The Great Chillout - "Poker Face Remix"

Wednesday, November 26, 2008

Cougar Bait pulls off the Laettner

I play in a Monday night basketball league at Beverly Hills High School. Our team name is Cougar Bait and we entered the first round of the playoffs as the #1 seed with an 8-2 record. Our opponent was "Hoosier Daddy," a team that reminds me of Gonzaga, complete with their own Adam Morrison Jr.

My team's bread and butter is a guy named Charles Rochelin, who played at UCLA in a 1986 starting lineup with Jack Haley, Pooh Richardson, and Reggie Miller. He's unstoppable in the post. Some of our other guys played college ball as well but not at the Pac 10 level.

Fuck man I just wrote a long ass blog explaining our epic playoff win in great detail and somehow blogger deleted that shit. Fuck.

Basically we had a big game, tied up with 1.1 seconds left. I usually like to run this play:



However, we opted for the '92 Duke play and I threw the inbounds from the opposite baseline to our 6'5" small forward Ryan, who caught it and hit a turn-around double clutch three pointer as time expired. I was happy that my court-long pass even got to him, but his shot was twice as good as the pass. I'm pretty sure he was fouled as well but the refs didn't call it and he sank the shot.

Next we play Run N Gun for the championship. They beat us by 30 when we didn't have Charles and we beat them by 20 when we did have Charles. Should be a good game.

Tuesday, November 25, 2008

All night L



I'm working on zero hours of sleep and down $800. I really struggled to play well last night. For most of the night I was battling right around being even or trying to get to even and up above even at times but then it all unraveled when a guy caught his flush on me.

I also made two of the worst calls of my life. I'm really disappointed in my play, performance and obviously the outcome of the session.

I'm going to take the rest of the week off and give it another shot when I get back from Thanksgiving (Seattle).

Anyways I called a guy with my aces when he hit a one-card straight on the river and bet at me... then another guy I doubled up with my kings when he reraised all-in on a flop of 6-7-8 and he was one of the tightest players at the table.

I really donk'd it up. And to top it off now I'm sitting here with my head leaning to the side and I'm tired as fuck.

Monday, November 24, 2008

The Streak Ends

I got greedy.

Last week I won Sunday through Thursday every day and went back Friday after work before hanging out with my girl. I played pretty tight and secured the $230 win in about two hours.

So I kicked it with my girl and left her house at 6 a.m. Originally I planned to go home, do some laundry, and then hit Hollywood Park for a session and an attempt to capture the rare seven-for-seven week, which is pretty much like hitting for the cycle in baseball.

But instead of staying due west on the 10 freeway, I made a sudden turn onto the 5 south onramp, leading me straight to Commerce Casino.



Bad move.

I got to Commerce and they had three or four $200 NL games running. I sat at one and was waiting for my big blind to start playing when this guy paid someone off with the worst hand ever. He basically had Q-8 offsuit on a board of 5-6-8-10-J and three diamonds and bluffed all-in on the river. Once I saw this, I decided to post just to get in the action and was dealt 5-3 my first hand (already in for the bb). Everyone limped and the flop is 2-4-5. I bet $20, everyone folds to the Q-8 guy and he goes all-in. The pot at this point was like $40. I'm thinking wtf? So I call and he shows KK and I miss the straight. After that I went on to lose $900 in the session. My next buy-in I went all-in preflop with JJ when a guy raised to $25 and the whole table called him so I shoved on the button for $150 only to get four callers and end up with the fourth best hand. AK flopped a K, 6c8c flopped a flush, KQ flopped a king, and Ac4h was the only hand I could beat. My last buy-in I raised with TT, got one caller who I put on a mid pair, flop comes 2-2-3, he checks, I bet $40 to look weak, he shoves, I call, he shows 99 and turns a 9. Like a guy told me, it just wasn't my day.

Unfortunately I could have avoided all of that if I had just stayed on the 10 west.

I went to Hollywood Park later that day and again got incredibly unlucky getting my set hit by a gut-shot and my two pair counterfeited. Also flopping trips with a higher kicker only to get felted when the other guy turned his full house. Luckily in this session I only lost $200 and left.

