Cooler

Last night, I played Steve's game in Orangeville. He hosts a decent game, with anywhere from 30 to 40 players most times...last night, he kept it to 30 to keep the time frame. Since he'll be heading to Vegas to play a couple of events ($1500) he used the blinds for the events, for practice. Must say, I do like that structure...40min blinds, 4500 in chips. Very nice. I went expecting to play until at least final table...but the poker gods hate me this week.

First level, about 12min in, I get AQ in the bb. Steve raises from LP but I've played Steve enough to know he'll open with just about anything in that position. I cold call him, and everyone else folds. Flop comes down KQ10. I bet out and get raised by Steve. Okay, again, I know he likes to 3bet too, so I just cold call his raise. He could also hit hard too, and I expected to see AK here. Turn comes down a rag that puts two hearts on board, I have the Ah. I check, and he puts out 1000. Thinking I can still suck out here, I call again. The river brings another 10 an now I'm scared. It goes check/check, and Steve shows trip Kings. Yep, he could have anything alright, didn't expect a set though.

About 10min later, I'm dealt KK and raise it to 200. Gets reraised by a guy I've never played before to 650, who just took down a nice pot with AA. It gets folded to me, and I count out chips, and see I only have enough for a bit better than a nice 3bet, so I push all in. Yep...he has AA again. But the hard part was the flop...K10A...I'm out in two hands and have to sit and wait for my ride, who bubbled. With those blinds, it was a long wait. Cooler hands...whatchagointado?

Graham from pokerforum.ca has started up a new site...Fuzion Poker...and has asked me to write some blogs and articles for him. I've written a few already, and he originally told me $10 per post. Anyway, he asks me for an invoice and I email me what I had done. He comes back to me and says since my posts were of good length and well written, he's going to give me $15 per post. SWEET. So I had him do a direct deposit into PokerStars and now I have a bit of a bankroll to play with. Been playing some $3.30 SnG's, and so far got it up to $185 in the past few days, so I'm happy about that. Using the PokerStrategy.com system for SnG's...seems to be working so far.

Haven't played a lot of cash games lately. Been taking a bit of a beating. Was up to about $300 on Titan, but now its down to $250 again. I was play .05/.10 NL but I think I'll move back down for awhile and build up again a bit before I tackle that level again. Its been a battle to keep my cards live, especially in 6man games. Dont' know if its me, the way I'm playing, or just can't seem to get anything to stick for me. Haven't reviewed my Elephant in awhile, so maybe I'll spend some time going over that before I restart too.

Was sick awhile ago, and took some time off work. The one day, I went on Supreme and played a $3 rebuy with 115 players...and won it!!! My first MTT online win, for about $400 in total. Very nice, but I got damn lucky on that final table. More than once too.

Customer golf tournament was this week. Now I've only gone out once before this year, and it really sucked. This was much better, hitting par. Made a beautiful drive on 18, and followed with a 3hybrid to be on the green in two on a par 5. Unfortunately, one of the guys in the group ahead of us saw it, went back to the green, and hammered it back up the fairway at us, buggers. Pissed me off.

Starting the next league season next week. Jesus, didn't think it had been three months already...didn't mean for the break to be that long. Hope I get them coming out again though...could use the practice. Going to be tough financially too...times are really hurting for me lately, but I'm hoping it will come around in July for me again. We'll see.

Up & Down

May was ugly.

I had gone from a nice high and then lose it all, only to rebuild again and again hit a downswing. Not sure what the issue is, but I think it has a lot to do with the fact that I didn't keep tabs on my performance for the month at all. I purposefully didn't review my data at all for the month, some stupid little experiment of mine that showed me that by NOT reviewing constantly, I easily slip into the old habits...calling OOP, raising weak hands, chasing...things I thought I had a handle on but guess I don't. WAKE UP MAN.

Been home sick the most of this week, and only feel up to playing today, but not cash games. So I logged onto Supreme and played a 3.30euro mtt. Was pretty much card dead the whole game too, until the final table where I picked up some nice pots and make some good moves to stay in the game. And wouldn't you know it...I won it!!! Came out to be just under $400cdn for the win...nice little boost to the old bankroll, thank you very much. Signed up for another one, 1euro this time, and just after the rebuy period, I get AA. Have one limper in front, so I raise it up 6x bb, thinking it should be enough to drive everyone out. Nope, originally limper calls me being oop. Flop comes down 7810, all clubs, and I have the ace of clubs. She checks, I bet out a pot sized raise, thinking even if she has a flush or straight, I still have outs to the nut flush. Turn pairs the 7 and she checks again. I push with everything I have left, she has me covered, its a do or die move. She wastes every possible second and I think I'm golden...she calls...NUT STRAIGHT FLUSH on the flop!!! Slow rolled me bad. Ace on the river gives me a boat but it isn't enough. God I hate being slow rolled.

Still, it was a good day off work all in all I guess. Made some money playing a format I don't normally play which is good.

WSOP is on now. Someday, I want to make it to Vegas...never been...and no better time for a player like me to want to go than during the World Series of Poker. Maybe next year, this year, financially, just isn't feasible. Maybe next year...sigh. Steve is going again, hope he does better than last year. He managed to cash last year, so I'm hoping for a higher position for him. He has the skill, just needs the luck now.

Crazy game this poker. Crazy Crazy game.

Making the best of a slow week.

Haven't had a lot of time to play online this week, but the good news is that when I did, I made the most of it.

