The Nighthawk

Date: Wed, Jun 24, 2009 Internet Live Tournament

It's only 9:30 at night and I can barely keep my eyes open. My entire body aches from ripping up carpet all day and my hands are sore and calloused. I tried playing a couple 45 player SNGs earlier but I could barely keep my eyes open and didn't do so well. I don't really mind losing a couple dollars anyways after putting in an honest day's work. But I need to remember that its not about the money, it's about the enjoying the game of poker and becoming a winning player.

Anyways, after winning Sharkys poker tournament last week, I had a little extra money in the ole' bankroll and decided to buy myself a motorcycle. I've been looking for a bike to learn on for quite some time now and I finally found one reasonably close to town in decent condition. The seller was a nice, older guy and put the bike on his trailer and drove into town to meet me.

I had him meet me at work. I lot of the guys I do flooring with ride motorcycles so they tested it out for me. They inspected it carefully and then drove it around the parking lot. Apparently the engine, brakes, clutch, and wheels are all in great shape. He just repainted it as well although one small spot still needs to be finished. The exhaust was cracked and is welded in one spot. The bike needs a new seat or seat cover, a mirror, a gas cap for the tank, and one of the blinkers needs to be replaced. It also needs to be registered and inspected before it can be ridden. I also need to get my learner's permit too so I can learn how to drive it.



As you can see the bike needs some work but it starts up and runs great. Not a bad deal considering I bought it using money I won from a poker tournament and got it for really cheap. It actually feels kind of good knowing I now have a motorcycle I will be able to cruise around town on. I'm looking forward to learning how to ride and riding with some friends. Easy has a Harley so we always talk about the bikes and riding while we work and chuff the days away. Anyways, it's getting late and I'm just totally spent. My gas tank is on empty. Time to recharge the batteries and get at it again tomorrow.

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Back to the 9-5 Grind

Date: Tue, Jun 23, 2009 Internet Live Tournament

So I finally found a job. Speaking of which, my first day of work starts in less than seven hours from now so I'm going to keep this short. I will be working for a local flooring company. Pretty really exciting eh? Anyways, there's not much out there for work and I know the owner's son, and we're pretty tight as we've grown up together, played sports together, and love smoking ganja together. I'll call him Easy for anonymity purposes.

Anyhow, flooring isn't that bad and I've actually worked for this company before so I know a lot of the guys that work there and they're all pretty chill. The ownes are friends of the family as well. It will be hard work but it will keep me busy and more importantly in line and out of trouble.

On the downside, I won't have quite as much time to play poker now that I will be working, but I still plan on playing a lot. I've been practicing with my Jedi Master, and we've been hitting the tables together while analyzing hands and plays. We usually wrap up our sessions with an episode of Californication as well.

My bankroll's been on a roller coaster ride over the last couple weeks playing the micro donkaments. Recently, I've been 4-tabling $1.10 45 man turbo SNGs. Although the prizepool in these aren't huge, I've had decent success so far. I've updated and posted my stats and graph below.

I've also ordered another poker strategy book with my winnings. I guess spending all that time on 2+2 is starting to rub off on me. The most recent book I ordered is titled "Sit N' Go Strategy" by Collin Moshman. It's a guide to taking down single table tournaments. It also happens to be published by 2+2. Hopefully it will help improve my game as there's always more to learn. I will also write a review on here once I get a chance to read it, but for now it's time for a good night's rest. I sure will be needing tomorrow morning bright and early.

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Pumpkin Patch and the 2009 WSOP

Date: Sun, Jun 21, 2009 Internet Live Tournament

My bankroll's not quite big enough to make the big trip to Vegas for the World Series Of Poker but at least I got to contribute to one player's successful run at it. After blowing a couple hundred bucks this weekend at Sharkys (still up a couple hundred over the weekend though due to the big win on Thursday) I decided to catch up on some poker news. I was browsing the 2+2 forums when I noticed a post asking for some help with photoshop which happens to be a hobby of mine. Apparently this guy made the final table of a WSOP event and his friends needed some photoshop help to make a poster.

"hey guys, bugstud made the final table of the wsop 2k LHE slated for tomorrow.

we are busy putting together several posters that liken him to a pumpkin, but are severely lacking in photoshoping talent.

If someone could make one of these pictures of him meld with the pumpkin, it would make for an even more awesome final table. you would definitely be invited to the sweat/post-game activites. i will ask if the people involved are willing to make a monetary contribution as well for your efforts.

ft is 2pm Vegas time btw so we need it by 11am or so."



