Having a good week...

There's a bunch of things that have happened in the past week that have been good, including 5/6 winning sessions. Shout out to my boys that kept the positive vibes going (Drew, Viet).

Also went out Monday night and had a good time. Got my favorite phone call "P is in town, we're goin out" and after that it was a wrap but I did spend the night next to the toilet throwing up throughout the morning.

I have noticed that the games at Hollywood Park are literally dying. It seems like they lose a table every month in their poker room. I'm guessing it's a combination of fish running out of money and players moving to other casinos where the service, staff, and games are better. For some reason Hollywood Park doesn't provide better service or food, they just bank on their prime location to keep them running but it's going to end soon if they don't make a change.

I did run horrendous in NFL picks. It was bound to happen. The last three weeks my buddies have asked me which games I liked in the NFL so I gave them my picks and was 16-0 over three weeks. So I decided it was time for me to start capitalizing on this and of course I go 1-5 in my picks. Brilliant!

Also saw a couple movies, Paranormal Activity, which I enjoyed a lot and Where the Wild Things Are, which I thought was so-so and somewhat disappointed with it.

The inside scoop is that if Ivey doubles up at the final table, he's gonna win it.

No Posts = Running Bad

Let's face it -- I'm a fair-weather blogger. I hate to come on here and tell y'all how bad I'm doing.

Basically I've made several mistakes in my young poker career and I'm not ashamed to say that I've made them, but I'm happy to say that I'm learning from them and growing from them (hopefully).

Let me outline some of the mistakes that I've made:

4. Went to the World Series under bankrolled and entered a few small buy-in events. While I was out there, I gambled on craps, sports and black jack. I probably broke even in these side games because I had a monster day in black jack and craps, but it changed my mentality. I was there for the month of June and stayed in the Bellagio, where they have conveniently placed the craps tables close to the guest elevators. I'm also not a tournament player but I played the first $1k buy-in event and busted on the bubble, which gave me some optimism for the upcoming tournaments, none of which I did any better in. Vegas crushed my bankroll and I was lucky to come back to L.A. and rebound quickly in the cash games in July.

3. Too much traveling at the wrong time. In August, right in the middle of my hot streak in the L.A. cash games, I went to Hawaii and then Seattle for over two weeks. There's nothing wrong with traveling, but in hindsight I would have much rather stayed in L.A. and continued to build my bankroll. That being said, I did manage to somehow make money in Hawaii when I won a small online tournament and another $1k at an Indian Reservation casino near Seattle. However, the problem with the traveling was it completely took me out of my 'grinder' mindset. When I returned to L.A., I still felt like I was on vacation. I took a few extra days off and never really settled back into a good routine in regards to poker.

2. Spending too much money. A lot of my good friends always tease me about my horrible spending habits. If there's a new pair of Jordans, I buy them. If we go to the strip club, I spend a lot. If I go out to the club, I spend a lot on drinks and bottles. When I'm running hot, it's great and no problem. But when I'm running bad and I'm looking at all these shoes that I never wear, I feel like a moron, which I am.


1. Bad prioritizing. I'm gonna be honest here - too much time with girls. If I'm not on a date one night, I'm going out the next night to check girls out. That means $ on drinks, then if I meet a girl, $ on dates. I've gotten (more) out of shape and lazier since I quit my job, which is the exact opposite of what I told myself I would do. I figured once I quit my job I would have much more time for exercising and the gym, but instead my attitude has become way too relaxed towards my own health.

And after all those mistakes it really hurt to run bad for the last month+. I would say I had two winning sessions out of about 15 at one point and also made several mistakes of my own.

The good thing is that I have time to make a change and improve on this. I have the right people around me as far as friends and family and I have plenty of opportunities to make it happen.

I'm thinking about (and probably will) working as a prop player for a few days a week (six hour shifts) to keep a consistent paycheck coming that will pay my bills. I definitely need to see if it's worth it because I would be playing a smaller game ($100-200 buy-in, $2/3 blinds) and making $24/hr. The people I've talked to think it's accurate to assume that at best I would make $25/hr. in a game that small. If that's accurate, I would be fine doing that for a while and playing my regular game at night. However, that's saying at BEST I'd be making $25/hr. + $24/hr. But it will definitely be a learning experience on this poker trail to see the inner-workings of a poker room.

I hope everyone is doing well. I'll try and post more often.

4 years...

Sour Update

Sorry for the lack of updates for anyone that cares, especially my dude Drew. Appreciate the support and following from everyone.

ANYWAYS...

Let's catch up. So I started that challenge last time I was posting, I don't remember what it was but I failed miserably. I believe after my last post I had a horrible day at Hollywood Park.

I decided to take a couple days off before the live tournaments started at Commerce. I was going to take a shot at their $500k guaranteed tournament. It was an interesting tournament for $220. It wasn't a "rebuy" tournament but you had the option to buy into all three day one's if you wanted. And that's what i did, wasting all $660. The first day I was on a roll until I got aces cracked twice in ten minutes and then got my tens beat by a flush draw when we went all-in on the flop. The shitty part was that it was the same guy.. all three times.. all three times with suited connectors or gappers.

The second day I went pretty deep, and was about 190th (about 1300 I believe started that day) before I busted out. 127 make the money. Ugh.

The third day was the day of the USC/Ohio State game and I had no business playing that day because I was unfocused and really didn't care if I busted out because I wanted to go watch the game. So I busted out in the second level with some reckless/careless play.

The good thing was that Commerce has the "$400" game, where the min/max buy-in is $400. As of last month, Commerce is now the only casino in L.A. that still has the $400 game and this is the game where I really made a lot of my money. So it was nice to play that cash game again and I made a couple thousand or so in two days. I didn't play cash games the third day.

After that, it was downhill. I think I took three or four L's in a row at Hollywood Park.

Now I'm back in Seattle for some family matters.

I plan to post more often when I get back to L.A., making some revisions to my life and that includes posting on here more often whether it's related to poker or not.

Hope everyone's luck is better than mine right now.

peace.. 4 years. stay focused.

I'm in the Fail Lane

Yesterday I started off at the no-cap game and it was a terrible game. I lost $500.

I moved to the $3-500 game and grinded my way up about $5/600 when the action started picking up. I won a few good hands and before I knew it, I was up over $1200 at the table, which put me up over $700 for the day and would have got me on pace for my challenge.

Did I leave?

No.

With good reason. Two donkeys showed up to my table and the action picked up a lot. Then the following hand occurred*:

I have AA in the small blind. Super donk in early position makes it $15 ($400 behind). Two callers, then the button makes it $55 ($500 behind). I raise to $170. The original donk-raiser says "Well, this is my favorite hand," and moves all-in. Everyone folds to me and I call. The flop comes Q-T-4 rainbow. Turn 4, river x and the guy turns over 4-7 off-suit.

Not much later I raise with AK and the donk, who's stack has dwindled to about $200, moves all-in on me. Everyone folds and I call. I miss everything and he turns over 5-6 offsuit for a pair of fives on the turn.

