Manny

Manny Ramirez got traded from the sox today. Can't really blame the managment - he put them in a tough spot. It is the end of an era though. It disappoints me most because it just showed he never really cared about playing here at all. It was just all about the paycheck. I'm not making a judgment about him - it's just that the truth is a little disappointing as a fan. The sox will be fine in the long run without him.

I bought my brother a Manny jersey around the time he came to the team. I thought there'd be good value in it since he had singed such a long contract. He did stick it out for 7 1/2 of the 8 years, so that's a while, especially in today's sports world.

Another $5 loss.

I heard you have to win coinflips or something. This shit always happens. Mind you, this is like the first hand I played.

Full Tilt Poker Game #7445736399: $5 + $0.50 Sit & Go (56631690), Table 1 - 40/80 - No Limit Hold'em - 22:42:27 ET - 2008/07/30
Seat 2: AggieMae (2,220)
Seat 3: actzeng (1,200)
Seat 4: chanman2 (890)
Seat 7: CHRISNI (5,305)
Seat 8: MADDOG40 (1,940)
Seat 9: bing2828 (1,945)
AggieMae posts the small blind of 40actzeng posts the big blind of 80The button is in seat #9*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to actzeng [Ah Kc]
chanman2 folds
CHRISNI folds
MADDOG40 folds
bing2828 raises to 280
AggieMae folds
actzeng raises to 1,200, and is all in
bing2828 calls 920
actzeng shows [Ah Kc]
bing2828 shows [Qs Qd]
*** FLOP *** [4h 6d Jc]
*** TURN *** [4h 6d Jc] [6c]
*** RIVER *** [4h 6d Jc 6c] [2h]
actzeng shows a pair of Sixesbing2828 shows two pair, Queens and Sixesbing2828 wins the pot (2,440) with two pair, Queens and Sixesactzeng stands up
*** SUMMARY ***Total pot 2,440 Rake 0Board: [4h 6d Jc 6c 2h]Seat 2: AggieMae (small blind) folded before the FlopSeat 3: actzeng (big blind) showed [Ah Kc] and lost with a pair of SixesSeat 4: chanman2 didn't bet (folded)Seat 7: CHRISNI didn't bet (folded)Seat 8: MADDOG40 didn't bet (folded)Seat 9: bing2828 (button) showed [Qs Qd] and won (2,440) with two pair, Queens and Sixes

Mini-cashout

So, there's another attorney that we share office space with who has a law student working for him. The other day, I walked in his office and heard the sweet sound of FTP chips being shipped. I sort of barged in and mentioned something about it, and he instantly kind of looked nervous and looked like he was trying to click out of it. I quickly assured him that playing FTP was fine with me. We got to chatting about poker a bit. He plays under the handle "the ten deuce", but without the spaces. I looked him up on some sites and he plays mostly mini-stakes SNGs/MTTs. He's had a few good wins too. When we were at the office, he was actually playing a playchip game (WTF!!!!????!?!?)

I told him that with the death of Neteller that if he wanted me to ship him some online cash in exchange for cash-cash, I'd do it. I was thinking $50 to $100, but he was talking like $10. He told me a few stories about Foxwoods. He'll play the $1-2 cash. One day, he ran it up to over a grand, and this weekend, he took $80 and ran it up to over $400. Why can't I ever do shit like that? Oh yeah, I suck at cash. And lately, I've been sucking at the SNGs too. Anyway, today, he asked me to spot him $10 on FTP and gave me a $10 bill. This was of course before he told me he won $300 at foxwoods this weekend. WTF? $10? This was the first player-2-player transfer I've done. Rest assured, I will probably never sit with him at any table.

Anyways, good luck to him. I wish I had discovered online poker in law school. Many hours spent being totally unproductive could have actually been put to use. Oh well.

Down a bit

Won every single one of my HU PLO games, but just played horrifically bad in the $5 SNGs, which nets me minus 10 on the night. Lot of grinding for nothing. Just got my money in bad just about every time.

Sox Game

Went to the Sox game with boss last night. Dice-K pitched well and then all of the sudden lost the ability to throw a ball anywhere but the heart of the plate and got tagged, and that was the difference. One highlight - being able to see K-Rod, who will break the record this year for saves in a single season.

Wife did dinner with aunt, and I ate after I got home at about 11:30 (traffic sucks even at night). Thought about grinding out some SNGs, but thought better of it. Poker After Dark looks interesting this week, so I set it to record. Haven't watched any of it yet.

Kept checking the phone to see if wife was going into labor. I was almost sure that it was going to happen while I was at the game, but it didn't. The contractions are getting more intense and closer together. We're still about 14 days away from the scheduled due date though. Pretty weird walking on eggshells like this.