With the $75 I had won from PS ($50 for a promo and another $25 for TellAFriend), my bankroll got a very healthy boost that allowed me to play .05/.10 NL. Since then, I've really noticed three things. First, the play at this level is so different than the lower limits. By that I mean, the player skill is quite a bit better. Oh sure, there are still donks, but the overall skill set is higher. Its been a good transition for me so far, but I have to tighten up just a bit more, at least to start off. Played one hand by accident that turned very nice for me though. Dealt T8dd in late middle position, and I accidentally limped in with it after everyone in front folded. Normally, I would fold in this spot, or if I had been in slightly better position, raise to steal the blinds, but I was rushing between tables and hit call instead of fold. Anyway, get like four callers including the blinds to see a flop of 797, with two diamonds. A flop like that, and I'm going to see the river at most times. I lead out and get called by the bb. Turn throws me a brick, 4c, but again I try to take it down here with a 2/3pot bet. I get raised by 1.5times my bet, and I seriously considered folding here, but I have a LOT of outs to fill to straight and flush and call the raise. River comes the magical 6d giving me a rare straight flush, and bb pushes all in on me. Thank you sir. Good thing I hit hard too, because bb had 97 for the flopped boat. Got very lucky, but it feels good to be the one sucking out like that instead of getting beaten up on for a change. ;) I"m sure the bb labeled me with a note right after that hand too, but it didn't do him any good because a few hands later, I felted him again when I hit a wheel straight on the river and took him money again. I'm sure he would have me labeled as a big fish, so I'm sure I'll see him sit on my tables again soon.

I managed to apply some good strong theory to my game and usually ended up almost doubling up on every table I played on this week. Bankroll is at $300 now woohoo!!! I'm purposely avoiding looking at Elephant charts and data this month too even though I'm recording every hand. I want to see what the month end chart is going to look like as a surprise instead of after every session. I found that when I looked at it after every session, I got frustrated more and more, thinking I could have done so much better, and decided I would do it this month only once at the end and then review. Might not be the best decision I make, but I'll determine that next week after I review everything for May. If I had to guess, I've made profit, but it would be rocky up and down, and my personal data will show I'm a lot looser than I think I am, but we'll see.

One of my league players is hosting a game this afternoon, kind of a WSOP warmup for him and his buds who are playing a couple of events this year. Its a $80 freezeout with deepstacks and 45min blinds, so lots of play, and 40 players in total. I've reviewed some of the players and either have played most of them before, or know of them through pokerforum.ca and know they are solid players, so its going to be a pretty good aggressive game. I'm going in with the plan to play a bit looser up front and try to build my stack early, and hopefully change gears after a while and slow it down. Play my monsters aggressively, and try to trap with mid range cards like suited connectors in late position. And of course, there will be a $1/$2 NL cash game as players bust out and if I do get busted out of the tourney, I'm hoping to apply some of the knowledge from PokerStrategy.com to this cash game as well and see what happens. Again though, these guys are very qualified and it'll be a real good test of skills.

Graham, from pokerforum.ca, has asked if I would be interested in updating a couple of blogs for him on a couple of other sites he manages...for pay!!! Says he'll pay $10 per post, and would like to see four to five posts per week. Sounds like a good way to build a bankroll to me. Told him I would be interested, even for a short while, just to see how things go. Haven't heard from him lately though, but it could be fun to do and get a few extra bucks doing it. The best part is they don't have to be very long, mostly just news and views in the poker world. I think I can handle that much so we'll see.

Everyone's been sick here at home now the past two weeks. First, the kid was sick and missed a week of school. Then over the long weekend last weekend, I was sick and never left the house. Then the wife got it and she's been sick all this past week. Seems the only not sick is the dog, lucky her. I think its passed through now though thank goodness, and things are returning to normal...or what is normal for us anyway ;) Mark still has my truck though. He hasn't had a lot of time to fix it lately with everything else in his world so he's asked if he could have another week. I guess why not, at least it will be done and I can feel confident it won't break down on the side of the road anywhere.

Well, that's about it for now. I'll update next week on how I did at the tournament as well as the cash game (but hopefully, I'm in the tournament long enough to not be able to play the cash game).

6 Man games; First Golf game; $50 Promo win; SET Victory!

Found the pleasure of playing 6 man NL tables. Man, the bankroll is growing fast! Took a beating yesterday though, three buyins in less than 30mins, but I hit my stop wall, and quit after that. Looked like it was going to be the same today, but I managed to break even today before quitting, thank goodness. But I have to say, playing 6man games seems very profitable for me. My bankroll on Titan is sitting at about $180 right now, almost ready to move up to .05/.1 NL games, but I want 20 buyins which is $200 before I do that (prefer $250 actually, so not sure if I'll move up when I hit $200 or not). Oh, and I played some .12/.25 cash on Supreme, and doubled up my buyin in an hour AND won a SnG and a Cooler tournament. That roll right now on Supreme is sitting at about $400 euros which is nice too. Mind you, my Party and Stars accounts are still very low...Party I think is at <$20 and Stars is around $50. Will have to work on building them up, but its so hard to find the time to do it. I can only but in a couple of hours a day in, and not every day either, but it seems to still be time well spend if the bankroll continues to grow.

Last week, PokerStrategy held a promo for posting hands for analyzes, and I won $50 to go toward my bankroll too! SWEET! I'm trying to find out if I can combine it with my Tell A Friend bonus too and get all of it transferred before I set it up. Right now its a total of $75, which would be very nice right now. BTW, if you want to join up to PokerStrategy.com, just click on the banner on the right hand side. Signup, take the very easy quiz, and I automatically get the Tell A Friend bonus. If asked, though, tell them STR82ACE sent you.

