I need a break from online poker. My game has gone to shit, I don’t enjoy it anymore, and I’ve lost too much of the money that I’ve made (haven’t put any more in, but it still sucks.) After losing these three hands in a row: JJ, flop a set, someone turns a gutshot straight after I bet (no free card), KK, capped preflop, beat by A6o (ace flopped), and then 42s, flopped 228, someone rivers a flush. Three hands in a row. I don’t believe online poker is rigged, but I just can’t deal with it anymore.

I was all set to play one last tournament, but I don’t even get to do that as Pacific fucked up and didn’t add me to the tournament.

I don’t think by any means that I’m never going to play online poker again, but I need to stop for a while, and I know the only way I’m going to be able to get myself to do that is to cash out. So I have, from all the online poker sites.

Maybe in a month I’ll put some money back in. I just need a break. Now I just have to figure out what to do with all the time this opens up.

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It’s been a while since I’ve written anything interesting. Okay, so I’ve never done that. It’s been a while since I’ve written anything at all, anyway. Sorry about that.

Experimental Film

Anyone who’s a fan of Homestar Runner or TMBG should go check out Experimental Film. It’s a video of a song from their new album.

Baseball

The NL East is pretty sick. The Mets are only a few games over .500, but are only a game out of first. Two teams are tied for first, and two teams are only one game out. They picked up a bat in Hidalgo a little while ago, but I still think they could use another one.

Poker

I haven’t written much about poker lately, because I hadn’t been playing all that much. I’ve been busy with other things a lot, and went on a really bad streak for a while (losing a lot at the cash games, and getting knocked out of sit and gos, always going in as a huge favorite in the hand). So, I stopped playing for a while (a week or so). I finally started again this week, and had good session playing 2/4 at Stars, +$222 in about three hours. I’ve since given around $60 of that back, but it’s still a good feeling.

Wednesday night, after seeing the PLO event from the WSOP on ESPN, I decided to give it a try. I played .10/.25 blinds for a few hours and finished ahead a little bit, but not much. I played again last night, .25/.50 blinds, and made almost $200 at it. I don’t really think I was playing all that well, I was just getting hit over the head with good cards, and people were missing their draws on me. I do think I was getting a better feel for what are good starting cards. I’ll definitely be playing it again.

Also Wednesday night was the first ever (in the US) live televised tournament final table. On the west coast, it was delayed three hours, and I didn’t end up watching it until later, anyway (I love Tivo). It was very well done, after a few problems and sound issues at the beginning. I really liked seeing all the hands, even the ones where everyone just folded to a preflop raise. I don’t know how it did, but I hope it got good ratings, because I want to see more of that.

Bowling

I had been bowling pretty badly lately, until this week. Well, last week my series wasn’t so good, but that was just because of the first game. My second and third games were good. The week before, I think I had a sub-500 series, which I really shouldn’t be doing. Anyway, this week, I threw a 199-191-244, for a 634 series. I was actually throwing it well, and found the pocket (but didn’t always strike) in 9 outta the 10 frames in both the second and third games. I finished off the 244 with 7 strikes in a row. Hopefully, I can keep it up.