A little better

That's a little more like it. First, shout out to my brother who qualified for, and cashed in the Sunday mil on Stars. That has got to be a great confidence booster.

Yesterday started slow and probably ended up being an average day except for the fact that I decided to roll it and play a $10 SNG which I took down. That felt really, really good, considering all the bad beats I have been getting lately.

The MTTs continue to haunt my dreams. They do so because I can't finish any of them - I end up just falling asleep. I managed to fall asleep during the Ferguson on Friday into Saturday and cashed. I fell asleep last night during the $1 Turbo. I don't even know why I bother signing up.

I mis-clicked and played a $5 Razz HU. I tried to play PLO. This was a terrible mistake as I got crushed. I actually came back a couple times, but played it with zero confidence. Ended up winning a $2 PLO HU, which was nice. Also saw that my brother dabbled in the PLO, and won a 4-person shootout.

Frustrating Again

The $5 SNGs continue to go poorly. There were a ton of donks on yesterday, but the cards didn't hold, so I really couldn't take advantage. Got my BR to a new high (not counting the withdrawals), then promptly lost 2 SNGs. One where JJ didn't hold to KJ. The one I just got out of was interesting. I had A6 in the BB, button limp, sb limp. Flop is A76 rainbow. SB limps into the flop, I go ahead and limp behind, and so does the button. Turn is a 2d, putting two diamonds on the board. SB makes a regular 3/4 pot-sized bet this time. I raise all in, button folds, and SB flips over A7. Talk about bad timing.

That crippled me down to about 400-500 chips. Then lost a 3-way all in that would have gotten me back to health when I had AJss and it ran into AT, and AT, and it ended up being a 3 way chop.

It's raining like crazy outside today so I will try to get some MTT work in. I'm due.

Went to dinner for American pub fare last night with Dave and Kim. Got a chicken club, which was decent. We sat on an outside patio, and were welcomed to $2.25 draft beers. I thought it was some kind of joke. Their wedding planning seems to be going well, and is slated for next July. We got to show them the baby room, which wife and I are pretty proud of. Installed the baby seats into the cars. Got a lot of errand-type stuff done yesterday, as I promised the wife that it would be done on Saturday.

SOMEBODY STAKE ME!!!!

Full Tilt Poker Game #7377521670: $5 + $0.50 Sit & Go (56098202), Table 1 - 60/120 - No Limit Hold'em - 0:28:37 ET - 2008/07/26
Seat 1: bdweezy (1,310)
Seat 2: My lil Ponies (1,810)
Seat 4: annigra1 (1,550)
Seat 5: actzeng (2,075)
Seat 6: tiger44 (3,170)
Seat 8: djc888 (3,585)
djc888 posts the small blind of 60
bdweezy posts the big blind of 120
The button is in seat #6
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to actzeng [Tc 9d]
My lil Ponies folds
annigra1 folds
actzeng has 15 seconds left to act
actzeng raises to 360
tiger44 calls 360
djc888 folds
bdweezy folds
*** FLOP *** [Ks 6s 8h]
actzeng has 15 seconds left to act
actzeng bets 1,715, and is all in
tiger44 calls 1,715
actzeng shows [Tc 9d]
tiger44 shows [Ts Kc]
*** TURN *** [Ks 6s 8h] [3c]
*** RIVER *** [Ks 6s 8h 3c] [9s]
actzeng shows a pair of Nines
tiger44 shows a pair of Kings
tiger44 wins the pot (4,330) with a pair of Kings
actzeng stands up
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 4,330 | Rake 0
Board: [Ks 6s 8h 3c 9s]
Seat 1: bdweezy (big blind) folded before the Flop
Seat 2: My lil Ponies didn't bet (folded)
Seat 4: annigra1 didn't bet (folded)
Seat 5: actzeng showed [Tc 9d] and lost with a pair of Nines
Seat 6: tiger44 (button) showed [Ts Kc] and won (4,330) with a pair of Kings
Seat 8: djc888 (small blind) folded before the Flop

MTT madness

Decided I wanted to play an MTT tonight, so I got in a $3.30 KO. I play these just like regular MTTs. This was my bustout hand fairly early.

