Poker Chameleon

New site - nlhepoker.com

2006-12-11T08:58:00.000-08:00

I haven't updated this blog in ages but it seems that this still gets a few views every day so I'm going to let you all know that I'm in the process of making my own poker website that will have my new blog, some poker articles and videos, coaching information etc.

The address is http://www.nlhepoker.com

I recommend you all check it out once I get some real content on to there.

Big blog news

2006-09-10T01:19:00.000-07:00

Stoxpoker - kitaristi0

What an interesting and unexpected turn of events. I'm not quite sure how it happened, but I assume it went something like this: famous internet pro poker player stoxtrader stumbles upon my blog through a bolt of sheer coincidence and happens to read a few entries. He is immediately taken aback by the high quality and interesting content of my writing and decides he must have me as the new hotshot blogger for his site stoxpoker.com. He PMs me on 2p2, trying his best to act as nonchalant as possible. And when it happens, when I send him that message saying I'll become the new blogger on his site he jumps out of his seat in a fit of ecstatic and exultant joy. Or at least that's how I picture it happening.

Anyway, this means that I won't be posting on this blog anymore. Instead you can now follow all my blogging at the aforementioned address.

Tis with deep sorrow that I lay to rest this my blog of almost a year. Good times has it given me. Bad times has it given me. But always there has it been for me to spill my ramblings on whenever I needed it. And the fact that people actually read it still to this day baffles me. So join me all ye comers and follow me along on my travels as I continue on this quest that's called life and as I encounter new adventures, trials, tribulations, failures, victories, conquests and triumphs.

WTF have I been drinking? Ridiculous.

Reevaluation time

2006-09-06T17:44:00.000-07:00

Poker is whatever. Right now I don't care. My experience at 200NL can basically be summed up by saying: "I came, I saw, and I failed miserably." Ok, maybe that's harsh, as I am still up like $80 or so from the few thousand hands I have at 200NL, but right now I don't feel like my bankroll (or I psychologically) can whether the swings of dropping $600 (which I know is just 3 buy-ins, which is nothing) in a night.

New game plan: I'm taking the rest of the week and weekend off (the only poker I'm gonna play is my SSNL HU tourney round 2 match versus EC10) and starting Monday I'm getting back on that horse and am gonna grind. Back to 100NL, 1000 hands a day, no slipping from that goal. If I do miss that objective on any day I give all of you permission to come over to my house and kick me in the nuts. That gives me three good, solid weeks of grinding before I leave it all for a bit so I can move to York and get all of that settled down. I won't make any strict monetary goals, but at 5 PTBB/100 30k hands would be $3000, which would be a very pleasant bonus.

I'm also going to slightly revamp my game. I'm going to tighten up a bit and just focus on playing super solid. I've done a lot of thinking lately about my game (mostly thanks to Jamougha, stoxtrader and Pokey) and there are some new things I'm going to try out, see how they work. But for the most part, it's tight, solid, aggressive, no FPS poker.

Secondary goals are to post more hands on 2p2 and spend time thinking more about the hands I respond to. I'm going to try and employ a quality over quantity approach. Yesterday I did some analysis of a common turn situation by myself and I really liked what I could come up with as soon as I gave it some real thought. I'm also going to talk on AIM and all that.

As a recap of this disjointed and long post:

- The ultimate goal: Get better at poker
- How to get there: Play 1k hands per day minimum
- How to get there #2: Post, think, talk, analyse, examine

Sometimes I fucking hate this game

2006-09-04T07:48:00.000-07:00

There's my last two days. One buy-in of that was set over set, the rest is me playing too loose and aggro, never hitting a flop and getting all my cbets called. Resultantly, it's time for a little break. Also, the 5k challenge has been put on hold for now.

I just got season 1 of House M.D. on DVD delivered to my doorstep via express courier, so I'm going to go on a House binge for the next few days. New goal for September is to watch all episodes of season 1 of House in three days. Ok, that's a bit too easy, maybe two days would be more of a challenge, but I'm sticking to three days. Total running time is only 15 hours and 24 minutes, so even one day would be relatively easy. I know I've done it before (the infamous Friends binge of 2005: all ten seasons in two weeks, while still going to school for 8 hours a day. Needless to say I didn't sleep much those two weeks, but god damnit it was worth it.).

I also have big blog news to announce, but I'll give it a couple days until it's official. Till then suffice it to say that my blog pwns all of your blogs combined. Also, tufat SHHH, I want to keep it a secret for a couple more days.

September goals

2006-09-01T12:13:00.000-07:00

Primary goals

1. Get better at poker.
2. Actually think about what I'm writing when I respond to threads on 2+2.
3. Think about poker more and talk about it on AIM with good players. See goal 1.

Secondary goals

1. Complete the 5k challenge. Obviously I want to complete this but right now to me getting better at poker is my main goal and the 5k challenge is just a perk.

Day 11 update

2006-08-31T04:34:00.000-07:00

A complete freak occurence. Today I woke up at 9:30 in the morning with no alarm clock and no reason to wake up that early even though I've been waking up at around 2:30 PM every day for the past two weeks. So obviously I got up and played a nice session of 6-tabling NL200.

I've really found my groove at NL200 and I really enjoy playing poker again. I feel like at NL200 you're starting to approach "real poker", with double barrelling, bluffing, floating, squeezing and 3-betting preflop, whereas NL100 and under is just set-mining.

I've also finally settled in on a style of poker I like and can play profitably, which is very tight in EP and MP (basically all PPs, AJo+,ATs+,KQs-JTs and a few SCs every once in a while), opening up a bit in the CO (all of the above plus A7o+, A5s+, KTo+, QTo+, JTo, some SCs and one-gappers and occasionally T9o-76o) and quite LAG on the button (all of the aforementioned plus any SC down to 32s, suited one-gappers down to 64s, suited two-gappers down to 74s, offsuit connectors down to 54o, the occasional unsuited one-gapper and any other two cards I feel like playing at the time), then again extremely tight in the SB (I will complete with quite a few suited hands, but won't call raises with anything other than PPs and even them I try to raise as often as I can) and finally reraising a lot from the BB (PPs, some SCs, big broadways etc.). My stats are about 20/16/4 which I find also lends itself very well to multitabling.

There's my graph for the past 11 days. On top of that I have about $100 or so from bonuses, so my total after 11 days is $1427.32. I still haven't played enough hands though, which is something I'm going to focus on more as the challenge continues.

What can I say? Poker is good, life is good, all is well. In other news I just ordered season 1 of House M.D. on DVD. I also looked over the Emmy winners and disagree quite vehemently, but I'll leave that to another post if I can be bothered. Conan was funny, I'll give him that much.

And I don't know whether I mentioned this in my blog earlier but I've added to my list of life goals to live in Tokyo for some time before I turn 25. Most likely I'm either taking a year off from school during my undergraduate studies or then taking a year off after I complete my degree, travel for a year, and then go back to do my graduate studies in the UK (or perhaps somewhere else, who knows).

Part 2 of my money posts to follow later today if I have time.

Money 1

2006-08-30T16:35:00.000-07:00

This is going to be part 1 of either 2 or 3 posts I'm going to make about money. This first one is going to be about bankroll management.

As a poker player you've almost certainly heard of and realise the importance of bankroll management. For poker players money is an asset; you put it to work for you and use it to generate more money. If you don't have any money you can't play, so obviously managing your bankroll well to avoid going broke is extremely important.

A figure I hear a lot is 30 buy-ins. 30 buy-ins is an adequate bankroll for someone playing 100BB buy-in stack NL poker. I agree. With a 30 buy-in bankroll assuming you're a winning player your chance of going broke is quite minimal. But to me 30 buy-ins seems excessive, and frankly a bit pansy.

Now if you're a pro player and are supporting yourself through poker than 30 buy-ins is absolutely necessary. 50 buy-ins would probably be even better. Maybe even 100. But for the recreational player I think 30 buy-ins is just overkill. By rigorously sticking to a 30 buy-in bankroll you are not only missing out on great money making opportunities, but also stunting your growth as a player.

A great example of the above was posted on the 2p2 forums some time ago. A player boasted about having a $1100 bankroll and about just now having moved up to NL25. 2p2 SSNL poster Jamougha put it well when he said (and I'm paraphrasing): "That's a shame. With a more aggressive bankroll management strategy you could be playing NL100 and be twice the player you are now." I agree with Jam. Moving up more quickly and taking shots at higher levels on a smaller bankroll not only provides you the potential to increase your wins, but playing against the tougher opponents will make you a better player.

I took my first shots at 100NL when my bankroll hit $1200. I took my first shots at 200NL when my bankroll hit $2500. Sure I've had to move back down a few times, but each time I've come away a better player. And so what if you lose a few buy-ins at the new higher level? Just drop back down to the previous level. Stay there to rebuild and strengthen your roll for a week or so and then take another shot. One time you're going to run well when you move up and then you can move up for good and never look back.

Now this all assumes that you are capable of moving back down in limits when the time calls for it. If you can't, don't even bother with it. Stick to 30 buy-ins. But if you can move down and don't mind the fluctuation in your bankroll, then I urge you to try it. Take a shot at that next level. You see a big fish sitting well sit down right next to him. I can guarantee you that none of the top players in the world have gotten to where they are by never taking shots at higher limits. At one point in their lives they saw an opportunity and they took it. And it paid off. And like I said, so what if it doesn't? You're never going to be taking a shot at a level so high that you're risking your whole bankroll, so even if you run bad and don't make the first time you can always drop back down to reload.

BOOYAKASHA!!!!!!

2006-08-28T14:26:00.000-07:00

It's not like me to chase losses but IN YOUR FACE 100NL.

Here's my day:

Right around hand 330 I just decided fuck this shit I am not going to have a losing day on my 19th birthday. And if you're wondering what I was doing playing poker on my birthday, well I'm just sad that way. I don't drink and I live in the equivalent of Buttfuck, Illinois so there's nothing to do here anyway.

Day 6 update

2006-08-26T05:32:00.000-07:00

Well, I guess this is actually the end of day 5 update since I haven't played any poker yet today.

I have been running so well lately it's almost unbelievable. I've really been slacking off on playing hands (according to my estimates I should have about 6000 hands by now, in reality I have played 2966), but that hasn't stopped me from having my best week at the tables ever so far. In five days I'm up $1147.12 with about $100 of that coming from bonus and rakeback.

I've been running great and I feel I've been playing very well too. I think the biggest factor contributing to my great week has been my newfound dedication to table selection and my promise to never sit at a bad table again. PFox members check out my post about Sixth Sense in the Books&Software forum. Others can google Sixth Sense poker or check the 2p2 software forum.

In other news, I've been rewatching season 2 of Grey's Anatomy. I think that just might be the second or third best show in the history of tv (behind Friends and Scrubs). The DVD is coming out in a month or so and I can't wait to get it. I decided to start my DVD collection a couple weeks ago and purchased season 1 of Grey's Anatomy and season 1 of Dead Like Me. I still have a million DVDs I want to get but at least that's a start.

Rob Sharples has an EP coming out some time and I can't wait. It's my birthday in 2 days and that should be fun. I'm having a second graduation party in a week which should be cool. My school starts in a month which is meh, but I'm moving to the UK in a month which is awesome. I'm going to see tufat and dbitel and some other guys at the Gutshot in a few months which should be great fun. That means I'll be going to London in a couple of months which I'm really looking forward to. And of course I'll be going to New York next summer which is something of a dream come true for me. Life is good.

This one's for tufat

2006-08-24T11:31:00.000-07:00

tufat said I don't update my blog enough, so here's an update:

David Bowie and The Arcade Fire performing Wake Up live

This is so good I'm speachless.

Edit: I just rewatched this for like the 15th time and it gave me goosebumps.