He already looks like a pumpkin huh? Well I had a little time to kill this morning and I just happen to come from a small little town which used to hold the Guiness World Record for carved jack-o'-lanterns at around the 29,000 mark. That was until Bean Town stole it from us back in 2007. So basically I know my pumpkins and decided to give it a shot. I did this in about twenty minutes or so with Photoshop.



After returning from another unsuccessul trip to Sharkys, I fired up 2+2 to check it out what happened. Apparently they decided to use my Pumpkin. Somebody posted a link to Pokernews and I decided to check it out. Apparently he (Jameston Painter aka Bugstud aka Pumpkin Patch) did pretty well at the final table of the 2009 WSOP Event 38 $2,000 Limit Holdem.



He finished in 8th place. It's pretty impressive that he made a final table at the World Series of Poker, outlasting 446 other entrants. 8th place was good for $21,890. Not a bad chunk of change at all Pumpkin Patch. I hope the poster your friends made helped you dominate players out on the tables. Again, congrats on your win and I'm glad I could help contribute. I'm sure you guys had fun celebrating after too!

"winning design can be seen in the pokernews blog for the event. expect your $15 when one of us sobers up enough to ship it."

Thanks for the $15. Wish I could have been out there with you guys to celebrate! More importantly, it will be a great story I can share with my friends.

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A Chip and a Chair

Date: Fri, Jun 19, 2009 Internet Live Tournament

I can't help but smile as I lie in bed as I cool my heels after a long day, definitely a day I won't be forgetting any time soon. I've spent the better part of this week grinding micro SNGs on Stars and getting mentored by my Jedi Master. I haven't seem him in a while and it's been really great just talking poker and watching Californication together. We also talk poker all the time and I always learn something new from him. I love playing side by side and discussing specific hands and situations. Lately he's been trying to teach me pot and implied odds, but I'm still a Padawan and my memory and cognitive functioning skills are somewhat impaired for reasons you may be aware of.

Anyways, we decided to take a trip to Sharkys tonight to have our luck at the local freeroll. But before my Jedi Master arrived, I decided to twist up a couple L's for the tournament, figuring that to in order to go deep it would probably take a couple hours and it would be nice having something to smoke on during the breaks. A couple more gravs and I was ready to go!

The next thing I know I find myself elbow to elbow with some older guys at a poker table with a small chip stack in front of me. I immediately rebuy for $20 to start and soon add-on for my last $20 that I brought with me as the blinds start to quickly increase and my stack size decrease. I loosely gambled away the rest of my chips and busted before I even realized what was going on. I could see myJedi Master as he was only two tables away from me at the time and his stack was looking pretty good. I figured he might spot me a buy-in or two because he's the best and always does stuff like that for me without a hesitiation. So he handed me a $50 and told me to bring him change.

I rebuy for another $20 late into the first hour of the rebuy and add-on period. I get lucky on a couple of big hands before the break and wind up with a medium sized stack. I decided not to add-on as I'd already burned $60, and I give Ryan (Jedi Master) $30 back. When the break started we went for a walk outside while we discussed all the different hands and players while I sparked the blunt.

After floating back to the tables, I continued to play my standard passive-agressive tournament style and slowly built my stack while Ryan was playing pretty well too. Unfortuately, he ran into some bad luck as a player sucked out on him to take him for all of his chips. My Jedi Mentor decided to stick around and help coach me while he watched some Omaha Hi-Lo and 3-card action as well.

Ryan reminds me of Daniele Negreanu. He's intelligent, composed, well-spoken and doesn't tilt easily. Personally, I seem to be a bit more like Mike Matusow. Speaking of whom, I just ordered his autobiography titled "Check-Raising the Devil" with some of my online poker winnings. I also ordered DavidSlansky's "The Theory of Poker" which I've heard covers some sound fundamental poker concepts which most players should know.



Anyways, I continued to slowly build my stack and play decent poker while taking the occasional smoke break, which usually turned into coaching sessions from Ryan. Eventually I wound up at the final table and continued to maintain a lead. The cards fell right for me as I went on to take home an impressive first place victory for $705. I've never really played live poker before other than trying a couple freerolls before. Not a bad win for a Padawan.

