Tuesday, December 15, 2009

couple updates about this year

baseball - had an arm injury and had to shut it down half way through the year. Aggravated my rotator cuff when I threw about 175 pitches in a 10 inning game (yeah I know it was stupid). the team really had a terrible year and none of us were proud of our showing or the results. I'll be back and ready for next year though. I've been working out pretty frequently but I'm planning on cutting back on my nov-feb throwing and instead focusing on really cranking it up the final 3 months before the season.

poker - I'm not sure how much info I really want to go into in terms of my final tally for the year. I'll think about this and post more around the end of the month. I've become a little reluctant to post graphs because I'd rather not people think I'm bragging when often I believe I am just running hot. However it would probably make sense to post an end of the year graph just to see how things turned out.

life - I just got engaged although anyone who knows me well won't be surprised. We've been dating for about 9 years and already had begun planning the wedding a few months ago. getting married next october when finally my income won't be taken into account in her financial aid as a med student. I gave her the engagement ring this weekend while we were celebrating our dating-anniversary, and she seems really really ecstatic with it. I was glad it turned out so well because I spent a lot of time searching for the right diamond and in the end the found just a fantastic stone. The guy that helped me out is a jeweler in NY that was unbelievably helpful and really made the whole process much much easier. If anyone is looking for a diamond, an engagement ring, or whatever let me know and I'll put you in touch with him. His name is Josh Kadet and he works for Kadella in NYC.

so there's a little more detailed update for anyone still following along.

later

jim

Wednesday, December 9, 2009

still playing still doing well

somebody posted a comment. I'm stil mass tabling 2/4-5/10 FR. Have had a lot of great success and I can't complain about how I'm running (thanks poker gods).

not much else happened this fall. I've thought about starting to update the blog again but I'm not sure there is enough poker stuff to talk about to make it worthwhile.

we'll see.

happy holidays

Jim

Wednesday, June 10, 2009

quick update

just wanted to throw a quick update out there. still alive and grinding. Been really busy over the past 6 weeks. Lots of travel, lots of poker, and lots of baseball. Poker and travel have been great, baseball is off to a terrible start. I might be throwing better than I ever have in my life, but the team is struggling on all fronts (pitching, fielding, hitting, you name it) and we are 1-9. Yep the defending champs can't win a GD game.

I'm keeping this brief though because I just finished a 4.5 hr session and I'm exhausted. Time to eat some food and crash. Starting tonight and we pretty have to start a winning streak or the season is basically over except for playing for pride.

later folks.

Saturday, April 18, 2009

big session




grinded like crazy last night for about 7.5 hours and booked a very nice 7.2k win. Mostly at 2/4 with a little 5/10 and 3/6 mixed in. A little wiped out right now so I'm not going to write a long post, but I had to brag about that. Oh and gotta thank those poker gods for the run good.

Went to the first game of the Bruins playoff series on thursday night and that was a lot of fun. I hadn't been to a professional hockey game since the mid 90s when Huntington had a minor league hockey team called the Blizzard. We used to go to a couple games a year at the Civic Center where they had the rink and it was always a lot of fun. But obviously seeing the Bruins playing the Canadiens in the NHL playoffs was hockey at a whole new level. It was a great game and the Bruins won 4-2. The game was tight the whole way with the Bruins scoring the winning goal with 5 minutes left in the third period. The final score included an empty netter in the last minute which really got the crowd celebrating. After the game I hit up the town with a couple of friends and had quite a few drinks. It was a fun night but it kind of knocked me out yesterday and I spent more of the day sleeping.

When I finally got up Katy and I got cleaned up and went to dinner at a hot pot restaurant with another couple. If you've never been you should definitely see if they have one in your area. It is a japanese style of eating/cooking that is very similar to fondue. Except instead of cheese, broth, and chocolate fondues they stick to very spicy (sometimes hot) broths and lots of seafood and veggies. You can also get other meats and I usually get the surf and turf which comes with thinly sliced beef, squid, shrimp, whitefish, salmon, clams, fishcakes, and scallops. Everything comes out raw and you cook it in the hot pot in the middle of your table. Everyone gets their own broth and you can mix and match which adds to the tastiness. It isn't very expensive either and I think with everyone getting a huge meal and our party had 4 beers (none for me lol) and we only came up to $90. In boston that is pretty cheap considering the quality and amount of food we had. Plus dinner ends up taking 2 hours which is fun because you can actually hang and talk and enjoy yourselves instead of feeling rushed when you finish your meal.

thats all for now. hope everyone is enjoying their weekend.

Friday, April 10, 2009

comeback session



so this was an extremely frustrating but ultimately rewarding session. I start off by getting multiple coolers (sets against flushes, undersets, KK vs AA, AK vs AA, etc etc). Standard stuff and nothing worth losing my mind about, but then when I'm trying to battle back and can't win any pots where I get it in with a big edge, well you kind of want to puke.

But eventually a few big pots go my way and I start to battle back. Then a couple more huge pots start to go my way. I start hitting some sets, and because everyone thinks I'm always bluffing and full of it I start getting paid off. Anyway to tie up this somewhat boring story I finally get up for the night, and decide I'm effing done with this session. A +5k hand grind and I'll take the $350 win.

Made some delicious homemade pizza tonight, and finished it off with some leftover birthday cake from yesterday. Katy made me a delicious light lemon-cake with whipped icing. With a little vanilla bean icing it can't be beat. Plus she worked hard to clear her schedule, so the nicest thing about the b-day was just being able to hang out last night and watch lost and not have to worry about her having to stop for work or to go to sleep or whatever.

Planning on going to dinner/drinks with friends on saturday as kind of a late birthday dinner, but other than that no big plans for the weekend. I'm hoping it is going to get a little warmer around here, but I don't have much hope. Topped out in the low 60s today and that was actually nice enough that I opened all of the windows and let in as much fresh air as possible.

I think I'm going to start watching Band of Brothers again. I got about 6 episodes into it one time when I got distracted or something and I never finished the series. But I watched Saving Private Ryan the other night for the third or fourth time and I really enjoyed it, although that is a weird thing to say. It is hard to enjoy watching so much suffering and tribulation, but I guess the thought I'm looking for is moving and touching. Remembering conversations about WW2 with my grandfather, and the time I spent visiting with the American Legion veterans at Boys Nation, and I definitely got a little teary-eyed at the end of that movie.

anyway that is enough random stuff. The reds won today (yay!), the red sox lost (boo!), and the Masters looks like it could be great this weekend. Everyone enjoy their easter weekend and thanks for reading.

later

jim

Wednesday, April 1, 2009

March Wrap-up

graph at bottom. Good month overall. Started off really well and continued my hot streak from jan and feb, but then ran break even for the last week and a half of the month. For the most part I'm pretty sure I was running below expectation because I had some brutal suckouts and stuff, but I still felt pretty good about my play.

People on 2p2 are finally discussing me a little in the midstakes full ring forum. I figured it would only be a matter of time before I got the occasional mention or wtf. The reason is that I'm winning with almost as good of a winrate as some of the best 2/4 players (maybe as good as the best) but I'm playing 25/17 preflop. Which if you follow preflop stats is pretty loose for full ring. Most of the regs play around a 18-15/15-12 type style, and quite a few of the winners play a really tight 12/9 type style. I also 3-bet almost twice as much as most of them, and attempt to steal blinds about 33% more. I think this is about as loose as I can profitably play, and I think any attempts to play more loosely will probably result in spew or me being in horrible spots.

For now though I feel really good about my game because my range is so much wider than the other regs that they are consistently playing guessing games against me while I usually have a very solid understanding of most of their ranges. Plus I tend to get a bit more action on my big pairs than a lot of other players.

In other news I was obviously dissappointed by the end of the season for the Blue Devils. I went to the game in the garden and was all excited to watch my boys play after seeing the Pit and Xavier game. I wasn't impressed by either of those teams play in the first game (and we beat Xavier by 20 earlier in the season) and felt that if we could get by Villanova we were very likely going to make the final four. Unfortunately it was not to be. First I'll give credit to Nova. They played oustanding pressure defense and didn't let up the whole game. They showed great leadership and hustle and I really think their coach knows how to motivate his players and get the right system for the guys he has. The definitely deserved to win and move on to the Final Four after beating Pitt. But I have to also comment on the reality of the game. If Duke shoots our normal % from threes, twos, and FTs then we likely win the game in regulation. Despite Nova getting 10 pts in garbage time we still would likely have scored nearly 80 points if we are hitting shots. And I was at the game and can tell you that many of these were wide open threes, relatively easy close range twos, and obviously free throws. I mean we shot so poorly that a stellar defensive effort (and I thought our first half defense was outstanding) went totally to waste. The only reason that Nova ends up in the 70s and not in the low 60s in point total is that with less than 7 minutes remaining and being down by 12 Coach K realized that we had to go all-or-nothing press on them and hope to make up the difference. The problem with all-or-nothing is that when it doesn't work it turns a bad loss into a blow out. Instead of coming up with steals, turnovers, and converting them into quick baskets we just gave nova easy two pointers and endedup committing a lot of dumb fouls and sending them to the line. It was just a ridiculously frustrating game because going into the game I thought that the teams were very even and the game was likely a 50/50 coin flip. After watching us get blow out by 22.... my opinion didn't change a bit! If we were to play them again I'd still think we were a coinflip. I know this sounds ridiculous and extremely biased, but the fact of the matter is that with the shooters we have it is unlikely that we would shoot like that in another game. And while I give some credit to nova's D, most of the blame has to go to us and our simple inability to make open shots.