Day 1

2006-08-21T02:06:00.000-07:00

We had some people coming over to do some work on the house in the morning so I had to wake up at 8:30 AM when for the whole summer vacation I've been waking up between 11 AM and 4 PM. For whatever freak reason I wasn't at all tired and was actually more awake then I usually am when I wake up at 4 PM.

Decided to start the day off with a nice session of 6-tabling which later turned into a session of 8-tabling since there were so many good games going on Full Tilt. Maybe it was just today or the fact that it was Sunday night US time when I was playing, but the games were really juicy. It also helps when you aren't getting sucked out on and are hitting basically every flop. Stopped after 886 hands for a monster profit of $593.90 plus another $40 in cleared bonus and some rakeback. Now that's a good way to start my $5k challenge if I ever saw one.

I know I ran really well, but I really feel like I was playing great too. I made one really good read here:

Five handed 100NL 6-max, effective stacks $130. LAG opens UTG for $3.50 and calling station calls UTG+1. I decide to make a slightly loose call OTB with A5s. BB also calls.

The flop is 2s 3c Qd and it's checked around to me. I flopped a gutshot and an overcard which might or might not be good. I decide to take a stab at the pot and bet $10 into the $14ish pot. BB folds but UTG LAG surprisingly checkraises me to $24.50. After thinking through what he might have I decide he either has QQ for top set (a remote possibility) or he has nothing/mid PP (I just can't see any way he checks that flop with a Q), so I shove and he instafolds. I'm also really happy with the fact that I had the cojones to go with my read and shove there. A couple months ago I could've easily reasoned out that he probably didn't have a strong hand but no way would I have had the stones to pull the move off.

Lets hope I can keep running and playing good and maybe I'll reach that $5k a lot faster than I thought.

Sickening + A New Challenge

2006-08-20T11:21:00.000-07:00

Took at shot at NL200 today. Sitting 250BB deep I pick up QQ in LP and pot it after two limpers. Three to the flop which is Q77 -> YAHTZEE!!! Right? Well, he had 77 -> SO SICK. Biggest pot I ever lost by far.

This sucks. My bankroll hasn't gone anywhere in like a month. Since I still have summer vacation till the start of October I'm setting up a challenge for myself. Starting tomorrow I have 41 days till the first of October which is around the time I leave to the UK. My goal is to make $5000 in that time sticking strictly to 6-max 100NL and 6-max 200NL when I feel comfortable about moving up or when I find good games to sit in.

At 5 PTBB/100 at 100NL I'm making 10 cents a hand, so that means 50,000 hands in 41 days, which makes about 1220 hands a day. 6-tabling that's like 2.5-3 hours a day depending on how much I jump around from table to table. Of course if I play 200NL I won't need that many hands.

I won't be updating every day but I'll try to remember to post progress reports whenever I update my blog.

Uneventful

2006-08-13T06:29:00.000-07:00

Nothing much. Been laying off the poker a bit, just mucking about in some razz, omaha8 and PLO. I just ordered Sklansky on Poker so I'm gonna get my razz game into shape before Poker Stars launches razz. Also started reading the PLO chapter in SS2 and watched a few muddywater PLO videos to get better at PLO.

But anyway, I'm going to start 6-tabling 100NL 6-max actively soon again. None of the fancy-pants plays I was making during my downswing, just solid, winning poker.

Weekend break

2006-08-05T04:57:00.000-07:00

I've had a horrible last two days at the tables. Altogether I'm down about five and a half buy-ins. To that end, I'm not going to play any poker today or tomorrow. Instead I'm going to watch a ton of CardRunners videos, read a ton of good 2+2 posts and talk to some friends on AIM about poker. Hopefully then I can come back Monday ready to play and make my money back.

FTOPS and WCOOP

2006-07-31T07:06:00.000-07:00

For some reason I have the overwhelming urge to play a lot of tournaments in both of these events. I'm going to start incorporating a few MTTs into my daily schedule and try to improve my tournament game, and I'm going to try my hardest to satellite into as many events as possible.

My preliminary schedule:

FTOPS

August 13th 18:00 - FTOPS Event #1 - NL Hold'em - $200+$16
August 20th 18:00 - FTOPS Main Event - NL Hold'em - $500+$35

WCOOP

September 17th 15:00 - WCOOP Event #2 - NL Hold'em - $500+$30
September 19th 15:00 - WCOOP Event #4 - NL Hold'em Match Play - $200+$15

I'd also want to play the 6-handed $200+$16 FTOPS event, but it starts at 21:00 ET which is 4 AM my time which sucks big time. Others I would like to play are the $1050 buy-in NL Hold'em WCOOP event and the $2600 buy-in WCOOP Main Event, but the buy-in for those is so big that if I do manage to satellite into one of them I'll seriously have to consider unregistering and selling the W$. Playing the $5k HORSE event would also be the coolest thing ever.

The one I'm really looking forward to is the $215 NL Hold'em Match Play event. If I counted it right (assuming 2048 players register), you have to win 11 HU SNGs in a row to win the whole shebang. My longest winning streak in HU SNGs have been around 12-13, so I do have a shot (that was when I won a HU tournament with 256 entrants, and after that I won a number of $5-$20 HU SNGs in a row).

Here's to happy satelliting.

Edit: Well I got off to an excellent start. My first day of trying to satellite into these events and I managed to satellite into one of the $215 WCOOP events on Stars. Well ok, actually I cheated a little because I actually one a seat into the Sunday Million and then just unregistered to get 215 T$, but I'm going to be using those to buy into the $215 NL Hold'em Match Play event.

Rob Sharples

2006-07-30T09:10:00.000-07:00

Rob Sharples

How can this guy be so good? I can't wait to get my hands on his album.

Well, I almost got back

2006-07-30T03:43:00.000-07:00

I almost got back to even. Then within 5 minutes I lost a buy-in to flush over flush and another to set over set and decided to call it a night. I also managed to donk off a healthy stack in the Riverstars $10 rebuy by getting all laggrotard. The people in those tournaments are huge calling stations.

Yesterday I made a commitment to really focus on studying and improving my game every day. I know 100NL isn't where I want to spend the rest of my life. Instead of going to make a quick buck today, I'm going to focus on improving my game so that in the future I can move up to 3/6 or 5/10 and that's when I can make some real money. I'm halfway through reading SS2, I got HOH Vol. 3 and Ace on the River to all churn through. I'm also going to rewatch all the CardRunners and StoxPoker NL videos. I'm going to post hands on 2+2 and respond to hands. I'm going to chat on AIM with players who are better than me, trying to pick up something new each time.

Anyway, that's all for now.

Well, guess I'll have to get to digging

2006-07-29T06:11:00.000-07:00

Looks like I've got another hole to dig myself out of. This was my lovely afternoon session. Won't be going to sleep tonight till I'm unstuck or on absolute raging monkey tilt. I did just sit down at a 400NL table trying to get back to even, but luckily I came to my senses after 6 hands and left before any major damage was done.

Will keep you posted on the digging.

Shots

2006-07-28T09:18:00.000-07:00

I've been taking some successful shots at 200NL lately. Hopefully in August I'll be able to move up for good. That's really my only goal for August (apart from exercising 4 times a week minimum).

The key to moving up has to be table selection. I'll only sit at a 200NL table if one huge fish is sitting there. Yesterday I sat on the immediate left of a 90/40/4 fish. Playing with people like that when moving up can be a real confidence builder, not to mention a great way to build your bankroll.

Oh yeah, screw Party. I'm back to Full Tilt. I probably won't be going anywhere until I hit 2/4 or 3/6, because that's when the game selection at FT starts decreasing a lot.

I've also stopped attempting to be a LAG. Right now I'm very happy with my 20/15 stats.

Till next time, 'Don't kill your wife with work. Let electricity do it.' Best slogan ever.

Unstuck biatch!

2006-07-22T17:09:00.000-07:00

Played a session this morning and dropped 4.5 buy-ins. I told myself I wouldn't go to sleep before I got unstuck. A thousand hands later, at 2:30 AM I dug myself out of that whole with this beauty:

http://www.pokerhand.org/?422497

So standard, but SOOO much more fun 200BBs deep.

To top it off I sat down at a 2+2 50NL game for about 30 mins. I had a lot of fun, and even made what I consider to be a very nice call:

http://www.pokerhand.org/?422500

Everyone was running at about 35/20 at least, (and this was full ring), and a good time was had by all. The villain in the hand was splashing around a lot, and I'm pretty proud of myself for making that call, because I know that a month ago I couldn't have made that call.

In other news, screw full ring. I can't take how boring it is anymore. I've been 4- and 6-tabling 6-max for the past few days and it is so much more fun, plus I'm learning a whole lot more from having to deal with a lot more marginal situations all the time. Love it.

I even took a shot at 200NL 6-max, chasing a fish and ended up +$2.40 in 41 hands. Expert.

Back to 6-max - with a vengeance!

2006-07-17T15:43:00.000-07:00

Well I'm back to 6-max. Probably not for good though, actually I'm sure that I'm still going to 9+ table full ring as my main game, but I'm going to try and squeeze in a few hands of 6-max every day, just because it's fun, challenging and profitable.

I posted this in a comment on titans01's blog:

"Admittedly though, lately I have been feeling the urge to jump back into the world of 6-max. The reason I originally switched to full ring was because I basically jumped straight from 10NL (with a bit of 25NL) to 100NL thanks to casinowhoring and a MTT score. 10NL and 100NL play a lot differently postflop, and I didn’t think my postflop skills were good enough to beat the 6-max game in a way I wanted to. But over the past weeks I’ve noticed a huge improvement in my game, and I think I may be ready to give 6-max another shot."

Expect to see me at Party 100NL 6-max over the past weeks, kicking ass and taking names of course.

Update from the balcony

2006-07-17T06:52:00.000-07:00

I'm currently sitting on my balcony playing poker and enjoying the summer sun. This is fucking awesome.

I'm in a great mood because I just sucked out on a guy in a 200BB pot with Ts9s vs. his As6s when all the money went in on a KsQc7s flop. It wasn't actually that bad of a suckout, I did have about 28% equity:

Board: 7s Qc Ks
Dead:

equity (%) win (%) tie (%)
Hand 1: 71.6162 % 71.62% 00.00% { As6s }
Hand 2: 28.3838 % 28.38% 00.00% { Ts9s }

The turn was a killer though, the Ad. I now have a 6% chance of winning.

Board: 7s Qc Ks Ad
Dead:

equity (%) win (%) tie (%)
Hand 1: 93.1818 % 93.18% 00.00% { As6s }
Hand 2: 06.8182 % 06.82% 00.00% { Ts9s }

But what should appear on the river other then the wonderful Jc giving me a straight. 3-outer, oh yeah. The guy completely exploded in the chatbox, because just a few hands earlier his AA lost to QQ all-in preflop for another 200BB pot.

The good times are killing me.

First thoughts on 'The Avalanche' by Sufjan Stevens

2006-07-13T06:07:00.000-07:00

I just got the new record today and I can't be bothered to write out a review on only 1 or 2 listens so here are a few random thoughts:

- Coming on the heels of Michigan, Seven Swans and Illinois my expectations for this new record were obviously astronomically high, and as such it was destined to be a bit of a disappointment. It's not a bad record though, by any measure. I'm hesitant to give it a score, but if I had to I'd give it a tentative 7.5/10.

- The songs that stand out most after a few listens are 'Springfield, or Bobby Got a Shadfly Caught In His Hair' which is a bit reminiscent of 'The Upper Peninsula' from Michigan, and 'The Mistress Witch from McClure (Or, the Mind That Knows Itself)' which is similar in mood to 'Casimir Pulaski Day' from Illinois.

