Saturday- What a stupid I am.

I left my house yesterday morning at 8 AM to make the drive from Omaha to Mason City. I just happened to wake up at that point and started on the 4 hour drive. 4 hours in the car without the radio and without my iPod working correctly is very annoying. I make it to the casino exit around noon and there's construction all over the exit. So after making a certain soccer mom angry enough to flip me off (you're welcome), I make it to the property.

This place is huge. I decide its probably better to just follow the signs to parking instead of just finding my own spot, less possibility to ruffle feathers. I pull into the parking garage and find a spot on the third level. Finally made my way into the building and down to the casino ground floor.

The elevators are in a little hallway out of the way, so when you get out you can't see anything. I came around the corner and it was all spread out in front of me now. Holy crap this place is big, bigger than any casino I've ever been in. There are signs everywhere clearly pointing out where all the tournament stuff is going on. I went straight to the Total Rewards desk to get a Horseshoe players card, needed to register for a tournament. Got my card, paid for my entry into the Omaha8, signed the release, and was on my way. I looked down at my card and saw my seat assignment, Table 40, Seat 9. Table 40??? Wow.

That might be the whole theme of the day, just wow. The poker room has 18 tables of which only 7 were running cash games when I got in there around 1 PM. I sat and played a little 4/8 Omaha8 that didn't go so well, left that table down 60 bucks. I have this bad habit of running second nut-second nut into nut high and nut low in three way pots :( .

I make my way into the tournament area, its basically this big concert/bar/specialty gaming area that they cleared out to put tournament tables in. (Side note: All the girls that work in there are smoking hot and dressed exactly like the picture.) Tables 18 through 47 are here so I can see exactly where I'll be sitting. They're using this as the main tournament room, if they need to put tables in the poker room they do, and those are the first tables to break. It's a little dark, but not too bad. There's a final table going from the day before in the middle of the room with an announcer calling the action and a camera to look down at the board. And that's when I realize I made my first mistake.

I went out to the board with the schedule on it and all the structure sheets for all the tournaments and start reading the Omaha8 sheet. Yep sure enough there it is: "Play will continue until there is a final table or 3 AM (whichever comes first). Play will resume the next day at 3 PM." Oops. It's going to be a late night on Sunday, and I have to remember to ask for another night at my hotel, I had only booked for one. 30 minute levels, start with 25-50 blinds and 5000 chips. First break is 4 hours in, breaks after that are every 2 hours.

I walk back in and see my second mistake. "Single Table Satellites here". Duh, I should have tried that first before buying in. I decide I'm gonna try a few to try and earn a buyin to the HORSE next week. $65 gets you 800 in chips, starting blinds of 25-25 with 15 minute levels. Winner takes all, 5 $100 buyin chips and $50 cash, but the people that have been playing those say that almost all of them get chopped up.

The first one doesn't go so well, no hands and I shove with K9 and get knocked out in a three-way all in. There's two seats in a SNG getting ready to start, so the lady who also got knocked out that satellite and I locked them up and sat next to each other in seats 8 and 9. There's a whole bunch of people who are rotating through all the SNGs and they all seem to know each other. I ask her about that, and she says they all just met today through the tournaments. There's another lady there with two guys hitting on her nonstop, one guy offering surf and turf and the best Merlot in the city. I make a few big hands and make it down to three-handed. We've been playing three-handed for a while and we're pretty even in chips, so I offer a save of one $100 chips for all three of us and play for the rest. They agree and we move on. The lady next to me knocks out the kid and we're headsup. She offers me another chip, and I make my third mistake. I thought too long about it and she took it off the table. It was an easy decision to make and looking back I don't know why I even thought about it. I lost a coin flip and walk away with only the 1 chip.

So now I'm stuck with 1 chip instead of 2 which would have been good enough to buy in to the HORSE on Friday. So dumb. Rookie mistake. The plan today is to go try a couple more SNG sats, and hang around watching the foorball games until 4 PM. I'm gonna try to get my Twitter working here in case someone wants to follow my progress. I think I'm also gonna bring a tape recorder a la Gus Hansen at the WSOP. Clear eyes, full hearts, can't lose.