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Poker

I finally had a relatively successful session playing at Chumash again. It’s been a while since I’ve finished positive there. I played in their Sunday morning $60 buyin $10k Guaranteed tournament, and didn’t make the money. Afterwards, I played 3/6 for about 4 hours and made almost $250. I felt like I was playing really well, and the deck was hitting me over the head with good cards. I would have rather gotten them in the tournament, but I’ll take what I can get. I never got aces, but I got KK twice, QQ three times (it lost once), JJ twice (lost once). The times these hands lost, I didn’t get married to them and lose a lot of money. I also pulled off one pretty massive suckout, but I don’t think I played the hand terribly wrong. I had Q9 on the button, and limped in. Flop came KQx, small blind bets out, a bunch of callers, and I call as well. Turn is a 9, giving me two pair, but when the small blind checks, and someone in MP bets, I’m sure he has TJ for the straight. I call. River is a Q, for my full house. This time, the small blind bets out again, the straight raises, and I three bet it. Small blind thinks for a while, and folds (he later said he had a queen), and the guy in MP caps it. This guy did slowplay aces earlier, so it’s possible he has KK (or KQ) for a higher full house, but for one more bet, I have to call. He shows me the TJ I thought he had, and I win a huge pot. I also made one laydown I’m pretty proud of myself for. I was dealt A♣Q♣ on the button. Someone in early position raises, a caller to me, I call, as do both blinds. The flop looks good for me, a T♣Q♥4♥. The small blind bets, the big blind raises, and it’s three-bet before it gets to me. Suddenly, my top pair, top kicker isn’t looking so good. I say “time” and think about it for a while. I don’t know much about the guy who made the three-bet, but the big blind had been playing lots of crap hands preflop, and betting them hard when they hit. It’s very possible she has Q4, QT, or T4, even to the preflop raise. If she has T4, I’m not in terrible shape, but if she has two pair with the Q, I’m drawing to two aces (not the A♥). Finally, I muck, and tell the dealer to look at my cards when I do. He does, and gives me a look like I’m crazy. The turn was a third heart, and the river a blank. Someone made their flush, but I was beat when I folded, as the big blind did have T4 for two pair. After the big blind turned over her cards, the dealer asked me when I was giving lessons. My response was when I could start winning consistently. Overall, I was very happy with my cards, and how I played.

Congratulations to Ben Affleck for winning the California State Poker Championship. I bet the World Poker Tour is kicking themselves for not making this one of their events. A celebrity at the final table would probably make for good TV. Even if it didn’t, it certainly would have brought in viewers.

Pepsi Edge

Pepsi recently came out with a new mid-calorie soda called Pepsi Edge, to compete with Coke’s new C2. It has 70 calories per can, instead of the 150 in a can of regular Pepsi. I stopped at Ralph’s yesterday morning to pick up a new pair of sunglasses for the poker tournament (yes, I’m serious), and to get some caffeine. The bottles of Pepsi has just been put in the fridge, and were still warm, but the Pepsi Edge was cold, so I bought a bottle. I’m sure if I had them back to back, I could tell the difference, but having just the Edge, it tasted like it was supposed to. It didn’t taste bad, anyway, and there was no aftertaste that I could find. I definitely recommend it if you’re looking to cut calories but can’t stand the taste of diet soda.

Idiots

Airliner lands at wrong airport. Enough said.

Baseball

The Mets have won four games in a row, and have pulled back up to .500. They’re only 2.5 games out of first, and picked up a bat (although not a great one) in Richard Hidalgo. Hopefully, he can somehow return to anywhere close to his 2000 season, when he hit 44 homers and batted .314 for the Astros. He did pretty well last year, too, with 28 homers and a .309 average. This year isn’t looking so good, though.

Congrats to Ken Griffey, Jr. for finally reaching the 500 homer mark. He picked a good day to do it, too, on father’s day with his dad in the ballpark.

My fantasy team is doing far far better than last year, currently in third place. Last week, I went up against the first place team, and won 7.5-4.5. That was nice, but I was this close to winning 9-3, which would have been much nicer. Anyway, my offense still sucks, but my pitching is incredible (Mulder, Glavine, Zambrano, Gagne, Smoltz, Izzy). I’ve been rotating catchers and shortstops in and out, and my first baseman and outfield aren’t producing like they should. Hopefully, they’ll pick it up.

Gmail

I’ve been using Gmail for a few days now, and it seems pretty cool. I still get all my mail sent to an account at my own domain, and can check it (and get it forwarded to my Treo) with POP3, but I also have it forwarding to my Gmail account now. I’ve found I like their webmail interface better than I like Evolution, which is what I had been using. I’ve basically been reading all my mail at Google now.

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I should really stop going to Chumash to play poker, and just stick to playing online. The past few times I’ve gone, I’ve lost a bunch of money at the casino, and then immediately won it back online when I got home.

The first place win in the tournament in my last entry (plus my ring game winnings while I was playing the tourney) made up for what I lost that night. I went Friday night, lost a bunch of money, then made it all back playing 2/4 at Stars. I played in a $60 NLHE tournament Sunday, where the top 50 of 140 paid, and failed to make the money. I went home and came in 6th of 230 at a $10+1 at Pacific poker, and made $130 (and got knocked out when my AK ran into AQ, all in preflop, Q on the river). Maybe it’s just a bad luck streak in person, or maybe I don’t play well when others can see me. I know when I bluff online I’m screaming at my computer screen for someone not to call. I don’t think I’m quite that obvious in person.