The league held the Season Ending Tournament last Thursday, and I won it again. Again, made a very mediocre season profitable. To tell you the truth, though, I couldn't help but win it with the hands I was getting. Big pockets when I needed them, and my reads were solid all game. We're on a break right now for awhile, not sure when I will start it up again. I hope the turnout will be better though, this last season was pretty weak as far as turnouts. A few times, it was tough just to get a game going. Hoping for better things for the summer though.

Its Mother's Day today, and I have tried to call Mom a few times, no answer, and no answering machine. Wonder if they had it reconnected when they moved or not. I'll try later again.

Went golfing for the first time on Friday this year. OMG, I SUCK! I barely finished the round, I think I was at 120 when I decided to not score any more. I REALLY need to hit a range and work on my irons and short game. Not to mention, I'm stiff and sore since then too. WAY out of shape, but hey, ROUND IS A SHAPE, right? hehe

Ada just got back from another Scout camp. Rained the whole time, but she says she still had fun. Good. Brenda and I went to see the new Star Trek movie last night. Very well done too. The guy who plays Bones was a dead ringer for Deforest Kelly, uncanny likeness. Close your eyes, you would swear it was him.

Well, I finally arranged to get my truck up to Mount Forest for Mark to work on. Think its going to cost a small fortune, but it has to be done. Ball joints, brakes as required, new brake line, exhaust work, general overall maintenance. I was going to borrow his old Olds for the week, but Shannon offered me his Taurus instead, and its a much nicer ride albeit a Ford.

Next weekend is the long weekend, and I'm not sure what's going on. Might be heading to Dave's for the weekend with my parents and Rob and his family, spend some time with Dad, do some fishing, go golfing, play some poker...just spend time with him. He doesn't have much time left I'm afraid, and only God knows when it will be his time, and I want to spend time with him and have Ada with him again too. He really likes my daughter, they have hit it off so well since she was born. Its really great to see how they interact together. There's something special between them that no one really understands, but I'm very grateful for. I guess the weekend all depends on Dad and how he is feeling later in the week, so I will have to talk to my new boss and tell him it could be a last minute decision. I hope he understands...he seems to, at least.

Anyway, enough for this edition. Not sure when I will post again, might be a couple of weeks. See you then.

A profitable end to April; A profitable OOPS in May

April ended on a high note for me. Sat down for about an hour the other night on four tables and in no time, I tripled up on three of them. I do love it when you hit cards ;) Only hand that cost me was the last one, when my QQ ran into AK and villain won the race.

Wish I could spend more time online and really try to build the bankroll, but all I can do is MAYBE 10 hrs a week. But its a profitable 10hrs a week, so that's positive. My bankroll from the original $50 I got is now at $150. I do like that, a nice positive upswing. The site is great, pokerstrategy.com It has so much info and great information, and it doesn't cost a dime. Win-Win-Win.

Took the kid to a Scout camp last night, and when I got home I decided to play a couple of SNG's on Supreme before I called it night. Was planning on only playing a couple of 5euro shorthanded sng's, but the last one, I misread the buyin and didn't realize it until the table opened up. I took a look at the prize payout, and it said top two, first 175euro, second 75euro. WTF?? Why so much? I accidentally registered in a 50euro shorthanded game!!! Now, I have over 300euro in that account, with about 55euro in tournament bucks. It came out of my tournament buck account, but that still is my bankroll. From the moment I caught my mistake, I started to fire every brain cell in my head to apply my BEST effort to this game. Made no mistakes, was the chip leader for the better part of four levels, then catch AKs in bb. Get four limpers, so I raise it big, 7 or 8x bb. Get one caller, so I'm now oop, but the flop comes Kxx. I bet out 2/3 pot, get cold called. Turn is blank, raise it pot sized this time. After a second, villain pushes into me. I have him covered by about 700 chips, so I call. He shows KQo and I'm way ahead. River is Q!! Damn it!!! Down to 700 chips, with blinds 100/200. But I hung in there, played very well, and take some very nice pots by pushing in position. Before the next level starts, I'm back up to about 15bb, and back in the fight. Finally get headsup with the guy who sucked out on me. Second or third hand in, I'm dealt 99, first to act, and raise it 4xbb. He 4 bets me, and I go all in. He calls me with KQ again, and hits his damn Q on the river again. Sigh. But I put forth my best effort and made an OOPS profitable by 25euros, so I'm happy with the result.

Lesson learned...PAY ATTENTION!! When you're tired, double check the buyin!! Stupid mistake, could have hurt me big time.

Brenda has the place completely converted into a sewing room, making costumes for the kids' play next week. I feel like I have fallen into Zinger Hell!! Pieces of costumes, needles, thread...everywhere you look...lol...but its all going end next week. Play is next week.

Just got off the phone with Mom. Dad is in the hospital again up at my brother's place. Was complaining of bad chest pain, and they ended up giving him about a dozen shots of nitro. Now they say he has fluid in the lungs, so they're keeping him in until that clears up. Hang in there Dad!

April's Graph, Freeroll, and GO BRUINS GO!