Limit Omaha8 refresher course.

Ok poker questions time, I'm examining my Omaha8 game coming into the big Omaha8 tournament on Sunday. Trying to tighten things up so I can play my best game. Any and all comments are welcome from all skill levels and playing types.

How do you people play A23x unpaired in general? I want to raise because I know if the flop is of that low texture, I'm most likely getting half with the low and on unsuited boards a wheel can be a strong high hand. But lately I feel like I'm just giving away money because I get the A23x and the flop comes all high cards.

Secondly, how hard do you play A23x with a flop of LLx where the low cards don't pair you? Bet the flop, if someone raises you back just call? Check-call if the turn misses?

If you've got like A236, and you get that low flop like 235 rainbow, you're not in terrible shape with second low and bottom pair, but if there's a bet and a raise in front of you, wouldn't it be safe to assume A4xx (maybe even A46x) and that you're in pretty big trouble?

How playable is a hand like 3456? Does it make as big of a difference if its suited? Double suited? I tend to limp with 3456, even though its probably not limping with.

Horseshoe Poker Classic

Horseshoe Poker Classic flyer (pdf)

Next Sunday at 4 PM, I will be entering in the $200+30 Omaha Hi/Lo event at the Council Bluffs Horseshoe casino. I'm pretty excited and hoping to put up a good showing. It looks like this is going to be a big deal, and I want to do the best I can. I'm brushing up on my tournament Omaha strategy, doing as much reading as possible. I don't know how much interest there will be, but I'm willing to sell pieces of myself if anyone is interested.

I think I have a real chance to evaluate my game and make a good showing. If I play my game, stay sharp, and stay patient and focused, I could definitely cash and do well.

I'm planning on playing the HORSE event too on the next Friday if I get the chance. We'll get into that maybe the next week. But until then I have a question for some of you who may have played the bigger tournaments.

How early should I show up to register? It's a 4 PM start and I was planning on showing up around 1 PM but I'm not sure if that's early enough. I'm gonna be real steamed if I show up and its sold out. Feel free to leave any comments about anything, especially tournament strategy.

Sunday Mornings are the best sometimes.

Woke up entirely too early and couldn't get back to sleep, so I decided to try a $7.60 satellite to the $750K tonight. It was a 6-max double shootout, 1 seat into the tournament. I hit a few hands at the right time at my first table and pretty much coasted through the first table.

The final table started off with a bang. KJd on a flop of K45 with two diamonds is really nice. I bet 200, I got two callers. Turn was a third diamond. I checked, guy left of me checked, third guy bet 100, I raised to 300, left of me coldcalls the raise, and third guy calls. I was extremely worried about a slowplayed nut flush. River was a blank, I cautiously checked, the other two checked, I took it down with my second flush. I just didn't feel comfortable with the way the guy left of me played, and he had just the Ace of diamonds.

I coasted my way to heads-up and this was the first hand of headsup.
Full Tilt Poker Game #7875540167: Satellite to $750K Guarantee (59878655), Table 1 - 30/60 - No Limit Hold'em - 10:47:00 ET - 2008/08/31
Seat 3: jimdniacc (3,050)
Seat 5: Villain (5,950)
Villain posts the small blind of 30
jimdniacc posts the big blind of 60
The button is in seat #5
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to jimdniacc [Ac Ad]
Villain raises to 120
jimdniacc raises to 360
Villain raises to 600
jimdniacc raises to 3,050, and is all in
Villain calls 2,450
jimdniacc shows [Ac Ad]
Villain shows [8c Th]
*** FLOP *** [Kc 2c 3c]
*** TURN *** [Kc 2c 3c] [8h]
*** RIVER *** [Kc 2c 3c 8h] [Kd]
jimdniacc shows two pair, Aces and Kings
macanme shows two pair, Kings and Eights
jimdniacc wins the pot (6,100) with two pair, Aces and Kings
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 6,100 | Rake 0
Board: [Kc 2c 3c 8h Kd]
Seat 3: jimdniacc (big blind) showed [Ac Ad] and won (6,100) with two pair, Aces and Kings
Seat 5: macanme (small blind) showed [8c Th] and lost with two pair, Kings and Eights