I then collected my winnings in cash and decided to deposit most of it in the bank as advisied by Ryan of course. I also gave him $100 for spotting me the money to play. He's given me way more than that and it's not enough. We celebrated by watching another episode of Californication. We also got a chance to see some old friends, Ben and Jerry and we even got to meet Ben's new girlfriend (nice catch by the way) as well.

Winning a small poker tournament where a portion of the prizepool goes to charity (Friends of Pisgah State Park in this case) was a lot of fun and rewarding knowing that you're supporting a good cause. That tournament took over four hours and took a lot out of me. The poker was fun tonight but my friends are what made it worthwile. Happiness is only real when shared.

It's nice just having a great time with Ryan and getting to see Ben and Jerry even if briefly. Seeing and hearing from them kind of puts thing into perspective for me. Ryan, Ben, and Jerry all graduated from amazing universities this Spring and they've already lined new jobs up. I should have graduated college by now, instead I'm living at home with my parents, unemployed, and at least a year away from graduating. Things don't always go as planned in life though, and the only constant in life is change. I'm just glad to still have amazing friends and family after all I've been through and put them through over the last couple years. Thank you all and see you on the tables!

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Man's Ruin

Date: Sat, Jun 13, 2009 Internet Live Tournament

Someone once mentioned to me that the key to life is moderation. Well some little leprechaun must have grabbed that key, mangled it, and then tossed it down a well for all I know. I can't even pick up a bag of chips without wanting to tear through the whole thing. It doesn't help either when some of life's vices are my favorite indulgences.



Well as of lately I haven't had much success playing cards, no big surprises there right? After getting knocked out of the local degenerate freeroll at Sharkys, I decided that I was going to go out and have myself some fun. Now to set the scene for you all, I haven't been drinking much lately or actually really at all, so my tolerance to alcohol is pretty low right now. Also, my friend (I'll call him J-Rock for anonymity) went away for the weekend for the weekend and once again left my the keys to his apartment so I can feed his cat and chill at his place.

A couple phone calls later and I find myself in this ideal situation. This beautiful lady (call her J for anonymity) I've known for quite a while asks if I'd like to join her and her friend for some drinks at her place. The night is young and off to a great start. We are all having a great time, taking shots, smoking L's, just straight kickin' it. Both of these girls are beautiful and dressed to kill. They even ask me to start taking pictures of them. I'm just loving life at this point and after a couple shots of yager I'm feeling pretty damn good as well.

I can tell the girls are starting to loosen up a bit as they keep smiling, laughing, and talking endlessly. J keeps sending me flirtious looks and even sits on my lap. I could tell she was having fun and was into me. Call me a cocky bastard or what you will, but I'm giving it to you straight. Anyways, a couple more shots with the ladies and the night is looking fantastic.

I'm smoking this dutchie with J when all of a sudden her friend recieves a phone call. And suddenly the dream ends. Their friend calls hysterically crying about how her boyfriend treats her so badly and that she doesn't know what to do. I can tell they both feel bad and want to go and console her. I'm starting to get pretty heated at this point, as the timing couldn't have been worse and their friend is just a goddamn drama queen anyways. To make things worse J's friend keeps jumping up and down shouting "Ladies' Night! Ladies' Night!". If she was a guy I definately would have knocked her out.

I know I need to work on my anger/tilt problems but when something so trivial as a stupid phonecall can ruin a perfectly good night, it just gets me going. Anyways, I still wanted to make the most of the night so I left them to their Ladies' Night drama fest and meet up with some friends back at the apartment. We smoked another L, and I was definately wasted at this point. I made so more late night calls in a pathetic drunken manner and actually got some responses. Two more good looking ladies said they would come over and blaze after the bar closes. I'm thinking jackpot! I'm just dreaming now: late night, drunken girls stumbling over to the apartment after the bars close to smoke with me.

I couldn't wait. The bars closed in around a half hour and I decided to roll yet another L. Unfortnately, this is when my night ended as the next thing I remember is waking up on the couch to a bunch of missed calls and text messages from those girls. All in all, the night wasn't that bad. I had fun with J and her friend and it was fun while it lasted. I just felt kind of dissapointed because I felt the night had so much more potential. Kind of reminded me of my poker ability. A lot of fun and potential, yet failing to achieve any real results.