Not much later after that I pick up Q-2 of hearts in the big blind. The donk makes it $30 and gets one caller (another semi-donk). The flop comes 7h-Qd-Kh. I check, the donk bets $75 and we both call. I was tempted to raise but didn't want him out if I hit my heart. The turn is a rag heart. The donk checks, the other players moves in, I smooth call and the donk smooth calls. The river is a blank and I push in hoping to get a call (I definitely overbet it) and the donk folds. The other player shows the nut flush.

So by the end of this shit I ended up down $925 for the day.

I took today off and played a little micro stakes PLO on Full Tilt. By the way, Full Tilt put my money back into my account and also gave me $300 for my troubles getting the check cashed. This is pretty sweet considering that's the exact amount that I deposited in the first place before I won the tournament. I would post their email except I don't have photoshop on this computer. The funny thing is my boy ended up calling Ivey to ask him about the mishap and Ivey was like "Why didn't he just get thye money wired to his bank? That's what everyone does..." which makes more sense but I didn't want to give my routing information out over the connection in Hawaii so I just opted for the check. I've also received checks from FT before that went through just fine. I guess I'll try the wire now.

So far:

Day 1: +$270
Day 2: -$925

*does anyone know of a site that converts live game hand histories to html? All the sites that I could find just want the FT of PS hand histories pasted into the converter, but I need one that I can do manually.

Peace. Don't forget: Four years.

Here's the email from FT:

---

Hi 206change,

You are receiving this email because there is an issue with your recent check withdrawal from Full Tilt Poker. The following transaction(s) are affected:

03961E89 totalling $2000.00.

If you have not yet done so, please do not attempt to cash or deposit your current withdrawal check(s). Due to issues with one of our payment processors, the checks listed above will not be honoured by the bank.

The total amount you attempted to withdraw will be returned to your Full Tilt account within the next 24 hours.

We have now resolved the issue and you may re-initiate another check withdrawal once your balance is restored in the cashier.

We understand the importance of receiving your funds in a timely manner and apologize sincerely for this delay and for any inconvenience caused.

In appreciation of your patience in this matter, we will be crediting your Full Tilt Poker account with $300.00 within the next 24 hours.

Thank you again for your patience and understanding. Please reply to this email for any clarification and assistance.

Sincerely,

Full Tilt Poker Support

Day 1: Fail

Well just like last time I gave myself a challenge, I failed day 1.

However, I made a little money, scoring a profit of $270.

I'm going back today, now I need to make up for the lost time.

Yesterday a buddy who needs some funds gave me $190 to invest in my poker session. Before I knew it, I was in for $1500 (the buy-in max is $500) so his $190 shrunk to 13% of my buy-in. Luckily I was able to find a fish and fight back to reach a profit and return $230 to him.

So today I'll be in for 100% of myself, which I like a little better.

peace.

New Challenge: 500/Day for 10 Days

I've come to the conclusion that I play better when I have some sort of goal or challenge that I'm doing.

Therefore, I've set a new challenge for myself: the 500. My aim is to run off 10 straight sessions of $500+ wins. Not easy but definitely do-able.

In other news, I had a weekend full of fails. Most notably, went out on Friday night to a club called "My House" here in L.A. with a few big name poker players and it was extremely disappointing. "My House" is supposed to be one of the hot spots in L.A. but that became too literal when it felt like they had no A/C in there. Basically some bottles arrived at the table, we got settled and started sweating just sitting there at the table, not even dancing or talking to any girls or anything. So we left after about 30 minutes and they went back to Vegas.

Saturday was just as bad. I went with my boy to see some guys he knows perform at the Key Club on Sunset. The venue was packed but unfortunately it was packed with fat chicks and dudes. Full. With no cute chicks. At all. On top of that, the music was insufferable. That's the first time I've ever used that word. That's how bad the performances were.

Hopefully the tables will be more fun. Getting back on my regular grind today.

Still haven't heard back from Full Tilt regarding my check.

4years.

Can't Believe My Eyes

Had a bad day at work yesterday, lost 1500. Dropped $800 in the no cap game and $700 in a new game that Hollywood Park is spreading, a $5/5 no limit game with a buyin of $300-500. I love the game, just had some bad luck. I think I'm gonna take today off to get everything in order here in L.A...I've been bullshittin this week.

Here's a track that I recorded on Wednesday "Can't Believe My Eyes," I'm on the second verse...



cuatros anos.

Back in Cali

I got back to L.A. on Tuesday and haven't played poker since. Just been running some errands, relaxing and had a studio session last night that went well. The annual brush/forest fires have started up here in Southern California and the largest one isn't too far from L.A., about 30 minutes north in the valley. Last night I was driving over the Hollywood hill on the 101 and could see into the valley and the scene was just surreal. It was right at sunset and the entire sky was purple and orange. I wanted to pull over and take a picture because it looked like the world was going to end or some shit.

In other news I received my check from Full Tilt, went to deposit it and the bank wouldn't accept it because the account it was from had insufficient funds. So if anyone is planning on cashing out money from FT beware. I've emailed support but haven't received a response.

They better pay me my monies.

Gonna go back to the casino today. Trying to think of some sort of goal to keep things interesting. I was going to use the money from Full Tilt and see how high I could take it in two weeks at a live casino but obviously that's not gonna happen.

peace, 4, years.

Snoqualmie Casino

Over the course of our friendly hold 'em games in Hawaii, I learned that Real Estate Rob (aka the luckiest man ever) has been going to the Snoqualmie Casino a couple times a week since December and playing black jack. And the rumor is that he's only lost twice. This sounds amazing but if you know Rob, you believe it. The guy runs good.

So anyways I agreed with Rob to make a trip to the casino, which is about 35 minutes outside of Seattle, while I was in town. Last Thursday was the day and we agreed to meet there around 4 p.m.

I was running late getting there because I made a stop at the T.I.T.S. clothing brand office to visit my boys who run the company, but Rob arrived promptly at 4 p.m. By the time I got there, he was up $250 in black jack.

The casino itself is very nice. It's built to look like a snow lodge, the kind you would see as a snowboard/ski lodge. It's pretty big on the inside and is stocked with slot machines, black jack tables and even a couple craps tables.

Once inside, I couldn't resist getting some black jack in with Rob. I wanted to see just how lucky he was. I told him I'd probably lose my $300 in about ten minutes. To my surprise, I ended winning about $400 in 30 minutes or so. And that's after we started catching bad vibes from a dealer who was pulling the 6-card 21's. So we left the table and I told Rob I thought we should try our luck at craps.

We hit the craps table and due to our positioning on the table, we were due up to shoot the dice after about seven guys took their turn first. By the time the dice got to me, I was down to about $200. Forty minutes late my roll was over and I had about $1500 in front of me. Looks like Rob was rubbing off on me.

I left that table with about $1200 or so in chips from the original $300 that I used to buy into the black jack table.

We headed to the poker room, which is pretty small and had two $4-8 limit games going and two $2/5 no limit games going. We put our names on the list and got put on different tables.