I was a little worried when the turn came but the Aces held up and I took the lead. A few hands later I got him allin with my KQ against his tens. I flop a queen and its all over...


I am absolutely not gonna play this tournament tonight, we have a family get-together tonight and I'd rather pocket the T$ anyway. It's amazing how frustrating it is when its going bad, and how easy it seems when its going well. I gotta keep the momentum going.

Three Hands 1.2

Okay number two: final table now, Omaha Hi/Lo round, I'm in a single big blind for 4k with a stack of about 26k. There are 6 people left, big stack is around 40k, and three get paid. It gets folded around to a short stack on the button that has been playing super tight all night. He raises my big blind to 8k which leaves him 5.5k behind. I look down at 9234ds. Raise, call, or fold? Actually I think the real question here is raise or just call, but hopefully we'll see some answers.

Three Hands 1.1

So I think in an attempt to improve my game I'm gonna start a nice little segment I'll bluntly call Three Hands. Three hands a week, for as many weeks as I can come up with worthwhile hands. Let's begin with this.

I played in a Limit HOE tournament Tuesday night down at Meskwaki. $20 buyin for T3500, if you're at T3500 or less you can rebuy for $20 for T2500. $20 add-on at the first break for T2500 more. I've played this one a few times and the first hour seems like standard procedure: rebuy from the get-go, play supertight during holdem, take their chips during Omaha and Omaha8. I played one hand during H1, turned two pair with A9, check-raised a couple of locals and they both folded. Easy game. O and E went real well, including a nice runner-runner hand to river the nut straight in a capped pot preflop. I would have been chip leader except for flopping three's full of sevens on a board of 377; of course, the guy next to me has to have 77xx. That leads us to hand number one.

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

2nd holdem round of said tournament. J3o on the BB, blinds 100/200, limits 200/400. Older lady in seat 1 raises under the gun, small blind calls. The lady in seat one has limped every hand so far and called some raises with some crazy stuff. Usually with garbage like that I don't play but I've established a good tight image in the holdem rounds so I call. That's not what we're here to analyze.

Flop comes down 983, bottom pair no draw. SB checks, I check, old lady bets. What now, astute bloggers? Do I believe her that she has a nine or something else that beats me, or should I call?

Football anyone?

Ladies and Gentlemen, we are only 35 days until the biggest sports league in America gets underway. The NFL season is upon us and seventeen weeks of excuses to be at the bar on Sunday afternoon. Well, seventeen NEW excuses. So as the NFL season draws close I would like to announce the beginning of the new Fantasy Football Poker Blogger League co-hosted by Instant Tragedy and I.

We're looking for at least 8 teams or as many as maybe 16 depending on interest. It'll most like be standard scoring, head-to-head, likely on Yahoo, but I'm open to whatever suggestions we may have. If you would like into the league, leave a comment either here or over at Tragedy's sites. First sixteen will get in. If there's more interest than that maybe we'll start two leagues.

As soon as we figure out how many teams there will be, we will get a draft date together. There will be multiple posts here and many other places I'm sure throughout the season. Hopefully, we get a lot of interest. Who wants in?

I am so glad...

that I got away from home for the weekend.

I took friday off from work so I could register for classes for the upcoming year. I need 20 credits to graduate Liberal Arts AA. I'm focusing so much on graduating that I'm taking the fall off from golf to make sure I pass all 5 classes I'm taking (14 credits). In the spring, I'll be taking my coaching classes as well as what I need to finish up and graduate. Hopefully, I'll be playing golf again in the spring, but its not that important to me right now, despite playing the best golf I've ever played this summer.

