It’s very tough to update a blog when real life happens…a few random things.
Poker: After some slight losses, I decided that my SNG game had slipped in the past month, probably a result of playing too many multi-table tournaments, and trying to get creative with speculative hands. Since SNG’s are my bread and butter, I decided I better get back to basics. To do that, I started 4-tabling the Party 215’s, with some nice success. I was really rolling along when “Real Life #1” (see below) happened. Still turned a nice profit over a few days.
Real Life #1: Got food poisoning Monday night. I theorize that it came from some lunch meat that might have sat out too long after Abby’s birthday party. I ate it two days after the party. In any case, I was violently ill for about 24 hours.
Real Life #2: Turned 30 last Sunday. Doesn’t feel markedly different, age is just a number. I like to joke about being an old man, but it really is no big deal. Went to the bar to celebrate with a bunch of people. Good times. My GF took me to a great dinner and a comedy club on Sunday as well. Going out again this weekend to close out my “birthday week”.
Real Life #3: Had Abby’s 2nd b-day party this weekend. Really fun watching her open presents, eat cake, etc… She is so damn smart and growing up so fast it’s killing me. At the same time, she’s stepping into her terrible two’s, and can be very headstrong at times. I’m just trying to take it all in stride and not get frustrated, because usually that makes things worse. You just need to change your approach when dealing with a hysterical child. Turn their attention to something else, and their mood will likely change as well.
Sports: Been a very solid week in wagering, top to bottom. Makes up for my lack of success in the NFL playoffs. To build on that topic, I like Seattle +4. They should be the favorite in this game, by 1-3 points. Public perception has moved it to Pitt -4. Great value on this game, as I think the field favors the Seabags.
Random annoyance: I was watching basketball the other night, and the color commentator made a point, to which the play-by-play man said “I agree 110%.” Huh??? How is it possible to agree with someone any more than completely, let alone 10% more???
Adios.
Friday, January 27, 2006
Wednesday, January 18, 2006
Last few days in review
Been a few days since the last update.
Friday:
After work I got a hot stone massage. Very relaxing, highly recommend to anyone. And no, getting one is not gay. The masseuse said that my entire right side was very tight, except that my left ankle was tighter. I rationalize that my right side is my dominant side and my “mouse” side, and my left leg is my plant and jumping foot for basketball, which I played on Friday.
Played 4 multi-table tourney’s, and took losses in about every way I could, including bad beats and bad play. Made some cash back at 30/60 though.
Saturday:
Drove to Grand Rapids to visit my buddy and play a 21 man tourney, $20 buy-in. Terrible play, but I couldn’t catch anything. Most of the players were unbluffable too, so you had to show the best hand. My demise was when we were down to 2 tables, 10 total people, blinds were 50/100 and I was on the button with 825 left. Folds to me and I move all-in with A2o. The SB (one of the wives, bigger girl who took forever to call an all-in earlier with top 2 pair on a rainbow non-coordinated board) thinks for a while and says that she is making a bad call and calls. The BB folds. I think I’m way behind at this point and she turns over 86s???? Did she think I had 7 high? Inevitably a 6 hit on the river and I was out of the main tourney.
My buddy Mike wanted to play me heads-up, and was very sure he would beat me. I tend to pride myself on my heads up play, so I figured I would handle him. First game was for $20, and after he took an early lead, I out aggressived him and won. Later we played for $10 and I totally dominated him. Then somebody challenged me to a heads up battle for $100…I gladly avoided the $5 buy-in about to start, and played him. I lost game #1 when I got all-in with AA against 64 on a J632 board, when he hit a 5 on the river. I then won game 2 for $100, and also game 3 for $50. I also won a last longer bet in the main tourney with 2 of my buddies for $20 apiece, so when all was said and done I made about $80 for the trip.
Sunday:
Drove home and watched the football games. I thought Indy would roll the Steelers, boy was I wrong there. Somebody should have told the Colts the game started at 1pm and not 3pm. It was a disgrace the way the officiating tried to take the game away from the Steelers. Fortunately Vandershank missed and all was right with the world again.
