HUC 3

I played PresidentDaveLee in the next round of the HUC 3 tonight. It was best 2 out of 3. In the first game, we both started out fairly tight and just played solid careful heads up play for a while. I gained a lead then he won a big hand and I was behind. I was finally able to get back ahead and finish it. The second game was a fast one. I had a one game edge and decided to play a little more aggressive in this one. I had a slight lead and was dealt A8. The flop was Q 8 rag and he shoved. I took a chance and called with my middle pair. He had A9. No help came and I won the match. I think it's down to 4 of us now. I'll post info on my next match when I find out.

"Winner's Tilt"

My friend Trkfix coined a new phrase I thought I would share with you. "Winner's Tilt". I'm sure you're familiar with this character. The monster stack that's had the horseshoe for the whole tourney that feels bulletproof and keeps doubling up the small stacks at the table. Trkfix calls it "Winner's Tilt" and I think that sums it up. If you find yourself late in a tourney and you've played your heart out to build a HUGE stack, be careful not to fall in to the trap and donk off half your stack.(but we know you would never do that, right?)

Competetive Toughness

I saw a commercial earlier today for the upcoming broadcast of a Tiger Woods interview conducted by Ed Bradley.
Ed Bradley: People have described you as competetive.
Tiger Woods: Yeah, it can be anything. You and I could be playing cards right now and I would want to kick your butt.
Ed Bradley: You mean you would want to win.
Tiger Woods: No. I would want to kick your butt.

That is competetive toughness. It's like watching some of these upsets this year in the NCAA tourney. You can see a big difference between the kids that want to win and the kids that want to kick butt.

There is nothing like playing in a poker tournament where the majority of the players want to not only win; they want to kick your butt. Different players are different in that setting. Some players get very quiet while others use communication as a part of their game (whether it be talking at the table or chatting online). I am somewhere between the two, usually staying fairly quiet but not completely silent.

In the HUC3 tourney today, I faced some tough competition. My first table featured TanOrpheus. He played well but I finally was able to advance. The other table had SoxLover against PokerSweetHome. I didn't get a chance to catch any of this match, but it was over fast and I think I saw someone mention pocket aces. When I got to the table with PokerSweetHome, I knew I was in for a fight. He took an early lead and I just tried not to get too many chips in without a decent hand. I changed gears several times and threw several different strategical moves at him but he heald fast. In the end, I just had to get lucky to beat him. Great match sir.

Good luck to anyone playing in the WPBT tourney tonight. I am 12th in the points race after the first game and hope to improve on that tonight.

Best of luck this week everyone!!!

Bustout Bounty Bonanza

I played the 50+5 Bustout Bounty Bonanza on Full Tilt tonight. Unfortunately I didn't make the money or get to sit at a table with any of the pros in the tourney (Ferguson,Lederer,Bloch,Zolotow).
I went out in 224th out of 609 entries.
Kelly (mowenumdown) is still in with 175 other entrants. Lederer and Zolotow are gone but Ferguson and Bloch are still in. I hope Kelly gets a chance to play at a table with one of them.

Update: Kelly (mowenumdown) made the money and went out around 60th. The top 63 or so made the money. His stack took a hit before getting to the money, but he was able to hang in and make it. Great job Mow!!!!

Kelly and I have decided to start a "Power Poker Blog" together. It will be a TripJax design....more details soon.

HUC 3 Pimpage

I am playing in the Heads Up Championship 3 on Full Tilt. The first game starts Thursday March 23rd at 4:00 est.

The details are here.

Be sure and check out the info on the two lounge events Thursday evening. Good luck everyone!!

Changes Coming

Ok, I've decided to spruce up the look of this here blog so I'm working on it. I have a lot going on right now so it will probably be a few days.
I had a rough week at the tables, but it got a lot better last night. I played a 27 player and a 45 player sng. 1st in the 45, 3rd in the 27....that's more like it.
My blog was one of the blogs that was on the bad server this week. It was down for a few days, but everything seems to be back in order now.
That's it for now....hopefully I will have more poker success to talk about soon.
Good luck at the tables this week everyone!!!

WPBT and DADI

I played in the WPBT and the DADI blogger tournaments this week with ok but not stellar results. I was very happy to finish in the points at all in the WPBT tourney considering it was Omaha. The DADI was a little bit of a letdown. I lost a couple of coin flips in a row that sent me to the rail.

Thanks to everyone for the comments on my last post. I do know that a winning streak is something to be enjoyed while you are on it and that is what I did. It has cooled now and I have tried to heed the warning from Byron not to tilt away the winnings...so far so good.

The limit tables are still running ok but i have hit a little bit of a cold streak in tournaments. Hopefully I will have a good hit on one soon. One good hit can pay for a lot of time invested.

It is crunch time for those of you on the fence about attending Okie-Vegas. I hope to meet a lot of you there so do what you have to do. If you need info on what that is, check out Gary's blog. You will find it there.

Feeding the Fish

I've got a favor to ask all of you. Please don't let variance cause you not to feed the fish. It's easy to get angry when they catch their two-outer and tell them how bad they are. That is exactly the wrong thing to do. "Feed" them with a nh or something and keep them playing just like they are. You will beat them more times than not. Why run them off and risk having a very good player take their place; and on top of that you may run them off for good or inspire them to become better. They may even BE a better player that is just having a bad day and you may wake them up....ok, that's my 2 cents on that.

Now a question. I'm not a huge stat watcher but I know some of you are. I've increased my aggression quite a bit lately at the 6-max limit tables and the short term results are very good. I'm seeing the flop 50 to 60 percent of the time...of course almost always raising or folding..seldom just calling. I'm winning 80% of the showdowns and over 20 percent of the hands at the table. I know I am finishing a big winner almost every time. Do you guys think these are maintainable stats long-term or am I just on a 2-week hot streak...???

DADI IV Tourney Info

When: March 13th at 9 pm est
Where: Poker Stars Private Tourney
Cost: 10+1
Password: blogsaregay

Sign up now...see ya there...surf

Multi-Tasking

I had a fun evening of poker tonight. I decided not to play any limit tables tonight opting instead for a qualifier and a sit-n-go 2 table with Gary. I bubbled out in the 2-table but Gary took it home and finished in 1st place. Way to go Gary!!!

I'm also playing the Million Dollar multi qualifier on Party. I was the chip leader for a while. It started with 110 players and we are down to 15 but I am now somewhat of a smaller stack. I have to get 1st to qualify, but 2nd through 4th pay well. I'll post again if I make the money or qualify. If you read this in the morning.....well, you know.

Thats it for now. I enjoyed talking to all you bloggers tonight....good luck at the tables this week...surf

UPDATE: 2:18 AM EST
I'm at the final table in the qualifier. I've managed to build my stack back up a bit. It's late..lol

UPDATE: 2:29 AM EST
I'm out in 7th place....maybe next time