Full Tilt Poker Game #7377033483: $3 + $0.30 Knockout (55993638), Table 10 - 20/40 - No Limit Hold'em - 23:49:39 ET - 2008/07/25
Seat 1: actzeng (1,010)
Seat 2: blarrgh (1,735)
Seat 3: Vitorbrasil (1,400)
Seat 4: HUSKERFANX2 (3,055)
Seat 5: CAS575 (4,080)
Seat 7: Shtuls (2,690)
Seat 8: rkreddy (1,050)
Seat 9: Mojo Filter (2,220)
HUSKERFANX2 posts the small blind of 20
CAS575 posts the big blind of 40
The button is in seat #3
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to actzeng [Kc Ks]
Shtuls folds
rkreddy calls 40
What_tha_deuce sits down
What_tha_deuce adds 1,505
Mojo Filter folds
actzeng raises to 120
blarrgh folds
Vitorbrasil raises to 1,400, and is all in
HUSKERFANX2 has 15 seconds left to act
HUSKERFANX2 is sitting out
HUSKERFANX2 has timed out
HUSKERFANX2 folds
CAS575 calls 1,360
rkreddy folds
actzeng calls 890, and is all in
Vitorbrasil shows [Jd Jh]
CAS575 shows [Ah As]
actzeng shows [Kc Ks]
*** FLOP *** [Ts 4d 9d]
*** TURN *** [Ts 4d 9d] [6h]
*** RIVER *** [Ts 4d 9d 6h] [5d]
Vitorbrasil shows a pair of Jacks
CAS575 shows a pair of Aces
CAS575 wins the side pot (780) with a pair of Aces
actzeng shows a pair of Kings
CAS575 wins the main pot (3,090) with a pair of Aces
actzeng stands up
Vitorbrasil stands up
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 3,870 Main pot 3,090. Side pot 780. | Rake 0
Board: [Ts 4d 9d 6h 5d]
Seat 1: actzeng showed [Kc Ks] and lost with a pair of Kings
Seat 2: blarrgh didn't bet (folded)
Seat 3: Vitorbrasil (button) showed [Jd Jh] and lost with a pair of Jacks
Seat 4: HUSKERFANX2 (small blind) folded before the Flop
Seat 5: CAS575 (big blind) showed [Ah As] and won (3,870) with a pair of Aces
Seat 7: Shtuls didn't bet (folded)
Seat 8: rkreddy folded before the Flop
Seat 9: Mojo Filter didn't bet (folded)

Again, I'm waaaay off

Perhaps the stop and go would have worked better....or a fold.

Full Tilt Poker Game #7358204758: $5 + $0.50 Sit & Go (55945847), Table 1 - 150/300 - No Limit Hold'em - 16:19:11 ET - 2008/07/24
Seat 2: flaidy (2,490)
Seat 3: kartoffel1 (770)
Seat 5: anakin99 (1,420)
Seat 6: actzeng (1,680)
Seat 9: BO_SOX_114440 (7,140)
anakin99 posts the small blind of 150
actzeng posts the big blind of 300
The button is in seat #3
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to actzeng [7d 7s]
BO_SOX_114440 raises to 600
flaidy folds
kartoffel1 folds
anakin99 folds
actzeng has 15 seconds left to act
actzeng raises to 1,680, and is all in
BO_SOX_114440 calls 1,080
actzeng shows [7d 7s]
BO_SOX_114440 shows [Kc 9c]
*** FLOP *** [8d 9s Jc]
*** TURN *** [8d 9s Jc] [3s]
*** RIVER *** [8d 9s Jc 3s] [2d]
actzeng shows a pair of Sevens
BO_SOX_114440 shows a pair of Nines
BO_SOX_114440 wins the pot (3,510) with a pair of Nines
actzeng stands up
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 3,510 | Rake 0
Board: [8d 9s Jc 3s 2d]
Seat 2: flaidy didn't bet (folded)
Seat 3: kartoffel1 (button) didn't bet (folded)
Seat 5: anakin99 (small blind) folded before the Flop
Seat 6: actzeng (big blind) showed [7d 7s] and lost with a pair of Sevens
Seat 9: BO_SOX_114440 showed [Kc 9c] and won (3,510) with a pair of Nines

Should have quit

played late into the night on Wedesday/Thurs morning, but it was going relatively well. I had 3 second place finishes and a first, and I was pretty much going to keep playing until I stopped cashing. Which, fortunately happened in the 5th game where I just got really really unlucky, but I guess I deserve it for all the hands that held up for me.

Played some HU PLO yesterday. Won all three of those. Two of the guys I played I had never played before, and managed to take them down in about 5 hands or less. Seems as if you drag 2-3 small, small pots to start the game, the opponent suddenly tilts at the 5th hand and says - I am not going to be bullied and am going to with this hand here. Which is a bad strategy if you run into a monster hand.

The $5 SNGs did not go well. Lost both or all three - I forget what it was. The first game, I was put to a tough decision. 5-handed late in the SNG. UTG is the chipleader and either limps or mini-raises into my BB. After posting the BB, I am down to about 900 chips, and I find 77. I did not feel like the hand was good, but I think blinds were going up to 150/300 the very next hand, which would have forced me to play one of the next 3-4 hands. Was I going to find a better spot? I mean, I've got a wired pair and am only up against one opponent, and it might be a good spot to try to double. I pushed it all in, he snap called with QT and he won the race. Not sure if I could have waited. I will try to post the hand later.

