Well I said when I started this blog I would be honest about all aspects of my life. Right now I am missing home, my kids, my wife, everything. Funny part is I knew I would miss them but not this much. The wife sent me a picture of my 4 year old in her little cap & gown from graduating pre-school & I almost lost it. I made the picture my wallpaper on my phone so everytime I turn it on I see her, and it just breaks my heart.
I am doing my best to meet fellow players/bloggers/AVP'ers to get a support system while I'm here. Think I made a mistake last night because 3 of my favorite bloggers were playing at the table directly to my left & I never went to say hi to them. Of course, by the time I realized it was them I took a 2 outter about 15 minutes later & never said anything. So Grump, Grrouchie & Rob, sorry for the dis. Won't happen again.
Had an interesting situation happen to me at the Bellagio the other night. I was hanging out with AlaskaGal1 playing some 1-2 at the same table when I decide I'm starving & order the over-priced chicken strips. About 20 minutes later they show up & I instantly get propositioned by almost every player in a 3 table radius. "I'll pay you for a strip", "can I have some carrots?", "how about your celery?" were coming at me fast & furious. I rejected all the offers & started to mow. When I was on my 2nd strip I get involved in a hand. I finish the hand & look to my left & see the table drunk from the table behind me with a chicken strip in his mouth taking a bite. He smiles, puts the strip down then says "hey, I'm sneaky!" WTF?!?!?! I tell him if he ever touches my food again I'm punching him in his f*cking face. Should I have called the floor? Demanded a new order of food? Had the guy kicked out? (I did notice he left shortly afterward, and as he did the table broke. Thank god for drunks?)
I won't complain about bad beats, they happen to everyone, but let's just say I'm down a couple of buy-ins from the last 2 days by getting 2 outtered both times. No worries, have to come back strong from those. But getting those beats on top of already feeling homesick was kind of much. Took the rest of the night off last night, stopped at the corner store for some vodka & pineapple juice, went home & drank it off. Not my proudest moment but whatever.
I tweeted yesterday about bluffing the living crap out of someone & y'all wanted details, so here it is. I limp behind 1 other in the hijack with 5c6s, 1 more limps, SB completes, BB makes it $12, 1 other calls & I call. Flop comes 4c4s3c, so I'm open ended with backdoor flush draws. BB bets $20, other limper folds & I call. Turn is 8d. BB bets $40, I call again. River is the beautiful Ac. BB checks & I sense incredible weakness now, so I shove. Dude tanks for about 2 minutes & folds. I didn't show. We can get into my thinking but most of you better players probably know what was going on in my head. If I hit my straight I stack him. Otherwise I treated the hand as if I had 1)a club draw, 2)flopped trips, 3)flopped boat, 4)overcards like Ax (but that's stretching it). I played it like I had all those.
Anyway, guess that's it for now. I was gonna take the day off but after running so bad I think I need to get back in there & battle. My head is in a better place thanks to all the love I got on Facebook & texting & phone calls. I really appreciate all the love & support you guys have given me. I can't thank y'all enough.
Monday, May 21, 2012
Friday, May 18, 2012
Couple of good days
I never let on in the last post what had been going on with the poker playing. Well, it was up & down to say the least, with a little more down than up. Win in Arizona, lose when I get to Vegas. I'd follow a decent winning session with a decent losing session. I believe I was trying to push too many things & over-think everything, which can be a killer at the 1-2 or 1-3 level. Usually just ABC poker gets the money. People at these levels aren't capable of thinking on multiple levels. So I decided to nit it up a little bit, quit playing so many hands & overthinking things, and just let the game come to me.
I wake up Wednesday morning with the intention of either taking the day off or doing a light schedule. After being awake for 30 minutes I got the urge to play, so I was thinking about what rooms would have a game going about 9:00am. Usually one of the bigger, more popular rooms would. I decide on Bellagio because I hadn't played there yet & figured there would be a lot of older nitty players I could try to fleece. I wasn't disappointed.