So overall for the weekend I went +230, -900, -200.

After last week's winnings, paying off some bills, and the loan check, my bankroll is now at $4300. I'm going to put $900 aside for some other expenses and that will leave me at $3400 going into tonight's session.

4years.

Friday, November 21, 2008

Here we go



The irony is that last week I applied for this loan on a Thursday. On Friday when it was being processed, I was pretty broke.

A couple friends paid me back over the weekend and I started playing again on Sunday. I won Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday and actually made more money than this check is worth.

So the bankroll is even better than expected.

I hate to say this but I think it's really the mindset of winning that helps. I've made some terrible (terrible) plays and laydowns in the past week but I've continued to win.

Then again I'm probably just a luckbox.

Anyways I went last night and the 200 was packed so I played the 400 and made 900 in 2.5 hours and went home to get some sleep.

There's a hand that I'd love to talk about but I'm too lazy to bring it up.

Tonight I'm hoping to go out with my girl and a friend and his girl, just have a good time. But not after I hit the casino first to earn a buck or two. Other than that this weekend I'm getting started on this latest poker mission and hopefully I'll get off the tables for some exercise.

Have a good weekend and good luck.

4years.

Blogroll



I'm gonna put up a blogroll on the right sidebar today. If there's anyone that reads this who has a blog that I don't know about, I'd be happy to put your link up if you want. I also realize there's only about five people who read this.

Peace.

Thursday, November 20, 2008

Last night four wins in a row (Sun-Weds)



[10:26] Me: wussup
[10:26] VN: sup man
[10:27] VN: you leave on the positive side?
[10:27] Me: yeah up 600
[10:28] Me: should have been like 2000 but whatever, I never really got any hands
[10:28] VN: damn nice.
[10:29] VN: what happened that one hand?
[10:29] VN: he got you sweating lol
[10:30] Me: the one he was talking about?
[10:31] VN: yeah
[10:31] VN: where you had to show cause that one dude was all-in
[10:31] VN: what was the hand...
[10:31] Me: no i didn't have to show
[10:31] Me: i just showed to show
[10:33] Me: I had Q9 flop was KTJ two spades I check, seat four bets 25, seat five makes it 50, I make it 120, seat four calls, seat five goes all-in for like 100. Turn is a jack I come out and bet 200, seat four goes all-in for 550 and says he had me the whole time. I originally put him on KJ or TJ or KT but at that point I put him on AQ and folded Q9 face up and he ends up having KQ
[10:35] VN: river was a blank?
[10:36] VN: that was a big pot, i would of call cause i put too much money in the pot already.
[10:36] VN: you should of ponder a bit longer. i'm sure you would of call if you thought it thru.
[10:37] VN: that's not too bad of a laydown though if he's gonna make it 550.
[10:38] Me: Yeah river blank
[10:39] Me: maybe
[10:39] Me: I'm not mad at the laydown although I put him on QJ
[10:39] Me: the worse hand I could put him on was QJ
[10:40] Me: so I figured if that's the WORSE hand I put him on, then he could easily have AQ, KJ, TJ, TT
[10:40] Me: I just gave him too much credit but oh well
[10:40] VN: yeah it's all good.
[10:40] Me: I wasn't mad at my lay down at all, obviously would have been nice to make the call though
[10:40] VN: as long as you came up
[10:41] VN: i made some good bluffs yesterday lol
[10:43] VN: what did you have that one hand
[10:43] VN: when the 10 hit on the turn.
[10:43] VN: the black dude came out and bet $50 and you made it $100 on the turn.
[10:43] VN: bluff?
[10:45] Me: damn I don't remember at all
[10:45] VN: haha alright.
[10:46] VN: i dont think you had anything lol
[10:46] Me: Oh no
[10:46] Me: I had QT
[10:46] Me: second ten on the turn right?
[10:46] VN: yeah
[10:46] Me: yeah I had QT, I only called him because I thought he was betting the button
[10:46] Me: man that guy left with 2600
[10:46] VN: damn
[10:46] VN: he's wreckless
[10:47] VN: he didnt have anything he was stabbing the whole way.