- The three alternative versions of 'Chicago' are pretty good. I think the original 'Chicago' from Illinois was one of the few songs on that album that seemed to lose a bit of value with each successive listen, so having these new versions to chew should revitalise it a bit.

- I'd call The Avalanche more a collection of songs than an album, which I guess in some ways it is. To me it lacks that sense of coherency that Illinois has. Also (this may just be the lack of listening to the album enough though), I can't immediately find any reoccuring musical ideas on The Avalanche like I could in Illinois. I think this added a lot to making Illinois sound like a whole and even at the risk of sounding cliché made it better than just the sum of it's parts.

- You can kind of tell that these songs were basically Illinois rejects, because where the songs on Illinois all had that something (the famous 'it'), most of these songs don't.

- A definite positive is that it has 21 songs on it, so there's tons of hidden potential there, and having so many songs also adds a lot to the lifespan of a record. One of the best things about Illinois was that after weeks of listening to the album every day I still hadn't gotten bored with it because there was always a new song to discover.

- The lack of grandiose, magnificent, highly orchestrated songs like 'The Tallest Man, the Broadest Shoulders' from Illinois is a bit disappointing.

- I'm a sucker for odd meters so anything in 5/4 or 7/4 or my personal favourite 9/8 is an immediate musical turn-on for me. Luckily there are a few of these gems to be found on The Avalanche as well.

Mars Volta

2006-07-07T11:28:00.000-07:00

There's a new Mars Volta album coming out soon. YEAH!

And on a related note, where is Damien Rice's new album?

June and July

2006-07-04T09:05:00.000-07:00

June was my best month ever. I played the most hands I've ever played and I made the most money I've ever made. Still, I'm very disappointed. If my computer hadn't broken I could've probably doubled what I made. Full ring is where it's at. About 18.5k of those 19k hands are from FR.

In other news, I just hooked up a WLAN set-up in my house, so I can take my laptop and stay connected to the internet anywhere in my house and backyard. 12-tabling in the backyard with the Sun shining is gonna be awesome.

Dell told me that my new laptop will be delivered on the 9th (a Sunday?) so that gives me around 20 days of poker this month. I'm going to shoot for around 2k hands a day, but I'll probably take a few days off and some days I won't play 2k, so I'm shooting for 30k hands in July minimum.

Since CardRunners now changed their videos to downloadable, a secondary goal of mine is to rewatch all 2.5 GB of CardRunners videos I now have on my computer. I probably won't get through all of them since I want to rewatch all episodes of Deadwood as well, but I'll try.

Well, since I'm going on about goals of mine, here's a longterm one: I just found out that my school starts in October not September, which gives me a whole month extra to play full-time. As such, my goal for the next 3 months is to move up to at least 200NL, and if all goes well I may even give 400NL a shot. I also want to study some poker every day, be that studying watching a CardRunners video, posting on 2+2 or thinking about hands by myself or with someone else.

Ten years from now

2006-06-27T15:38:00.000-07:00

I feel like punching something. I've been getting this feeling a lot lately, and I don't really know why. It probably has something to do with how I'm a master of taking all my anger and frustration and leaving it pent up inside of me. So many little things really annoy me, and over time that frustration with the human race as a whole has really started catching up.

Example 1: When people are telling a story and they exaggerate something, only to take it back moments later. E.g. "I was watching this movie and there were like a hundred ducks in it. Well okay, really it was like ten ducks, but still." To quote Dane Cook, that makes me want to stab you in the jaw.

Example 2: People who are fucking idiots piss me off. Even though I try my best to distance myself from all fucking wankers, I still occasionally have to converse with them. Another stab you in the jaw moment.

So where does this leave me in ten years? I can truly see myself (especially if I am forced to hump a deadend nine-to-five job that I hate for years on end) being that guy who comes to work one day with a sawed-off shotgun and goes on a killing spree. Even though there is something truly rewarding about the brute force of a shotgun shot blowing a co-workers head clean off, I can only hope that I'll still have the mental capacity to formulate a brilliant and elaborate plan that isn't so hopelessly cliché. Though I haven't figured out the details yet, I'm quite sure it'll involve two silenced pistols of some sort, overall stealthy movement, a cunning escape route and the rest of my life spent living in a country that doesn't practice extradition.

I'm still working on the details, I'll get back to you once I've got a finished plan.

The inevitable fall back to harsh reality shall be sweet justice.

2006-06-22T10:35:00.000-07:00

"The inevitable fall back to harsh reality shall be sweet justice."

Exactly. After everything going really well for the start of summer, bittersweet reality has hit me in the head with a bludgeon. For many reasons, not the least of which being my computer being broken, I have had to withdraw most of my bankroll and am left with a mere pittance of what it used to be.

But alas, doth shall not let the slings and arrows of outrageous Fortune wear thee down on thy quest. Or something. I've left myself with 15 buy-ins for 100NL and plan to go from there. If I fall down to 10-12 buy-ins I'm going to have to step down to 50NL to rebuild, so here's to hoping for a nice big upswing to start off with.

I can only hope that this baby will help keep me company in these upcoming trying times. My current computer being broken has forced me to buy a new one, and since I needed a laptop for the upcoming schoolyear anyway, I decided to just buy it now. A few days for the money from my Neteller to hit my bank account, and then a couple of weeks for shipping and I should be back in hunt by mid-July at the latest. Till then I'm not going to play any poker (I don't have anywhere to play), and try to distance myself from poker for a bit. I'm going to think of it as a holiday. Then when I get back I'm going to go all out for the next 1.5 months. I'm upping the daily hand target to 2000 and other things to make up for lost time.

Anyway, the blog will probably be put on hold for a while. Till we meet again, adios.

Computer broken

2006-06-18T05:57:00.000-07:00

My computer is broken right now, so I won't be playing poker or updating this blog at all in at least a few days.

Update on June Goals

2006-06-15T16:29:00.000-07:00

1. Play 30k hands. Currently 17,389/30,000

2. Watch and analyse one CardRunners video every day. Not even close.

3. Read and try to fully understand one hand from the 2+2 archives every day. Nope.

4. Analyse at least 5 hands from my PT database every day. Njet.

5. Read NLHETAP at least twice, actually stopping to analyse and think over what is said in the book. I've read it once through all the way and reread parts of it. I plan to reread it all the way through.

6. Hire a coach for at least 1 hour to look over hand histories or watch me play and comment. Even better, I hired a coach full time, not just to look over some hand histories.

7. Stick to 8-12 tabling. Also, stick to NLHE. Done except for my 1 hand long foray into PLO last night.

8. Exercise at least 3 times a week. So far I've exercised three times this month.

9. Complete Cherry Casino, Casino Euro and Betsson monthlies, and any other worthwhile casino bonuses that I stumble upon. Done

10. Finish rewatching seasons 3-5 of Scrubs and tons of episodes of Friends and Seinfeld. Rewatch the movie Capote. I've watched Scrubs, Friends and Seinfeld. Haven't watched Capote yet.

11. Kick my pool nemesis's ass at 8-ball 15-0 again this month. Become a better snooker player. Haven't kicked his ass yet, but I'm going to. I have become a better snooker player.

12. Keep accurate and up-to-date records of all my sessions to better establish exactly how well I'm doing. Done

13. Make money from sportsbetting. So far so good.

Sportsbetting

2006-06-13T10:10:00.000-07:00

I guess the World Cup bug bit me too. I've been wanting to do some sportsbook bonuswhoring for a while, and what better time then now? I'm revising my list of June Goals a bit to now include:

13. Make money from sportsbetting.

I'm also refining some of my goals, for example:

1. Play 30k hands.
7. Stick to 8-12 tabling. Also, stick to NLHE.
9. I took one look at the Ladbrokes interface and decided to scrap that bonus altogether.
10. Cold Feet will have to wait while I plough through a ton of Friends and Seinfeld episodes.

Wow

2006-06-09T15:15:00.000-07:00

Jake Shimabukuro plays "While My Guitar Gently Weeps"

Wow. This blows my mind. I can only dream to one day have one tenth of the musical chops that this guy has.

Coach and stuff

2006-06-05T16:58:00.000-07:00

I finally found me a coach. He posts under the name jkrantz on 2+2, and he and a friend have teamed up to form a sort of poker coaching superhero tag team if you will. I have my first session tonight and I'm looking forward to it.

In other news I got my copy of No Limit Hold 'em Theory and Practice, or NLHTAP for short, in the mail today and am anxious to dive right into it. I already read about 30 pages and am sure that I'm going to come out a much better player after having read this book.

Poker has been good. I've been 8-tabling 100NL full ring on Full Tilt for the past week. It's such a change from the hectic pace of 6-max to be able to just sit back and chill, wait for big hands and get paid off. The reason I like it (apart from the fact that I can watch Friends reruns at the same time as a I play) is that I can play a very tight TAG style and still get good results. I find that when I play 6-max I go out of my way to play LAG, and I don't think I'm good enough of a player yet to play an effective LAG style.

Anyway, I should sleep. Last summer I fell into the nasty cycle of staying awake for like 48 hours in a row, and then sleeping 16 hours, and then repeating that over and over. This summer I'm going to attempt to maintain a somewhat regular sleeping schedule.

I'll see you around chief.

Camus

2006-06-03T01:04:00.000-07:00

"As if this great outburst of anger had purged all my ills, killed all my hopes, I looked up at the mass of signs and stars in the night sky and laid myself open for the first time to the benign indifference of the world. And finding it so much like myself, in fact so fraternal, I realized that I'd been happy, and that I was still happy. For the final consummation and for me to feel less lonely, my last wish was that there should be a crowd of spectators at my execution and that they should greet me with cries of hatred."

- Albert Camus

TV extravaganza

2006-05-31T13:06:00.000-07:00

Being an avid TV connoisseur isn’t as easy as it seems. To tell you the truth, it can actually be quite harmful to ones long-term emotional stability. This time of year is always the worst; the time when all the shows you’ve been following for the past months go on break for the summer. The characters you’ve been watching and relating with are snatched away from you by greedy station executives for months on end.

It’s not so much the cliffhanger season finales that get me. Frankly I’m not too interested in the specifics of what actually happens in the show. Instead, I enjoy knowing that every week on the same day at the same time I can just sit back and dive into an imaginary world for an hour and live the lives of the characters in question.

But I digress; back to the rant. The very worst thing is when a show is cancelled or otherwise discontinued. Two shows that spring to mind are Dead Like Me and Wonderfalls. Especially Dead Like Me was one of the wittiest, most original shows I’ve ever had the pleasure to watch. Discontinuing a show of that caliber should be outlawed, and the network executive who authorized it should be fired immediately. At least I can find solace in the fact that two seasons of this great show were made and aired, so that I can go back and re-watch those episodes whenever I feel the need to.

I don't believe it's a coincidence that as all the shows I watch have come to an end (for now), I have over the past few days crammed in as many as 15 Scrubs episodes a day to fill that void. It also helps with the withdrawal symptoms.

Anyway, here are some of my thoughts on the season finales and futures of various shows:

24 - The season finale was decent, but I didn't really have my hopes up either so I'm not disappointed. At least the writing staff gave me some indication that they aren't complete buffoons by actually referencing the Chinese. Throughout the whole season Jack has casually strolled around with no mention of the fact that the Chinese want to kill him and that if they knew he were alive he'd be boned. Finally some closure was brought to that loose thread.

Prison Break - Another decent finale. It will be interesting to see what they do with the show now. The episode itself wasn't as good as I had hoped, but it wasn't bad.

Gilmore Girls - Not a bad episode, but all too predictable. You could basically tell this was coming weeks in advance.

Scrubs - A real curveball. I can't picture J.D as a dad at all. All in all, I think J.D becoming a dad could be very bad for the show. A baby just doesn't fit into my perception of J.D as an oddball, geeky loner-type.

