Musical Poker

Quick Hits

2008-02-28T16:50:00.003-06:00

Just a few quick notes so you know that I am not dead.

* I will be updating this blog about once a week. I know that if I tried to update everyday that I would eventually burn out.

* I am in the process of rebuilding my bankroll after having cashed about half of it and then using poor BR management with the other half. The rebuilding process started with $50 around the middle of January and it is now at $445. I am committed to playing well within my bankroll this time, next time I cash out some of it I will drop down in stakes if needed.

* Just to give you an idea of what I was playing online before the rebuilding, 3/6 and 5/10 limit, 1/2 no limit, $20,$30 and $50 single table SnG's, and the lots of tournaments with varying sizes of buyins($10 to $100).

* What am I playing now? .10/.25 NL, $5 single table SnG's and $4 180person SnG's. BTW, I love $4 180 SnG's. Horrible play as you would expect.

* Hit a bad streak last week where I was knocked out of four consecutive 180's as follows: Aces cracked by queens when he hits a straigt at the river, flopped nut straight beat by flush on river, coolered when my set of queens ran into a set of aces and finally get it all in on Ace high flop when I hold AK, he holds kings, one outer king hits on river. That sucked! The good news is good BR kept me from losing much money on these. In the past I would have been playing way above my BR and lost a big percenatage of my BR.

* My band sucked this past Saturday. Our drummer coudlnt hear us very well so the timing was off, our singers forgot to sign a verse in a song, the guitarist and myself jumped ahead of everyone by measure in another song. The crowd didnt seem to notice but none of us were very happy.

* I am off to New Orleans next week! I love taking vacations down there, the food and music along with atomosphere are awesome. The bonus is getting away from winter for a little while.

Back In The Saddle

2008-02-19T13:47:00.003-06:00

After a short break of 1 and 1/2 years I'm back.

I have thought about bringing this blog back for sometime now but inevitably decided against it for one reason or another. So the question looms why now and why did I stop in the first place? Lets start with why I stopped.

To begin with, after reading through the old blog entries I really wish that I hadnt stopped. When I first started this blog I knew that I sucked and when I stopped blogging I still felt that I sucked. That really was the main reason, I knew that people were starting to read it and I thought that I was a horibble blogger and the time wasnt worth the result. Now that I reread the blog with a fresh perspective I realize I was finally starting to find my voice just before I stopped posting. I hope that I will be able to find that voice again fairly quickly but only time will tell. One thing that will be very obvious is that I have not been writing at all over the past year and the rust will show for sometime.

So why start it up again?

Short answer, my poker game. My game has become stagnant, I dont analyze what I do much, I am basically on auto pilot and my game shows it. After reading through this blog I realize that I thought about the game alot more when I wrote about it. My game has grown in some areas and really regressed in others. My goal for this here blog revival is to help my analytical skills in every phase of my life. On top of that I get to rant about whatever the hell I want. Major bonus.

Wecome back to the basement.

From The Ashes

2008-02-18T13:09:00.002-06:00

The basement blogger could be rising.

This is cool

2006-05-23T19:42:00.000-05:00

I have registered to play in the PokerStars World Blogger Championship of Online Poker!

This Online Poker Tournament is a No Limit Texas Holdem event exclusive to Bloggers.

Registration code: 7330476

Odds and Ends

2006-05-17T16:39:00.000-05:00

If you have a blog that has a black background with white text, I will not read you. That is a horrible combination for my eyes, I start to see shadows and it gives me a headache. It may look cool, but it is not at all functional.

Was getting my ass handed to me when I first jumped up to 5/10. I lost a little over $700 in my first three days. I thought about dropping back down, but decided screw it, I will not let this level get the best of me. Over the past two nights I have won $550 of it back. My thought process was that if I dropped down there would be lingering doubts in my head about that level and the next time I jumped up, I would not be at all confident. So I decided to stay focused and determined to make this a winning level. Seems to be working so far.

Warning, Bad Beat Story!

I was in a $50 SnG last night. We are down to 5 handed, blinds are 75/150. The chip leader is pushing the table around. He has 4900, I have 2100. He raises to 600 preflop, I look down to find wired 9's. I have been waiting for this opportunity. I put him to the test and push. He takes a little while and calls with Ks10s. Flop come 6 9 4 no spades. I yell out yes at this flopped set. I am feeling really good now, since he needs runner runner to beat me. Oops, I think I pissed off the poker gods for celebrating too soon. Turn comes a Q and the river a 10. Ouch. That one hurt, but just reminded me to never celebrate until the hand is over, no matter how much of a favorite you are.

Just want put this down in writing for posterities sake. My one goal in poker is to make a final table of a major tournament. I dont have to win, just make the final table and use that money as my retirement fund. I will do this.

I am thinking of hiring a poker coach/mentor. I have one guy I am seriously considering. Dont know his price yet, but he is a documented winning pro. He is not one of those younger online kids who have done well for themselves over a short period of time. That would worry me. This is a guy who has been playing for most of his life and as I mentioned, has proven, documented success. Now the question becomes, whats his price, and, will his style mesh with mine. If not, then it could be a huge waste of money. Has anyone done this yet? What are your impressions?

Not sure which I prefer more, live or online. I think its live, but, if I dont go to the casino for a couple of days I start to get reluctant. For whatever reason the thought of the card room doesnt appeal to me. Once I go however; then I go back for three or four consecutive nights. I think it might be because the poker room at Potowatami is kind of drab. If it was like the poker room at Oneida I think I would probably be there every nignt.

It probably isnt a good idea to decide that you are going to try and steal a multiway pot with pure aggression with 6 4 offsuit. Not that I would know anything about that.

Do you ever feel guilty for turning someone on to poker?

I cut my hair. No more long haired hippy look for me. I liked my look with long hair, but ladies really seem to like the new short hair. And lets face it, everything we do is basically for the ladies.

Heard a new term at the poker table tonight. There was a gentleman from Atlanta, and he used the term slobberknocker. When we asked what that meant, he said, big or huge. He would use the term for big pots. The rest of us at the table liked the term but changed the meaning ever so slightly, here is the sentence that become popular at our table "Excuse me miss, those are quite the slobberknockers." I like it, it is now part of my lexicon.

You know you're running bad if ....

2006-05-13T10:06:00.000-05:00

In an effort to escape from my current fling with the negative side of variance, I present a blatant rip off of Duggle Boggey's idea, which was a blatant rip off of Jeff Foxworthies idea, which was a blantant rip off of someone else's idea.
So, without further ado:

You Know You're Running Bad If

You know you're running bad if you hit a straight flush and are convinced somebody has a higher straight flush, but you bet the hell out of it anyway, only to find out you were right

You know you're running bad if you walk into the poker room and the players at a table immediately clear a spot for you and offer to get you drink

You know you're running bad if you attempt to toke the dealer and they give it back to you, saying "You really need this more than I do"

You know you're running bad if your friend of the opposite sex, who you happen to have, shall we say, "an arrangement" with, tells you she has a headache, even though the only other time she said no to a man since she was 16 was when he asked if they should wait until the second date

You know you're running bad if you find a twenty dollar bill in your car, get so excited you inadvertently speed up, then get pulled over and are given a $180 ticket

You know you're running bad if you are playing at the loosest table you have ever played at, yet cant hit any of your hands. You are finally dealt pocket aces in the big blind, and for the first time all night everyone, including the small blind, folds

You know you're running bad if you go out with friends, hit it off with the hot bartender, ask her to go out to breakfast with you after bar close, she says yes, and then you pass out at the bar 10 minutes before said bar close

You know you're running bad if you decide to shampoo the carpet for the first time in over a year, and within ten minutes your cat pukes all over it

You know you're running bad if you stop at fricken McDonalds for a takeout breakfast because you are on your way to work on a Saturday morning, even though you normally work nights, get to work, take out your hotcakes and discover that the sons of bitches forgot to put a plastic fork or knife in with your order

You know you're running bad if you see the clueless fish sitting at the table is happy that you sat down. To further prove you are running bad, he then sucks out on you in a pot and makes some smart ass comment under his breath as he smirks. You envision yourself going over and smacking him upside the head telling him "The next time you crack my set of Aces I flopped, by calling my bets all the way when you needed runner, runner hearts for your 10,2 to make your flush, and then gloat about it, I will pull you out of your fricken seat, beat the ever living hell out of you, knock all your teeth in, cut off your balls, and piss down your fricken throat." Not that I have ever thought that (Oh, and by the way, I havent noticed any anger problems that others seem to think I have since I quit smoking, have you?)

And finally,
You know you're running bad if you post a stupid ass post about running bad, hoping it will turn the heartless tide of variance

Blogging about Bloggers Blogging about Blogs

2006-05-04T19:16:00.000-05:00

Well arent we self important. That is my reaction to all the blog postings recently about blogs. There have been out cries about content, money generation, reading worthiness, hits. Who fricken cares? Now you may say, "Vegaas of course YOU dont care, you are not an A lister". First of all, that is Mr. Vegaas to you. Secondly, you are right, I am not an A, B, C or even D lister. Welcome to the basement! Thats right, I am coining the term Basement Lister. Dont even think about stealing it.

I dont care if anyone reads this or not. I have no compulsion to view my hits. This is just a way for me vent and talk my way through strategies sometimes. I started this here blog to help my poker game. I continue it because it feels good to vent sometimes, and it can be fun.