Also used some FTP points try and get some tourney dollars, but that didn't work out either. I was pretty tired.

Avenged Sevenfold

While I have this blog about my passions - I might as well talk about Avenged Sevenfold. I first heard of the band via Bat Country - forget where I first heard the song, but definitely liked it. Beast and the Harlot was on Guitar Hero, and I played that song approximately 200 times more than any other song on the game.

More recently I ran across their song on Youtube called Afterlife. It was a live performance (glossed over) for their new DVD that is either out or is coming out. Anyway, best metal song I have heard in years.

Got the album. Whatever record company is in charge of promoting these guys have their heads up their asses. This is the best metal album that I have heard since Hypnotize/Mezmerize, and has instantly made my top 10 of all time. All the songs are quality. I have basically listened to the entire album as many days as I've had it. Probably more.

I may take the time at some point to address each and every song on the album and what I like about it, but it is quality stuff. This is what new metal is supposed to sound like. Each person in the band is a virtuoso at what they do.

I wish this album had come out when I was in high school. I probably would have spent every moment of practice just trying to figure out the songs. And I would have been a 1000x better player for it.

I hear Ozzy in them, I hear GNR, Skid Row, Iron Maiden, and Pantera. Insane combination.

I am really interested to hear how other people who loved those bands and that era feel about A7x. Am I insane? "I'm not insane, I'm not insane....."

Truth is, I have been planning on blogging about this band for a while, but this blog doesn't cut it. I will address this matter again.

Played for the win

But got the loss. He flipped over KK, flop came down all clubs, so I had some redraws, but missed them. I didn't feel like it was a bad play, especially considering both me and the other stacks were pushing him off hands. A few rounds before I came over the top of his raise with AQ and he folded. QQ was the best hand I saw the entire game, and so I don't regret it. Ok, maybe I regret it a little.

RIGGED

Finished 2nd in a SNG which is par for the fucking course, except I got HU with a 2-1 chip disadvantage at NOSEBLEED blinds, and FTP decides to fucking shit out on me, only to let me log back in with 765 chips with AK suited so I can lose to 77 as a kick in the balls. Great.

Should I play for the win?

Or move up the money ladder?

Full Tilt Poker Game #7336061865: $5 + $0.50 Sit & Go (55776460), Table 1 - 100/200 - No Limit Hold'em - 23:06:14 ET - 2008/07/22
Seat 5: everknowing1 (8,665)
Seat 7: actzeng (3,795)
Seat 9: golcapmike (1,040)
actzeng posts the small blind of 100
golcapmike posts the big blind of 200
The button is in seat #5
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to actzeng [Qc Qs]
everknowing1 raises to 400
actzeng raises to 1,400
golcapmike folds
everknowing1 has 15 seconds left to act
everknowing1 raises to 8,665, and is all in

This was that hand

I was WAAAAAAY off on my recollection of the hand.

Full Tilt Poker Game #7324096793: $5 + $0.50 Sit & Go (55687459), Table 1 - 50/100 - No Limit Hold'em - 1:26:08 ET - 2008/07/22
Seat 1: jason full tilt (2,130)
Seat 4: xlittleonex (6,640)
Seat 6: actzeng (2,870)
Seat 9: 1Lucki_Star (1,860)
actzeng posts the small blind of 50
1Lucki_Star posts the big blind of 100
The button is in seat #4
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to actzeng [Ah Qs]
jason full tilt calls 100
xlittleonex folds
actzeng raises to 400
1Lucki_Star folds
jason full tilt calls 300
*** FLOP *** [9c 5h 8s]
actzeng bets 600
jason full tilt raises to 1,200
actzeng calls 600
*** TURN *** [9c 5h 8s] [Jh]
actzeng checks
jason full tilt checks
*** RIVER *** [9c 5h 8s Jh] [4c]
actzeng checks
jason full tilt checks
*** SHOW DOWN ***
jason full tilt shows [3c 3s] a pair of Threes
actzeng mucks
jason full tilt wins the pot (3,300) with a pair of Threes
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 3,300 | Rake 0
Board: [9c 5h 8s Jh 4c]
Seat 1: jason full tilt showed [3c 3s] and won (3,300) with a pair of Threes
Seat 4: xlittleonex (button) didn't bet (folded)
Seat 6: actzeng (small blind) mucked [Ah Qs] - Ace Queen high
Seat 9: 1Lucki_Star (big blind) folded before the Flop

More frustration

I finished second in a $5 SNG and pretty much tilted badly afterward. I was the chipleader and had the guy down for the count and he came all the way back. This I think has been the major flaw of my game these past few months. The wins just aren't coming. It's something in my HU game. The money difference between second and first is just as big as the money difference between finishing 4th or 3rd. Promptly lost a HU PLO game right after. I may have lost two I don't remember.

