Grind

the every day struggle

2010-05-08T11:13:00.001-07:00

I'm trying to find balance. torn between what i want to be doing and where i want to be and where i am. Although, everything in life should be manageable. I'm just gonna ramble...

This is life. Those of us that let it out through journals find that we can express this angst about life in a deep and healthy way, hoping the reader will understand where we are coming from. Transferring your negative energy into something positive is key to day to day success. I guess life is a game, you can pull the chord at any point and choose to stop playing otherwise you're in it for the long haul.
Everyone faces this, therefore no one's life is more or less important than another.
People turn to religion for this sole justice. 'treat your neighbor as you would treat yourself.' Makes sense, there doesn't have to be a deep seeded story as to where this came from. The good we do upon each other will only help us. It's only when we can't handle the situations and put the weight on someone elses shoulders rather than our own is when things become unbalanced.
I guess that is my religion.
Any morals that you live by become your religion. I do believe people are good for the most part. Maybe some just get lost.

I'm not sure where this is all coming from or why. My life has taken alot of twists and turns in the last couple months and i'm starting to wake up from this. It is necessary to learn from your experiences in order to move forward.
Whether some people make certain decisions that others wouldn't have made, had they 'been in the same situation', might come from some sort of method to their madness. Maybe only time will tell.
What are mistakes anyway? I guess its the things we do that negatively impact us and the people around us. Is it possible to always be aware of how we act towards each other? It doesn't seem likely when we're caught up in the moment. We rely on our subconcious level to take over. Somehow, chaos always stirrs up. There are stresses in the world and we are the sponge that has to soak it up. I guess when our brain is overwhelmed, we panic and lose control in our lives. This constant up and down seems to have an overbearing toll on our minds.
So in a buddhist sense, our goal in life is really to just maintain day to day balance.

Easier said than done = /

After a long hiatus from blogging...

2009-12-31T22:04:00.000-08:00

I am back. I don't really know why i stopped. Maybe laziness or just a culmination of things that got to me. Why did i start back up? Probably because this is the best way for me to outlet what is on my mind, and lately there are lots of new and exciting things that i can predict developing, so why not capture the moment.

In terms of poker i've still been in a funk. Still battling to rebuild a roll here and there but also grasping the reality of life in terms of finances. The cost of living is high and if you can sustain your own then that's a win even if it looks like you're even. In the long run everything evens out.

"On a long enough timeline, the survival rate for everyone drops to zero. " - Thanks Tyler.

So what is on my mind?

GRIND.

To quote the King

"my buddy larry longlegs always says that if you havent found something you would die for then you are already dead"

Maybe it's natural to be having this 'life-changing' and optimistic mentality since it is the New Year, literally for an hour and 16 minutes now, but I can't deny I have huge expectations of myself for 2010 and beyond. The way i behave this year is a reflection of what i will become down the road....So may as well give it my all.

The difference this time is that i'm not alone.

I have many people that are going through this same thing all around me. In poker and in the music biz.

I don't know much about the music biz but what i do know is that it's one of the most competitive fields and to actually make it in it really reflects your true talent. To be able to undeniably penetrate so many people with just words and sounds is unlike anything else.

So where do i see myself at the end of this year? Literally sky is the limit. Despite all this optimistic or 'day-dream' thinking it is also important to stay grounded and realize things take time. Life takes time and you have your whole lifetime to perfect what it is that you do. Perfect is a funny word since there is no such thing, just as close to perfect as u can get.

Steeve had a good quote

Except i can't find it right now so i'll edit later and fill back in

Basically these last couple months i've been renting out an apartment in newark and living with a couple of aspiring up and coming artists. It is a gaurentee that you will be hearing Cash and Steeve Sam along with whoever else they decide to vibe with. They are the definition of struggling artists. They live through their music. What i have found though is that there's more drama in music. In poker you keep to yourself and it's you against the world. With a group, you have more people in the struggle and even though the benefits are that you help each other through it, you also take out your frustrations on each other which can have effects.

They do motivate me to keep going and without them my struggle would be much harder. People are in your life for a reason, so rather than butt heads why not take time to be open minded and see what they have to offer. I do think we are hesitant to ask for a hand once in a while. Maybe our pride gets in the way.

So back to poker...i do plan on putting in alot more hours and taking it seriously. Definitely going to start taking more shots at bloomfield when possible and AC. Maybe by the summer i'll actually have myself a little roll and can go out to vegas with King Niche and Bob. I've always known that poker didn't have to be such an isolated game and have always been excited to meet new people. Too bad in the past most people are not as open minded as you would hope and prefer to keep to themselves but recently I have found people that do have the same Grind on the Mind mentality and most importantly realize the power of working together. With this, i feel extremely confident that this year will be life-changing.

new site

2009-04-04T00:00:00.000-07:00

switching to a new site for blogging that actually has ppl responding to my posts and i can show hands better.
http://www.pokerisrigged.com/showthread.php?t=2598

Bankroll: $2k

2009-03-20T23:46:00.000-07:00

On a pretty good run. +$655 today @borgata, after some expenses i'm left with $2030 total. I'm confident I can keep it up and i need to keep winning just to pay back my debts. I currently owe close to 5k to 3 people. This weekend my friend is doing the 1500+150 deep stacked at Borgata so i'm gonna be playing 2-5 and probably crash at his house in Margate. Hopefully i can keep running hot. I still have 2 free nights at the Taj so i should use that next week, we'll see.

+$550, Running good in the city

2009-03-17T20:32:00.000-07:00

Went to the new straddle club, couple of familiar faces but overall nothing special. It was a decent game, i had a few nice runs after reloading for my 2nd $200 and finishing at $955. Hopefully will go back again tomorrow but i'm thinking about just going to AC and trying out the $100+20 again, wednesday nights have some amount guaranteed so that's some incentive. We'll see what happens I guess, either way my friend Mike is going down there this weekend for the $1500 event so I'll probably tag along.

Time to turn this $12 I have left on absolute into a mill...

$120 to $1150 at Borgata

2009-03-17T01:40:00.000-07:00

Crazy day today, got to Borgata around 2:30pm after i picked up a hundo from eng at Rutgers. I used this in addition to my $220 that i had on me and we went halves at 1-2. I was doing alright at first, up 100ish and just teatering above even and then the table died down so i switched. Missed an open ended straight flush draw on the flop and after that I just knew i couldn't play 1-2 anymore. I was tempted to go to 2-5 with it but i decided against since it was eng's money too and he wouldn't approve. anyways, i had exactly $120 and decided i'd register for the 7pm tourny. There ended up being 91 entrants so i was good to go. Early on i double up with QQ when i raised preflop to 200, got 2 callers. flop came Q 6 7 with 2 spades, sb checked i led out for $500 they both call. turn another Q. Sb checked again and this time i checked it to the other guy who bets $600. Sb calls and i flat call praying a spade comes off. River is a red T and sb insta checks and i try to think which line to take. Obviously he doesn't have a Q so what kind of hand does he think I have and what kind of hand might he have. I can't really lead out cause it's very suspicious to smooth call on the turn and then lead out on the river so i decided to check and he made a bet of about $1300. I was gonna try to make it look like a steal so i raised it to $5500 or so and he thinks for like 20 seconds and then shoves with TT lol.
After this i had 22k, blinds got to 1k-2k and i had seen 1 ace, no pairs, and one KJ. I was playing super tight but took down a pot in the blinds when i made a good call with a pair of 6's on KK86J, check check on flop, i led out for 1k on turn, check called 2.5k on river. he had A high.
So i actually did get really lucky cause i was at 17k and blinds were gonna be 1500-3k so i shove with A6 and get called by AQ and flop is A T 6 and i win. But from there i basically picked up Kings at a good time and ran it up to like 106k. We got down to 2 tables and i was feeling confident that i was going to win this thing. $3k for 1st.
So we get down to 2 tables and i pick up AA in the sb, folded around to me and i make it 20k on top blinds were 3-6k. BB auto shoves i call he has ATh and i lose that pot bringing me back down to 70k. When we hit the final table that's when i felt the game really began and within a couple rounds i was back up to $160k. Then we got even more short handed and i ran it up to $260k having 30% of the chips in play. The players were asking to chop and clearly i wasn't going to with this kind of chip stack, we were down to 7. All of a sudden short stacks kept doubling up, then i lost a couple big hands and blinds doubled up so everyone was avg in chips and we agreed to chop evenly. Came out to $1187, gave 37 to the dealers and pocketed $1150. Overall sick run but i'm really determined to use this money to go on a massive heater. Now that i have a roll to work with I kno i can go on a decent run. Hopefully all goes well.
Last week i played online mostly since i lost from that previous session at AC and Bloomfield. So i'vebeen playing $10 and $20 heads up 500chip UT's and been pretty dominant. Since i was left with only $50 in the account after Alex had lost on it i built it up that day to $212. I realized that $20 heads up sng's can give u a pretty steady win rate and sizeable too. It's really easy to get burned out from HU so u gotta really play only when u wanna play. Do not force it. I began to keep in mind this idea and the next morning Alex had lost again and I was left with $100 this time. I played the whole day on and off and ran it up to $285. The next day i transfered some to dimsumboy and had $35 left. Ran it up to $144 and then that day Alex played some $1/2 heads up and doubled it up to $289. I then played a little bit more and had some losing sessions overall down to like $250.
Anyway, i'm really confident in these heads up sng's and i know i can rely on them for extra income. You just really need extra patience but the field is so weak that its worth it to play even if you aren't on your A game. (btw just checked AP and have $12 left, way to go)

So i'm gonna keep playin with this new-found roll and hopefully things go well.
Good game

2 for 2 (+$650)

2009-03-06T12:30:00.000-08:00

Went down to AC the last 2 nights with eng, both times he agreed to put up money for me in exchange for half my action. First night went well, i played well and aside from running into aces with kings i was still able to win $300, half of which was mine.
Then last night we went down again, Eng played 2/5 and i sat at his table. I was up $150 early on but wasn't feeling it since i couldn't play normally with an insufficient bankroll so i moved down to 1/2. Grinded there for a couple more hours after making back what i had lost at 2/5 and finishing overall +355, half of which was mine again. So now i'm up to around $300ish of my own and feel confident about going on a run with that. It takes alot of patience but these small wins are helping me keep my composure. Hopefully i'll have good things to report back in my next couple posts.

Just can't book a win

2009-03-02T19:09:00.000-08:00

Well, I officially haven't won at all this month for February. It's depressing and demoralizing as fuck, but it is what it is. I'm trying to stay level headed when I play but it's impossible to play your best during a downswing. Today was a different beast. I woke up at Borgata around 6am after being on a fucked up sleep schedule and went downstairs. I played some 1/2 until 11am and finished down $70. Then i was really feeling the 100+20 11am tourny so i registered for that. Early on i got built up to about 48k with 10k starting chips. There were only 48 entrants and before i knew it we were at 3 tables and i was feeling great. First was $1900 and I wanted it sooo bad. Then disaster strikes, folds around to me and i button raise with A7c, sb shoves for 7k which was like 5 bb's more and i called, he had K7 and spiked a K. Very next hand blinds go up to 600/1200, utg shoves for 8k, i felt like i could possibly have him dominated or a coinflip at worst so I called after it was folded around to me and we both had AJ, 4 clubs on the board and he wins with the Ac. Then soon after i pick up 44 when another shortstack shoves utg, goes folded around to me in the cutoff and i call he has AK and i lose that as well. Then after that pot I was down to about 17k and blinds were still 1/2k with a 300 ante, it went folded around to me in middle position and i shoved with KJ, goes folded around to the BB who wakes up with 99 and i lose.

Oh yea, just remembered another hand early in the tournament. we're playing 5 handed like the first half hour of the tourny til more ppl fill up the seats since there's late registration and this hand comes up: we're playing 25/50 with deep 10k stacks. UTG limps and goes folded around to me in the sb i got AA and make it 100 on top, BB calls and UTG calls, flop J and 2 low cards with 2 diamonds. I bet $250. Crazy amateur guy who has no idea how to play deep makes it $1k on top. he had me covered and i knew he would make a big bet on the turn no matter what card so i put him on a J and smooth called, other guy folds. turn Kd. . i check, guy bets $2500 i think for like 20-30 seconds and then decide to go all in for $8500ish total, he thinks for liek 10 seconds like he can't believe what just happened and then folds, i show the AA assuming it was best and he goes silent, then he says i had 2 pair so i was like uhhh what? u folded 2 pair? KJ? i was confused, he didn't answer and said, thought you had a flush... mad weird but if he had called then i probably would've been out and coudl've atleast went to the cash game.

After this i had $500 left and wanted to get it back in the cash game. I was kind of pissed that i had such a bad run of cards but i let it go and proceeded to start a new session. I went to 2/5 and sat with $300 and had $200 more to reload. The money was fronted by friend who gave me 1k that previous friday and then i left for AC. I hadn't been having much luck the first few days at 1/2 and 2/5 and dwindled down to $600. So i sit at this new table and everyone has about 300-500 in chips, maybe a little bit more but nothing too crazy. I dwindled down to about $180 and then picked up 33 flopped a set on K 9 3 and doubled up. Then a few hands later i pick up AA. I make it 20 to go and get 2 callers. Flop comes K 4 7, 2 hearts, checked around to me and i made a small bet and got 2 callers. turn is a black J. checks to me and i bet $115 into about $150 and this lady thinks for a while and then calls. river 8h, she insta shoves i have like $120 left and I have to call since i did not put her on a draw and figured she had to have KJ at best but w/e i had to look it up and she had JJ. After this i reloaded for $200 more, dwindled down to about $125 and then shoved preflop when there was about $100 in dead money preflop and an opening raiser made it $25 to go he had JJ i had TT and that was the end of the trip for me. I barely made it home for some reason i kept nodding off and had to pull over and take naps at the rest stops but eventually i did make it back. Needless to say, i felt like i went through hell but it feels good to be home and have my own bed to sleep in tonight. I'm gonna try to grind with what i have online and really try hard to build from that since i have no cash left.

I can't imagine how much longer I can endure of this but as King Niche once told me, you must embrace the beats and never quit even with your balls in the sandtrap....

-$580 at Bloomfield

2009-02-18T00:57:00.000-08:00

So I pick up Steve and we get to Bloomfield right when they're gonna start the 2nd table. The tournament is still finishing up in the back and the main game looks alright. I buy in for $250 and a few hands in I pick up AQ and raise to $15 and get 1 caller. Flop comes 9 9 6 rainbow and he checks it to me, i bet $20 and he thinks for a little and calls. Turn is a Q, he leads out for $55 and i shove for $100 total, he calls with J9.

I reload and a few hands later I limp with Q9s in the cutoff, limped pot. Flop comes K J x, 2 spades. The same guy who i lost with AQ to J9 before now bets $10 and I raise it up to $30. Folds around back to him and he calls. Turn is a red T. he checks i bet $50, he calls. River 5s. He checks i bet $75 he thinks for a little and then calls with AK.

Not too long after that I get involved in a pretty big hand. I'm in the BB with QQ and there are a couple limpers and i make it $15 on top. Folds around to the SB who is a somewhat tight players and knows that i'm tight but he's not that good. Flop comes T T 2, rainbow and he checks it to me. I bet $15 to make it look like i don't have much and he thinks for a good 10-15 seconds and then just calls. Turn is an 8 and he fires out $40. I'm extremely confused by this and think whether or not i should shove for $200ish, and whether or not he really does have the T. I decide to just call and re-evaluate on the river since i have position. River pairs the 8 so board is TT288. He checks it over to me and at this point i figure that my hand is best and it's not worth it to just check it behind since I may be able to get some value from him. For some reason i went for the pot sized bet and fired $125. He turns sick as if he just got counterfitted by the 8 and as if he had me the whole way before that so i figure i'm good. He then shows the table he has 22 and shows it to me in which case i don't show any emotion back. He proceeds to think for a good 45 seconds and I know there's just no way he's really gonna fold this hand and that he's just wasting time so i'm not even worried really, i know its a loss already and finally he calls. I think i should've bet a much smaller amount on the river like $40-$50. = /

After this hand i'm back down to about $150ish and had already reloaded up to $580. At this point i got moved to the main game and Steve was already there. I grinded up to $300 and then slowly swung down to $240. We decide to stay for a last half hour and a couple hands into it i pick up AA in the sb. There are 2 limpers and i have a pretty solid tight image so i raise it up to $15 on top. It goes heads up with a maniac player and i'm banking on doubling up if i get a good flop. Flop comes Q 8 4, all diamonds. I do not have a diamond but decide to lead out for $25. He thinks for a little and then min raises me back to $50. I think about it and then shove for $200 and he calls. I say u got the flush already? he says No, in which case i think i'm ahead but he then flips over 84c for 2 pair... GG.

BEAT: lost a grand and still wearing the same socks for the last 4 days...