I also thought the guys looked very tired in the second half, and I think there was some since of a letdown when after all of the hype things weren't going their way. Plus of course all of the Pitt and Xavier fans became anti-Duke and were booing them from warmups, and the nova fans were typical classy Philly folk (lol) so again it was like Duke was playing a road game. Despite all of this I was extremely proud of the team and the season. A record of 30-7 with the hardest schedule in the nation is outstanding. We won the ACC championship, made the sweet sixteen, and I think set ourselves up nicely for a great year next year. I really hope that Henderson decides to come back. He has a lot of work to do on his game both improving his jump shooting and developing his left hand (right now teams are forcing him to go left and he is really struggling) and if he does we have to be on the short-list of favorites to win it all. If he leaves I would hope for a season similar to this year, and our success postseason would depend on how dominant of a player singler could become, and how much the fresmen are able to contribute.

In other news I'm going to NOLA this weekend for a friends bachelor party. Never been there before so that should be fun. After this weekend of traveling though I think I'm going to lay low on the flying around for awhile. I have two trips scheduled in May, and I'd really like to get a hundred hours of poker in April.

Also I really don't like April Fools. I just don't find it funny to trick people especially when people fake tragedies and stuff. I guess there are some good april fools pranks, but I'm usually to lazy to think of or implement any of them.

so I'm going to wrap this one up. I'm going to start looking for interesting hands to post up in the blog, but a lot times in the middle of a 4k hand session I see a really cool hand where I make a sick bluff or call down but then I totally forget it by the end of the session. Plus people don't seem to comment on the hands that much so I'm not sure it is even worth me putting them out there.

hope everyone had a great march and let's hope april is even better.

later

jim


GRAPH:

Tuesday, March 10, 2009

one of the best sports articles I've ever read about one of my favorite basketball players.

Michael Lewis on Shane Battier

It's long, but it's worth it. I sincerely hope that if Shane Battier ever decides to go into coaching he will consider going back to Duke. And I also hope that the Duke AD will be smart enough to realize how valuable of a commodity he could be. The guy is a great great player who knows how to win. And not in some abstract "heart" or "guts" kind of way, but in solid proven on court play. He understands what to do, when to do it, and how to go about it.

If he doesn't end up coaching my devils some day I guess I hope he goes into politics so I can vote for him at some point.

Saturday, March 7, 2009

quick recap with graph

ok some quick hitters on the month

- thank you thank you thank you thank you poker gods for the run good blessing. Couldn't have done it with out you.

- playing a ridiculous number of hands over the past few months has made me a vastly improved hand reader

- I'm starting to enjoy playing 3 hour plus session a few times a week. This is good because it ups my volume of hands and lets me really develop reads on players at my tables

- I'm not sure if I should start taking shots at 5/10 again or not. My bankroll is considerably more than enough to do it (like way more than enough) but I've gotten into a 16-tabling groove and obviously I can't do that while playing 5/10. Plus the 5/10 games are all 6max and I think my 6max game is not nearly as good at my FR game right now (I play much better against the FR regs than the 6max regs). So I'm just not sure that my hourly rate would be as good playing 5/10. The argument for it is that if I ever have aspirations of moving up to 10/20 and 25/50 then I need to be able to beat 5/10 consistently. But I don't need to play those levels to have a great year. So I'm torn, but for now I think I'm going to keep grinding 16 tables of 2/4 and 3/6.

- I had my best month ever by a significant amount.

- I'm considering mixing in some big sunday tournies into my cash game mix. I'm +EV in those tournies and it gives me motivation to grind in the afternoon and evening.

graph of last month:




that's all for now. Going to update tomorrow with my thoughts on the duke unc game, watchmen, and how my month is going so far. I might even dig up some hands because there are some hands I'm feeling great about and one hand I'm furious that I made such a bad fold on.

later

Tuesday, March 3, 2009

fun night

so just booked a quick $3k session win this afternoon (nice after I lost that much playing tired and tilting yesterday) ty poker gods for the continued run good. Now I'm going to go sledding and drink some beers with a friend. Then got Duke vs FSU tonight at 8pm. And I've got some ribs marinating in a rub in the fridge that I plan on braising tonight during the game.

tuesday used to be the worst day of the week when I worked a 9-5. not anymore ;-)

summary of last month to come soon. I just need to take the time to make a graph and sit down and think about the take aways.

hope everyone has as much fun as me today.

later

Monday, March 2, 2009

very interesting video

I consider myself a libertarian, and I often find myself agreeing with Ron Paul. This was a pretty interesting video of one of his speeches. Obviously it has been dramatized with the music and graphics, but if you follow along I think there are some very interesting thoughts and messages. Credit it to a chiptalker who posted it in facebook.

enjoy:

Thursday, February 26, 2009

enjoyed boondock saints

Watched and enjoyed boondock saints. I wouldn't say it is a great movie, but it is a very interesting good movie. It has some very interesting messages on ethics and morals, but I'm not going to try and break it down here.

I can say if you like action movies that have a brain behind them but don't take themselves too seriously you'll probably like this flick. Then again I think most everyone I know has already seen it so I'm not exactly sure who I'm making the recommendation to. I will say that there was some stuff that the director did that I just wasn't a huge fan of and thought it actually detracted from and made the movie seem cheesey (and somewhat dated). Apparently the director is somewhat of an ass and has pretty much been blacklisted from Hollywood which is why he hasn't made anything since. But the sequel is in post production do to the swell of interest from DVD sales, so I guess I'll have to check that out when it comes out.

Was thinking about going out tonight if anyone was interested, but that doesn't seem to be the case. Think I'm going to go grab a sandwich and then do a workout while watching PTI/ATH (recorded both earlier). Then I guess I'll make this another grind night and put in 10k hands or so.

peace

big game, big win

after that tough and important win against Wake it was crucial that we came out and held serve in the conference. We proved that the win against Wake wasn't a fluke, we are a solid team, and making the switch to Elliot Williams really was the right move. Maryland proved that Neal is a punk who uses his chance to set a hard screen as an opporunity to take a cheap shot. And then Henderson proved once again that he is the best player in the conference.

The only bad thing is that Henderson has been so good for the last two months that every game it becomes less and less likely that he stays for a fourth year. That is a shame because I'd love to watch and root for him for another year, but his draft stock is so high right now it is hard to imagine why he would come back. Conceivably next year he could win national player of the year and move up to a top 5 pick, but the money difference between going top 12 and top 5 I don't think is as significant in the NBA as it is in the NFL or MLB (I could be wrong about this). I'm pretty sure that there is a rookie salary cap in the NBA that keeps teams from just blowing ridiculous wads of cash at top 5 picks.

So here's to hoping he sticks around, but I think it probably isn't likely. also thanks to Clemson and FSU for losing and leaving us alone in second place in the conference. If we can pull off two more huge wins against Tech and FSU, which will both be very tough games, then we have a chance to beat UNC and tie or win the regular season title in the ACC. I think two more conference wins and a decent showing the ACC tourney might lock up a 2 seed for us as well. If we win out and win the ACC tourney we'll get a 1 seed obviously, but I seriously doubt we'll be able to pull it off. I'm just hoping we make the second weekend and end up in Boston so I'll be able to cheer my boys live in the NCAA tourney. I've never been able to see Duke in an NCAA tourney game so it would be awesome if it worked out that way this year.

Poker has been a little meh the last couple of days. I've had small wins which are nice, but a little frustrating after you finish a 3,800 hand session to only be up about $500. But I can't complain. Winning is always better than losing.

Yesterday I biked for 40 minutes after lifting, and then did some max out reps on the nautilus chest press machine. I thought the bike was really going to hit my legs hard, but after the initial pain wore off I didn't feel anything last night or this morning. So my idea to try and get my legs in shape by going all Lance Armstrong like may not work out. I absolutely hate lifting legs so I just thought blowing up the bike really hard for a long time might be a decent substitute. Guess not. hmmmm. If anyone out there has some good advice for interesting ways to build leg strength that aren't squats (I effing hate squats) please let me know.

good news was despite the fact that I've only been doing pull ups, push ups, dips, some curls, etc all winter I was able to put up as much weight on the chest press as I did last year when I was hitting the gym all winter long. Not to say that is significant weight (lol I'm not big) but it does affirm to me that doing a lot of pull ups and push ups really are very good for increasing upper body strength.

I think I might watch the assassination of Jesse James tonight. either that or boondock saints. I've been meaning to watch both of these movies forever and just haven't gotten around to it. I'm in a good mood after that great win so a movie seems like fun.

I'll let people know which I watch, and if either is good.

laters

jim

Tuesday, February 24, 2009

update

after the last post I started an epic session friday morning where I quickly dropped 4k playing pretty awfully and decided I wasn't going to quit until I made it all back plus some. I ended up grinding out 13,000 hands from about 9am until about 7pm on friday and finally worked myself into the black by about $200.

