Daily Double

I'm playing the Daily Double tonight on Tilt and almost to the first break.

Tourney A: I'm running very well and at about 5k. I'm the largest stack at my current table and feeling really good.

Tourney B: I'm staying tight but not catching many good starting hands. I'm an average stack with about 3k. There's a monster stack at the table with about 16k already. He doesn't seem to be playing crazy or anything since I arrived at this table. I have no reason to think he is a bad player so I just have to be patient and hope to catch some cards.

I'll update in a while.

Update:
I'm at the first break.
Tourney A: 195th of 760 with 4,705
Tourney B: 131st of 702 with 5,360

Update:

Tourney A: Up to 9k
Tourney B: Down to 3k

Update: 1 hour 22 minutes in

Tourney A: 8,400k 84 of 562 216 make the money
Tourney B: 12,380 17 of 533 180 make the money

Update: 1 hour 40 minutes in

Tourney A: I'm out after taking a bad beat and running in to a boat when I had trip aces with a short stack.
Tourney B: Much better news. I'm sitting in great shape still with 13,015.

Update: 2 hours 20 minutes in
Tourney B: 80th of 194 with 13,310. We're closing in on the bubble.

Update: 2 hours 25 minutes in
Tourney B: We're in the money. I'm about middle of the pack. We should see a lot of people fall out quickly now.

Update :2 hours 40 minutes in.
Tourney B: I just busted out in a 3-way all in with AK. I flopped an ace and went ahead against KK and 88 but an 8 hit on the river and he had me covered. I came in 154th.

Best of luck at the tables this week everyone!!!

Decent Run Last Night

I went fairly deep in a 10+1 last night. There were about 265 entrants or so and I was in the top 5 for almost 3 hours. I ran in to AJ with AQ and he hit a jack crippling my stack as we approached the money with 34 left and 27 paying. I hung in and made it to around 22nd or so but really never recovered from that hand. I was on the button and he was the big blind. He had just suffered a terrible beat and I knew he was on tilt so I felt like I was probably ahead with the AQ and I was correct; it just didn't hold this time.
I played The Math for about 3 hands tonight when I hit a hand with about 20 outs and BDidde I think it was had a made straight on the flop. I don't remember the hand exactly but I know I hit 4 hearts (ace high) on the flop and had both ends of a straight working as well. I chased and didn't hit so at least I didn't bubble. :)
Best of luck at the tables this week everyone!!!

W.C.O.O.P. Razz

Best of luck to my good friend PokerEnthusiast as he tries to solidify his title as the King of Razz Donks today on Stars. Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!

No Poker Content Here...Move Along

I've off to a pretty good start in my football pickem league on USA Today. I'm in 166th of about 15,000 overall and 1st in most correct picks in my private league with 23 correct picks so far. If I get tonight's game correct, I'll be at 24 in 2 weeks. Hopefully I can maintain that pace or better. If Philly wins tonight I'm in a 3-way tie breaker for this weeks bragging rights. Just repeat along with me.....Philly wins, 34 points in the game total...Philly wins, 34 points in the game total.... :)
My Fantasy Football team on Yahoo that Tragedy is to blame for dragging me in to is in the cellar. Hehe..just kidding Tragedy, I'm really enjoying it.....really.....no really.

I've recently began playing a little chess on ChessHere and so far I'm really enjoying it. It's a nice change of pace. I've got games running with HighonPoker and Schaubs. It's really cool. You make a move, wait a bit and check back on your computer and see if it's your turn again yet. With a couple of games running, I usually have a move or two to make any time I get a chance to check it. It seems these guys are pretty good so I'll probably get whipped, but it's a blast!

ATC

I get asked a lot about what situations I will risk my tournament life with ATC (Any Two Cards). The answer for me is "not many". I'm very comfortable playing an extremely short stack at some points in a tournament and I'll let it go when most people push. I believe that gets me to the money more than most players. I make the money about 21 to 22 percent of the tournaments I enter.
That would seem to indicate that I play too tight and probably bust out before the final table. While that sometimes is the case, I make final tables fairly often so I don't think it's a big concern.
In a multi-table tournament you can look at the blinds, the average stack, and your stack and make a decision if you are in build mode or survival mode. If I'm average stack or above, I'm definitely in build mode. I'm seeing flops and broadening my hand range. If I'm low I'm in survival mode and narrowing my range of hands and playing them hard looking for a double or triple up to come my way. There are exceptions to this as table conditions can greatly affect your ability to see cheap flops and your ability to buy hands.
So back to the question. When will I play any two cards?
Here's my answer:
1) I'm in the blinds and over 1/3 of my stack is committed by the blind. I'm probably going all in here unless I have a completely horrible hand and there's more than one raise before it gets to me.
2) I'm a big stack and there's an all in from a short stack and I'm the only one left to act and I'm getting 4 to 1 on my money or anywhere near it.
That's about it. I know I'm in the minority on this one and there's some situations most people go all in that I don't, but that's the way I play it.