2009-02-17T15:13:00.000-08:00

...But not the same underwear atleast so that's good, my life isn't completely in the toilet. Anyways it all started what seems like a week ago but was Friday night. I got out of work at CVS around 10:00 and was tired as shit. I went home to nap for a little and then left for Bloomfield. I had $700 to work with so I was feeling pretty confident. I texted Eng "AC?" just to see what he'd say and he replied with "leaving soon." Apparently he was gonna go with Liu and their other friend. So i decided i'd just leave and meet them there and by this point it was like 2am i think. I remember getting to AC in what seemed like no time at all. I was definitely tired from working all day but since i was already there i decided to jump in a 1/2. I sat with $200 and then this hand comes up. There's a raise to $7 and a few callers when the button makes it $14 to go. I looked down at 75s and call the $14 assuming i'll set of a chain reaction of callers. There's 6 or 7 of us to the flop which comes 5 5 7, rainbow. I check and BB who has the whole table covered says "i'm all-in". It goes folds around to me and he's drawing to 2 outs with A7. After that pot i was up to $450ish or so when i pick up KK, 2nd to act. UTG raises to $12 and I decided to just smooth call. Guy to my left makes it $25 to go and the button and original raiser both call. I re-raise to $100 and he pushes all-in after thinking for a little bit for $30 more. I call and he has AK and spikes an A on the turn.
After this hand I was back down to like $350. I think i grinded back up taking down a couple pots here and there since my table was full of idiots. One hand i remember it was a limped pot and i was in the sb with K5. Flop 9 5 4, rainbow. I checked and it went aroudn to the button who bet $5. I call and another player calls too. Turn is a K. I check and it goes to the button who bets $15. I raise it to $40 and he min raises back to $65. I make it $110 on top and he shoves for like $200. river blank and he mucks after seeing my hand.
I forgot the other pots that I won but at about 8am i cashed out for $900, 700 profit. By this time Liu and Eng had been playing short handed at another table. I paid eric back $200 and had about $1200 to work with. I was feeling tired and decided to get a room for us. I drove out to Egg Harbor Township to the Holiday Inn but that was booked so i went next door to the Comfort Inn and got a room for $186.
I got the room but couldn't sleep so I went back to the borgata. At this point Liu and eng had moved to the table that I was at a couple hours before and a seat opened up so i sat down too.
I limped UTG with AQ and smooth called a raise preflop. flop came Q T x with 2 spades, i checked and Liu bet out $40 and someone called so i re-raised all-in for like $160ish. He flopped a set of T's and I quit shortly after down $250 from that session.
After being up for close to 24 hours, and by now it had been 1pm, I passed out till about 7:30pm which is when Eng and Liu got back to the room. Oh yeah, I was actually scheduled to work at 5pm that day but I called the manager at CVS who is a complete goner with 3 kids and told her I wouldn't be coming in. That pissed her off even more and she yelled something at me and hung up. Anyways i could care less because working at CVS is not worth it at all. They run you down like a dog and it's just not for me.
After Liu and Eng got back i took $120 from both of them for the room and headed back out to Borgata with $900. I wasn't in the mood to play 1/2 for some reason because I knew I just didnt have the patience so i sat down at a 2/5 $300, flopped set over set and then just sat on my chips til about 2 or 3am and then went back to the room up $300 from that session. I got a couple more hours of sleep and then got some breakfast at 7am. After eng and liu woke up since they had slept for a good 12-13 hours, they went back to the borgata at around 8:30am. I went back to sleep in the mean time and slept till 2pm and left for Borgata.
By this time it was Sunday afternoon and eng and liu were at the same table that they were at 24 hours earlier. Eng had lost 700 that session and was determined to get it back. When I got to the casino and took a look at his stack I was shocked. He had ran it up to almost $2,000 and was in for only $300. The table had big stacks and was really deep. I couldn't get anything going and then after stacking off to Liu again when he flopped middle set vs my top pair i reloaded for $300 more. I ended up losing like $700 that session, dumped alot to eng and wasn't really playing my best. By now it was around 7:00 and eng left up $2500. I've never heard or seen anything like this before. It was completely insane but he deserved it for the last few sessions at Borgata. He decided to treat us to dinner at the new Japanese restaurant which was really nice. It had a dark and lounge type atmosphere. The sushi wasn't bad either, obviously over-priced but that's expected.
After dinner Liu gambled a little bit more on roullette and texas hold'em bonus and then they left. Eng had spotted me $300 more for 2/5 in which case he'd take 60% of my profits so i now had $800 to work with. I went back to the same table as earlier that day and there were all new faces except for the guy in the suit in the 1 seat and this other guy who was in the 2 seat. Other than that there were all new faces and i took the 4 seat. After taking down a pot against this fat annoying guy who seemed angry to fold to me after i made a raise, we get involved in another pot when i opened utg with QQ. button called who was the fat guy and another guy called so we went 3 way. Flop came 5 4 2, all diamonds. I didn't wanna check to see if i had a diamond since it would give away a piece of information about my hand so after the 1st guy checked i bet $25 and the fat guy min raises to $50. I wasn't sure where i was at but i opted to just smooth call and the turn paired up the 2 which was a great card. I checked to see if i had a diamond and i did not. I checked it to him and then he took a look at his cards again to see if he had a diamond so at this point i really thought i had him. He bets $80 and i shove for $125 more. He calls and i dodge a river and he mucks pocket tens with a diamond. After this hand the table broke and i got moved to another game. I went there with like $400ish after being in for $200. I got involved in a hand with this old korean lady to my right when i made it $12 to go with AQd, we went heads up and i had position on her. flop came K T x, 2 spades. she checks to me and i bet out of $15. she just called and turn was the 8s. She checks it to me and i thought about it and then checked. River is a red J giving me a straight and she quickly checks to me. I knew she was a call station and so i bet out $50 on the river. She goes all in for $100 total so i had to look her up and she had the nut flush A4s. That really surprised me since she checked the river. After that pot i cashed out $392 and by now it had been close to 5am and I had been getting tired so I decided i'd get a room somewhere. I went downtown by the Taj and every hotel was booked. I finally found a shitty motel for $85 and was tired of looking at other places. I had been wearing the same clothes for 2 days now and felt disgusting. I found a ghetto convenience store that had boxers and shirts so i got that along with some toothpaste and a toothbrush.
I got to the motel and passed out til 12:30pm when i woke up to the cleaning lady banging on the door. She gave me some extra time to shower and after getting a turkey and swiss sandwhich at Bread and Butter I sat down at a 1/2 with $200. I was still a little groggy since my sleep schedule for the last couple nights has been really off but whatever. The table i was didn't have any good players and somehow i managed to stack off to this old philipino man who was just ridiculous. Whenever he had a decision he'd get flustered and pretend to fold and at the last second make a raise or call. Anyways things didn't go well here and I knew i needed to play 2/5. I grabbed a seat and bought in for $400. A few hands in i limp utg with AA. Couple more limpers and sb makes it $22 to go. I re-raise to $80 and he calls. Flop comes low and he leads out for $100, i put him all-in for $100 more and he regretfully calls saying Ok, its time to go home you got kings right? River came a K and he mucked after seeing the aces. Then a few hands later i'm in the sb with QTs and it's a limped pot. Flop comes J 9 x, rainbow. 1 spade. i check and utg bets out $30 and 1 guy calls so i call too
turn is a low spade and he bets out $100 this time. We're each about 500 deep and i decide to just smooth call. River is a red 8 and i think for a little bit and make an overbet of $400. He thinks forever, stares me down, tries talking to me and then finally after what seems like 5 minutes and folds. This brought me up to about $800ish and a few hands later i left and cashed out leaving myself with $1080 to work with. I decided to get a room at the Trump Marina for $59+tax came out to like $75. The room was really nice and I slept from like 5pm til midnight and then woke up to Lisa Lampanelli screaming Cunt on tv and making fun of every race and person on this planet. After watching her special on hbo i went back out to Borgata.

So now the story begins. This is the session that ruined me. It's about 2am when i get to borgata and there's a juicy 1/2 game going on that's playing really loose and has alot of chips on the table. I buy-in for $300. I was good to go and felt like i could take every chip off the table. After a cold deck and getting raised and having to fold a bunch of hands the following hand comes up. We're playing full and i have 2 extremely loose call stations to my left. It's a limped pot and i'm in the BB with T3. flop comes T 6 3, 2 hearts. There's about $12 in the pot and the SB leads out for $20. This was really strange and he had me covered but nonetheless i had ppl behind me and didn't wanna slow play so i raised to $50. Loose D0nk#1 smooth calls and it goes folded around to the sb who calls as well. Turn is a really good card for me, black 9. sb checks and i shove for $155. I originally was confused that donk1 called and put him on a huge combo draw hand like 45h. He takes forever to think about and at this point i wouldn't mind taking a call from him. I'm assuming the sb is gonna fold too. This guy finally calls after playing with 6 green chips and contemplating for a couple minutes and sb calls too. river black 2. For a moment i think i'm good since there's no way 45 was in the hand. Sb checks to the aggro donk who goes all-in for $250 ish and sb mucks AKh face up. Guy shows 4d5h for a straight. I was just completely shocked and couldn't believe what just happened. I reloaded for $300 more.
A couple hands later i get 88 vs the same guy and we're heads up and an A flopped with 2 hearts. He called my flop bet of $50 pretty quickly and so i shoved the turn when a blank hit. He flopped the nuts with 35 and picked me off. After this hand i reloaded $300 more and was down to $200 when this hand comes up.
The 2nd aggro donk is this old indian guy who randomly goes all in blind with his $100 black chip. Everyone just folds around to him and so the next hand I limp utg with JJ assuming he's gonna do it again. He just limps and flop comes 4 4 5, 2 clubs. checked around to me i bet $10 and indian guy raises all in for $101. I think about it for a little and then call, turn 4 and he's drawing dead with 67. The very next hand i'm in the BB with 78h. The indian reloads and now makes it $25 to go. donk1 limped behind him so i knew he was calling and then button and sb calls the $25 too so i couldn't fold now. Donk1 calls too and flop comes 9 9 T, 2 spades. 1 heart. Sb bets out $50 into this pot which isn't enough at all for me to fold so i call. 2 more callers and turn is a Jh. sb bets out $50 again and this time i make it $200. It goes folded around back to him and he thinks for a little and then calls. At this point i was 100% he had a 9 and if i hit a nice river i can get the rest of his chips. I have about $150 left. River is another J and he thinks for a second and then checks, i'm disgusted and flip over my hand knowing he got there and he shows A9. After that hand I lost another pot and left down $800 for that session at 7am.
Went back to my room and passed out til about 1pm. Got woken up by housekeeping and didn't have time to shower. I went downstairs to get some pizza and a side salad at the cafe and then headed back to Borgata. I had $280 to work with and sat at 1/2. Got AA 4 times in like 1.5 hours, each time it held up until the last time when i lost to 99 after he hit the river. This brought me down to a little less than $100. I then got 44 on the button and made it $13 to go. sb calls and i get 1 other caller and flop comes 7 3 2 rainbow. Checked around to me i bet $20, sb calls and i still believe i'm best. turn is a Jd putting 2 diamonds out there. Sb thinks about betting for a little bit and fires out $50. I really didn't put him on a hand here and felt like he might've just been stabbing cause i appeared weak on the flop so as soon as he bet i shoved for like $15 more and he calls with AKd, river K.
After that pot I had $80 left and went back home. The drive really wasn't bad since it gave me time to think and I was sort of relieved to be back home. I'm still wearing the same clothes that i've slept in for the last 2 days which is kinda gross. When i looked in the mirror my own image scared me. I still refuse to give up and will do whatever it takes to get my bankroll going. I gotta call up Events Plus and book as many gigs as possible. I really need to pay back my debt and just get a solid 5k bankroll to work with to atleast be able to take some swings. Tonight however, Steve has agreed to put up $500 more for me to play in Bloomfield in return for 80% of my profits. In a swingy game like Bloomfield 500 can go pretty easily after 2 hands not holding up but i'm determined to give it my all.

Bloomfield tournament + Borgata

2009-02-11T00:45:00.000-08:00

So today i woke up at 3pm after sleeping for close to 13 hours. Felt like shit and couldn't get out of bed. Finally got up and played some $10 hu SNG's since i won $300 from playing James heads up on Absolute Poker, if you can call it playing. He was just shoving all-in regardless of his hand so after winning like 7/10 coinflips I had a working online bankroll. It would be nice to build it up and i'm gonna try out different approaches now even if it might take longer. we'll see....anyway after i played online for a couple hours i went to the bloomfield tourny with Steve since he decided to put me in it in exchange for 60% of profits. I told myself I'd never play in this tournament again since its an ultra turbo but i had nothing to lose. Good thing i did it cause i ended up chopping with another guy for 1st for $1150. Tipped the dealers $50 total and after make up made about $390. Obviously 1k would've been so much sweeter since i could actually go on a run with that but i'll have to make something happen with this.

I went to Borgata 2 nights ago with $420 after I had lost $260 the previous night at bloomfield. I played 1/2 from 7pm til about 1:30 in the morning. I was in for $300 and couldn't get anything going the whole time. Deck was extremely cold and finally at the end when i got to even and was about to leave the following hand comes up. New player posts $2. We're playing 6 or 7 handed, 2 ppl fold to me i make it $8 to go. 3 of us to the flop including the new player. Flop comes A Q 2, 2 diamonds. I bet out $20 and one guy folded and the new player insta calls leaving himself with $80. Turn bring a black 6 and i decided he was on a flush draw based on the way he called so i bet out a stack of $100 to put him all in. He thought for a while and at first i thought maybe i was beat since he was actually thinking about calling. Finally he calls and I go, good call A is good.....river Jd he flips over T4d..i was sick to my stomach. A then go on to lose another hand with JJ to A7 after running hearts come on the turn and river and he shows Ah against my Jh with Kh and Qh out there. I decided i'd go jump in a 2/5 game and dump the rest of my $125. After folding a couple of hands i steal a limped pot preflop in the BB after raising to $50 and announcing that i had to steal it. Everyone thought i was kidding apparently and quickly folded around so i showed Q5 o/s. then i had AQ suited and stole another pot preflop bringing me up to $180ish. Then the very next hand i pick up JJ and make it $40 to go. Folds around to the sb who makes it $100 and clearly was fed up with my antics. I shoved and he called with 89h. flop 8 high with 2 hearts, turn black A river 9 giving him 2 pair. That left me with $120 and i decided it was time to go back home.

I have to work this week thurs.-sat. at CVS which I know is going to kill me. I'm usually too tired afterwards to really play a long session. I guess i just gotta bite the bullet for now and get through it. I'm sure i'll feel better once i see the check. Still though, the only light at the end of the tunnel for me is knowing that soon enough i will get a solid enough roll to play 2-5nl without going broke. I know that 10 buy-ins is definitely enough. Until then I just gotta scrape together any wins I can to cover my expenses and pay back what i owe. Atleast i'm getting some kind of experience from all of this. I guess you can only connect the dots looking back.

Tomorrow i'll probably play online during the day and go to Bloomfield at night and take a shot at the cash game there.

2009-02-07T01:45:00.000-08:00

Notable things about today:

-viet ai was delicious.

-started down the whole day and had to grind back to cut losses, ended up making it back +$100. mad frustrating.

- CVS tomorrow for 6 hours...brutal.

Bloomfield, AC, and new BK club

2009-02-02T14:33:00.000-08:00

Well, since I didn't get a chance to play the $350+50 Borgata Winter Open tournament due to insufficient funds it was time to go back home. I played at the Taj for 2 sessions and stayed at the Hilton since I was able to get a free room there. I remember not really being in the best of mindsets and really was just playing cause i had nothing else to do and needed money. That's always a terrible motivator and poker should be played for the love of the game, although you can't simply disregard the money either.
Soooo I went back home and told myself I was done with poker. That's it, I had had enough. After trying to search for jobs on craigslist and filling out some job applications a few days went by and I started talking again to Scuba Steve after we all parted our seperate ways after high school. He's still been playing online all this time and had been earning himself a decent living as well as a big bankroll. I told him I was busto and he wanted to put me back in the game. He put up the money for me to play in Bloomfield but the deal was he'd cover half my loss in exchange for half my profits. Good thing my first night I won $890 in about 2 hours and then bounced so atleast that was a good start. In the following 2 weeks I went on to make him about $900 total mainly from Bloomfield and a little from AC. I had also gotten myself some money but since I owed my credit card bill I was really hesitant on playing. I continued to give up half of my action.

Also, last week I stayed with my friend who was playing in the $3200 event at the Borgata Winter Open. He has a house in Margate and in the mean time i played a little while he went onto day 2 and day 3. Eventually he busted in 49th place for a total prize of $8500. Unfortunetly he had to give up 60% of his profits since he was being fully staked. His last hand he lost AIPF with 77 vs. 55. The tourny brought out a lot of pros and the 1st place prize ended up being $650k.

Yesterday I checked out a new club in Brooklyn that my friend Tim told me about. I met Tim in AC and got his number so we started talking. He's a dealer at one of the other clubs in Brooklyn. Anyways since it was Super Bowl Sunday they decided to have a $100+10 turbo tourny with 20 entrants. I was down to 2 BB's and made it back but ended up getting 4th and took my money back. 1st place was $1300 and would've been a nice boost to the BR. They had a 2-5 game going but I didn't feel like playing with the money that i owed the next day for my credit card so I just sat down at 1-2 for like a half hour and then left even. I was getting tired and worn out from the tournament so I decided to call it a night. I met up with Jeremy K. and his roommate since they were walking back from a superbowl party and had no idea how to get back. I ended up crashing for a few hours at his place and then went home at 6:30am and passed out till 3pm. Now I feel good to go for another session but I'm contemplating whether or not to go to this BK club again. Gas and tolls ends up costing me close to $20 per trip so it does add up. I already owe my mom for EZ pass from the previous months as well as other expenses that she's covered for me when I hit my downswing. I'm still not fully recovered from that and I owe other ppl tons of money.
Oh yeah, I did get a P/T job at CVS since Helm was able to hook me up. I worked on Saturday and it was pretty easy and everything started coming back to me just like when I worked there in High School. It does suck having to work for $9/hr doing routine shit but w/e, I guess it can't hurt. Also since it is part time i'll still be able to play poker 5 days a week.