The O.C - If Marissa really died, than my hats off to the writing team. If they really had the cojones to kill off one of the main characters like that, then I'm truly impressed. If it happens that Marissa actually didn't die, I'm seriously contemplating stopping watching the show altogether.

Veronica Mars - Not a good episode. The resolution to the whole seasons events just came out of nowhere. It's like the writers had been carefully constructing a nice web of plots and subplots, only to realise they had no logical, good, coherent way to tie them all together, so they went with the easy way out and just staged some big melodramatic scene to quickly end the episode.

House - As an episode, I was thoroughly impressed. I thought the writing in the episode was spectacular. Obviously the ending with the slicing the guys chest open was a touch over the top, but I still liked the episode. However, as a season finale, it didn't really accomplish much.

Grey's Anatomy - It's been weeks since I watched the finale, but from what I can remember it was good (as Grey's Anatomy always is). Some of Izzy's tripping out at the end was a bit too much, but it didn't hurt the episode at all.

Boston Legal - Whatever. Mainly cheese. Boston Legal has long ago lost all value to me, I just watch it for the off chance that Denny Crane will do something ridiculously stupid and funny again.

Sopranos - I have deliberately stopped watching Sopranos at episode s06e09 to wait for the season finale so that I can do a 4 episode, 4-hour long super punch of Sopranos to end the season. I find that Sopranos is a show that lends itself well to watching multiple episodes in a row. I don't know why.

Since I now have a ton of time to kill, I'm compiling a list of shows I'm going to watch over the summer. So far it consists of five seasons of Cold Feet, seven seasons of West Wing, two seasons of The Office US and two seasons of Lost. I may even have to whip out the old ten seasons of Friends if all else fails.

For now, adios from your friendly neighbourhood TV junkie.

June goals

2006-05-30T02:59:00.000-07:00

1. Play 25k hands.
2. Watch and analyse one CardRunners video every day.
3. Read and try to fully understand one hand from the 2+2 archives every day.
4. Analyse at least 5 hands from my PT database every day.
5. Read NLHETAP at least twice, actually stopping to analyse and think over what is said in the book.
6. Hire a coach for at least 1 hour to look over hand histories or watch me play and comment.
7. Stick to 3-4 tabling. Also, stick to NLHE.
8. Exercise at least 3 times a week.
9. Complete my Ladbrokes poker bonus. Complete Cherry Casino, Casino Euro and Betsson monthlies, and any other worthwhile casino bonuses that I stumble upon.
10. Finish rewatching seasons 3-5 of Scrubs and all episodes of the fantastic British show Cold Feet. Find new TV shows to watch. Rewatch the movie Capote.
11. Kick my pool nemesis's ass at 8-ball 15-0 again this month. Become a better snooker player.
12. Keep accurate and up-to-date records of all my sessions to better establish exactly how well I'm doing.

But most importantly: STOP PLAYING LIKE A STUPID SPEWFISHTILTMONKEY.

If I can accomplish all these goals, I'm going to be super happy.

Spew

2006-05-27T12:47:00.000-07:00

spew P Pronunciation Key (spy)
v. spewed, spew·ing, spews
v. tr.

To send or force out in or as if in a stream; eject forcefully or in large amounts: a volcano that spewed molten lava; spewed invective at his opponent.
To vomit or otherwise cast out through the mouth.

v. intr.

To flow or gush forth: Water was spewing from the hydrant.
To vomit.

Something spewed.

[Middle English spewen, from Old English spwan.]

My game right now = spew.

Coaching

2006-05-25T04:33:00.000-07:00

First off, I must note that deep-stacked HU with a donkey calling station = ++++++EV.

I'm feeling a bit melancholy right now, because I just had my last guitar lesson ever with my guitar teacher who I've had for the past 7 years. He really is the coolest guy, and it really meant a lot to me when he said that I have the necessary skills to pursue a career in music. He's also the person who turned me on to Miles Davis and Coltrane etc. Good times.

This now puts me in a pickle. When I move to England in the fall I have to choose whether or not to get a new teacher. I've been playing for like 11-12 years so I can say with confidence that I know how to play guitar, and I don't really have any aspirations to pursue a career in music, so I'm a bit torn. I realize that for my continued development as a guitarist a teacher will help immensely. But as I said, I've gotten to the point where I don't really need to get better as a guitarist (I'm not saying that I couldn't get better, I'm just saying I feel little need to). Frankly I don't know what I'm going to do yet.

This conveniently leads me to another issue I've been thinking of lately. I don't have a poker coach. It's obvious to me that had I not had a guitar teacher ever since my first week of playing guitar I wouldn't be half the guitarist I am now. So why don't I have a poker coach? I have no doubt that getting one would be extremely valuable for my development as a poker player. The only obstacle I face is that poker coaches are ridiculously expensive. $100/hr seems to be the industry standard minimum price to get anyone worth getting. But my bankroll has over the past few months grown to the point where I can take that hit (for a couple of hours at least). I'm going to have to start looking into coaches. Fox (of PokerFox.net) is the obvious choice, but I'm gonna sniff around a bit before I run straight into his arms.

Anyway, that's all for now.

Poker as a summer job (of sorts)

2006-05-21T13:42:00.000-07:00

Since I have nothing else to do, and because I like money, I'm going to play poker for a summer job of sorts. I say of sorts, because I have no expenses other than pool and Subway, so I don't really need a summer job and whether or not I make money over the summer playing poker doesn't really matter. However, I do want to make money and will be very disappointed if I come out in a few months time having not won a significant amount of cash.

The plan is: quantity. My goal is to play 25k hands a month at 100NL 6-max to start off. I figure I'll play 1000 hands a day and have a few days off to keep my sanity. Getting the hands in shouldn't be too bad, barring some super bad variance + tilt. I'm going to try to get in two sessions day, 4-tabling. If I can manage to run at 5 PTBB/100 (which I expect I can), that'll amount to $100/day, which is just smashing. I'll also do a little casinowhoring on the side (not much though, probably just a few monthlies) for some extra cash. Assuming everything goes to plan, I'll be making the move up to 200NL 6-max near the end of June.

I'll track my progress here, but I probably won't be updating every day, since 1. I don't feel like it, and 2. I'd like my blog to amount to something more than "Today I won $74."

That is all.

Choose life.

2006-05-19T15:18:00.000-07:00

So far today I've written out three different entries and deleted them all. For different reasons I'm not going to publish them here. Instead, I'm going to list some of the things that I want to do before I turn 20. This means that I have until late August 2007 to accomplish the following:

1. Visit London
2. Visit New York
3. Improve as a poker player to the point where I can generate enough money from playing part-time during my university studies that I don't have to rely on my parents to pay all my bills.
4. Play poker in a casino
5. Do something disgustingly decadent like high-stakes blackjack or €100 shots of Remy Martin Louis XIII cognac.

"The reasons? There are no reasons. Who needs reasons when you've got heroin?"

It's about time I start doing something with my life before I get sucked into that rat race to mortgage loans; debt repayments; 2 kids, a dog and a house in the suburbs; a mid-life crisis; humping a 9 to 5 job for minimum wage; working your ass off for your whole life and being rewarded with a handshake and a pension that couldn't support anyone. As long as I don't become that guy, I'll be happy.

My old motto: "There's no need for kindness."

My new motto: "There's nothing good about being average."

Update

2006-05-11T07:51:00.000-07:00

I'm currently about 75% done with my tests. I only have two Finnish tests and three Chemistry tests and I'm officially done with senior high school forever. Needless to say I've been crushing all of my tests so far, and intend to keep on doing so.

Anyway, the main reason I'm making this entry is because I've noticed that I've started doing something. Say I have a test a 9:00 AM. I wake up at 6:45, eat, shower etc. till 7:35 when I get on a bus. At 8:00 I arrive at my school, then get myself into the right mental state by sitting listening to music, walking a bit, getting some fresh air etc. till 8:45 when I enter the test hall. Every day so far I've had exactly the same routine. To compound on that, I've noticed that the music I listen to in the morning follows the same kind of set routine. Before 7:35 I don't listen to any music. From 7:35-8:30 I listen to a mix of Sufjan Stevens, Iron & Wine, Coltrane, Augustana, The White Stripes, Arcade Fire and Ambulance Ltd. Nothing else. Then from 8:30-8:45 I listen only to the following songs:

Touch The Sky by Kanye West
Seven Nation Army by The White Stripes
99 Problems by Jay-Z
Eye of the Tiger by Survivor (obviously)
Jungle Boogie by Kool and the Gang

Also, the very last song I listen to before going into the test hall is always Touch The Sky by Kanye West (I just can't get enough of that horn part). By following this strict schedule every day, I make sure I'm mentally prepared to absolutely destroy any test that comes in my way. Plus I'm 100% focused on the upcoming test.

I realised that I have absolutely no set routine when I start playing poker. Instead I say to myself that I'll sit down at the computer around 9:ish and surf the internet for a bit then start playing. So from now on, especially over the summer when I intend to play poker as a summer job of sorts, I'm going to try and establish a set routine that I will do before each session to get me into the right mindset to play. I hope this will help me bring my 100% focus and my "A"-game right off the bat to each session I play. I haven't figured out all the details yet, but I'm pretty sure the routine will consist of one part datamining, one part Coltrane and one part choosing the music I'm going to listen to while playing.

As a closing thought, I just passed the $1500 made from casinowhoring mark today. I still stand by my claim that if you aren't casinowhoring right now you're throwing away money.

Some thoughts on playing different forms of poker

2006-05-07T14:19:00.000-07:00

Apart from poker and watching TV shows, my only real pastime is playing guitar. I’ve been playing for around twelve years now, and during that time I’ve gone from amateur chord strummer to Yngwie Malmsteen shred-monster wannabe to Wes Montgomery jazz guitar enthusiast and back. Over those twelve years I’ve played pop, rock, punk, heavy metal, jazz, swing, fusion, funk, folk, classical and even electronic music (who still remembers Kraftwerk?). I mention this because in my opinion I wouldn’t be half the player I am today without having gone through all these different genres, each with their own characteristic guitar technique and theory. My heavy metal phase greatly improved my manual dexterity and two-handed tapping technique, but did little to further my knowledge and understanding of chord inversions, improvising over II-V-I chord sequences or improving my finger picking skills. Conversely my time spent plucking out the sweet acoustic sounds of Simon & Garfunkel and Bob Dylan improved my songwriting and finger picking, but did little towards my mastering the different modes of the major scale or memorizing the different fingerings of the A-minor pentatonic scale.

Similarly, over the course of my poker career, I’ve played limit hold ‘em, no limit hold ‘em, Omaha 8-or-better hi-lo split, five card draw and razz. I’ve also switched between cash games, sit-n-goes, multitable tournaments and heads-up sit-n-goes. Undoubtedly, switching between all these different games and formats has helped me become a better all around poker player. But herein lies the crux of the dilemma that I face. Is it better to be a good all around poker player, or to be a good player at one specific form of poker?

In poker, money is all that counts. In the end, who the best all around poker player is doesn’t really matter at all. Whether you made $1000 playing a mix of five card draw, razz and Chinese poker, or you made $1000 playing only seven stud hi-lo, it doesn’t matter. $1000 is $1000 wherever it came from. What I think makes the difference here is that it takes time and effort for you to become a good player who can make $1000 playing any form of poker. Say it takes you 10 hours of study to become a super seven card stud jedi master who has an hourly rate of $1000. It also takes you 10 hours to master five card draw, 10 hours to master razz and 10 hours to master Chinese poker. In the 20 hours that you spent mastering razz and Chinese poker you could have made $20000 playing just seven card stud.