So I am going to end this short post the way it started, and this is going to whoever happened to mention in one of their posts that C listers should be happy because they dont have the pressures that an A lister does. Ok, get the fuck over yourself. "A list" poker bloggers are still just poker bloggers. Remember that. I love reading Iggy, Pauly and the like, but, THEY ARE STILL JUST POKER BLOGGERS. Please understand what I mean by this. Their work is great, but it is not ever to be mainstream. Dr. Pauly may get famous for his books, screenplays and the like. But for his poker blog? No way.

So lets stop the stroke fest and get back to what really matters. Like debates about who would you rather see tied to a chair, drowned in honey, and then have one million fire ants released onto them, Phil Helmuth, Sean Sheikan or Mike Matusow?

By the way, I quit smoking on Monday, so that may explain the tone of this post.

Might as well post

2006-05-01T11:50:00.000-05:00

I havent had much to say lately, so that is why there have been no posts.

My game is kind of stagnant right now. I am not playing great, but not lousy either. I am basically breaking even in the bankroll department. I think it is time to break down my game and reconstruct it. I am just not happy right now with my poker play.

Speaking of my poker play, I played horribly last night in the WPBT Stud event. I was close to the chip lead the whole way and then completely self destructed once we got into the points. There was one player who kind of put me on tilt, after that I donked off all my chips.

The player I speak of was super aggressive with very marginal hands, so I ended up in some betting wars. All it took was one suck out to send me on tilt. Well that and after that suckout I was the bring in for 5 out of the next 7 hands. That helped the tilt factor. After that I was staying in hands where I knew I was behind, not smart, but that is kind of my M.O. I let people get to me too much when playing. If I can eventually plug that leak, I may start to see my bankroll grow again.

The Real World Sucks

2006-04-05T16:33:00.000-05:00

Our hobbies help us escape from the struggles of day to day life, albeit temporarily. Well sometimes we need to acknowledge the suckitude of life, and do whatever we can to maybe help someone in even the smallest way. Go over to Bobby Bracelets site to find out what I am talking about. I will be donating.

After that, this seems completely meaningless, but live poker has been good. I am winning, the majority of players are not good, and I enjoy the chance to actually interact with people. My plan is to go 4 nights a week, and play online the other 3 nights. I am going to limit myself to only 1 online tournament per week as well.

I've noticed that since I started up live limit play that my post flop play online has gotten stronger. I really got into a rut playing NL, SnG's and Tourneys online. My game had gotten to such a preflop game that is was hurting my bankroll. By playing limit and having to play more post flop I am starting to get that part of my game back into shape.

I have been reading Phil Gordons "Little Green Book". Its not bad. I already know most of the stuff Phil talks about, but I have also learned a few new things as well. Phil is really good at relating the information in a way that you can understand. This is the only poker book that made me literally laugh out loud at a story he told. Its the story about shaky hands. I think the most useful piece in the book is the table were Phil basically removes the need for you to figure out pot odds. He tells how many outs you need to call based upon the percentage of the pot that your opponent bets. This is what Phil does best, he takes complicated concepts and simplifies them that even I can understand it. I thought the rule of 4 and 2 made things easy, this table makes it even easier. It gets the seal of approval from Vegaas.

IAPC! Notice how cool I am by making that an acronym? Thats how we IT people roll!

I wonder if the mystery will ever be solved.

Digging Live Play

2006-03-29T16:03:00.000-06:00

First off, a big shout out to Dugglebogey for the nifty banner. Thank you my man. I plan on that being the first step in redoing the look of the site.

I havent been blogging much, one the reasons for that is that I am terrible at remembering details of hands that I play. I need to start taking notes, because I would like to start getting into some strategy in this blog. There are only so many "Live Blogging SnG's" you can do.

I have been running cold in the SnG's for the last month, I cash once in a while, but it has been a slow but steady decline in the bankroll. I am going to change my focus to NL cash games online for a while. The only problem is, lately, I have been really enjoying live play at the casino.

I have been to the casino 4 of the last 5 nights. I really dont have a live bankroll. Everytime I have played live in the past, I have meant to put the money aside, but it just doesnt happen. The money is either in my wallet, or stored somewhere, then something comes up and instead of going to the ATM, I just use the poker money instead. I need to stop that.

I have only been playing 3/6 limit live. The play at these tables is terrible, and I have averaged 3BB an hour the last 4 sessions. I am getting really tempted to give 5/10 a shot. I just need to get the bankroll up a bit more through a couple more positvie sessions, then I will make the jump.

Having been playing exclusively online for the past 6 months, I have forgotten how enjoyable live play is. The joking around at the table, shooting the shit with the dealers, the overall atmosphere. I have also noticed that I am terrible at noticing peoples physical tells. I am great at picking up betting patterns from playing online, but when it comes to observing the physical, I suck.

The best part to me of playing live is the focus. When playing online, even though I try not get distracted, I do. Check my email, check the lastest sports stories, read the blogs, get distracted by the ex, so on and so forth.

From this point forward, you will not be seeing Vegaas online as much, as I will have my ass parked in seat at the casino a minimum of 3 nights a week.

Now, if I can just stay away from the Black Jack tables while waiting for my seat.

Live bloggin, while drunk, and playing a SnG, that just screams +EV

2006-03-23T02:35:00.000-06:00

2:35 A.M. Ok, just got back from a bar where I met my two singers. One of them is the host for Kareoke(sp?). Was downing the Southerns and coke pretty well tonight. Along with that, I let my singers pick out some fruity ass shots, so I am well prepared for this damn SnG.

2:37 Folded my first couple of hands and now I am in the big blind and just tossed away about 200 in chips with KJh.

2:38 Just played weak ass poker by throwing away wired threes to a huge overbet of 200 with the blinds at 10/20. Weak ass move on my part. I was in the small blind. Dont know if I should have played it or not. Damn I am drunk. Thank god I work second shift!

2:42 Folded around to me, I raise three times the big blind with K 10 off suit and am reraised by the small blind, I fold.

2:43 For those of you not in the Milwaukee area, I am eating some George Webbs double cheeseburgers right now. Fuck, I have typeover set right now, and I dont know how to turn it off, this sucks. Anyway, George Webbs is only a place you eat at if you are drunk. If I am sober, I cant stomach the place.

2:47 I just finished the my last double cheeseburger and wish I would have ordered about 5 more. There is jack to eat here right now.

2:48 I tried to get my singer to play Break Stuff by Limp Bizkit tonight. I told her it is the only way I would sing. She wouldnt, and I ended singing a duet with her tonight instead. It was Picture by Kid Rock and Sheryl Crow, how the hell did that happen?

2:50 I am folding every damn hand in sight right now, and then I am dealt wired 5's. I am in horrible position. The board is all over cards, I check and fold.

2:52 I really wish I would have order more double cheeseburgers. A soda would go really well right now as well. And that is right all you damn known Wisconsinites. Its not Soda Pop, or Pop, its a damn soda.

2:54 How the hell do I turn off this overwrite? It is really fucking me up.

2:55 I really want a cigerette right now. I dont smoke in the house, only outside. I agreed to it when we first moved in, that is really coming back to bite me in the ass right now.

2:56 BTW, I found a replacement for the July 8th gig. Yes! Vegas here I come. I dont know if the poker world is ready for a drunk Vegaas yet.

2:57 I am down to T1060. Why the hell did I fire up Stars? I should have just ate and went to bed.

2:58 I REALY want a cigerette, I may have the select the dreaded sit out next hand option to go have one.

3:01 Just back from having a cigerette. Is it just me, or do you always envision having pocket aces while you were gone.

3:03 Just busted out with pocket 8's that I way overplayed. Oh well, lets register for another, shall we?

3:04 I think the U.S goverment is shutting down Stars, there are only 2 mid level SnG's available. Might as well play it while I still can.

3:05 My ex, who happens to still be fucking living with me is going to be pissed. I was supposed to go grocery shopping tonight after work, instead, I went out and party with some very attractive ladies. Tough choice, huh? Of course I am now home without any of the after mentoined pretty ladies, so who is the loser now? Please dont answer that. How the hell do I turn off overwrite? I had to rewrite that last sentence because of it.

3:13 Just won my first pot of the night with KJ offsuit, I am in last position, every checks to me after the flop, I bet and take down a T120 pot. Exciting, is it not?

3:15 Here is bad idea, I think I am going to go get my bag of smoke.

3:17 Just dealt pocket kings. Raised to me, I reraise he calls. Flop has king, he bets, I call. Turn is a KING! Thems quads beetches. Wow, he goes all in, nice double up for me. All skill!

3:20 Got the smoke, already can tell that this can not end up good.

3:21 Yes ladies, to answer your obvious question,I am available now. After reading this masterpiece, who wouldnt want to hook up with me?

3:22 I seem to have this problem of having maniacs directly to my damn left. This guy has called or reraised my raises a couple of times. Same pattern. I bet preflop, he calls. I bet half to all of the pot post flop, he reraises all in. That mother f'ing son of a bitch. I am taking him out. And yes, I do realize other bloggers may be reading this and take advantage of the leak in my game. I say, bring it on beetches.

3:27 Revelation, I am an ass when drunk.

3:31 Wow, I almost hit call instead of fold to someones all in prefop raise, that would have sucked, seeing as I had 5 3 offsuit.

3:32 I limp with 76c and flop comes AQ8 no clubs, we all check. Turn is a 9 checked
to me, I bet 3/4 the pot and taking a whopping 150 pot down.

3:34 That son of a bitch to my left just beat me out of a pot, I am down to T1850. That bastard just keeps calling my raises, the few show downs, he has had the goods, I am taking that sob out! Mark it down. BTW, even though I am inebriated, I realize that I have blogged about my weakness of this. I really should know better, but screw, that fucker is going down! Plus his picture sucks. Its some dumbass with a mustache and beard that looks like he is straight out of the damn 3 musketeers.