It may seem silly, but as a professional cash game poker player that is one of the most satisfying feelings you can have. Much more satisfying than a big winning session (although maybe not as euphoric afterwards). The reason the feeling is so strong is because you are playing bad, and running bad, and you get to a point where you either have to quit or grind. To be honest most of the time you are better off quitting. Typically you aren't in the right mindset, you obviously are making mistakes, and you should quit and wait until you are rested and refocused. But sometimes your back is against the proverbial wall and you say to yourself "I'm not quitting until I've pulled myself out of this hole. No matter how long it takes." And when you make that promise to yourself there is nothing more satisfying then when you pull it off. I've had those moments probably 4 or 5 times since going pro about 16 months ago, and I've succeeded about half of the time. Each one of those times it is like taking another step in your confidence in yourself as a player. You can never stop getting better, and the metagame of poker is always changing and advancing, so anytime you can reach a significant goal it is important to note. Staying in the moment is crucial to success in poker, but appreciating the best of those moments is important to quality of life. IMO.

Of course by the time I finished that session I was totally fried as I had not slept in about 32 hours and had played 17,000 hands of poker in that time. So we got some takeout and watched LOST and after a couple glass of wine I promptly passed out in the middle of the episode. I know, I was a thrilling friday night date.

Duke played well on sunday, although I'm still very concerned about our defense. The fact is that we are giving up way to many points against everybody. We can't expect to go out and score +85 every game, and we can't expect Scheyer and Henderson to combine for 65 every game. I also am concerned that we've nearly phased Zoubek and McClure out of the rotation which is fine as long as we can convince teams to not just slow the game down and pound it into the post on us. I will say that without a doubt Coach K thoroughly out-coached Gaudio, and if I was a Wake fan I would be seriously concerned about this guys in game decision-making. I had heard from others that they thought Wake was a horribly coached and prepped team and that they were winning purely by talent, but sunday night was the first time that I had watched a whole game where I saw that unfold.

I really need to get cranking with my prep for the season this year. I've been eating well, and working out 2-4 times a week, but I haven't been throwing enough and I haven't been running at all. I think I'm going to start this week with throwing twice a week and hitting the bike in the gym for about an hour. I think if I put the resistance on high enough I can get a pretty thorough workout.

on other topics I really think more people need to be watching Big Bang Theory. The show is hilarious, never serious, no prolonged plotlines, the guest stars are funny. Meh I've said enough.

I've also been thoroughly enjoying some classic blues. I won't start listing songs or artists since I'm such a newb that anyone who listens to the blues would say "ldo". But I will say that on the recommendation of the Two Jacks in the Hole podcast (you should seriously be listening to this broadcasted live every wednesday night) I'm also really enjoying Daft Punk's Alive album. It is the live album from there 2007 tour, and it is very good. It is great grinding music when I'm playing poker, great driving music, and obviously great party music. I totally agree with the guys on the podcast that it should be played as loud as you can stand it.

well that is about all from my end of the world. I've got 4 days left to grind hard this month and see how it all shakes. If the poker gods continue to bless me as they have so far this month I could have a personal best month. I owe all my luckboxing and run-good to them so I just hope they stay in my corner ;-)

hope everyone is having a good week.

jim

Friday, February 20, 2009

making comebacks

made back 12 buyins during a 5k hand session I just played. little fried right now to blog about it, but this is one hand that kept it from being a huge victory. 4 buy-in swings in one hand really hurt imo.

Full Tilt No-Limit Hold'em, $4.00 BB (9 handed) - Full-Tilt Converter Tool from HandHistoryConverter.com

UTG+1 ($1231)
MP1 ($561.40)
MP2 ($665.90)
MP3 ($254.30)
CO ($432.20)
Button ($742.90)
SB ($616.20)
Hero (BB) ($1216.90)
UTG ($382)

Preflop: Hero is BB with As, 8s
1 fold, UTG+1 raises to $14, 1 fold, MP2 calls $14, 2 folds, Button calls $14, 1 fold, Hero calls $10

Flop: ($58) 3s, 5s, Ks (4 players)
Hero checks, UTG+1 bets $33, 1 fold, Button calls $33, Hero raises to $152, 1 fold, Button raises to $728.90 (All-In), Hero calls $576.90

Turn: ($1548.80) Jd (2 players, 1 all-in)

River: ($1548.80) 5d (2 players, 1 all-in)

Total pot: $1548.80 | Rake: $3

fwiw even though villain is a pretty good reg I hate his play in this hand. My c/r'ing range on that flop is pretty much always a) a flush b) a higher set (ie 55) or a total bluff. I'm never going to c/r AsX (even AK) because I know if we get it in I'm always drawing to 9 outs (less if villain has a flush) and my opponent will usually have redraws. so when we get it in on that flop he's not in great shape and best case scenario he's drawing to a boat, and worse case scenario he's hoping to hit a 2 outer. But if he calls my flop raise he can always take it away from me if I'm bluffing on the turn (because I'm not stupid enough to barrel away my whole stack when that deep against a nitty reg on a monotone board) and can avoid losing a stack and a half if I shove the turn (and if I give him odds to draw he can draw). But whatever I've made worse plays so I can't hate on him too much.

dukies won tonight, but I don't really have any confidence in our play. I thought we looked very weak in a game when we should have dominated and won by 30. I find myself more and more wondering if we just aren't that talented (and we're obviously in a physical mismatch against most teams) but win a lot of games early in the year because our players are smart and very well prepared (coach K has the guys ready to go like it's midseason from game 1). That would make a lot of sense sense as other teams round into form and find their rhythm we begin to struggle more and more. And that would also mesh with the idea that once coaches get a few weeks of film on us we are much easier to prepare for.

I've got to go eat because I have a huge headache from grinding. May try to put in another 5k hand session later this morning, but I'm not sure. The games aren't as good this week as they were last.

laters

jim

Thursday, February 19, 2009

cashout curse is for realz

Was up 60 buy-ins on the month, cash out 5k today and dropped 20 buy-ins back tonight. My non-showdown winnings (hands that I win without flipping up the cards) was breakeven on the night, but hands where I got to SD were basically just all losers. My graph for the night was just a dramatic plunge to the right. Can't complain though as I'm still having a terrific month, and if I could hold onto my hourly for the rest of the month and grind another 40 hours I'd be freaking ecstatic.

don't want to post any hands for the session because (for the most part) very few of them were interesting. Mostly it was just getting in QQ against KK twice in squeeze spots, losing about 4 flips, getting coolered set over set or missing a big draw, and missing a ton of flops. I definitely made some bad calls and some not great bluffs, but really most of the money was lost in fairly standard ways. Of course as well as I've been running this month I can't be surprised that I had one rough day.

I will finish the blog post with an appeal to the holy poker trinity known as The Flop, The Turn, and The River:

I sincerely apologize if I offended the poker gods in anway shape or form. Please accept this offering of the end of my blog post, from a humble midstakes no limit grinder who basks in your awesome luck-boxing or down-swonging powers.

amen.

Wednesday, February 18, 2009

durrrr high stakes challenge

If you like poker you should be interested in the following. One of the biggest winners in cash game poker over the last 18 months (durrrr aka Tom Dwan a 25 yr old) has issued a challenge to anyone willing to throwdown. The challenge is as follows:

“I’m making this heads-up challenge to the world. Anyone can accept. Four tables, minimum of $200/$400, and I’ll put up $1.5 million to their $500,000. We play 50,000 hands minimum and if they end up a dollar after rake they keep the side money or whatever. So basically, if you and I played and you won a dollar, you would get my $1.5 million and if I won a dollar I would win your $500,000.

here are the conditions he set forth:

1) 200-400min (nl/plo obv)
2) can change tables anytime eff stacks are >250bb
3) have to reload when stacks are <75bb
4) $$ won in the challenge is kept obv (if i win 750k in poker, i get that PLUS your 500k- if i lose 750k in poker you get 2.25m total).
5) same stakes the whole time
6) not open to phil galfond (because Durrrr thinks he's too good)

(there may be other conditions but I couldn't find them after a short search).

Apparently Patrick Antonius (another very good and very successful high stakes poker player) recently accepted the challenge. Full Tilt created special tables for the challenge match in their Omaha High lobby, and the players began to battle it out this morning. Right now they are playing on 4 tables of 200/400 PLO.

Prevailing opinion among poker pros is that Durrrr has an edge on Antonius, and maybe on anyone (with the obvious exception of Galfond). Galfond even tried to get it going but Dwan declined his action, and the current match with Antonius this morning is the beginning of the challenge.

However even over 50k hands there can be significant variance, and Antonius is a very very good player (and fearless) in his own right. So while most are giving durrr an edge, and would probably call him something of a 1.2-1 favorite, it is probably a +EV move for Antonius to take up the challenge. If he can get out to a decent lead, and then play smart enough (ie conservatively enough) down the stretch, there is a huge profit to be made.

The metagame implications of the side wager should be considerable as the challenge begins to wind down (which will probably be days from now) and I'm excited to see how it all plays out. If you like poker, high stakes gambling, or PLO you should definitely log in to full tilt and check out the action.

here are some threads on 2p2 detailing the challenge and match:

durrrr challenge thread

thread of the current action

discussing who might have an edge against dwan in the challenge

oh and the poker gods continue to bless me (all praise be to the poker gods) and I had another wonderful winning session last night.

peace

Tuesday, February 17, 2009

thanx to JC a quick blog post before dinner

JC added to the comments so we get a quick blog post.