Playing other variants of poker will make you better at the others is a common argument made by players who support playing multiple different forms of poker. Take this next contrived example:

Say your hourly rate multitabling the 2/4 6-max NL game on Party Poker is $100. If you stick to that game, you will improve as a player and your hourly rate will improve by $10 every week. Now say that your hourly rate in a 3/6 limit Omaha 8-or-better hi-lo split game is $20. Anyone smarter than a drunken buffoon can see that from a strictly monetary point of view you should stick to the no limit game. But what if by playing in the Omaha game, you can improve some aspect of you poker skills that is better illustrated in Omaha than in no limit hold ‘em, and by doing so you could increase your hourly rate in the no limit game by $20 after one week of play. Is it worth sacrificing $80 times the number of hours played per week in profit for one week to increase your no limit hourly rate by $10 more than you could have by sticking in the no limit game? In the long run it may be a profitable decision, but in the short run assuming you play 20 hours a week you have cost yourself $1600 in profit for that one week. Of course the numbers in my example may be extreme but they go show that there is a definite opportunity cost of playing games other than your best game.

In my opinion, for a player who is just splashing around, hoping to make a few bucks and treats poker as only a hobby, playing all different variants of poker will pay off. Not only will you get to try out all the different games and see which one you like best, the switching will help keep away the boredom of the infamous grind and thus it will be much easier to approach poker as a hobby and as something that is fun to do. The only drawback with playing all the different games is that your relative skill level in each individual game will increase at a much slower rate than if you were to focus on one game. That is why for the player who one day wishes to play poker for a living or at the least wishes to play at the very highest levels possible, I think sticking to one game and mastering that one variant is the best approach. By diverting the maximum amount of your poker playing time to one specific form of poker, you get the most bang for you buck. An additional advantage of this approach is that in the future if you wish to start playing other variants of poker, the overall poker knowledge and skill you will have accrued over the time you spent playing that one particular game will make it relatively much easier to pick up on the intricacies of other variants of poker, compared to if you start playing each new variant as a complete novice.

End of Weekend Challenge + A Fond Farewell

2006-05-01T00:41:00.000-07:00

2,014 hands, +$203.00, 10.08 PTBB/100

Sunday was a pretty up and down day, mostly down. Luckily in literally the last five minutes of my playing I was able to stack someone twice, first with a flush and then with a set to pull back to even for the day.

Overall I'm very happy with my play. I only made one play during the whole weekend where I completely donated my whole stack (AA vs. a set). My PTBB/100 would be even higher if it weren't for your handful of typical bad beats (e.g. QQ vs. J9 all-in on 953 flop, KK vs. A7 all-in preflop). Still, I can't complain with 10.08 PTBB/100.

Anyway, now that the Weekend Challenge is over I'm going cut out all poker related jibber jabber* from my life for the next three weeks. I have my last final on the 19th, and after I finish that I'm going to really kick the poker into high gear. As I'm now 18 (well, almost 19) I can finally go to a casino. The only(?) casino in Finland is the Grand Casino Helsinki, and I've been browsing through their site and they have a €2/€2 €200 buy-in NL game going every night. My goal for the summer is to build my bankroll up to the point where I can withdraw ~€500-€800 and then sometime in late July - early August go visit the casino (and obviously crush the game). However, that won't be happening till three weeks from now, so till then, adios.

I leave you with the closest I'll ever become to being Mahatma, aka the river overbet push finally worked. This is also my favourite hand from the weekend:

FullTiltPoker Game #604636763: Table Stardust (6 max) - $0.25/$0.50 - No Limit Hold'em - 18:26:22 ET - 2006/04/30
Seat 1: judocarrot ($48.50)
Seat 2: jokersjinx ($26.50)
Seat 3: xpokermattx ($37.35), is sitting out
Seat 5: BikStik8585 ($54.95)
Seat 6: jtheo7 ($50.10)
jokersjinx posts the small blind of $0.25
BikStik8585 posts the big blind of $0.50
The button is in seat #1
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to judocarrot [Js 7s]
jtheo7 folds
judocarrot raises to $1.75
jokersjinx folds
BikStik8585 calls $1.25
*** FLOP *** [2h Kd 8s]
BikStik8585 checks
judocarrot bets $3
BikStik8585 calls $3
*** TURN *** [2h Kd 8s] [6s]
BikStik8585 checks
judocarrot bets $7.50
BikStik8585 calls $7.50
*** RIVER *** [2h Kd 8s 6s] [5s]
BikStik8585 checks
judocarrot bets $36.25, and is all in
BikStik8585 calls $36.25
*** SHOW DOWN ***
judocarrot shows [Js 7s] (a flush, Jack high)
BikStik8585 mucks
judocarrot wins the pot ($95.25) with a flush, Jack high
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $97.25 | Rake $2
Board: [2h Kd 8s 6s 5s]
Seat 1: judocarrot (button) showed [Js 7s] and won ($95.25) with a flush, Jack high
Seat 2: jokersjinx (small blind) folded before the Flop
Seat 3: xpokermattx is sitting out
Seat 5: BikStik8585 (big blind) mucked [Td Kc] - a pair of Kings
Seat 6: jtheo7 didn't bet (folded)

* Boston Legal is still pretty crap

Weekend challenge

2006-04-29T09:24:00.000-07:00

I was pissed off so my last entry is now voided. Instead of throwing a hissy-fit and blowing off poker for the whole weekend, I'm going to complete a sort of mini challenge. On both Saturday and Sunday I'm going to play 1000 hands of 50NL 6-max at FTP. This is all going to be done 4-tabling, as for now I'm laying off that 8-10 tabling rubbish. This way, I can get in one last pungent surge of poker before my finals, during which I won't play a single hand.

Anyway, I played a short session this afternoon and got in 247 hands and I'm at +$44.65. It would be super if I could pull off a huge heater during this challenge, but even if I don't it's ok.

End of Day 1 edit: 1,001 hands and currently running like Michael Johnson, +$198.50, i.e. 19.83 PTBB/100. SHIP IT.

Greatest hand ever:

FullTiltPoker Game #601777092: Table Stewart (6 max) - $0.25/$0.50 - No Limit Hold'em - 15:22:08 ET - 2006/04/29
Seat 1: judocarrot ($56.95)
Seat 3: jamesph999 ($37.25)
Seat 5: armydrill05 ($98)
Seat 6: Carnak ($12.15)
judocarrot posts the small blind of $0.25
jamesph999 posts the big blind of $0.50
The button is in seat #6
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to judocarrot [Kh Kd]
armydrill05 raises to $3
Carnak folds
judocarrot raises to $9.50
jamesph999 folds
armydrill05 calls $6.50
*** FLOP *** [4h Ks 7s]
judocarrot bets $16
armydrill05 raises to $32
judocarrot raises to $47.45, and is all in
armydrill05 calls $15.45
judocarrot shows [Kh Kd]
armydrill05 shows [Qd Jh]
*** TURN *** [4h Ks 7s] [3d]
*** RIVER *** [4h Ks 7s 3d] [Jc]
judocarrot shows three of a kind, Kings
armydrill05 shows a pair of Jacks
judocarrot wins the pot ($112.40) with three of a kind, Kings
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $114.40 | Rake $2
Board: [4h Ks 7s 3d Jc]
Seat 1: judocarrot (small blind) showed [Kh Kd] and won ($112.40) with three of a kind, Kings
Seat 3: jamesph999 (big blind) folded before the Flop
Seat 5: armydrill05 showed [Qd Jh] and lost with a pair of Jacks
Seat 6: Carnak (button) didn't bet (folded)

Standard.

[tentative title]

2006-04-28T13:02:00.000-07:00

I had a whole fancy thing typed out, but screw that crap. Tests start on Tuesday. I vow to do nothing even remotely poker related till all my tests are over. I'll see you in the distant future. Adios.

I'll leave you with this thought: I just lost $250 in < 30 mins. I'm an 18 year old punk kid who receives $100 allowance a month from my parents. If I were to lose $250 in "real" life, I'd be up the walls going apeshit right now. Because the $250 only disappeared from my virtual cashier on my computer screen, I didn't even bat an eye. When they're on the computer they're only numbers right? That's fucked up.

-EV

2006-04-28T12:59:00.000-07:00

Losing $150 at blackjack and then deciding to lag it up at 8 6-max NL tables when pissed of = -EV. QuasiRant: Over.

The benefits of watching Scrubs episodes at least three times

2006-04-22T09:35:00.000-07:00

The other night around 3 or 4 o'clock in the morning, I started doing what I always do when it's 3 or 4 o'clock in the morning and I have nothing else to: I started watching Scrubs reruns. My third time through the latest episode (s05e19). I finally really payed attention to the song that was playing near the end of the episode ('Boston' by Augustana). I realised that it actually wasn't at all half-bad, and decided to rewatch the part that had the song playing in the background.

Anyway, zoom forward to today and I'm listening through Augustana's album 'All The Stars and Boulevards.' It's actually a pretty good album; it has no notable bad songs, it's coherent, it has a couple of good songs and one really good song on it; essentially, it's a very good album. The only problem with the album is that it completely lacks longevity; it doesn't have that something. 'The White Album' by The Beatles, now that's a record that definitely has that something. I could be stuck on a deserted island, but as long as I had an iPod where the battery never ran out and the White Album on it, I'd never get bored. Augustana's album, unfortunately, is just another one of those albums that I already know I will listen to for a week and then probably never listen to again.

Since I'm on the topic, may I'll ramble on about soundtracks for a while. Over the past few years I think tv show producers have finally recognized how much good a kick ass soundtrack can do for a show. Shows like Scrubs, The O.C, Grey's Anatomy etc. all have really good soundtracks.

Whatever. I don't feel like rambling on about anything right now, so here are some bullet points of things I would ramble on about if I felt like rambling:

1. I'm going to shift more of my poker playing focus towards SNGs and MTTs, since that's where much of my success lately has come from (e.g. out of the last 4 MTTs I've entered I've final tabled 2).

2. Sleep deprivation is some interesting stuff. Last night after rewatching the new House episode I googled some stuff on what would happen if one didn't sleep for like 5 days straight. Here's a good article on the effects of sleep deprivation on the brain and behaviour:

http://serendip.brynmawr.edu/bb/neuro/neuro01/web3/Ledoux.html

I get about 4-5 hours of sleep a night. The article says that it's actually been found that sleep deprived patients showed an improvement in math skills and short-term memory. I wonder if my lack of sleep had anything to do with me being the only one in my class to ace my last math test? Then again, I have also been sick twice this spring, so maybe my lack of sleep has indeed caused my body to become more susceptible to diseases. Whatever, enough rambling. I'll see you.

This is why I love Omaha - GAMBOOOOOOL!!!!!!

2006-04-18T13:23:00.000-07:00

This hand is a great example of why I love playing Omaha; you just don't get 4-way all-ins in Hold 'em often enough.