3:38 Damn, he just busted someone and is now the chip leader

3:39 We are down to 5 and I am 4th with T1575. Both chips leaders are directly to my left. There the pain in my ass who is first to my left, he is chip leader, directly to his left is the the second place player. This sucks.

3:41 Yes, just doubled through pain in the ass to my left. folded to me in the SB where I have KcQs. I raised four times the big blind, he calls. Flop Q93 rainbow. I bet half the pot, he raises me all in, I call. He has Q2. I have him dominated and win the pot.

3:44 I just busted him and another out with wird 5's! We are in the money! I was SB again. Short stack goes all in with 5 players left in the game. I call, pain in the ass reraises, I call. What a dumb ass. Short stack has A 6, has 10 8d.

3:48 Damn! Dealt pocket rockets on the button 3 handed, should have raised, but limped. Sb completes, BB checks. Flop is 8 5 q, he bets, I reraise all in, he calls, 8 5. Stupid. I am now crippled with T550 left.

3:50 I am out, K 6 offsuit, raise all in, called by BB with Aces. Oh well, with the two games I only lost $12 dollars, but should have done much better.

WSOP Blogger Satellite #1

2006-03-20T15:40:00.000-06:00

I sucked last night. I played terrible. I let a player at the table get to me, and that is one of my biggest leaks right now. I overplay hands at times when a player starts to get in my head.

I have player immediately to my left whos url I do not know, lets just call him Joe. He reraised just about every raise I made last night. I could not steal, and knew that any marginal hand was going to cost me to play.

After the first break I decided I was just going to wait it out and trap him. Good plan, horrible execution. I am in the SB with AJd. Its folded around to the player one off the cutoff. He raises 3 times the big blind. Now I know Joe is going to reraise, because he always reraises any threat to his BB, so I call the cutoffs raise, sure enough, Joe reraises, the initial raiser calls, and I reraise to put the original raiser all-in. Joe calls the reraise which is ok, I expected him to, but so does the original raiser. Oops. I dont remember what each player had, but the original raiser had the best hand, I had second best and Joe had the third. The board didnt change any of that, both Joe and I had the original raiser covered, so we were still in it.

That was stupid, I was so focused on trying to get rid of the pain in the ass on my left that I completely ignored the original raiser. Stupid, stupid, stupid!

A few hands later I am still a bit upset with how I played that hand, and do something just as dumb to completely cripple myself to less than 3 BB worth of chips. I am dealt wired 8's. I raise 4 times the big blind. Its folded to the BB(I dont remember who this was) who reraises me. I know he hasnt played alot of hands lately, but somehow convince myself that he is making a play on me. I reraise him all-in. Of course he calls and shows KK, and I knew the reraise was dumb before I even did it, but my frustration of Joe constantly reraising came out here. I think that my thought process wast that they have seen Joe reraise me off hands and I didnt want everyone starting to do it to me. Two horrible plays because I couldnt control my emotions and bam, knocked out in 36th.

I really need to work on controling myself at the table. I know I am making a bad play, but just make it anyhow out of sheer frustration. I need to remember that the best players can remove themselves emotionally from the game, if I can ever get to that point, I may become a competent player.

A conundrum

2006-03-14T16:13:00.000-06:00

Ok, I really want to play in the WPBT Summer tourney in Vegas. Unfortunately, I forgot the date and agreed to play show on July 8th here in Milwaukee. I finally realized this a couple of days ago and have been trying to get the show rescheduled. No such luck. Apparently this place is hard to get into, our guitarist signed the contract with the agent who then signed the contract with the club. Some conversations have taken place, but it comes down to the fact that we can not reschedule the show. Damn!

My options now are to:

A) Forget about the Summer Classic and play the show here in Milwaukee. (Sounds resonable, but; I have planned to go to Vegas in July anyhow, and I think it would be a lot more fun with a bunch of bloggers around)

B) Tell the band that I cant make the show, and hope they can find a replacement for me for that day. (I think this might piss them off just slightly, but, we are pretty tight, so I think they wont have a huge problem with it)

C) Screw it all and just sleep through that day, because no matter what I choose, I will be thinking about the other on that day.

If anyone knows any bass players in Milwaukee that might be able to fill in for me on July 8th, let me know.

WPBT Event #1

2006-03-13T15:27:00.000-06:00

Congrats to fellow Milwaukeen STB for winning it. Nice job my man.

As for myself, I came in sixth. While I really wanted to win it once I got ITM, I was overall happy with my performance. I have never played PLO before. If fact, the only Omaha I have played is O8 for .02/.04 on Stars just to learn the game. I did read through Mr. Baldwins section of SS2 on Omaha. That was a couple of months back, the only thing I remember is dont bet too heavy on straights or flushes unless you have the nut. I am sure he also mentioned something about sets as well, but I dont remember. That is unforntunate, because thats how I went out, set over set.

My strategy going in was to be tight as hell, because I didn't want to embarrass myself in front of the other bloggers. Well, there is one problem with that strategy, in order to play only good starting hands, you need to know what a good starting hand is. I was pretty lost at first, but I payed very close attention to the hands the other bloggers were showing down, to get an idea of what and how I should be playing my hands.

I finally started to get comfortable with the game and was able to start picking out what makes up a good starting hand. I played a tight, aggressive game. I had a few bad beats in the end, but hell, I gave one to get to that point, so it evens out.

I have decided us Milwaukee bloggers need a name, just like over in the Carolinas they are known as G-Vegas, over on the West Coast they are known as Murderer's Row and the Austin bloggers are known as, well, Austin bloggers, but that's besides the point. I told STB last night we should have an original name, like the Milwaukee Mafia, you know, because I am sure no one in poker uses the Mafia monicker. (Please tell me you know that I am being sarcastic). So I decided, from now on we are the Milwaukee Mafia. Next time you see STB, congratulate him on the PLO victory, but more importantly, congratulate him on being part of the Milwaukee Mafia. I am sure he will ask you what the hell you talking about. He may even run away screaming, but that's ok, I am sure that he will be just putting on an act.

On other news. This was my first blogger tourney, and I realized I will be a complete idiot if I ever end up a table with well known pros. How do I know this? Well, because I was an idiot last night when I noticed some well known bloggers pop up at my table. It was really a form of being star struck, as sad as that sounds. It started with Bill Rini. He was the first well known blogger that I have played against. I beat him out a pot when I was on the button and he was the big blind. I limped, SB folded, Rini checked. I bet the flop, he folded, and I said I had to blog about beating Mr. Rini out of a pot in that very exciting hand, so there it is.

Later on in the tourney Dr. Pauly and Iggy both show up at my table at the same time. I am thinking holy crap, two of the most well written and well known bloggers both show up at my table simultaneously. Very cool. I made a comment about Poker Blogger royalty showing up. Then Dr. Pauly immediately stole my BB from the button. I made a comment about how I going to blog about the good Dr. muscling me out of my blind. I think Dr. Pauly thinks I am an ass. He is probably right, but, I really was just kind of like, wow, cool. And yes, I am a 37 year old man.

Dr. Pauly ran into some bad luck at the table when he ran into Quads(with the obligatory "Thems Quads .......) line that really made me laugh. Then he ran into a full house to knock him out.

Iggy finished 5th and I really enjoyed playing at the same table as him. He was short stacked for a while and did a nice job of coming back.

Speaking of Iggy, don't forget about the WSOP Satellite he set up for us this Saturday at Paradise Poker. Make sure you go to his site and get the details. And again, if you are reading this site, and not the others I mentioned, well then, you're an idiot.

Finally many thanks to Biggestron for setting this up, and he already has details up about event #2. I cant wait.

I am a whiney little b****

2006-03-10T16:35:00.000-06:00

I have been really tempted to remove my last post. I wasn't comfortable after I posted it, and then SirWalgman drove it home. What the hell am I whining about? Its fine that NCG pissed me off, its also fine that I wasn't happy with the last hand I played. Great, I could have posted about those two hands without adding some of the other nonsense.

As I reread my post, I put myself in the position of the reader. If I am running bad and then run across that post, I would be annoyed that this bastard has the audacity to whine about 2nd place.

There was really no need to mention the money, to me it reads as if I am bragging, while yet still complaining. Not good.

I am going to leave the post up as a reminder to myself of what not to post again. I've never claimed to even be a competent blogger, so this is a learning process for me.

Thanks for the comments and hope to see you in the tournaments that other bloggers are setting up.

First we Iggy who has set up a satellite tourney for a WSOP seat for a $1500 event of your choosing. Of course you should already know this, because if you are reading this blog and not his, then what the hell are you doing?
I have already sent an email to "The Blogfather" to let him know that I want in.

The second tourney kicks of the WPBT POY season. Biggestron has set this up. The first tourney is PLO. I am a complete fish in that game, but I still am signing up for it. The chance to compete against fellow bloggers in a series of tourneys sounds like a lot of fun.

On a completely different note, the duplicity of a blogger out there is just amazing to me. He preaches about his strong belief in the lord, (which is great if that's your thing) yet also preaches his belief that women should be smacked if you feel they are out of line. WTF is that? People have also mentioned racism in his posts, but I can not confirm that first hand because I have only read a few of his posts and really don't care to read anymore. The question is how can you preach about a close relationship with the Lord and still condone violence against women? Actually it doesn't surprise me that much. I have a serious issue with religious zealots. Please note that I do not mean ordinary people who practice religion and think for themselves. I am talking about zealots, and from my experience, they are the most hypocritical people on earth. As an example, I did an AIDS walk a couple of years ago. Who are lined up along the route? A bunch of these zealots who are yelling at us that we are going to hell for supporting homosexuality. Oh really? I thought I was helping raise money to fight a horrible disease. And by the way, doesnt the bible preach forgiveness and acceptance? Guess these guys missed that day in Sunday School. BTW, have you ever noticed most zealots you talk to are recovering from some type of addiction? It seems to me that they just swapped one addiction for another.