As good as all that sounds, I'm a little late to register this summer, and found out that the dorms were already full. Crap. So now I have 3-4 weeks to find a apartment to live in for the fall at least, and when my friends' lease runs up I might be able to move in with them in their townhouse. The bad side of that is I'm probably gonna have to find a job besides grinding at the 3-6 tables.

I took a trip to the casino yesterday, not so much to play but just to catch up on what's been goin on over there. The pit boss recognized me as soon as he saw me, and bought me a beer on the house while we caught up. They brought back the Monday Omaha8 tournament I had so much success in, with some changes. They moved it to Sunday afternoon, and made a mixed tournament PL HO. Two weeks ago it started and they got 11 players which was more than they had in the waining weeks of the Monday tournament.

The poker room is also trying to start a feature game for some of the better players on the weekend by invitation only and I was put on the list. He wants to run an Omaha8 game and maybe some limit rotation game (he mentioned 4-8 TOE or 6-12 OE as the main mixed game). Lately they've also been running a 2-10 spread limit holdem game that has been really popular. I think that might right up my alley, not quite the strict limit game, but not the wildness of a no limit game.

I didn't bother playing in the 1-2 NL game there, I don't think my game is the point where I can play that game with good results. There's usually 3-5 young guys who just play that game every day all day, six or seven hours at a time. It just doesn't feel like its +EV to sit down there.

The blackjack tournament is my weakness: $25, Wednesday night when there's nothing going on (except the Mookie), and it has been incredibly easy to cash. That's the one nonpoker thing I'll probably hold on to now, plus its fun to play with my (newly 21) friends. Those other table games are just too frustrating for me.

I'm really excited for this upcoming year at school. If I stay focused on my schoolwork, stay patient and smart at the tables, and stay cool with everything coming at me, it should be a big year.

I don't really know where this is going for sure, but I figured I might just get writing again. I haven't really felt like it lately, for any number of reasons, but mostly I haven't really felt like I have anything worth saying or reading. I figure if I wouldn't read it, it might not be worth writing. Maybe I just need to write regardless of whether its worth reading. Sigh.

Poker has been okay lately. I played very little online, and just a few 3-6 LHE sessions live recently. I've been playing the $5 HORSE tourneys on FT and having some success. Got second in one Monday, with Tragedy watching me through the bubble and all the way into headsup. Unfortunately, my headsup LHE game kinda sucks without me knowing it, and I got steamrolled by my opponent. Looks like I've got something to put some work into.

I really learned a lot about my game and final table strategy and how to play smarter from Tragedy. I really appreciate it man. I know there's a ton for me to learn about life and poker and patience and friends and what should be important in my life. There is such an amazing group of people out here, and I am so glad to be of any significance here. Hopefully I'm around long enough in this group to learn everything you have to tell me, be it through emails or IMs or blogposts. I'm here to learn.

I've really been working hard on bankroll management, not only just in the poker world, but budgeting for the future and the present. I have been broke way too many times, and I think I'm done doing stupid shit with the rest of my money. Too many times have I taken a bad beat in some crap tournament, and gone and played angry blackjack for no apparent reason and surrender the rest of my money. Too many times have I had a nice 3-6 LHE session, tried to take a stab at the 6-12 LO8 game and lost it all back at a table full of players better than I. I'm just getting tired of it.

So here's the new plan. The two casinos I go to always have a 3-6 game going, and that seems to be the most profitable. I only bring $200 to the casino for playing money, two separate $100 buy-ins. I am fully prepared to leave if I get up $200 (lofty expectation, yes) or if I'm feeling tired considering most the time I'm at the casino is after work and I don't get there until nearly 6:30. It's probably not a good idea to be driving tired anymore (almost hit a deer the other night).