PokerStars Game #4667181936: Omaha Hi/Lo Pot Limit ($0.10/$0.25) - 2006/04/18 - 16:14:36 (ET)

Table 'Nele' 9-max Seat #3 is the button

Seat 1: Ms Muckit ($8.55 in chips)

Seat 2: FISHMAN77 ($21.60 in chips)

Seat 3: pokenliquor ($25.05 in chips)

Seat 5: gravytrain2 ($10.90 in chips)

Seat 6: kitaristi0 ($33.55 in chips)

Seat 7: onemalt ($36.20 in chips)

Seat 8: absaxman ($3.70 in chips)

Seat 9: K9slash ($8.85 in chips)

gravytrain2: posts small blind $0.10

kitaristi0: posts big blind $0.25

*** HOLE CARDS ***

Dealt to kitaristi0 [6c 3h 7d Kc]

onemalt: calls $0.25

absaxman: calls $0.25

K9slash: calls $0.25

Ms Muckit: folds

FISHMAN77: folds

pokenliquor: calls $0.25

gravytrain2: calls $0.15

kitaristi0: checks

*** FLOP *** [4s 5d 2c]

gravytrain2: checks

kitaristi0: bets $1.45

onemalt: calls $1.45

absaxman: calls $1.45

K9slash: folds

pokenliquor: raises $2.55 to $4

gravytrain2: folds

kitaristi0: raises $12.35 to $16.35

onemalt: calls $14.90

absaxman: calls $2 and is all-in

pokenliquor: calls $12.35

*** TURN *** [4s 5d 2c] [Kd]

kitaristi0: bets $16.95 and is all-in

onemalt: calls $16.95

pokenliquor: calls $8.45 and is all-in

*** RIVER *** [4s 5d 2c Kd] [7c]

*** SHOW DOWN ***

kitaristi0: shows [6c 3h 7d Kc] (HI: a straight, Three to Seven; LO: 6,5,4,3,2)

onemalt: shows [3c 5h 9d Ah] (HI: a straight, Ace to Five; LO: 5,4,3,2,A)

kitaristi0 collected $8.50 from side pot-2

onemalt collected $8.50 from side pot-2

pokenliquor: shows [As Qd 3s 9c] (HI: a straight, Ace to Five; LO: 5,4,3,2,A)

kitaristi0 collected $30.90 from side pot-1

onemalt collected $15.45 from side pot-1

pokenliquor collected $15.45 from side pot-1

absaxman: mucks hand

kitaristi0 collected $7.30 from main pot

onemalt collected $3.65 from main pot

pokenliquor collected $3.60 from main pot

*** SUMMARY ***

Total pot $96.35 Main pot $14.55. Side pot-1 $61.80. Side pot-2 $17. | Rake $3

Board [4s 5d 2c Kd 7c]

Seat 1: Ms Muckit folded before Flop (didn't bet)

Seat 2: FISHMAN77 folded before Flop (didn't bet)

Seat 3: pokenliquor (button) showed [As Qd 3s 9c] and won ($19.05) with HI: a straight, Ace to Five; LO: 5,4,3,2,A

Seat 5: gravytrain2 (small blind) folded on the Flop

Seat 6: kitaristi0 (big blind) showed [6c 3h 7d Kc] and won ($46.70) with HI: a straight, Three to Seven; LO: 6,5,4,3,2

Seat 7: onemalt showed [3c 5h 9d Ah] and won ($27.60) with HI: a straight, Ace to Five; LO: 5,4,3,2,A

Seat 8: absaxman mucked [Tc 7h Qs 6d]

Seat 9: K9slash folded on the Flop

The Hold 'em has been getting a bit boring so yesterday and today I've been playing a mix of razz and pot-limit omaha8. I think I'll stick to mainly PLO8 on PokerStars (and Full Tilt when I can find games going) for a while.

Poker is everywhere. Even Prison Break had some poker in their new episode. Anyway, now I'm off to watch the new 24 episode and catch up on the new Huff episodes I missed.

Checking in + Fun hand

2006-04-15T05:13:00.000-07:00

It's been about 10 days since my last entry so I guess it's time to pretend to have something relevant to say again.

I've been sticking to No Limit, mainly 6-max, at Full Tilt for the last week and few days. Started off on a huge heater at 100NL 6-max, up 5 buy-ins in two days. Then dropped a few buy-ins. Then I started messing about with 8-tabling the NL25-NL100 full ring games. Yesterday I decided to 6-table the NL50 6-max games. Overall the week has been very uneventful. I did mess up the whole Full Tilt Ironman Challenge thing with one day where I didn't play at all.

Studying for my finals has been killing me. I've been focusing on studying physics and economics this week. It's not that it's hard, on the contrary, it's very easy. Because I already know all of the stuff I'm supposed to know I have exactly zero motivation to study. This does not bode well for my finals. But whatever. I only need 38 out of 45 points from my finals (each test is worth a maximum of 7 points, and the 3 extra points come from other boring International Baccalaureate crap that I won't waste time on explaining here) to get into University of York and University College of London (haven't decided which I'm going to yet). Considering that I got 41 out of 42 points (the 3 bonus points weren't considered) from my mock/practice finals just a month ago with next to no study, I'm pretty confident that I'm going to demolish the actual finals.

Whatever, enough school crap. Here's possibly my favourite hand from the last week:

Interpoker 100NL 6-max

Two players limp and I complete the SB w/ 9h8h. BB checks.

The flop is 8dJc8s. I bet out and get called by one of the limpers.

The turn is [8dJc8s]8c. I bet out again and again get called. At this point I obviously have the nutzors and am also sure that the limper has either a J or a pocket pair.

The river is [8dJc8s8c]2d and I overbet push all-in. Villain in a Phil Hellmuthian 'In Your Face'-esque instacall flips over JT. Ship It.

The occasional hand like this is great for breaking the monotony.

On a completely unrelated sidenote, poker really has hit the mainstream. In case you missed it, poker was an integral part of the latest episode of House M.D. Needless to say House is the next Phil Ivey.

I'll see you around.

Da's No Limit Baby!

2006-04-06T12:56:00.000-07:00

Perhaps slightly influenced by my fellow PokerFox.net member Titans01's NL Challenge, I decided to start a little something of my own today. I deposited $600 into Full Tilt today for the sole purpose of playing $0.50/$1.00 6-max NL Hold 'em. The plan is to use that money, the $600 sign-up bonus and my 27% rakeback there, and turn all that into a gazillion dollars (or something like that). Anyway, it should be fun.

By a sheer stroke of incredible luck, it seems that I was just in time to participate in the Ironman promotion that FT is running this month. In short, if I get 200 FT points everyday for the next 25 days I get a ticket into a $30k freeroll tournament. If I win that, I go into a 4-player SNG for $5k, and if I win that I get into a 4-player SNG with 3 FT pros for $100k. Obviously I'm going to win, so right now I'm just contemplating what I'm going to do with all that money.

Anyway, if nothing else, this promotion will serve as good motivation to play some hands every day. Today it took me 383 hands to get 203.80 FT points. Essentially, that's about 2-2.5 hours of 2-tabling, so it's definitely doable.

Due to this unforeseen turn of events, the whole bonuswhoring with LHE isn't happening. But I am going to try to complete a few casino bonuses (Casino Euro 50% up to €111 at least), since there is so much free money to be made in casino bonuses that it's quite ridiculous.

For Courtney Friel, Vince Van Patten and everyone at the World Poker Tour, I'm Mike Sexton saying thanks for joining us. And until next time, may all your cards be live and your pots be monsters.

A startling revelation

2006-04-05T11:53:00.000-07:00

It's kind of a surreal experience when you realise that people actually read your blog. And it's not just random passers-by who visit once and never return, I actually have people who check in on my blog daily. Now it's like I have an obligation to come up with something interesting to say on a daily basis. Well, its not like I have anything interesting to say right now, so instead I'll just jot down some random comments:

1. Feelin' Good by Nina Simone is one of the coolest songs ever. The horn section really makes the song.

2. Prison Break is in big trouble. The last episode (s01e16) was über-tacky typical bad TV show stalling type crap that is supposed to give the viewer further insight into the characters but in reality is just used to fill an episode while the writers try to figure out what to do with the show in the next episode.

3. I've stopped watching One Tree Hill completely. I don't need that crap in my life right now.

4. The 59th Street Bridge Song (Feelin' Groovy) by Simon & Garfunkel is a truly wonderful song (yes, I used the word wonderful). That song is the musical equivalent of the TV show Scrubs, it never fails to make me feel good.

5. 29, the latest record by alt-country sensation Ryan Adams went unnoticed by just about everyone. This is a true travesty, since further listening reveals that the album isn't half bad.

6. Sufjan Stevens is a sneaky little fox. His latest album Illinois (which I've come to the conclusion is the best record of all time, review to follow in a later entry) features a bundle of absolutely stunning songs. Yet, due to how long the album is and all the filler-esque intermission pieces some listeners may not listen all the way to the end of the album. The Fools! Stevens has been so clever as to leave the best song on the whole album, and simultaneously one of the top 5 songs of all time, 'The Tallest Man, The Broadest Shoulders' at the very end of the record to reward those listeners who diligently finish the whole record.

7. Where is Damien Rice's new album? I hope he gets it out soon, because I've worn out my copy of his debut album 'O' and I need new material from him to listen to.

8. Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, or BRMC for short, is one of the more underappreciated bands of late. Sure, they get their NME interviews and Mojo record reviews, but compared to the fame and fortune that bands like The Strokes are getting, the lack of recognition for how great BRMC is is a shame.

9. I need a good new movie to watch. I haven't seen a truly good movie in ages.

10. Nowadays people just have no respect for good poetry. Google Lord George Gordon Byron or William Butler Yeats for some excellent poetry. While you're at it, read up on their lives for a few minutes. You can find some truly interesting stuff. Drinking wine out of your friends skull, bestiality, paganism, it's all there.

Well, since I'm on the topic of poetry, I'll finish with some Yeats:

The Second Coming
by William Butler Yeats

Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.
Surely some revelation is at hand;
Surely the Second Coming is at hand.
The Second Coming! Hardly are those words out
When a vast image out of i{Spiritus Mundi}
Troubles my sight: somewhere in sands of the desert
A shape with lion body and the head of a man,
A gaze blank and pitiless as the sun,
Is moving its slow thighs, while all about it
Reel shadows of the indignant desert birds.
The darkness drops again; but now I know
That twenty centuries of stony sleep
Were vexed to nightmare by a rocking cradle,
And what rough beast, its hour come round at last,
Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?

I recommend researching this poem. It's some very interesting stuff.

A look back on March + April goals

2006-03-31T10:22:00.000-08:00

March was a good month for me, both personally and pokerwise. I fulfilled my number one goal of absolutely crushing my mock exams and all other school related work. As expected, I finished top of my class easily. In fact I don't think anyone even came close to my grades. On the poker front everything went well too. I started focusing solely on low limit 6-max LHE and bonuswhoring to build my bankroll, and also started doing some casinowhoring. I only played about 5000 hands according to my PT database, but that doesn't include my play at Bodog, some play at 24h Poker and all my play before the 9th of March. But really, last month was about school, not poker, and as such I'm quite happy with 5000 hands. I also played all of those 5000 hands at most 2-tabling, so in reality that is quite a few hours of play.

I'm now on my monthlong study break from school before my finals. Obviously studying for my tests is my ultimate number one priority right now. Essentially, if I got in 0 hands of poker this month I wouldn't care at all, as long as I got in lots of studying. However, with all this time I have, I don't want to use all of it studying, so poker should be a nice counterpoint to it.

I don't really have any specific monetary goal for April, since I have no idea how many hands I'm going to get in. But here are some things I want to accomplish in April:

Finish my Interpoker bonus from March and redeposit for the April $100 bonus.
Finish my Bodog $100 bonus and my Casino365 $200 blackjack bonus
Do the William Hill monthly £25 bonus, a couple of casino bonuses and a few poker bonuses
Focus on improving my 6-max LHE game. Pay my coach to look over hand histories at least once.
Post one hand every day on either 2+2 or PokerFox
Finish reading King Yao's 'Weighing the Odds in Hold'em Poker'

I think I'll finish with my favourite quote of all time. There's an old saying that states: "Schooldays are the happiest days of our lives." In response to this statement English romantic poet Lord George Gordon Byron once said while addressing a group of school kids:

"If schooldays are the happiest days of your lives, I recommend mass suicide to you all."

That just tickles me every time. I'll see you around.