Last night I placed 4th in a PLHE $10+1 at UB, with 150 players. I hadn’t really played PL before, but the strategy isn’t too different. I put all my UB payout images here now. I also played in a $15+$1.50 at Pacific, but could only see one of my cards. It was the weirdest thing I’ve seen in a long time. Click on the image for a bigger version.

I had more to say, but I can’t remember any of it now.

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I just made the final table of a $5+.50 $500 added multi at UB. 549 people entered, and I was down to the last 9. (Normally, the final table is 10 players, but two went out the same hand just before it.)

Nine left. One guy, with barely anything left, goes all in, and gets beat. I’m the second stack at the table. All I have to do is not play with the chip leader. I IM’d my brother when it started and said… “no playing with the chip leader.”

Of course, just a few hands in, I forgot about that, and went out 8th. First place was $973.50. 8th place was just $48.67.

I was dealt KQ, and raised. He called. Flop QJ9. I bet, he raises. I think for a while, realize I should fold, and then push all in. He calls and turns over AQ, of course. It should have been an easy fold. I knew I was beat. AA, KK, AQ, KT, JJ, 99 beat me. He’d have called with all those hands except probably the KT. Also, QJ, Q9, J9 but those weren’t likely either. Anyway, a lot of hands beat me. If I folded, I’d still have had $70k in chips, with the blinds only $2000/$4000. I would have been just fine. Oh well, I guess that’s why I’m currently playing the cheap tournaments, to keep learning. Next time, I’ll be able to lay that down.

It just sucks to play for so long, do so well, and then fall so short. I guess 8th out of 549 ain’t bad.

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$10+1. 62 players.

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Doesn’t our government have better things to do?

U.S. seizes cash in online gambling crackdown

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I have been getting absolutely killed at the $10+1 sit and gos at UB lately, and I’m convinced it’s not just bad luck. The site must be rigged. I’ve just been playing really badly. I also went out of three straight $5+.50 with QQ vs AA, and then KK vs AA twice. The third time, I really had no choice, but the first two, I should have been able to lay it down. I absolutely knew the other person had AA, but pushed all-in anyway. I was really so close to making a good laydown of KK preflop, but just couldn’t get myself to do it. The QQ had a shortstack raise minimum preflop, I make a pot sized raise, and someone behind me flat calls. Flop is 883, short stack moves in, I call, guy behind me moves in. Here, I knew I should have folded. I was positive. I knew I was beat. I called anyway. I have to not do that. I did make the final table of a $5+.50 last week, but finished 9th for a whopping $25 payout when my AQ ran into AA (I was shortstacked, and all in before the AA had acted).

I decided yesterday that I wasn’t going to play poker last night. I went to my bowling league after work (shot 553, 184 average), and we took three out of four points. After league, I hung around the bowling alley, ate dinner, and then bowled a bunch more games there. I didn’t leave until around a quarter to one, so I figured I’d get home and go to sleep. I made the mistake of sitting down to check my e-mail, even though I get it sent to me on my Treo. Then, I was sitting in front of my computer, so I just had to try out Poker Office. That meant I was just starting my poker playing for the day, at Party, at almost 1am. While that was happening, I checked UB to see if there were any 1am tournaments. There was a $10+1. I figured I’d play in that for a half hour or so with the way my luck had been running lately, and then go to sleep.

90 people entered. I don’t think I even played a hand for the first 40 minutes. Most of the time during the tournament, I was one of the shortest stacks. I just wasn’t getting any hands. When I was, I was picking up just enough to hang around. One player limps, another makes a small raise, and I find QQ. I bet pot, not wanting any action, and pick up their chips. 6(!) players limp in, and I find JJ. I push in, pick up their chips. Just hanging around.

With around 15 people left, I find AKs in the big blind. A big stack makes a raise, I push in, and he pretty much has to call the rest of my money with his 76s. I double up. The previous hand, I had AKo, and mucked when UTG raised a good amount, and someone else pushed in. UTG called, and they had 33 and 55! I would have tripled up had I called, as an A hit the flop. Oh well. The whole time, I’m just picking up blinds once in a while, and not really doing much else.

