So my poker month basically got destroyed by that 24-hour period a week-and-a-half ago where I almost busted my bankroll. The irony is that almost all my other sessions have been winners.
I have been in an online poker cocoon the past week, grinding it out. I have been dissing friends, withdrawing from social life, ignoring bills and incoming phone calls and generally just not being an upstanding mensch.
I finally went through my mail yesterday to discover I had forgotten to pay my car insurance for my Saturn SC Coupe. Before I take care of that I am going to get the car looked at to see how much repairs will cost. I might be better off getting a new ride, though that is hardly practical right now.
So with all the trouble I feel like a villain in a superhero movie who has been defeated but not killed. He vows revenge. Cause I have never been busted, and I will come back strong. I am resorting to cheap corporate sales manager type motivations to help me, like making this possible auto upgrade, the new Lancer Evo X, my desktop background.
UPDATE: I stacked AJ! Which is my death hand, for those who don't know--for the past two years, I can never win with it or beat it. My opponent's screenname was SpiderAA (a coincidence? refer to post title).
And again.
July to-date: $2,053
Friday, July 27, 2007
Wednesday, July 25, 2007
Actually, July won't be my best poker month ever
I pretty much figured that out when I had a $300 bankroll halfway through the month.
I continue to play PLO online and it's going fine, but at these stakes it's hard to make real money.
But there is good news, albeit not involving myself. My friend Carolina John just made $18,000 from Apple shares he recently bought.
If you're into it, check out underage Scandinavian poker phenom Annette_15 winning a 180-player tourney without looking at her cards. You have to register to watch but it's free.
July to-date: $1,746
I continue to play PLO online and it's going fine, but at these stakes it's hard to make real money.
But there is good news, albeit not involving myself. My friend Carolina John just made $18,000 from Apple shares he recently bought.
If you're into it, check out underage Scandinavian poker phenom Annette_15 winning a 180-player tourney without looking at her cards. You have to register to watch but it's free.
July to-date: $1,746
Friday, July 20, 2007
Well, that sucked
Checked into Imperial Palace on Friday night. Not where P-Diddy stays when he's in town, nor in fact where Paris Hilton stays, despite what some would have you believe.
My first reaction, actually, was that I was going to need a tetanus shot. The girl at the counter wanted a $500 security deposit from my epassporte card. I refused. I was already paying $300 up-front for the room. I could go in there with a Gatling gun and a can of spray paint and not do $800 damage to an Imperial Palace hotel room. So she went to a manager and they made the deposit $100.
As for the poker, I guess it could have gone better. I lost over three buy-ins within 24 hours in a variety of ways. It finished at the Venetian when I got it all-in preflop with rockets:
Villain: Ooh, I flopped a set!
Highwaytime: Yeah, you did, didn't you.
Suddenly I was out $1,000 that I had possessed only the day before. I was seriously short on roll. So instead of risking it all at once I went home and put $300, which was all my poker money, on Full Tilt.
The good news is that I have run that up close to $1K in the past few days playing low-stakes PLO. I'm probably going to stay online for the rest of this month at least and see how far I can take it.
July to-date: $1,591
My first reaction, actually, was that I was going to need a tetanus shot. The girl at the counter wanted a $500 security deposit from my epassporte card. I refused. I was already paying $300 up-front for the room. I could go in there with a Gatling gun and a can of spray paint and not do $800 damage to an Imperial Palace hotel room. So she went to a manager and they made the deposit $100.
As for the poker, I guess it could have gone better. I lost over three buy-ins within 24 hours in a variety of ways. It finished at the Venetian when I got it all-in preflop with rockets:
Villain: Ooh, I flopped a set!
Highwaytime: Yeah, you did, didn't you.
Suddenly I was out $1,000 that I had possessed only the day before. I was seriously short on roll. So instead of risking it all at once I went home and put $300, which was all my poker money, on Full Tilt.
The good news is that I have run that up close to $1K in the past few days playing low-stakes PLO. I'm probably going to stay online for the rest of this month at least and see how far I can take it.
July to-date: $1,591
Friday, July 13, 2007
Goodbye for now
It's Imperial Palace for me next week. This is my last post until I get back, at which time I plan to be rich.
I leave you with an MSPaint drawing depicting the table lineup I don't want to see.
July to-date: $1,515
Thursday, July 12, 2007
You can stop me, but you can't...never mind.
No running water this afternoon cause my complex had a leak in the main line. Afternoon, by the way, is when I wake up recently. So after I finally took a shower, I drove to the Sprint Store to pay my $180 phone bill, and my car is just--well, I looked in the Owner's Manual and the mechanical term is "fucked up."
I don't want to be driving it back and forth to the Strip. I will get it fixed up later this month, but not now. So instead of playing live, I did that Internet thing.
I plan to get a player's rate at one of the hotels next week and actually stay there from Sunday through the weekend. Probably the Castle. And just play like nonstop.
July to-date: $1,478
I don't want to be driving it back and forth to the Strip. I will get it fixed up later this month, but not now. So instead of playing live, I did that Internet thing.
I plan to get a player's rate at one of the hotels next week and actually stay there from Sunday through the weekend. Probably the Castle. And just play like nonstop.