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A Padawan's Visit to the Local Card Shack

Date: Sun, Jun 7, 2009 Internet Live Tournament

Although it is illegal to gamble and play poker for money where I live, if there is a will there is a way. Apparently if enough of the proceeds from the tournaments and cash games go to nonprofit organizations then it is perfectly legal to play. I learned this after speaking to one of my brothers (I'll call this one Andy for anonymity purposes) Andy came home for the weekend to visit. We were at a nice local bar shooting some pool with some friends Saturday night when he mentioned that this hotel in town hosts poker games and tournaments Thursday through Sunday night. Later on I decided to investigate this a little further myself. Apparently this company (I'll call them Sharkys for anonymity purposes yet again) has a website and looked pretty legit.

As well as offering a full service restaurant and bar, they offer a variety of tournaments including Holdem, Omaha, 7 Card Stud, Caribbean Stud, Blackjack, Roulette, 3-Card, and a few others. They also have live cash action with $1-$2 and $2-$4 poker tables. The buyins for the MTTs and SNGs range from $40 to $150. They also offer freerolls with $10, $20, $40 rebuys and addons.

My brother convinced me to go and play in the Sunday 3:30 freeroll. We both knew it's wasn't a freeroll when you gain an advantage by dishing out a couple rebuys and addons. We spent too much money at the bars last night anyways and decided we didn't want to spend anymore today. We just wanted to check it out and to have a good time, and to be honest I didn't have high expectations going in. I figured it would be too crowed and poorly organized with bad dealers. I was actually in for a pleasant surprise.



Well we were both knocked out fairly quick but it was still a lot of fun. Interesting and fairly unintelligent crowd to say the least: basically Walmart zombies spending their welfare and social security checks, as well as an assortment of mostly older alcoholics, posers, burnouts, and a variety of other gambling types. The tournament, however, was actually really well organized. The dealers did a really proffesional job of shuffling and keeping the players in line. There was a tournament clock with a timer for the increase in blinds and current blind levels. They posted the amount of players, buyins, addons, rebuys, and spots paid for everyone to see. The tournament director made sure the seats were filled in the proper order etc.. We didn't stay long because Andy had to head home, but I''m glad we got a chance to check it out.

It was a nice change from the world of online poker, but I couldn't stay away from PokerStars too long. I put in decent volume this past week playing over 100 $1.20 player SNGs. I finished 20th overall ($20 prize) in Pokerstars' High Orbit (100 games) Battle of the Planets SNG Leaderboard for the Mercury Division ($1-$2.99) this past week. So for the 100 games I spent grinding, I'm awarded $20. I'm competitive so I like the fact that Pokerstars tracks SNG results and awards people money based on how well they do. It's also cool because it's available for everyone at all buyin levels. The $20 also makes up for the $20 in rake I paid Stars in over 100 SNGs at twenty cents rake/game.

I updated my stats below at the bottom of my blog. In the graph you may notice a recent drop. I've been experimenting with multitabling. I've had the most success 4-tabling, modest success 6-tabling, and I' haven't done as well 9-tabling. Although my ROI drops when I increase the amount of tables I play at once, my profit per hour may actually increase due to the volume of games I'm putting in if I still manage to be a winning player. For example if a player can get a 80% ROI playing 4 tables but a 60% ROI playing 12 tables, they still may choose to play 12 tables because they will still be making more $/hour.

I'd like to take a step back at this time and thank someone who basically introduced me to the game of Texas Holdem and has taught me more about this game than anyone else ever has. He took me under his wing and showed me the way. We've spent hours upon hours playing side by side, analyzing hands, situations, videos, etc.. When I busted my bankroll (which happened multiple times when I didn't know what bankroll management even was) he was there to send me $20 or $40 to get me back on feet again. I've since earned the title "Padawan" under my Jedi Master's guidance. Thank you for everything you've taught me. May the force be with you.

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Grinding Dollar SNGs and a Nice Break

Date: Tue, Jun 2, 2009 Internet Live Tournament

Honestly it doesn't feel that great when I take down a $1.20 9 Player SNG on Stars. But to win over time in poker I can't focus on the adrenaline of gambling. It feels good to be putting reads on players and playing based off what I think they have instead of just focusing on my own two cards. I've had pretty decent results at this micro level 4-tabling. It sure does feel good to use self control and discipline while sticking to my bankroll guidelines I discussed earlier.

I decided to take a break from the poker tables this morning to take my dog out for a while. I took him to one of my favorite places to relax and unwind. After a short drive out of town and a couple of dirt roads later I pulled into the spot. We got out of the car after I quickly rolled something up, and we walked for a short 5 or 10 minutes until we arrived.