I enter the final table as the third shortest stack, with only 7 or 8 big blinds. The second or third hand, UTG (shorter stack than me) pushes in and I find 99. I feel like I have no choice, and I push all in as well. A big stack in late position calls. UTG turns over JJ, late position turns over TT. Flop is 933, they get no help, and I almost triple up. From this point on, I got really aggressive and built my way up to be the chip leader with 5 remaining. Then, I try a blind steal with an 86o. I get called. Flop has an 8. I bet, call. Turn is a 6, putting three hearts on the board. I stupidly put all my chips in with two pair, and get called by the nut flush. I’m down to 5500 or so, with 600-1200 blinds. I push all in a few times, and don’t get called, get lucky with my ten hits with AT vs AJ, and build it back up to about 20k. It eventually gets heads up, and I lose when my AA goes up against KT that flopped a straight. I wish I could say my money got in while I had the best hand, or even a set of aces, but it went in on the QJ9 flop. Maybe I’ll learn for next time. All in all, it was a good tournament for me, and helped me recover my sit and go losses.

While I was playing that, I also made 33BB at 1/2 on Party. Also played a little bit at Pacific. I originally signed up for Pacific for a deposit bonus and so one of the poker bloggers, Iggy, I think, would get a little referral credit. The 1/2 game there seems pretty soft. I took the most insane hand I’ve ever won there. As with all insane hand stories, I was of course dealt Presto (55), on the button. I call, and the big blind raises, so I call that. The flop is 59T. I figure I’m good. The big blind bets out, I raise, he reraises, I cap. Turn and river are both blanks, and we do this the whole way. He reraises on the river, somehow expecting me to fold for one more bet with that huge pot. He shows J8o, for a missed open ended straight draw. Two people were calling the whole way in the middle with… well, with something less than three fives. I took down a $79.50 pot (39.75 BB!), for a $57.50 profit on one hand of 1/2. Like I said, the game there is pretty soft.

Damn, I’m fricken tired. Stupid poker.

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I’ve been meaning to write the rest of this up, but haven’t gotten around to it.

After seeing Dennis Miller, we headed to the Bellagio to try to play some poker. It was way too crowded, so we went back to the Mirage instead. The wait there would be a little shorter, and give us time to eat. According to Poker Journal, I finally got seated at around 1:30am. It would be yet another losing session, but could have been much worse. No really bad beat stories from this one. The first three times I got KK, and ace flopped (and I got away cheap). I won the fourth time. The fifth time, the board showed an 8 high straight, so I split the pot. One hand I lost (and I was beat the whole way) was interesting. I was dealt 9♦6♦ in the big blind. No raise, so I check. Flop comes K♦J♦x. I check, and call with my flush draw. Turn is the A♦. At this point, to beat me, someone needs either the Q♦ or T♦, and another diamond. I check, the woman to my left bets, it folds to me. I raise. She raises back, so I just call. River is a blank, and I bet out again. She raises me again, so I figure I’m beat, and just call. She turns over both cards needed to beat me, for the royal flush. It always feels good to checkraise a royal flush.

By 4am or so, I had bought in for my fourth hundred (one hundred at a time). This session wasn’t going well, but I don’t think I was really doing anything wrong. The table was good, and if I had been getting cards, I could have really made out well. The table finally broke, and we combined with another one. My luck finally started to turn around. Over the next 7 hours, I got pocket aces seven times, and it held up every single time. I got Q9o in the big blind, flop 9 high, turn 9, river 9, and I get raised on the end with three callers calling my reraise back (they all had a 7 to match the second highest card on the board). I had a bunch of other good hands, and finished the session only down $49 after having to buy in for $400. I was actually pretty happy with that.

