No Excuses

Well I doubt anyone has been reading and wondering where I am. If I had the ambition I'd tell you all. Make the story short, I haven't read a blog in 6 months or so. I've barely even found the time to play cards during the same time.

My spiral started with a conjunction of poorly played cards and poorly timed life. So much has happened to me since I last posted. I still have the will to learn and the will to play. I already knew I didn't have the will to write that Hoyazo does. I also don't have the will to be recognized as Waffles does. I don't have the skill that Fuel55 has. I often wish I had the gamble that Cracknaces has, but I only have a little gamble, a little skill and a little will.

My will to be recognized is surely weak, but I do have the desire to become a profitable poker player. I'm not sure where the drive went, but I am sure it is back.

BBT3 - Another $2k package up for grabs

Right from Al:

This was just posted on the Full Tilt BBT promo page, 7 seats weren't enough so they're tacking on another $2k Bracelet Package. Details are here.
We should also have out details of the writing contest shortly. How about one more shot at a $2K WSOP* prize package? If you've got a blog and participate in the Battle of the Bloggers 3, all you have to do is post the Badge on your blog for the length of the tournament series and you’ll be entered into a Freeroll for the $2K prize package.The Freeroll, Sunday, June 8th, will be held exclusively for those who displayed the Badge with pride for the duration of Battle of the Bloggers 3 Tournaments.

And so my "Badge" is up to the right with links to al's blog and Full Tilt's BBT3 page.

I flamed out of the MATH tonight. My downward spiral began with all in preflop KK < AA and I pretty much just spewed the rest of my chips when no steals worked.

Lazy Blogger

I am such a lazy blogger. I never make time to write in my blog. I mostly troll around other blogs without giving anything back. So once again I try to see if I can't make some more time to write.

BBT3 is well underway. Lucko has really been on fire the last week or so. BBT3 Leaderboard and ToC winners pages have been updated pretty regularly by Al. I have had a couple decent chances of securing a ToC seat, but haven't really gotten very close yet. Mondays MATH had me going out 4-betting All In with AK only to run into ChippyMcStacks AA just before the points bubble burst. Tonight's Mookie had me calling sprstoner's 3-bet All In with AA just to lose to a set on the river. I am still in the top 20 on the BBT3 Leaderboard, but am down about $100.

I have had an awful time scoring a $75 token in the nightly token race at 9:45. I have gotten so close, but somehow I get screwed or screw myself. Tonight i was running out of chips as the bubble neared. I was sure I couldn't survive without taking some blinds or doubling up. I open shove ~6bb with K-10 only to be called by A-10. I'm down to 2bb and actually get all folds the next 2 times I push. After the blinds pass I shove from the BTN with 8-9 and am called by the SB with A-Q. O well. I'm sure when I finally to score a token I'll score a few in a row.

Enough complaining for now.

Out of HUC6 in round 2

I lost a somewhat long quality HU match to RecessRampage. Again I have no hand histories on my work computer, but there weren't many showdowns to speak of. Neither one of us got too comitted to many pots. Most of the chips passed with well times reraises or post flop raises.

I won the 1st, but couldn't take down the 2nd or 3rd. I got off to a nice lead in the 2nd, but squandered it away. I lost some of my confidence and it showed in the 3rd. RecessRampage raised about twice as many pots as the first 2 and I rarely found any cards to fight back with. When I fought back with nothing he either had a hand or saw right through it.

I somewhat recall 1 hand where I think I played it very poorly and cost me greatly. I think it was in the 2nd one. I checked on the turn with 2nd pair on a double suited board with 2 aces. I led out on the river that didn't fill the flush feeling I had the best hand. Unfortunately I only represented exactly what I had or worse. RecessRampage raised the river and fearing him having an A, i couldn't find the call button. I think I need to either bet the turn or call the river. If he calls or raises the turn I can be done with the hand for cheaper.

Either way a quality match played by RecessRampage.

HUC6 Round 2

My first round opponent was Rubbarose. We had a difficult time scheduling our match. We finally started on Sunday around 9pm. I don't recall many of the hands and I don't have the history on my work computer. It was a number of hands before much action. I won a huge pot leaving him only T60 with 15/30 blinds. The next 2 hands were all-in with him winning both of them. The action and chips stacks were constant for a while with him slowly accumulating. I doubled him up again to around T800. He took control for a while and took the chip lead a little while longer without a showdown.