Anyway, I digress. Sign up for those tourneys and look for me at the tables. My name on all sites is Vegaas.

Can you be happy with 2nd place?

2006-03-09T20:22:00.000-06:00

So I took 2nd in a 180 SnG at Poker Stars last night. That's $780 that the old bankroll definitely needed. So I should be happy, right?

There were several things that pissed me off about this tournament last night.

Lets start with no clue guy or NCG for short. We are down to the final table, 5 left. The blinds are around 1000/2000. I have a mid sized stack of about 50,000. Its folded to the short stack (lets call him "lucky there was an idiot at the table who allowed you stay in the game", or LI for short)who goes all in for his final 11,000. The big stack who happens to be NCG calls from the SB. I am in the BB and look down to find AQo. I debate my move for a minute or two. I run through my options. I could play weak here and fold, conserving my chips. I decide that is way too weak a play. I could reraise and hope to get NCG to fold, leaving only me and LI. I decided no, I am not going to reraise. I want to get some implicit collusion going here and try and knock LI out so we move up in the money. I call. The flop comes 669 with 2 diamonds. NCG decides to come out firing for about the size of the pot. I think for a minute and then fold. I am thinking that he better damn well have the nuts. Well, of course he doesn't. He's NCG for a reason. He shows K10o, while the small stack shows A7o. The turn and river do not improve either, small stack triples up, and I am fuming at NCG. We would have knocked this guy out if he would have used his head. Of course the LI went on beat me out and win the tourney, thanks to NCG who appropriately enough was the next player eliminated.

After that debacle, LI went on a rush, he eliminated the next two players and we are now heads up. LI has a little over a 3 to 1 chip lead on me now. I would like to say that I battled back and lost on a bad beat. I would like to say that, but it would be a lie. I was steaming just a bit, thinking this guy should be gone if it wasn't for NCG.

Very first hand of HU. I have the button and am dealt Kh3h. I raise 4 times the big blind. LI calls. Flop comes 8 2 4 rainbow. I bet about 3/4ths of the pot, LI goes over the top to put me all in. Who in there right mind would call here? Can anyone give me a legit reason why I hit the call button? It was about 4 a.m. at this point, so I guess I can blame it on being tired, or that fact that I thought he was trying to bully me with his chips, but still, neither justifies that completely amateur play I made. I called off my entire stack in the first hand of HU and had to settle for 2nd. I have not been able to forgive myself for that play and we are closing in on 24 hours later.

All that being said, I was fairly happy with my play up to that point. I had been on a downswing, and noticed myself coming out of it 2 nights ago. It felt really good to be making correct reads most the night, and having them pay off. I have noticed a huge improvement in me putting people on hands, playing the pot odds correctly, and playing a slightly tighter game where I can fold big hands if I feel I am beat.

Of course, all that improvement went out the window on the last hand. I didn't read LI right, I didn't fold when I felt I was beat on that hand, and the pot odds may have been there, but if they were it was just barely. Stupid, stupid play.

I left $300 on the table, and I am not sure I can forgive myself for that.

Live Blogging, cause its all the rage

2006-03-01T01:11:00.000-06:00

1:11 Live at a Poker Stars 30+3 SnG. Coming at ya just after the start. I have been dealt AQo on the first hand, limped from ealry, completely missed the flop and folded. Then dealt AA in the blind, raise it to 100, get one caller. Bet half the pot on the flop K J rag, and he folds.

1:16 Just dealt "The Treetop" and fold to raise and reraise.

1:18 Dealt wired 3's on the button. 1 off the cutoff raises 5times the BB, I call, the flop comes down with an A and K, he raises, I fold.

1:25 Dealt 6c4c in the SB. Three limpers, I call, BB checks. flop 2c 4d 5c. I bet half the pot, all fold but one. Turn is 7s. Having lots of outsI bet half the pot, he calls. River Qc, I make my flush, bet a third of the pot, he folds and I take it down. I am at T2380 aftet starting with T1500.

1:36 Just sitting here eating Sun Chips as I have not had a ............ breaking news, dealt wired Jacks on the button, a 4 limpers and I limp as well, should probably raise, but if I hit a set, I could be sitting real nice here. BB just raised all in. He has 930, so I have him covered. Folds to me, I'm thinking small pair here, if it was a big pair, would he raise less to keep someone aroudn? I call. Yes! He has pocket 3's. He doesnt improve and I am now chip leader at T3395 with 7 left.

1:42 Blinds are now at 50/100

1:43 Back to the Sun Chips, I wonder if they are really any healthier for you than other chip snacks. I like to think so because I like them, , but I dont really know. Same for Wheat Thins with Whole Grain, all the Whole Grain cereals, and V8. These are the things I eat and drink to try and convince myself that my diet isnt "that bad" when I am eating some greasy cheeseburger everyday for lunch.

1:48 I am now second, and we are down to five. Dont know how that happened, to damn busy blogging about Sun Chips.

1:50 I have A9o UTG, raise it up three times the BB and take down the blinds.

1:54 Why is the short stack always immediatley to my left? Really hinders stealing opportunities. Just tried it and he picked me off with an all in. Bastard!

1:56 Just tilted myself for not playing A2o to a standard raise from the button, and then see two more dueces come down on the flop.

1:59 I am in trouble, just lost two consective hands were I raised preflop, only to be reraised allin. Down to T1045 and we are on the bubble. Who the hell says people play tight on the bubble, I tell you what, I really dont sit that at these SnG's.

2:01 Just sucked out a gut shot to survive. I have A6o, down to 960 in chips and its folded around to me, I go all in, just hoping for the blinds. I am called by A7. Well, I rivered a straight.

2:05 Bubble just burst and I am still in. I busted him when I had 10d9d and flopped top pair on a board of 9 5 3.

2:07 Too much to type right now, will give recap.

2:14 Well, I took 2nd. Much better than third, but I am still not happy with my play. Time to post mortem, and see if I can figure out why I am making some of the plays that I do.

Random Thoughts 2

2006-02-28T01:57:00.000-06:00

Been busy lately with helping the soon to be ex find a place. Things are good between us, but she is dragging her feet on this a bit, and I am ready to move on.

My current band is going well, learning a ton of new material and we have been on the last few gigs. Our new back up singer is quickly becoming our new co-singer. Very good voice.

Still dragging my feet on a new hard rock band. I have two great guitarists available to me. Need to find a drummer or singer who has a place we can practice at. The practice space issue is the big problem right now. That and the fact that I am the most unorganized person around. Trying to cooridinate peoples schedules to get together and jam is not my thing. I am much more the tell me were I have to go and I will be there type.

The Blogfather listed a link to me. I read him all the time, and that was a pleasant surprise.

I have played horrible poker the last week. I took the weekend off to figure out why I suck. One thing I have realized, I am not good enough to make big laydowns, that cost me a bit o dough this past week.

Why isnt "The Hammer" called "The Treetop". Just read about that in "The Book Of Bluffs". That is one of the greatest bluffs of all thime.

Now that we know that Justinwhoeverthehellheis got busted for multiple accounts on Party and PokerStars, it makes me wonder how many others are out there.

Playing a $30 SnG on Stars right now. Down to 6 players, I have 1840 and in 3rd. We'll see what happens.

Just busted a guy with wired 7's holding up.

BTW, is wired pair redundent? Shouldnt it be wired 7's and not a wired pair of 7's. Drives me crazy every time Mr. Van Patten says that.

The Jackass to my immediate right in the SnG keeps raising all in.

I keep hitting mid pairs on the flop, I wonder if I play them too strong sometimes. For that matter, I wonder if I play them too weak sometimes as well. My game is officially in the toliet right now.

I play too many hands out of position. I get those marginal hands in early position after being card dead for some time and I just cant resist. Its like they are singing to me.

I just noticed, I never just out and out bluff, I always have outs. But, I semi-bluff alot.

In second place, 3450 in chips, 5 left.

Bubble time, just busted a guy when my wired 6's held up to his Ac 3c. 4420 in chips, 4 left, still second place.

Chip leader is now going all in on me when its my bb. Bastard!

Just lost a race with the short stack. My AKo failed to improve and his wired 5's held up. Down to 3445, still in second and we are still on the bubble. I have had many bubble finishes this week, hopefully I can breakthrough that streak.

Jesus, the blinds are up too 200/400 with an ante and we are still on the bubble, this sucks.

I just busted out the short stack. I sucked out when a fourth heart fell on the river.

Irony, just got knocked out in third when the chip leader sucked out a heart on the river to win the race with my wired 8's. Bastard!

No Limit To Fun

2006-02-10T16:14:00.000-06:00

All I really play is No Limit Hold 'Em. I have noticed a slight boredom setting in. I play Stud, Omaha and O8 occassionaly, but not really because I like those games, its just good to keep up to speed incase you end up in a mixed game. I was looking for something to get the juices going again, I think I found it.

For the hell of it I jumped into a 3/6 limit game. I had a blast!

No Limit strategy can get old after awhile. Have a good hand, bet high enough to not allow your opponents to get the correct odds to go for their draws. Have a draw, bet high enough to try and get people out of the pot. Have an absolute monster? Slowplay to extract as much as possible. Bluffing was about the only thing that hasnt gotten a little stale to me.