At 11am, I headed back to the hotel to checkout, and then to the Bellagio to get some playing in there. I finally get a seat at a 4/8 table, where I promptly lost $150. Well, it took about four hours, and the one bad beat that I’ll talk about. I was, of course, dealt aces, under the gun. I raise, the big blind raises back, and we end up capping it with a whole bunch of callers. I figure the only way I’m going to win is to hit my ace. I do. Flop comes A♣, another club, and a rag. The big blind bets, and I raise. Too many callers. The turn is another club, but I bet out anyway. Again, too many callers, but no one raised me, so I figure I still have the best hand. The river, unfortunately, is another club. I check, and fold my set of aces to a bet. The winner turns over J8o, with the J♣, for no pair and no draw on the flop, and only third nut flush draw on the turn. He had called a preflop cap with J8o. The big blind, btw, had AK, and thought he was in good shape when the ace flopped. He stayed in until the river as well, and folded on the fourth club.

Normally, I would suck up the bad beat, tell the guy “nice hand”, and very much enjoy continuing to play with him. Unfortunately, he immediately stood up and left the table, which really pissed me off. It pissed me off until I found out he left because he thought his name was called for 8/16 when it actually wasn’t, and he seat was immediately taken by someone else, so he was left without a seat. I guess that was acceptable, but I still would have much rathered he was still sitting at my table (and I was getting cards).

At around 7, we left the Bellagio and started the drive back to California.

That’s it for my trip to Vegas. I wish there was something more interesting to say, but really, all I did was play poker. I have a lot to say about my online poker since, but that’ll have to wait until another time.

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I left work Friday, and headed straight for Vegas. Well, I stopped in LA first to pick up a friend, and then to Vegas. Just one quick stop for good and gas (cheap, at $2.45/gallon for premium!) on the way there. We showed up at around 12:30am, checked into our dump of a hotel (the Nevada Hotel and Casino; it’s worse than that picture looks, but cheap), and headed right across the street to the Golden Nugget for some poker. I wasn’t planning on spending much time in the hotel anyway.

Not much of interest happened during my first poker session (ever!) in Vegas. Playing 4/8, I wasn’t getting anything playable for a while, and was down around $90 when I hit a few hands in a row. Finished the session +$71. Some pros were playing at another table while I was there, and from what I heard it was up to $4000/$8000 by the time I left. My winnings don’t seem that impressive. Around 4am Saturday morning, I went to sleep, for 6 hours. That was the last sleep I would get until I was back in California.

Saturday, I played at the Mirage (3/6). Only one interesting hand to talk about here. I’m dealt KK UTG, raise, and get a few callers. Flop comes AQx, and for some reason, I bet. The button raises. I call, figuring if I hit, I’ll get paid off well. Well, I hit. Turn is a K, but puts three spades out there. I check and call. The river another Q, and I bet. A few callers, and the button raises. I raise back, people call in the middle, and the button calls. I show my kings, callers in the middle muck, and the button shows AQ. I probably shouldn’t have bet or called on the flop, but things worked out for me. I finished the session +$110, but it would unfortunately be my last winning session of the weekend.

We headed over to the Hilton to see the new Star Trek Experience (yeah, geek), and also saw Dennis Miller. The Star Trek thing was pretty cool, though the original one (which they still have there) was better than the new one. It used to be you pay once to see the first one as many times as you want during the day. Now, it’s one price to see both of them once. Dennis Miller was funny, though I don’t agree with most of his politics. He was surprisingly pro-Bush. The guy who opened for him was pretty good, too.

While waiting for the show, I played some 3/6 at the Circus Circus, down the street from the Hilton. They have a different game structure: only one big blind, no small blind. It didn’t really change things too much, but I played terribly while I was there. I think the smoke was getting to me. It didn’t help that I wasn’t hitting any cards at all. I was basically just folding everything and getting bored, and my eyes were bothering me from the smoke.

I was dealt the The Hammer! in early position, and raised. I don’t think I’d raised a hand yet, so I guess that scared a lot of people. I got only one caller (who had position on me). Flop was no help. Check, check. Turn was a 2! I could feel that I was going to win. I checked, and called a bet. River… 7! I bet, get called, and proudly turn over my 72o. It held up (the caller had KT, for second pair on the flop). Unfortunately, I never caught another hand, so showing down with that didn’t help me at all. Finished that session down… enough.

That’s all for now… the rest later. The WSOP main event is down to 30 (or less). You can get good updates at Gutshot, and watch an online simulcast of the final table tomorrow at Gutshot or PokerStars.

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