I guess we'll see how the next few sessions go, I really need to focus and cannot afford to lose.

2009-01-11T22:21:00.000-08:00

Basically my plan for the next 24 hours is to go to AC with the $300 that i have on me and make another 100 to cover the tournament which will be on Tuesday morning. Event #1 $350+50 deepstacked of the Borgata Winter Open. 3 day event. I'm expecting like 300 to 500 people to show up but I wouldn't be surprised if it hit more.
Expenses, I should have a room comped by Hilton or Taj from an offer I got in the mail. If that somehow doesn't happen then i'll have to make an extra $60ish to cover a room. (x2 if staying for another night if all goes well in the tourny, btw it is a 3 day event.)

This is the first time i'm really taking a shot like this in a tourny. There's a decent chance i'll be back home and broke before it feels like I even left, but that's just part of the risk. The other risk is the tangible $300 that i'd be playing with which if I were to lose would leave me with no more money which means no more ammo. I've luckily been avoiding this situation for a while but I guess its somehow once again caught up with me.....funny how that works i guess. I do feel extremely confident but obviously i'm gonna have to be fortunate and have luck work with me and not against.
I'm not going into the tournament with any plan although it should be interesting to see how I do considering i've never done a multiple day event before. (25k starting chips and 45 minute levels.)

So I guess that's all there is to mention really, gl.

+2k Upswing

2009-01-01T11:56:00.000-08:00

Finally been starting to book some solid wins over the last couple sessions. I think i'm like 5/6 and things are starting to look promising. I paid back Eng 1k and paid off my credit card bill so there's a little bit less pressure now. Starting with my next session i'm gonna record everything. I'm also looking foward to playing 2/5 as much as possible. That game is very much beatable but i'm not gonna sit down until i have atleast $1200-$1500 to work with. Bloomfield is still running a pretty good game so i'm gonna stick with that as well. I think its very possible for me to expect a solid annual salary of anywhere between 35k to as much as 100k. Of course it's too soon to tell but in a few months i'll definitely have a better idea, this is just my guess for now. As long as I continue to just play solid poker and not steam at the table then there shouldn't be anything that can stop me.

Last 3 weeks

2008-12-21T07:01:00.000-08:00

I feel like now is a good time to update. Basically the last 3 weeks i've just been grinding and still completely breaking even after expenses. It's definitely frustrating and at times I feel like never playing poker again but there's always a new day and my determination seems to refuel. I think I really used to get frustrated over the fact that I've been losing to players that clearly I should be winning against and it makes me feel that if only I'd be playing against better players that I'd do so much better. Maybe its true but at the same time I need to take advantage of 1/2. There's a decent amount of money on the table at any given time and if I can average +1 buy-in/session then that's $300/day assuming I play every day. I'm also really fortunate to have friends that are willing to lend me money to get me through these hard times. Atleast that gives me some positive reenforcement when there's nothing else to look forward to. All I can do is keep playing my game and hope that the variance doesn't wipe me out.
In terms of bankroll management, it's really not everything. I truly feel if I have $300 every time I want to put in a session at 1/2 that it is enough for me to eventually build up a roll. All it takes is one decent run. I'm not saying that a 3k bankroll for 1/2 isn't helpful, but its certainly not necessary. Your own skills vs. directly your opponents skills is what will determine your outcome. Considering the fact that I really don't have any income and have still been able to scrape up money to take shots with there's really not a huge difference between a 15 buy-in bankroll and a 3 buy-in bankroll. It's more important to look at what resources or friends are available that you can borrow from. Amongst poker players, borrowing is essential in helping you survive especially when you're trying to make a living. That's why your word is everything. It's important to make good connections and always pay back on time, which i'm still working on.
Right now I owe 4k to 2 ppl and have about 1k that is owed to me. The hardest part is that it's my first real downswing at 1/2 but I can't say its a horrible experience. This will help me learn for the future until eventually I will not have to worry about going broke. Playing for a living has alot of complex aspects to it and ultimately it depends 100% on how you handle your adversity. That's the only reason why people give up playing poker for a living, but its understandable. No one knows how truly difficult it is until they try and do it for themselves, but atleast there is some merit in the end if you can get through it. Honestly, I don't know what will happen in the future. I have $740 to work with and I owe my credit card bill in a few days but I do feel confident for sure.

On Dec. 4 I went down to AC and stayed there till Sunday. I made a few friends at the table, luckily I met someone who is also a grinder at 1/2 and we began to talk. There's alot of really small subtle things that happen that gives me reassurance. That 4 day session I broke even.
I went home Sunday night for my brother's birthday and then headed back out to AC again Monday morning. I played till about 10am and then got a room at the holiday inn express for $60. Stayed in AC till Wednesday and then went home. From that week I finished even.

I think then I played at Bloomfield and finished up 360. I was gonna go back to AC for that following weekend but then decided to go up to Turning Stone instead. I only had $260 to go with and ran it up to $850 but then finished with only $500 in my pocket. Afterwards when I got back I put in a few more sessions at AC and paid back my other friend who i owed some money to since i was really late on that payment and he needed the money. Then I went down again to AC for the rest of the week and got a room with Eng Thursday night at Borgata, ended up using up my comps but that's fine. Overall it has just been grueling break even poker.

Starting 2009 i'm gonna record all my sessions again. I feel like it will be a fresh start for me and i'm really confident that things will begin to even out. Hopefully I will have good news to report about in my next update.

Update

2008-11-09T20:18:00.000-08:00

This week I worked delivery for a restaurant in Roxbury. I worked 3 days and it was slow business but I eventually made $100. With that money I went to AC saturday night and ran it up to $600. I met up with my friend Mike and his friend Kel since Mike was doing the $2000+150 tourny the next day. I ended up crashing at his beach house in Margate.
The next day I sat down at 1/2 and had a horrible session. Something was off and besides not hitting flops I just wasn't playing my normal game. I burned through a quick 300 and then lost the other 3 when I flopped a low flush and someone else flopped a higher flush. Tried spending the whole day getting it back but ended up losing it all. Mad frustrating but that's how it goes I guess...

I'm not really sure why I put myself through this but its definitely unnecessary stress. Each trip I hope I'm able to turn it around and this one started off looking promising but at the end I'm back where I started.

Not everything is instant

2008-11-04T17:10:00.001-08:00

I got a job today delivering food for a pizzeria/deli. They're pretty busy so i could earn $100+/night. I'm on for the next 3 nights so i'm expecting atleast $300 by the end of the week.
As far as the selling car business. I e-mailed and called 10-15 ppl so far and have had only 2 or 3 potential sellers. It's a slow process but I know things will pick up. I think I just need to be more patient. I think i've been so used to swings with money that I forgot what normal life is like...a lot slower.

Also, i got a text from a 1/2 home game in the city. It's definitely safe since it's probably just 1 table. I might have to hit that up after I save up some dough. I know it goes against my 20k goal but that idea isn't really written in stone. I guess I'll see how the next few days go.

$20k goal

2008-11-02T08:26:00.000-08:00

My current plan is to save up money so that I can play without ever having to worry about going broke. Lately i've been playing with my last dollar and it's been way too stressful. The downswing is bad enough and I don't need to add to it by not playing my best. I think with 20k I would be able to play my best and at a level like 2/5 there is serious money to be made not to mention room for moving up.

I'm going to be working with my dad at his auto shop starting tomorrow. Even though I'm not knowledgeable about fixing cars I can still help with 'flipping' cars. We're gonna find cars for cheap that need engine work and fix them up and sell them for profit and split it 50/50. Hopefully this will be the start to a very successful business.

Bust at bloomfield

2008-10-14T23:54:00.000-07:00

First hand I have KQh, a few ppl limp and I make it 20 to go.
4 way to the flop: K 4 5 rainbow.
Checks to me i bet $50. Guy in front of me raises to $100. Another guy smooth calls and I fold.
Turn is an 8. The guy who smooth called now bets $200 and the other guy tanks forever and finally folds AK. Other guy shows KJ.
Already you can see what type of game is going on here. Really wreckless plays and alot of chips being thrown around.
I reload $100 more.

I took down after that a few medium sized pots and built up my stack to about $450 when this hand comes up:
A few limpers and i make it $20 to go in the Sb with 1010. 4 or 5 of us to the flop which comes:
T 9 7, with 2 hearts. I check it and the BB bets $100. Another guy just calls with $100 and I move all-in for $400 covering them both.
The BB thinks for a little while and finally calls with KK for $300 and the other guy calls too for less with A2h.
Turn J River Q.

After that hand I was down to about $100 and lost it the next hand when i called a raise to $15 with QJs on the button and we went 3 way to the flop which was:
K J x, 2 hearts. They both checked to me and I bet $25. Original preflop raiser smooth called and the turn was a low heart putting out 3 hearts. He checked again and i went all-in for my remaining $75 and he instacalled with AK.

Then i reloaded $300 more and get 55 and decide to limp in late position for $5 and the sb makes it $15. everyone calls and already there's like $75 or $90 in the pot so I raise to $200. This guy calls all-in for $200 with AQ, i lose.

After that hand i was down to my last $100. I doubled up when i spiked a heart on the river and now had $200 when this hand came up:
I limp in the Sb for $5 and it was about 5 or 6 of us to the flop which came:
5 5 7 rainbow. I led out for $20 and got 2 callers.
Turn is a 4 and now i bet $80. 1 guy puts me all in for my remaining $100 so i called and he had the straight already with 36. River wasn't any help.

This is one of the roughest downswings i've faced probably since the Spring. Not really sure what's going to happen now. Might have to take some time off and figure out my next move, we shall see.

-$1,125 from 1/2 NL (Borgata and Bloomfield)

2008-10-12T02:09:00.000-07:00

vanillachaos01: -475 at bloomfield

vanillachaos01: 2 buy ins

vanillachaos01: 200 and 275

vanillachaos01: first one was from this hand

vanillachaos01: EP raises utg to $17, i call with 75c after Kc has been flipped over. 8 ppl to the flop

vanillachaos01: Q 7 5, rainbow 1 club

vanillachaos01: checked around to EP who bets $30

vanillachaos01: i call and 6 way to the turn

vanillachaos01: 5 or 6

vanillachaos01: sorry, flop is Q 7 6*

vanillachaos01: turn is the Jc

vanillachaos01: sb goes all in covering the whole table. folds around to me i have $130 more i call

vanillachaos01: i realized after the hand that i didn't hve the potodds to call

vanillachaos01: i needed 4.5 or 5- 1. there was $446 on the turn. was getting more like 3-1

vanillachaos01: so tha twas a mistake

vanillachaos01: then i reloaded

vanillachaos01: this was after 4 hours of sitting tight and treading water

vanillachaos01: i won 1 pot

vanillachaos01: not even lying

vanillachaos01: 1 pot

vanillachaos01: and then towards the end

vanillachaos01: i made it 21 to go in the sb with TT

vanillachaos01: i got 5 callers

vanillachaos01: flop comes K 4 3, 2 spades

vanillachaos01: i bet 80 guy goes all in so i had 120 left and i called he had a set of 4's i lose

Lost earlier today in AC too so down 650+475 for the day. I guess I can't really say i'm playing great poker either, so that in addition to hands not holding up becomes a dangerous combination. Mentally i'm getting more used to the swings but taking an unexpected $1100 hit in 24 hours does hurt. I guess that's just the nature of the game but I can't help but think that I could be doing more to prevent these things from occuring. There are a lot of factors that go into a downswing that go beyond the game and into the psyche of the person. Just like athletes need to compete at their hardest every time they go play, the same applies here. Today I felt as though the 2nd session coudl've been prevented but something was a little off. I was definitely steaming at the table and should've handled myself better; either by quitting the game or taking a break.

Maybe a few days off to clear my head from poker is necessary, we'll see what happens i guess.

Swings

2008-09-25T01:49:00.000-07:00

Saturday night : +1300 (AC)
Monday: -1100 (nyc)
Tuesday: +2000 (nyc&bloomfield)
Wednesday: -800 (nyc&bloomfield)

Friday night action at the Borgata

2008-08-09T10:16:00.001-07:00

Last night Eng and I went to Borgata. We left Livingston around 3pm and due to ridiculous traffic it took us 3 hours to get there. Once we finally made it we were itching to play and after some chicken teriyaki downstairs we found an open 1/2 table with 2 seats.

That game was so dead. First off, there was no money on the table. Probably like 1k not including ours. On top of that, the action was tight and passive. Everyone was a rock so it was hard to win big pots. After a while of trying to figure out where to move, Eng decided to go to another table and when a spot would open up I would join him. Well, as soon as he left I got involved in a hand with a guy that took his seat and a few more players sat down so the game started to liven up a little. The hand went like this:
Limped pot i'm in the cutoff with 78h. Probably like 5-6 players in the hand and flop comes Q 5 6, rainbow. Checks around to the guy to my right and he bets $15. I called and it went heads up. Turn was a 4 and he now bet $30 which was clearly a weak bet. There was no point in raising since i didn't want to scare him off so i simply smooth called hoping he would improve and ship it on the river. The river came what looked like a bad card and that which would stop the action, a 3. so the board was Q 5 6 4 3. He still decided to bet 30 which was really strange in my mind. For me to give him credit for top pair and a straight is almost impossible but nonetheless i had to raise, so i made it $100. He called with Q7....

After that pot I was up to almost $500 with my initial buy in of $300. I decided to take a walk around and check out the high limit area. I saw Ted Forrest walk by earlier so i knew there was definitely some high stakes poker going on. Apparently he was playing 500/1k short handed with John D'agastino and someone else. I think hold em, probably not NL but i'm not sure. The place was packed with every single table being utilized.
As i came back i made it just in time for the BB. A tight old man had raised to $10 which i'd seen him do before with QQ and the Button, who was a loose aggressive player who stabbed hard at every pot called too. I looked down at JJ and decided to call as well.
Flop came K 9 7, 2 spades. I checked as did the Old man and the LAG bets $25. I called and we went heads up. Turn was a blank, and i quickly checked it to him. He fired off $100 which was a ridiculous over bet. I studied for a little bit and decided to raise to $250 and he quickly folded.

After that hand I was up to about $630 and eng had signaled over to me that a seat was open. As i was racking up my chips and walked over to his table, someone else had taken it already. I decided to cash out and just wait until a seat would open up. I had about $30 in chips and went over to Texas Holdem Bonus and quickly lost that on my first hand with K2 against the dealer's 47, river 7... such a bad beat! The guy that was sitting to my right had about 4k in black chips, maybe more and was betting $600 on the ante and $300 on the following streets. Pretty sick.

I got back to the poker room and a seat had opened up 2 seats to the right of eng. This new table had some pretty huge chips. Probably like close to 5k on the table and what looked like pretty good action. The guy inbetween me and eng had close to 1k in chips, eng had like $900, and everyone else had between $300-500. I wasn't get many hands but then this one hand i got KK and this loose viet guy to my right makes it $8 to go, i re-popped to $20 and had a pretty solid image so i figured i could make it look like AK maybe. The guy to my left folded and Eng thinks about it and re-raises to $60. It goes folded around back to me and i ask him if he wants to check it down and he says "I can't." At that point it should've clicked to me that he didn't have AA but at the same time if i had simply called, the pot would be at $120+ preflop and we'd be playing for a decent size pot. Plus, what's the point of taking money from each other? I regretfully laid it down and he showed me JJ = /

It's ok though cause then the next hand this happened:
I limped with T6d and it went around to the BB who was a pretty tight player and made it $15 to go. I called and so did the big stack to my left. Flop came T 6 4, with 2 hearts. BB bet out $25 and i made it $100 to look like possibly i had a big draw and was steaming from the previous hand. The guy to my left says he's all in and the BB folded so i called and he had T4! Awesome double up right there.

About 30 minutes later I got involved in the biggest hand of the night with none other than what used to be the big stack to my left who was now steaming his head off. There were 2 limpers behind me and i looked down at AA and made it $15 to go.
Loose guy calls, Button calls, Sb calls, and Viet guy calls as well so we're 5 way to the flop....a little more than i had hoped for. The flop came K T 7, with 2 diamonds. Sb who was the tight player fired out $50. Folds around to me and now i had a decision, call or raise. There were still 2 more players left in the hand and the guy to my left had immediately sat up straight and was acting interested. We were both really deep stacked so I didn't want to face a hard decision if i were to raise and get re-raised so i simply called to peel off 1 more card. The loose guy calls as well so now we're 3 way. Turn is an 8. Not the best of cards but could've been a lot worse. Sb thinks for a little bit and then goes all in for $117. At this point i had to give the other opponent credit for a draw and could not let him get there so i re-raised to $250. He had about $400 total and after contemplating for a good minute or 2 he simply smooth called. At this point i was thinking what the fuck could he possibly have? No hand here makes sense, a draw should've folded and once he started thinking about it for so long i thought does he really have KT? River came a T and i checked it. He checked behind me and my Aces were way good. Sb had KJd and loose guy had 89d! Dodged a few there and scooped that pot bringing me up to around $1120.