So to answer his first question I tend to not get to upset about the beats anymore, although to be fair I've been running ridiculously well this month and all praise be to the poker gods (imo). After you've played long enough and enough hands you've pretty much seen it all. I've had $20,000 swings in 24 hours, so losing or winning a $1k pot doesn't really phase me. I still get excited when I win, and obviously it's dissappointing when your hand doesn't hold up, but I almost always have another 15 tables going so there is no time to really get caught up in the random turn of a card. In the long run it will work itself out, and since I can't control it I can't worry about it. I'm much more likely to get tilted if I make a horrendous play in a hand, especially if it is a really terrible river call for a large portion of my stack. Sometimes if I make a terrible play and find myself upset at it I'll just go ahead and wrap up the session because I might not be playing my A game, and I don't want to start questioning all of my plays because of one mistakes. But those occasions are rare anymore and it's due to the fact that I've played well over a million hands over poker now and it's become a pretty unemotional game.

Also it helps that I don't consider the money in my poker account as "my money" until it hits my checking account. It is the same way that if you make some money in the market you can't go out and celebrate by spending on something extravagant, because the gains are all on paper. Until you sell or get dividends (and pay the requisite taxes) you haven't actually made anything. And you should treat your daily finances as such. That really helps you not let the beats at the table affect you when you know it isn't going to impact your ability to pay bills or taxes, get groceries, go on trips etc.

As to JC's second question, I've tinkered with 16 tabling since november of last year. At first it was probably a mistake because I simply couldn't handle the tables. But then I gradually got more and more comfortable with both 16 tabling and full ring (which I didn't have as much experience with). By late december I had it pretty well worked out and found that 16-tabling 2/4 was probably more profitable than trying to table select and 6-9 table 5/10. Plus I had been running bad for almost 8 weeks and the swings at 5/10 were really starting to stress me out. At this point the swings at 2/4 seem like nothing, so I think I really play better as the money matters even less to me at 2/4. Gradually I started working in 6max games into the 16 tables so that now I usually play a mix of FR and 6max. Usually the mix is something like 4-1 or 3-1 full ring to 6max. Now I rarely have any trouble keeping up with the tables, and I actually enjoy the speed of the game and find that the quick pace and constantly seeing new hands helps me grind longer sessions. I've played several 4 hour plus sessions this month which I used to struggle with in nl, and I think I can credit 16 tabling to that.

that's all for now. probably a non poker post coming soon.

thanks for reading folks

hmmmm

if you actually take the time to read the hands I posted below and add to the comments section I'll make an another interesting blog post within the next 12 hours. Otherwise you gots to wait my friends. up to you guys ;)

later days

fun hands from the weekend and the grind session and maybe some other stuff...

first hands that I'm not happy about:

Full Tilt No-Limit Hold'em, $4.00 BB (8 handed) - Full-Tilt Converter Tool from HandHistoryConverter.com

UTG+1 ($800)
MP1 ($898.80)
Hero (MP2) ($720.50)
CO ($1361.80)
Button ($823)
SB ($817.80)
BB ($400)
UTG ($1052)

Preflop: Hero is MP2 with Kc, Jc
2 folds, MP1 raises to $14, Hero calls $14, 3 folds, BB calls $10

Flop: ($44) 4c, 2d, 7c (3 players)
BB checks, MP1 bets $44, Hero raises to $160, 1 fold, MP1 calls $116

Turn: ($364) 2c (2 players)
MP1 bets $300, Hero raises to $546.50 (All-In), MP1 calls $246.50

River: ($1457) Qc (2 players, 1 all-in)

Total pot: $1457 | Rake: $3

Results:
MP1 had Ac, 10c (flush, Ace high).
Hero had Kc, Jc (flush, King high).
Outcome: MP1 won $1454



------------------------------------------------

Full Tilt No-Limit Hold'em, $4.00 BB (8 handed) - Full-Tilt Converter Tool from HandHistoryConverter.com

Hero (CO) ($576)
Button ($502.70)
SB ($503.30)
BB ($224.20)
UTG ($651.20)
UTG+1 ($90.50)
MP1 ($421.30)
MP2 ($80)

Preflop: Hero is CO with Ac, Qd
4 folds, Hero raises to $14, 1 fold, SB raises to $50, 1 fold, Hero calls $36

Flop: ($104) Ad, 8c, Qs (2 players)
SB bets $72, Hero calls $72

Turn: ($248) 4h (2 players)
SB checks, Hero checks

River: ($248) 5s (2 players)
SB bets $164, Hero raises to $454 (All-In), SB calls $217.30 (All-In)

Total pot: $1010.60 | Rake: $3

Results:
SB had 4s, 4d (three of a kind, fours).
Hero had Ac, Qd (two pair, Aces and Queens).
Outcome: SB won $1007.60

----------------------------------------------------------

Full Tilt No-Limit Hold'em, $4.00 BB (7 handed) - Full-Tilt Converter Tool from HandHistoryConverter.com

Hero (CO) ($495)
Button ($400)
SB ($394)
UTG ($193.40)
MP1 ($848.30)

Preflop: Hero is CO with 10d, Ac
MP1 raises to $8, Hero raises to $30, 3 folds, MP1 calls $22

Flop: ($66) Qd, 4s, Ad (2 players)
MP1 checks, Hero checks

Turn: ($66) 9s (2 players)
MP1 checks, Hero bets $44, MP1 raises to $188, Hero calls $144

River: ($442) 10c (2 players)
MP1 checks, Hero bets $277 (All-In), MP1 calls $277

Total pot: $996 | Rake: $3

Results:
MP1 had Jh, Ks (straight, Ace high).
Hero had 10d, Ac (two pair, Aces and tens).
Outcome: MP1 won $993

-----------------------------------------------------------------

Full Tilt No-Limit Hold'em, $4.00 BB (6 handed) - Full-Tilt Converter Tool from HandHistoryConverter.com

Button ($623.50)
SB ($404.80)
BB ($505.30)
UTG ($492.30)
Hero (MP) ($672.60)
CO ($933)

Preflop: Hero is MP with Jc, Jh
UTG calls $4, Hero raises to $20, 4 folds, UTG raises to $66, Hero calls $46

Flop: ($138) 9h, Qc, 7c (2 players)
UTG bets $55, Hero calls $55

Turn: ($248) 7s (2 players)
UTG bets $155, Hero calls $155

River: ($558) 4h (2 players)
UTG bets $216.30 (All-In), Hero calls $216.30

Total pot: $990.60 | Rake: $3

Results:
UTG had Ac, Qd (two pair, Queens and sevens).
Hero had Jc, Jh (two pair, Jacks and sevens).
Outcome: UTG won $987.60


--------------------------------------------------------

I SWEAR THAT THIS HAND WAS A CASE OF MISREADING THE BOARD WHILE 16TABLING. I'M REALLY NOT THAT STUPID. I PROMISE.

Full Tilt No-Limit Hold'em, $4.00 BB (6 handed) - Full-Tilt Converter Tool from HandHistoryConverter.com

CO ($933.60)
Button ($519.80)
SB ($318.70)
Hero (BB) ($478.30)
UTG ($488.75)
MP ($435.90)

Preflop: Hero is BB with 7s, 5s
1 fold, MP calls $4, 2 folds, SB calls $2, Hero checks

Flop: ($12) 10s, 8h, 6h (3 players)
SB checks, Hero bets $12, MP calls $12, SB calls $12

Turn: ($48) Kc (3 players)
SB checks, Hero bets $24, MP raises to $80, 1 fold, Hero calls $56

River: ($208) 5d (2 players)
Hero checks, MP bets $140, Hero raises to $382.30 (All-In), MP calls $199.90 (All-In)

Total pot: $887.80 | Rake: $3

Results:
Hero had 7s, 5s (one pair, fives).
MP had Kd, Jd (one pair, Kings).
Outcome: MP won $884.80
----------------------------------------------------

Full Tilt No-Limit Hold'em, $4.00 BB (9 handed) - Full-Tilt Converter Tool from HandHistoryConverter.com

CO ($407.40)
Button ($561.80)
Hero (SB) ($470)
BB ($229)
UTG ($525)
UTG+1 ($176)
MP1 ($151)
MP2 ($697)
MP3 ($146)

Preflop: Hero is SB with Ad, Qh
5 folds, CO raises to $14, 1 fold, Hero raises to $46, 1 fold, CO calls $32

Flop: ($96) Js, Ac, Ah (2 players)
Hero bets $56, CO calls $56

Turn: ($208) 6s (2 players)
Hero bets $128, CO calls $128

River: ($464) 10d (2 players)
Hero bets $180, CO calls $177.40 (All-In)

Total pot: $818.80 | Rake: $3

Results:
Hero had Ad, Qh (three of a kind, Aces).
CO had 6c, 6h (full house, sixes over Aces).
Outcome: CO won $815.80

AND NOW FOR THE FUN HANDS:

Full Tilt No-Limit Hold'em, $4.00 BB (6 handed) - Full-Tilt Converter Tool from HandHistoryConverter.com

BB ($418.30)
UTG ($665)
MP ($432)
Hero (CO) ($723)
Button ($492.10)
SB ($400)

Preflop: Hero is CO with Ad, As
2 folds, Hero raises to $14, Button calls $14, 1 fold, BB raises to $58, Hero calls $44, Button calls $44

Flop: ($176) 4d, 6s, 2h (3 players)
BB checks, Hero bets $112, Button calls $112, BB raises to $360.30 (All-In), Hero calls $248.30, Button calls $248.30

Turn: ($1256.90) 5c (3 players, 1 all-in)
Hero bets $304.70 (All-In), Button calls $73.80 (All-In)