It was a really beautiful day out. I sat back, sparked the L and took it all in. It was very relaxining and noone else was there until this old friendly fisherman came by to do some fishing. He didn't have much luck but did manage to catch one small one. He was very nice and we talked a while about everything from fishing and stocking the river to the current economy and stock market. All in all it was a very relaxing morning and I'm sure my little friend had a great time as well. I also took some pictures with my phone while there.



The little guy slipping and sliding right into the stream.



Friendly old fisherman even caught 1 little 3 or 4 incher.



The little guy stranded on an island.

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Cat Sitting

Date: Thu, May 28, 2009 Internet Live Tournament

As a forewarning to you all, my mind is a bit scrambled from too much smoking lately. Just a heads-up if any of this comes out as complete nonsense. Anyhow, I'm just chillin' on a couch at my friends' apartment doing a little cat sitting again (he didn't give me any trees this time - weak!), and I keep losing my train of thought and what I am going to write about because of my scatter brain pot head. Anyways, I'm looking forward to hitting the poker tables soon using the bankroll management guidelines I've been reading about.

I've been spending a lot of time at the 2+2 Poker Forums. There's actually quite a few knowledgeable poker players who answer beginner questions and anything poker and non-poker related. However, there's also quite a bit of sarcastic d-bags but I suppose that's expected for an online poker forum. Poker is somewhat addicting in general, and 2+2 just fuels it.

Random side note. My parents decided to get a new mattress the other day. I was just kicking it with my dog outside smoking an L and I hear someone pull in out front. It turns out to be two Mattress Giant guys delivering their new tempurpedic mattress. I take a quick glance at the pair of mattress delivery drivers and quickly asses the situation. I asked them if they smoke at all. Their faces lit right up. They moved in the mattress, and they hauled the old one out. Afterward, I twisted up another L and we enjoyed it out back on the porch. Now I know I made their day. It just felt like the right thing to do at the time. Karma points plus one.

And back to the poker talk. If you remember from before, I posted a chart on bankroll management guidelines by Jennifear at pocketfives. Basically her buyin rules are as follows:

Heads Up: 40 Buyins
STTs: 65 Buyins
18 Man SNGs: 90 Buyins
45 Man SNGs: 130 Buyins
90 Man SNGs: 150 Buyins
180 Man SNGs: 200 Buyins
MTTs: 200 Buyins

I decided to make my own bankroll guideline table similar to Jennifear's chart. Basically, I took her bankroll guidelines and subtracted around 20 buyins (only 10 buyins for HU matches) from each. The new SNG and MTT bankroll guidelines I put together are a little less conservative then Jennifear's guidelines. Players need to take into acount their own ROI, strengths, and game preference to determine their own bankroll guidelies. My new guidelines are as follows:

Heads Up: 30 Buyins
STTs: 45 Buyins
18 Man SNGs: 70 Buyins
45 Man SNGs: 110 Buyins
90 Man SNGs: 130 Buyins
180 Man SNGs: 180 Buyins
MTTs: 180 Buyins

Hopefully this will help anyone looking for some bankroll management advice for SNGs and MTTs. I know I certainly need to learn more about it!

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SNG Neophyte

Date: Thu, May 21, 2009 Internet Live Tournament

I came across a video on the 2+2 forum after someone recommended it to me in the "beginner's section". I've never watched a poker strategy video before I decided to give it a chance. So I sparked up a couple bongs and kicked back. There was a lot of good information and strategy topics covered in the video. I didn't recognize all the terms at first, so I asked some questions in 2+2 noob section again.

The video was created by a player called "TheLipoFund" as part of his 4,000 post on 2+2. He felt like giving back to the poker community that has helped him improve his game tenfold. I checked out his stats on SharkScope and he has around 34k plus in winnings. I also looked him on Pokerstars to find him 27 tabling $12.00 multitable SNGs. Seems like he knows what he's talking about. Here is a random collection of some main points and ideas I got out of his coaching video.

• Fold Equity - The increase in expected profit when a player bets and his opponents fold. Fold equity equals the likelihood that your opponents will fold times your gain in equity as a result of them folding.
• When the pot is more than a tenth of your stack, you want to either be shoving or folding. The reason you want to shove or fold at this point is because if betting continues, you will most likely be commiting your stack and you need to determine if that specific hand is worth commiting to.
  