A few rotations later me and eng decided to leave and collectively took 2k off the table lol. By now it had been getting close to midnight so it was best to hit the road. Eng ended up winning like $650 which isn't bad considering he always gets raped at Borgata.

Last Sunday I went to AC by myself from Adam's beach house. I brought 1k with me and took a devastating $700 blow. It was a combination of cooler hands but also I was definitely not in the right mind set. I misplayed a few hands and had no patience to grind. That was dumb and it left me with only $300, so this win brought me back up to $900 after paying my mom the $500 i owed for my credit card. I'm very thankful to be back on my feet. The swings are hard to deal with but as long as i can take it slow and realize that this game is very much beatable, I should be Ok.

Broke and back again

2008-08-02T10:07:00.000-07:00

So, towards the end of July i decided to drive up to Turning Stone for a few days. I split a room with Z and DSK who are both baller online pros. The reason why I went up was because T-stone was having some tournaments and I figured the cash games would be good too. Well, I had about 1k to go with and I decided to do the first event $300+50. Actually, Eng ended up taking a piece of me so i was only in for 175 but after 2.5 hours of play i busted. Z busted a little bit after me and DSK made it pretty far, i think 30ish but didn't get paid.

The first night i won about 200 at 200 max 2-3 NL. Me, Z, and DSK all sat at the same table and it was their first time playing this high live. Anyways, the remainder of the trip went shitty for me and I ended up losing like 600ish at 200 max. Things just didn't go my way really and for some reason it was hard for me to keep focus. By the end of the trip I was down to 375, 200 of which was DSK's. Afterwards i drove to Rochester to stay with Brauner for a day. It was nice seeing her since we haven't seen each other all summer but the 5.5 hour drive back home was rough. Actually it wasn't too bad, somehow the time seemed to pass by.

I was able to get 75 from eng which gave me a total of 1.5 buy ins to work with. I decided to go to Bloomfield and played for about an hour and left up 325 due to this hand. I limped with 89s and guy to my left makes it 10 to go, i think 5 ppl saw the flop which came 8 8 Q, 2 clubs. 2 ppl checked behind me and i checked as well and the preflop raiser bets 25. 1 caller and i raise it to 100. The guy to my left snap calls and it goes heads up. Turn is a blank and i shove for 240ish. he thinks for a little bit and then folds. I picked up a few pots after that but only played for like an hour since 80% of my br was on the table and at risk.

This brought me up to 650 and slowly i began to rebuild my bankroll.
The day after me and eng decided to go to AC. We sat at the same table and beforehand i borrowed 100 from him. We sat at the same table and i ended up being in for 700. With about 300ish infront of me the following hand comes up.
I limp with 66 in EP and button makes it 12 to go. I call and it goes multiway. Flop comes K x 6, all hearts. I bet 25 and the preflop raiser calls so we go heads up. Turn is a blank and i bet 25 again and he calls again. River is a 6 giving me the nuts. I bet 100 and he looks overwhelmed and uneasy and then goes "Raise...I'm all in." I could not have called any faster lol. He ended up having KK for the 2nd nuts. So sick but the sickest part is that it was for all my money. I can't believe that shit happened but i guess later on if i get 1 outted for a huge pot, i can't be surprised.

So overall that session i won about 230. Eng didn't do as well but its ok, he's a millionaire.
Right now i'm at Lavallette at Adam's beach house. Yesterday I went to AC from here and played for a little bit. I was in for 500 after someone flopped a set on my QQ on a T high flop and lost with 66 on 445 flop getting it all in on the flop vs A5, turn A. I ended up getting it back though when I had JJ on a T high flop and a guy stacks off with AT. The 1/2 is ridiculously weak during the day time at Borgata on a Friday.

Well, this brings me back up to 1k and atleast i have some money now to work with. I'm not exactly playing my best at the tables and its hard for me to keep my composure but at the same time i have no choice, i have to play. I owe my mom 500 for this previous month's credit card bill. The problem i seem to have is this recurring theme of leaving when i'm up due to safety for my br and the fact that i NEED the money. When over 50% of my br is at risk at all times it does become stressfull too but what can i do if i'm constantly giving money to my mom and that leaves me to play with the bare minimum. Maybe getting a job would help. I guess i gotta keep on grinding it out so we'll see how it goes.

Update

2008-07-16T17:32:00.001-07:00

Haven't written in 5 weeks so a lot has happened that I should mention.

First, I went to Bonnaroo for a few days with Jeremy and Adam. It's a music festival and we drove all the way down to Tennessee, 14 hours each way. I wasn't going purely for the music but also the experience of just being there and living through it. It was a cool time, unlike anything i had ever known before. Everyday would be filled with concerts and performances and the days would just go by. Never a dull moment. We slept in the tent the first night, but after waking up at 7 am in a sleeping bag with 90° weather, feeling like you're being suffocated by the heat and having to walk half a mile just so you can take a dump on top of someone else poo...Adam decided it would be best to stay at a hotel for the remainder of the trip. I didn't blame him one bit and tagged along but Jeremy was on his own for a night.

Then a week later I went to California with my parents and brother for 2 weeks. It was definitely an interesting experience since 1. i had never been to California and 2. it was the only vacation i've taken with my family since 7th grade when we went to Israel together.
We stayed in San Francisco for 5 nights with family friends but towards the end it got boring and I was ready to get going on our adventure down the coast. Afterwards we rented a car and drove to Monterey.
Ken was in Santa Cruz and drove by to pick me up with his friend Noelle. We went out that night to some bars in downtown Santa Cruz and it was awesome catching up. SC seemed like an amazing college town. As we were walking to the 2nd bar this guy was just smoking a bong in the middle of the street...so much more laid back in the west coast. We crashed at Noelle's place and the next morning Ken drove me back and we all had a nice lunch on the dock with my family and him.
Then we were off to Santa Barbara and we spent 2 nights there. 13 miles away there was a widespread fire that got out of control. Half of the sky was covered by smoke and in the distance you can actually see the glow of the flames. It looked like an enormous volcano spreading over the mountains. The view in general in California is amazing. We drove down the coast so multiple time we would be able to see the sun setting over the Pacific and the mountains protecting and isolating everything else on the other side. I think i truly fell in love with California...it's just unlike anything else in the US.
Anyways, after that we went to La Jolla which is a city next to San Diego that means "the jewel". The small town is upscale and fancy, with mercedes-benz being available as if they were toyota. Nice cars and hot girls were surrounding the atmosphere.
We spent the remainder of the time there and then went back home.
I played cards twice on the trip since there are poker rooms all over the west coast. My dad dropped me off at one card room in a bad part of San Diego. He really didn't want me to go in but i told him it would be fine and that i would call him. 1 1/2 hours later i was up 750 and he picked me up. Another time before that in San Francisco i played 2-3-5 nl and won 150. that game was way out of my bankroll wiht 200 min. and 1k max buy in. I flopped a straight with AJ and made some money that hand so i just left since i didnt want to lose my money.
Overall on the trip i made 900 playing cards.
When i got back to Livingston, Adam and I decided to hit up Atlantic City that Friday. We played for a few hours and I finished up $1025 which boosted my BR from $1600 to $2600. This win definitely added to my overall confidence.
Then this week i checked out a new club in Queens which i can't say any more about (location wise) but it's run by one of the people who used to run Straddle for a while.
The club is nice and spreads 1/2 everyday and 5/5 3 days a week. The 5/5 game seems really juicy wiht 1k min. buy in and 3k max, i think...might be 5k max after midnight. Either way i see it as a great opportunity to be able to conquer that game. i would definitely need atleast 4-5k before i could think about sitting down and just taking a shot but i am confident...maybe by the end of the summer.
Anyway i ended up losing 400, i wasn't feeling it...i'm not sure exactly why. The next night i decided to play the rebuy tourny at Bloomfield. There were about 40 entrants and i was in for $150. First place was $1800 and i came in 6th which paid 0. The structure is horrible with 15 minute rounds and by the end it just forces you to gamble so i'm never playing that again. On the other hand, it made me completely more confident in my tournament ability and i'm definitely going to persue playing more tournies just for practice sake. I'm very confident that i can finish in the money and 1st consistantly so we'll see what happens.
That left me with $2k and last night i gave my mom $1,000 because I felt like i owed her. I haven't been contributing for the last 2-3 months with minimal payments here and there so I felt obligated to give back some.
Well, this leaves me with $1k to work with but i'm not worried. I know i can go on another run as long as my confidence is with me and i don't let my emotions get the better of me.
That's all for now, more to come soon.

Event #2 $300+40

2008-06-10T13:57:00.000-07:00

Left for Borgata this morning at 8 am to make the 11 am $300+40 Borgata Summer Open tourny. The structure was decent with 40 minute rounds and 6k starting chips. I was up to 8k pretty early on after i limped with A5c in a multiway pot. Flop came A 4 9 with 2 spades, i checked it in early position and it went checked around to the button who bet 300 into 800 or so. it went folds around and i just called and it went heads up. Turn was a red 2, i checked it and he bet 600 pretty quickly. I called again and river brought a blank. I checked it once again and he took that as a sign of weakness so he bet out $1100. At this point i figured i had to look him up but wasn't happy to make the call, i called and he said i win and mucked his hand and was disgusted for some reason when i showed the A5, i guess cause of my kicker.
Then a little bit later on i get 99 on the button after 2 ppl limped behind me, i make it 150 to go blinds were 25/50. bb calls as does one of the limpers and we go to a flop of Th 6h 9. one guy bets 150, i raise it 500 on top to 650 and he quickly calls. Turn is the Qd and he checks it. I bet $1300 and he smooth calls once again. At this point before i bet the $1300 i asked myself do i really think i'm going to call an all-in, and i was afraid i might've had to since there's no hand that i can truly put him on so i'm just hoping the board pairs. River came a black K so the board was T96QK, 1 away from a straight and he checked so i checked too just in case he had it and he flipped over J8h, so he had it on the turn.
A few hands later i get moved to another table and the table is really weak. Every pot had weak betting and weak action so i knew i would literally just steamroll as long as i didn't get unlucky. I hit a sort of dry spell but finally picked up AJ in early position and made it 400 to go with 50/100 blinds. I got 4 callers and flop came A 4 2, 2 spades. Everyone checked around to me and i bet $1500 into $2,000. Sb flat called and we went to the turn, heads up. The turn paired the 2 and he insta checks which sort of confused me. I asked him how much he had left and he counted out 2250 so i put him all in. He took less than 10 seconds to call and then flipped over Q3s for a flush draw + gutshot. river Red 5, i lose.
After that i was down to 1075 with 100/200 blinds and got it all in preflop with A3 vs QJ o/s and lost that too. I was kinda bummed since it was such a sick oppurtunity for me to boost my bankroll but hopefully i'll be back to take another shot for the next one. There were 560 entrants and first place was $46k.
After i busted out i had $1200 left to work with and i knew the cash games were gonna be soft since alot of players who busted out of the tournament would be playing cash, so i got on the list for 2/5 and soon enough they started another game. The table was pretty wreckless with $30 raises preflop and multiway pots. I couldn't pick up a hand for a bit and was hovering around even when the following hand comes up.
I limped for $5 with 69h in early position and i think 4 of us saw the flop which was rare to see at that table. So the flop comes Jh 7h 8d. Sb who was a really dangerous and loose player bet $15 and i raised it to $50 to try to build up a pot against him. He instantly re-raised me back $50 more. Now at this point i had barely gotten into any hands with anyone and had just been really quiet and sat tight so my image was really working for me. I knew he had to take this into consideration so his 3 bet made it seem to me like he flopped the nuts with 9T. I simply called to see the turn and it was a black Ten filling up my straight. He bets $100 and i moved in for $175 total, he hesitantly called and after i flipped over my hand he mucked so that pot brought me up to around $550. I played a few more hands and then decided to get going back home so i could still hang out and enjoy the remainder of the day.
Overall, i lost $90 + gas and food expenses but i'm not really too upset about it. Pretty standard i guess so now i can only look forward and try my shot at the upcoming $300 tournies which are on June 16, 19, and 22nd. I still feel pretty confident but the commute is definitely tiresome.

Later

new home on the lower east side

2008-06-04T11:49:00.000-07:00

Haven't updated in a few weeks so i figure now is a good time. Right now i'm in an apartment on 2nd ave and st. marks, which i'm subletting from an NYU girl who is out of the country. I stayed here 2 nights last week and then relaxed at home for a few days. Then i came back here Sunday night and have been here since. I'm not sure how long i'm gonna be staying here but if i had to guess i'd say another week or 2 cause that's when the girl gets back.

These past 3 weeks i really haven't been playing that much. Sorta playing whenever i really need to and not focusing on putting in my time. As a result since i'm taking a sort of break from grinding, this lifestyle has become less structured and with the new environment, there's a lot of mixed feelings and emotions that are going through my head. I've stopped writing down my every day results too, maybe i'll start again if i have enough reason to. I don't think it really helps or changes anything other than being more neurotic and over-analytical.

So I played Monday and lost $195 at this private home-game on 35th and lex. Leuis came with me, he only had $200, $160 of which was mine but i had a good feeling about playing so i had to spot him, even though i truly couldn't afford it since i had $900 to work with. The session went mediocre, i called of $75 on a bad call and made a $100 bet which got called so with luck being put aside, those were the only real situations which made me lose money. There's so many situations and combinations of events that occur in poker that makes the game so intriguing and entertaining. For instance last night I won $730, all of which i had to do no thinking, its just the way the cards played out.
Actually both hands were totally different, but the one i guess i'm referring to is the set-up hand situation. How often do u get flush over flushed, straight over straight, the most popular is the set over set.
So i had QTh on the button and utg made it 20 to go and 2 callers behind me so i called. Flop came 6 3 2, all hearts. Original preflop raiser makes it 60 and this older guy makes it 130 all-in. if i were to just smooth call here i might be giving odds for the preflop raiser to call with the Ah so i re-raise to 250 to isolate in a way. He ended up having top set but i made it loud and clear that i have the flush and was willing to take the pot down right then and there considering most likely that my opponent had a flush too and only 2 flush combos beat me, Axheart or Kxheart. So he had 89h and was drawing basically dead. That was a nice pot which brought me up to 1k.
Before this i had won 1 other pot from the same guy who just had 89h. i limped utg with JT o/s and it was a limped pot preflop. Flop comes Th 8h 2s. both blinds check and i check as well, 1 guy bet $5 and there were 3 callers so i made it $25. 1 guy calls and the older guy to my right makes it $100. At this point i have to decide what he has and if he has something, what am i beating and what do i do. He had 50 left behind him and the way he raised really seemed weak. I couldn't really put him on a real hand and it began to look more and more like he wanted to just take it down then and there. I knew the other guy was weak and couldn't call a raise to 200 but if he did have a flush draw he might still pay $75 more to see it. So i re-raised to 200 and the other guy folds and the guy to my right calls and says are you lookin to do somethin? referring to doing business, he had 79h giving him and open ended straight flush draw. i had the Jh so that took away some outs but it was still a coinflip for a decent size pot. I said run it twice? and he said 3 times so we ran it 3 times. He bricked 3 times in a row and i scooped that pot, pretty ridiculous.
Then after the flush over flush hand i left up $730.

So i got around $1300 to work with now, i still have to pay for another week's rent but that's still under negotiation. Might go to AC tomorrow for the day with Adam since he wants to go. We'll see what happens.

Back at 1k

2008-05-10T17:11:00.000-07:00

Got a working bankroll going of $1,000. It all started about a little over a week ago with a 3rd place finish for $787 in a full tilt poker Daily Double Tournament. Leuis started it but couldn't finish and needed me to take the wheel since he was going to Rutgers. There were about 900ish entrants and 190 left when i took over. He left me with ~50 bb's which was more than enough but the next hand after he left i was down to 30 bb's when i had TT and someone had QQ, AIPF. Maybe i should've just folded but whatever. The tourny was a good experience, towards the end when it was like 13 ppl i won 2 huge coinflips and just coasted from final table to final 3. The blinds were getting pretty big and i quickly went from 500k at the final table to 200k with 10k/20k blinds. After that it was just an all-in fest and no postflop play so i had to take my chances with QJ preflop and lost. First was 1.8k which would've been sick but $787 is nothing to complain about either. I took $350 which was 44% and Lu took the rest.

Since it's nearly impossible to quickly cash out online with epassporte being shut down, I was able to get a check a few days later from Z for the $350. With that, me and Lu went down to Borgata the next night.
It was his first time playing 1/2 live in a casino so the excitement was pretty heavy. We sat down at the same table for about 2 1/2 hours and I finished up $198, Lu finished up around $85. He played pretty well for his first time, with one crucial amatuer mistake of string betting with the nuts, but atleast now he learned and won't do that again. We then went to go walk around since the table had died and I was feeling pretty tired. It had been around 7:00 am and we had gotten there at 3:30. Lu wanted to play some roullette so i left him and took a nap in the car, figuring he'd wake me up in 30 minutes or so. 2 1/2 hours later he's still playing roullette and up about $230.