River: ($1404.50) Ah (3 players, 3 all-in)

Total pot: $1404.50 | Rake: $3

Results:
Button had 7s, 5h (one pair, fives).
BB had 10d, 10c (one pair, tens).
Hero had Ad, As (three of a kind, Aces).
Outcome: Hero won $1401.50

---------------------------------------------------------

Full Tilt No-Limit Hold'em, $4.00 BB (9 handed) - Full-Tilt Converter Tool from HandHistoryConverter.com

Hero (UTG+1) ($1104.80)
MP1 ($194)
MP2 ($1774.30)
MP3 ($484.30)
CO ($556.60)
Button ($1270.55)
SB ($732)
BB ($400)
UTG ($800)

Preflop: Hero is UTG+1 with 7d, 6d
1 fold, Hero raises to $16, MP1 calls $16, 3 folds, Button calls $16, 2 folds

Flop: ($54) 9d, 6s, 6c (3 players)
Hero bets $36, 1 fold, Button raises to $101, Hero calls $65

Turn: ($256) Kc (2 players)
Hero checks, Button bets $55, Hero raises to $196, Button calls $141

River: ($648) 6h (2 players)
Hero bets $344, Button calls $344

Total pot: $1336 | Rake: $3

Results:
Button had Qs, Kd (full house, sixes over Kings).
Hero had 7d, 6d (four of a kind, sixes).
Outcome: Hero won $1333

-------------------------------------------------------------

Full Tilt No-Limit Hold'em, $4.00 BB (8 handed) - Full-Tilt Converter Tool from HandHistoryConverter.com

MP2 ($152.50)
CO ($546.50)
Button ($819.50)
SB ($150)
BB ($315)
UTG+1 ($400)
Hero (MP1) ($1078.20)

Preflop: Hero is MP1 with Kc, Ad
1 fold, Hero raises to $20, 1 fold, CO raises to $60, 3 folds, Hero raises to $160, CO calls $100

Flop: ($326) Qh, 5s, Kd (2 players)
Hero bets $124, CO calls $124

Turn: ($574) 4h (2 players)
Hero bets $576, CO calls $260.50 (All-In)

River: ($1095) 6s (2 players, 1 all-in)

Total pot: $1095 | Rake: $3

Results:
Hero had Kc, Ad (one pair, Kings).
CO had 9s, 9d (one pair, nines).
Outcome: Hero won $1094

----------------------------------------------------

Full Tilt No-Limit Hold'em, $4.00 BB (7 handed) - Full-Tilt Converter Tool from HandHistoryConverter.com

Button ($272)
SB ($437.80)
BB ($477.15)
MP1 ($251.40)
MP2 ($435.10)
Hero (CO) ($495.15)

Preflop: Hero is CO with 10c, Js
1 fold, MP2 calls $4, Hero raises to $18, 2 folds, BB calls $14, MP2 calls $14

Flop: ($56) Qc, 8s, 2h (3 players)
BB bets $20, MP2 calls $20, Hero calls $20

Turn: ($116) 3s (3 players)
BB bets $20, MP2 calls $20, Hero calls $20

River: ($176) 9h (3 players)
BB bets $20, MP2 raises to $40, Hero raises to $437.15 (All-In), 1 fold, MP2 calls $337.10 (All-In)

Total pot: $950.20 | Rake: $3

Results:
MP2 had 9s, 10s (one pair, nines).
Hero had 10c, Js (straight, Queen high).
Outcome: Hero won $947.20

----------------------------------------------------

Full Tilt No-Limit Hold'em, $4.00 BB (6 handed) - Full-Tilt Converter Tool from HandHistoryConverter.com

Hero (CO) ($400)
Button ($268)
SB ($552.60)
BB ($808.80)
UTG ($903)
MP ($837)

Preflop: Hero is CO with Qd, Ah
UTG raises to $14, 1 fold, Hero calls $14, 1 fold, SB calls $12, 1 fold

Flop: ($46) 4d, 5s, 4h (3 players)
SB checks, UTG checks, Hero bets $32, SB calls $32, 1 fold

Turn: ($110) 4c (2 players)
SB checks, Hero checks

River: ($110) 4s (2 players)
SB checks, Hero bets $354 (All-In), SB calls $354

Total pot: $818 | Rake: $3

Results:
SB had 9d, 9c (four of a kind, fours).
Hero had Qd, Ah (four of a kind, fours).
Outcome: Hero won $815

Friday, February 13, 2009

final tally

-$315 for playing and finishing out of the money in FTOPS Event 9 (finished 321st)

BUT....

played 10,414 hands for a final total of....

+$5,655.55. A nice profit for 10 hours work imo. To fried right now to sort through hands for interesting ones. I'm going to eat breakfast, workout, and crash.

laters

someone from Portland OR tries to login to my account

Someone tried to login to my FTP account 7 times this morning at 2:14am. luckily they couldn't figure out my password and were unsuccessful. Obviously this is fairly disconcerting and I'm going email FTP security to make sure that I'm doing everything I can to insure the safety of my account.

back to the grind, but not happy about this crap obviously.

update

6,744 hands
+$2059.50

I made some pretty bad plays imo, some pretty good plays imo, and got brutally sucked out on in one spot. Overall a good start. Only 3,356 more to go.

Thursday, February 12, 2009

let grind night begin

goal: 10,000 hands over the next 16 hours of play (ending at noon tomorrow). That is about 8-9 hours of 16-tabling.

I'll update later with the progress. wish me luck. if you see me on the tables and say hi sorry if I don't respond as I often don't see chat and don't have time to respond when I do.

Wednesday, February 11, 2009

that was a miserable second half

at halftime I thought we were about 50/50 to win the game. Of course we needed to keep shooting well, and we needed to keep playing the kind of defense that had gotten us the lead. But I thought we had a solid chance.

I acually thought to myself that the worst thing that could happen was the halftime break that would kill our momentum and our focus. I've seen it happen too many times in the NCAA tourney when we get out to nice lead shooting well in the first half and then go into the lockerroom and go totally cold for the next 20.

But regardless I don't think we would have been able to hold off UNC tonight because Lawson played one of the best halves of basketball I've seen all season. In some respect his good half is partly for our over play on defense. It seemed apparent to me when he started driving every possession (at about the 12 minute mark in the half) that we needed to move into a zone or at least sluff off of him and force him to shoot 3 pointers. But we totally failed to adjust and continued to perpetuate the biggest criticism of coach K. He is so stubborn with his defensive style, and refuses to adjust regardless of the situation. I had hoped that his time with Boeheim on team USA would convice him at times he needs to play a zone and give up more 3s, but he just won't change. I love and respect him as a coach, and I wouldn't trade him for any coach in the game. But until we start getting the quality of recruits that we had during the early-mid part of Ks tenure we are going to struggle trying to run this system.

How does Zoubek not see more than 2 minutes of play time in the second half? And how do we play most of the game with both Thomas and McClure on the floor? I love both of those guys and appreciate their hustle and hard work, but neither one is an offensive threat, and when they are both out there it is like we are playing 3 against 5 on offense.

The scary thing is that this is starting to look more and more like Indiana post Knight's 3rd championship. We are struggling to recruit the caliber of athlete and player that will keep us in the upper echelon of teams, and I'm afraid that more and more players might be viewing Coach K as old and his methods of coaching and teaching young men as antiquated. The fact of the matter is that he refuses to bring people into his system that he doesn't think will fit. And that requires a dedication to the program, school, a requisite amount of discipline. You also have to have a willingness to put in the hard work that being a member of the Duke basketball team requires. I have a fairly unique perspective on this because I was a student athlete at Duke. I studied engineering while playing varsity baseball and managing a student owned company on campus. The requirements of my sport might have been a little less than the basketball players, but my off the field activities were much more difficult. I went whole semesters averaging no more than 4-5 hours of sleep a night, and at times it was absolute hell.

You tell me that big recruits with their eyes on the NBA are interested in that kind of college experience? Do you think the guys at UNC, Wake, Florida, Kentucky, Michigan State, UCLA, Texas, Oklahoma, UConn, Syracuse, etc would trade their significantly easier college experience for the what Duke and Coach K would demand of them? Because I simply don't think that most would. And I'm not even sure that most could cut it. If your post college plans don't include the NBA (guys like Scheyer, Paulus, McClure, Thomas, Zoubek) then Duke has a huge upside in that the education and experience is really invaluable. But most of the best players are looking to maximize their enjoyment of what is essentially the minor leagues of the NBA.

meh I'm tired of this post. I respect and love Coach K, and the job he does in teaching and coaching the players at Duke is outstanding. He is a great citizen and member of our school, and I'm proud to say that I root for his teams. I hope that he finds a way to mesh his demands of his players with the recruiting difficulties he's going to face in the future, but I have no doubt he won't compromise his principles. And that is the way it should be.

good game UNC, and I hope we get a chance to ruin Hansbrough's senior day like he ruined Redick's.

lotsa hands

1 outer ftw
(although in my defense most of the money went in when I was ahead)...