• Overbet - To make a bet larger that is larger than the size of the pot.
• Pot Commited - Situation when you have too much invested in the pot to fold based on your stack size.
• Be a nit, wait for hands. If you get under 10BB shove wide or else you will be blinded out.
• Shoving blind for blind until people start snapping you off. Peoples' calling ranges are usually very tight so take advantage of this. This definitely applies when you are in the SB and shove light against the BB because his range is super tight and you will only have to go through him to take the blinds.
• Snap Call - Calling you very wide or with very marginal hands because you think he villain is more or less shoving with any two cards. This is also called an insta call.
• Recognize the regulars and be able to put them on a range. Their shoving range is very wide most of the time so you can call them with some marginal hands in certain spots.
• Open-Fold - Opening the pot then folding to a raise, a weak tight approach (very bad to do preflop unless you have a reason).
• Push-Fold spots - ICM, shove wide and call tight.
  
• Exploit stack sizes. ICM, bigger stacks have the advantage because they can bully the mid stacks and small stacks. If you are a mid stack, avoid the big stack(s) but shove light against mid and small stacks that aren't pot commited.
• It's not the size of your stack but the size of the stacks around you. Big stacks will tend to gamble more, mid stacks and small stacks will play tight. Using this info to your advantage means that you avoid shoving light against the big stack but shove very light mid to small stacks.
• Repeatdly make positive expectation plays to be profitable at poker. Stealings chips when blinds get high, shoving rather then calling, value betting, shoving light rather than blinding out, getting in with the best hand are +EV plays.
• Early position versus late position play. Generally tighter in early position, looser late.
• In 45 player SNGs, be really agressive prior to the final table, only seven spots pay. There is an invisible bubble right before the final table with like only two or three tables. People are really tight because they want to make the final table thinking it pays nine spots but it only pays seven. Even at seven, the payout isn't that muchas it is top-heavy (only pays the majority to the top three places). That means you can still pick up a lot of chips before the final and at the final table with 8-9 players still in. Being aggressive and picking up those free chips can give you a nice stack and put you in position to win. Take advantage of your opponents tight playing here.
• Shove bottom range, raise top range, late game. Lowest to shove with: suited connectors, J9o, etc. sometimes looser depending on the situation. Estimate what your opponents would shove with, if it's a loose person then they have a wide range, if its a tight person then their range is nothing less then 44, JQ or better. Play very nitty early (fold early etc.) but shove when the blinds become high.

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Bankroll Management

Date: Tue, May 19, 2009 Internet Live Tournament

I haven't been playing poker lately, but it's still been on my mind. I've been watching poker on television, browsing different strategy forums, reading poker articles, watching video tutorials, analyzing hands, etc.. Anyways, I've come to the conclusion that I am a poker novice and that I have years of learning ahead of me. However, I have done well in abstaining from depositing money on Stars until I have a bigger personal roll (the difficult times to resist are often after long nights of drinking and smoking).

I mentioned in a previous post that the next time I deposit I'm going to have a better game plan. After posting some noob questions in the 2+2 Forums, I came across some very useful information from a welcoming poker community. One article that stood out to me in particular was titled "SNG/Multitable SNG/MTT Bankroll Management Chart and Guide" by Jennifear at Pocketfives.com. The article outlines basic bankroll guidelines and also describes a cashout strategy. I've posted an image from Jennifear's article that I will be using as my bankroll guidelines the next time I deposit. Thank you everyone who has helped answer my naive poker questions and who has helped me along on my poker adventure.

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The Art of Losing

Date: Thu, May 14, 2009 Internet Live Tournament

"Nobody is always a winner, and anybody who says he is, is either a liar or doesn't player poker." -Amarillo Slim, 4 time WSOP bracelet winner and infamous gambler. Sometimes I feel that people who profit from poker long term aren't necessarily the biggest tournament winners, yet are people that learn how to lose without tilting away their money. Also, I feel it's important to know when to walk away from a game. To try to overcome ones daily loss is meaningless and usually leads to tilt and a lower bankroll. I try to focus on the long term, instead of trying to achieve positive results every single game, every day.

So I broke down, and I've deposited on Stars a couple of times, albeit minimal amounts, and I haven't had much success lately. I have been playing mostly $6.50 45 man turbo SNGs and a couple $12 180 man turbo SNGs. I made a couple final tables on the $6.50 45 man turbo SNGs, including a 3rd, 4th, and 6th place finish for $42, $30, and $18 respectively. I also placed 7th in a $12 180 man sng for $69. However, as you can see by my overall results, I didn't do very well.