Get there about 9:30a but don't get sat until around 10:00. Got outplayed on one hand where I had KK but the board made a one-liner straight to a 10, villian bet the J river & I folded. He showed QJ for 1 pair & I instantly put the dude in my sights. I never got involved in another pot with the guy but ended up leaving there after about 4 hours up a little over $400. I played nitty & pushed my made hands for the most part. If I sensed someone was weak & would fold, I would bluff, but those times were few and far between.
I left there to come home & rest for a while before deciding to head out to Planet Hollywood around 7-ish. I decided on PHo because there is usually a younger crowd there with over-inflated egos. The plan was to nit it up again & get paid on made hands. They open a new table so I buy in for the maximum, $300. I play tight the first few orbits to see what the table is like. Sure enough, I already pegged the 7 seat as the table young gun who thought he could do no wrong ( I was the 3 seat). It also helped that he doubled up within the first 30 minutes so his confidence was sky-high. Then the hand happened.
He limps along with 2 others & look down at KK. I bump it to $16, I think, they all call. Flop comes Qxx rainbow. Young gun leads into me for like $30, 2 folds, I make it $85, he calls. Turn is a blank & dude instantly shoves on me for my last ~$150 & I snap call. He shows KQ, the river bricks & I rake in a nice pot. Young gun says "I thought you were overprotecting jacks or something." I know, that's why you're a donk. Thanks for the money. I left PHo after about 4 hours up over $700. Up over $1200 for the day. That's what I'm talking about.
Wake up Thursday itching to play so head to the Venetian, which I hadn't been to yet and have a so-so history at. I never win a lot or lose a lot there. No really interesting hands but I played way too many hands due a huge fish there. IMO when the fish gets in a pot you get in the pot, because you want to play pots with them but you also need your hands to hit. The problem with playing all those hands is you rarely hit your hands and you can never bluff them, so it could cost you some cheese to try to stack them. And that's what happened to me. I left there after about 4 hours down $75, but no problem.
Went home to rest again in the late afternoon then headed back out to Bellagio to see what the night action brought. Fanboy alert: Walked by the tournament area & watched Johnny Bax & Jonathan Little play for a few minutes. Went to poker room & got sat after about 30 minutes. They opened a new table for us and bought in for the max, which is $200 there. As I was walking back from the pisser in the sportsbook I hear someone say near the front desk "what you got tonight?" I walk past like it's no big deal, sit back down at the table, then realize it was Daniel Negreanu who asked that. Now I know I'm a fanboy of some of these people & I probably shouldn't be, but Danny N is another story. Dude is arguably the most popular poker player on the planet. Needless to say everything damn near stopped in the poker room as people were clamoring to get a look at him & the fine ass blonde he had with him. I mean wow. One of these days I'm going to learn to load pics on here so I can start showing you some of these people. So he sits down at a 2-5 game 2 tables away for about an hour & must have donked off a grand. Pretty cool of him to sit with the "folks" & play some cards, in my humble opinion. Anyway, after about 4 hours there I cash out over $400 for an overall winning day. W00t.
This morning I played in a $60 WSOP satellite for the $500 employee event or $500 One-Drop satellite. It was a shovefest almost from the start with the ridiculous starting stack of 6k & 100-200 blinds of 20 minute levels. That's right, 30 big blinds to start. Absurd. Anyway I was out after 45 minutes when I shoved my TT into KK, gg me. Headed over to Aria and learned a quick lesson. I was seated after about 5 minutes, and I instantly did not like my table. I knew one old nit there but could tell that like 7 of the other 8 people knew what they were doing. I wanted to change tables after about 15 minutes but stayed like an idiot. Ended up losing $350 when my bluffs got caught & couldn't make any hands. Like I said, lesson learned. If my gut tells me to leave, I'm going to leave.
So here I am back at my place typing this waiting to head back out. I'm probably heading to MGM, Bally's, or maybe Treasure Island later tonight, places where I expect to be drunken idiots begging to give me their money. As far as sessions, you can probably see that I am limiting myself to 4-5 hour sessions. Any more then that & I feel like I'm working. Then I take a break for a few hours & head back out. Anyway, this is longer than I expected. Hope I didn't bore anyone. Thanks for reading.