With my new bankroll of a little over $500, I went to a new spot to play in the city 2 nights later with my friend Mike who deals poker in the city. He was the one that got me into that 5/5 Penthouse apt. game on 38th and 1st back in early April but recently he got in a dispute with a co-owner of the place and they had a falling out. So he tells me he's going to this new spot, its an easy 1/2 game off of West st. in downtown Manhattan so i tag along. We get there and its only 1 table, and everyone buys in for $200. It was a pretty slow start for me and after an hour of cold cards and being even the following hand comes up.
I limp with 85d and its a limped pot about 6 or 7 handed. The flop comes 9 8 6, with 2 diamonds. 1 guy bets $12 and i make it $40. 1 other caller and one of the blinds moves in for $200. There's already $120+ in the pot without the 200 so already i have the odds to call. The guy who made it $12 calls, i call for all-in, and the other player who called the $40 bet calls as well so i figure my diamonds are dead. Turn is a J, river Jd giving me the flush. The guy in the blinds had 57 and flopped the straight and the other 2 mucked so i scooped that $800 pot. About an hour and a half later me and Mike left. I finished up $760 and Mike won around $500.

Then, last night me Lu Justin and Rob decide to go to AC. I drove Justin's car on the way there and we get there at around midnight. We decided to go to Caesar's since Borgata is too far from the other casinos, even though me and Lu were pushing for going to Borgata since its the best for cards. We started off just scoping out the tables at Caesar's. Lu went straight to roullette and me and justin sat down at a $15 min. blackjack table. I figured we'd play a little here and then go to Borgata if things didn't work out. I ended up losing $100 at blackjack and leuis and justin were still eager to gamble so i went straight to the poker room. My first hand was KK and there was a riase to $10 and 1 caller so i made it $25 to go. We went 3 way to the flop and it came A J 6, rainbow...both players checked to me pretty quickly so i took a stab with $40. One lady moves in for $75 and the other guy calls so i fold. The lady has AK and the other guy has A7 lmao. After that hand i reloaded $100 more and the whole night i just really couldn't make anything due to a combination of the table being extremely tight with $7 raises preflop and cards that couldn't hit anything. Leuis came to my table after losing $300 in roullette and grinded up +$100 after about a 3-4 hours session. Our table broke and i decided to go upstairs to the cafe and get some breakfast while Lu still played cards. In the meantime, Justin and rob had walked over to Tropicana and apparently justin was taking $700 swings at Blackjack lol. They then came back over to Caesar's and we played a little bit more table games and then drove back at like 7am.
Overall it was a tiring but fun trip.

I feel really forunate to be back on my feet and have a decent bankroll to work with now. At the end of last month i really did not know what was going to happen, either having to get a job or somehow find someone to borrow money from. That feeling is really uncomfortable to say the least and every time i'm at the table now i feel even more pressure to not go broke so that i don't have to deal with that feeling. Hopefully things will continue to go my way and good things will come.

Results for April

2008-04-26T17:09:00.000-07:00

So here's how this month went...
(sorry for the layout, it won't let me make enough space for each column..date, results, hours, location)

4/1 +$250 (5/5) 3 hrs Private nyc apt game
4/3 -$600 4 hrs Bloomfield
4/4 -$50 4 hrs Bloomfield
4/5 -$500 3 hrs Bloomfield
4/7 +$0 (even) 3.5 hrs Bloomfield
4/8 +$200 4 hrs Bloomfield
4/9 -$200 5 hrs Bloomfield
4/11 +$30 6 hrs Borgata
4/11 -$15 5 hrs Borgata
4/14 +$660 2.5 hrs Bloomfield
4/16 -$800 3.5 hrs Bloomfield
4/17 +$465 3.5 hrs Bloomfield
4/20 +$280 4 hrs T-stone
4/22 -$440 7 hrs T-stone
4/24 +$220 4 hrs T-stone
4/25 +$465 7 hrs Borgata

So overall this month has been alot of break-even poker. This was definitely by far my most frustrating month too so there is a correlation between my anxiety and the way this month went. Last night me and eng went to AC. I owed my mom $450 for my credit card bill which she said she made the minimum payment for and as a result I would be charged a high interest charge by the credit card company so there was a good amount of pressure for me to come up with that money. Fortunetly, I was able to win $465 to clear that debt. On the other hand, now i have no bankroll so i'm not sure how i will come up with money to play.

This month has shown me how hard it really is to not focus on results and just put in hours, especially in the beginning of the month. Towards the middle, I ended up having $400 left to work with, $300 of which was eng's so i decided i'd make a trip up to T-stone and play $100 max. It was a tiresome week of traveling since i drove +800 miles and ended up +$60 from poker but spent over $100 on gas.

On the bright side I've been gradually putting in more hours each month. This month I put in roughly 70 hours. I think i should make it a goal for next month to have 100 hour months, and then eventually i'm hoping this lifestyle will become more and more routine. Ideally, I want to have a normal schedule and wake up at normal hours like before noon, get in the poker room, and put in 6-8 hrs. Since there's no casinos around here the only way to accomplish this would be to make a move to AC or Vegas.

So i guess we'll see what happens in the days to come.

W

2008-04-17T02:32:00.000-07:00

+$465

Tonight I borrowed $600 more from Leuis to play at Bloomfield. I paid him back already from last week's debt but given that I went broke last night, I had no other choice. There was definitely added pressure since if I were to lose then i'd have to owe $900 in debt, 3 to eng and 6 to leuis.

Thank god things went my way tonight. Actually at first I was stuck $300 pretty quickly. The table was pretty crazy again just like last night. Maybe even more aggressive. Every hand was 1-2-5 and there were atleast 3 1k stacks at the table so it was definitely a nice deep stacked cash game....if you're playing bankrolled. I on the other hand had just reloaded my last $300 after just simply not being able to hit flops and not connecting.

I reloaded and a few hands later I picked up a couple of pots and was back up to $500. Then the following hand comes up.
There's a live straddle and everyone calls, we're playing 6 handed.
I have 99 in the sb and make it $30 to go.
Almost everyone is in the hand and flop is 9 9 4, 2 diamonds LOL. I check and a guy bets $40. 1 caller, i smooth call i think 1 more guy calls and this other guy re-raises to $200 total. Folds back around to me and i just smooth call again at this point to try to hopefully get someone with a flush draw to call. Everyone else folds and i have $220 left. Turn is a blank and i check.
The guy asks me how much i have left and i count out my stack. He says all-in and i insta call. He had a flush draw and was drawing dead. Scooped that nice ~$1100 pot.

Really needed that hand. I really don't know what i would've done if I went broke tonight and had to owe $900 to eng and leuis. Wouldn't have been pretty.
Get to live another day, this is becoming way too frequent but that's what happens when you play under bankrolled especially for a game like Bloomfield. I'd say i need 1500-2k min and i'm going there with 2-3 buy ins. It's a recipe for disaster but at the same time I really have no choice. There's no smaller game that's around except AC and that's way too far.

Well, until next time....Goodnight

Bust

2008-04-16T01:10:00.000-07:00

-$800

Went busto tonight at Bloomfield. I'll give hand summaries to how it happened.

First major pot that I lost was after I was moved to the main game. Stacks were pretty big and there was a live straddle almost every hand with the occasional $10 re-straddle.
UTG makes it $15 to go and 6 or 7 people call. I have K7d in the sb so i call as well. Flop comes QJ6, with 2 diamonds.
I check, utg bets 15, 3 callers and i re-raise to $75. UTG calls and everyone else folds.
Turn is a black Ten giving me some extra outs for an open ended straight. I moved in for my remaining $80 but unfortunetly that Ten also made my opponents straight since he had 89d.
River was a blank and he scooped that pot.

After this i reloaded $300 more and was in for $600. The game had taken a turn and now almost every hand was 1-2-5. I picked up some chips the next hand and was up to $450. The deck hits me pretty cold and i can't pick up 2 cards to connect a flop with to save my life.
After missed flops after missed flops i pick up 99 in EP. i make it $15 and it goes 6 way.
Flop is 8d 4d 2, pretty good flop for me. checks around to me i bet $40, which was way too little. I should've made a close to 3/4 pot size bet. i get 2 callers and the turn is the 3d putting 3 diamonds for a possible flush. 1 guy checks, i check to the other one that's left in the pot and he checks as well. River comes a 5 so now the board is 8 4 2 3 5, checks to me i check and another guy checks. Sb shows 67 for a straight.

After that hand i dwindled down to $300 and couldn't pick up anything. Finally, towards the end the following hand comes up.

There's a live straddle and everyone limps, game is 6 handed at this point. The straddler makes it $30 to go, $25 more. Everyone calls so i call as well with J6d. I know, pretty loose but i was getting desperate and there was good action.
Flop comes 6 3 2, 2 hearts. the preflop raiser makes it $100. One guy calls all in for less, i think he had around 50. I pushed for $215 total, thinking maybe my 6 is good and that he has 2 overs. He called and showed A6.
Probably didn't have to push and could've waited for a better spot = /

After that i had $200 left and got up to take a breather. For some reason I bought back in for $200 more, hoping I could turn it around. I should've known better and just called it a night.
My next hand i have Q8c and I limp utg. cutoff makes it $20 and sb calls so i call. Flop comes Q J x, sb bets $50. I decided to move in for $180 total, $130 more and he calls with KK.
I gotta admit, he disguised it pretty damn well.
I guess it was tilt that got the better of me but it was a pretty loose and wild game as well. People were winning pots with AQ high on the river for $300+ pots.

So it looks like i'm back to the drawing board. Pretty damn frustrating and I'm even more upset that i lost $300 of which was eng's. I had a nice $660 win 2 nights ago but tonight got the worse of me.
Sigh, i guess that's how it goes.

Last 3 weeks

2008-04-03T01:09:00.000-07:00

The last 3 weeks felt like eternity. There's so much that happened so i'm going to try my best to summarize. My results for this month were:

3/5 +140 Borgata
3/6 +80 Bloomfield
3/8 +455 Bloomfield

3/12 +525 Bloomfield

3/13 +500 Borgata
3/14 +190 Bloomfield
3/17 -212 Bloomfield
3/18 +1100 Borgata
3/20 +450 Club 52
3/24 +120 Club 52
3/25 +165 Bloomfield
3/25 -570 (Start of downswing) Bloomfield
3/26 -305 Bloomfield
4/1 +250 Private NYC apt. (5/5 game)
4/3 -600 Bloomfield

I haven't done the math yet but i have $691 left. I also paid off $1200 to my mom for expenses for March so that took a huge chunk. This month was pretty rough for me emotionally as well. Not in the beginning but towards the end I kinda started to lose it. I need to find a productive way to let out built-up steam. I'm not really sure what happened without going into crazy theories and endless hypothetical situations but towards the end of the month I played 2 bad sessions in Bloomfield.
I don't count them bad because I lost, it's the way that it happened. A lot of things didn't go my way but the part that gets to me is that i let it get ahold of me and it crumbled my composure at the table. I felt completely transparent. Towards the end it was just pathetic, my last hand i get bluffed for less than $80 pot by a pair of 4's on A J T 4 3 board, 3 clubs. Had J8.

After that i knew i had to get poker out of my head atleast for the weekend. I ended up going to Ithaca for a few days to chill with Alex. We went sake bombing with her OT's on Friday night and just relaxed saturday and sunday. There couldn't have been any better timing for that to happen.

Another big issue that was heavy on my mind especially towards the end of the month was moving out. I obviously had alot of time to weigh my options and see what i could research on the internet. At the time i had about $1900 so realistically finding a place is very possible. Especially since my dad was telling me every day for multiple days to specifically move out and find a place. One day he said he'd even cover the first month's rent and deposit.

Apparently it turned out all of this was just talk because my mom must have changed his mind. She prefers me to stay home for a few reasons, 1. saving money, 2. safety, 3. keeping an eye on me.
Whatever, it turned out that i hit a downswing and can't afford a place anyway.

So in conclusion,
Grinding out poker is really hard. I think as long as I give everything I've got in my body to this, it will pay off in the future. Unfortunetly for now, i don't have any guidance (mentor wise) so learning is mostly going to be made from trial and error.....however long it takes i guess.
I'm pretty excited to see what will happen a year from now. Even a few months could bring anything. I guess i'll have to keep breathing to find out.

Bloomfield

2008-03-08T02:06:00.000-08:00

Haven't updated in a while so now's a good time.

Montreal sucked for poker. Everything else was good. The electronic tables is just too weird and unnatural and the players are strange too. I ended up losing everything, -850 and spent about 150 going out so i was down to 0 when i got back home.

The following week and a half i just messed around online but just kept breaking even. Not worth it to play online. Eng's cashed out $600 for me and let me borrow to help me get back on my feet so the next day i went to AC. The drive was annoying and i almost fell asleep going there so already i wasn't 100% to play, but i was already there so no turning back. I played for about 3 1/2 hours or so and wasn't up at all during the whole time except near the end when i got a guy off a hand where i would've gone broke.
I made it 12 to go utg with TT, 1 caller and button makes it 35. I call and other guy calls. Flop comes Q Q 6, 2 hearts. i check, other guy checks and button bets $100. I guess i was just getting fed up with not being able to find a spot so i figured now's the time. I pushed for $207ish more and he instantly felt that his hand was no good. He started thinking out loud and said he had JJ and that i must have aces or kings so he folded and i showed the tens to get him on tilt a little.

Not much happened after that so i left up $140. A nguyen is a nguyen.
The next night i played at Bloomfield with Kevin Yen since he's been going there pretty frequently. Didn't pick up any big hands and just grinded up $80 and then we left.

So tonight i went to bloomfield again by myself. Kevin was there but he left kinda early since he had work the next day. I bought in with 300 and at about 4:30 am left with $755 for +$455 session.

I'm pretty grateful for cards holding up and things going my way considering 4 days ago i had literally $0. I thought i had $60 in the bank but apparently Wachovia took it since they overpaid me 10 months ago when i randomly quit.

So now i'm up to $1250, $600 of which is eng's but the plan is to grind out Bloomfield next week mon-fri or maybe AC trip on the weekend. I think it's more practical to just play there rather than the city since i'll save $8 on tolls and who knows how much on gas. The only concern i've had with playing at bloomfield is the security but nothing's happened to them in the last 2-3 years so i guess its pretty safe even though its next to newark.

I guess we'll see what happens,
later.

Get to live another day

2008-02-19T23:54:00.000-08:00

+990 tonight in the city.
Got in at midnight after chillin at bhavin's for the night. The loosest maniac was at my table. This guy loved to gamble and hated folding. Pretty dangerous combination. After about half an hour of building up a tight image and not getting any cards i pick up AJ on a limped pot in the sb. Actually there was a straddle so there was about $25 already in the pot preflop. I made it 30 to go and the maniac guy calls. Flop comes A A x, 2 spades. I bet $40 and he raised it up to $100. I figured he either had a spade or an A and i was gonna find out on the turn. Turn card brought a J sealing the deal. I checked as did he. River was gin, 3s. I moved in for 160 and he insta calls and flips over a straight. i showed AJ and he didn't even realize that he lost at first lol.
Exactly one orbit later i was in the sb with AKs when there was a raise from a tight player to 15 and a call by the maniac. I decided to make it 50 and the tight guy called pretty quickly so i gave him credit for a pocket pair (JJ TT) and immediately regretted my decision to raise. The maniac pauses for about 20 seconds and raises it up to 150 more. I couldn't give him credit for a hand so i had to push for about $500 total. He thought about it for a good minute and then decided to call with AJ. The other guy had about $150 left but he let it go preflop. I hit a K on the flop and took down the hand. The turn brought a T and the other guy said he would've hit his set of tens. Fortunetly for me he folded.
After that pot i was up to around 1,000.
A few hands later i get in another pot with the maniac. This time he sleeper re-straddled which meant he made it 10 to go from 1 off UTG since there was already a $5 straddle on. So blinds were 1-2-5-10 lol.
I call in the SB with AJ and he makes it 20 more. I call and it goes heads up.
Flop comes A 5 6, 2 hearts. i check and he insta bets 40. I smooth call and turn brings a 7d. I check again and he bets $80 this time. He possibly could have 2 pair so i just call again. River is a Jd. I bet out $150 and he insta calls with A3h. After that pot he cursed me out but then said nice hand and moved to a different table.

About half an hour later the table broke and I was moved to another game. The floor person wouldn't let me take chips off the table since i wanted to play still but i didn't want to risk my entirely new BR so i just left.

It was a pretty clutch win since last night i lost $315 and was down to my last $500 since i paid my mom $850 last week for credit card for Jan. and "rent" for Feb. I still owe her $500 for this month's credit card but that should leave me with an even 1,000 to work with so i'm not worried.

Also, i've been watching alot of Million Dollar Cash Game on Pokertube.com
I think it's definitely an amazing tool for helping my game. The show has like 8 pages of episodes and you get to see mini interviews with the best players in the world. It's inspiring and the best kind of homework i could be doing so i'm looking forward to finishing up the last half of the videos. Hopefully all this time and effort will pay off but I'm not rushing it. As long as I have food and a place to sleep i'm grateful.

I should be goin to Montreal to chill with James this weekend and we might go to Casino de Montreal so hopefully i'll have good news to report about that. They have the most electronic poker tables in the world so it'll be interesting to see how it is to play on them since I never have before.
That's it for now, more to come later.