Playing online is strictly for having fun, the money mostly going to blogger tournaments. I think I've given up trying to grind online. Two weeks in a row I've gotten heads up in the first table of the new MATH shootout. I kinda like the new format; the pay structure is interesting, but I can see why it needs to be the way it is.

I'm done writing for now. Maybe some more later. It'll probably read pretty choppy and slow, but whatever. It's a start. Bye.

MSOP Event #6: $15 Omaha Hi/Lo

1072 players to start, gonna be a long night hopefully.
Nice hand, flopped top set with AA3Kds, I bet the whole way and scoop with my set of Aces and a live 3 low.
Scooped a decent sized pot with A2s83h, on a board of AhJh7-6-4h, scooped with nut low and 8-high flush.

Hour 1: T3428, 383 of 1008. Definitely gonna be all night. Pretty sure it's worth the $3600 and the watch.

MSOP Event #4: $50 Mixed Holdem

Back and forth, and back and forth I go, during this event. I'm still having a hard time getting used to the switches between Limit and No Limit in the satellites but we'll see how it goes.

Hour 1: T3400. Not very many interesting hands. I flopped two pair with KJo on a KJ9 board, but had to fold the turn when I got reraised when a Ten hit the board. A few small pots here and there, I'm picking good steal spots in NL.

Hour 2: T1690. 272 of 284 remaining. Next round is 120/240/25 NL, then 250/500 Limit, so I need to get going. I lost a big pot when I missed nut flush and open-ended straight draws that I flopped. I got my 700 all in with AJ against 22 and flopped an Ace to double up. Won a couple more small pots. Already farther than I expected, which is probably not healthy to have such low expectations.

Out in 222nd, fuck.

One Disturbing Chat Log

Location: Blogger Cash Game during the Friday Night Donkament

MiamiDon: where is waffles?
twoblackaces: playing high stakes
twoblackaces: :-)
weak_player: jacking it to asian porn
twoblackaces: that too
jimdniacc: High stakes world of warcraft?
Julius_Goat: with manna rebuys
weak_player: high stakes jacking?
jimdniacc: that is a disturbing image
jimdniacc: lol
weak_player: i know
weak_player: so sorry
twoblackaces: oh man
Julius_Goat: Gabe Kaplan is the commentator for
HSJ
weak_player: hahahaha
weak_player: i can somehow picture that
Julius_Goat: Matusow does color
twoblackaces: ahhhhhhh
twoblackaces: and the in depth analysis?
MiamiDon: he runs like zeus until it gets HU
Julius_Goat: ow don
Julius_Goat: OW OW OW OW
twoblackaces: geez don
hoyazo: its funny cuz its true
Julius_Goat: no, that's why it HURTS
jimdniacc: serious injury concerns for the participants
weak_player: i am so sorry i started that
weak_player: so so sorry
jimdniacc: not to mention perfromance enhancing
lubricants
jimdniacc: and that's all you'll hear from me on the
matter :)
Julius_Goat: ejected for roughing
jimdniacc: lol
twoblackaces: lol
Julius_Goat: Kaplan: "Now, Waffles is going to go
for two hands here for sure . . ."
Julius_Goat: Kaplan: "What I meant to say was,
he'll try the self-suck"
jimdniacc: Matusow: "Boy he sure loves jackin it,
don't he Gabe!?!"
Julius_Goat: "Well, AJ, these guys are pros
Julius_Goat: "They do this EVERY DAY"
jimdniacc: "Sometimes two or three practice
sessions a day, to get the technique down perfect."
weak_player: "i think he is slowrolling him"

Fuck I Hate IM Spam

Warning: Non-poker related.

Who are these people that have nothing better to do than bug the shit out of me?!?

[04:29] kelle_babe: How was your day today? well, mine was pretty good . Though, i just went through your lovely profile now at germansinglesonline.com and i'm intrigued. I'll like to learn more about you if you don't mind getting back to me.hope to chat with you soon.bye for now.....kelle.

German Singles Online? I'm not that stupid. There's no effing way I'm on German Singles.