My graph to date for April. You can notice exactly when I went on tilt too. I'm trying to reduce the occurrences as much as possible, but its not easy. Overall, the bankroll is growing, but been taking some work to get it there. I build up a nice stack each session, then get a bad beat most times to lose it all in one hand. Then takes a few orbits to get things back under control. One hand today had me tilting...get KhKc on the puck and raise it 4x, get the bb to call me cold. Flop comes down 10J6 two hearts and I'm thinking I'm golden. BB bets out smallish and I raise 3x his bet and he cold calls. Okay, a flush draw, but I have a ton of outs. Turn comes down a garbage 3offsuit and he checks to me. I make a pot sized bet, and he insta shoves into me. I call and show my kings...and he has a lousy AJo, no heart. Yep, Ace on the river and he wins the hand. Sick play. I did give him a note though. Next time, buddy, next time.



I've registered to play in my first freeroll on PokerStrategy on Titan Poker. Its the Silver level game and has a $5000 prize pool, top 100 pay, limited to 1000 players. Filled up FAST too, was lucky to get into it. Play starts soon, less than an hour, so I've logged off the cash tables and getting ready for tournament play now. Different mind set altogether, and need to regroup my thoughts before I start.

BOSTON SWEEPS THE HABS!!! Is there anything sweeter to the ears of a Bruins fan than those four words? I think not. Great job boys...now take it all the way to the Cup! My banner is in the window! Hard to be a Bruins fan in a Leaf town, but I'm not the only one. Seems one of the new neighbors is also a fan. Going to have to get to know them better, already seem to be smart people ;)

It came to me late this week...this weekend is opening weekend for trout fishing. Now how the HELL did I miss that?? I can't remember the last opener I missed. Oh well, never do well on the first weekend anyway. Yep...that's sour grapes right there...damn my poker hobby. The weather hasn't been the greatest either, and I have yet to get the golf clubs out for a round. Hopefully soon though.

Anyway, going to start to get ready for the freeroll now.

My TEN COMMANDMENTS

I posted this on pokerstrategy.com forum, but thought I would post it here. After I was finished with writing it, it sounded REALLY good, and I wanted to post it in my blog as well...

Came upon an epitome tonight.

For the last few sessions, I've been struggling a bit, and really couldn't figure out why. After losing a couple of buyins tonight, I figured I would stop playing and just look at the hands I was playing, so I shut everything down except Elephant and reviewed my play for the last few sessions.

Truth be told, I haven't been referring to the SHC for the past couple of weeks, figuring I had it memorized by now, so its been sitting in my desk drawer. While reviewing some hands, I took it out again, and to my surprise, saw that a number of the hands I played aren't ON the SHC at all, and I just sat back and tried to ask myself what happened.

Without the SHC, I was allowing leaks back into my game. I figured I had it all but under control, but truth is, I was starting to play speculative hands oop, hands not on the chart at all, and over valuing hands I shouldn't have, all because I lost focus on the basic strategy. I noticed that hands I once saw as worthy of seeing a flop BEFORE I started to use the BSS were creeping back into my playing range again. I noticed that raising OOP with speculative hands was actually detrimental to my game again. All the things I THOUGHT I had a handle on are once again coming back to haunt me.

So...in light of my newly re acquired insight, I'm making a few of my own COMMANDMENTS. Feel free to add your own

I Thou shalt not play w/o referring to SHC regularly
II Thou shalt not allow old patterns re emerge and become self destructive
III Thou shall learn the game by applying ODDS and IMPLIED ODDS moreso
IV Thou shall study a new article every day and fully immerse thine self to it
V Thou shall spend MORE time study thine own performances BEFORE playing a session
VI Thou shall post hands on appropriate forums for discussion and evaluation by experts
VII Thou shall come to know how to compress self made videos to be sent to others for review
VIII Thou shall ACCEPT all criticisms of thine actions without question, for thou art still a pupil in this school and need to open thine mind
IX Thou will participate more in forum hand discussions and never stop learning
X Thou will become a true player of the game, realizing that thou will never 'know it all', and accept the fact that it is the true nature of the game to continuously evolve

So help me GOD, I'm going to learn this game better!!

The effects of Tilt, and making a Video

Had an absolutely BRUTAL session a week or so ago. Was doing okay for the first hour, but then everything went to hell. QQ got hammered by some donk overplaying 74o and hitting a straight just got it started. Before you know it, I'm down three or four buyins in total in the span of less than 20 hands. I haven't updated my graph yet, but I'll post it soon and you can surely see the impact it had on me. Sick. Managing to slowly build it up again, but what a chore. Gotta learn to take these as they come and realize its just a game, but man, it was harsh.

Downloaded some new software that is giving me the oppurtunity to record my sessions. I think this is great, not only for my own use, but I can forward them to my coach for him to critique me on my play. Having a problem with compressing them, but when I get that figured out, I'm sending him my sessions once a week about 1/2 hr each, and waiting to hear back from him. Hopefully this will catapult my game to the next level even more quickly.

Took second place last night in the league game. Shocking considering I barely played a hand all night. But when I did, bluff or big hand, managed to get them paid off just the way I wanted them too. Unfortunately, QQ on a AK7 flop can only spell disaster, and it doomed me to second place. Still quite happy with the way I played though.

Weather is finally starting to warm up a bit now. Hoping the links will open up soon and I can get out and hit a few balls. I KNOW it will horrible after the winter off, but I'm still looking forward to getting out more.

Last weekend I was asked to deal at a stag for a friend, and met this girl that organizes special events. She was looking for dealers and tournament directors and took my name and number for future contact. Got me thinking if I had enough tables, I could maybe hook up with a couple of event directors and lease myself to them for some extra coin. We'll see what happens, just a thought right now.