Good luck at the tables this week everyone!!!

Poker Cat Arena

I arrived a little late to the Poker Cat Arena tonight after a long day of work to find the game in full swing. I played it up and dropped a buy-in or two before gaining traction and ending the game up a buy-in or two. It was a great time and Kuro and I grabbed some pizza after the game and enjoyed a nice discussion of some recent poker experiences each of us has had. It was good to catch up and the pizza was great! I'm on a diet so I don't splurge often and it was cool to have a little slice of heaven.

PokerEnthusiast poses a very interesting question in his latest post regarding using computer technology to track your opponents play and data mining possible future opponents. I know some of you will have an opinion to share in these matters, so go on over there and check out a very good blog and give him a shout out.

I won 1st in a 90 player deep stack last night. Warning to anyone entering one of these late in the evening; they last a long time if you win. :)

Best of luck at the tables this week everyone!!!

G-Vegas

Before I began blogging, there was a group of bloggers not too far from here that lived in a magical place called G-Vegas. I dreamed of one day having a blog of my own and a group of friends like these folks did that I could play poker and hang out with.
Most of that has since come to fruition and I now have several friends that blog and play poker and we get to hang out and have fun. One of them is Tripjax. I was talking to him last night and he mentioned that maybe there would be a trip to G-Vegas in our future. I told him I was more than ready to make that trip and if they were to have a tourney or game of some sort one weekend in say.... October or November it wouldn't take much coaxing from Trip to get a few of us Atlanta bloggers to make the short trek to G-Vegas...........( *wishing quietly for news from G-Vegas* )

Full Tilt was kind enough to throw me a bonus this week so I'll be working that off this weekend. If you see me at a table, I may or may not be able to chat much as I will probably be 3 and 4 tabling a little. I'm also going to try to satellite in to a bigger tourney this week.

I'll be making a visit to the Poker Cat Arena later this week to join up with fellow blogger 23Skidoo. I don't believe we have played any together since Okie-Vegas, so I told him that even though I would be a little late I would come on over and hang out for a little while. PokerCat is a gracious host and I really enjoy playing there.

WPBT December is up in the air for me right now and a real coin toss. I really hope to pull it off.

Best of luck at the tables this week everyone.

Tunica and The Math

I just won The Math. Wheeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!

The trip to Tunica was a successful one in that I gained a whole lot of live playing experience with some really good players. Unfortunately I made a few bad plays and didn't catch many cards in either of the $500+50's that I played. I won my seat in to the first one on the first try. It got down to two of us and I had him outchipped 5 to 3. It was a $65 buy-in and I gave him $150 for the tourney entry. I played a $125 satellite and got outdrawn after getting my money in ahead to go out in 4th. The top two won a $550 entry. I won the third satellite I played outright with no chop for my second $550. I got to play at a table with Montel Williams for a little while in the second $550 which was cool. He's still learning the game but he has as much fun as anyone there. I lost two close hands to the same guy and then pushed my chips all in against his unrelenting pressure when I hit 4 hearts on the flop. He called and I missed and that was it. I feel like I gained a ton of experience and I learned a couple of neat little moves I had never seen before. Here's one of them. Three people limp in to a pot and the blind checks. After the flop, the blind throws his cards away and a couple of people told him it was free to check. He said, "Oh, thanks....I always forget that." A couple of orbits later the same thing almost happens. He picks up his cards after the flop and then sets them back down and says, "I check" like he caught himself. The opponent bets strong and he comes over the top all in. The other guy is priced in and has no choice but to call really. The "rookie"..haha...in the blind flips over the nut straight...nice move sir.
It was great to see HuntsVegas again. Unfortunately he had a tough go of it; better luck next time. I also got a chance to meet Jusdealem. She came over for a while the day of Event 2. She was very nice and it was cool to get to hang out with her for a little while. Oddly enough she looks a whole lot like my sister. It felt like I had known her for a long time and we had a very good conversation.

Special thanks to my good friend PokerEnthusiast for helping me keep my friends and family informed while I was playing in Tunica. Thanks!!!

Best of luck at the tables this week everyone!!!

Home

I'm home from Tunica; trip report to follow.