I didn't use very good bankroll skills either. I never play such low limits live, yet I don't want to deposit that much money on Stars yet at this point in time. I probably should have grinded some lower SNGs until I had a big enough bankroll to play the games I played. I plan to make a little money, landscaping and some small remodeling stuff, and I might deposit in the future again. But for the time being, I'm going to take a little break from the tables.

I want to have a better gameplan next time I deposit. Instead of just impulsively playing random games, I am going to set a predetermined schedule of games. This way if I lose a tournament, I won't try to play again and again to make up for the losses

Anyways, enough about my bad poker playing and bankroll skills. Random story. I told my friend that I'd feed his cat this weekend while he went away. I went over there last night and his roommate was there. We smoked a bit of ganj together, and I feed the cat and everything after. He gave me a ride home and I thanked him. About 20 minutes later he called saying he locked himself out and wondered if he could borrow the spare key I had. I told him sure, just put it out back on the deck after.

So I go over there this morning to feed my friends cat, and I'm locked out and don't see the key anywhere. He totally spaced it. So I called my friend's roommate and he said he wasn't there and was at his parents' house. He said the key should be there. The keys obviously not there, so I don't know what he's talking about. I've been waiting outside a while, and I'm starting to get pissed now. Standing out back, I hear someone inside. So I knock on the backdoor. It's some random kid who happend to spend the night there. I explain to him what happened. He tells me the roommates sleeping inside and he'll get me the key. So, finally he gets the key, I go inside, pull some gravs and feed the cat. Mission accomplished after all that nonsense.

So, my friend's idiot roommate decided to lock me out, when I'm supposed to be feeding the cat, with an extra key I gave him. Why didn't his roommate just feed the cat? Well, short story is he's an oxycontin addict, and his hobbies include freebasing oxycontin, blowing lines all day, lying, stealing, selling, etc.. He then proceeded to blatantly lie to me while I was there. Luckily some random oxyaddict was there to get the key and let me in. Moral of the story, hard drugs like oxycontin, ruin peoples' lives and can negatively affect the people around the users. Luckily, he's moving out of the apartment at the end of this month. He should check himself into rehab, but he's in total denial about his whole situation. Anyways, my friend's cool and so is his cat and he gave me some fluffy goodies for taking care of the little bugger. Not a bad deal for me.

P.S. That random "girl" I mentioned below, definitely not who she says she is. I saw the same pictures she sent me randomly over the internet. Instead, some pervert wants me to send him naked pictures of myself. What the hell is wrong with some people?

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A Beautiful Stranger

Date: Mon, May 11, 2009 Internet Live Tournament

I've been getting that itch again. It's been a while, and I haven't been playing much poker lately. So I'm going to ease my way back into it, and I'll likely make a deposit soon (bad news). Anyways other then messing around in an occasional freeroll or FPP tournament, I haven't been on the tables much. So I'll share a mysterious story with you all instead.

I was on aim like a week or two ago, just blunted out and listening to some music when all of a sudden I get a random message from a screen name I didn't recognize. Miss mysterious introduced herself as Amanda and asked me if I remembered meeting her. She claimed that we met at a bar in town, and that I wrote down my cell number and screen name on a napkin and gave it her. This apparently happened while I was in a drunken stupor at some point in the night randomly around a year or so ago. She claimed to be up visiting college with some friends.

Now I'm thinking to myself that this is either one of my friends messing with me, some old perverted man-freak, or an undercover police officer trying to catch sexual predators on the internet.

Well I'm not a pedophile and luckily I don't have to resort to the internet to look for my of-age sexual partners. Amanda claimed to be a 22 year old graphic designer who's taking a college class anyways. So, I'm thinking it might not be an officer at this point in the game. Down to two possibilities at this point. One of my friends or some freak.

Now my interest has perked a little bit and I'm trying to figure this whole thing out. Was I on some mind altering substance and just don't recall this particular night? I don't think I'd ever give my screen name out though at a bar as that might not be the best technique in picking up a partner of the opposite sex. So I asked her to send me a picture of her. What's to lose anyways? I'm just curious.