Struggling a bit this past week. Reviewing my graph, it seems that when I do lose, I lose big time. Build up a nice pot, than usually getting sucked out on, or total misread. Mind you, I do tend to rebound a bit to the break even point, but its taking a lot of work to do it.

Noticing that after a bad beat or losing a big hand, I'm tilting a little bit. I'm starting to work on that now, getting up and walking away for a few minutes, have a smoke or just go outside and calm down before I continue playing. Even when I get beat, and I know I did nothing wrong, I try to calm myself verbally, but regardless, I seem to start making risky plays and that's making the tilt response even worse. Have to reign that in somehow.

I've sent Brent an email today asking if he is still interested in coaching me. He offered awhile ago, but lately we've kind of lost touch with each other. Used to play his games all the time, but he hasn't been holding them or if he has been, I haven't been getting notified of them. Found a site where I can record my sessions too, that way I can send him the file and he can see exactly how I'm playing instead of just using the hand histories. I can also send him player data as well so he can compare my play against different types of players.

Anyway, not much else to report on. Like I said, struggling a bit, but not too too bad. Haven't made it to Silver level yet, still need like 25pts to get there, but man, I'm really itching to read those articles and review the videos.

next week

My first Royal Flush, League win, and new graph

I hit my first royal flush a short time ago on Titan...it was SOOOOOOOOO amazing!!! After what...5 years of playing, I finally get my first. Too bad it was on the .01/.02 NL tables though, but I don't care...it was my first!!


0.01/0.02 No-Limit Hold'em (10 handed)

Preflop: Hero is MP3 with Kd, Jd
UTG calls $0.02, 2 folds, MP1 calls $0.02, MP2 folds, Hero calls $0.02, 2 folds, SB calls $0.01, BB checks.

Flop: ($0.10) 2s, Qd, Td (5 players)
SB checks, BB checks, UTG bets $0.10, MP1 folds, Hero calls $0.10, 2 folds.

Turn: ($0.30) Ad (2 players)
UTG bets $0.30, Hero calls $0.30.

River: ($0.90) 8h (2 players)
UTG bets $0.22, Hero raises to $1.70 (All-In), UTG raises to $1.25 (All-In).

Final Pot: $3.85

Results follow (highlight to see):
Hero shows a royal flush (Kd Jd)
UTG shows three of a kind, deuces (2c 2h)

Hero wins with a royal flush (Kd Jd)


The elephant is an amazing piece of tracking software. Records every hand played, analyzes you and your opponents, charts and graphs your win/loss. Its PokerTracker for the poor and I really like it. Here's my current graph for March. I like the way its moving up. ;) Still got aways to go to get to Silver level, but the forum is just great as far as having learning materials and plenty of professional coaching and peer advise. I've forwarded the link to this site to a few people but I'm not sure if they have looked into it yet or not. Time will tell. If you're reading this and want the link, let me know with a comment and I'll send it your way.

Won this week's league game. Man, I couldn't lose really. The cards I was getting were making me look a lot better than I am, but there was a couple of times it got close to bust out city...but I managed to hang on and win it in the end. Tonight I have a charity game at Bill's...won it a couple of years ago, hopefully I can repeat.

Mom sent an email out saying Dad finally got in to see the specialist. Bad news though, he has more than a few blockages, and other than staying on medication, there's not a lot he can do for him. Right now, its more or less a time thing. Knowing Dad, he would much rather not wait. Mom is the reason he's hanging on, that's a fact.

Anyway, just getting ready to get groceries now that the kid is home. She spent the March Break at her godmother's and only got back home now. Guess we have to feed her again, so its out to the store again.

Long Road Ahead

Very frustrating to be a poker player sometimes. The education I'm getting is by far some of the best available for me right now and the first thing I have to keep reminding myself everytime I play a session is that variance is to be expected and to focus on long term gain. Its more difficult than you might think though when your opponents are either totally donkeys or more advanced than you are. Or just plan luckier than you.

Since I joined pokerstrategy.com I was focusing too much on quick advancement and not enough on playing the game correctly. I wanted to get into Silver ranking so much, I often overlooked the very basics of the game, and as such, my bankroll took a huge hit. I posted my frustration on the forum, and one of the mods gave me the best piece of advise...don't concentrate on advancing too quickly. This game takes a long time to learn properly. Focus on making the right plays with the right cards at the right time, and be sure to focus on managing the bankroll correctly. As such, I moved down to the lowest possible limits as dictated by my shrinking bankroll, and I'm focusing on improving my game. Interesting to note that doing that has actually improved my bankroll somewhat already. Still got a ways to go before its at the level it should be, but it is improving...SLOWLY. And that's the way it should be done. I'll post the March graph (if I can figure out how) at the end of the month.

Got my daughter's report card for the second term. Oh my God! I'm not going into details here, other than the fact that I can't believe that one replacement teacher covering for a maternity leave has had such a negative impact on my child's education. My daughter is VERY intelligent, but you wouldn't know it by seeing a 20% drop in her average since Christmas. I'm very upset, but I'm not sure if its directed correctly. I think I overacted a bit against my kid and should maybe focus on directing it at this one teacher more. Apparently, all the kids have suffered this term in her class, and to me, that's a direct measure of the teacher and not the students. Then the teacher has the nerve to say the my daughter should read more at home. MY DAUGHTER??? Read MORE??? She is NEVER without a book as it is. Her love of reading goes all the way back to her learning to walk and talk, and I don't know of a single child that reads more than she does. It just proves my suspicions that this teacher really has no clue about the kids in her class whatsoever. Teacher interview coming up, to be sure.