In poker news, I pissed away about 1K on multi-tables, and a little more on SNG’s. Took a few bad beats, but for the most part, it was bad play. I wasn’t folding when I knew I was beat, and was basically making plays I knew I shouldn’t make. Basically telling me to take a break.
Monday:
Had my daughter tonight, she was adorable as usual. First night in her big girl bed at my house. She woke up a few times through the night yapping away, but I just told her to lay back down and she was fine.
Didn’t play any poker that night, but my girlfriend played a free-roll at school on Absolute Poker. Out of 396 entrants, she finished 4th for $25. At this point she may be the best player of the two of us. At least I can say that I taught her.
Tuesday:
Set up the cake and lunch for Abby’s birthday party on Saturday. Should be a small but fun get together. Played a little cash poker before bed, with a small profit.
Friday:
After work I got a hot stone massage. Very relaxing, highly recommend to anyone. And no, getting one is not gay. The masseuse said that my entire right side was very tight, except that my left ankle was tighter. I rationalize that my right side is my dominant side and my “mouse” side, and my left leg is my plant and jumping foot for basketball, which I played on Friday.
Played 4 multi-table tourney’s, and took losses in about every way I could, including bad beats and bad play. Made some cash back at 30/60 though.
Saturday:
Drove to Grand Rapids to visit my buddy and play a 21 man tourney, $20 buy-in. Terrible play, but I couldn’t catch anything. Most of the players were unbluffable too, so you had to show the best hand. My demise was when we were down to 2 tables, 10 total people, blinds were 50/100 and I was on the button with 825 left. Folds to me and I move all-in with A2o. The SB (one of the wives, bigger girl who took forever to call an all-in earlier with top 2 pair on a rainbow non-coordinated board) thinks for a while and says that she is making a bad call and calls. The BB folds. I think I’m way behind at this point and she turns over 86s???? Did she think I had 7 high? Inevitably a 6 hit on the river and I was out of the main tourney.
My buddy Mike wanted to play me heads-up, and was very sure he would beat me. I tend to pride myself on my heads up play, so I figured I would handle him. First game was for $20, and after he took an early lead, I out aggressived him and won. Later we played for $10 and I totally dominated him. Then somebody challenged me to a heads up battle for $100…I gladly avoided the $5 buy-in about to start, and played him. I lost game #1 when I got all-in with AA against 64 on a J632 board, when he hit a 5 on the river. I then won game 2 for $100, and also game 3 for $50. I also won a last longer bet in the main tourney with 2 of my buddies for $20 apiece, so when all was said and done I made about $80 for the trip.
Sunday:
Drove home and watched the football games. I thought Indy would roll the Steelers, boy was I wrong there. Somebody should have told the Colts the game started at 1pm and not 3pm. It was a disgrace the way the officiating tried to take the game away from the Steelers. Fortunately Vandershank missed and all was right with the world again.
In poker news, I pissed away about 1K on multi-tables, and a little more on SNG’s. Took a few bad beats, but for the most part, it was bad play. I wasn’t folding when I knew I was beat, and was basically making plays I knew I shouldn’t make. Basically telling me to take a break.
Monday:
Had my daughter tonight, she was adorable as usual. First night in her big girl bed at my house. She woke up a few times through the night yapping away, but I just told her to lay back down and she was fine.
Didn’t play any poker that night, but my girlfriend played a free-roll at school on Absolute Poker. Out of 396 entrants, she finished 4th for $25. At this point she may be the best player of the two of us. At least I can say that I taught her.
Tuesday:
Set up the cake and lunch for Abby’s birthday party on Saturday. Should be a small but fun get together. Played a little cash poker before bed, with a small profit.