Full Tilt No-Limit Hold'em, $4.00 BB (9 handed) - Full-Tilt Converter Tool from HandHistoryConverter.com

Hero (SB) ($987.40)
BB ($680)
UTG ($848.70)
UTG+1 ($465.10)
MP1 ($1083)
MP2 ($464)
MP3 ($1496.30)
CO ($165)
Button ($858)

Preflop: Hero is SB with 4h, 4s
5 folds, CO calls $4, Button raises to $16, Hero calls $14, 1 fold, CO calls $12

Flop: ($52) 8s, 6h, 4d (3 players)
Hero bets $28, CO calls $28, Button raises to $112, Hero calls $84, 1 fold

Turn: ($304) 4c (2 players)
Hero checks, Button bets $225, Hero calls $225

River: ($754) 9s (2 players)
Hero checks, Button bets $505 (All-In), Hero calls $505

Total pot: $1764 | Rake: $3

Results:
Button had 6c, 6d (full house, sixes over fours).
Hero had 4h, 4s (four of a kind, fours).
Outcome: Hero won $1761


bluff that I like even though he makes a very nice hero call on the river imo. FWIW I'm never value betting worse on the river, and my turn and river betting hands are all straights, sets, and bluffs and I'm not sure that I shove the river with a set of 4s. considering I have the set or straight the vast majority of the time it is pretty much a hero call on the river for him. nice call though.

Full Tilt No-Limit Hold'em, $4.00 BB (9 handed) - Full-Tilt Converter Tool from HandHistoryConverter.com

SB ($476.50)
BB ($764)
UTG ($420)
UTG+1 ($596)
MP1 ($856.60)
MP2 ($504.20)
MP3 ($800)
Hero (CO) ($400)
Button ($843.90)

Preflop: Hero is CO with 9s, Ks
3 folds, MP2 raises to $12, 1 fold, Hero calls $12, 2 folds, BB calls $8

Flop: ($38) 9c, 4d, 7s (3 players)
BB checks, MP2 bets $32, Hero calls $32, 1 fold

Turn: ($102) 5c (2 players)
MP2 checks, Hero bets $88, MP2 calls $88

River: ($278) 3d (2 players)
MP2 checks, Hero bets $268 (All-In), MP2 calls $268

Total pot: $814 | Rake: $3

Results:
MP2 had 5h, 5d (three of a kind, fives).
Hero had 9s, Ks (one pair, nines).
Outcome: MP2 won $811


going 3rd level against a good reg. His hand on the river is always a bluff or a weak Q. I'm shoving because I think he folds most Qx and I don't want to give him a chance to bluff the river and put me in a really tough spot.

Full Tilt No-Limit Hold'em, $4.00 BB (7 handed) - Full-Tilt Converter Tool from HandHistoryConverter.com

SB ($464.20)
BB ($203.80)
UTG ($171.50)
MP1 ($605.30)
MP2 ($289.20)
Hero (CO) ($400)
Button ($400)

Preflop: Hero is CO with 9s, 9c
UTG raises to $8, 1 fold, MP2 calls $8, Hero calls $8, Button calls $8, 1 fold, BB calls $4

Flop: ($42) 5h, 5s, Qc (5 players)
BB checks, UTG checks, MP2 checks, Hero checks, Button bets $24, 3 folds, Hero raises to $68, Button raises to $122, Hero calls $54

Turn: ($286) Ks (2 players)
Hero checks, Button checks

River: ($286) 7d (2 players)
Hero bets $270 (All-In), 1 fold

Total pot: $286 | Rake: $3

Results:
Hero didn't show 9s, 9c (nothing).
Outcome: Hero won $283


this hand I was really pissed about. After he checks back the turn his hand is comprised solely of draws (that missed on the river) and Qx. so on the river I'm always going to check to him because he'll value bet the Qx and bluff the missed draws. But it is such an easy c/r for value and I think there is a decent chance he calls with the top of his range (like AQ and maybe KQ for example) since my line looks so full of it and I'm one of the laggier regs in these games. When I checked the river my first inclination was to c/r relatively small for value, and then I timed down and just didn't think he would call often enough to make it profitable so I chickened out. This was a big mistake and the river value check raise is the kind of play I need to be making to maximize my edge in these games.

Full Tilt No-Limit Hold'em, $4.00 BB (9 handed) - Full-Tilt Converter Tool from HandHistoryConverter.com

Button ($719.10)
SB ($521.95)
BB ($537.10)
UTG ($94)
Hero (UTG+1) ($536.70)
MP1 ($95.30)
MP2 ($447.50)
MP3 ($410.60)
CO ($404)

Preflop: Hero is UTG+1 with Ks, Kh
1 fold, Hero raises to $16, 1 fold, MP2 calls $16, 1 fold, CO calls $16, 1 fold, SB calls $14, 1 fold

Flop: ($68) 10c, Qs, 2d (4 players)
SB checks, Hero bets $48, MP2 calls $48, 2 folds

Turn: ($164) 10h (2 players)
Hero checks, MP2 checks

River: ($164) 6d (2 players)
Hero checks, MP2 bets $80, Hero calls $80

Total pot: $324 | Rake: $3

Results:
Hero had Ks, Kh (two pair, Kings and tens).
MP2 had Qd, Ad (two pair, Queens and tens).
Outcome: Hero won $321

that's all for now. leave me comments if you have questions on the hands or post one up in the comments section and I'll break it down in a blog post if it is really interesting.

later

jim

conan wine tasting

saw this best of clip on conan tonight. absolutely hilarious.

part 1


part 2

Tuesday, February 10, 2009

I blame Feist and Apple

Why is it that every company in their national ad campaigns now just has to have some tinny voiced folky pick-me up pop song behind a bunch of feel good images? Is this the only way to make a television advertisement? I mean haven't we worn this formula out? I just saw an advertisement by Lays talking about how wholesome their chips are with some folky love song in the background. lol, Lays...

I'm assume the impetus behind this trend is the companies' belief that they, by choosing music that would often be associated with indy artists, are successfully marketing their products as independent of the common ills of their industry or peers. Plus there is the added benefit of the songs being non-offensive so that they can appeal to diverse groups of consumers. Of course now that all of these companies have chosen this recipe they've worn away the cache of uniqueness that was originally associated with it.

anyway I'm sick of this trend.

/rant

'bout time imo

New move to legalise online gambling
By Roger Blitz in London


Published: February 4 2009 02:00 | Last updated: February 4 2009 02:00


A top US Democrat is launching an offensive to roll back legislation against online gambling passed under the Bush administration, saying the climate is ripe for Congress to unlock restraints that are "impinging" on the freedom of Americans.

Barney Frank, chairman of the House financial services committee, told the Financial Times he would reintroduce a bill in the next few weeks to establish a licensing and regulatory framework for online gambling operators.

Mr Frank said he also expected anti-gambling regulations, rushed through in the dying weeks of the Bush administration, to be included among the measures Congress will look to rescind.

A Democrat-led Congress and a more liberal political climate is persuading the Massachusetts congressman to make his twin-pronged assault on an issue that he said bore similarities to prohibition in the 1920s and 30s.

Congress passed the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act in 2006, which tightened the laws against online gambling, forcing the exodus of listed companies operating in the US. At the same time, the Department of Justice began to arrest executives of some of these companies at airports and put them in court.

Mr Frank said: "I expect an Obama DoJ to be less zealous about locking people up. These outrageous arrests in transit - they should be stopping that stuff."

The UIGEA regulations, which make it illegal for financial institutions to process online gambling transactions, became final on January 19, but do not need to be implemented until December.

Mr Frank said the prospects for his bill, which was discussed in the last session of Congress but never voted on, were greater because public opinion was demanding the right to gamble online.

hands of the day aka the value of checking back

I had just lost a large pot to this guy making a fairly loose call down with a flopped top two when he had flopped the nut flush. It certainly wasn't a great call, but I thought a quick 3bet might not get a lot of credit. When he 4-bets he's bluffing a decent amount of the time, we're flipping a decent amount of the time, and he has AK, AA, KK, QQ a decent amount of the time which have me crushed. If I get it in against his range I'm not doing great, but I can flat pf and outplay him on a lot of flops. It is a play I only used rarely, but in this case I felt that this villain would play very straight forward postflop and I'd know what to do. anway so here is the hand:

Full Tilt Poker Game #10543166780: Table Hollis (deep) - $2/$4 - No Limit Hold'em - 2:53:24 ET - 2009/02/10
Seat 1: Bunkbeds ($439)
Seat 2: cjm627 ($800)
Seat 3: TuCKeRo ($800)
Seat 4: RikaKazak ($437.50)
Seat 6: luckyboy7 ($680.80)
Seat 7: ilfantedefiori ($797)
Seat 8: themightyjim ($404)
Seat 9: PoorNapoleon ($1,381.80), is sitting out
Bunkbeds posts the small blind of $2
cjm627 posts the big blind of $4
The button is in seat #8
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to themightyjim [Qc As]
PoorNapoleon has returned
RikaKazak folds
luckyboy7 folds
ilfantedefiori raises to $14
themightyjim raises to $48
Bunkbeds folds
stoney1969 sits down
cjm627 has 15 seconds left to act
cjm627 adds $4
cjm627 folds
stoney1969 adds $200
ilfantedefiori raises to $120
themightyjim has 15 seconds left to act
themightyjim has requested TIME
themightyjim calls $72
*** FLOP *** [Ad 7d Tc]
ilfantedefiori checks
themightyjim has 15 seconds left to act
themightyjim checks
*** TURN *** [Ad 7d Tc] [2h]
ilfantedefiori checks
themightyjim bets $88
ilfantedefiori calls $88
*** RIVER *** [Ad 7d Tc 2h] [Td]
ilfantedefiori checks
themightyjim bets $196, and is all in
ilfantedefiori calls $196
*** SHOW DOWN ***
themightyjim shows [Qc As] two pair, Aces and Tens
ilfantedefiori mucks
themightyjim wins the pot ($811) with two pair, Aces and Tens
ilfantedefiori adds $7
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $814 | Rake $3
Board: [Ad 7d Tc 2h Td]
Seat 1: Bunkbeds (small blind) folded before the Flop
Seat 2: cjm627 (big blind) folded before the Flop
Seat 3: TuCKeRo is sitting out
Seat 4: RikaKazak didn't bet (folded)
Seat 6: luckyboy7 didn't bet (folded)
Seat 7: ilfantedefiori mucked [Jh Js] - two pair, Jacks and Tens
Seat 8: themightyjim (button) showed [Qc As] and won ($811) with two pair, Aces and Tens
Seat 9: PoorNapoleon is sitting out