Anyway, just a short one today. Been going over my stats and playing history the past few days and seeing if I can find anything I can improve on for the next week. Might play for a while later too, we'll see.

Great Site!!

I've added a banner on the left hand side for an amazing learning site for poker. I don't care if you're an advanced player or a total newbie to the game, this site is amazing. PokerStrategy.com is filled with all kinds of great learning tools from beginner to advanced, has an unparalleled video section for all levels, and offers online live coaching on all the more popular sites. It is also possible to customize your education to your wants. Cash games (limit and no limit), SNG's, MTT's, Omaha, whatever you want to learn, its available for you. And best of all, its free to join.

Just click on the banner and tell them STR82ACE sent you ;) You will NOT regret it!

Hell, take the initial quiz and they'll even GIVE you $50 to start with on the site of your choice. How can you go wrong?? Well, okay, refuse to learn to play or use their resources, you CAN lose, but if you apply yourself to their resources you can't help but become a better player.

Saying all that, it doesn't stop the beats from happening. This week, I'm down a bit but after looking at my stats on the software they offer (also free of charge), I discovered that I most of the time, I went in way ahead, only to be sucked out on. A few times I offered played medium pocket pairs and learned the hard way that I should have folded, and I didn't win a race with QQ vs AK all week, but over all, I'm good with what I am learning from this site.

Took a horrible beat at the weekly league game very early in the tournament. I'm dealt AA on the button. Couple of limpers, and I raise to 40 (blinds are 5/10 still, first level). SB raises me to 100 and the limpers all fold. Now, history with this SB is that he is very aggressive, and if he is in a pot, he's going to be play it hard from start to finish, and his range is all over the map. He plays a ton of hands, and often has trouble folding draws. I WANT his raise. Gets back to me and I re raise to 400! Its a big bet, but I'm always happy to take down a small pot preflop with AA anytime. He ponders for a bit, and eventually calls. Flop comes down 862 rainbow so its pretty safe board. I bet out 600 and before I get my chips out, he pushes for another 560. I know he's either got 66 or 88, and either hand SHOULD have folded to my re reaise, but I couldn't pull out, not with that pot. I called, he showed 66 and won with trips...absolutely sick. But I still want that call every time.

Weather lately is starting to tease. One day is very mild and warm, the next the bottom of the thermometer drops out. Typical end of February type of stuff. Every time I head out to the porch for a smoke, I see my golf clubs there, just waiting patiently for spring to happen. Can't wait to get back into the game. Come on spring time.

We might be moving to a new building at work. Had a lot of real estate people coming in this week to look over the place, I guess the lease is up soon and they are considering moving to a smaller facility that isn't costing so much. Found out we're currently paying $12.50/sqft for the current place, and frankly, we're being raped! There are decent places out there for anywhere from $5 to $7.50 that will suffice our needs, and with the amount of empty space we have now, its just a waste of money. We'll see what happens, but I have to think the current lease holder is going to become much more open to negotiations now than the past few years. With this economy, they would be stupid to think they can get that kind of capital anymore.

Anyway, enough for now. Check out that site I told you about...its well worth the few minutes and won't cost a cent. Good luck.

Using the Short Stack Strategy

Awhile ago, one of the members of the league sent me an email for a new site that specializes in using a different strategy...Short Stack. Basically, what it does is teaches you an alternative way to build a bankroll online with minimal investment. At the time, I reviewed it very quickly, but dismissed it as being one of the many bogus things you see online these days, but recently I got to thinking that I need something to get my bankroll back up to where I want it to be. I haven't reloaded anything online in about two years, and although I am glad to say that I haven't had to reload, what I got left with is very low capital on a couple of sites, and because of it, I was almost afraid to play with it at all, because I didn't want to go broke, and I wasn't fussy on having to reload, namely because I can't afford to. I remembered the site the guy sent me, and decided what the hell, especially if I pass their little test, I get a $50 free bankroll to start with from them. Really, I couldn't go wrong, it was a win/win if it wrong, and I would be out nothing. So I read the introduction and passed their little test, downloaded a new software platform, and have started playing it.

I wish I had done this when I first got the invite.

The site itself is not what I had originally thought it would be at all. There is a TON of great information on it including coaching videos, tutorials, and a forum to ask questions and review, and the people are truly helpful. Their goal is to TEACH YOU, the new player, the way to build a bankroll, manage it, and by doing so, have fun and make profit. Its been a great resource for me recently, and I'm on it a lot more than some of the other forums I've been on for a lot longer time as I am very keen in the information it has and the people running it are very helpful. They truly do want to make you a better player and help build your bankroll from the ground up.

The strategy itself is simple. You start on a table with a very small stack (20bb's) and if you build it on the table to 25bb's you leave the table. If you fall to 15bb's you reload back up to 20bb's only and continue playing. They offer you a starting hand chart to use, and if you use it religiously and follow it to the letter, you will come out ahead in the long run. Sure you're going to have those times when you can't win, but they really stress the long term goals and to stay focused on them instead of the short term swings. I've only started this new system this week, and its already making me a better cash game player, and I'm excited to continue with it over the next three months in order to clear my bonus and move up. The number one thing this site tries to teach is proper bankroll management and not to over extend yourself. Alot of other sites talk about it, but this is by far the best site that really explains it in great detail. My goal is to continue playing this way until I clear my bonuses on the new site, and see how my bankroll survives using this and ONLY this strategy to the letter. I'm starting very low because the free $50 is only enough to play the lowest limits, and its what they suggest as well, in order to play the proper way with the strategy and using their guidelines. I'm excited about this, and will dedicate myself on this one site for the next while.