July to-date: $1,478
Tuesday, July 10, 2007
A Short Break
I was under the weather and my car was making weird noises, so I took a couple days off from the Strip.
Yesterday I lost two bills playing PLO on Full Tilt. I made $50 back online today, plus I went down to PH and won $260 playing NLH for a few hours against WSOP Main Event bustouts plus a couple guys still in the dance.
On one hand the aggressive preflop guy who had put up a live straddle popped it to $35, and an early position limper who was sitting next to me muttered, "Fucking jackass," and mucked his hand.
It's definitely the case that different personality types play poker differently. But if someone is objectively raising too often or to too high an amount, then that is an error and can be exploited. For non-poker related reasons I have told someone at the table to STFU, as the Duke can testify, but I have never gotten pissed about the way somebody played. If you do, it's a sure sign you're looking at the game the wrong way.
July to-date: $1,245
Yesterday I lost two bills playing PLO on Full Tilt. I made $50 back online today, plus I went down to PH and won $260 playing NLH for a few hours against WSOP Main Event bustouts plus a couple guys still in the dance.
On one hand the aggressive preflop guy who had put up a live straddle popped it to $35, and an early position limper who was sitting next to me muttered, "Fucking jackass," and mucked his hand.
It's definitely the case that different personality types play poker differently. But if someone is objectively raising too often or to too high an amount, then that is an error and can be exploited. For non-poker related reasons I have told someone at the table to STFU, as the Duke can testify, but I have never gotten pissed about the way somebody played. If you do, it's a sure sign you're looking at the game the wrong way.
July to-date: $1,245
Friday, July 6, 2007
Crazy Action
The table action was just nuts today. Something about the main event of the WSOP coming up seems to put players on monkey tilt. I noticed it last year, too.
It was the scene at PH today, what with the Grinder's $5K-entry Chinese Poker tourney. Kristy Arnett, the cute Asian chick who does vids on cardplayer.com, was in the house, but she was mostly sitting behind her boyfriend in a $1-2 NL game from what I saw. A cameraman was on duty and a hot redhead did tourney exit interviews.
At my table the action was driven primarily by two players: one guy raised between $17 and $25 on about half the hands dealt but played okay after the flop, and the other guy just outright played super-loose. I found myself in the game for $500 but made a comeback and cashed out close to $900 in about five hours at the tables.
Just as importantly, I dominated the sidebet action with Carolina John's friend Chapin, who is in town for about a week.
I would have stayed longer but I'd told T I was going to play in his homegame. It was T, Karl, Chico, Nick, and myself. We played two $20-entry tournaments, dealer's choice NL Holdem and Omaha High. I chopped both times when it got heads-up with Karl.
--
One of my less useful talents is that I can make almost any question seem sincere. Yesterday the board was A4Q9 and the turn action went check, bet, call between two players. Thr river was a 3 and the action went check, bet, raise, call. The checkraiser had 25 for a wheel. The other guy mucked, and I asked that guy, "Did you have him beat before that?" He cracked up and my whole side of the table went into hysterics. Anyway, I was told I had to put that in my blog but I kinda feel like you had to be there.
--
July to-date: $1,132
It was the scene at PH today, what with the Grinder's $5K-entry Chinese Poker tourney. Kristy Arnett, the cute Asian chick who does vids on cardplayer.com, was in the house, but she was mostly sitting behind her boyfriend in a $1-2 NL game from what I saw. A cameraman was on duty and a hot redhead did tourney exit interviews.
At my table the action was driven primarily by two players: one guy raised between $17 and $25 on about half the hands dealt but played okay after the flop, and the other guy just outright played super-loose. I found myself in the game for $500 but made a comeback and cashed out close to $900 in about five hours at the tables.
Just as importantly, I dominated the sidebet action with Carolina John's friend Chapin, who is in town for about a week.
I would have stayed longer but I'd told T I was going to play in his homegame. It was T, Karl, Chico, Nick, and myself. We played two $20-entry tournaments, dealer's choice NL Holdem and Omaha High. I chopped both times when it got heads-up with Karl.
--
One of my less useful talents is that I can make almost any question seem sincere. Yesterday the board was A4Q9 and the turn action went check, bet, call between two players. Thr river was a 3 and the action went check, bet, raise, call. The checkraiser had 25 for a wheel. The other guy mucked, and I asked that guy, "Did you have him beat before that?" He cracked up and my whole side of the table went into hysterics. Anyway, I was told I had to put that in my blog but I kinda feel like you had to be there.
--
July to-date: $1,132
Wednesday, July 4, 2007
Florida Dreamin'
Effective July 1st, no limit poker is legal in the Sunshine State.
This has got to be so juicy right now.
---
July to-date: $556
This has got to be so juicy right now.
---
July to-date: $556
Monday, July 2, 2007
July Will Be My Best Poker Month Ever
I told a family member earlier this year that I was giving myself until the end of this calendar year to see if I could really make something happen in poker.
I've supported myself, but that's about it. I've made money playing cards every month for a few years. No losing months at all, and yeah, that's nice and all. But the problem with playing low limits for a living is that it's very difficult to make so much money that a period of bad luck or laziness won't put you back in a spot where you need money again, and fast.
