Starting to Think About Vegas A Little More

I played online for the first time in a few weeks last night. I played 1 $26 45 man sng on Full Tilt. I finished 2nd after missing an open ended draw heads up and outchipped. I then did a few things around the house and took a shower and brought my laptop to the back and started looking around a few sites to see what events were going on when Jerrard and I are in Vegas in June. It really kinda started to excite me I must say as I have not made it out there in 2 years or so. The Venetian has there dates and structures posted for the Deepstack event. The WSOP naturally has there things up, and Binions has the schedule up as well. This all led me to start wondering about the tourneys that Full Tilt is running for the WSOP. I decided to check it out and low and behold that had a $215 one w/ 2 seats guaranteed for a 2k WSOP event.

I stewed around a bit and decided to play it. This would start a rollercoaster of events that would last about 3.5 hours. It was a great structure for the 34 players that signed up. I saw my chipstack go from 3k(starting stack) up to 5400 and down to 1400 and back to 4k b/f the end of the 2nd level. This is where the craziness started. While sitting on 4800 in chips and the blinds at 100/200 I got smoked for almost my entire stack. At the end of this hand I was left with a paltry 241 chips and on the button. I decided to wait for either a decent hand or my big blind to stick it in with and go then go to sleep. Well it turned out I'd wait until my BB. In my BB utg opens for 600 and all fold to me and I stick the remaining 41 in there w/ 10c3c and I am ahead of utg's 67dd until the flop comes: jd7h8c....the turn is the 8d and the river is the Js and my 10 kicker doubles me up to 582....I win the next 3 or 4 hands I play and all of a sudden I feel like I am on a free roll for this seat. I struggle for 24 players all the way to 9 being either the short stack or 2nd shortest stack until 8 handed I double thru QJ w/ AK on a KJ8 board and the very next hand the same guy doubles me up when I have AA. This takes me to 4th in chips with 8 to go and I am starting to think there is now way this is gonna happen. Well after I busted the last 4 players to win the 2k seat I realized that the improbable comeback had happen, assuring that I play in atleast 1 WSOP event in June when we go. I had planned on playing mainly Venetian events, but I must say I am excited to take a shot a what will likely be a 3000 person field.

It looks like the only 2k event will be the day before we leave to come home. It is a 3 day event so hopefully I will be switching my flight at the last minute to stay a few more days. I don't think it would be to hard to convince Jerrard to stay an extra day or week depending on how things go!

I read a few blogs this morning. I find myself wondering how many bullets Gene fired out of his gun yesterday and if any of them connected with anything. I also read how monkey found out the structures about the New Orleans event....I must say I am now kinda excited about it as I was not even planning on going as bad as they have been lately over there. It is really pathetic when I rather drive an extra hour and 15 minutes to go to the Beau b/c Harrahs just sucks that bad!

I did play the $550 at the Beau this past Saturday to no avail. I ran semi deep and busted 28th with 18 being paid. I lost the last 4 or 5 meaningful pots that I played. Always next time I suppose. The cash game that Reid and I played in Friday night had me feeling and looking like a zombie for the first 6 hours of the tournament. I was so drained by the time I busted I went to my room for an hour or so and tried to get myself up to go to the cash tables like 4 times, but never could get going. I ended up sleeping until the morning and then coming home.

Well that's all for now. Good luck to all playing in the Main Event starting today. I hope someone worthwhile takes it down. I am hoping to wander to Shortys tonight. I'll let you know if I do.
Lata

Time to Dust off the Keyboard

I know it has been a hell of a long time since I have posted anything, but to be quite honest I don't think many people have lost any sleep over it. My problem is this, I really hate reading blogs where it goes like this: I flopped top pair and bet the flop and a guy raised and I decided to just "smooth" it here and I wanted to check raise on the turn ..................yada yada yada you get the point. I have always hated reading those and actually just skip over them now, and I refuse to write one of those blogs because I will annoy myself. I actually started to write a blog about a month ago and attempted to save it and that obviously didn't work and I was not about to type it again. I also do not want to be one of those guys that blogs only when they are winning and you don't here from them when they lose. That has not been the case here; well not entirely as I have gotten my teeth kicked in in live action but I have more than made up for it online so for in 2009.