Its not the easy though at first, mostly because the starting hand chart they offer is very very restrictive, and its like teaching an old dog (me) a new trick. Its so tempting to play the way I always have and forget the guidelines of the new system, but I'm making it happen. I'm forcing myself to play by their rules, and its more difficult than I first thought it would be. But I want my long term goal of building a bankroll properly to come to realization and I believe this will do it for me. Once I do that and clear the bonuses on this new site, I'm going to use the system on the other platforms I usually play on and do the same thing with those accounts until I have a nice new bankroll to rely on. After that, its bankroll management all the way.

If you're reading this blog, and want a link or more info, simple post a comment here and I'll send you the details. I'm offering this because if you sign up using me as reference, I also qualify for the Tell a Friend bonus, and well, I'm a greedy SOB ;) Not sure if it caters to Americans though, but anyone else is welcome to try it. I would be very appreciative if you do use my link, that you also tell them I sent you for the Tell a Friend bonus. Then you can also use it to spread the work and build up your own rolls.

You can be sure I'm going to be blogging about my successes, but I'm also going to blogging about all the issues and problems I may or may not have, as well as any failures I experience using this system. Stay tuned.

In other news...Mom's b'day with this past week. She sounds good, but I can tell she's getting tired. Dad is doing okay, but the limits he is under is preventing him from doing his share of the day to day stuff and Mom is doing her best to pick up the slack, and its starting to wear on her. I worry of course, but there's not much I can do right now. I will have to plan a trip up to see them very soon.

That's about it for now. See you in a week or so.

Satellite Seat Win

Well maybe my luck is changing around finally.

Just won a seat into a 7500euro prize pool game for next Sunday. I think I would just as soon taken the second prize, only a 7e difference really. The format is good for that game though, 10,000 chips with 20min blinds. Just not sure if I want to play it, or unregister and take the tournament credits instead. The way I've been getting knocked around lately, just might be my better alternative. They haven't listed the breakdown yet, but I"m assuming first pays out about 2500e or something close to it. I got a week to decide, just can't forget to unregister in time, that's all. Right now, I have no plans for next Sunday, I just don't know if I should play and risk it on ONE tournament, or just take the credits and use them over several.

Surprised I even won it to tell you the truth. Played well, but been taking massive beats on that site the last while. Its not P*, but the way the bad beats are rolling lately, I could swear its the same software!! When we got headsup, I offered allin blind next hand since the prizes were about the same for first and second, and my opponent agreed. I get 103os to his 107os. I was waiting for second place when I hit a 3 on the river and stole it from him. But he did say he would half prefer the cash anyway, so it was decent deal for us both.

Called Dad last week and talked to him for a few minutes on my way home from work. Man, does he sound weak. Just tired, like he had been overdoing it, but according to Mom, he hasn't been. Doctors told him he couldn't lift anymore than 5lbs. Told him I know the size of fish he catches so that shouldn't be an issue at all. Called me a smart ass for that one ;) Mom and Dad are up to Dave's place this long weekend, Dad plans on going ice fishing and Mom plans on doing nothing at all. She's beat just trying to keep up to things all by herself I guess. Wish I could be up there to help out more, but it just can't be done right now, and she says she's fine anyway.

Still keeping to the budget I created, but it hasn't been that hard really. I KNEW Feb would be a tight month anyway, and if you don't have the money for extras, you cant' spend it. The phone hasn't been ringing lately with people looking for payment either, so I guess that's a 'so far so good' thing. Really won't have a lot of extra monies until next month, and whatever there will be will have to go into truck repairs and maintenance. Ada has a few summer camps coming up this year too that need to be paid now as well, so I'll have to budget that into March/April as well.

One thing I'm trying to do to help the Scout Camp budget is working the bingos. The troop works at a bingo place a couple times a month for fund raising, and any parent that helps out gets so many credits on account for stuff like camps and what not for their kid. Used to do them all the time couple of years ago, but didn't do any until last week. The format has changed now, so I don't have to do any running on the floor, and it makes it a longer night cause we're not as busy, but if it gets my kid to camp for little or no money, what the hell.

February; the WORST month of the year!

Well, its been awhile. Life just gets in the way of things sometimes.

Spent the past couple of weeks OFF line. Was getting pounded everywhere and just thought I would stop for awhile, try to regroup my thoughts a bit. Spent most of the last couple of weeks doing up a budget too. It isn't fancy, but its something I think I can commit to. The bills have been getting a bit high lately, and I needed to make a plan to get things back under control again. February is going to be very tight, but things should loosen up a bit in March going forward enough to get my line of credit down a bit. All I have to do is make the plan happen. Sounds easy, but I know I have to commit to it.

Action on The Hill has been very slow this season. I guess it just isn't a good time to start a new season, right after the holidays. In the past, the last game was usually well into January, and after a short break, everyone was ready to play again. Attendance was good because everyone wanted to get those extra points and play the SET money, so getting a game together was relatively easy. But starting a new season in the first of the year has proven more of a struggle this time. Players have other priorities this time of year, and the weather and road conditions make it more difficult for the out-of-towners to make it every week. We've only had two official games so far...going to be a long season that's for sure. Darryl is still on about the Vegas trip in April, and as much as I would love to go, after doing the budget recently, I don't think its feasible. Oh, its definitely possible, I should be in much better shape financially by then, but I believe it will be just too soon and I don't believe it would be a good decision to make just yet. I want to get more ahead of everything before I expense something like that.