The strategy in Limit is so different. You are not going to bet people out of the pot often. The really intriguing thing to me in Limit is the pot odds. In No Limit you can control the pot odds easily. Not the case in Limit. If you bet strong and heavy from preflop on, you are giving people the correct odds to call when you get to the latter streets. It adds a whole new element to gameplay for me.

No Limit pots are usually pretty small most of the time, and then every once in a while you see an absolutely huge pot. In Limit, the average pot size is much larger. Larger pots equals more excitement to me.

What got me thinking of playing limit was something the Poker Princess posted. She mentioned that you hear that most pro's play No Limit tournaments and Limit cash games. That got me to thinking that I might need to brush up on my limit game. Am I glad I did.

Every night I now play one or two No Limit Tourneys or SnG's, and then some Limit ring games. It has broken up the monotony of poker for me, and as a side effect, I think it will make my poker game in general much sharper. I have read in books that the pros recommend playing various types of poker to improve you game. Hmm, maybe they are onto something there.

Some of you may only play Limit and are getting a bit bored, well then try No Limit, Omaha or Stud. Variety is the spice of life, and poker is no different.

A big smack of reality

2006-02-09T16:39:00.000-06:00

While things are going well on my front, some fucking weird thing is going on in bloggerdom. Bad news, after bad news, after bad news. If you do not know of what I speak, lets just say that I know of 4 bloggers who have had terrible events happen in the past week or so.
After reading about there lives, it makes you realize that bad days at the table mean absolutely nothing. My thoughts and well wishes go out to all.

YES!

2006-02-08T04:12:00.000-06:00

Well, I think that last post really helped. Look at this pretty picture.

Just goes to show you what a little whining can do.

Its My Blog And I'll Cry If I Want To

2006-02-07T15:33:00.000-06:00

My game is in the toliet! The hands I am putting people on are wrong, I underplay winning hands and overplay losing hands. That my friends, is a recipe for bankroll disaster. My $1000 bankroll is down to $350 with no signs of the freefall ending anytime soon.

I really have no point to this post except to whine and cry like a baby. The poker gods can be very cruel. I wont go into details about bad beats, but; there have been those as well. I was playing one of the 180 SnG's at Pokerstars last night. With 30 people left I was 5th in chips. Top 18 get paid, I go out in 20th.

I believe I have lost 4 of the last 5 times I have had pocket Aces. Seems statistically impossible, but it has happened. The one time I didnt lose with them, I got no action at all, just the picked up the blinds.

My tilt-o-meter is off the charts right now. I have the stupid gamblers disease. I want to win back all of my losses at once. I had lost about $300 on Saturday, so what do I do? I play a SnG at a level I have never played before, just to try and win a decent amount back. So I play a $100 SnG and go out in 7th. Well played sir! I know that is not the way to go about this, but it just knaws at you when you win say $50 and know that you still have about $650 in losses for the weekend. I want that big score damn it! I want healthy bankroll again.

Oh, btw, it doesnt help to leave money on the table. I actually came in 2nd in 2 SnG's over the weekend. 2nd! Doesnt sound so bad, except I had the chip lead going into heads up on both occasions. My heads up game has taken a dump as well. Here is what happens, I push and push and push because I have the chip lead and its heads up so you should be aggressive. Well what happens is my opponent will get tired of this and start going all in every time. I of course pick the wrong times to call the all-ins and viola, welcome to 2nd and I hope you dont miss that $90 difference.

Ok, thats about it for today. Thanks for reading my self pity post.

A Group Blog

2006-02-01T20:45:00.000-06:00

Bill Rinni, came up with an idea for group blogging. It sounds good to me, and his subject for the first group blog is something I have a problem with, so I decided to tackle it.

"Expect nothing from a hand. Play each street based on the information at hand."

How often do you find yourself with a good starting hand and refuse to believe you are beat? For myself, more often than I would like to admit. Now, part of it is the fact that I play aggressively and am not afraid to bluff someone off a hand. Why is that a problem? Because I often think people are doing the same thing to me, because thats what I would do, when in reality, they have me beat.

If I can remember that not all players play like me, then I might have a chance to really embrace this concept. Until then I will continue to cost myself money.

Is there any worse feeling than having pocket Kings, building up a big pot and then seeing the Ace on the turn? At this point I know that someone probably has an Ace, however; I will continue to bet and reraise even if the information the other players are giving me tells me not too. Why? Because if I were in there position and didnt have an Ace, I would bet it anyway to scare off someone who has pocket K's or Q's. It all goes back to realizing that not everyone plays and bluffs like me. I need to learn to laydown these hands.

When you are in game and someone at the table has been getting under your skin, these are the hardest opponents to laydown a premium starting hand to. Ego! I know for a fact, a lot of my leaks in my game are do to ego. However; this is a double edged sword. I feel that if my ego and confidence were higher I wouldnt have these problems. If I truly felt that I was the best player at the table, then I should have no problem laying these down, because I can outplay the others when I have less than premium hands. So to me, I think I play these so poorly because in my heart of hearts I dont believe I am as good as I try to convince myself I am.

This has been really interesting to me, and I am going to try and keep this in mind. I almost always know when I am beat, but will push because of ego. If I can become truly confident in my game, I should be able to follow the advice of the above quote.

My Own Tilt Hell

2006-01-19T19:15:00.000-06:00

Why do I tilt? I know better, but I still steam easily at the table. Its not even the normal tilt after a bad beat. Don't get me wrong, I do tilt somewhat after a bad beat. But you know what really makes me tilt? A bully. I really go on tilt if someone plays back at me a couple of times. I am sure there is some deep psychological reason for this that I probably don't want the answer too, but damn I need to find a way control this.

I like to think I am a decent to good poker player. I would like to think that, but the truth is if I can be put off my game (Well wait a minute, that is too gentle a way to put it. Its more like sent wildly careening off my game.) by being reraised by the same person a couple of times in a row, then I am a complete fish.

I completely lose focus when I think someone is bullying me. I stop paying attention to everyone else, and make it my mission to destroy the bully. Here's the funny part, sometimes it works. Great, I should be happy. Well the problem is that I put so much time and energy into beating this one person, that I have no idea how the others at the table are playing and will inevitably loose my stack to them. Wait what, seat one likes to check raise? I had no idea! Um, seat 4 only raises with monsters? Damn, wish I would have picked up on that!

What prompted this post was CJ over at Up For Poker. He listed his general game plan for a session. One of the steps was to pick one person at the table and reraise every raise they make. Let me tell you, it works. It completely derails me.

I wish I could post that I am going to overcome this by taking some imaginary steps that I would now list.

1) See here would be one counter-measure I would list

2) Here would be the 2nd counter-measure

3) For those of you who are slow, this would be counter-measure number 3

Unfortunately, I am kind of tilting right now just thinking about it. So maybe I should do the exact opposite, maybe I should embrace the steaming. You know, really get to know it. Maybe take it out for a drink or two, get it drunk, and then consummate this ugly relationship I have with it. Instead of trying to kick it out of the house, instead, I should greet it at the door with open arms. I would learn to live with it, make it work for me instead of against me. Yeah, now that is a money making plan!

What the hell that last paragraph means? I have no fricken idea, but it kind of creeps me out. What I do know is that I have a long way to go before I can consider myself a good poker player.

Review: Eric Lindgrens Making The Final Table

2006-01-10T16:19:00.000-06:00

So I finished reading Making The Final Table by Eric Lindgren with special guest star Matt Matros. I give it a C.

Eric comes across as a likable guy, who is sharing some of his thoughts on tournament poker. Notice I say some of his thoughts. It seems very apperant that he withheld alot of information. I think this book could have been so much more if Eric really went in depth into his strategy. Unfortunatly he didnt. I did get a couple of pieces that were usefull, but not much.

The book comes across as a promotional tool for the WPT. The WPT is mentioned so much in this book that it becomes distracting. I understand that they basically published this book, but they didnt have to keep bashing us over the head with WPT references. Speaking of bashing over the head, thats what Eric does with his 2 main themes. Be aggresive. Play to win, not to make the money. Good concepts, but Eric could have given us much more info oh how to do this.

E-dogs material is very easy to digest and you shouldnt have a hard time following the information. I did pick up two things that I will implement into my game. I suppose that in itself should pay for the book, however; you still feel kind of slighted once you finish Erics sections.

After Erics sections, Matt Matros take over for two chapters. Talk about a huge contrast! While you can casually read Erics sections and not really have to think much, Matt is the exact opposite. Matt starts off by saying that he is going to cover basic poker math. Well, maybe its basic if you are a MIT grad. I think Matt would have been better served by dumbing it down just a little bit. By the time I got to the end of Matts second section, I was completely lost and had to reread both his sections very slowly, take carefull notes, and hope that I start to grasp the material better.

So who should buy this book? Well, if you have read most of the poker books out there and need a fix, well then this is for you. If not, then there are many books out there that you should look at before this one.

Who Let The Idiots Out?

2006-01-05T18:13:00.000-06:00

So I was reading Jason Kirks blog which can be found here Catching The Antichrist.
In his post titled "Damning The Grind" he talks about losing his love for the game. He attributes part of it online to the way some players interact with others. You know the types, "Nice catch you f'ing fish" and so on down the line.

As I read this, I realized that if I am not carefull, these fellow poker players could do the same thing to me. There is a reason I despise going to the movies, its the idiots in theaters who think we all want to hear their opinions on the movie, or listen to them drone on and on about their lives! I hate these people! If I wanted to hear you, I would have paid you the $9 instead of the theater. I will be the one to go up to them and ask them to keep it down. But it only works for a few minutes, then they start right up again.