My table was WEAK. There was one donkey, about two guys that were willing to mix it up but were easy to read, and four rocks. Perfect. The buy-in was $100-300 and it took me a long time to get something going. I kept trying to isolate the donk but juts couldn't make anything happen and he wouldn't fold if he had any pair or any draw.

But after a few hours I caught a little rush and started stacking my chips. We left around 1 a.m. and I was up about $1100 in the poker game. I'm not sure if the numbers add up on here but overall I left the casino with a profit of $2300, which made my day...or week. So between my only day at the casino and my tournament win on Full Tilt, I made about $4000 on this two-week vacation. Really incredible considering I was planning on spending up to $2000 (which I did.. and more).



Hopefully the luck will continue when I return to L.A. tomorrow. Good luck to everyone else as well. I know V is taking his shot at poker now.

4 years.

Hawaii Home Games

While I was in Hawaii we played poker probably about six or seven times. There were about six of us that played so we usually had 2, 3, 4, or maybe 5 guys that were willing to start a game up.

Games were very short-stacked.. we played min/max buy-ins of $20 with blinds of usually $.50/1.00 and sometimes $1/2. Overall I was definitely a loser. I played incredibly loose aggressive and was up against "Real Estate Rob" who has also been deemed the "luckiest man ever" by our group of friends. It was nearly impossible to get it all in against Rob and survive the river, no matter the size of suckout he needed (and to his credit he got it all in good many times and obviously no one was able to suck out on him).

I would say I lost around $200 in these games. I definitely bought in about three times as much as anyone else but also was able to build my stack up faster than everyone except for Rob...his stack just grew and grew.

Overall it was a lot of fun and I'm not keeping these numbers in my records. I basically came with a vacation budget and am just including the losses in that budget.

peace!! 4yrs.

Full Tilt in Hawaii

Right now I'm on the island of Kauai in Hawaii. The island is breathtakingly beautiful but with one catch: There's really nothing to do after the sun goes down. This island has very little (if any at all) night life and besides that, I have no rental car to get me around.

So last night I decided to deposit some money onto Full Tilt and get my online grind going and before I knew it, I was at the final table of the $8.5k guaranteed at 5 a.m. with a monster stack. I battled my opponents and knocked out 6 of the final 8 players en route to winning first place.






Today I played $3/6 no limit and was up another $1200 before I hit some coolers, made some bad moves and ended up losing $600. I decided it'd be smart of myself to cash out $2000 and leave the rest on the site (the $300 I started with), since I could probably put that $2k to better use at a casino then on Full Tilt. It also ensures that I made some money while I was in Hawaii.

4 years..

7k in 7days final results

I'm gonna be completely honest here. When I said I was going for $7k in seven days, I thought I could do it but I also felt that it was unlikely. It basically meant that I had to win every day an average of a thousand (obviously) without losing. This sounds simple enough but it's very easy to have two, three, or even more losing sessions out of seven sessions. And when factoring that in, I would have to average about $2k per session to counter the losses.

Then my first session I lost, although it was a small loss of under $200. After that I didn't have another losing session and had my best weekend ever (I think).

I played the $500 game at Hollywood Park most of the time. The game is a $5/10 no limit game with no cap. The players are 90% regulars but it's a beatable game and when a fish comes in the game it's not too tough to capitalize. This is where I had my big sessions. One session I was into the game for $3500 (bought in for $1500, then $2000) and ended up over $4600.

I was actually able to take my last day in Los Angeles off to run some errands, pick up some bathing suits and stuff for Hawaii and pack for my two-week trip to Hawaii and Seattle, which I'm in the middle of. I ended up not only making the $7k, but more than doubling my goal, which is great for me considering I was looking at the next two weeks possibly with no poker at all.

Anyways, here are my numbers from my personal $7k in 7 days:

Day 1: -$170
Day 2: +$4320
Day 3: +$810
Day 4: +$1470
Day 5: +$4665
Day 6: +$3680
Total: +$15070

4 years..

Beast Mode

Short entry because I'm trying to get back to the casino this afternoon.

Right now I'm in beast mode.

Day 4 and 5 were both good. Both days I had to buy in twice. The first day I just had a cooler where I flopped a straight after I raised preflop with Ad4d and a guy caught a boat on the turn with 33. Yesterday I pretty much tricked off my starting stack with loose play and being too sloppy aggressive at a table full of tight/good players. Both days I rebounded well and the results are below. Yesterday I'm pretty sure was my biggest day to date. I'm not positive on that but I think it was. I have two days left and I've surpassed the $7k that I was hoping (and it was a reach) to hit. So I'm extremely happy about that and I'm hoping to take advantage of the heater.

My boy sent me back three of the tracks I recorded and they sound good. I've posted the Poker Face song above at the head of the blog. I'm going to put a link for download too. If you like it, feel free to post it in a forum or wherever. I'd like to see some feedback.

Peace.

Day 1: -$170
Day 2: +$4320
Day 3: +$810
Day 4: +$1470
Day 5: +$4665
Total: +$11390

7k in 7days: Ahead of Pace

I had a decent day yesterday. Had it not been for a horrendous call that I made on a river, I would have done a lot better. However, to counter that horrendous call I made two great calls. I'll go through all three hands in the order that I played them:

1) Donk straddles, I'm on the button. Three or four callers, I call the button with T8 offsuit. Straddle pops it $100 more. Everyone folds and I call. Flop comes Qxx. Donk insta-checks. I bet out $80 to get a read, I know that he's not folding. He raises to $180. I call with a read that he doesn't have shit, planning to pop him on the turn or river. Turn is a ten. He checks. I check, hoping to induce a bet on the river if I can fade a king or ace. River is another queen. He bets $200, I call and he mucks his hand and I don't have to show.

2) I straddle with Q9 offsuit, five callers. Flop comes Q8x. I check UTG and the whole table checks. Turn is a 9, bringing a second club. I bet out $80. One caller and the button, who is the tightest player on the table, makes it $150 more. I put him on JT and call, hoping to hit my boat or bluff the river if a club hits. The other player calls as well, killing my club bluff on the river. The only other hand I can put the raiser on is 89. The river is an 8, which is pretty much the worst card for my hand. We both check to the button and he bets $600. I tank and finally call with a prayer that he's bluffing and he shows JT of hearts. Like I said, horrible call.

3) Four limpers and I have 55 on the button. I make it $60. The same donk from hand (1) is the only caller. The flop comes J-8-4. He checks to me and I bet $100. He raises to $200. I call, I don't have him on anything. The turn is another jack and almost before the card comes out he bets $260. I call. The river is a 7. He fires out $400 right away and I think for a long time. I'd love to be able to raise him in case he got lucky with a hand like A7 but I only have $150 after the $400. I eventually call and he shows Q4 and the whole table can't believe that I called with 55.

Today I'm working on some stuff for my new business and then going to the casino around 1/2 p.m. I got there late yesterday and missed out on some good action. I think I arrived around 3/4 p.m. and there was a great game going. I got on the list but by the time I got to the game it wasn't that good.