Nightly notes: Was seated at the same time as the wild Jamaican that I played with the other night and he gave $1500 to the table. I probably got about $300 off of him and he completely gave a guy $600 on one hand...lost our basketball game by three points after I made about four three's in our comeback effort and then missed two three's in the final 10 seconds.
4years

Wednesday, November 19, 2008

Polynice gets pillaged pt. 2



In last week's episode of "Polynice gets pillaged"...
So the very next hand (rebought for $300) I pick up K-10 of diamonds and I'm ready for a repeat performance. Only everyone limps in and then he switches modes and calls the $5. Dammit. Flop comes 10 high and he bets $30 from the blind. I raise to $60 and he calls. Turn is a 10 and he checks, I bet another $60 and he calls. River is a 9, putting a straight on the board and he goes all-in. Fuck! I call and he shows 10-5 and my kicker is good so I'm back in action.

After that double up, I'm now at $600 and in for $800. The all-in guy (we'll call him Jamaican) is fine with it because he likes me (he doesn't like everyone at the table because he thinks they're playing to tight and waiting for aces or kings to go all-in with him) due to the fact that I'm 'gambling' with him. We're dapping each other up and shit after hands, he's telling other people to die slow and burn in hell, I'm in a good spot here.

Before the next hand started a guy sat down and we warned him about the table. He was happy to hear that someone was going all-in blind every hand and sure enough, the first hand Jamaican goes all-in blind and the new guy snap calls him. The flop comes all low cards and the new guy says "ace high" and shows Ace King. Jamaican hasn't seen his cards and turns over one card... a deuce. No two on board and he's sitting with deuce high right now. Second card is... a seven for a pair. First hand and Jamaican felts the new guy with 2-7 offsuit.

New guy immediately is on tilt and at the same time acting like he's too good for our table but refuses to leave because of the situation. At this point a huge black guy sits down that turns out to be Olden Polynice (I didn't realize this until we finished playing). Everyone lets him know what he's getting himself into (no one knew who he was) and he nods his head. Very first hand that Polynice is in he goes all-in blind too with the Jamaican and loses to the Jamaican. I don't remember what they had but Jamaican is starting to catch a rush at this point.

Next hand, Jamaican: all-in. New guy: all-in. Polynice: all-in. Board comes rags. New guy shows A-7 for ace high. Polynice: A-7 for ace high. Jamaican: 8-3 for a pair of three's.

Next hand I get TT in middle position. Polynice is before me and he raises to $100 (rebought for $300). New guy has already stated he's going all-in blind (severely tilting) for his last $70. Mike (gambler's anonymous dude on my left) is telling me under his breath that he has AK. Lol. So I know Mike is gonna raise it up over $100. I have a feeling that Polynice has AQ or AK so I just go all-in. This obviously pisses Mike off but he folds quickly and I'm up against Polynice, who has AK. He flops a king and I river a 10.

I got Polynice on another one when I flopped a set of 3's on the first limped pot since he showed up. Some other guy named Charlie (he'll definitely come up again in some other session) pushed all-in over my re-raise because he never believes me and with Polynice's all-in, I now had $1700 in front of me after rebuying about 30-45 minutes earlier.

The new guy left after losing about $1k in an hour, Jamaican left with over $1500 (so golden) after buying in about four times, Charlie left broke and our table was over (830 a.m.).

Went back yesterday afternoon at 4 p.m. and won $650 by 830 p.m. I have basketball playoffs tonight and then I'm heading back.

Gotta strike while the iron's hot.

Oh yeah I forgot I showed Mike my Hollywood Park player ratings blog from my black berry and he loved it. There were two guys at our table that were actually on the blog so it was good comedy because one of them did exactly what I said he was prone to doing on the blog.

I should also note that Mike left with about $1200 off of his initial $40 buy-in for the night and was very grateful that I made him stay when the table was dead.. NH sir.

4years!

Polynice gets pillaged pt. 1



I played a couple sessions since my last post and was saved by a drunk chick teasing me with her titties, a Jamaican dude going all-in blind every hand and Olden Polynice showing up at the right time and immediately tilting.