If these assclowns can keep me out of theatre, can they also keep me off the poker table? The answer for me is no, but what about the other players? What about the new player that just got interested in poker, comes online, get berated by one of these dumbasses and then never comes back? What about the players that mainly play in the B & M's, decide to get over their fear of the computer? They come online, run into Mr. Assclown, and decide, screw it, I dont need this, back to the B & M.

These idiots are the ones who may dry up the online poker world. What can we do about it? I wish I had the answer. There just seems to be a general lack of respect to one another these days. Its really a sad state of affairs.

As an example outside of the poker world. I ended up getting in a heated debate at an Xbox live forum. A poster commented that he wished Microsoft would more closely monitor the user names because some of them are very vulgar and he didnt like to expose his nine year old daughter to it. (BTW, there is a stated user agreement that this is unacceptable) What was the reponse at that forum? Just about every single poster stated some type of freedom of expression nonsense and that they shouldnt have to worry about other peoples kids. WTF? I posted in agreement with the gentleman that this should not be tolerated. I got blasted for that. You would not believe the insulting comments posted just because I stood up for decency.

As long as I am on this topic, I might as well alienate much of the poker blogging world. Thats ok, I am not a lemming, and I am not afraid to speak my mind. At the Tao Of Poker, Dr. Pauly has some guest posters for a while. The first one is named Daddy who apparently is a very popular blogger of the past. Well, his post didnt do it for me. In fact I found it to be rather disgusting to be honest. Not so much the content, but the actions after the main thrust of the story.(No pun intended) To be specific its the part with the cousins teddy bear. Talk about disrespecting someone who had nothing at all to do with what was going on. Why would someone think its funny to do that to someone who not involved at all?

Now I am sure it was a fictitous story, I am also sure that Daddy is an entertaining writer, very much more so than me. However; I didnt find it clever, I found it to be writing to the lowest common denominator. Daddy, from everything I have heard about you, I am sure you are better than that.

Well thats my rant for today.

Peace

A Fish Out Of Water

2006-01-04T16:28:00.000-06:00

Happy 2006 everyone!

So I have been playing Omaha 8 lately. I have never played Omaha or High/Low before, so I decided to kill two birds with one stone. What an interesting experience it has been.

One of the great things about online poker is the micro limits you can play at. So in my journey into the great unknown of Omaha 8 I start at the most micro of microlimits, .01/.02 PL. Thank god for this limits, because I have no clue what I am doing right now!

I knew that with all the studying and playing of Hold 'Em that I have been doing that other games would suffer. I can still play Stud, but not like I used to. As for O8, I have no idea when to raise pre-flop, or when to call raises pre-flop. I get easily confused as to whether I have the low or not, I realized the minimum high you need to feel like you have a shot is the nut straight. It is an interesting new world I have entered.

I feel pretty good about my post flop play, because it all goes back to hold em at that point, but my god I need some work on the pre flop. I have SS2, so I have started reading through PLO and O8 sections. So much to learn. However; this has been a great way to keep my Hold Em game sharp. It breaks the tedium that can be Hold Em sometimes. I have also read that playing these other games can help sharpen your Hold Em skills. One can only hope. If you have any tips for O8, I would love to hear them

The old bank roll is at $977. Not much movement, in part because of all the O8 I have been playing.

The soon to be ex-girlfriend really doesnt get poker. She knows that my roll basically went broke in November and what I have now built it back up to. Her words of advice and confidence to me? Well here are three things she has said.

1. "Take out $700 while you still can."
2. "Dont do anything stupid and lose it all."
3. "You will regret not taking that money out once you lose it."

Well thanks hon! I have confidence in you and your endeavors as well!

She has no clue about what I am trying to accomplish. She just sees money now and that I should take it while the taking is good. She does not see it as an accomplishment of mine that I was able to build this back up. I am sure she thinks of it as luck, and that it will run out. Ah, my next woman needs to understand the poker player mindset.

Nice!

2005-12-29T14:44:00.000-06:00

So I was reading the comment from my last post and replied to it. Then I started to wonder who may have posted it? Being as sharp as I am, it took a day or so to figure out what most would have figured out in a minute or two. So, I cant believe that Richard "Quiet Lion" Brodie reads my blog! How cool is that? I always read his blog which can be found here
Lion Tales.

So now that I have one pro as a reader, I can only assume that you know, Doyle, Daniel, The Phils, Gus, Jennifer and all the others read it as well. Hi guys! You know, if you ever want to stake me or anything, I guess I would be ok with that!

As for the topic of the comment. I am sure every pro who has problem with the WPT agreement has valid points. However; I think the WPT has done alot in making poker as popular as it is today. Because of that, you see bigger fields for larger payouts. You see many more people in the card rooms, which helps the pros as well. Also, the exposure you may get, for example, from appearing in a WPT video game will do nothing but help you become recognized and maybe land some endorsement deals. I am sure I am being naive about this, but I think WPT does understand that its a two way street when it comes to their success. I do not think there agreement would in any way interfere with possible endorsements players get from other companies.

Please feel free to post your opinions, because I think this is a very interesting topic.

Oh, and I may change my tag line for the site to "What The Pros Read"! I am only telling the truth, right? Give me a hell ya Doyle!

Random Thoughts

2005-12-28T15:44:00.000-06:00

I hope every one had a great Christmas. Not much to post, so I decided I will just post some random thoughts of mine. There will be no rhyme or reason for these thoughts. This is just completely free flowing.

Eric Lindgrens book has not impressed me so far. I am only a third of the way through.(It also should come with a warning, if you are not strong in your fundamentals, this book could cause severe damage to your bank roll)

The Book Of Bluffs has impressed me. (It also has the most powerfull statement for an endorsement that any poker book could ever have. I am talking about Amarillo Slims's statement)

I hate reraises when I hold mid pairs.

Vince Van Patton makes the WPT show what it is. He so damn goofy that he makes me laugh.

I think Courtney Friel has her work cut for her. Shana Hiatt was a perfect fit for that role.

While reading players comments in the chat box while playing online, I wonder where politeness and respect have gone.

I think alot of the young, sun glass wearing, trying to look intimidating, uber aggresive male poker players are guys who failed to make their high school football team.

I think that if you think you would rather have suited connectors than pocket aces, I want you at my table.

I think most online poker rooms will go bust in the next couple of years and we will have ten major rooms and that will be it.

Does anyone read this blog?

Phil Ivey will be condsidered the best poker player that ever lived someday.

$919 is much better than $2.20.

I think that there are so many good poker blogs out there, that this one is like the minor leagues.

I think I will make the final table of a major tournament with in the next 5 years and that will be my retirement fund.

The Hammer has jumped the shark.

Omaha 8 is not the game to play when stoned.

Chris Ferguson, Paul Phillips and Andy Bloch are biting the hands that feed them.

I think at least 5 of the so called stars of today will never be seen at a final table again. I might list who I think they are later.

I think I am done for today. Thanks for playing.

I see a bad moon rising!

2005-12-22T16:32:00.000-06:00

I really need to avoid posts of people running bad. Whenever I read them it reminds me of how easy things can turn. For some reason it gets in my head and then I seem to lose.

Last night I entered the $20, 180 person SnG at PokerStars. I knew I was in trouble when within the first ten hands I had AA, AK, and JJ. Why is this bad? Well, because I knew the cards would turn on me, I would much rather have those hands hit me in the middle of the tournament. Turn they did.

I was up to T4000 early from those first hands. I was able to continue to chip up for a while. I was moved a couple of times, and then it happened. I was at about T7500, which put me in 4th place at the moment. I was moved to a table of absolute maniacs. And of course, I went card dead at this table. With the blinds 100/200, every single hand was opened for at least T600, with at least one, and several times, multiple callers. I never got much of chance to steal because someone always raised before me, or called the raise. I wouldnt have minded if I would have caught any decent starting cards, but it was not to be. I swear I was at this table for over an hour and I all could do was fold. Finally with my chip stack down to 4500 from being blinded away, I am in the big blind and get K8 of clubs. It was raised to only 600 from an ealry position player, two others call and because I havent played a hand in forever I call for the discount of only 350 more. The flop comes 567 of clubs! All right, I have a made second nut flush and I have a straight flush draw. I raise about the size of the pot, fold, fold and then the last player thinks for a while and calls. At this point I think he is on the nut flush draw, or maybe a straight draw. Turn is a brick and I bet about the size of the pot again. Again, he thinks for a while and calls. The turn is the Q of hearts. I am down to about T2200, so I decide screw it, if he has the nut flush, he has it, so I push. Why I did this? I dont know, I guess waiting over an hour for a hand and watching my chips disappear affected me. In hindsight, I know I am good enough to come back from just 2200, so I should have been carefull. He insta calls, he flopped a straight flush! I couldnt believe it when he turned over the 34 of clubs! That low opening raise of 600 probably cost me the pot and, just like that out in 33rd place! Ouch.

So many things I did wrong here. The first, why did I even play this hand to start with? I have to remember patience is very important. The second, why did I go all in on the river? He called both the flop and the turn, he has something, give him credit and move on. Again, I think it all goes back to being card dead for a while. When it happens you get bored, you watch your chips disappear from the blinds and antes, you feel like a wuss at the table. Just a horrible feeling. However, looking back, I could have withstood at least another hour with my chip stack. Eventually you have to get some cards to play. Damn I play dumb sometims.

I was steaming just a little at this point, so of course I entered a $30 one table SnG. And of course I played horribly and out I went in 7th.