(Relative) Success

5th in the MATH
15th in the Skill Series
3rd in the Dookie

2 cashes, 1 BBT3 cash, 2 BBT3 points so far this week

It's been a pretty good week so far. I wasn't back from work Wednesday night to get in the Mookie but made it for the Dookie and played pretty well. I've been feeling pretty good lately, staying a good mood as much as possible. I'm coming down the stretch with two weeks left in school before I go home and other places unknown this summer. There will be a lot of changes soon between moving my stuff home, getting comfortable at a new casino this summer, working 40 hours a week, and deciding what my future holds.

I've played tight for the most part especially in the MATH despite some of the beats I've laid on people. I've been fully willing to lay down pocket pairs if I didn't think it was a good time to get involved in a hand. It was interesting playing deep into the MATH Monday night, getting down to push-or-fold time. It's been a long time since I've been involved in that style of play and it took some getting used to.

The HA was fun Tuesday and I hit just enough big hands to keep my stack healthy. In the end, I just didn't get enough cards to get all the way to the money.

I feel really good about my Omaha game lately. I usually have issues going from Hi to H/L and vice versa, but neither game is struggling much now. When I go from playing a lot of H/L to Hi, I have a tendency to overvalue flops that look good, but are susceptible to bigger hands. Many times I've like played a hand like 5678ds and flopped two pair, and then gone on to play it too aggressive and get beat out by flush draws that make it there or other hands. When I go from Hi to H/L, I feel like I undervalue some of the low draws, hands like A25Kds or even folding suited A3xx instead of at least limping and trying to see a flop.

I made a couple of those mistakes playing the H/L blogger cash game and the Hi Only Dookie at the same time. A couple little mistakes was ok but I gave up half my stack in the Dookie so I had to give up the cash game and focus on the Dookie. Once I got my focus back, I played well enough to get to third where I ran into a flopped boat by pvanharibo.

I'm just doin what I can with the tools I got. I should be around tonight for the Riverchasers event tonight Double Stack NL Holdem tonight. We'll see yall out there.

Corn-Vegas

Who wants to go to Corn-Vegas? This is just a preliminary way of counting up how many people would actually want to come to Iowa and hang out and play poker and drink boxes o' wine. So there ya go.

So it appears I'll be playing the blogger donkament tonight thanks to a backing from a friend. I might be back in the swing of things as early as next week's Mookie depending on my financial status at the end of the weekend. I had a very nice weekend at the real tables getting third in a tournament Tuesday and then winning a blackjack tournament Wednesday. Those two cashes makes my bankroll much healthier than it has been in in months.

Hopefully I can continue that into tonight but with a bunch of bloggers, you never know. See ya at the tables.

BuddyDank Radio

Ok so there's a very real possibility that I will be joining BuddyDank and others on BuddyDank Radio tomorrow night during the Mookie and the Dookie. I'm excited and so should you. Join us tomorrow night as I make my debut and try not to make an idiot out of myself. At least do well enough to get myself reinvited. We can only hope. And there will be confirmation to this spot when I get it. So just pray for me. Or whatever your religion allows. Peace.

Hawkeye

I did have real thoughts, and a real post to produce for my non-readers. But instead I decided that a bottle of Hawkeye, some Mountain Dew, and some Wii Golf would be a better use of my time.

I've been very busy lately. I've joined the Campus Newspaper here. Its alright but I'm a little rusty with writing for a newspaper, as opposed to writing here or for fun. They teach you to write for newspapers by only using two to three short sentences per paragraph.

I had a sociology test today. It's pretty hard stuff if you're not paying attention. Hell, I pay attention in class, and I still had to do a pretty good amount of studying. Time will tell what my grade on that one is.

I've played a lot of blackjack lately, heads up against the dealer when I can find an empty table. I played six shoes the other night on $30 at a $5 min table, and made $50. It was more fun than anything, relearning my basic strategy.