Day 1: -$170
Day 2: +$4320
Day 3: +$810
Total: +$4960

Good luck, 4 years (don't forget)

Off 2 Good Start

Well Tuesday after I posted on here I was motivated to go to the studio and record so I didn't get to the casino until like 9 p.m.

The studio session was very productive, I recorded four songs including the poker song (that was the worst by far) and I'm waiting for them to be mixed down so I'll post a couple once I get them.

At the casino I doubled up my first hand of the night at the $200 game (2/5 blinds) when I limped in the cutoff with 57 offsuit and flopped the nuts. I just smooth called a guy on the flop and turn and moved in on the river and he had to call.

Then I table changed to a table that had more donks and promptly went down 170. At this point my boy hit me and told me p.i. was in town and ready to kick it so I left to go out and the first night was a loss. Great discipline right? Someone asks me to go out and I leave down.

Yesterday was a different story. I beasted the $400 game ridiculously and was up nearly $3k when the table was about to break. On the last hand of the table I tried to move a tight player off his pocket kings on a Q466x board and doubled him up to drop $900.

The game broke and I went to the $500 game and did well in that game. It was a crazy game with some eccentric personalities but unfortunately I don't have time to write about them. The funny thing is I ended up winning the same exact amount at both the $400 game and the $500 game: $2160.

So far here are my 7k in 7 days results:

Day 1: -$170
Day 2: +$4320

About to go back to the casino now. 4years, peace!

7k in 7dayz

Here we go y'all.

Another challenge to myself. I really wish I had set a goal when I was in Vegas so that I was more focused and disciplined.

Tryin to make 7k in 7 days.

Basically the reason for this is that next Tuesday I'm flying to Hawaii for a week and then to Seattle for a week. I don't think I'm going to make much money during that time (the biggest drawback of playing professional poker is there's no paid time off) so I need to stack some before I go.

I figure if I can make 7k, that will do.

Right now I'm writing lyrics so I haven't started yet but I'll start this afternoon.

four years!

here's my poker song, I think i'm gonna record it today to lady gaga's poker face beat.

Hook
You wanna play me? Then raise me...
Cuz guess what man I'm crazy...
I don't give a fuck about my cash
Or any odds you lay me...

verse1
I'm sittin at my table, all these donkeys workin' angles...
They don't understand I'm quite willing and able to fanagle...
..I dangle invitations to the soft calling stations...
Then I pop 'em when I flop 'em and they can't believe I'm raisin...
Yeah, I'm a test your patience it ain't safe when I'm involved...
Cuz I might just fuck around, play it blind and bet it all....
Best believe me there's a reason to my rhyme like every time...
Crazy dude I'm makin' moves that will confuse and blow your mind...

verse2
I'm still grinding like Phil Ivey, just as grimey as Jerome...
And I been known to kill a table anytime I'm in the zone...
Mista murda, killa kev I'm on the hunt for any fish...
Friday night you playin' poker cuz you couldn't get a bitch...
Well fuck it now you mine, I'm a catch you with these nines...
Hit a set and stick 'em up your ass until they touch your spine...
Now our chips are all combined, in the middle lookin' juicy...
You keep on throwin jabs but your punches couldn't move me...
And did I mention half the cocktail staff are my groupies?...
Probly cuz they see me with more sets than a movie....

verse2
I get rich, you get poor, there's nothing else to be explored...
Guarantee I'm here tomorrow so come back and give me more...
Yeah, go and ask the floor, how much money I be stackin'...
They livin' off my tips, so they're dyin' for my action...
Yes I give it and I take it, I been called the corporation...
Tax you dummies for your money that's my only motivation...
Hesitations I see faces when they twisted cuz they missed it...
Taking chips like they pics, please come again thanks for the business...

Running good, playing better

I'm on my a-game right now.

I think it qualifies as a heater now and it couldn't have been more on time. Ten day winning streak and I hope to keep it going... forever. Yeah, Bobby's Room here I come. This is how it works right?

It's funny how winning or success breeds more success (winning) and actually does motivate me to get other shit done in life. In this case I'm talking music. I'm ready to get some business done.

Back to the poker, I've been running good but playing good. I would say almost as good as I've ever played. Everyone at my casino tells me that I'm running good and I like that. I like for people to tell me how lucky I am. Because that means I'm winning. To the outside eye, the guy with all the chips is always the luck box. To me, it's the guy who's willing to push a guy off his AQ with shit on a Axx flop when it can be done. And fold it when it can't be done.

There's two things that I've really been trying to work on the past month:

1) Isolating the bad players, or isolating anyone for that matter. This means a lot of re-raising pre-flop with a wide range of hands. I've done it with K2, JT, etc. if I feel like the original raiser could be outplayed.

2) Playing position against good players. This seems quite obvious but it makes a huge difference in the long run and I think it's easy to fall into early position traps and shitty situations with suited connectors, flush draws, top pair, etc. I'm trying to minimize my early position situations.

This weekend has been a good weekend as my guy big time aka fake drake is in town for the weekend from Wisconsin.

P.S. if you like hip hop, check out the new song I put up top. It goes.

Four Years.

I'm On A Roll

I'm an ass because I haven't posted yet this week and I told myself I'd be on here regularly.

Good news: I have a session winning streak that dates back to last Monday so that's Mon, Tues, Weds, Thurs, Sun, Mon, Tues, Weds all wins. Much needed. My smallest win was about $200 and my biggest was $2700 with everything in between (although only one session over $2000).

The best part about this (or actually the worst probably) is that Hollywood Park has been pretty dead. The $400 game has been off-and-on ever since I got back from Vegas and the $200 game is full of grinders with a few donks mixed in but rarely have any donks touched the $400 game, which is my main game.

I celebrated with my boy who made the main event final table at the WSOP and he wanted to make sure that I'm at the final table. I've been in the audience three times when he's made the final table and he's won all three times, that includes two wsop bracelets and one WPT championship. So I can't wait until November to see it go down!! The game plan is already in place and I'm full confident that he'll be able to take down if he can avoid two or more bad beats while he's one of the smaller stacks. We're not really the euro-types to start chanting and singing when he wins a pot so we're thinking about just getting some t-shirts printed up so espn can identify his crew without us acting an ass. As my boy said "we're too cool to do that stuff." hahaha.

Hopefully all y'[all are killing the tables.

Peace.. 4 years!!

My WSOP tournament losses

I played three WSOP tournaments: the first 1k stimulus tournament and two $1500 tournaments. Due to so much missed time on here and me trying to slowly get back into the habit of writing, I'm going to break these up. I've also added a bunch of pictures to the side bar "famous foes," I'm sure you'll recognize some and won't recognize some.

In the first tournament I went deep into the 12th level, which was around 1:00 a.m. on the first day or so. I played fairly strong the entire day until the last couple levels. Basically what happened was somehow we had a huge fish with a huge stack at our table. So I tried to get involved in hands with him and it backfired. I called him down with KJ on a jack high board and he had aces. I was amazed that some horrible players had deep stacks late in the tournament.