Upswing

2008-02-12T00:26:00.001-08:00

Today was pretty good. I won about $580 in the city and $200 online at .25/.50 heads up.
I should've stayed and played longer in the city but I was up 500 and didn't really wanna gamble anymore. I figured i had the money to pay back leuis and still have $1200 to play with in the city. Plus the game was ridiculous. This one guy Alex was the most aggressive player i have ever met. He raised almost every single hand preflop from 15-30 and played purely position. We got in a huge hand like $1700 pot with QQ vs KK all in preflop. i made a bad call but he just showed 6 high preflop with a raise to 30 and everyone folded. so he did the same thing, i made it 100. one other guy called who was on monster tilt and Alex re popped it to $400.
His range was pretty wide and it did look like i could've been re-raising him with an even wider range so I felt like putting it in. After that hand i was down to 150, reloaded 200 more and was in for $500. Ran that up to $1080 with 4.5 hours of play and then left.
When i got home i decided to play online. I sat down with $50 and ran that up to $265 against this one guy.
Pretty sweet since 2 days ago i was just at $130.
In live poker i'm on a $1520 upswing which i'm really grateful for considering i was down to $400 not too long ago. (superbowl sunday)

All these hands i'm putting in are definitely starting to show results. I'm gonna need to cough up like over a grand this month though. Last month i wasn't running too hot so i only gave my mom $500. It would be pretty sweet if i can win enough online to cover expenses so i don't have to dip into cash. Maybe i'll use that for motivation.

later

some HH's + random thoughts

2008-02-10T14:17:00.000-08:00

PokerStars Game #15180304343: Hold'em No Limit ($0.25/$0.50) - 2008/02/09 - 20:22:12 (ET)
Table 'Carina' 2-max Seat #1 is the button
Seat 1: Cherf ($47.50 in chips)
Seat 2: chsocer18 ($49.75 in chips)
Cherf: posts small blind $0.25
chsocer18: posts big blind $0.50
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Cherf [Qs 8c]
Cherf: raises $1 to $1.50
chsocer18: calls $1
*** FLOP *** [Tc As 2c]
chsocer18: checks
Cherf: bets $1
chsocer18: calls $1
*** TURN *** [Tc As 2c] [Th]
chsocer18: checks
Cherf: bets $2.50
chsocer18: calls $2.50
*** RIVER *** [Tc As 2c Th] [3d]
chsocer18: bets $4
Cherf: calls $4
*** SHOW DOWN ***
chsocer18: shows [4c 7c] (a pair of Tens)
Cherf: shows [Qs 8c] (a pair of Tens - Ace+Queen kicker)
Cherf collected $17.50 from pot
chsocer18 said, "lol"
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $18 | Rake $0.50
Board [Tc As 2c Th 3d]
Seat 1: Cherf (button) (small blind) showed [Qs 8c] and won ($17.50) with a pair of Tens
Seat 2: chsocer18 (big blind) showed [4c 7c] and lost with a pair of Tens

PokerStars Game #15180561275: Hold'em No Limit ($0.25/$0.50) - 2008/02/09 - 20:34:51 (ET)
Table 'Carina' 2-max Seat #2 is the button
Seat 1: Cherf ($78.35 in chips)
Seat 2: chsocer18 ($52.60 in chips)
chsocer18: posts small blind $0.25
Cherf: posts big blind $0.50
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Cherf [Tc Kc]
chsocer18: calls $0.25
Cherf: raises $1.50 to $2
chsocer18: calls $1.50
*** FLOP *** [Jc 3h 5c]
Cherf: bets $2.50
chsocer18: calls $2.50
*** TURN *** [Jc 3h 5c] [5s]
Cherf: checks
chsocer18: bets $2
Cherf: calls $2
*** RIVER *** [Jc 3h 5c 5s] [7d]
Cherf: checks
chsocer18: bets $8.50
Cherf: calls $8.50
*** SHOW DOWN ***
chsocer18: shows [2h Qh] (a pair of Fives)
Cherf: shows [Tc Kc] (a pair of Fives - King kicker)
Cherf collected $29.50 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $30 | Rake $0.50
Board [Jc 3h 5c 5s 7d]
Seat 1: Cherf (big blind) showed [Tc Kc] and won ($29.50) with a pair of Fives
Seat 2: chsocer18 (button) (small blind) showed [2h Qh] and lost with a pair of Fives

Eng sent me $75 so i've been playing with that on PS recently. I was down to $40 and then sat at .25/.50 NL heads up and got it up to $135 yesterday. I'm starting to like heads up again since it's pure poker. The only bad thing is that it gets really draining really fast somtimes, if you let it. Any slip up and you immediately see the result. Nonetheless, i'm gonna try to build up my br from it.

Also what i've been noticing is that it takes me longer to adjust to online players rather than live. That shouldn't matter though since if im patient enough i'll be able to capitalize on my opponents mistakes.

Today is a pretty chill day. Parents are away at Brooklyn looking at furniture for the new bathroom. I smoked a bowl and found some photo albums. lol mad nostalgically cliche, i guess.
The pics were from when Me my mom and dad went to Florida and stayed at Club Med and Disney. I was around 6 years old, a few years before my brother was born.
I also found pictures of the road trip me and my dad once took. Mom ended up staying home and we went to DC, williamsburg VA and Busch Gardens.
That brought back tons of memories. I also saw this one photo of a tombstone of someone who must've been a relative but it was in russian so I couldn't make it out. I'll ask my mom about it later. The pic was mad eery. It was a graveyard in a forest with bare trees and flowers on every grave.

I haven't really written about anything other than poker in here, but maybe i'll start to write more. It's the best way that i can really reflect about life.

Nirvana Ukelele is amazing.
ty brauner
http://www.collegehumor.com/video:1800705

foxwoods + recent updates

2008-02-04T14:55:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I took a trip to Foxwoods to recover after my devastating blow at Borgata from last Friday. I won $850 in a 5 hour sesh and decided to go home since I had a decent br for the city game.
I sat down in the 1 seat at about 9:00 after a little dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe. I asked the dealer if this was a $100 max table and he had no idea what i was saying. He said its $300 max 60 min, same as AC rules. Apparently they got rid of the $100 max since the last time I was there. I must've looked like the biggest amateur and one guy was like "you know what the buy in is?" in a helpful but caniving way. Or i'm just being paranoid...anyways. My first hand is Q3 and I posted a few hands from the BB. About 7 people limped and flop came Q Q 2. i checked and this lady bet 15 so I just called and it went heads up. Turn was a 5 and i checked again and she bet 45. I had no idea how she played but i decided to move in for about 100 more. She sat there in complete agony and disgust. Saying how she knows i have a Q but she doesn't know about her kicker. That's when i realized i had to talk my way out of this one. After about 45 seconds of her thinking she asks the dealer if she can flip over her hand. The dealer says he doesn't know and has to call over the floor and it turns into this whole mess so I went ahead and flipped over my Q. She goes "honey, i know i know...i'm just worried about my kicker." I just kept a straight face and acted like I had it basically. Finally she folded and I showed her since she deserved to see it.
Her reaction looked like she was going to be sick. I find this lucky in my case becasue i was thinking of buying in $100 at first, and if i had done so i would've definitely busted since i had 0 fold equity on her.
After that pot the big stack to my left comes back from being away.
Now this guy was something that i've never quite seen before. Every hand he min raises preflop to $4, but picks his spots carefully post flop. If someone raises before him preflop, he'll instantly minraise back. So since i was out of position i knew it was going to be tricky to bust him.
After about 30 minutes of playing with him and letting him bully the table around the following hand comes up. I limp wiht AT and he makes it 4, a bunch of callers and i make it 30 on top. He calls and this other guy calls. Flop comes T 8 3, 2 clubs. I bet 65 and he insta calls. The other guy folds so now i'm thinking please no club. Turn is a 9s. I look over at his stack and he has approx. 250 left. I say i'm all in and he cringes in his seat for a good 25 seconds, stands up and goes I call. river Blank. I show AT and he shows T6.
Ten freakin 6.
That pot brought me up to $800 and I basically didn't get involved in many hands.
In the meantime the guy who I busted who was literally "heehawing" and actually said he has "part-donk" in him reloads.
Oh yea, i lost with a set of 7's on T 7 3 flop, to QT. Yup, running queens. There was a side pot that i recovered some money from but i lost like 200 that hand.
The players were so wreckless and bad that it was actually kind of difficult for me to adjust.
It was the type of poker that just made logically no sense. People were calling bets from people who's image didn't match up with the bet at all. Granted alot of them were drunk.
After stacking a guy with AK to AQ on AJ778 board, and stacking that same lady that layed down the trip Q's to me. (AQ to AJ on A9x board) I decided to drive back home.
1. It was 2am and I was still wide awake so I could get home by 5am and sleep in my own bed.
2. FOXWOODS IS IN THE CREEPIEST TOWN IN AMERICA. First of all it's on some dead Indian burial reservation ground and the town itself is DEAD. There's no sign of life and while i was driving down the windy roads I kept praying not to break down. I would've probably shit my pants.

Finally after getting on the highway and driving for about an hour and a half i felt some sort of rumbling and then began slowing down. I pulled over and my back left tire was done. I pulled over to the side but there wasn't enough room to get out safely and take a look so I had to drive on the rim for like a quarter mile. I found a dug-out cop spot and pulled over there. I tried to get the lug nuts off but it felt like it was welded on. I called my mom and she connected me to triple A. After about 35 minutes and $69.70 for the fee, the donut was on. By now it had been about 6:00 am and i had to drive 40 mph all the way home. I didn't really mind that much, i just wanted to get home. Finally almost 2 hours later, i made it back.

I haven't really played poker since my last entry (mid december) until mid January. When I got back in the game my results were as follows: -24, -200, +110, +440, +250, -600, +415, -1000, +850.
Alot of swings going on. I guess i'm either losing big or winning big, but after a big loss i seem to get it back with a recovering win. There so much to this crazy game i have to learn how to deal with but my main goal is just to keep on getting those hands in and putting in those hours.
Also, i'm going to have to make a move out of the house soon. The swings are too much for my mom to deal with and i don't expect her to understand since she's not a gambler and doesn't know a thing about poker, other than that its not a proper lifestyle.

I guess this week i'm gonna try to play in the city and then maybe hit up AC on the weekend if anyone wants to go. That last Borgata trip was a nightmare, basically i'd say i lost $600 on bad beats/coolers and $400 on bluffing and being dumb. It's definitely necesssary for me to play higher in order to play better and I'm starting to understand that if i don't really push myself i'm not going to move up in levels.

That's it for now, more to come later.

Update

2007-12-14T11:49:00.002-08:00

Ok so instead of re-writing how my last AC trip went i'm just gonna copy and paste the convo from James.

VaNiLLa ChAoS 01 (2:36:08 PM): well i was supposed to go during the day when i IMed u but kids from seton hall backed out. so later that night i convinced eng to go with me

VaNiLLa ChAoS 01 (2:36:29 PM): i only had $600 and he only had $500 in his bank account so he took all of it out and we got to borgata around 11pm

VaNiLLa ChAoS 01 (2:36:37 PM): played at the same table till about 6am and then left

VaNiLLa ChAoS 01 (2:36:55 PM): firs thand i had KK, A flopped but i cont. bet and took it down

VaNiLLa ChAoS 01 (2:37:05 PM): next hand

VaNiLLa ChAoS 01 (2:37:08 PM): there'sa raise utg to 15

VaNiLLa ChAoS 01 (2:37:15 PM): folds to me in sb i have AA i re-raise to 40

VaNiLLa ChAoS 01 (2:37:30 PM): BB re-raises to 100

VaNiLLa ChAoS 01 (2:37:33 PM): other guy folds

VaNiLLa ChAoS 01 (2:37:37 PM): i push for 150 more

VaNiLLa ChAoS 01 (2:37:39 PM): he calls with 99

VaNiLLa ChAoS 01 (2:37:39 PM): i win

VaNiLLa ChAoS 01 (2:37:44 PM): so i'm up to like 600

VaNiLLa ChAoS 01 (2:37:46 PM): then this hand comes up

VaNiLLa ChAoS 01 (2:37:53 PM): lmiped pot i'm on button wtih A3d

VaNiLLa ChAoS 01 (2:38:40 PM): flop comes 4 2 6, 2 diamonds

VaNiLLa ChAoS 01 (2:39:07 PM): guy bets 11, 2 callers, i raise to 35, he re-raises to 112 folds around to me. he has 245 left so i call

VaNiLLa ChAoS 01 (2:39:12 PM): turn is an A

VaNiLLa ChAoS 01 (2:39:16 PM): he pushes

VaNiLLa ChAoS 01 (2:39:33 PM): so now its 245 to win 500 but its too much so i fold and he shows K4d

VaNiLLa ChAoS 01 (2:39:35 PM): = /

unEn Erg iz Ed (2:39:50 PM): =/

VaNiLLa ChAoS 01 (2:39:54 PM): so a few hands later i get AK and i raise to 12 and it goes 3 or 4 way

VaNiLLa ChAoS 01 (2:39:57 PM): flop comes A 7 3

VaNiLLa ChAoS 01 (2:40:02 PM): i'm first to act i check

VaNiLLa ChAoS 01 (2:40:10 PM): guy bets 20, same guy i beat with AA to 99

VaNiLLa ChAoS 01 (2:40:13 PM): i raise to 60

VaNiLLa ChAoS 01 (2:40:14 PM): he calls

VaNiLLa ChAoS 01 (2:40:16 PM): turn is an A

VaNiLLa ChAoS 01 (2:40:18 PM): i mean T

VaNiLLa ChAoS 01 (2:40:20 PM): turn is a T

VaNiLLa ChAoS 01 (2:40:36 PM): i ahve a really bad feeling that T made him 2 pair but i have to bet anyway so i bet 100

VaNiLLa ChAoS 01 (2:40:40 PM): he insta pushes for 95 more

VaNiLLa ChAoS 01 (2:40:52 PM): and i'm like OMG wtf i KNOW u have AT ur SO lucky blah blah

VaNiLLa ChAoS 01 (2:40:54 PM): so finally i call

VaNiLLa ChAoS 01 (2:40:55 PM): he has AT

unEn Erg iz Ed (2:41:24 PM): ok

VaNiLLa ChAoS 01 (2:41:45 PM): so then i'm down to like 200

VaNiLLa ChAoS 01 (2:41:50 PM): grind back up to 350

VaNiLLa ChAoS 01 (2:41:55 PM): oh and then this one hand

VaNiLLa ChAoS 01 (2:42:09 PM): i have a straight to the 5 with A3 and guy has 36 and has higher straight

VaNiLLa ChAoS 01 (2:42:11 PM): so i lose that

VaNiLLa ChAoS 01 (2:42:16 PM): it was pretty rough in the beginning

VaNiLLa ChAoS 01 (2:42:41 PM): so then i win a few more pots and get back up to like 350 again

VaNiLLa ChAoS 01 (2:42:49 PM): and then this hand comes up

VaNiLLa ChAoS 01 (2:42:53 PM): i limp early with 47h

VaNiLLa ChAoS 01 (2:43:10 PM): guy who had the K4d against me raises to 12 and goes multiway

VaNiLLa ChAoS 01 (2:43:17 PM): flop comes K 4 7, 2 spades

VaNiLLa ChAoS 01 (2:43:20 PM): i bet 20

VaNiLLa ChAoS 01 (2:43:25 PM): he raises to 70

VaNiLLa ChAoS 01 (2:43:40 PM): i re-raise 100 on top of that

VaNiLLa ChAoS 01 (2:44:25 PM): he like insta pushes so ic all but he doesn't show

VaNiLLa ChAoS 01 (2:44:28 PM): turn T river J

VaNiLLa ChAoS 01 (2:44:36 PM): he has ATs so i win

unEn Erg iz Ed (2:44:48 PM): good

VaNiLLa ChAoS 01 (2:44:55 PM): then from that pot i just grinded up to like 1k and then we left at 6am

Eng was able to pay me back some so now i have a solid BR again to play 1/2 with. I gotta cough up 1k for my mom for this month's credit card bill + a little extra for "rent".
I guess I don't mind really paying for rent since 1. that will prove to her i'm ready to be on my own and 2. If i need her to cover a month or 2 of real rent in the future when i'm living somewhere, i'm sure she'd do that for me.

I found a game in Fort Lee that me and Joe checked out last week. We played 1/2 and i finished +$386. Joe got pretty unlucky and busted out. It's a house game and seems pretty safe. They mainly do a 2/5 and higher but it seems like a good connection so i'm happy i found that. I also found a small 1/2 game in SoHo that gets together a couple times a week. I'm not worried about that place getting robbed or busted since it's only 1 table. Hopefully i'll be able to get in a few more sessions before 2008.

Peace.

Turning Stone Tournies

2007-12-07T14:24:00.000-08:00

A nice winning streak comes to an end.
I went to T-stone last week to do some tournaments and ended up busting in two as well as losing at 5/5 for an overall loss of -$1,100 total.

I headed over to Ithaca on Tuesday night and stayed at Brauner's. The tournament was at 10am so I left Ithaca around 8 so i'd have some time to eat breakfast. When i got to the registration there was a line of about 20 people and it was already 10:00 but that didn't make a difference since it was so deep stacked. The room was packed with like 30+ tables and i was feeling really good since it was 40 minute rounds.
I had a little bit less than 10k and was playing my normal game when blinds doubled to 50/100 and this hand comes up.
1 player limps and i look down at KK. I make it 325 to go, 1 guy calls and button re-raises pretty quickly to 1150. The other guy folds to me and I try and decide how I'm gonna play it. I re-raised to 4k to find out where he was at and if he pushed i'd have to make a decision. He thought for about 30 seconds and then just called. I figured he either had to have QQ AA or possibly KK too.
The flop came A 6 3 and i pushed for my remaining 5k. He insta called with AA and that was the end of that. I don't think it was worth going broke over but it's a tough situation. If i check he can push with QQ and get me off of it so I figured i'd push first. I guess in retrospect i should've just shut down.
After that disappointing finish i went over to 100 max and played till around noon finishing +$130. I really had no motivation to play so I just went back to Ithaca.