That and I'm trying to figure out if I can make it to SXSW over spring break. I could use the time in the warm weather. That's all for now. Peace.

Temper, Temper

Exhibit A: Blackjack Tournament

It was the final hand of the quarterfinals, the top two from my table advancing to the semifinals. I was in second place by just a few chips, a couple hundred or so, not much in the grand scheme of things. The third place stack (which will, for the purposes of this story, be referred to as 'G') and I were close and the fourth place guy had no chance. The first place person had bet very few chips, not enough to lose to both of us, but not enough to beat both of us. It was G and I. I bet first enough to cover a both-lose situation. He had the advantage of seeing what I was going to do. I knew what he was going to do. He went all in, and with a win and he had me beat no matter what.

The first place guy got a blackjack, he was in for sure. I drew a 14, him a 15, and the dealer showed a 10. I thought I had to hit: if I hit and get a low card, I'm taking a low card away from him; if I bust, he still has to hit assuming there's another 10 under there. I hit and take a nine, and bust. G thought for two or three minutes (it sure seemed like more than that) and finally stayed. It was such a ballsy move, and I give him all the credit in the world. The dealer flipped up a 6, hit and bust, and it was over. He won.

It was over.

Or not. He was so excited he got up and ran around. Meanwhile, the dealer was still paying him off. And apparently, that's a no-no.

Rule 20: No player shall leave the table until the round is over or shall forfeit the tournament. The round is not complete until all chips are counted by the dealer and winners are officially determined. (Italics added by me.)

First he was declared winner because of passing the previous first place winner by a few chips. The man in fourth place (god bless him) brought up the rule to the man in charge. All the head people huddled together to try and figure out what happened. None of them had seen it well, so they went to security.

G came up to me, at least as close as he could. Security was hangin around trying to calm him down. He was yelling at me from across the table. "You don't even know the rules. I've been to all kinds of these things. I know what I'm doing. You don't have a clue." Sounded a lot like something you'd hear Hellmuth say on TV.

The time passed. Five, ten, fifteen minutes. I wasn't the one stressed out. G was flippin out on security and everyone now. And his wife was worse. She came up to me while I was sitting, waiting patiently for the decision. And she went off.

"Why do you have to be such a sore loser? You're never gonna get anywhere in life with that kind of attitude. You didn't even know the smallest rules during the game. You had to get help from this guy..."

Now at that point, I was kinda tired of getting yelled at. I had two options: either stay calm, or flip out on them. I chose to stay calm. It was probably a wise choice. He probably could have kicked my ass. He was a big guy.

The floor came back 23 minutes after the round was over. I had been paying pretty close attention to my watch. He was disqualified. I was in. I immediately walked away. I figured I probably didn't want any part of the explosion to come.

I could see him from my seat in the poker room. It was a lot of pointing, yelling, a lot of hand gestures. Surprisingly, no birds. I could see him and his wife both yelling and other people playing at the tables staring at them trying to figure out what the ruckus was.

My mom says I have ugly temper. I tend to disagree. Exhibit A.

Blogger Skill Series 1/22/08 LO8 w/Knockouts

Limit Omaha Hi/Lo, absolutely my favorite game, I was so happy when I found out that this was the game of the night. And for just $13, its a cheap way to get in a bunch of hands. So I sat down with a Dr. Pepper in one hand and my cell phone in the other waiting for a cell call from a certain someone. Now we turn to the notes I've got from last night. I have a hard time remembering hands and times without making some notes.

Starting table had AlCantHang, PirateLawyer, riggstad, ck31, DonkeyPuncher, and whoever else, those were just the names written down. Won a little here and there really no big hands that whole first hour. I remember the conversation was fun, but the hands sucked. 2345o on an A2 flop is always nice but it missed and that was the worst loss of that first half hour.