Then came the hand that would end up deciding it. I raised OTB with A-9. He called and we saw a flop of J-8-5. We both checked and the turn was a 7 giving me the double gutter. He put in a near pot sized bet that I called. I figured myself for 11 outs. 3 for the A and 8 for the straight. The river was a 6 and I min-raised his river bet leaving him very little again. This time he would not catch back up and I had taken game 1. He ended up showing J-8 for the flopped 2 pair. I had certainly got lucky to go runner-runner.

Rubbarose then declined the rematch wanting to concentrate on his deep run in the 13.5k and FTOPS #9. He would later bubble the FT of the 13.5k and bubble the $ in the FTOPS event. I guess with the combination of bubbling the 2 tourneys and losing to my questionable turn call and lucky river he decided to not play it out and forfeit round 1 to me.

Next up - RecessRampage

MATH was only a tease

Well poker sucked today. I lost 2 buyins at $50nl to 2 and 5 outers on the river. The MATH turned out to be just a tease. I love the 6-max format and it seemed to be working well for me. I had 2 early hands that sent me to the chip lead. One was a boat against surflexus when he turned a straight draw but missed the river. The other was a turned straight from me when emptyman flopped a set and NumbBono caught TPTK on the turn. I didn't capture the first, but here is the second.

I lost my chip lead after TripJax joined the table. He had raised my C-bet a couple times and when I had the OESD I thought a shove was in order. Unfortunately he flopped the nut flush draw and wasn't folding.

I was also unable to capture my exit when pvanharibo needlessly caught the set on the river when i raised all-in on the turn thinking I was trapping with second pair. She had been calling and floating me an awful lot with my aggressive playing and her pocket Q's caught me off guard.

The MATH was a fitting end to my consectutive losing day.

Bodonkey Extras

Smokkee has set up a great tournament series over at Bodog. The TOC will be giving away a 2008 Main Event Seat. Go check out his site for more details. I wish I could play the Bodonkey more, but with darts on tuesday it's pretty tough. I tried to sign up and just play when I got back last week, but that was just frustrating. I quickly logged in to catch 2 pair from the BB and my connection timed out after I bet the turn. I ended up auto folding. When I got home on my own connection I was down to 15bb and reraised all-in preflop with AQ suited. The original raiser called with KJ and turned a boat. gg me

I may try to bring my laptop to the bar and fire it up if the rest of my team can finish out the dart match. (I'm the captain and one of the worst players on the team so that may not be that hard to come by.)

Smokkee deserves much thanks for setting this up.

HUC 6

I have entered the HUC 6. 32 players are inline to compete over the next ~month to determine a winner. Visit the HUC website for more information and ~up to date results.

Bodonkey Victory

I have finally taken down a blogger tournament. It was also the smallest one I think I have played, but satisfying nonetheless. If you are unfamiliar the Bodonkey is a private blogger tournament on Bodog setup by Smokkee. As Hoy commented now I need to win one on a real site. The Bodonkey has a great overlay where they give an extra $600 in tourney credits. If you haven't played it you are missing out on the best value tournament online.

2008 Poker Goals

I had been reading some other blogs and their poker goals and thought it would be a good idea to make some of my own. I came up with a pretty optimistic list for myself, but I hope it is reasonable and hope even more to achieve everything on my list. And in no particular order:

1. Increase my bankroll to $10,000.
2. Try at least 1 bracelet race on Full Tilt.
3. Profit from Blogaments for the year.
4. Play some live cash at a casino.
5. Take a shot at $1000 nl online.

I really do hope that I can increase my bankroll significantly and $10k seems like a nice goal. I also promised my wife that I would take out $2k if (when) I hit $6k so the goal is kind of $12k. I plan to experience the WSOP someday so why not try to experience some this year. As far as profiting from the blogaments it is really that I would like to play them a lot, but if I keep losing $ I'll end up playing a lot less.

I have never played poker at a casino (with exception of $3/$6 on a cruise ship, but not for long) and I think that sucks. I don't live close to any at all, but at the same time Atlantic City is still only 5 hours away.

And as far as taking a shot at $1000nl I just think it would do wonders for my poker mind to play for a lot more than I ever have before. I appreciate and try to stick with good bankroll habits, but I also think taking a shot above your limits once in a while is good.

Good luck to everyone in 2008.