This was my first real tournament experience and it's just amazing how many guys shove with A7 or better and get lucky by spiking an ace against any random pocket pair. There was one guy at my table late in the day who treated his ace-rags like they were kings.

Anyways I played day 1a with nearly 3000 players and it was estimated that if day 1b was the same, roughly 500-600 players would be paid. We were down to about 350 players in day 1a when I busted out. The part that really sucked was that when I was leaving the room they announced "Congratulations players, you've all made it to day two." Lol.

One thing that did really suck about the tournament was my first break. I headed to the bathroom to take a piss. I was in the middle of my piss when every single toilet in the bathroom (at least 20 toilets) started overflowing simultaneously. Great. Dirty piss water all over my Jordans.

This would be a sign of things to come.

Quick Update

I apologize to those who have followed my blog as well as offered their words of support in my poker quest/career.

When I went to Vegas for the month of June, I was expecting to have a live internet connection in my hotel room but due to some technical difficulties, I had no connection at the Bellagio.

My first month pro was good in Los Angeles as I made some money. However, I slipped in a few areas and I'm mad at myself for that. I stopped tracking my numbers by the hour and instead decided to keep a rough count like most of my peers do. You go to the casino with 1500, you come home with 2200, you know how much you made. Simple enough.

I think that not writing my numbers down and recording them made it easier for me to lose.

That combined with the fact that I was getting the worst run of cards in my life in Vegas and not cashing in any tournaments was a bad combination.

Now I'm back in L.A. and grinding again so I'll start posting more often and give this blog some much needed updates.

The good news is a friend of mine won two bracelets at the WSOP and is making a deep run in the Main Event right now. You can probably figure out who he is. He's also 3-0 at winning a final table when I'm there so I'm hoping he makes it to November and I can be present to watch him make poker history.

Peace.

It's official: today is my last day at work

Today marks the last day and the first day. I'm out of work within a couple hours and after that I'm to HP to earn a real living.

Tomorrow I'll play in the $400k guaranteed at Commerce.

See y'all at the top!

4 years.

Two more days

The time is nearing. The end and the beginning. And I can't wait.

I'm a bit nervous about a downswing but I have full confidence that if I continue to play the way that I'm playing, everything will be on the up and up.

I spent last weekend in Wisconsin with some of my closest friends and it was a nice time to relax, although Madison, WI is quite a boring place and it rained heavily while we there. But it was definitely worth the trip.

So here I am at work finishing my third-to-last day. All I've been doing is training the guy who is going to replace me.

When I first quit I pretty much held out on telling people what I was going to be doing and simply letting them know that it was "Time to move on," but since then I've given in and just told people that I'm going to be playing poker.

I played one LONG session since my last post and salvaged a $100 losing session after being in for $1600. It was an extremely long session and we were three handed at about 2:30 a.m. and I had $600 and ran it up to $1900 before the table filled up again and I dropped to $1500 before the table broke around 6:30 a.m. Once again my aces failed me when the table donk hit his QT two pair (he flopped top pair) on the river.

Here's a song that I recorded a couple weeks ago. I'm on the hook and first verse. Good luck, peace, four years.

Fruck

Let's say I'm a cat. Just for a moment, pretend I'm a cat.
Kind of like this:





Last night I got skinned in like seven different ways.
Kind of like this:





I put them all-in on the turn and they rivered me.

So I said 'fuck it, next time we'll do the flop' and they run, run, stunned me.

So I said 'fuck it, I'll just move it in pre-flop' and they still hit me on the river with the two out underpair.

This is a test and I'm determined to pass it.

So yeah, your boy dropped $1800 last night AFTER being up $500 in my first hour. I think that poker Jesus (not to be confused with Jesus Ferguson) was trying to tell me that if I don't follow through with my plans, I won't succeed. The reason I say this is that I finished my hoop game at 9 p.m. and went to HP with the goal of making just a few hundy in a couple hours. Well, mission accomplished... quickly. Did I leave? No.

I stayed and lost it back and then a lot more. Teach me poker Jesus, teach me. Punish me for my sins!

I'll be there tonight if anyone wants to take advantage of my bad luck.

Lol okay that's enough complaining, I'm really not bad at taking losses and bad beats but if I can't vent on my own blog then where can I vent?

The good thing is I feel like I'm playing my best poker right now. Just having a bad run of luck, although I did make one $200 mistake yesterday but that was nothing compared to the other hands that I lost. I was the fourth caller in the cutoff with 22 for $60 preflop. The BB, who was tight had raised it PF. Two callers to me so I call trying to hit the set.

Flop comes J-9-4 and everyone checks to me and I bet $200 and the original raiser smooth calls, obviously with top set. I never bet again and he pushed all-in on the river but I felt like a dumb ass for wasting the $200.

Good luck. four years (really 3.5 almost now).

gone!

Rough take off

Between Friday and Saturday I lost $3200. Even though I obviously wasn't hoping for it, I pretty much knew that once I quit my job I would lose. I'm still working at the 9-5 for two more weeks but Friday was the first session that I played since I submitted my two weeks, so I guess I'm not a "professional" yet. Hopefully it won't happen twice. It was a rough two sessions though. I think I got my aces cracked four out of four times. I sucessfully convinced a guy that I was full of shit when the flop came 3-4-9 and he shoved on me with TT on the flop, only to river a 10. Then a guy flopped two pair with KQ and I should have gotten away when the turn came a jack but I didn't.

Anyways I'm not complaining at all. I rebounded decently yesterday when I called in sick to the job and spent the day grinding. I came up like $1300 or something and I'm hoping that momentum carries over into my next session.

Celebrated 420 a bit yesterday but it's so damn hot in L.A. that my apartment was uncomfortable and I sent the following email to my roommate today:

I grabbed the fan from the living room and put it in my room at 5 a.m. I woke up with my head covered in sweat and my pillow drenched from sweat and couldn’t fall asleep, I’ve never been that hot in our apartment before.

I'm planning to go back tonight after my hoop game, I'll keep y'all updated.

4yrs.

2009: +$25331
January: 120.75 hrs., +$14,873
February: 77.75 hrs., +$8520
March: 69 hrs., -$1220

April: +$3158
04.01.09: +$978
04.03.09: +$220
04.04.09: +$3620
04.05.09: -$1320
04.09.09: -$1000
04.13.09: +$2470
04.17.09: -$1700
04.18.09: -$1500
04.20.09: +$1390

And so it begins...

I just submitted my resignation at my job. I'm working through the month of April and then I'm out.

Now the real work begins.

I've been playing poker for about 4/5 years, and for the last 2.5 years I've been playing profitable poker.

I've heard all the negative feedback about quitting my job in this economy yadda yadda yadda and I full understand where that feedback is comnig from as it's quite reasonable and considerate by those giving it.

However, every person has his own life and his own set of circumstances and I have mine. Here are the following criteria that I have been considering for months now:

- I've been at my job for four years.
- I'm still basically in an entry level position.
- By leaving my job, I'm not leaving a great potision that I can't get back, whether it's here or at another company.
- I have a college degree and I now have seven years of work experience in a diverse group of companies that vary from sports writing to radio and television to car insurance to legal work.
- I am tired of the work that I do.
- I have a back-up plan if I fail at poker.
- I want freedom in every day life with my own scheduling and being able to travel when I want to.