I wake up Wednesday morning with the intention of either taking the day off or doing a light schedule. After being awake for 30 minutes I got the urge to play, so I was thinking about what rooms would have a game going about 9:00am. Usually one of the bigger, more popular rooms would. I decide on Bellagio because I hadn't played there yet & figured there would be a lot of older nitty players I could try to fleece. I wasn't disappointed.
Get there about 9:30a but don't get sat until around 10:00. Got outplayed on one hand where I had KK but the board made a one-liner straight to a 10, villian bet the J river & I folded. He showed QJ for 1 pair & I instantly put the dude in my sights. I never got involved in another pot with the guy but ended up leaving there after about 4 hours up a little over $400. I played nitty & pushed my made hands for the most part. If I sensed someone was weak & would fold, I would bluff, but those times were few and far between.
I left there to come home & rest for a while before deciding to head out to Planet Hollywood around 7-ish. I decided on PHo because there is usually a younger crowd there with over-inflated egos. The plan was to nit it up again & get paid on made hands. They open a new table so I buy in for the maximum, $300. I play tight the first few orbits to see what the table is like. Sure enough, I already pegged the 7 seat as the table young gun who thought he could do no wrong ( I was the 3 seat). It also helped that he doubled up within the first 30 minutes so his confidence was sky-high. Then the hand happened.
He limps along with 2 others & look down at KK. I bump it to $16, I think, they all call. Flop comes Qxx rainbow. Young gun leads into me for like $30, 2 folds, I make it $85, he calls. Turn is a blank & dude instantly shoves on me for my last ~$150 & I snap call. He shows KQ, the river bricks & I rake in a nice pot. Young gun says "I thought you were overprotecting jacks or something." I know, that's why you're a donk. Thanks for the money. I left PHo after about 4 hours up over $700. Up over $1200 for the day. That's what I'm talking about.
Wake up Thursday itching to play so head to the Venetian, which I hadn't been to yet and have a so-so history at. I never win a lot or lose a lot there. No really interesting hands but I played way too many hands due a huge fish there. IMO when the fish gets in a pot you get in the pot, because you want to play pots with them but you also need your hands to hit. The problem with playing all those hands is you rarely hit your hands and you can never bluff them, so it could cost you some cheese to try to stack them. And that's what happened to me. I left there after about 4 hours down $75, but no problem.
Went home to rest again in the late afternoon then headed back out to Bellagio to see what the night action brought. Fanboy alert: Walked by the tournament area & watched Johnny Bax & Jonathan Little play for a few minutes. Went to poker room & got sat after about 30 minutes. They opened a new table for us and bought in for the max, which is $200 there. As I was walking back from the pisser in the sportsbook I hear someone say near the front desk "what you got tonight?" I walk past like it's no big deal, sit back down at the table, then realize it was Daniel Negreanu who asked that. Now I know I'm a fanboy of some of these people & I probably shouldn't be, but Danny N is another story. Dude is arguably the most popular poker player on the planet. Needless to say everything damn near stopped in the poker room as people were clamoring to get a look at him & the fine ass blonde he had with him. I mean wow. One of these days I'm going to learn to load pics on here so I can start showing you some of these people. So he sits down at a 2-5 game 2 tables away for about an hour & must have donked off a grand. Pretty cool of him to sit with the "folks" & play some cards, in my humble opinion. Anyway, after about 4 hours there I cash out over $400 for an overall winning day. W00t.
This morning I played in a $60 WSOP satellite for the $500 employee event or $500 One-Drop satellite. It was a shovefest almost from the start with the ridiculous starting stack of 6k & 100-200 blinds of 20 minute levels. That's right, 30 big blinds to start. Absurd. Anyway I was out after 45 minutes when I shoved my TT into KK, gg me. Headed over to Aria and learned a quick lesson. I was seated after about 5 minutes, and I instantly did not like my table. I knew one old nit there but could tell that like 7 of the other 8 people knew what they were doing. I wanted to change tables after about 15 minutes but stayed like an idiot. Ended up losing $350 when my bluffs got caught & couldn't make any hands. Like I said, lesson learned. If my gut tells me to leave, I'm going to leave.