Friday, January 13, 2006
Out of shape
Every Thursday is basketball night, so today I am a little bit sore. Played decent last night, but my shot was off (after last week being unable to miss). At least my team won every game. On the basketball court, my neglect to my own fitness has become more apparent. Aside from the overall lack of conditioning, I can tell that the few extra pounds I have put on since high school / college has taken away from my first step quickness and acceleration. This allows a new short term goal…to get back down to my “playing” weight of 175 lbs. That means I have to drop 11 lbs, which I hope won’t be all that difficult, with a little more activity mixed in with some “healthier” eating. By “healthier” I don’t necessarily mean healthy, I just mean less “unhealthy”.
What would a blog be without some reference to poker. I played one SNG last night, of the 1K variety last night on Party. There are a lot of regulars that play in those games, but I checked it out and noticed a lot of players I didn’t recognize, so I decided to join. 45 minutes later I had won the thing for a 4.5K payoff. I guess my read was right, as I didn’t suck out any to win that one.
The month of January isn’t even half over, but it’s shaping up to be one of my best months ever. Hopefully that can continue. I won’t be able to play any next weekend, with my daughters 2nd b-day and my 30th b-day, and I’m going up to Grand Rapids for my buddies friendly $25 game. More for the social function than the money, as I could make (or lose) far more money from the comfort of my own couch.
What would a blog be without some reference to poker. I played one SNG last night, of the 1K variety last night on Party. There are a lot of regulars that play in those games, but I checked it out and noticed a lot of players I didn’t recognize, so I decided to join. 45 minutes later I had won the thing for a 4.5K payoff. I guess my read was right, as I didn’t suck out any to win that one.
The month of January isn’t even half over, but it’s shaping up to be one of my best months ever. Hopefully that can continue. I won’t be able to play any next weekend, with my daughters 2nd b-day and my 30th b-day, and I’m going up to Grand Rapids for my buddies friendly $25 game. More for the social function than the money, as I could make (or lose) far more money from the comfort of my own couch.
Thursday, January 12, 2006
Taxes and Gambling
Just an example to show how dumb the tax laws are with respect to gambling (as I understand them):
Regular job: Earn 40K
Poker earnings: 10K
Other gambling losses: -5K
Net income is 45K, yet you have to pay state income taxes on the 40K + 10K, disregarding any losses. You are not allowed to net wins/losses, you must declare all wins, and then deduct all losses.
The other problem with this is that in many cases, you lose some of the standard deductions that you would normally get, when your adjusted gross income reaches a certain point.
Hopefully with the proliferation of online gaming, the tax laws are modified to actually make a little bit of sense in this regard.
I imagine that in the end the IRS is screwing themselves, as people who either don't understand or don't want to bother with an "unfair" system don't bother declaring anything.
For the record I do declare my gambling, as much as I disagree with the present system. Dealing with an unjust system sounds like a better alternative then (a) jail time - however unlikely, or (b) a large fine, penalties and interest.
Regular job: Earn 40K
Poker earnings: 10K
Other gambling losses: -5K
Net income is 45K, yet you have to pay state income taxes on the 40K + 10K, disregarding any losses. You are not allowed to net wins/losses, you must declare all wins, and then deduct all losses.
The other problem with this is that in many cases, you lose some of the standard deductions that you would normally get, when your adjusted gross income reaches a certain point.
Hopefully with the proliferation of online gaming, the tax laws are modified to actually make a little bit of sense in this regard.
I imagine that in the end the IRS is screwing themselves, as people who either don't understand or don't want to bother with an "unfair" system don't bother declaring anything.
For the record I do declare my gambling, as much as I disagree with the present system. Dealing with an unjust system sounds like a better alternative then (a) jail time - however unlikely, or (b) a large fine, penalties and interest.
Wednesday, January 11, 2006
2K buy-in SNG
Two nights ago I played a 500 buy-in Party Step 3 Higher, with the top 2 finishers earning 2K Step 4 Higher buyins. I was one of the lucky 2, and last night I played in the 2K SNG when I saw one filling up (they don't fill up often, I guess a lot of people don't like to risk 2K on an hour of poker).