Anyway, last night was weird because we were awoken at 12:30 at night by someone buzzing up to our condo. It was a chinese food delivery guy. Must have been in the wrong building. While I was up, I decided to play another SNG. Bubbled. Things didn't go my way. Four handed, with about 3.5k chips, I raised to 1200 with AQ, and the BB called (he had 1900 after the call). Flop is 9-high rainbow. I thought it'd be a good spot for a c-bet.

I've got about 2.3 left, and he has about 1900. He checks, I go ahead and bet about half the pot, and he called, leaving himself with about 500. I thought this was strange. I might post the hand later. Anyway, we checked the turn, and checked the river and he won it with a wired 33 in his hand. I knew I didn't have the best hand after he called the flop, but at the same time, he was so pot committed, that he would have called any subsequent bet that I made. I was crippled on that hand, but felt like I saved $500, which was weird.

Didn't work out for me tho. Lost a big hand with Ax to Kx, and eventually lost with 66 to AT, when old Greenstein clipped me on the river. Won a HU PLO game after that to the same guy I lost to earlier in the day.

Weekend Wrap-up

Poker went pretty badly this weekend. Probably down about $12 overall. Played very tilty, and overall pretty bad on PLO. I finished 30th in the 7pm $1 turbo on Sunday for a whopping $2.15 or something. I never really had chips to work with the entire time, so getting that far was an accomplishment in my opinion. The blinds just get extraordinarily high, that you're just forced onto hands. The rate at which people bust out is astonishing. There are people who sign up and force it in with any paired hand early just trying to build a stack. I don't like this approach in a freezeout, despite the turbo format. There's still time to wait.

Late in the tourney, we had just gotten into the money and I had just won a pot to bring my stack to about 10k. I was in the SB - I forget what the blinds were - prob 1.5k/3k, with whatever ante. I'll try to post the hand later. Anyway, I had JT os, and a middle pos player moved in, and it got to me. I considered pushing that spot, and given the amount already in the pot, and the stacksize of the BB, it made almost no difference if he called or not. I folded, but would have rivered the straight against A9 and AQ. The bustout hand was a similar situation, except I was desperate for chips - I probably should have moved sooner but really didn't find a good spot. I threw it in from the SB with 23 os in a 3 way pot (folding would have taken me down to about one BB, maybe less), and blanked out.

The MTTs are starting to go a little better, despite the fact that the cashes are so shallow. They are still cashes, which means a couple things. One is that I'm doing something right. And another is that my playing "right" combined with the right amount of luck will get me to another final table. Eventually. I feel like I am getting a little more comfortable with bubble play and later stages of the tourney in general. The SNGs are still a struggle.

TEEEERRRRIBBBLE

Full Tilt Poker Game #7278686234: $5 + $0.50 Sit & Go (55342986), Table 1 - 25/50 - No Limit Hold'em - 20:44:48 ET - 2008/07/18
Seat 1: Georges Cat (4,140)
Seat 2: El Feugo (4,815)
Seat 3: Dawn-TNT (1,650)
Seat 4: actzeng (1,660)
Seat 8: phxsun2001 (1,235)
Dawn-TNT posts the small blind of 25
actzeng posts the big blind of 50
The button is in seat #2
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to actzeng [9s Th]
phxsun2001 folds
Georges Cat folds
El Feugo calls 50
Dawn-TNT folds
actzeng checks
*** FLOP *** [9c Ad Ts]
actzeng bets 125
El Feugo calls 125
*** TURN *** [9c Ad Ts] [3s]
actzeng bets 375
El Feugo calls 375
*** RIVER *** [9c Ad Ts 3s] [3d]
actzeng checks
El Feugo checks
*** SHOW DOWN ***
actzeng shows [9s Th] two pair, Tens and Nines
El Feugo shows [Ah 8s] two pair, Aces and Threes
El Feugo wins the pot (1,125) with two pair, Aces and Threes
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 1,125 | Rake 0
Board: [9c Ad Ts 3s 3d]
Seat 1: Georges Cat didn't bet (folded)
Seat 2: El Feugo (button) showed [Ah 8s] and won (1,125) with two pair, Aces and Threes
Seat 3: Dawn-TNT (small blind) folded before the Flop
Seat 4: actzeng (big blind) showed [9s Th] and lost with two pair, Tens and Nines
Seat 8: phxsun2001 didn't bet (folded)