Some observations on tv

2006-03-26T10:46:00.000-08:00

I like tv. Hell, I love tv. As an avid tv watcher I'm living exciting times, as most shows are approaching the end of the season. Here are some random observations on some of the shows I watch regularly.

Grey's Anatomy - One of the best shows of the year. Season 1 was good, but I think Season 2 has really lifted it to the status that a show of this caliber deserves. The post-Super Bowl episodes were excellent, and even though the tempo of the show has fallen a touch since, this is still the one show that I look forward to most every week.

House - Another hospital show that kicks ass*. Season 1 was truly astonishing, a must-watch for any true tv aficionado. Season 2 has been a bit of disappointment, but a small disappointment was I guess inevitable considering how great Season 1 was. I liken this small disappointment to the two last Matrix movies. The first one was so great, that I still love watching the 2nd and 3rd ones as well, even though I know in the bottom of my heart that they aren't that great, just because it's The Matrix. Nevertheless, House is a must-watch show for me.

24 - What can I say? Jack Bauer is the coolest person ever. The quality of 24 has been slowly falling since the first and second season, but that doesn't much matter. As long as Jack is still kicking ass and taking names, who wouldn't want to watch 24?

Prison Break - This show is excellent, but I'm worried. The plot is currently at an inflexion point, and I'm worried that the show may have taken a wrong turn. Season 1 was excellent in large part due to how methodical it was, piecing the breakout together one piece at a time. Now they've started to play up the role of the big government cover up storyline too much, not focusing on the meat of the show, Michael and Lincoln breaking out of jail. I sincerely hope that this was just a momentary lapse in reason on the creators part.

Sopranos - Excellent. There's not much to say about Sopranos that hasn't been said before. I'm currently halfway through Season 2 in rewatching all the episodes and their still as good as they were the first time around.

Boston Legal - Another great show, but one that's kind of lost it's edge. Season 1 was funny and original. Denny Crane was absolutely hilarious. But lately the mood of the whole show has become much more serious ala The Practice, and the role of William Shatner as Denny Crane has been scaled back a lot. I can understand the creators of the show wanting to comment on all that's going on in the world and America lately, but it unfortunately has ruined the show.

Gilmore Girls and Scrubs - Gilmore Girls is always a good. A real feelgood show. Scrubs is undoubtedly the 2nd best half-hour comedy show of all time (after Friends obviously). When I want to feel good about the world again, I watch Scrubs reruns.

The O.C, One Tree Hill and Veronica Mars - Meh. These shows are watchable, and most notably Veronica Mars even used to be a quality show. But nowadays I mainly watch these when I have nothing else to do.

Lost - I wouldn't touch that cheese with a New England long pole.

There are also some shows like Desperate Housewives and The L Word that have lately just become such crap that I don't even bother watching them anymore.

* Don't get the impression that I have a thing for hospital shows. On the contrary, in general hospital shows (ER, Crossing Jordan etc.) are crap. The creators of Grey's Anatomy and House have just succeeded in finding an interesting twist to the shows, thus making them stand out from the crowd.

Anywho, till next time.

Stoxpoker.com

2006-03-24T04:15:00.000-08:00

Stoxtrader is definitely one of the best online LHE players in the world. This guy has gone from playing $0.50/$1.00 in the late fall of 2003 to playing as high as $300/$600 on a daily basis. Now that's ridiculous.

Anyway, he's got a blog, along with some other good players (e.g. Robert Williamson III) at Stoxpoker.com. Definitely worth checking out.

Also, you can hire Stoxtrader to coach you for the very reasonable sum of $1000 per hour. From doing a bit of snooping around, apparently people who have taken him up on his coaching offer have been extremely satisfied with it. Now if only I could get $1000 to spare from somewhere...

Just a quick update

2006-03-18T05:10:00.000-08:00

Nothing much to say, just thought I'd remind everyone that Prison Break is back on Monday. This is definitely one of the better shows of recent years, and I'm really looking forward to seeing what the producers decide to do with it. I hope they don't ruin it.

Geormiet.com

Geormiet.com is a really great site. On it you can find all kinds of "classic" poker quests from 2+2 and the ITH forums like:

- schneids 60k in 60 days
- gonores 60k in 60 days
- davidross playing online poker for a living

and some of geormiet's own quests. Definitely worth reading, if you have the time.

As a third note, I got my hands on seasons 1 through 5 of The Sopranos, so I'm gonna get chugging away at those today as well.

"Happy trails to you, until we meet again." - Dale Evans Rogers

Bonuswhoring

2006-03-17T09:09:00.000-08:00

Bonuswhoring is where it's at right now. I've been working on my 6-max LHE and started bonuswhoring to increase my bankroll. Ever since I won a MTT on Stars almost 4 months ago my bankroll has slowly been withering away since I withdraw money from my bankroll like there's no tomorrow. Anyway, that has to stop now, so no more withdrawing money.

On the playing front, like I mentioned, I've been playing low limit 6-max LHE almost exclusively for about a week now. So far I'm really liking it. It's actually a lot of fun. I always thought of LHE as a humongous grind, and I guess at full ring it is. I also think that bonuswhoring and constantly switching around from site to site helps keep away the monotony.

Bonuswhoring is also great for me since it provides me lots of short-term goals to accomplish. Things like I had to clear my Paradise Poker sign-up bonus in 2 days so that I could withdraw and go over to Party to deposit in time for their reload bonus. I think this will help immensely in keeping me focused.

Anyway, for those of you who want to get into bonuswhoring, here are some useful links:

BonusWhores.com
2+2 Internet Bonuses forum
PokerFox.net
The Poker Life of Titans01 Blog

Titans01's blog has helped me a lot in getting started, and it's one of the few blogs I read daily.

I guess that'll be all. Now I have to go and clear my 24hPoker and Casino.Net sign-up bonuses. Until next time, good night, and good luck.

Hooray for the Oscars

2006-03-06T06:35:00.000-08:00

Hooray for Phillip Seymour Hoffman winning Best Leading Actor. Hooray for Reese Witherspoon winning Best Leading Actress. Hooray for that piece of cheese Munich not winning anything. Hooray for Brokeback Mountain not sweeping all the awards. Hooray for the Wallace and Gromit movie winning Best Animated Film.

A lot of the time I disagree with who the Oscar people give the awards to, but this year I think they really got it right. A bit of a shame that Capote didn't win Best Picture, but whatever.

On other news, Joshua Radin just released his debut album 'We Were Here'. Excellent stuff, though I must admit that I'm a bit disappointed that he went and tampered with some songs (Today, Closer and Winter) that were previously released on 'First Between 3rd and 4th'. But they're still excellent.

Ambulance LTD is releasing their new EP on the 14th, so that should be good. Also, 'Forever Changes' by Love is one of the best albums ever.

As for poker, I'm playing 25NL 6-max under the handle neliveto if you want to say hi. I also just yesterday started casinowhoring, which should turn out to be quite lucrative.

Anyway, that's about it for today.

March Goals

2006-03-03T11:57:00.000-08:00

No monetary goals this month. Instead, after having an absolutely horrible February, I'm focusing solely on improving my play.

March Goals

1. Remember that TPTK is only one pair.
2. Remember that unimproved aces are just one pair.
3. Finally learn and implement into my game the simple notion that with a big hand I want to play a big pot, and with a small hand I want to play a small pot.
4. Cut back to 2 tabling and really focus on improving my play.
5. Stop playing on autopilot.

Weeklong hiatus is over

2006-03-01T13:04:00.000-08:00

Well I'm back now. My weeklong break is over and I can now hopefully get back to playing good, solid, winning poker, instead of that bad, losing poker I was playing before my break.

I really have nothing poker related to say, so here's ten random observations on literature, music and movies I made during my poker hiatus:

1. Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami is really good. You might want to read up on magical realism before you read it though.

2. William Faulkner is one the best authors in the universe ever period. The Sound and The Fury and A Rose For Emily are outstanding.

3. Everyone knows that 'Illinois' by Sufjan Stevens is an absolutely superb album, which it is, but don't forget that 'Michigan' and 'Seven Swans' are almost equally good.

4. The movie Capote is one of the best movies I've seen in the last five years. Phillip Seymour Hoffman really deserves an Oscar for his performance, but he's definitely an underdog to win. My guess is it's 50/50 between Joaquin Phoenix and Heath Ledger.

5. Hamlet just keeps getting better and better each time I read it.

6. Band of Gypsys by Jimi Hendrix is the best live album ever. I've made it my goal to learn how to play every song on that album on my guitar, starting with Power To Love.

7. Iron & Wine = 2nd best band/artist ever. Best band ever is obviously The Beatles.

8. Ambulance LTD has a new EP coming out March 14th. This is one of the most exciting bands out there right now, definitely worth checking out.

9. The Mars Volta still kicks major ass. Few bands in the world rock/groove harder than it.

10. Walk The Line was good, Brokeback Mountain was ok, Good Night, Good Luck was mediocre. Crash I haven't watched. Munich is like 3 hours too long.

The Self-Proclaimed Poker Super Donkey

2006-02-21T14:37:00.000-08:00

The last month or so has just been one huge bender for me. Nothing has been going my way pokerwise. I'd like to think that a lot of this is due to variance, but I know it isn't. I feel like I need to take a step back and do something other than play poker or hang around the various poker resources on the internet that I frequent.

For this reason, I solemnly swear that for the time period between 22/02/2006 and 28/02/2006 I will

1. Not play a single hand of poker
2. Not make a single post on 2+2, PokerFox, CardRunners etc.
3. Not even open up 2+2, PokerFox etc. to see if there's any good posts that I've missed
4. Not open up PartyPoker or PokerStars to just "see what's happening; who's at the final table; what MTTs are starting soon etc."
5. Not watch any poker tv shows
6. Not read any poker books or magazines

A weeklong massive poker detoxing if you will, effective immediately. Then hopefully I can come back a week from now totally revitalised and ready to play some poker.

NL25 6-max is the antinuts

2006-02-21T10:10:00.000-08:00

A ton of bad beats, a handful of super donkey plays, and a little negative variance =

Anyone who ever told you poker was easy is a liar.

GG PartyPoker SNGs

2006-02-16T14:59:00.000-08:00

So much for PartyPoker SNGs. With the new software update the whole structure of the SNGs has been changed. This means that I won't be playing these anymore. Hence the Super Bankroll Building SNG Monster Super Hyper Challenge or whatever it was is officially over. Luckily the 6-max NL tables have been treating me good lately.

NL25 6-max is the nuts

2006-02-15T13:47:00.000-08:00

Last two days I've been 4-tabling NL25 6-max on Party. I'm running real good, which is always nice, but I have to say that the level of competition in these games is ridiculously bad. Lots of loose donkeys just itching to give you all their chips.

20 BB/100, gotta love it. Running good is fun.

Below I've attached my guide to pwning NL25 6-max at PartyPoker

kitaristi0's guide to pwning PartyPoker NL25 6-max

Step 1: Bet a lot and thou shalt be rewarded with lots and lots of money.

Congratulations. You have successfully completed kitaristi0's guide to pwning PartyPoker NL25 6-max. But remember: "I can only show you the door. You're the one that has to walk through it." Now go kick some donkey ass.

Box theory

2006-02-15T11:40:00.000-08:00

Recently I was going through some old things I found, when I stumbled upon this short essay that I wrote about three years ago. Even though I was only 15 at the time, I think that looking back on it, I still agree with much, if not all, of my reasoning and claims. Sure the language is a bit clumsy at points, but the gist of it, though a bit rough around the edges and hardly refined or fully thought out, is quite interesting, at least to me. I also find it quite interesting in retrospect that during my free time as a 15 year old I was writing short essays like this, instead of hanging out with my friends and doing other teenager stuff.