Then yesterday a couple of events occurred at my job that really helped push me to over the edge. I was promised a 6% raise in February. This raise wasn't given to me until yesterday's pay day and they promised me the retro pay for the initial raise date. Turns out, they only gave me a 2% raise so the retro pay check was 66% smaller than I thought it would be. Ugh.

Then, at the end of the day I get the head's up that I'm "under the micropscope." Whatever that means, it pissed me off. I almost sent myself an email that said "If you're reading this and your name isn't Kevin, fuck you!" but I refrained from doing so.

My decision was already made but the question that remained was when was I going to leave? I came to the conclusion that if I'm going to go to Vegas for virtually all of June, then I need to have time to grind and build my bankroll back up (I don't have all of the money in my BR). At this point, as you may have noticed, my hours are decreasing at the poker table and to be honest it effects my play.

For instance, if I know that I'm going out of town this weekend and I have a basketball game tonight, that means if I want to get in a session, I have to go play after my basketball game. Not to mention I have to be at work at 8 a.m. so I have to get this session in and make some good money while I'm there. This causes me to have a different mindset when showing up to the casino. I wish it didn't, but it does. A perfect example of this is the QT hand a couple posts ago where my final conclusion was "Fuck it if he has me beat, I'll just go home and take the loss. If not, this will be a great double up." Terrible mindset to have.

So I want to take the month of May to grind on my own time and my own schedule with peace of mind. Poker world, here I come. For real.

FOUR YEARS.

Sigh of relief

Ever since my last session I've been constantly telling myself that next time I go play, I'm going to minimize my mistakes and do everything within my power to not make any. So last night I went and played and was successful in that.

I can only really remember losing a couple hands at showdown and in one of them I ran my kings against a guy's aces. He was relatively short-stacked (about $450 or so) so it didn't kill me and I also couldn't really get away pre-flop when he went all-in, although he was a tight player.

But the guy in the picture above showed up and turned out to be a HUGE donk. He played for about an hour and a half and literally folded only two hands pre-flop. So he probably played 48/50 hands or something like that. Anyways, he was directly to my right. Here were two hands where I got him:

I have 8s4s in middle/late position. Flop comes K32 with two spades. He bets $10 into a $50 pot and I'm the only caller. The turn is the king of spades. Bingo. At this point I'm hoping he has a king, which is what I'm putting him on. He bets $100 and I make it $200 and he insta-calls. The river is the Queen of clubs and he comes out and bets $100 so I call and he turns over T3 offsuit. True story.

That hand was really the hand that exposed his donkish ways to the table. Before that, everyone was a little wary of him and no one had gotten into a big pot with him. However, the table was about seven regulars, him, and a tight player so clearly everyone was after his stack.

Two hands after I bet him with the 8s4s, another player felted him with AA vs. his K7 when he flopped a king. He rebought for $400 from the small blind.

I'm in the big blind and the table folds around to him. Normally this is a chop situation (actually 99.9% of the time it is) but he is confused as to what's going on when the dealer is asking him if he wants to chop or play the hand and he throws in $15. I tell the dealer it's fine, we'll play the hand out and I check with my J4 offsuit. Then the flop comes J44. This was truly a "WTF" moment for me as I prayed he had a jack or even better a 4. He bets out $10. I have no idea what to do because I want this pot to get bigger but I just call the $10. The turn brought a second club and he bet $20. I contemplated min-raising him but decided if he had any kind of overcard or draw that I wanted him to get there so I just called. The river brings a third club and he bets $60 with about $300 behind. I go all-in and he insta-calls with 3c8c. He leaves the table, the game breaks, and I put him on blast on my blog. End of story.

I went to San Jose for the weekend but just to chill with family for Easter so that's a boring story.

For years..

2009: +$27141
January: 120.75 hrs., +$14,873
February: 77.75 hrs., +$8520
March: 69 hrs., -$1220

April: +$4968
04.01.09: +$978
04.03.09: +$220
04.04.09: +$3620
04.05.09: -$1320
04.09.09: -$1000
04.13.09: +$2470

Pissed @ Me

Played a somewhat short session last night and just gave my money away pretty much in a hand that more than backfired on me. I'll just go through that hand and you can squint your eyes in disbelief.

I'm in the BB with appx. $750. Tight player in middle position raises to $35 with appx. $650 behind. Button (average player with huge stack) calls. I call in the BB with QhTh.

Flop comes ATT rainbow with one heart. I check, guessing that tight player is going to continuation bet or bet his AQ/AK. He checks. Button checks. Ugh.

Turn is a six, looks good. I bet out $100 to get action and hoping to look like a bluff. Tight player instantly shoves all-in. Button thinks for a LONG time and folds. Based on the way he was going over the hand, I put the button on the other ten so I've ruled out that the tight player has a ten. Now I'm thinking he has pocket sixes and just doesn't want the ace or ten to fill up.

This is where I go into moron stage.

I was already in for one buy-in and had rebought and worked my stack up to the $700. After going over the hand in my head, the only hand I can put him on to shove is either AK (suicide) or 66. For some reason I decide the old "if he has me, he has me," and call and he obviously shows 66. I miss the river and muck.

Then some guy says "You called him with the ace?" and I don't say anything. Then the button player who folded says "I would have beat you with my 9T anyways" and I shake my head at myself in disbelief. I always tell myself to bet out hard even when I have the nuts because based on my table image and the way I look, I more often than not get tons of action and get paid off on my monsters. This would have been a perfect situation to double up through the button player as he would have been trapping me after the flop with the worst hand. Only I let the tight player see the turn for free and gave him my stack.

Ugh. Couldn't believe I did that. Dropped $1000 in three hours for the night.

2009: +$24671
January: 120.75 hrs., +$14,873
February: 77.75 hrs., +$8520
March: 69 hrs., -$1220

April: +$2498
04.01.09: +$978
04.03.09: +$220
04.04.09: +$3620
04.05.09: -$1320
04.09.09: -$1000

Next week I'm gonna attempt to teach myself discipline, which is something I haven't really exercised in my life since high school. It'll be interesting.

Time to Get Paid

That's the new Great Chill Out anthem. It's official. You can find it on the right side bar with the ill picture that I photo shopped. Play it and find out. You'll be motivated to make some money.

I cashed $300 on the UCONN chix although I haven't received the money yet and there are no guarantees in life.

I'm hoping to make it to Hollywood Park tonight but it's uncertain, I have a basketball game at 7 pm and then I'm going to my boy's studio to put the finishing touches on one song and start another. Yessir! Might have something to put up on here very soon. I haven't been doing shit with music so I'm excited.

What else.. hmm.. I dunno. I'm pumped that baseball is starting but I'm giving the Mariners three weeks before they are out of contention.