Full Tilt Poker Game #7278694151: $5 + $0.50 Sit & Go (55342986), Table 1 - 25/50 - No Limit Hold'em - 20:45:27 ET - 2008/07/18
Seat 1: Georges Cat (4,140)
Seat 2: El Feugo (5,390)
Seat 3: Dawn-TNT (1,625)
Seat 4: actzeng (1,110)
Seat 8: phxsun2001 (1,235)
actzeng posts the small blind of 25
phxsun2001 posts the big blind of 50
The button is in seat #3
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to actzeng [3h 3c]
Georges Cat calls 50
El Feugo calls 50
Dawn-TNT calls 50
actzeng calls 25
phxsun2001 checks
*** FLOP *** [3d Tc 5c]
actzeng has 15 seconds left to act
actzeng bets 250
phxsun2001 folds
Georges Cat has 15 seconds left to act
Georges Cat folds
El Feugo raises to 5,340, and is all in
Dawn-TNT calls 1,575, and is all in
actzeng calls 810, and is all in
El Feugo shows [5d 5h]
Dawn-TNT shows [Qd Qh]
actzeng shows [3h 3c]
Uncalled bet of 3,765 returned to El Feugo
*** TURN *** [3d Tc 5c] [4s]
*** RIVER *** [3d Tc 5c 4s] [Td]
El Feugo shows a full house, Fives full of Tens
Dawn-TNT shows two pair, Queens and Tens
El Feugo wins the side pot (1,030) with a full house, Fives full of Tens
actzeng shows a full house, Threes full of Tens
El Feugo wins the main pot (3,430) with a full house, Fives full of Tens
actzeng stands up
Dawn-TNT stands up
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 4,460 Main pot 3,430. Side pot 1,030. | Rake 0
Board: [3d Tc 5c 4s Td]
Seat 1: Georges Cat folded on the Flop
Seat 2: El Feugo showed [5d 5h] and won (4,460) with a full house, Fives full of Tens
Seat 3: Dawn-TNT (button) showed [Qd Qh] and lost with two pair, Queens and Tens
Seat 4: actzeng (small blind) showed [3h 3c] and lost with a full house, Threes full of Tens
Seat 8: phxsun2001 (big blind) folded on the Flop

Computer Issues

I have officially made the switch from Explorer to Firefox. Wife inadvertently picked up a virus on our desktop computer. She is apparently not as adept at searching for porn as I am. I have already ruined a computer, and have learned from it.

Anyways, I came home one day and there was a dripping-gold BIOHAZARD symbol with a yellow background on the desktop. I ran spybot, updated the new version of IE, and lucky enough, was able to get it under control. We talked about sending the computer out to have the hard drive cleaned and reset ($150 btw), we talked about buying virus protection products ($40-$50), but spybot mostly did the trick.

The only vestige of the virus manifested itself in Google. Every time I'd google something, it'd bring up the search entries, but when I clicked on the search entries, it'd redirect me to some BS alternative search engine. And the back button on the browser didn't bring you back. Anyway, it would work about 20% of the time. Annoying.

I switched to Mozilla, and there are no more problems with that. I still have problems with the virtual memory and all that, and videos are SLOW (especially when running multiple applications) but I think we can still get another few years out of this comp. Gotta go b/c I'm playing an SNG

The Slow Grind

Got back from work yesterday and fired up a $5 SNG. Finished second, but I feel like I should have won. I was CL with 4 players left and then made poor choices pushing any 2 vs. the short stacks. At the break, I had 6k, second was 4k, and the SB and BB each had 600 chips left after posting the 150/300 blinds. I then proceeded to push T9 into K9, and then lost another hand with (I think) 98 to 56 or something like that. I was behind going into HU play. I roughed it to about even, and when I had 5k left, I found KQ I raised, and he RR all in. I should have folded easily. My play ALWAYS changes though when the wife gets home and starts chirping about groceries and shit like that (even though I told her to just give me 10 minutes!!!). Anyway, I called and he had AQ. ONNEEE TIMEE PLEEEEEEASE - K high flop - Turn blank - ONE TIIIIIIIIMMMMEEEE - River......Heeeeeeeeeey, Barry! I didn't even see you sitting there!!!! Come take a dip!!!!

Dinner was disappointing. No dim sum after 3pm, and we ordered way too much food. I thought the dishes were subpar and the service was bad. A restaurant reviewer would have had a field day with all the shit that went wrong. Once I heard that there was no dim sum, we should have gone somewhere else.

After dinner played 2 games...poorly. One was a $2 SNG that I really wasn't paying attention to. I had about 8-900 chips and found QQ UTG 7 handed. I think blinds were 50-100, maybe less. This is an all in almost all the time, although I didn't think I'd get much value out of it, so I raised to 350, and two of the big stacks called. Flop comes A high, and I push my last 500 into a pot that's over $1k. I have no fold equity here, I know. I guess I just didn't want to play anymore if I only had 500 chips. I pushed it, and got called by an awesome pre-flop call of A8.