Anyways I went up to HP and was seated by the floorman Rick, who always reminds me that I'm his "brother," because we're just cool like that. Plus I tip him well. He sits me down at this table where there is a bunch of I don't remembers and a chick with a shirt that is unbuttoned to her navel. She's drinking and the view is just amazing. I've actually played with her once at Commerce and seen her around a few times. I know she likes to drink, knows the game, but unravels and bleeds her chips off. So I was happy to see her for numerous reasons. I was sitting in seat 1 and she was in seat 5 so the angle was just perfect. However, her mom was sitting behind her.

Yeah I know, "what the fuck" crossed my mind several times as well.

In addition to her, there were two other donks. The problem was my boy was constantly texting me and telling me that I had to get to his table because the entire table was weak. So I ask for the table change reluctantly and headed over there as soon as a seat opened.

The players were so bad that by the time I got there, none of them had chips left and the timing just sucked. I played the table for about two hours and made like $33 before I requested to be switched back to my original table. This took a long time because my table had become short handed and they wouldn't let me leave the game until it filled up.

Finally got moved to the table and it turned out that by the time I got there, she was really the only donk. Well, this guy I know who is extra nice to me and thinks I'm some kind of millionaire pro (who plays the 2/5 lol) and always asks me for advice was there and he's terrible but I didn't really go after him. The guy hadn't been to Hollywood Park for eight months and is enrolled in Gambler's Anonymous so he showed up with $40 to play the $40. He made $200 and took it to the $200. When I got to the table he had $800 in front so I can't say that I wasn't thinking about that too.

I just realized this is gonna get really long if I talk about the whole night in detail.

At a certain point my boy was kind of waiting around for me to leave and I was considering it (up like $100 on the night) but the thought of getting all the girl's chips kept me at the casino and my boy took off.

Somehow she built her stack up and I finally got in a hand with her. I have 77 and make it $25. She's on my direct right. Everyone folds to her and she calls. Flop: A-5-7. She checks and I don't put her on an ace, so I check. Turn: 7. Shit. I wanted her to catch a card but instead I caught a fucking hail mary when I already had the lead. Luckily, she comes out betting $60. I call.

Turn is the jack of diamonds, which puts out a flush and I know she doesn't have the flush so I'm worried she thinks I have a flush and she checks to me. I'm trying to figure out how much to bet and I just make it $60. She calls with A-5. Fuck! I could have had her whole stack on the flop.

The rest of the night she is whispering to me how much she appreciates that I didn't put her all-in with my quads. I'm thinking well if I knew your ass flopped two pair I would have put you all-in with the quickness biatch but I had no idea you even had an ace. My bad.

I also lost my stack with aces: I raise pre-flop and the small blind asks me if he calls will I check it down. I say no, he flops his set of 333 and I double him up. Next hand I double some other fool up when I call his all-in with AK and he flops a set of 666, leaving me drawing dead on the flop.

Now I'm in for $500 and our game is dying a slow death. We're down to five people when my guy Mike (the Gambler's Anonymous dude) has only $200 left and says he's gonna call it a night. I told him if he leaves he'll kill the game so he stays.

The table spends the next 45 minutes stealing each other's blinds for about 45 minutes when a Jamaican dude shows up and starts raising every single hand. We've been so dead that everyone is folding to him and he says "You don't want to gamble with me? Okay then fuck you! I'm all-in blind!"

That's what I'm talking about!

So he goes all-in blind and wins his first hand with some bullshit against A-10 that called him. The next hand he goes all-in blind again and loses his stack to the same guy that just lost to him.

I pick up QJ and I call his all-in on the next hand for $300 and he flops a straight with 5-7 and I'm drawing dead. Chips!

I can't be mad at him though so I give him the fist/pound and tell him "You know I'll gamble with you man," and he likes the fact that I called him with QJ...and that he won.

So the very next hand (rebought for $300) I pick up K-10 of diamonds and I'm ready for a repeat performance. Only everyone limps in and then he switches modes and calls the $5. Dammit. Flop comes 10 high and he bets $30 from the blind. I raise to $60 and he calls. Turn is a 10 and he checks, I bet another $60 and he calls. River is a 9, putting a straight on the board and he goes all-in. Fuck! I call and he shows 10-5 and my kicker is good so I'm back in action.