I'm thinking about going and playing some of the WSOP Circuit events at Caesar's next month but it's going to be tough. I'm going to San Jose this weekend and Wisconsin in two weeks, which leaves me like four days to run up a better bank roll.

peace.

I know, that was boring. I just wanted to announce that there's an anthem.

Go UCONN Chicks

I'm not a big sports gambler because I tend to suck at it but I've been making bets with this guy at the poker table for the past week and I'm about 12-2 so I'm putting $300 on the Lady Huskies tonight to cover by 19.5. The spread is huge but I'm getting even money and I think Louisville is a one-woman team.

Anyways that same guy who bets me is a nice guy but very straight forward and a huge guy. He plays pots the same way against everyone, whether it's a friend or an enemy.

So on Sunday he raises pre-flop from the button to $60. He gets one caller, this kid named "G." The flop comes Q99 and G checks to him. He comes out and bets $150. G goes into the tank and asks Mark if he has an over pair, if a queen is good, and if he calls will Mark check it down? Mark doesn't say anything and G calls.

The turn is a blank and G checks. The big guy immediately says "All in" and G insta-calls with QQ. He doubles up and seemingly the hand is over.

The big guy (who is also a very good player) then cashes out and leaves the table. Two minutes later he returns and tells G that if he ever tries to pull that Hollywood shit again, he'll physically harm him (I think he said come across the table and punch you in the face). G is trying to go out and smoke a cigarette but the big guy is making him stay there to let him know he will beat his ass if he does that again.

G is feeling a bit threatened and says he won't do it again. They stop talking but then I see the big guy go outside after G goes out, so I go out to see what is going on. Sure enough, the big guy is again telling G that G isn't taking him seriously and he's not kidding when he says he's going to beat G down if he ever pulls those shenanigans off again on him.

I know that doing the "Hollywood" is a part of poker and I've done it a million times myself, so I don't see where it's acceptable for this guy to tell G that if he does it again, he'll punch him in the face.

Anyways because both players are regulars at the casino, this was the topic of discussion for at least 30 minutes at two tables. Just thought it was interesting because I think 75% of players do this type of acting when they have a monster and I don't see how it's inappropriate.

Back in business, kind of.

I went to Hollywood Park on Friday night with the plan to play all night and win millions of pesos. My gf was going out with her gay friend for his birthday and I didn't really feel like getting drunk at various gay bars in Hollywood so I saw this as an excellent opportunity to spend the night with overweight obnoxious men talking about horse racing and sports.

The night started off well and I was up about $800 or so when I got in a heated argument with my gf and I was steaming at her, but it usually doesn't effect me when I'm playing poker. It's kind of like basketball for me. Once I get on the court, I'm not really thinking about anything else. So as long as I'm not getting text messages and phone calls from her I'm okay. I just turned my ringer off.

But then I really pissed myself off. I got in a hand with the donkey of the table and the big bluffer of the table.

*** WARNING: IF YOU KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT POKER, YOU'RE GOING TO THINK I'M AN IDIOT (if you don't already) AFTER READING THIS ***

I have pocket sixes on the button. The donkey calls the bb and the big bluffer comes out and bets $60. I call and the donkey calls. The flop comes K-Q-6 with two hearts. They both check to me. Perfect time to bet right? On the button, AK probably check-raising and hoping I'll bet, if the donkey has AK, KQ, KJ, KT, even a Queen or JT/AJ, I'm going to get him to call...

This is where I had one of two serious brain cramps of the weekend that both cost me a lot of money. I checked. If a scare card didn't come on the turn, I was thinking that one of them would come out and bet big on the turn. The turn was a 10 (no heart) so it was somewhat of a scare card because AJ now has me hurting, as do KK, QQ, and TT obviously. The big bluffer bets $150. This is where I had a decision to make. I know how he plays and he knows how I play so I know if I push on him and he doesn't have AJ, he has to fold. But I also know he could easily have AJ, KK, or QQ here. So I just call. The turn is a blank and he bets $210 and I make the call and he turns over TT.

Then my boy starts to tell me how badly I played the hand and I tell him that obviously I'm aware of this. He asks me "Why didn't you bet the flop?" and then the big bluffer, who I'm (casino) buddies with, also says "You know if you bet the flop, I'll fold," sarcastically. So at this point I'm like "No shit to both of you," and decided to leave because I was unhappy about the way I played the hand. I'm sure it looked like I was pissed at them but I was really pissed at myself for letting him hit his set for free.

So Friday was +$220. Of course when I leave the casino I'm instantly steaming at my gf again but that's life. I actually wrote a blog on Friday night while I was smoking a blunt but I fell asleep before I posted it.

Now Saturday I'm like 'fuck this, I'm going to make some money and no one is gonna get in my way.' So I go to the casino at noon, hoping to catch the $500-unlimited game when it starts because there's an old donk that always starts it on Saturdays. Sure enough, he's the only one there ready to play and we start three-handed. I ended up winning $2600 in four hours and moved to the $400 game after the old guy left.

Went to the $400 game and won another $1000 and left.

Sunday I went to the play the $500 tournament at HP and lost flush (turn) to boat (river) of course.

Went down to the cash games and there were some dizonks in the hizouse so I sat down and promptly lost two buy-ins. I then made a horrendous move with JJ against 77 on a flop of 447. Turn was an ace and I had put the guy on an ace and thought I could bet him off it, but that was a miserable fail and my second brain break of the weekend. The worst part is the guy I did it too was a vocal asshole and had been whining about bad beats for three hours straight. After the hand he took a 20 minute break and I got all the chips back on the next hand. When he got back he saw my stack and said "You got those chips back already? When is that horse shoe gonna fall out of your ass?" So I said "You probably think I'm lucky because I don't cry like a bitch when I take a lose a hand," and he stfu for the rest of the day. Then when the table eventually broke at 2 a.m. he comes to shake my hand and says I'm a cool guy and he enjoyed playing with me. I'm sure you did enjoy when I doubled your punk ass up on a flopped boat.

Anyways there's a situation that came up where another player physically threatened someone that I wanted to write about but this is getting too lengthy so I'll write about it tomorrow (hopefully) because I thought it was interesting.

Going to take tonight off and go play tomorrow. Here's the numbers, I'm still on my pace with my goal of ~$7k/month but I need a good April:

2009: +$25671
January: 120.75 hrs., +$14,873
February: 77.75 hrs., +$8520
March: 69 hrs., -$1220

April: +$3498
04.01.09: +$978
04.03.09: +$220
04.04.09: +$3620
04.05.09: -$1320

peace, GL, 4 years, dolla dolla bill y'all!

March Sadness

Tonight at midnight this beautiful month of March will finally come to an end. I just added up my sessions and I wasn’t nearly as big of a loser and it felt like. I guess the tournament win paired with my last session on Sunday kept me afloat. Without those two big wins I’m looking at a $-6k month. So basically I had so many losing sessions that it felt like I was getting my ass kicked all month long. Actually I was getting my ass kicked.