Oh, and he snap-called the river which is LOL-bad.

after the hand he had these nice things to say about me:

ilfantedefiori: fakin retard
ilfantedefiori: go to hell donkey
ilfantedefiori: just DIE
themightyjim: lol
themightyjim: my moniez wanted to come home
ilfantedefiori: u're the worst idiot ever
themightyjim: you are too kind my friend
ilfantedefiori: shut the fak up

it's always nice when people are friendly at the tables. :)

Monday, February 9, 2009

good stuff

1. I make great coffee and enjoying a cup right after waking up at 3pm is nice.

2. I'm up almost 20 buy-ins so far this month, and I just want to thank the poker gods for blessing me with such fortuitous luck and run-goodness. I feel truely blessed and I owe it all to them.

3. Today is laundry day which is not only a cleansing of my clothes, but also of my apartment, and I'd like to think a renewing of the spirit. Having a clean hamper, closet, and floor of the bathroom/closet is like having a blank canvas in the apartment on which you fully experience living your life. I'm not an OCD person when it comes to cleaning, but I find that I think much better, find more peace of mind, and am much more efficient when the apartment is clean. It is just much more motivating to get work done and accomplish things when you look around your apartment and are proud of the space you live in.

4. Duke-UNC is only 48 hours away. After the last couple of games I have some trepidation going into the game. But GO TO HELL CAROLINA! GO TO HELL! anway...

5. I'm eating toasted cinnamon bread with butter. you wish you had some right now, don't you?

EDIT:

found a number six...

6.

mediocre movie, LOL quote

watching shopgirl with clair danes and steve martin. It's decent. I'm interested because it's late, I've played enough poker for the day, but I can't sleep.

Anyway Danes's character (Mirabelle) is having a conversation with another woman named Lisa(played by Bridgette Wilson-Sampras)about men who try to pick them up at their jobs as clerks at Saks 5th Ave in LA. Lisa is a bleached blonde Baywatch type, and previous scenes and current slow motion cuts are indicating that she is very LA, which is somewhat of the antithesis of Mirabelle. Anyway enough setup, here's the quote:

Lisa Cramer: You want some advice? You never call him. But if he calls you you talk to him, then act like you have another call, keep him on hold for a long time. Like longer than you think is passable.
And break dates. Always break dates. Right around the holidays cause then he's just stuck.
And fellatio. The sooner the better. And A LOT. Act like you love it. After he's addicted, cut him off. That's when you got him.

Mirabelle: Ya, I couldn't do all that.

Lisa Cramer: How come?

Mirabelle: I'm from Vermont.


nice. score one for sincere folk from vermont.

Saturday, February 7, 2009

comeback of the year imo

I would have given us a 5% chance of winning that game at the half. Great work by the boys to make a comeback. I don't like our chances on wed. though if we don't find a way to get more production from zoubek and smith. Both of them are vital to our chances.

also good for us that frank haith is a horrible game coach and let us get back into the game.

EDIT: realized after the fact that I never mentioned that I was talking about the Duke-Miami basketball game on saturday afternoon. I guess I just took it for granted that anyone reading would know.

OMFG

Watching some silly local broadcast show on green-living (a term I hate even though I respect the concept and related stuff). Some lady is teaching kids how to make crap out of cardboard refrigerator boxes, and claiming that this is teaching kids sustainability and environmentalism. Her logic (and this obviously paraphrasing) was something to the effect of "You need to have an imagination to make something out of a refrigerator box. And you need imagination to think of solutions to find alternatives to petroleum and plastic and stuff. So if you have the imagination to create something fun like a flower shop out of a box, then maybe you will be able to use that imagination to come up with solutions to energy problems."
.
.
.
.
.

WTF are you serious lady? So the reason we haven't found the solution to our energy problems is that we haven't been applying our imaginations? LOL. Yeah the solution to controllable nuclear fusion is just a few 6 year finger-paintings away. GTFO. I respect information on sustainability and alternative energy from real scientists and engineers that have spent years of their lives devoted to understanding this work. And I think there are a lot of basic every day things that people can do to reduce waste and energy consumption. And I support environmentalism, conservation, and efforts to create sustainability. But some person with little to no understanding of the economics and science behind our energy problems who is claiming that she is promoting sustainability by providing a bunch of cardboard boxes for kids to turn into pirate ships is just ridiculous. First off lady kids don't need you to tell them that they can turn a big box into a house. They've been doing it for decades. Second if you are going to do this at least use pre-used boxes that you got from a business or recycling center, not brand new boxes that haven't ever been used before. And finally if you are going to try and teach environmentalism as a part of this craft lesson at least know what sustainability actually is. And give the kids credit for not being total morons and actually explain the practical basics of it.

/rant

Also save by the bell just came on, and when I watch that show now it is hard to believe that anyone ever took an episode of it seriously. I can understand why people watch it, but to me it's like one big thinly veiled sarcastic joke about last 80s early 90s pop culture. I know when I was little I probably didn't think that, but when that show was on the air I was like 8 years old, and as far as I knew that was what high school was really like.

Mr. Belding is great btw.

somebody's reading...

So new people must be reading the blog because I'm getting considerably more hits in 2009 than I did in 2008. I'm sure updating every day is helping, and I'm sure some people came over from facebook, but regardless it is interesting to see people actually reading my musings. Feel free to drop me a line in the comments. Let me know who you are, or if you have any poker (or baseball) questions.

Also if you ever listen to podcasts you should definitely check out Two Jacks in the Hole. Just search with that title (or by the name of the co-host Scott Huff) on itunes and it will come right up. You can also check out the podcast on the poker road radio website (just google it). The hosts are guys that are involved in the entertainment industry in Hollywood and both previously hosted poker radio shows (form cardplayer to the current poker road), which is how I found them. I love the show because I find their sense of humor very much matches my own. I find their bits and converastions consistently hilarious, and often stuff that they say I've often thought myself.

There are a ton of archived shows on itunes and they are great to flip through if you are looking for something to listen to while you kill time at work or during a car ride, or they stream live every wednesday night and you can call in or chat online about the show while it's going down.

that's all I've got for now. going to go finish my coffee while I stare at this disaster of an apartment and decide whether or not I want to clean before the Duke game. Obviously I'm leaning towards not.

if it wasn't feb I might play 100k hands this month

So far I've played just under 20k, but with only 28 days in the month it seems unlikely that I would end up playing that many before the end of the month. I've never topped 100k hands in a month, and I think it would be somewhat of an accomplishment. That means I'd have to play around 100 hours, which to you non-online grinders doesn't sound like much playing time. But I can guarantee that 100 hours of poker in a month is much much more mentally taxing than the 180 hours or so I would work in a month at most (or my old) 9-5s. It requires much more stamina to grind 12-16 tables at once and have to constantly be making decisions, often that are fairly difficult and require serious analysis and consideration.

but that crap is boring so let's get on to something interesting. How about TV shows that have been good this year. So far Lost has stayed interesting, and the plot has picked up as we've finally stopped developing backstory and jumping in the timeline. They've replaced this with jumping around in time, but they are keeping on a series of plotlines for the main characters. This creates a much more satisfying hour of show because it's all meat and no filler. Granted the show is better for a lot of that back story and jumping around, but now that we are in the 5th(???) season it's time to really pick up the pace of the plot.

The Office has been hilarious as usual, all though I will say that the end to the Dwight-Angela-Andy love triangle was kind of unsatisfying. There is no way it would end that quickly or seem so peaceful days later in real life. But as typical with the office they don't worry about whether or not they wrap up old plotlines in realistic ways or in a reasonable timeline, they just get rid of them when they aren't as funny and move on to something else.

I've also become a huge fan of Big Bang Theory. If you are a nerd, dork, academic, or have a decent since of humor you'll probably love the show. Give it a shot. Most of the episodes can be found online if you scour those weird foreign sites, or you can just try to catch the reruns that they play every once in awhile. It's a monday night show which is nice for me since I typically don't have anything to watch on Mondays.

I've been meaning to watch the new season of scrubs, but I never watched the last season (I need to netflix the dvds) and I didn't want to start until I had finished the final season on NBC.