So here I am back at my place typing this waiting to head back out. I'm probably heading to MGM, Bally's, or maybe Treasure Island later tonight, places where I expect to be drunken idiots begging to give me their money. As far as sessions, you can probably see that I am limiting myself to 4-5 hour sessions. Any more then that & I feel like I'm working. Then I take a break for a few hours & head back out. Anyway, this is longer than I expected. Hope I didn't bore anyone. Thanks for reading.
Wednesday, May 16, 2012
Hello, It's About Time
As I wake up from another losing session, wiping the sleep from my eyes, I have decided to finally start my blog. I've been here in Vegas for a week and I've been reminded from friends to get this thing going, how my life is as a low limit grinder, so without further adieu, here we go.
First I want to mention what I intend to keep in this blog. I will talk about all poker information, from winning/losing sessions, interestng hands, interesting characters (it IS Vegas after all), and the occasional Stump blow up tiltfests - which I promise I'm trying to work on, especially if I plan on keeping this as my profession. Of course, when the table idiot fish calls down with second pair and trips up on the river to take $220 from me....
Second I will try to include most aspects of my life. Everything from losing weight, to family, to schooling should be included. I may change names or use initials to protect the innocent, but you'll all get the idea.
So let's get started. Poker has been a roller coaster to say the least. I stopped in Tucson, AZ to visit the parents - and get a free night's room & board, let's be honest - and get a little poker in at the local Indian casinos. After about 5 hours I was a $130 winner. Great start to the trip. It helps when you flop quads with 22 and table spot - let's face it, they're ALL spots - can't fold KK and gives me his stack. But it was great seeing the parents again.
From there I drove to Vegas, about 7 hours, and checked in to my extended stay/apartment. Not a bad place, really clean, just north of the airport. So we always hear jets landing or taking off, depending on the wind. Honestly I don't really notice as my A/C unit is pretty loud and right next to the bed. Location is about 5 minutes from most strip casinos, although depending on time of day or day of the week can take 20 minutes to get to.
Bankroll-wise I'm down right now, but nothing a good night can't change. With all the first-time expenses I've incurred I'm considerably down, but that will level out. My house is selling & the closing date is around June 15th, so that will be another influx of money for the bankroll. My goal is to be 'rolled for and playing 2-5 by the end of the Series/summer. I do not plan on playing any Series events as I am not properly rolled for any of them, including the $1k's.
This should do it for now. I'll have more later as situations develop. Thanks for your patience as I got this going. I won't take as long between posts I promise.
First I want to mention what I intend to keep in this blog. I will talk about all poker information, from winning/losing sessions, interestng hands, interesting characters (it IS Vegas after all), and the occasional Stump blow up tiltfests - which I promise I'm trying to work on, especially if I plan on keeping this as my profession. Of course, when the table idiot fish calls down with second pair and trips up on the river to take $220 from me....
Second I will try to include most aspects of my life. Everything from losing weight, to family, to schooling should be included. I may change names or use initials to protect the innocent, but you'll all get the idea.
So let's get started. Poker has been a roller coaster to say the least. I stopped in Tucson, AZ to visit the parents - and get a free night's room & board, let's be honest - and get a little poker in at the local Indian casinos. After about 5 hours I was a $130 winner. Great start to the trip. It helps when you flop quads with 22 and table spot - let's face it, they're ALL spots - can't fold KK and gives me his stack. But it was great seeing the parents again.
From there I drove to Vegas, about 7 hours, and checked in to my extended stay/apartment. Not a bad place, really clean, just north of the airport. So we always hear jets landing or taking off, depending on the wind. Honestly I don't really notice as my A/C unit is pretty loud and right next to the bed. Location is about 5 minutes from most strip casinos, although depending on time of day or day of the week can take 20 minutes to get to.
Bankroll-wise I'm down right now, but nothing a good night can't change. With all the first-time expenses I've incurred I'm considerably down, but that will level out. My house is selling & the closing date is around June 15th, so that will be another influx of money for the bankroll. My goal is to be 'rolled for and playing 2-5 by the end of the Series/summer. I do not plan on playing any Series events as I am not properly rolled for any of them, including the $1k's.
This should do it for now. I'll have more later as situations develop. Thanks for your patience as I got this going. I won't take as long between posts I promise.
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