Frustrated, I decided to play a HU PLO game. Total disaster. Played like an idiot and I got what I deserved. I was steaming about the A8 hand. Beast, on the other hand, had just gotten a re-load from his rakeback site, and was crushing the PLO cash tables. I need to find a rakeback site or something. It's probably too late now and may look suspicious if I just swing all my money over to another account and just start playing on that account. But they're just giving away free money!!! I need to figure out how to take advantage of this.

I somehow sprained my fourth toe on my right foot. I have no idea how it happened. I thought it was broken it was in so much pain yesterday. I started to hurt more and more and then all of the sudden yesterday was terrible. It's better today - I taped it up.

Will play some poker tonight. Will play tomorrow - hopefully some micro MTTs. In-laws on Sunday. My DVR keeps fucking up and again didn't record Poker After Dark.

Not much poker

Not much poker played recently, as work demands took precedent. I was up at 4 this morning preparing for trial. Trial prep is always such a weird thing. How much time is enough time to prepare? Can there possibly be "too" much time spent preparing for a trial? You literally cannot prepare for all the possibilities and possible contingencies. Things have been going well lately in that regard. I need to get more jury trials to take myself to the next level, but despite the fact that I have not had a jury trial in a while, I feel like I have been crushing my cases lately. The deals that I have gotten have been too good for my clients to turn down. I like to think that it's due, in part, to my advocacy and my preparation of the cases, but who knows? It may just be that I got lucky enough to string together a few winnable cases. It may just be happenstance.

I did manage to sneak in a HU PLO game this morning and won when I turned the nut flush against his dry Aces. The opponent was German. The people that I hate playing the most are Italians. I have found they don't play straightforward. Seems like they just keep bombing, and bombing, and the one time I catch a piece, they flip over the nuts. Hope to play some games tonight, as I'm done with court for the week. Going out to dim sum tonight with wife and her cousin. Wife is getting more fatigued as the days go on. She felt like shit this morning, but sounds better now. I think we've finally gotten all the baby shit together.

My schedule is a mess between now and mid-August though. I didn't do a good job of clearing up enough time in preparation for the little one. I hope she waits until I get out of court to surprise us.

Another Good Day at the Tables

Yesterday went well. Grinded up a little bit in the SNGs, and even made a couple dollars in cash. My hands held and I even mixed in a couple suckouts, and my BR is almost where it was when I made my last $200 cash out. This of course is nothing compared to how my brother and sister-in-law are doing on Stars. They are straight mashing. She has moved up to $20 stakes and will not look back.

Ideally, I'd like to focus more on MTTs - I find they are more interesting/exciting. They are just an enormous time suck. I just don't have the kind of time to do that. If I could just sit around all day in pajamas and play MTTs I probably would. Must be frustrating though. I'd still only do microstakes anyways because I'm an absolute nit.

I've got Poker After Dark Tivo'd. It's a cash game this week, and more compelling TV than the SH sit n go.

3rd Place...grrr

Finished 3rd in a$1 tourney yesterday for a disappointing $60. Not all that many memorable hands actually. Had a triple up early on when AA held against 2 hands. First place paid about $130, which is something my bankroll needed. Below is the bustout hand that I played like an idiot with absolutely zero patience.

Full Tilt Poker Game #7225105490: $1 Tournament (54795627), Table 24 - 10000/20000 Ante 2500 - No Limit Hold'em - 21:25:33 ET - 2008/07/14
Seat 2: BCOOK774 (296,216)
Seat 4: actzeng (211,682)
Seat 5: RichieRich77 (282,602)
BCOOK774 antes 2,500actzeng antes 2,500RichieRich77 antes 2,500actzeng posts the small blind of 10,000RichieRich77 posts the big blind of 20,000The button is in seat #2***
HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to actzeng [9h Js]BCOOK774 calls 20,000actzeng calls 10,000RichieRich77 checks
*** FLOP *** [6s 5d 9c]actzeng bets 189,182, and is all inRichieRich77 has 15 seconds left to actRichieRich77 raises to 260,102, and is all inBCOOK774 foldsRichieRich77 shows [Ah 9d]actzeng shows [9h Js]Uncalled bet of 70,920 returned to RichieRich77
*** TURN *** [6s 5d 9c] [Ad]
*** RIVER *** [6s 5d 9c Ad] [Jd]RichieRich77 shows two pair, Aces and Ninesactzeng shows two pair, Jacks and NinesRichieRich77 wins the pot (445,864) with two pair, Aces and Ninesactzeng stands up*** SUMMARY ***Total pot 445,864 Rake 0Board: [6s 5d 9c Ad Jd]Seat 2: BCOOK774 (button) folded on the FlopSeat 4: actzeng (small blind) showed [9h Js] and lost with two pair, Jacks and NinesSeat 5: RichieRich77 (big blind) showed [Ah 9d] and won (445,864) with two pair, Aces and Nines