Also haven't seen any of Friday Night Lights this season, which is dissappointing because I've seen all of the first two seasons and it is maybe the best show on network television. If you aren't watching I highly recommend finding the old episodes and getting into it. The acting, camera work, writing are all extremely good. It's a realistic soap for guys that like sports.

that's all for me. It's late and I'm gonna try to eat and sleep. Wanted to go out tonight but noone seemed interested so I'm sitting the apt bored.

later

Friday, February 6, 2009

a;sldkfjadsflkj

just grinded 9k hands yesterday/this morning to make -$500. awesome. I've never folded so many sets on the river in my life. Every hand every draw hit on every river. gross.

this hand was the worst:

Full Tilt Poker Game #10464086904: Table Spruce Fern - $2/$4 - No Limit Hold'em - 5:44:35 ET - 2009/02/06
Seat 1: mob6kid ($154)
Seat 2: Pat Hand2u ($388)
Seat 3: 99to66goal ($396)
Seat 4: crazyhoops ($794.10)
Seat 5: rlatjsdo ($530.30)
Seat 6: origen22_cu ($942.20)
Seat 7: Iwinulosehaha ($400)
Seat 8: myulchee80 ($400)
Seat 9: themightyjim ($1,130.05)
99to66goal posts the small blind of $2
crazyhoops posts the big blind of $4
The button is in seat #2
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to themightyjim [6c 6d]
rlatjsdo has 15 seconds left to act
rlatjsdo folds
origen22_cu folds
Iwinulosehaha folds
myulchee80 folds
themightyjim raises to $14
mob6kid folds
Pat Hand2u folds
99to66goal folds
crazyhoops calls $10
*** FLOP *** [Qh 6s 4c]
crazyhoops bets $20
themightyjim has 15 seconds left to act
themightyjim raises to $60
crazyhoops calls $40
*** TURN *** [Qh 6s 4c] [5h]
crazyhoops bets $52
themightyjim has 15 seconds left to act
themightyjim raises to $196
crazyhoops has 15 seconds left to act
crazyhoops calls $144
*** RIVER *** [Qh 6s 4c 5h] [Ts]
crazyhoops bets $524.10, and is all in
themightyjim calls $524.10
*** SHOW DOWN ***
crazyhoops shows [Th Td] three of a kind, Tens
themightyjim mucks
crazyhoops wins the pot ($1,587.20) with three of a kind, Tens
themightyjim adds $64.05
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $1,590.20 | Rake $3
Board: [Qh 6s 4c 5h Ts]
Seat 1: mob6kid didn't bet (folded)
Seat 2: Pat Hand2u (button) didn't bet (folded)
Seat 3: 99to66goal (small blind) folded before the Flop
Seat 4: crazyhoops (big blind) showed [Th Td] and won ($1,587.20) with three of a kind, Tens
Seat 5: rlatjsdo didn't bet (folded)
Seat 6: origen22_cu didn't bet (folded)
Seat 7: Iwinulosehaha didn't bet (folded)
Seat 8: myulchee80 didn't bet (folded)
Seat 9: themightyjim mucked [6c 6d] - three of a kind, Sixes

great play my man.

anyway, losing a little is better than losing a lot. And I'm proud of my work ethic. But now it is time to eat, workout and sleep. Looking to go out tonight. If you read this blog and are going to be out in Boston let me know.

later

Thursday, February 5, 2009

crappy game results in me messing with my camera



pic of roofs across the street tonight.

and a bonus:




pic I took in Miami 2 weeks ago at sunset.

later

Wednesday, February 4, 2009

if I had a weaker stomach I would be puking right now

this is the worst performance I've ever seen from our team. Henderson is the only player who's having a marginally good game. Coach K looks like he wants to pull a Bob Knight. And not that it has been unfair (because it hasn't) but the ACC officials are terrible. They are terrible in almost every game, and for almost every team. That doesn't mean that I think we would be winning if we had different refs (because we wouldn't) but it does make it painful to watch as a fan of the game with these officials continue to butcher calls on both sides for 2 hours. They set themselves up to have to call the game poorly by making weird calls or no-calls early in the game. Then they either have to go against their precedent or continue to call the game in a ridiculous way the entire time. Plus there is no consensus among the crew. One official will call a jump ball in .3 of second, another will let them wrestle on the ground for 5 seconds before calling anything. One guy calls touch fouls on the perimeter, the other lets you hip check and shove guys as they go by.

And this true in every ACC game, not just Duke games. I watch a lot of the games and I understand why fans of other teams get upset. The officiating is just flat out bad. When I watch NBA games it is considerably better by comparison. Sure the NBA doesn't call traveling when guys are driving to the basket, and stars get the benefit of the doubt on some close calls, but the basic stuff is called correctly the vast majority of the time. Now it could be that NBA regular season games aren't played as frantically (and thus at times sloppily) as college games. And that could result in a game that cleaner, with less contact, and thus less close to call situations. But regardless it seems to me that I see consistently better officiating the majority of the time. I also think the Big East officials tend to be better, even though they used to allow more physical play (now the ACC refs allow just as much).

anyway enough of this rant. Wish I didn't have to sit through another half an hour of this abomination. I hope the guys on the team are embarassed. Because they should be. Just an absolute joke of a game on their part. If they aren't going to start showing up on the road this is going to be the second of a long string of ACC losses.

(imagine me making fake dry heaving sounds right now)

duke vs clemson vs FTOPS

This sucks. Duke vs. Clemson (huge game for the devils we really need to win this if we want to be in consideration for a #1 seed) starts at 9pm, the same time that event #1 of the FTOPS (full tilt online poker series) starts. Event #1 has a cheap buy-in ($215) and a $1million guaranteed prize pool. Plus going deep in the tourney would keep me motivated to grind for several hours tonight. But I'm just not sure that I'll be able to focus during the game, so I may have to sit this one out.

can't miss the game.

Also if you like ska music at all, check out Streetlight Manifesto. They are putting out the best ska albums these days. The band is made up of several former Catch-22 members, and they redid Keasby Nights as their first album and imo it's considerably better than the original (also a ska classic). Their latest album is sick and I highly recommend it.

The Blue Harvest episodes of Family Guy were just on, and I lol'd.

that is all.

















Go Devils.

Tuesday, February 3, 2009

hand of the day

people really want to bluff me on the river.

Full Tilt Poker Game #10419761353: Table Highridge - $2/$4 - No Limit Hold'em - 20:59:51 ET - 2009/02/03
Seat 2: eddrock101 ($531.40)
Seat 3: igordo111 ($108)
Seat 4: chopo71 ($554.10)
Seat 5: themightyjim ($768.50)
Seat 6: jfis22 ($394)
Seat 7: gtr789 ($80)
Seat 8: tss22 ($52)
Seat 9: Sylji ($88.50)
chopo71 posts the small blind of $2
themightyjim posts the big blind of $4
The button is in seat #3
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to themightyjim [Kh As]
Golusog adds $80
jfis22 has 15 seconds left to act
jfis22 raises to $15
gtr789 folds
tss22 folds
Sylji folds
eddrock101 folds
igordo111 folds
chopo71 folds
themightyjim raises to $48
jfis22 calls $33
*** FLOP *** [7s Js Kd]
themightyjim checks
jfis22 checks
*** TURN *** [7s Js Kd] [Ah]
themightyjim checks
jfis22 bets $40
themightyjim calls $40
*** RIVER *** [7s Js Kd Ah] [3h]
themightyjim checks
jfis22 has 15 seconds left to act
jfis22 bets $306, and is all in
themightyjim has 15 seconds left to act
themightyjim calls $306
*** SHOW DOWN ***
jfis22 shows [Th Td] a pair of Tens
themightyjim shows [Kh As] two pair, Aces and Kings
themightyjim wins the pot ($787) with two pair, Aces and Kings
jfis22 is sitting out
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $790 | Rake $3
Board: [7s Js Kd Ah 3h]
Seat 2: eddrock101 didn't bet (folded)
Seat 3: igordo111 (button) didn't bet (folded)
Seat 4: chopo71 (small blind) folded before the Flop
Seat 5: themightyjim (big blind) showed [Kh As] and won ($787) with two pair, Aces and Kings
Seat 6: jfis22 showed [Th Td] and lost with a pair of Tens
Seat 7: gtr789 didn't bet (folded)
Seat 8: tss22 didn't bet (folded)
Seat 9: Sylji didn't bet (folded)

fenway in the snow



I <3 the snow

random non-poker goals for 2009

1. learn spanish well enough that I could make some semblance of conversation with someone.

2. learn to play the harmonica (I know lol who wants to play the harominca amirite?).

3. visit my friends on the west coast.

4. improve or develop some photography skillz.

5. gain about 10lbs of muscle.

that's all for now. I may end up adding more later, but that's all I could think of this early (noon is early for me folks). Maybe my second cup of coffee will jostle some more from my brain.

Monday, February 2, 2009

still kickin'

I'm alive and still kicking. My long downswing/breakeven stretch might finally be over. After breaking even for two months and paying taxes (yay govt) I decided early last month to gring 16 tables of NL400 for the month to work on my game, get my confidence back, and improve the chances of booking a good month.

I think I accomplished all of the aforementioned goals as I had a 5 figure january, feel better about my game, and feel more confident when playing. I'm thinking about getting some coaching for my NL1000 6 max game because I think I have some leaks I need to plug there, and I've contacted DJ Sensei about it but we've both been traveling and haven't worked anything out yet.

in other news Duke basketball is looking real solid this year. I like our chances in the ACC reg season and tourney. I can't wait until we get another shot at Wake, and I think we match up fairly well against UNC. If we can get through the ACC reg season with only 3 losses I think we will at least tie for first place in the conference. So we shall see.

that's all for now, just wanted to post to see if anyone still read this thing, and to let folks know that I'm alive and not broke (or close to it).

later

tmj2k