything anyway and raiser is all in. Do I smell a big pair?
SB / folded to raiser / Had 57 of hearts. They were pretty.
I take a shot with a k9s after one limper from utg. Guess I pissed off the button. He pushes pretty hard. I have to fold.
I’m not on my A game. :( Trying to force the action and it doesn’t work. There is just no energy for me in this game. I don’t feel connected to it.
Good. Break soon. I’m going to get up and circle my chair 3 times.
Maybe not AJ in the BB
Can you spell M*ther F**ker? The sb pushes me all in. I figure he is taking a shot. I call. He has K5o. I flop the Ace. Turn 5 and the river is a K. There is NO JUSTICE IN POKER!!!!!!!!!!! I’m on tilt and have nothing to do with it. No outlet. AAAACCCCCKKKK. I’d scream if someone could hear me but Gyla has gone to pick up some KFC. Good. Comfort food. I need it. I can’t help it if AJ was the best hand I’d seen in 1 hour.
Well…..at least I don’t have to circle my chair.