I won a nice sized pot with nut nut A34x on a board of K6925, the flop was checked which was very helpful. The very next hand I got AQ6x, another checked flop 3TJ, and a 4 brought me a small reason to call one bet on the turn. The river was a bingo offsuit King, it got three-bet and I took it down against a set and finished the first hour with 4630 and in 4th of 48 (everyone still left in). One other note, my team Drake won their 16th game in a row and moved to 17-1 with a win versus Creighton, a nice little boost to my attitude.

Second hour was where it went downhill. I lost a big pot early on with A3TJ on a 45JT board, when there were three allins. Two of them had A2 and the other one iced it showing A22x. To make it worse the turn was a 3, screwing up my two pair (which was good at the time) and giving them the wheel. At one point down to 600, I went on a big rush, knocking out ck31 on a lucky hand flopping two pair with Q3xx against his AAK3, and rivering a Q to boat up. I finished the 2nd hour at 5600, a little about average, with one bounty.

The power of the new Mountain Dew took over and I went on a sick run, winning 8 hands in 10 minutes and climbing to 20k. The big hand involved AlCantHang going allin, swimmom calling, and one other person going allin with a little raise. At that point I rolled the dice with QJd89s, flopped Queens and Jacks, and it held up as no low showed up and I KOed three people.

We arrived at the final table in 2 hours and 37 minutes, with me at 20k and in 4th at the table. I got very few cards before the break but won enough little pots to finish the third hour at 26k, in 2nd of 6, and with enough bounties to make me already even on the night.

The first note I have after that is "pvanharibo is running everyone over", killed everyone and we got it down to 3 people with Rake Feeder and I nearly tied in chips and pvanharibo had a huge lead. From there the notes are pretty fuzzy, but I got quartered one too many times and ran out of steam, busted in 3rd place in my first appearance in the Skill Series for $72 + 15 in bounties for $87.

I played really well, got a lot of really good cards, and am pretty happy with my showing. I'm starting to feel like Omaha Hi/Lo, especially the limit variety, is definitely my best game. Tonight however, its the Mookie and the Dookie, and I'll be livin the High Life drinking those tall blondes. Everyone have a good night.

January 20, 2008

So things are looking up in 2008, including last Monday's victory in a limit Omaha Hi/Lo tournament at the local B&M. I've got my car back and more mobility to go to the casino whenever I want. With that in mind, I know that I need to keep a discipline about me to make sure I'm not going to the casino to fuck around. I'm there to make money, to work, and I need to keep my eye on that.

I've identified that the tournaments are more +EV for me right now, especially that Omaha Hi/Lo tournament. In 4 appearances, I've gotten two wins, a second, and a 4th. In the Omaha tournament, you start with 1500 chips with 25/25 blinds and 25/50 limits and the option to rebuy any time your stack is less than 1500. It was so wild Monday that I called EVERY unraised hand pre-flop, which is just the way I like it. My strength comes in knowing the numbers (especially in O8 where they're more complicated) and making an appropriate play. I went on a huge run and tripled my stack the first hour and went on to win.

I've come to the realization that to be successful at this, four things need to happen:

1) Set a time for finishing but be flexible if the game is good or if I'm chasing my losses.
2) Be aware that bad beats are going to happen, and be able to adjust or even leave if need be.
3) Stay away from -EV situations, whether it be in the poker room or the whole casino.
4) Practice good bankroll management.

All four things are things I've had an immense amount of trouble with while playing poker both online and live and they all tie into each other. If I've taken a bad beat, a lot of times I'll play much longer than I should be or even been dumb enough to try and win it back playing tilted blackjack.

I'll finish with my list of goals which are very lofty, but if I keep my wits about me, I feel like I can at least approach them or even fulfill them.

1) Win a tournament with a buy-in of more than $100 or a first prize of $2000.
2) Consistently run over the 1/2 NL Hold'em game.
3) Make a run at player of the year in terms of tournaments won at the local casino.
4) Play in and cash in a WSOP event.
5) Always come away with the feeling that I played as good as I could that day even if I came away with a loss.

-Jim