I got a good nights sleep and was good to go for the $300 event the next day. I showed up after they dealt the first hand and was feeling really good. For about the first 3 hours I wasn't getting many hands and just picked up a few pots. My peak was at 11k-ish and my lowest was 8k-ish. I was moved to another table with a few online pros and then came the 45 min lunch break. There were alot of online players there and the field was filled with some pretty decent players.
After I got back I was really desperate to double up and just kept focus. I knew that it would come and finally after not seeing anything i get AA and there's a raise and a re-raise coming my way so i pushed for about 6k and ended up doubling up off of KK. Up to 14k when I went on a mini rush up to 22k. From there i got moved to another table and my first hand i get QQ. I raise to 2200 with 300/600 blinds. 1 guy was looking like he wanted to re-raise but he just called and it went heads up. Flop came low like T high and i checked trying to get a bet out of him. He checked as well and the turn peeled off a 7 or something and i bet. I can't remember how much i bet but it was probably about 3/4 of the pot and he called fairly quickly. River brought a 2 and i was sure i had best. I decided to overbet and put him all in for his remaining $4500 and he ended up calling with JJ.
blinds got to 500/1000 and i grinded my way up to 47k. That didn't last long though and I got myself involved in a pot i shouldn't have been in and got down to 37k when another cold streak hit. I hovered between 24k and 32k for a while and then we got a dinner break at 7pm.
There were 41 players left and top 20 got paid. 1st was $19.6k. I wasn't feeling too great for some reason since i figured i had only 20 BBs left and thought i was really pressured to double up. When i got back from the break the short stacks were pushing preflop and it was getting me frustrated so i made a call for 16k with AQ. The guy had 88 and i ended up being left with like 15k after losing that coinflip. I got involved in another pot and ended up pushing with 77 and a guy had AK. I held up and doubled back up to 32k.
37 left and blinds were 800/1600 when the following hand came up. There was a limp and an aggressive guy raised to 5k. I looked down at 44 and figured i could pick up this pot or go in a coinflip situation since the guy didn't really wanna gamble and if he actually did have a hand then so be it. It went folds to the guy who limped, he called pretty quickly and the original raiser folded. I hoped for 2 overs but he had JJ and it held up. I played for 11 hours and didn't even get paid...gg.

I chilled in Ithaca for the weekend and with my remaining $700 br i figured i could grind out some cash this week. On Monday I went to T-stone and played $200 max. I was up to $550 and in for $320 when a seat opened up at 500 max. I figured i'd play for a few more hours and then call it a day. The table was pretty aggressive with raises to 25-30 almost every hand. I got hit by the deck really cold and reloaded $300 more after about 2 hours of not hitting a single flop. Finally I flop a set with 88 and it goes multiway. Flop came A 8 3 with 2 spades. 1 guy bet 35 and another called when i raised to 85 more. The raiser like instantly called and the other guy called too. Turn was a 9s and the 2 guys just went at it so i shut down. The one guy ended up putting all his money in with AT and was drawing dead to his opponent's flush. After that hand i picked up QQ and an A flopped yadda yadda yadda...and i just left with $140. I put $40 on roullette and quickly lost that too.
I was feeling pretty shitty and then I got outside...and felt a lot more shitty. It was snowing and an hour later i was moving 30 mph on the highway with snow and ice covered roads. It got so bad that at one point i was goin 5 mph because i couldn't see anything and there was no one infront or behind me. Pretty ridiculous weather.

Today I had lunch with Eng and he gave me $1200. I negotiated with my mom to give her $600 now and $300 on Monday so i would have a little to work with at AC. I don't even know if i'm still goin to AC because i haven't talked to Ant La, since he was planning on doing some tournies and actually got a room up at Harrah's...Soooo hopefully we'll go.

I was pretty bummed at first about the loss but I got over it pretty quickly. I realized there's nothing i can do now and can only look forward. That's all for now I guess, hopefully I'll have good news to report about soon.

Peace

Genoa and AC , +$3,100

2007-11-18T16:06:00.000-08:00

This week I hit up Genoa on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday nights and then went to AC for the weekend with Eng. Needless to say, i'm exhausted from poker and a week break is definitely necessary. I've been playing pretty well but i'm also not getting raped by the cards....yet.

The NL game at Genoa is not easy, but its also very live. So far from what i've seen the play is aggressive and people are not afraid to pick up on weakness when they smell it. It's 5/5 with $1,000 buy in and i'm excited to see whether or not i'll sink or swim, but one thing is true...this game can definitely make me.

Sunday night I played for 4-5 hours and won $1,000.
Monday night I played for only 2-3 hours and won $800.
Tuesday night I played for again 2-3 hours and won $200.

After paying back my mom $800, I didn't feel like playing at Genoa until I was more securely bankrolled since going broke would kill me right now so I decided to take a trip to Borgata on Wednesday night. I played 2/5 and lost $700 after running into AA with KK AIPF and losing with QQ on a 873 flop to A3 after he "swore i had overcards". I stepped down to 1/2 and grinded back $500 giving me an overall loss of $200.

Thursday night I picked up Eng and we headed to AC for the weekend. To say that Eric has been "running bad" is an understatement. The kid just can't win and its completely because of the cards. This weekend was his last opportunity to get out of this shitty slump.

The plan was to play at night and get a room during the day and just grind it out the whole weekend.
Thursday night I finished up $300.
Friday night I won $700.
Last night I won $300 giving me an overall win of +$1300 for the trip.

Eng was down the first 2 nights and at 3am last night I told him I'd stake him for 2/5 since that was his only real chance at making his money back.
He was in for 700 after reloading when the following hand came up.
Some kid made it 35 to go and there was 1 caller when Eng repopped to 80 more in the sb with aces. Both players called and the flop came J x x. Eng blind bet 125 and the kid went in the tank. Finally he pushed and the other guy called all in for less. Eng ended up calling and the pot was around $1300. Turn was a spade and river...spade. Not just that, but the dealer accidently flipped over the burn card for the river which woudlve been a 9d giving Eng the win. Ofcourse the real river was the As and the kid showed two black kings.

After that demoralizing session I cashed out, losing 400 that session but was still up $300 for the night.

I've been on the best rush of my life these past 5-6 weeks and I feel great about my game and what's to come. This week i'm just going to take it slow and relax from poker and spend some quality time on guitar maybe...we'll see.

Peace

Turning Stone + Ithaca

2007-11-11T15:22:00.000-08:00

Wow, it feels great to be home.

I left for Ithaca 2 weeks ago after work on Monday. The decision to go to Turning Stone wasn't planned for. After a boring day at the Rosen Group office I realized i couldn't do this all week and needed to go away somewhere to play poker. Originally, i was just going to stay at Turning Stone for a week but then Alex said i could crash at her place too.

The first week i didn't play much. Only made 2 trips; broke even on the first and +$300 the 2nd.
The rest of the week was just spent chillin in Ithaca with brauner and her new pet hamster Larry David.

The second week was more eventful. I headed out to Turning Stone on Monday afternoon with the intentions of staying over if I could afford it. I started playing at 3:30 pm at 100 max and after 10 hours or so I was up $300. The lowest room was $110 + tax at the Inn and i didn't feel like dishing out 1/3 of my winnings on a few hours of sleep so I drove back to Ithaca and stayed there for the night.
The next day I drove out to T-stone again and decided I would play 200 max. Got there at around 3:30 again and sat at the 200 max game. I was up $250 after about 3 or 4 hours and then the game broke. The only other game was 500 max and 100 max and i wasn't ready to take that much of a gamble with my br at the 500 max game. I only had around $1500, so i sat at the 100 max and tried grinding that out. After 2 hours of very little action i was down 150 and getting extremely impatient so i'm sure you can guess what happened.
I took an open seat at the 500 max and within an hour i doubled up. This was the hand.
Folds to me in the cutoff and i limp with A5c. Button limps and blinds r in. Flop comes T 5 3, 2 clubs. checks to me, i bet 15. Button smoothcalls and blinds fold. Turn is a 4c. I bet 15, he raises to 40. I re-raise to 120. He thinks about it for a few second and goes all in so i instacall and he's drawing dead with KK.
After that pot i played one more half and grabbed some dinner at the Emerald. I didn't feel like stayin over again for some reason so I headed back to Ithaca that night.
By now it had been Wednesday and Brauner was back from a morning class. After some eggs, we took her friend Chloe to the dentist because she needed an emergency root canal. I felt really bad for her, she was in a lot of pain. After dropping her off, alex and i got some lunch and chilled back at her dorm for a few hours.
My plan was to spend the rest of the week at T-stone and come back to Ithaca for the weekend since Jeremy and Adam were actually coming up here.
I got to T-stone around 10pm and played until midnight or so finishing +$160. I decided i'd get a room and get a good nights sleep so i could be good to go for the next day.
After a nice western omlette breakfast i headed into the poker room. The only games going were 100 max and 500 max so i got on the list for 500 max and played 100 max in the mean time. Less than half an hour went by and a seat opened up. The stacks were pretty good ranging from 300 to 1500 and the players were generally weak. I had a ridiculous cold string of cards but after 2 or 3 hours the following hand came up.
i had 24h and called a raise to 15 with 7 ppl in the hand. The flop came 2 2 8 and i checked. It went checks around to the button who bet 30. Folds around to me and i smooth called. Turn was a 6 and i checked as did he. River was an A and i bet 50. He minraised to 100 making me think he thought his ace or pair was good. I hollywooded for a little bit and then put him all in for 200 more and he called with AJ. A few hours later, no action and I ended up bluffing off alot of chips leaving me with only 400, and being in for 600. The table was breaking down and we played a few hands 4 handed after i busted some guy and the game broke leaving me completely even.
I went over to a 200 max game and wasn't really feeling it. Played for 4 hours or so and decided to quit and get a room at around 1:00.
The next day was Friday and I went over to the Diner for some breakfast. At around noon i walked into the poker room and heard someone call my name. My friend Max and his friend were sitting at a 2/4 limit game. Max is 20 and deals cards in the city, that's how we met. I haven't seen him since Fairview got shutdown so it was good to run into him. We caught up for a bit and he told me City Limit on 5th ave ended up getting robbed this weekend....but there's more. Apparently one of the robber's dropped a shotgun and when he went to go pick it up it went off killing Frank Desena.
http://www.nypost.com/seven/11032007/news/regionalnews/poker_room_murder_3800.htm I played with Frank a few times but never really knew him. He was a really nice guy though and it's so fucked up how this happened. The scary part is that I could've easily been there and it could've just as easily happened to me.
Max said the cops went on a rampage and raided 7 clubs in long island. He now works at Genoa but he doesn't know what the status is since they might be closing too.
Anyways, that day I played 200 max for the afternoon and finished +$680 giving me an overall win for those two weeks of +$1780.

I finished off my trip with a great weekend with Dan Jeremy Adam and Brauner. It was really good seeing everyone again and in less than 2 weeks its already going to be Thanksgiving.

It feels so good to be in my own house again....
PEBBLES!!!

Personal Best

2007-10-28T15:59:00.001-07:00

As you can probably tell, I had an awesome weekend in Borgata. In fact, i hit my best win of +$2110 in less than 24 hours at a 1-2 game.

Thursday night I went over to Liu's place in Rutgers to crash there so that Eng and I could get an early start the next day. After some lunch at Penang we hit the road and arrived at Borgata at around 6:30. By 7 we were both playing at seperate tables. My table was okay but things got pretty slow and there was little action, so i took a seat at eric's table. There were much bigger stacks and more action so i figure as long as i'm patient and play my normal game i should get paid. Within a couple hours i was sitting on 1k after doubling up from this Armenian guy.
He was playing pretty wrecklessly, jamming and overbetting pots by ridiculous amounts. So this was the hand.
I have A2 in the sb and flop comes A 6 2. Unraised pot and i bet $7. Folds around to the Armenian who takes out a stack and raises to $100ish. I thought for a bit and then moved in. The guy INSTACALLS, so now i'm thinking okay...gg. Turn is a T and river J. He shows AK...LOL. After that pot i won a few more hands and by 5am decided to call it a night and get some sleep. Cashed out with $1260 and still being in for my original 300 gave me an overall win of $960.
Unfortunetly, on my way back to the car i couldn't help but play some craps and lost all my money...
Fine, that didn't happen.
After about 6 hours of uncomfortable sleep, i washed up and headed back to work.
It was a Saturday afternoon and the Borgata poker room was absolutely packed. There must've been atleast 20 1-2 games going. Some 2-5 games looked ridiculous but despite my little win i decided to be patient and grind out some more 1-2.
While i was walking in some clown in a business suit points to me tellin me to come sit at his table but i just kept walking...for now lol.
Eng was still down a couple hundred and there weren't any open seats at his table so i grabbed a seat at a nearby one since there were literally a million 1-2's.
A few hands in I flop a set with 33 and win like $75. The table was pretty dead so i took an open seat at the guy's table who called me over before. It was nothing personal, but he was sitting with like 800 and there were some pretty nice stacks at that table. Plus, i'm sure it would be fun to play him.
Now this jackass was just a funny character. He had the whole flashy "i know what i'm doing, i'm better than you" thing goin for him but his play was the complete opposite. He was just incredibly weak. After about an hour or so i was up to $600. For whatever reason, i was paranoid that everyone at the table thought i was some dead money kid so that gave me more reason to play better. After me and eng got some lunch at Fatburger, I continued to just milk these guys and keep chipping away. The cards were in my favor but I was playing well too. $600 turned into $850, which turned into $1200 and finally at 10:00 I finished up with $1450. Eng was still down a couple hundred but it was time to go since i had that nasty drive ahead of me.
Overall i was up $2110 and completely paid back eng, leaving me with 1700.
After i got home and took a much needed shower my mom made me give her $500 since i owed it to her from paying off my bills. This left me with only $1200 which sux but its still enough to play 1-2 with comfortably so i wasn't worried.
Afterwards i headed over to Dan's house to relax for a bit. It was now 3:30am and being the degenerate that i am, i couldnt help but check out the new club in the city. Saturday night, i figured there has to be some good action goin on.
When i got to the 7th floor, i took 400 from the cage and put 100 in my pocket. The guy directed me to go to the table in the back and when i sat down i was BB with 99. I looked around and saw some pretty huge stacks and all of a sudden button makes it 40 to go.
Oooooh, this is 2-5....I guess that's a good start.
I went over to the next table and for a few hours was pretty card dead. Ended up being in for 400 and down 100 when 3 players decided to leave, leaving the game 4 handed. I didn't mind since i play better short handed anyway.
After a few hands i limp in the cutoff with 77 and sb makes it 10 to go. BB calls and i call and it goes 3 way. flop comes A J 6, 2 clubs. checks to me, i bet 25. sb folds but BB thinks about it for a second and raises to 65. There was somethin about the way he raised that made me think he was just makin a move with at best a pair of Jacks since he thought i was making a position bet. I put him all in for 80 more and he folded and i showed him a 7. Probably shoudl've just showed him both but whatever.
A few hands later it was 8am and i was up to 500 even so i decided to take my 100 profit and leave.
I had taken a job for Party Kings or somethin because Mike asked me last week and i said i would. The meet time was 10:30 so by the time i got home i was able to get about an hour of sleep. Apparently the job was in Livingston so I was actually able to meet at the Crystal Plaza at 11. Sweet, 1 more hour of sleep. The job went okay and i ended up getting a $50 tip in addition to the $100 for the job.
Not sure how i'm still up typing this but i'm pretty beat. Definitely need a solid nights sleep.

Overall i'm thrilled with my latest victory. These opportunities don't come around that often so now it's time to capitalize.

Bored

2007-10-25T12:39:00.000-07:00

So I'm at work right now and decided i'll write a bit to kill some time since i'm pretty damn bored. Almost all the architects are away at some seminar so there's like no one here. I called in this morning/afternoon saying i was gonna be half an hour late cause i felt like sleeping in later. For some reason it was exceptionally harder for me to get out of bed today = /
So I get to the office and they need me to make a delivery down the street which took about 20 minutes. After that i came back and there was absolutely nothing for me to do so i went out again to grab some lunch. Got a hot pastrami wrap w/ russian dressing, lettuce and tomatos, incredible. Came back to the office and still nothin for me to do.
Apparently Netflix allows you to watch movies online which is awesome. Their selection is limited but they did have 30 rock and i've never seen it before but i've heard good things so i decided i'll watch a few episodes. It's pretty good, nothin special. It's pretty cool how i'm getting paid $11 to just watch tv.
So last night there was a game at SHU with the regular players and some new people. Overall i won $50. Joe showed up with no money ofcourse so i spotted him $40. It was a pretty good game. We started off playing HORSE which was fun but kinda slow so we made the hold'em part NL and for 2 rotations instead of 1. Then as time passed we ended up just playin hold'em/omaha and then just hold'em. I broke my rule of not drinkin at the poker table but i felt like i could've made an exception just this one time. It was more of a friendly/social game rather than a grind session. This one girl said she'd go out to get alcohol so i figured i may as well get a bottle of Jack. Everyone was drinking and the game turned pretty wild, naturally. By the end people were going all in blind for 40 and 50 bucks in a .50/1 game lol. Somehow Mike was all in about 3-4 times, everytime a 3-1 underdog and just wouldn't bust out. There was free money being given away but ofcourse Mike got the best of it lol.
So tomorrow is Friday and I haven't played 1/2 since Borgata. I went to check out Straddle Tuesday night but ofcourse they weren't open. When i got home i checked my e-mail and what do ya kno, Straddle e-mailed me. They're re-opening as City Limit on 5th Ave tomorrow. I was getting worried that I wasn't gonna find a place since i can't get the address to Genoa anywhere.
I made a post on 2+2 asking if anyone knew where to find a 1/2 game in the city but an hour later it was deleted by the moderater. Apparently i'm not allowed to make posts asking that.
I really wanna go to T-stone this weekend since it won't be hundreds of dollars for a room, but i don't think Eng wants to drive and God knows its a 50/50 if i take my car.
I guess i'll take the recycling out in half an hour and then bounce...did i mention there's nothing for me to do?