I started my poker playing online w/ the $55 70k tournament the night of the Sugar Bowl where I bested 1785 people to finish 3rd after taking a few disgusting beats as we played 4 handed for almost an hour. I followed that up w/ a 4th place finish in a $55 1 rebuy/1 add on tournament about a week later and finished 4th out of around 400 players. I had a few other insignificant cashes and then finished 11th at the end of the month in the $162 100k nightly on stars. I think all told for the month of January I actually played less than 15 tournaments online so needless to say it was a very nice month. I read "the honest players" blog (still having trouble with that) and he said something about playing distraction free. I believe there obviously is a lot to that as that has been my biggest challenge playing online. It is hard to register for a tournament when you are not sure if you have 5-7 hours to commit to it. In the past I have just signed up and played it like a wild child to get some chips, and if I did I would settle in and play and if not I would go deal with whatever else was going on. This is stupid and I am very proud of myself for fixing that major problem.

Live play has been the exact opposite in '09 so far. I have played four sessions and they have been a total disaster. The first 3 sessions were completely my fault as I played horribly and I know that I did. I am sure ya'll know those situations where you know you are doing something stupid but you do it anyway. That was me about 8 different times in a 4 hour session for 3 sessions.
The 4th session was at the shit hole in Amelia where Pobody Nerfect works (how you walk in that place everyday boggles my mind). W/out going into pointless hands about the night b/c it is boring (see opening paragraph for reason why) I can sum it up by saying it was just one of those nights where you get $500 in the pot preflop w/ AA vs. KK and the K comes in the window! It happens to all of us from time to time and you just have to except it. I am not gonna become one of these players that tries to out think the situation and say " what if I just call and see a flop and if a K comes and I think the guy has kings I can get away from the hand." I believe that is bullshit and if you do that you will lose way more in the long run than you will save in losing that occasional hand. If I know I can get my chips in as a 4-5 to 1 favorite then that is what I am gonna do. There is a time when I would have been more cautious, but the more I see people that have a clue play this game, the more I want to take advantage of the edges when they are in my favor.

What else is going on?
Honest player and I are making another adventure to Vegas in June. It is absurd how cheap trips are right now. If any of you are interested in coming give me a holla and we can fill you in on the details and dates. My wife has been kind enough to let me away with a then 1.5 year old running ramped throughout the house! I know a lot of wives that are not that giving w/ no children in the picture. I am sure glad I scooped her up young b/f she knew any better.

I had the privilege of playing online w/ Goondingy last night. I got word from a reliable source that he has been grinding at the micro tables on Full Tilt. I decided to look him up and sit on his left to give him a little shit. I chatted w/ him for a while messing w/ him and I know he was getting pissed b/c he had no idea who I was. It was fun, and the best of all I got to stack him (for $.97 mind you) when he raised pot and I decided not to believe him and repot it w/ the almighty k6 off suit. He came back over the top of my raise and at that point how am I gonna fold for 37 cents really? He had JJ and I ofcourse spiked a king on the turn. One of Ray's buddies was also in the hand and I drug a pretty decent little pot. It was fun although hectic as I was trying to talk shit at the same time I was heads up in a 6max sng at the same time. I really don't know how you people play 8 and however many table ya'll play. I can't do it.

To touch on the Honest Players blog, I have been trying to convince him to play online for like 3 years and I don't think it was me that convinced him as much as he has just realized how damn convenient it is. I don't care the reason, but I am glad he is b/c I think it will help my game just as much. Reid and I have been chatting back and forth as he is logging quite a few hours online and it always helps to critique each other and see other peoples point of view. That is how we became better players by sharing concepts and ideas and letting each other know what we thought, right or wrong. That is probably come off sounding like an ass when I do make comments from time to time. If we are being critical of each others play I don't believe it helps to sugarcoat things when we think someone misplayed a hand or whatever. I am a big boy I can take criticism so I expect other too also. If I am ever to harsh just let me know and I will try to be kinder and more gentle in my opinions b/c I know they aren't always right.

That is all for now. I am hoping to return to live action tomorrow night. Hopefully things turn around in that arena.
Lata