Not good times! Not good times at all! So from now on, the instant I see a blogger writing about a losing streak, I will be running away like the wind from that blog. Just watch my smoke trials.

I'm funny, no really, I am, I swear.

2005-12-21T20:39:00.000-06:00

So reading through my blog, a couple of things jump out at me right away.

Number 1, I really am terrible with puncuation and paragraphs. English was always my worst subject in school, and it shows here. Oh well, I have made it clear in the past that this was the case, so hopefully you can deal with it.

Number 2, and much more disturbing. I dont feel like my personality is coming out in this blog. In the real world, I am kind of a quiet guy, until you get to know me, or see my on stage or teaching a class. I am really just kind of a goof. I am definitly an "out there" type of person. However; for some reason I dont see this coming across in this blog.

I think part of the problem is with spoken words I just say what pops in my head. With the written word that is not the case. When I have time to think of what I want to say, and then it has to travel from my brain to the keyboard, some type of filtering happens. I am going to work on this.

On the poker front. Just was reading BadBloods blog. Man can I relate. I was running horribly in late summer, and when you are running bad you start to question whether you can even play the game or not. Hang in there Blood, you have a good attitude and it will turn around.

Also, from reading their blogs, I have found out that Blood and AlCantHang are my headbanging brethren! Very cool, \--/! I hope I get a chance to hang with these guys at blogger gathering sometime.

My old Bankroll is now up to 836! I am running well, and playing solid for the most part. I am getting good reads, and have been getting my money in while ahead. Cant ask for much more than that. At this rate the bankroll should be back to healthy level in the not too distant future.

Favre on Tilt!

2005-12-20T15:09:00.000-06:00

After watching last nights game I realized Favre would be a horrible poker player. They say that he is such a competitor that he tries to make things happen and forces the ball in when things arent there. Well, as poker players we can relate to that. We get a bad beat, go on tilt and keep jamming the pot. Thats Favre. He cant except not just losing in a game, but losing a play. I can relate to that. Every hand I lose bothers me. I at times lose track of the big picture. I understand that its not about one hand, its about the entire session or tournament. Easy concept to say, but in the heat of battle not as easy to remember. That brings me back to Favre, he has never got this concept down. The only time he was close was when Holmgren was the coach, he was the only one who could reel Favre in.
We can all learn a few lessons from Favre, being an intense competitor that loves the game is one of them. These are great qualities, just avoid the down side of Favre, you dont have to win every hand. You will get a bad beat now and then, its just part of the game, Favre would never get this concept. So remember, when you are about to go tilt, think of Favre. You will thank me for this.

So this is Christmas, what have you done?

2005-12-19T16:40:00.000-06:00

We played our Christmas show Saturday night. As usual, it was a blast. I highly recommend the raspberry margaritas on the rocks at Senor Lunas, very tasty. All went well, except I was a bit inebriated when we started the second set. Didn't cause a problem though, besides totally miscounting the beginning measures of a song and jumping into it too early. Ah, it happens, and other than that we sounded great.

As usual I haven't started my Christmas shopping as of yet, that's what Christmas Eve day is for, right? Froze my family jewels off buying a Christmas Tree on Saturday. Oh my god was it cold. For those of you not lucky enough to live in a cold weather climate, well let me just say you haven't lived until walk outside, take a breath and feel the entire inside of your nose freeze over. I am serious, it is so freeking cold here right now that you feel all the hair in your nose freeze into ice the second you inhale. It could be worse, I have the classic Polish runny nose when it gets cold out. God that sucks, if the tempature dips below 30, my nose starts running like an open faucet, its terrible. If you never had to endure this, I am envious. I always have to have Kleenex or a handkerchief with me when its cold out. So come to Wisconsin, experience icicles in your nose. How is that for a tourist slogan?

Poker has been up and down this week. The old bankroll is up to 477. I was in a $30 SnG with a habitual bluffer. The guy liked to show his hands too, so that was useful. It came down to heads up between me and him. I made a big mistake, never bluff a bluffer. I had Q 3 offsuit. I raised, he called. Flop comes down with 2, 7, A, rainbow. I raise size of the pot, he reraises. Now, I know how he plays, he slowplays when he has something and tries to bully you when he doesn't. So I reraise about the size of the pot(Here is my mistake, I should of went all in, my reraise left me pot committed). He of course reraises me all in. I have to call because I am now down to about 1800 in chips. He shows K 4 offsuit. So I read him right, just played it horribly. I should not have tried to bluff this guy, I should have waited until I actually had something. And if I was going to bluff after his reraise on the flop, I should have went all in. Very dumb on my part, I could read this guy like a book, so I should have stayed patient and waited him out. Dumb, dumb, dumb. Oh well, poker is a continual education process.

If I don't post again before Christmas, then Happy Holidays everyone.

I enjoy you too dumbass!

2005-12-15T17:06:00.000-06:00

This is going to be a short rant post that has nothing to do with poker. You were forwarned.

I really dislike people sometimes. I especially dislike the so called music fans of Milwaukee. Milwaukee always has been and always will be a terrible music town. The difference between Chicago's and Milwaukee's music scene is just unbelievable. In Milwaukee, if you dont play covers, you arent getting shows. What brings this on? Well, one of my bands, Albatross, recorded an orginal Christmas song. We are playing a Christmas show on the 17th and decided it would be cool to create a Christmas song. In the spirit of Christmas we paid for all the studio time and reproduction costs ourselves and will be giving them away for free at the Christmas show. Anyway, OnMilwaukee.com did a small write up about it. I go to check it out, well, people are ripping us. Umm, ok, you guys havent even heard the song yet, but somehow its lame for a rock band to do a Christmas song. To add to that, OnMilwaukee doesnt have a very good pic of us, so of course people comment on the picture. Ok, so is that whats important to you? Now some have commented that they dont like our singer. Thats fine, she has voice that is different and not for everybody. We can live with that, but to rip a song you never heard? Nice to see the home town love. Please people, go see another band that plays "Play That Funky Music" and "Freebird" and leave me, my band, and other bands that dare to play original music the fuck alone.
Happy Holidays

I'm Back Baby!

2005-12-12T19:53:00.000-06:00

Well, for those of you who happen to read this blog, I am back. I took a well needed sabbatical. Poker was ok, but the family life was getting to me. I needed time to refocus, and I have.
My life will be very different in 3 months time. My soon to be ex-fiance will be moving out, and I will more than likely have a new job. Life is about change, and I embrace it with open arms.

On the poker front, I have been playing ok. My Pokerstars account was down to $2.20 in mid November. That is not a misprint, $2.20! At about that time I saw a commercial for the release of Cinderella Man on DVD. One of the lines in the commercial for the movie is "I cant believe I cant provide a living for my family, I know what I am fighting for now" or something similar to that. Well, that was inspiring to me. I decided I could translate that over to poker. I decided there was no way I was adding money into my Pokerstars account, at least until after Christmas. So I had one choice, build that $2.20 into something. Well I have, my account is up to $415! Again I did not add any money, I just used that original $2.20. I started off by playing the .01, .02 micro no limit. Once I was up to $10 dollars I hit the $5 sit and go's. The rest is history so to speak. It is a very gratifying feeling. I will keep you updated on where the old bankroll goes from here.

On another poker note. I played in my first live tournament. It was at Oneida Casino in Green Bay. It was $65 to buy in and you could get one rebuy for $50 and one add-on for $50 more. There where about 100 people entered and I ended up 33. Not great at all, I actually played some hands very poorly. However; I did come away knowing that I could win it. I am positive of this, going in I wasnt so sure. This is yet another great confidence boost for me. Once I am on first shift you will definitely be seeing me on more live tourney's!

As for the blog, well I am not promising anything. I will update when I have something interesting to say. Think of it as maybe a weekly blog, where I will update you on the weeks happenings in my poker and personal life. Speaking of personal life, I just turned 37 on Friday! Wow, how the hell did that happen? I dont feel 37, (27 maybe, not 37) I've been told I dont look 37, so how can I be 37? We hear it all of our lives, time goes by quickly so make the most of it. The problem is, when you are young, it doesnt seem to go by to quickly so you think older people are just well, I dont know, old I guess. They really dont know what they are talking about. And then one day you wake up and find out you are 37 and wonder how the time went by so fast. I do know when thing, I am going to enjoy every damn day of being in my 30's because the big 40 is now looming in the not to distant future.

I Suck

2005-10-27T16:40:00.000-05:00

Ok, so I am really sucking at this blogging thing. I meant to get to it, but life has a way of deciding where your time goes. The bands are taking up time, work is taking up time, and there looks to be some big changes coming in that regard. But family life really has me dealing with some stuff right now.

My oldest son, who will turn 18 in a month and a half, has me concerned. Lets just say that having been in the music scene for most of my life has exposed me to certain things. I have been smart enough to stay away from most of it, however; I do occasionally partake in the smoking of the green. I have tried to keep this part of my life completely separate from my family life. Well, eventually that becomes impossible. My soon to be 18 year old seems to try to emulate me. He plays in a band, and generally picks up habits of mine. Very scary! I try to let him know all the mistakes I have made and try to steer him away from them. I let him know all I have an interest in is making sure he is on the path to have a great life.

Thurday night of last week I get home from work. (I work second shift which is really bad for the family life) It has been a bit of a stressful day, I go into my sock drawer where I just happen to have a bit of the earlier mentioned green. I pick it up and notice that it seems considerably lighter than it should! This cant be I think to myself. No way either of my sons would
A) Go into my room
B) Snoop through my stuff
C) Have the gall to actually take some of the earlier mentioned green!