Played pretty solid, as they normally play very tight, and before I knew it I was heads up. Winner gets 10K, 2nd place gets 5K. 2nd hand of heads up, I am at a 5800-4200 chip disadvantage, and in the BB for 300. SB completes (he hadn't done that all tourney), I have A9 so I decided to raise. I raise to 12oo and he immediately goes all-in. Being in all-in robot mode I called and he unsurpisingly showed me KK. I failed to improve and I was out...at least I got 5K for my trouble. Not bad off of a $500 investment.
I also played the $100 buy-in 35K guaranteed at 7pm on Party. I had built my stack up to about 2500+ a little more than an hour in, and we had lost more than half the field. I pick up AA in the BB. To make a long story short, I get it all-in pre-flop against KK, and wouldn't you know he flops a K. After the turn K I was drawing dead. So in tourney's that I can think of, my last 4 adventures with or against KK are as follows.
1) Full Tilt Sunday special, KK all-in preflop against AA...I lose most of my stack.
2) Full Tilt Sunday special KK all-in preflop against T9...I again lose most of my stack to a straight.
3) 2K buy-in SNG...A9 all-in preflop against KK....I am eliminated.
4) Party 35K guaranteed....AA all-in preflop against KK....2 Kings later I am eliminated.
No problem with incidents 1 and 3...but 2 and 4 smart. And if I am going to lose 2 and 4, at least let me suck out and win one of the others. Sigh, I realize it's a small sample size, just venting a little as a decent profit could have been a huge profit.
In football this weekend, I like the Colts to throttle the Steelers, they did it once before, and nothing has changed to make me think otherwise. The Pit defense just isn't good enough to slow them down. The only reason Pit made it past Cincy is because of Jon Kitna's 2nd half ineptitude.
Played pretty solid, as they normally play very tight, and before I knew it I was heads up. Winner gets 10K, 2nd place gets 5K. 2nd hand of heads up, I am at a 5800-4200 chip disadvantage, and in the BB for 300. SB completes (he hadn't done that all tourney), I have A9 so I decided to raise. I raise to 12oo and he immediately goes all-in. Being in all-in robot mode I called and he unsurpisingly showed me KK. I failed to improve and I was out...at least I got 5K for my trouble. Not bad off of a $500 investment.
I also played the $100 buy-in 35K guaranteed at 7pm on Party. I had built my stack up to about 2500+ a little more than an hour in, and we had lost more than half the field. I pick up AA in the BB. To make a long story short, I get it all-in pre-flop against KK, and wouldn't you know he flops a K. After the turn K I was drawing dead. So in tourney's that I can think of, my last 4 adventures with or against KK are as follows.
1) Full Tilt Sunday special, KK all-in preflop against AA...I lose most of my stack.
2) Full Tilt Sunday special KK all-in preflop against T9...I again lose most of my stack to a straight.
3) 2K buy-in SNG...A9 all-in preflop against KK....I am eliminated.
4) Party 35K guaranteed....AA all-in preflop against KK....2 Kings later I am eliminated.
No problem with incidents 1 and 3...but 2 and 4 smart. And if I am going to lose 2 and 4, at least let me suck out and win one of the others. Sigh, I realize it's a small sample size, just venting a little as a decent profit could have been a huge profit.
In football this weekend, I like the Colts to throttle the Steelers, they did it once before, and nothing has changed to make me think otherwise. The Pit defense just isn't good enough to slow them down. The only reason Pit made it past Cincy is because of Jon Kitna's 2nd half ineptitude.
Tuesday, January 10, 2006
Year in review
It’s been a long time since I updated this blog…way too long in fact, since an awful lot has happened since then.
So what’s new in life. First off, I have a new girlfriend now, her name is Victoria and she is absolutely wonderful. She is the most thoughtful girl that I have ever met, is wonderful to my daughter, Abby, and most importantly supports me in everything that I do. This mostly refers to poker, whether it be a trip to Vegas or an all-night tournament, she has been very supportive.