Later

Good ol' Borgata

2007-10-21T00:33:00.000-07:00

Last night me and eng went to AC. I played for about 12 hours, took a nap, got in another session.. Eng-being the robot that he is, didn't sleep so he just played from friday night 9pm till midnight of saturday.

Considering my last session was a crippling loss of nearly my entire br, i still managed to come up with $360 for this trip. Eng was running low on cash too but he was able to spot me a hundo.

So we get there around 9:30 and luckily i managed to find an open seat without having to deal with floor. I sat with 300 and got down to 240 and reloaded. Picked up a couple of pots and within an hour or so I was up to 550. Then this hand comes up. I have TT on the button and make it 15 to go, i get 2 callers and flop comes 5c 4c 2. They both check to me and i bet 30. sb calls and other one folds. Turn is a 2 and he quickly checks so i bet 75. He thinks about it and then hesitantly calls. River is Qc and he moves in for 150 so i'm forced to lay it down. He says he had Q5, don't really know if i believe him but i was definitely beat. So then a few hands later i get 86 in the bb and flop trips with 8h 8 7, i bet $6 and this guy goes all in for $40 so i call and he has J7h, turn heart river heart...sweet.
So in the mean time eng was doing a $100+20 sng but busted out and sat down at my table after getting a brutal beat on a previous table. I think it went down like this but i could be making things up.
He flops top set on 5c4c3 board. Check called to the turn which is Ac. guy bets eng raises and they get all their money in. River Qc and the guy nails a higher set. He was down about 400 and sits down at my table. At this point i had been dwindling down to 200 and reloaded for another 100 more. I was playing pretty solid and being patient, after about 3 hours of nothing i picked up some pots and was up to 660ish. Eng had been losing a couple hands and ended up reloading two or three times, not sure. At around 4:00 for some reason i found my rhythm and peaked at around $850. I had just reloaded $100 more so was in for 460 total . Before i knew it 7 hours went by and i finished with $835 for a win of +$375.
By now it's 11 am and i had been up for almost 24 hours so i had to take a nap in the car. Got up at around 4pm and cleaned up a little in the bathroom before starting another session. Eng had been at the same table this whole time but now there were completely different faces. I pulled up a seat to eric's right and within an hour i was up to 450ish after stacking a guy with KK. Really not sure what he had but it was a pretty standard hand. I was in position and flop came 8 5 3 or something i don't remmeber exactly, he checked i bet 22 and he calls. Turn is a Q, he checks quickly and i bet 40 and he calls. River is a J and he plays with his chips a little bit and then checks. I put him all in for 120 or something, i announce I have kings and he just mucks. Not really sure of what he had, maybe flush draw and picked up a pair.
Took down a few more pots and was at 550ish when the following hand comes up. This haitian or african guy makes it 7 and 2 people call. i have AQ in the sb and re-raise to 30. Table's pretty tight but hatian guy calls and the others too. Flop comes Ad Jd 4h. Not sure why but i decided to check to the aggressive hatian who checked behind me. He had just reloaded after busting out on putting all his money on a flush draw so he was definitely steaming at this point. Anyways, the other 2 checked as well and turn peeled off a 3h. i bet 45 and haitian moves in for 143 total, 98 more. I started breaking down the hand and felt as though he thought i was weak because i could've been stabbing with KK QQ JJ TT. Also since he did insta shove i figured it was probably a draw and if he for some reason had AJ then so be it. So i called and river brought a black 4. he says he missed and shows KTh...dodged a few there.
At this point i was pretty hungry and got some lunch at the foodcourt downstairs. Btw, not sure if i ever mentioned this but Borgata's foodcourt is ridiculous. They've got japanese, burger, pizza, chinese, cheesesteaks, and ice cream.
After some pizza I got back to the table and for some reason wasn't feeling it. I hovered around 700-550ish and had lost motivation to play. I think the reason is because i knew i had a long drive home ahead and figured i may as well get it over with before i get too tired later. by now it was 7:30 and i figured we'd leave soon. The table had been getting alot more aggressive and people were getting stacked left and right. I got right back into the action and peaked at 900ish. It had already been approaching 11 and me and eng decided we'd stay till no later than midnight. Oh yeah, in the meantime eng had gotten up to $1500 lol. He was just taking down monster pots but i forget the biggest one, maybe it'll come back to me. At this time i figure i'll accept a +400ish victory but really felt bad that i couldn't get atleast 600. Then, the following hand comes up.
I have 53c and limp utg. Goes around to the button who makes it 15. I call and it goes 5 way with sb and bb in too. Flop comes down 456, with 1 club. i fired out 25 and button called with frustration and sb folded. Turn is an Ac, great card. I fire a 2nd barrel of 75 and he calls. River is gin, 7c. I bet out a stack of 130ish and he moves in for 165ish total. He shows A8 for a straight and i immediately flip over my hand. SHIP IT! By far best hand this whole trip. That pot put me up to $1102 for a total of +$800. Conveniently it was 5 minutes to midnight and me and eng just left with 2600.
Oh yeah, i just remembered the hand that eng won huge on.
It's raised preflop i think and flop comes 9 2 2. Eng kicks my leg and shows me 99...lucky bastard. He check calls the flop and then checkraises the turn from 40 to 55. The guy instantly moves in for a couple hundo and shows A2 and eng immediately shows him nines full...poor guy.

Oh, on a side note. At my table was this girl that plays in the city too. I forget her name but she recognized me and told me Straddle got busted on friday...LOL. I was there tuesday, wednesday, and thursday night and they coudl've easily come then but i dodged it by 1 day!....anyways i was gonna ask her the address to Genoa but she had gotten up to get food so i missed her. Oh well, maybe straddle will reopen next week.

So overall this trip was definitely good financially but more important mentally. Not sure what would've happened if i were to go broke today but it wouldn't be pretty. I ended up paying eng back 400 since i still owed him 1000. i'm gonna try to win next week so i can pay back lu since i feel really bad that i've owed him money forever now. Worst case i'll give him 100 every few days or something, we'll figure somethin out.

It's 5:13 am and i'm getting flashbacks of 3 years ago when i'd go on these same AC trips. Good to see not much has changed.

I'm exhausted...thank God tomorrow is sunday, i'm sleeping forever.

peaceee

nasty side of NL

2007-10-19T01:05:00.000-07:00

Well, tonight was pretty brutal. Got cleaned out at Straddle within an hour basically. So here's what happened. I get there a little past midnight and the place is PACKED. The list on 1/2 is like 7 people deep but there's open seats at 2/5 so i wasn't prepared to just leave and go home.

I sat down with $500 and a couple hands in the following hand comes up. I'm in the bb with K9d and end up calling a raise to 15. Went 3 way and flop came 9 8 6, rainbow. Pretty good flop for me but i decided to check. They both checked and i peeled off a K on the turn. Now i checked hoping someone would steal or have a king. 1 guy bet 10 and another raised to 50. I re-raised to 150 and he called pretty quickly. river was an 8 and i put him all in for 160. He ended up catching a 2 outter for a boat with 89...ouch.

I dug into my pockets and reached out 400 more. I was ready to play my A game and just go on a tear when i look down and see Kings. There was a $20 raise and i re-popped to $100 pretty quicky, hopefully making it seem like AK. The guy instantly shoves all in for $400 total so i call and he has QQ. Dominating right now but ofcourse he hits the Q on the flop...shocker.

I was down to my last $150. I probably shoudlv'e just left then but i figured i would finish off the half, double up or die trying. So i ended up picking up a few pots and getting to around $250 when i ran into 2 pair with top pair QJ but ended up getting away from it even though i did lose about 100 on the hand. Anyways, the next hand i had KK utg and decided to limp. No one raised which sucked but flop came Q J 2 with 2 diamonds. Immediately the sb bets 50, so i push for 150 all in and he calls with J5d. Turn is the best card, K. Taking away alot of his outs and leaving only diamonds that don't pair. River - 4d...naturally.

It's definitely frustrating but I still have high hopes of what's to come. Besides, i've been playing pretty well with these past nightly sessions so hopefully good play will get rewarded soon. Peace out.

Random update

2007-10-14T20:38:00.000-07:00

I haven't updated in a while so i figure now is a good time. So i ended up withdrawing my classes the last possible moment. Not really sure what changed my mind but i knew that if i were to go back this semester it wouldn't feel right.

So eng and i took a trip to AC in early september. We both got beat up pretty bad with a combined loss of 1800. Even though i lost i was still pretty confident because the field is incredibly weak. Its tough but you just gotta wait it out sometimes. We went back again this weekend. i won 650 but eng had shitty luck. not gonna go into hand details but he got pretty screwed. i was fortunate enough for the cards to cooperate with me.

In the mean time i've gotten a job working for the Rosen Group, an architectural and design firm. I basically just run errands for them and help out around the office. Not sure how much longer i'm gonna stay there but it's not gonna be much longer i know that. I recognized one guy at my table yesterday who plays in the city too and he said Fairview has shut down for good. Looks like i'll have to play at straddle when i get some more cash goin but i'm not lookin forward to it cause its a complete shit hole. Hopefully somethin else will come up...i'm pretty sure i could find another club if i look hard enough.

Anyway that's pretty much it, i'll update again when somethin big comes up.

Peace

2007-08-31T12:33:00.001-07:00

Well it came down to cleaning toilets for $20per hour or taking classes. It really fucking sucks because all i wanted to do this semester was put in noon to 8:00 sessions and just breathe poker. ALSJDFALKSJDFALSJDF;ALKJDFLAKSJDFLAJSDFLAJSDLFAJSDLFKJALSDKFJALSDJFALSDJFLAKSJDFLAKSJDFLAJSDLFASJDLFASDFJALSDJFASLDFALSDJFASDJFLAKSFDJALDJFUCKINGSHIT.
I guess sacrifices have to be made for now.

Back

2007-08-12T22:04:00.002-07:00

Wow it's been a while. Started back up again this week with 3 winning sessions for +700. It really feels good to be back. Sort of hitting and running/ not playing full sessions but that's mainly due to time restraints and safety for my bankroll. Still got plenty of debt to pay back so that's still my number one priority but i know i'll get that out of the way soon enough. Last week of camp too so that's good and then parents are going away so it should be a good finale to the summer. it really did go by fast.
That's it for now,
peace.

Last 2 weeks

2007-06-24T13:56:00.000-07:00

"But it ain't about how hard you hit, it is about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward, how much can you take and keep moving forward. That's how winning is done" - Rocky Balboa

Downswings can be rough, but with my experience i handle them pretty well. It can be really frustrating and sometimes demoralizing, but on the other hand you also have to welcome them. Without variance there would be no luck and poker would only be a game of skill. I think its extremely important to grasp these concepts in order to know how to deal with a downswing.

Ok so a quick recap. The first week I had 2 more losing sessions of $700 combined. With my $800 credit card bill in mind i decided not to play with my remaining bankroll and take the safer approach. Well, that week i played on eng's account and didn't have a profitable session. Since i had a million dollars to work with i figured whats the point of starting from the bottom, i may as well just 4 table 1/2 and see how that goes. It went pretty bad and i was stuck a couple hundred within an hour. Then the next day I decided i was gonna play heads up on FTP and grind that out. Unfortunetly in one of my matches i let the power of tilt get to me and ended up losing $400+ that session. I decided to only watch heads up videos on CR to see what i was doing wrong. Yeah, i know...too little too late but whatever. I drilled hours and hours of these videos into my head and it changed my game in a much better way. Heads up is the most difficult form of poker. Especially online when your being dealt so many hands against the same opponent it really becomes such a mind game. Fortunetly enough i was able to see how the pro's approach their opponents in heads up play and in turn i realized quickly how to reinforce my game.
I decided to take a few days off poker completely and just clear my head. Then that following monday i decided i was going to play with the money i owed for my credit card.
1st session: +$450
2nd session: +$185

So far so good, then the 3rd session comes. Eng decided to tag along since he wasn't going to go to class. Here's how this session went:
We get there and start 4 handed. Eng is to my right. This other kid whose name was Iggy is to his right and a fourth bad player. The bad player started off the session with a raise to 20 and showed 45 o/s. After him showing that i immediately knew this chump was going broke. He only had about $100 behind. So Eng and Iggy got caught up in a hand where Iggy button raised to $12 and Eng re-raised to $40. Iggy called in position and flop comes 9 7 5, 2 spades i think. eng bets 55 and his opponent calls. turn is a 3s. Eng pushes Iggy all in for 140 and he calls with 3 5. The river misses eng since i think he needed a spade. After that Eng reloads 200 more. I'm playing my normal game and slowly chipping up to about 400. Then the following hand comes up. Iggy raises to 15, eng re-raises to 35. i look down and see AA. Immediately i think FUCK. obviously i know eng's not gonna pay me off unless he has KK. the raise ended up being to 130. Eng is sitting there contemplating and goes omg do u hvea AA?? i know you have AA but i can't fold. That's when i knew he had KK but obviously i couldn't show him the aces even though i wanted to. W/e he calls and i double up.
By this point the table has already filled up. I have player notes on most of these guys. One guy i had mental notes that he folds to a 2nd barrell bet. I haven't been getting any hands and felt like i was missing out on alot of action. The following hand comes up. There's a live straddle and about 6 limp. i look down at KQ off and make it 30 to go. folds around to this one indian guy who insta calls. flop comes low with 9 high. at this point i bet out 55. He calls relatively quickly so i figure i'll evaluate on the turn, not necessarily sure i want to shut down. Turn is a great card and pairs up the 9. Now i figure i can get him off a hand like 77. i bet 125 and he instantly goes all in for like 250 total. Obviously i can't call. Now i'm down to like 550ish. a few hands later there's another straddle and i'm in the BB with QQ. i figure i'm gonna make the same raise preflop as i did last time. i make it 30 to go and i get 1 caller who leaves himself with 70 in chips. flop comes K high with 2 hearts, i put him in and he calls with K4. OOOK. there goes another hundo. The next hand that comes up just really makes no sense to me. Iggy raises to 20 and i call with 66 as does another player behind me. Flop comes A J 8 with 2 clubs. Iggy checks so i figure i'll bet 40 and try to take it down. The player behind me folds and Iggy calls which makes me kind of confused. i'm planning on shutting down depending on what comes next. Turn is a Kc. He checks to me and i check as well. River is a 9. He insta checks and i figure i can make a value bet bluff. i bet $80 and he goes make it $200. Obivoulsy i can't call and he shows me QQ. Ok first of all this just shows the type of player that he is. He can't even give me respect for an A on the flop. Just a complete call station. If he was that sure he had the best hand then why even raise? But ofcourse these are the type of players that you need hands against. So after that eng had already busted out and i figured i would just play till the end of the half. After that hand and a combination of not hitting a few flops i reloaded $100 more. Then the following hand came up. There's a straddle and it goes like 6 way. i'm in the SB with 8Td and decide to see the flop. Flop comes 9 7 2. i check and a player in late position bets $45. i pop it up to $145 and he goes how much do u have left? i show him about $120. he decides to go all in and has me covered in which case i'm committed to calling. i miss my 11 outs, he shows Q9 and takes down the pot.
Pretty damn frustrating playing against players who can't even fold a Q kicker to a raise.

I ended up losing $400 that session and since i spotted Eng, he lost $400 of my money too. The next day i had to pay my mom the $800 for the credit card bill and that left me with no bankroll. Even though i went bust i'm still confident in my game. I know i can definitely win consistantly over the long run, just gotta weather the storm for now. Looks like its back to driving K'nish's truck.

Week 1

2007-06-09T02:38:00.000-07:00

Starting BR: $2100
Ending BR: $1800

I put in 17-20 hours this week. Not a profitable first week of my documented poker journey but i'm still very confident in myself. I believe as long as i put in good quality hours the results will generate profitably. Towards the end of the week these FUCKING allergies just hit me and really affected my stamina at the table. I had to end 2 sessions early, one 2-hour and one 3-hour session just because it was so hard for me to function normally. However, my game wasn't affected by the allergies and i therefore still count those hours as good quality hours. My game is starting to develop nicely; somewhat tight but absolutely aggressive.

Now that i'm relying on poker as my primary source of income there is definitely added pressure due to my bankroll having to be affected by my expenses. By the end of next week i need to cough up $900 for my credit card bill and $1,000 for umm lets just say a late payment. Still, this means that i really do have to step it up and pull through. I know i can do it but as this week has shown you can never be too certain especially when it comes to gambling. I'm taking the weekend off to relax and be good to go for week 2.