This is too long, I'll do part 2 in a minute.

Monday, November 17, 2008

Poll on the right

It definitely seems that the majority feels the 401k loan was a bad move, which is understandable. I've added a poll on the right that you can vote on if you choose to and let me know how dumb I really am for doing this.

Thursday, November 13, 2008

My second life as a poker player



One of the things that I'm "good" at is poker. Unfortunately, I'm not great. Although I have had my great moments, I've also had my shitty ones that have hurt me just as much as the great moments have helped me.

Overall I'm a winning player. The problem is my bankroll management is shitty. Not good shitty but shitty shitty. I have about 100 shoe boxes in my big ass closet that prove just how shitty my bankroll management is in poker. Win $500 in poker? Great, let's go to Nike Town! Fail.

So no matter how much I win in poker, I'm never sitting on a comfortable bankroll because I always spend the money somewhere. It might be a trip to NY, a shoe store, paying back people and or bills, or even the strip club. The point is, once I win some money, I feel the need to get rid of it.

So I was on a bit of a hot streak and then I moved. From one lousy apartment to a nice apartment with a new roommate who was a great improvement over my old one. In fact my old roomie was so dirty that I didn't want to take any of the dishes I owned with me, nor much of the furniture. This meant spending a lot of cheese at Ikea, Ross, and other such stores (Target, etc.).

Goodbye, bankroll. Hello Best Buy credit card. That's another story for another day though.

Anyways a while back I took a small loan out against my 401k plan. Seemed solid, borrowed $500 from myself and the interest goes to myself as well. That was good. Then I wanted to take another loan out but couldn't because my first loan hadn't been paid back in full.

Well good glory the day has arrived. This time I'm taking out a loan for nearly $3k to use as my bankroll. No if's and's or but's about it. This will be my bankroll for the $200 games here in L.A.

If I lose it, then poker wasn't meant for me. If I win, I'm not spending the money on anything else.

Here are the details for your viewing pleasures:



I've already told a couple co-workers about it. One of them laughed at the idea that I was using my 401k loan for my poker bankroll. It could be a great joke by me or it could be a life changing loan. We'll see.

The biggest obstacle that I'm facing is my girl. She hates when I spend more time playing poker than I do with her. I've argued a lot with her about it but today I finally came to the conclusion that I have to keep her happy and play my poker.

I have absolutely no fucking clue how I will accomplish that but I'll try. This basically means wee hour excursions to the casino to play my cards uninterrupted. Fake basketball missions to earn a buck flopping a flush.

I'll let you know when this plan takes place as the loan hasn't been processed yet.

4years.

To Whom It Concerns

I never really understood that "To Whom It Concerns..." but it works in many cases, especially this one.

It's the return of the blog star. More like the return of the writer who has nowhere else to write besides a blog, which is now anonymous due to different reasons in life... specifically a relationship and nosey counterparts. Although it's not really fair to call people nosey if I'm putting business out there in the open on the nets.

That brings me to my favorite phrase of all-time: It is what it is.

The best part about this blog is at the time I'm writing this (3:34 p.m. pst 11/13/08), I have exactly no readers. So "to whom it concerns," is a bit concerning to me only, because there's really no one that will read this unless people go back in archives after somehow stumbling upon this whole thing.

So I'll introduce myself as a jack of all trades who is the king of no trades. All my life I've been good at nearly everything I do, but great at nothing. It's actually quite a shitty problem to have on my hands. Not sure what to do about it but I guess it's better than sucking at everything and still not being great at anything. But if I had a kid, I would tell him/her to learn what they love to do and put 100% focus into that so you can become the best at it. No one gives a shit if you average 15 points in high school, had a 3.6 gpa or a .333 batting average. People want someone who is the best. So while it might sound good to be well-rounded, it might make more sense to just leave everything else alone and concentrate on one thing.

I really have no clue what the hell I'm talking about.

And that's the beauty of it.

4years.