2006 REVIEW
So I basically wanted this to be a recap of the 2005 year, to analyze my game on all levels, and set some modest expectations for 2006.
I like to pride myself on playing all forms of poker (at least Hold’em, as my Omaha game sucks right now). I’ve been known to play limit, no-limit, sit and go tournaments, and multi-table tournaments, with success at all levels.
Cash Games
Last year around this time I was playing 3-4 tables at a time of the Party 15/30 game. A definite money maker, but I had been doing that for several months and started to get burned out on it. The up/down swings can be incredible for a game that was as aggressive as that. For the year, about 15% of my poker profits were derived from cash tables. This was very low because of some bad sessions, as well as lack of desire to play these levels. This year, I have dabbled in some 20/40 and 30/60, as well as a bit of 50/100. I am killing the 20/40 game lately, so I think if anything I will play that more than anything else.
As far as Limit Holdem, I don’t feel like I have any weaknesses. I am able to change gears very well between short handed and full table. I would like to improve my shorthanded game to be able to win more hands where I don’t catch a piece of the flop, but who wouldn’t. For the year I would like to improve my discipline in a few different areas. Firstly, improved table selection, and secondly, walking away from an unprofitable table instead of chasing losses.
As far as No Limit Holdem, I have had some very solid sessions at the cash tables, but feel that my game is very weak. I need to be able to get away from big pairs / overpairs when the evidence is starting to show that I am beaten. In tournaments this leak isn’t very costly, as you see more bluffing or raising with just top pair. This is an adjustment I need to make to my NL cash game.
Sit and Go tourneys
Sit and Go tourneys became my bread and butter last year. They accounted for over 50% of my profit for the year. I started at the 100 level, and spent at least half of the year at the 200 level, basically accounting for a huge amount of my profits. But the game got boring multi-tabling, and I looked to improve and move up. I eventually started playing the Pokerstars 500 games, which include several top players, including a few WSOP bracelet winners. I have more than held my own in that game, turning a nice profit. I have also been playing occasionally in the 1K step tourneys on Party, again with some success. As far as sit and go’s, I don’t see any glaring leaks. I would like to improve my bubble play even more, as that is where the money is really won or lost. My playbook used to involve playing ULTRA tight in the beginning, but I have sinced loosened up, even limping (and re-raising) big pairs early on. This has increased my variance, but it has also improved my game and made me more difficult to play (IMO). These sit and go’s are already the biggest online, so I would like to play many more of them and hopefully rack up the profit.
Multi-Table tourney's
The last category is multi-table tournaments. For at least the first half of the year, I didn’t play them at all. The prospect of having to be available for 6-8 hours in a row, with the chance of very little profit to show for it was not all that enticing. But as I started playing them more, I have become re-hooked. First I won a limit (of all things) tourney on Pokerstars for $4200 in June….then in November I won a NL tourney for $11K. In December I had several other scores of 1K and up, and made the money a large portion of the time. The closest I came to a huge score was one of the nightly tourney’s on Party, where I finished 9th out of 1200+, getting me 3700. First place was worth 51K, so I fell a bit short there. A lot of these fields are filled by satellites, and the caliber of player tends to be very weak. I think I am on the cusp of doing something really great in one of these, I just have to be patient as it is VERY tough to win a 3700 person tourney.
Improvements to my game need to come in picking my spots and opponents, especially in regards to re-steals. It would also help me if I was playing and focusing more on the game, as opposed to watching TV, betting on sports, etc….
This year I really would like to qualify/play in one big buy-in event. The ones to target would be the Ultimate Bet (Aruba) tourney, the Pokerstars Bahamas, or the WSOP (in order of preference). I won’t buy-in direct unless something life changing happens (like winning 100K).
Hopefully my game (and profit) takes the same leaps forward in 2006 that it did in 2005.
So what’s new in life. First off, I have a new girlfriend now, her name is Victoria and she is absolutely wonderful. She is the most thoughtful girl that I have ever met, is wonderful to my daughter, Abby, and most importantly supports me in everything that I do. This mostly refers to poker, whether it be a trip to Vegas or an all-night tournament, she has been very supportive.