Box theory

For argument's sake, assume that the world as we know it is a box. This seems fitting enough. Indeed, like a box, the world has a finite amount of resources. Inside this box, picture a single human being as a much smaller box. By filling the box with smaller boxes we get a representation of our world. Of course, there are a finite number of smaller boxes, but this number is constantly changing due to people being born and passing away.

The origin of the box, or how the smaller boxes ended up inside the large box is not known. It is, and probably always will be, a topic of debate amongst scientists, philosophers and theologians alike. I am not interested in the origin of the box. Instead, what fascinates me, is how people, i.e. the smaller boxes, are arranged inside the larger box.

Let us assume that people are arranged solely by their physical locations. In this case, people who physically exist near each other are near each other also in the box. But I don't believe that the arranging process could be this simple. This leads me to what I like to call the three levels of being.

On the first and simplest level, the 'physical level', people are arranged solely based on their physical location. This idea was already introduced earlier.

On the second level, people are arranged by where their minds are, i.e. where their thoughts are in relation to the thoughts of other people. For example, if two people are thinking about exactly the same thing at exactly the same moment in time and space, on the 'conscious level' they are at exactly the same place. It is obvious that on the 'conscious level' the smaller boxes move around extremely fast.

On the third level, the 'subconscious level', people are arranged according to where their subconscious is. It is impossible to know exactly where the subconscious is performing at, but an educated estimation can be made.

I will introduce an example to clarify my meaning. Take Mark, a happily married man living with his wife, Brenda, and their two children, in a pleasant suburb on the outskirts of Philadelphia. Mark and Brenda have been married for over 15 years now and are still deeply in love with each other. On the physical and conscious levels Mark and Brenda are extremely close to each other. However, due to some reason Mark can't explain, he feels a compelling urge to cheat on his wife with another woman. It is obvious that on the subconscious level, Mark is not in the same place as his wife. His subconscious is driving him away from his happy marriage, and into the arms of the younger more attractive other woman.

What can we conclude from this example? It is obvious, that the subconscious level is the most powerful of the three levels. Even if the physical and conscious levels are in line, they are of no match to the subconscious level. One could easily argue that the position of the physical and conscious levels is of no relevance whatsoever, since it is the subconscious level that is calling the shots. However, I would disagree.

Firstly, there is importance in the physical position. It is a fact that humans cannot exist without a physical body. Furthermore, a human also needs a thinking conscious level to control his everyday functions. The subconscious may be the most powerful of the three levels, but it is still completely dependent on the two other levels. The subconscious level cannot exist without the physical and conscious levels.

Grouping smaller boxes together

How the smaller boxes are arranged depends on their relative positions. If we think of the large box as a three dimensional space, with x-, y- and z-axes, it is quite easy to position the smaller boxes. Lets agree to place the physical position on the x-axis. If we then place the conscious position on the y-axis and the subconscious position on the z-axis, we can assume coordinates for every single smaller box in existence. It must however be reminded that the boxes are almost constantly on the move, and thus the actually pinpointing of their positions is extremely difficult.

The boxes are grouped together based on their proximity to other boxes. Two people standing next to each other in a hallway are right next to each other on the x-axis. However, on the y-axis these two people may be thousands of miles apart from each other, not to mention their relative z-coordinates. On the other hand, two people on the opposite sides of the larger box physically may be very close on the conscious or subconscious level. Using these tools it is possible to group people down into smaller groups and even smaller subgroups. It should be noted that people can either be grouped by their overall position, taking into account the x-, y-, and z-axes, or only a single axis.

One may ask how close the boxes can actually be to each other? Close, but they can never overlap. I believe that as humans we are singular beings. Spouses, family and close friends may come very close to your box, but they can never fully be on the same place. Since it is impossible to know everything about someone, it logically follows that it is impossible to be exactly in the same place with someone else.

You may be thinking: "What about if two people are thinking about exactly the same thing? Wouldn't they then be on exactly the same point on the y-axis?" This raises the matter of subjectivity and bias. Whenever we approach a certain issue, we always approach it from our own point of view. Even when we attempt to think about an issue objectively, a trace of our own bias is always present. Hence, the boxes on the y-axis would be very close to each other, but never exactly on the same point.

Pretty interesting stuff, if you ask me.

Getting back into the groove

2006-02-13T07:43:00.000-08:00

I've been taking it easy for the last few days, haven't been playing too much poker. It's nice one in a while to just cool off for a few days, especially during a long slump, and focus on other things in life besides poker. I'm an avid watcher of TV, so I've been watching all the shows I didn't have time to watch last week, to make sure I'm up to speed with the new episodes coming out this week. All I can say is torrents kick so much ass it's ridiculous. If it weren't for torrents, I would be 1-2 seasons behind the current episodes since it always takes a year or so for a new show to be aired here in Finland. Not to mention all the great shows like House and Grey's Anatomy that I couldn't watch otherwise since they don't air here.

Anyway, played poker for a good two hours yesterday and learned one thing. Turbo rebuy satellites don't suite my playing style at all. I've played maybe 5 or so of these, trying to qualify for the $215 on Stars and each time I've fallen miserably short. For now, the $36+3, the $11 turbo double shootout and the $27+2 STT sat will be plenty to satisfy my satellite urge.

On other poker news, I played a few SNGs on Party again and got a first and second which was nice. I also started two-tabling the $21 HU SNGs on Stars and won 4 in a row for a nice profit. For now it seems the slump has passed, and I'm ready to start raking in the cash again. I'm not going to make $1000 this month no matter how hard I try, but I should end up quite nicely in the black if all goes well.

HU SNGs

2006-02-09T13:32:00.000-08:00

Playing low limit HU SNGs may be the easiest way to make money in the world. The competition in these is incredibly soft. With some basic HU strategy and a bit of experience under your belt these are a real goldmine.

To get away from regular SNGs for a bit (the slump still hasn't fully passed) I opened up a $21 HU SNG on Stars today. Overall I went 3/4 in these today. My game was a bit rusty, but I'm pretty confident that as I get a few more of these in over the next week I can start raking in some nice cash. From what I've heard the competition is still pretty soft even at the $50 level, so I hope to move up there as soon as I feel ready, and my Stars bankroll will allow it.

As a closing thought, don't ever read 'Pomegranate Seed' by Edith Wharton or 'The Wasp Factory' by Iain Banks. Some authors just really don't know how to end an otherwise good book (or short story for that matter).

With a Little Help From My Friends

2006-02-05T14:20:00.000-08:00

As the eternal downswing goes on with no end in sight, I thought I'd quote some lines from the Bard. Nothing like a little Hamlet, Mr. Sunshine himself, to make you feel good about life.

"I have of late, but wherefore I know not, lost all my mirth, forgone all custom of exercise; and indeed, it goes so heavily with my disposition; that this goodly frame the earth, seems to me a sterile promontory; this most excellent canopy the air, look you, this brave o'er-hanging firmament, this majestical roof, fretted with golden fire: why, it appears no other thing to me, than a foul and pestilent congregation of vapours. What a piece of work is a man! how noble in reason! how infinite in faculty! in form and moving how express and admirable! in action, how like an angel! in apprehension, how like a god! the beauty of the world, the paragon of animals; and yet to me, what is this quintessence of dust? man delights not me; no, nor woman neither; though by your smiling you seem to say so."

Well, it's not all bad. It's not like they all end up killing each other in a huge bloody mess in the end. Oh wait...

Woody Allen, Luck and Downswings

2006-02-01T14:11:00.000-08:00

"There are moments in a match when the ball hits the top of the net, and for a split-second it can either go forward, or fall back. With a little luck it goes forward, and you win. Or maybe it doesn't, and you lose." - Woody Allen

I recently watched Woody Allen's new film 'Match Point' and I really liked it. I've always liked Allen's films, but this one stood out, and it may well be my favourite Allen movie of all time, with the possible exception of 'Crimes and Misdemeanors.' The major theme of the movie was luck, and what a large role luck really plays in our lives. As a poker player, this really hit home and got me thinking.

I'm currently in the middle of the worst slump of my short poker-playing career. Now I know my little downswing is nothing compared to the kinds of downswings some people have had, but it's still hard psychologically when you just can't seem to ever win a pot. Even though I do my best to shrug it off, I do still find myself occasionally getting frustrated when someone yet again sucks out on me.

Before I either didn't fully comprehend, or just chose to ignore how big a role (short term) luck plays in poker. Watching 'Match Point' really reminded me that luck is a big part of poker, and there's no way to get around it. Now whenever I get my aces cracked, or I lose with AK vs AQ, I just remind myself that it's just short term luck.

In the mean time, I just do my best to stay focused, keep going through my hand histories plugging any leaks, and always make the most +EV play. One thing that has also helped me is this post by Irieguy on the 2+2 forums:

That which we shall not speak of

As much as this downswing sucks ass, at least I know that eventually it'll pass. Just like Immanuel Kant said:

"Have patience awhile; slanders are not long-lived. Truth is the child of time; erelong she shall appear to vindicate thee."

The Super Bankroll Building SNG Monster Challenge

2006-02-01T11:53:00.000-08:00

"Men are born to succeed, not fail." - Henry David Thoreau

I withdraw money from my poker accounts like there's no tomorrow. As such, my bankroll has never grown to where I want it to be, to enable me to play higher limits. As of February 1st 2006 I have exactly $550.01 in my PartyPoker account, exactly 50 buy-ins for the $11 SNGs I've been playing lately.

Enter The Super Bankroll Building SNG Monster Challenge. (Well, it's not actually so much a challenge as it is a way for me to stay focused, build my bankroll and not withdraw money from my account that I'll just end up wasting on McDonalds, Coca-Cola and candy.)

The plan is to play the $11s with my 50 buy-in bankroll until I hit $1100, 50 buy-ins for the $22s. Assuming a 20% ROI (which I find is quite accurate), this will take me 250 $11s. The exact number isn't important. What is, is that when I hit $1100 I move up to the $22s.

After the $22s I plan to move up to the $33s when my PartyPoker bankroll hits $2000, which is about 60 buy-ins. From the $33s, I'll move up when I feel ready and adequately bankrolled (which will probably be 100 buy-ins at the $55s, i.e. $5500.)

The rules:

1. No withdrawing money from my account.
2. I plan to start of 6-tabling, but I may move up to 8-tabling when I feel comfortable with it.

That's about it really, not much of a challenge, but I hope it'll help me stay focused and keep my eye on the prize and all that.

February Goals

2006-01-30T12:20:00.000-08:00

With the new month right around the corner, I thought I'd set some real goals for myself for the first time ever. I'm going to set my goal at a slightly ambitious $1000 for the month total, this including any bonuses and rakeback. A secondary goal is to not withdraw any money from my poker account for the whole month.

I started playing omaha/8 again yesterday, just to mix it up a bit. Played for two pretty uneventful hours at the $1/$2 and $2/$4 limits, 3 tables of each. Overall for the day I was down some $5. Gonna play again today, see if I can't kick start my race to $1000 with a winning day.

Introducing the Flying Wilendas

2006-01-28T07:38:00.000-08:00

"Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans." - John Lennon

My name is Aleksi and I'm an 18-year old student from Oulu, Finland. I started playing poker about 6 months ago. I started with a $75 deposit on PartyPoker that I promptly lost play 25NL. Then I found the 2+2 forums, ordered SSHE and TOP and started getting better. After reading the books and studying the 2+2 forums, I deposited $100 and haven't redeposited since.

I play a variety of different games: LO8, SNGs, HU SNGs, MTTs, NLHE cash games and LHE cash games. Right now I'm focusing more on low-limit SNGs and HU SNGs.

I'm using this blog as mainly a way to track my own results, and so that I can look back a year or two from now and see how far I've come. And if anyone else likes to read this, then that's just gravy.