We've talked online a couple of times since then. She claims that I'm just being paranoid and that she is who she says she is. She has sent more pictures and has asked me for some in return. Some of the ones she has sent are too inappropriate to post here. She also asks me random questions like if smoking weed makes me horny, how big "I" am, and other sex based questions. She also asked me to send dirty pictures of myself to her. What the hell? I don't even know this "girl".

I've tried tracing her IP address through emails and direct connections on AIM. When I told her that her IP address suggested she lived somewhere else then where she told me, she claimed it was just a third party service location. I'm pretty sure it's some internet pervert trying to get me to send naked pictures of myself to him. Back to the poker tables. FML.

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Poker Rambling

Date: Sat, May 9, 2009 Internet Live Tournament

I've been playing poker for a couple years now on and off. I'm still fairly new to the world of online poker, and I have a lot of learning to do still. I'll share with you what I've learned and if you have any advice or comments to offer please do.

I've found SNGs to be one of the most profitable ways to make money on NL Holdem Poker. To start out, most SNGs only have 9 players to start with and they tend to pay the top 3 finishers. Therefore, you only have to finish 1st out of 3 other players on the table. If you play big MTTs they tend to pay out less spots per players registered compared to SNG's. Usually 1 out of 10+ players or so will finish in the money. However, the trade-off here is that the payoffs are usually much higher.

While the payouts on MTTs tend to be much bigger once you reach the final table, some of the payouts (10-18th, 19-27th, 28-45 etc.) are the same as or less than SNG payouts so the time you spend playing the long MTTs may not always be worth it from an ROI perspective.

Also, MTTs tend to take 2-5 hours to complete if theres 100+ players involved. Anyways they take a lot more time then SNGs. I can stay focused for a while and play these. However, it takes a lot more patience and focus to cash in these tournaments. It also sucks to go deep in a MTT only to lose to some fish who gets lucky on a runner runner draw.

If you grind on cash tables or SNG's you can make money over time. It takes patience and you have to play within your bankroll. Some people only play tournaments in which the buyin is 2%-5%-10% (conservative to more risky) of their total bankroll in order to maintain their rolls over time and to prevent themselves from busting. You won't win every tournament you play. If you lose a couple games its okay. Stop playing that day, pick it up tomorrow. Don't try to move up cash levels or to play until you were "back at even" or "back where your roll was before you lost" because this will eventually lead to your downfall. Don't look for a quick fix (heads up games or blackjack) because this might also bust you. It takes a lot more time to build a bankroll then it takes to lose one. I've lost over a $1000 in one day due to tilt, playing above my limits (2-5% bankroll rule)a and trying to make up for my losses that day.

Back to SNG strategy, I play very tight to start the game. Get a feel for the table and the other players. Stealing blinds at the beginning of the game isn't profitable. As the blinds increase over time, you can begin to play more hands, but still play conservative. Slowly build your stack, if you have a hand - make the most of it, play tight-agressive. When you get down to bubble time, its time for you to start playing more agressive. Having a big chip stack helps too. Stealing blinds is crucial at this stage; other people will play more conservative in attempt to cash in.

If you play smart and patiently, you can win overtime. Don't look to get rich quick because you'll probablly lose and lose your bankroll. Play within your limits. Don't let your emotions get involved or else you'll lose too. If you lose a couple games, go have a beer, a smoke, turn off the poker software and come back another day. don't try to make up your losses.

Hope this helps. This is nothing new or anything. Its a strategy that's worked for me. I've busted and lost my bankroll a couple times but I've also cashed out after a couple big wins.

See you on the tables

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Dazed and Confused

Date: Sat, May 9, 2009 Internet Live Tournament

My name is SlickHook, but you can call me Slick or Hook or whatever you want. I'm 22 years old. I'm a sarcastic narcissist and also a bit of a hedonist. I'm impulsive and tend to get myself into trouble at times. I like to gamble, drink, and smoke. I'm lazy and comfortably unemployed. I should be looking for a job or signing up for summer classes, yet I'm sharing my random and unorganized thoughts with you, a complete unknown.

I live in a small, little town in New Hampshire. I should be graduating college this year, but I've decided to stretch it out for another year or so. Besides, what's the rush in this economy anyways?

I adopted a little west highland terrier back in January of this year. His name is Buddy. He's the best thing in the world next to poker and well Chinese food, which he also loves. I love taking him out for walks and smoking nice cigars filled with tasty trees in this beautiful weather. Summertime and the living is easy.

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