Poker is the most capital-intensive business, so you are constantly eating away the tools of your trade by paying bills, rent, and buying the things you want. The way to get out of that treadmill is either by playing a hell of a lot and living like a monk, which I don't want to do, or by moving up in stakes. Of course it's dangerous to move up too fast. You need enough of a bankroll so that a bad day or two won't take you out of action.
So I want to build that bankroll, and I may have to sacrifice in the short term by playing a hell of a lot to get it, but it will be worth it. I'll make more money this month than any other month I've ever played. I don't care if I don't run particularly well. I just got sucked out on in two big pots at the end of my session tonight at PH, but I still won and I won't stop.
Like I told Re-Bet, "You can stop me, but you can't hope to contain me...Wait, I mean..."
He goes, "Fine. I'll just stop you, then."
I know it's possible. Walking through the Amazon Room at the Rio earlier this month, in the cash game section at the World Series of Poker, I saw Motorcyle Matt playing $10-20 Pot Limit Omaha--Motorcycle Matt, who I used to play with all the time in the $100-cap no limit game at Excalibur when I first got to Vegas two years ago. And Matt is a solid player but I wouldn't put him in my toughest table of $1-2 NL live game players I've gone up against. Here is that table, listed in no particular order:
seat 1--YJ(aggressive Asian guy who plays at Excalibur, sicko calls)
seat 2--Angel Largay(poker author who used to play PH and MGM, moved to LA)
seat 3--Carolina John(sicko extraordinaire, least aggressive player at this table)
seat 4--Adam(Sandviper23, gone to Sweden, stopped blogging)
seat 5--The Chinese Connection(don't know his real name, more sicko calls at Excal)
seat 6--Kevin (young tricky, aggressive player at PH)
seat 7--Kenny (very aggressive Asian guy in the motorcycle jacket at PH)
seat 8--Todd aka Re-Bet(when he's not tilting aka not June 07)
seat 9--Anna Wroblewski (winner of a 5-diamond Bellagio event, moved up to $5-10NL)
seat 10--Steve aka the Gambling Duke(when he has a stack of $800 or more, which curbs all his donk tendencies)
So I won't be posting all my results this month, but when I do post I will make a note of the monthly total. It's not to be crass, it's just that money is how you keep score in poker.
----
PH, $1-2 NL (July 1)
+ $280
PH $1-2 NL (June 30)
+ $20
July to-date: +$280
I've supported myself, but that's about it. I've made money playing cards every month for a few years. No losing months at all, and yeah, that's nice and all. But the problem with playing low limits for a living is that it's very difficult to make so much money that a period of bad luck or laziness won't put you back in a spot where you need money again, and fast.
Poker is the most capital-intensive business, so you are constantly eating away the tools of your trade by paying bills, rent, and buying the things you want. The way to get out of that treadmill is either by playing a hell of a lot and living like a monk, which I don't want to do, or by moving up in stakes. Of course it's dangerous to move up too fast. You need enough of a bankroll so that a bad day or two won't take you out of action.
So I want to build that bankroll, and I may have to sacrifice in the short term by playing a hell of a lot to get it, but it will be worth it. I'll make more money this month than any other month I've ever played. I don't care if I don't run particularly well. I just got sucked out on in two big pots at the end of my session tonight at PH, but I still won and I won't stop.
Like I told Re-Bet, "You can stop me, but you can't hope to contain me...Wait, I mean..."
He goes, "Fine. I'll just stop you, then."
I know it's possible. Walking through the Amazon Room at the Rio earlier this month, in the cash game section at the World Series of Poker, I saw Motorcyle Matt playing $10-20 Pot Limit Omaha--Motorcycle Matt, who I used to play with all the time in the $100-cap no limit game at Excalibur when I first got to Vegas two years ago. And Matt is a solid player but I wouldn't put him in my toughest table of $1-2 NL live game players I've gone up against. Here is that table, listed in no particular order:
seat 1--YJ(aggressive Asian guy who plays at Excalibur, sicko calls)
seat 2--Angel Largay(poker author who used to play PH and MGM, moved to LA)
seat 3--Carolina John(sicko extraordinaire, least aggressive player at this table)
seat 4--Adam(Sandviper23, gone to Sweden, stopped blogging)
seat 5--The Chinese Connection(don't know his real name, more sicko calls at Excal)
seat 6--Kevin (young tricky, aggressive player at PH)
seat 7--Kenny (very aggressive Asian guy in the motorcycle jacket at PH)
seat 8--Todd aka Re-Bet(when he's not tilting aka not June 07)
seat 9--Anna Wroblewski (winner of a 5-diamond Bellagio event, moved up to $5-10NL)
seat 10--Steve aka the Gambling Duke(when he has a stack of $800 or more, which curbs all his donk tendencies)
So I won't be posting all my results this month, but when I do post I will make a note of the monthly total. It's not to be crass, it's just that money is how you keep score in poker.
----
PH, $1-2 NL (July 1)
+ $280
PH $1-2 NL (June 30)
+ $20
July to-date: +$280
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