I finally ran bad taking some ugly beats. One particular in the $5/10 unlimited buy-in game at Hollywood Park. My aces ran up against KJ. Flop comes K-3-4 and I’m sure one of the two pre-flop callers has a king. One guy had made it $40 pre-flop, the button called and I made it $170 in the small blind. Both players called. On the flop I bet $250 to get a call from the king and he did. The turn was a 2 and I went all-in for $800 and he called to river the king.

I had some good luck as well in my last session so I’m not complaining. One hand in particular when I called with 8s4s on the button. The flop comes J-8-3 with two spades. One loose player bets out $50 and another loose player calls. I raise to $170 and they both call. The turn is the 4 of hearts and they check to me. I bet $350 and the initial bettor calls, then the second player puts her last $200 in the middle. The river is the 4 of diamonds and I put the player all-in for his last $400 and he insta-calls with QcJd. The other player claims she flopped two pair but she was blatantly lying. I put her on one queen or 9-10.

Anyways, with some investments such as my car, a new business and some untimely splurging, my month stung financially. I’m looking forward to getting my taxes out of the way and jumping back on the horse in April. Two months until the WSOP kicks off and I’d like to have my bankroll around $30k heading to Vegas that last weekend of May.

Outside of poker I’m playing in three basketball leagues and my game is slowly coming back, although I hate playing the post on all these teams. I never thought I’d be playing down low so much at 6’0” but I’m one of the tallest guys on all three of my squads. My high school program finished #7 in the country overall and ran away with the Washington state title so that’s always nice to see. Somehow I think I’m one of the only people ever to play for my high school and not play in college. Yes, I’m a donk. Or an idiot for quitting my junior year. Or both, obviously.

I was in four bracket pools and had Memphis. I was in first in one of them until Memphis got their asses ran. GG fellas.

I got back in the studio last night and we recorded two of my verses for some tracks that I’m feeling. I haven’t recorded on original beats that I actually own (along with my boy) in a long time so that felt good. All in all, I’m feeling real good heading into April even though March was a hit to my pocket.

Peace and good luck bruddas.

March



2009

The ship is sinking...

Sorry about the ridiculous lack of updates in the past week+, I've been busy losing money.

Ever since I ate shit in that tournament I've been going downhill but I salvaged the month with a nice win yesterday.

I'll add more detail and updated numbers later today.

Hopefully everyone else is doing better.

peace.

206

"206" seems to be my number today. I checked one of my bracket standings (the only one out of four that I even have a hope of winning) and I was in first place with a score of 206. In that one I have 13/16 of the remaining teams including Arizona. I had USC and Washington in there as well so I was unhappy about them losing (as well as being a fan of both teams).

Then my doc calls me and tells me that my cholesterol level is 206, which is high. Time to cut down on the fats and salts and increase the exercise. GL to me on that one. I'm pretty infamous for eating horrendously (horrendous is two levels worse than horrible with horrid being the middle level for those that don't know).

And the kicker? I lost 10x206 at the poker table on Saturday. If you're any good at math, that's Pretty Shitty (not to be confused with Pretty Ricky, not sure which is worse in this case).



I'll get around to updating my numbers when I have a few minutes to add them up, but I'm definitely down for the month of March, probably down around 1k-2k this month.

Hope everyone else is doing better than that.

Peace, 4 years!

I'm in the Player of the Year race

However this was the most frustrating table EVER. I was 2nd in chips when we were down to five. I have two donks in it and two nits. Easy picking for me.

We decide to chop it and I'm due $12k when the worst player (obviously the guy who ended up winning it) says he wants $500 from everyone to chop. All of us are like "pffft you're the fish here and you want money from us?" so we don't chop. I double him up on a bad call by me, then when I'm about 11x the big blind I move in with ace high and he calls me with 6-7 from the small blind and makes two pair, gg me.

Ugh. The upside of this is that I'm not quite the tournament donk that I thought I was (0-2 in tournament cashes this year), although to be honest I should have easily won this tournament when it was 6/5 handed.

(P.S. the POY race statement was a joke for those that missed the sarcasm)

March Madness

So far March has been up and up and down and down and up and up and down. Should have been up and up and up but I was really in "action mode" a bit too much on Sunday and paid off this horrible player by trying to get her off her pocket ten's on a board that was Q-8-7-7 (flop Q-8-7 and I had check-raised her on the flop).

Sometimes it happens, I made the wrong move on the wrong player.

So now I'm about a third through the month and only up like $900 or something around there.

It's time to refocus because I've been spending some money and I need to conserve it right now.

Last night I had a 'home game' at work with some co-workers. I was playing extremely loose and gambling just to keep the action going because it would have been too boring otherwise. We played $.50/1.00 blinds and for a few hands I was challenging this guy to raise blind with me. So I raise my button blind to $9 and he re-raises all-in from his big blind. I asked him if he looked at his cards and he said "no," I asked him "So you're going all-in blind?" and he said "Yeah." So I say "Okay" and call his all-in blind. Then he goes "Well I looked I have ace-high," and I'm like "Uhh... ok." Then two aces and two kings hit the board and I'm a little hot because it was a dirty play but he can still take the money since I knew I was gambling but he refuses to take the money so I'm not sure what the point of him lying about it was. Everything was cool but it completely changed the complexion of the game and playing for fun with the blind raises. I either won or lost $20, I have no idea because I rebought about three/four times and have no idea how much money I had in my pocket. I did buy everyone pizza and soda so I guess I ended the night down money.


It was nice to see Huck Seed take down the NBC Head's Up Championship, it's amazing how well he plays in that tournament. I can't believe Rousso beat Ivey but she was obviously playing well and went all the way to the 'ship.

I want to know wtf is up with the Antonious/Durrr challenge because it seems like it was a huge publicity stunt at this point. Once April/May comes around there's no way they'll be able to finish it. I think Durrr wanted to achieve living legend status and figured this would be a way to do it and I gotta give him some credit, it worked.

I also read this whole Shaniac/Shannon Shorr shit that was going on between two poker (pros) and I thought it was bullshit. Obviously I don't think Shorr deserves to be in the NBC head's up tournament but at the same time his own blog is his space to vent about whatever he wants so who really cares if he does? Shaniac obviously has nothing of his own to talk about. I have no idea who Shaniac is but he's a name on the internet and has a lot of followers who are happy to co-sign with him. I say get your own life.

My hoop game is going downhill and I'm not sure why. My room looks like it just went through Hurricane Katrina and my new car needs new brakes, not to mention my old car needs a new front bumper because I let my boy borrow it and he casually mentioned that he ran over a cone that ended up being stuck on the bottom of the car.

Time to grind!

2009 Numbers: 218.75 hrs., +$24,543; BR2: +$700
January: 120.75 hrs., +$14,873
February: 77.75 hrs., +$8520

March: 23.50 hrs., +$1150
03.02.09 0.75 hrs., +$105
03.03.09 2.5 hrs., +$900
03.03.09 5.0 hrs., +$1145
03.05.09 1.75 hrs., -$1900
03.06.09 3.0 hrs., +$1730
03.07.09, 6.5 hrs., +$785
03.08.09, 4.0 hrs., -$1615

4 years