Chinese Food on Sunday

Was up untl 4 AM playing in the late night $1 tourney. All in all, it was successful. I finished about 140ish of about 1200 participants and took home a whopping $0.75 profit. With it, I might buy a bazooka joe. The hand that essentially did me in is where I had 96os in blind on blind action. SB completed, and I checked. Flop came and gave me a straight draw. Light betting, if any, until the river, which came with a 9. The way that he had been betting, I thought the 9 gave me the goods. He led out and bet, and called, and he turned over 76 and hit the straight with the 9. Bummer. I lost a flip to him later on with the rest of my chips.

Played the $1 @ 1pm today, and did the same thing. Play for a couple hours and grind out a few cents. Lost on a coinflip. TT to AQ. Not fair, I had lost with AQ to TT earlier. I lost my whopping profit on the next HU game I played.

Went to a big Chinese restaurant for some standard American Chinese fare. Johnny Pesky was there. He was nice enough to chat us up (doing very well at 80) - and basically called the Rays manager a pussy. Great stuff.

Beach/work

Not the typical saturday. Started at the office then ended up at the beach with the wife. Yesterday went out to Thai food with one of my wife's former co-workers. I ordered the Phuket special, which was hilarious by the way to the less worldly members of the group. It was a seafood medley in a sweet chili sauce, and the best dish I've ever gotten at this place. Was in the middle of a HU PLO SNG when we had to leave, so that was wasted money, which bugged me considerably, considering the SNG was very little money. That's how myopic I get about my poker BR tho.

Office for a while today, and then beach with the wife. Ate an entire bucket of steamers and called it dinner. Fine selection IMO. Wife was feeling some pregnacy pangs, so rushed back home. She's passed out on the couch now, so status quo, pretty much. Playing some poker now.

There was a wait to sit outside at the restaurant, whic was actually pretty cool because we saddled up to the bar and it almost kinda felt like we were on vacation, but we were at home. At our little trashy beach.

No Poker Today

Up at 4:00AM, and breast feeding classes tonight after work. It's fun monitoring the main event at this point. 10k is a lot of money - surprising how many people just pony it up for the thrill of it.

Braindead

Some terrible poker playing going on here. Just going braindead. Cards have been there, but my head hasn't. My BR is the lowest it's been in some time, but nothing I can't handle. I'm thinking of dropping to the $2 tables - as if I could become more nitty.

Every time I go on a bad streak like this, I think the game has changed. I get paranoid about how other players perceive me and just generally think people are pushing me around every time they raise, without thinking about what's most obvious, which usually is - I'm beat. I don't really adjust my game much when I go on one of my winning streaks either. Literally winning a coinflip here and there would have a major effect on what's happeneing now.

I should have cashed in the turbo $1 yesterday. I was like top 20 in chips with about 100 left. Had KK, raised, one caller - the only guy who had me covered at the table. Flop is A-high all clubs. I have one club. For some reason, I thought moving all in would be the right play. I thought I could get a weak A to fold, and had re-draws in case he calls. He called with A6, no clubs, which I thought was a little weird, and I didn't get there. Oh well.

Hazy Day

My computer was working slowly when I was running FTP, so I cut out all animation on FTP. Now it looks like Stars - very choppy. I hope it makes a difference. I must distract myself from whatever game I'm in by web-browsing and e-mail-checking so that I can improve the bankroll of others. This appears to be an important aspect of my game.

Father in law came over today with a friend of the family's who is an electrician to put up a light over the kitchen table. I took a shot at it with dad-in-law this weekend, but we busted. It now works.

Baby Shower

Baby shower was yesterday. Totally awkward for me, since I was never 100% sure I was even supposed to be there. We got lots of stuff, and that's about all I know about it - it's "stuff". I'm sure we'll get around to using it all. Played one HU PLO SNG and lost. Had the guy down to about 400 or so and then he proceeded to river me in every pot that mattered. It was about a 40 min game, and frustrating to lose.

Did Pizza with the inlaws tonight. Bertucci's and some anchovies on the side. Got killed in poker. Played the $5 SNGs like a moron. It was a loss AIPF with AQ vs. KJ that set the tone and set me off.

Wife is very prego. She and her sister did a ton of work with the baby room today. It looks great

My blog!!!

Basically creating this to document my life, my loves (my wife, my baby to be), and my poker career (not so much).