Well you can guess what happened. It was my soon to be 18 year old. How do I handle this without sounding like a hypocrite? Well, I called a family meeting. I decided to come clean to both my sons about some of my bad habits and why they are considered bad habits that they shouldn't follow. It was not an easy conversation, but I think I got my point across as to why the earlier mentioned green is not something that I approve of them doing. I went through the whole gateway drug conversation. I relayed personal stories of friends I knew that went down the wrong path. I think it went well. As for the soon to be 18 year old, well he is punished, not so much for the smoking, but for the going through my belongings and taking something from me. I let him know that a family has to trust one another, and that type of behavior is just something that I wont tolerate. I hope I handled this right. My 16 year claimed to have no idea that I smoked occasionally. Again, I hope I did not make a mistake here.

There is more going on at home than just this. My former fiance, who still lives with us, has not been happy lately. When she is not happy, she makes sure I am not happy. This will end in February when her volunteer job ends. That is when she will move out. Don't get me wrong, we still deeply care about one another, and hope for the best for each others lives. But until February we are kind of stuck in a holding pattern, which means we still act like we are together. It is strange situation, and of course we still argue like we are still together.

As for poker, I have learned that when the family life is not going well, then I shouldn't play. When I am angry about certain aspect of family life, I tend to play on tilt. I get hyper aggressive and do not tolerate someone reraising me. Very stupid and a good way to blow through the bank roll. This is unfortunate because I felt I was playing the best poker I have ever played until things at home started to unravel a bit. I am hoping to recoup the losses from the past week now that things are settling down a bit again. And of course I am hoping to get this blogger thing down and become much more reliable with updates.

Its Wednesday, Must Be Blog Time

2005-10-19T15:21:00.000-05:00

Ok, this will be updated more than just once a week, just getting flooded with work and issues to deal with at home. Anyway, played a typical tourney for me last night. I was up, I was down, I was up again huge, and then went out in 4th. I tend to get too caught up in the allure of the having the big stack and constantly pushing. So you may be thinking that is what you are supposed to do, right? Well yes, however; you still need to know when to back off, and that is the area I need to work on.

Here is something I want to write about. In just about every damn poker book you read they mention that you need to practice working on putting you opponent on a hand, but they never give you any excercises in the books to help you with this. So, I will. Each day I will post a hand I played to showdown. I will post observations of a particular opponent, their stack and then list the betting for each round. The next day I will post what that person held. I feel this is the one area of poker that no one has done a good job of writing about, and it is one ofthe most important areas to master. Maybe I have found my blog niche? We shall see. Get ready for the first problem tomorrow.

So I Am A Slacker

2005-10-12T00:01:00.000-05:00

Jeez, I cant believe it has been close to a week since I updated this blog. I am in the process of getting a new band together and I am slacking on that as well. I need to get back to everyone and finally set up some audition dates. So with that, work, my other band and of course poker I haven't been quite as vigilant with this blog as I intend be. On to poker.

I am thinking of signing up to Pokerstars because I hear good things about their tournament structure. I really dislike the structure of most online tourneys. Most start with either too small a starting stack compared to the blinds, or have the blinds raise too quickly. I prefer to find a structure that lets you play your game without having to worry about the blinds catching up to you to quickly. My question to you is: What site has your favotite structure, and why? Help me find the oasis of tourney poker online.

As for the use of the word "too". I have no idea if I was using it correctly. Grammar has never been my strong suit, so if you seeing any mistakes, let me know, because just like my journey into poker, I am always learning.

No Soup For You!

2005-10-05T15:03:00.000-05:00

Grinding away at the SnG's right now. That seems to be where I am most profitable. I have a few theories on that. I will post them sometime soon, just hashing them out a bit.
The music seems to be working. I have definilty noticed that I am more focused when playing. Time to invest in some more cd's. The one I am using now only has four songs on it, so needless to say that it is getting a bit repetitive. This is also a topic I will expand upon soon.

So PokerStars says I havent had my blog long enough to participate in the tourney. Bastards! Just kidding, I understand the reasoning, but damn, I was looking forward to that tourney. Next year I guess.

An Unremarkable Tournament

2005-10-04T21:57:00.000-05:00

So I finished 79th out of 189 last night at a 10&1 MTT. I didnt lose on a bad beat, I didnt lose because of a really bad play made and I didnt make any amazing plays that I just had to write about.
So you may be wondering what this post is about then. Well, I will tell you. This was the most monotonous, unspectacular tourney I have ever played. Nothing interesting happened, I was getting cold decked all night. I had one good hand of pocket queens, I raised three time the BB and everyone folded. That was basically the highlight of the night for me. I didnt win or lose any big pots, just had me stack slowly erode away. I made a desperate all in when I was down to 800 with the the blinds at 150 and 75. I had Kd,10s and got called by someone holding an Ace. Nothing came down to improve my hand and I was done. I wasnt angry, I wasnt upset, just kind of ho hum about it all. I wasnt getting cards all night, and didnt expect to get any help on this showdown.
Now I know we all have nights where we get cold decked, so why was this different? Well most of the time that this happens to me I am still able to make moves when I have postition and no one is coming strong. Never had a chance to do that last night. Not really complaining, just an observation on how sometimes you dont seem to get a chance to do anything at the table.
Is there a way to combat this? It makes me wonder which school of thought is correct when it comes to the beginning of tourneys? Are you better off playing very consertative at first because your chips are more vaulable at the beginning of the tourney? At least that what Sklansky says. Or, are you better off trying to accumulate chips like a mad man at the beginning to try and give yourself some cushion for the fast escalating blinds?

Books

2005-10-03T14:53:00.000-05:00

Its amazing to me how many professionals claim never to have read any poker books. You would think that to become very good at something you would devore every possible piece of information you can find. Now the question becomes, is there an advantage to not having read any these books? Well, lets think about this. Poker is a game of deception, if you and I have read the same strategy books, well we probably have the same idea then about how hands are supposed to be played. Now what if someone had never study any material at all? They have through trial and error developed their own strategies that seem to work for them even if they contradict what some of experts tell us we must do. That player now becomes an X factor, we have no idea what he is playing and how he is playing it. Isnt this now the hardest person at the table to play against?

I dont have an answer as to what the better approach is, because by reading all the books it will save you money upfront instead of having to learn those same lessons at the poker table which could become very expensive. However; in the long run, could the self taught be more +EV than the book learned?

How would you have played it?

2005-09-30T21:06:00.000-05:00

You guys remember the "You Make The Call" commericials? This is where they would show footage of some sports game and then stop and ask you to "Make the Call". Well this is going to be my version. I will document hands I have played, then stop at some point and ask you to make the call.

Here is the first one:

MTT tourney. You're chip stack is 3800, you started off with 1500. The blinds are 100/50. You are on the button. The previous hand the chip leader at the table just took a pretty bad beat to knock him down from 5500 to 2100. He has been playing aggressively and showndown some week hands at times. The last hand however he showed pocket queens. The very next hand you look at your cards and see Jd9d. The former chip leader is UTG+1, it is folded to him and he raises to 600. It folds around to you on the button. You know he has been loose and maybe on tilt now.

Do you call, raise or fold? You make the call!

Interesting

2005-09-30T02:35:00.000-05:00

I have registered to play in the
Online Poker Blogger Championship!

This event is powered by PokerStars.

Registration code: 4707378

Well, I am a blogger now, so why not. Interesting marketing ploy by PokerStars. I 'm hoping I get to play against some of the bloggers that I read everyday. I will add links to them shortly. Should be interesting to see how many sign up and play.

A Test In Your Poker Faith

2005-09-30T01:29:00.000-05:00

This is a quote from a post at made at http://flopturnriver.com. I was on a major downswing and needed something to break out of it. This turned out to be very theraputic for me. I am sure some of you can relate:

My confidence is shot. It is a terrible feeling to sit down and just feel
like you have no chance at winning. Its not that I feel like my opponents are
better than me, I dont think that at all. Its just that I know they will make
some stupid ass play that will pan out for them. I feel like its nine
dumbasses and me at the table and no matter what hand I am in, one of the
dumbasses will get lucky. Not sure if I am describing this right. Those of
you who have been in this situation probably know what I am talking about.To end
this absurdly long post, I thought about giving up poker last night and this
morning. I used to argue with people who said poker was 90% luck, I would tell
them they didnt know what they were talking about and would love to have them at
my poker table. Now I am not so sure. There is no worse feeling as a poker
player than to sit down at a table and feel like you have no chance what so ever
of winning. I hope that feeling goes away soon.

Now my question is this, how do you keep the faith?

Welcome

2005-09-29T19:09:00.000-05:00

Well, here we go. This is yet another poker blog. Do we need another poker blog? Well no, but to be honest with you, I am creating this for me and my game. I need to find the leaks in my game and I think having to write them down for the world to see how I played certain hands will help me plug them fast.
As for the name of this blog. Two reasons for it.
1) I'm a musician.
2) I'm doing a little experiment, I know that listening to classical music will help you when studying. So, I want to see what it will do while playing poker. Will it help me concentrate, avoid tilt and make better reads? We shall see.
If you are looking for a well written site, this is probably not the blog for you. I am not a professional writer, hell; I am not even an amatuer writer. Spelling and punctuation are not my strong suits. However; I do hope thats this is an entertaining and informative blog. I hope this will be an open discussion type blog where we can share ideas. My next post will be repost of something I wrote at the FlopTurnRiver.com forum. It was very theraputic, and I hope it helps some of you out there.
Hope you enjoy the blog, and I hope everyone of your days is +EV.