2006 REVIEW
So I basically wanted this to be a recap of the 2005 year, to analyze my game on all levels, and set some modest expectations for 2006.
I like to pride myself on playing all forms of poker (at least Hold’em, as my Omaha game sucks right now). I’ve been known to play limit, no-limit, sit and go tournaments, and multi-table tournaments, with success at all levels.
Cash Games
Last year around this time I was playing 3-4 tables at a time of the Party 15/30 game. A definite money maker, but I had been doing that for several months and started to get burned out on it. The up/down swings can be incredible for a game that was as aggressive as that. For the year, about 15% of my poker profits were derived from cash tables. This was very low because of some bad sessions, as well as lack of desire to play these levels. This year, I have dabbled in some 20/40 and 30/60, as well as a bit of 50/100. I am killing the 20/40 game lately, so I think if anything I will play that more than anything else.
As far as Limit Holdem, I don’t feel like I have any weaknesses. I am able to change gears very well between short handed and full table. I would like to improve my shorthanded game to be able to win more hands where I don’t catch a piece of the flop, but who wouldn’t. For the year I would like to improve my discipline in a few different areas. Firstly, improved table selection, and secondly, walking away from an unprofitable table instead of chasing losses.
As far as No Limit Holdem, I have had some very solid sessions at the cash tables, but feel that my game is very weak. I need to be able to get away from big pairs / overpairs when the evidence is starting to show that I am beaten. In tournaments this leak isn’t very costly, as you see more bluffing or raising with just top pair. This is an adjustment I need to make to my NL cash game.
Sit and Go tourneys
Sit and Go tourneys became my bread and butter last year. They accounted for over 50% of my profit for the year. I started at the 100 level, and spent at least half of the year at the 200 level, basically accounting for a huge amount of my profits. But the game got boring multi-tabling, and I looked to improve and move up. I eventually started playing the Pokerstars 500 games, which include several top players, including a few WSOP bracelet winners. I have more than held my own in that game, turning a nice profit. I have also been playing occasionally in the 1K step tourneys on Party, again with some success. As far as sit and go’s, I don’t see any glaring leaks. I would like to improve my bubble play even more, as that is where the money is really won or lost. My playbook used to involve playing ULTRA tight in the beginning, but I have sinced loosened up, even limping (and re-raising) big pairs early on. This has increased my variance, but it has also improved my game and made me more difficult to play (IMO). These sit and go’s are already the biggest online, so I would like to play many more of them and hopefully rack up the profit.
Multi-Table tourney's
The last category is multi-table tournaments. For at least the first half of the year, I didn’t play them at all. The prospect of having to be available for 6-8 hours in a row, with the chance of very little profit to show for it was not all that enticing. But as I started playing them more, I have become re-hooked. First I won a limit (of all things) tourney on Pokerstars for $4200 in June….then in November I won a NL tourney for $11K. In December I had several other scores of 1K and up, and made the money a large portion of the time. The closest I came to a huge score was one of the nightly tourney’s on Party, where I finished 9th out of 1200+, getting me 3700. First place was worth 51K, so I fell a bit short there. A lot of these fields are filled by satellites, and the caliber of player tends to be very weak. I think I am on the cusp of doing something really great in one of these, I just have to be patient as it is VERY tough to win a 3700 person tourney.
Improvements to my game need to come in picking my spots and opponents, especially in regards to re-steals. It would also help me if I was playing and focusing more on the game, as opposed to watching TV, betting on sports, etc….
This year I really would like to qualify/play in one big buy-in event. The ones to target would be the Ultimate Bet (Aruba) tourney, the Pokerstars Bahamas, or the WSOP (in order of preference). I won’t buy-in direct unless something life changing happens (like winning 100K).
Hopefully my game (and profit) takes the same leaps forward in 2006 that it did in 2005.
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