Haven't talked to Mom or Dad lately either. I'll try calling them later, so what's been happening. No news is good news though, so I just assume that nothing much has changed. Still can't believe the specialist can't see him until end of March, but I guess if there is nothing he can do for Dad, there's no reason to go see him. Hopefully the new medication will do its job and loosen the blockage up enough for him to get back to his day to day stuff.

Kid is at a camp this weekend, her first REAL winter camp. She has no idea how cold it can get, and her packing was quite light considering. Yea, its supposed to be mild this weekend, but you still have to prepare for the conditions. She can get so aggressive and she definitely has a rather mature ability to push buttons, more so than her real act should give her. She has a talent for pissing her parents off though, that's a fact. Oh, she did get an A in her science fair project. "THE SCIENCE OF WATCHING PAINT DRY". Really. Wow.

Nothing happening on the job front lately. Haven't visited the sites much lately either. Things at work are not much better, but at least it appears that the CEO is finally seeing the light...you can't build and ship ontime if you can't start ontime. He's loosening up the wallet a bit more this week, hopefully he will continue that trend. And all it took was our biggest customer screaming for better delivery, and threatening to pull work away. Not sure why he seemed so surprised they would do that.

I should quit while I'm ahead

Typical hand for me the past few days...

Seat 1: angelux (1665.00)
Seat 2: GoingGray (1665.00)
Seat 3: Felone (1470.00)
Seat 4: todi36 (1500.00)
Seat 5: Scarix (1350.00)
Seat 6: QQPokerQQ (1500.00)
Seat 7: Mr.Jaguaro (1350.00)
Seat 8: lefote (1500.00)
Seat 9: picigeorge (1500.00)
Seat 10: torres15 (1500.00)
Felone post SB 15.00
todi36 post BB 30.00
** Deal **
GoingGray [Ad, Ah]
*** Bet Round 1 ***
Scarix Call 30.00
QQPokerQQ Call 30.00
Mr.Jaguaro Call 30.00
lefote Fold
picigeorge Fold
torres15 Raise to 90.00
angelux Call 90.00
GoingGray Raise to 480.00
Felone Fold
todi36 Fold
Scarix Fold
QQPokerQQ Fold
Mr.Jaguaro Fold
torres15 Call 480.00
angelux Fold
*** Flop(Board): *** : [9h, 9s, 3s]
*** Bet Round 2 ***
torres15 Bet 210.00
GoingGray All-in 1185.00
torres15 All-in 1020.00
*** Turn(Board): *** : [9h, 9s, 3s, 8s]
*** River(Board): *** : [9h, 9s, 3s, 8s, Jc]
*** Showdown *** : Rake: 0.00 Total Pot: 3225.00
angelux Fold Win: 0.00
GoingGray [Ad, Ah] Two pair aces and nines Win: 0.00


I can't believe my lousy luck lately. I've lost count of the sng's I've played and only played one hand in and lost it all in one hand. Sick sick sick. Over the weekend, I must have played 20 games, and monied zero times. I'm getting in ahead almost everytime, and if not, I've got draws coming out my ass. Either get sucked out on or never hit my draws. One Hand this weekend, I played 9 10 clubs. flop comes down 7c8cJs. I push, get called by QKo and sure as hell, 9 on the turn, 10 on the river. SICK! I know it goes in cycles, but this is horrible! I haven't won a sng since Christmas.

Yep, wouldn't you know it...get AJclubs, push my last 450 in chips...get called by 22...and he hits his set on the turn AFTER I hit a jack. I hate this game!!

League was supposed to start last week, but we didn't have enough players, so I pushed it out to this week. Cant' wait to get that going again. I have that itch something fierce, but the way things have been going, maybe I should postpone it another six months or so.

Haven't heard much about Dad lately, other than the fact that he's still in pain, and the soonest the specialist can see him is March. WTF?!?!?!?!?!!?

Getting frustrated now. Think I'll stop. Already logged off the poker site too, I am not in a good frame of mind right now.

Oh, had a second interview today. Didn't go as well as I had hoped. Looking for more of an IT kind of guy than a professional production planner. We'll see.

That's just the kind of day its been. God I really HATE Mondays!!

Not a good start

Its been a slow start so far this month. The league doesn't start until this Thursday, and I'm not getting a real positive response yet. Only two others have signed in thus far, but I know there'll be others at the last minute. I do hope it happens this week, I'm getting the ITCH again.

Dad went back to the hospital again. He was complaining between Christmas and New Year's that he wasn't feeling very good, and insisted he could wait until he saw the specialist at the end of January. Well, I guess it got too much for him and he went in to get it checked out, and they put into bed right away and had the specialist come to him. Another blockage. However, after he was rushed down to London for tests and hopefully another stint procedure, the bad news was given. This blockage was far above the stints put in last summer, and behind the heart. The location prevented any kind of surgery and there is nothing they can do but try to clear it out with meds and make him as comfortable as possible. He's back home now, has to wear a nitro patch from the moment he wakes up to when he goes to bed, and he's taking meds to try to clear the blockage slowly and for pain too. I've talked to my niece Penny, who's a nurse, and I think she really wanted to reassure me things will be okay, but I can tell in her voice that it isn't the best situation. To me, it seems to be a ticking bomb in his chest, and it could stop ticking any time. Still, although it could be any time, it could also be five years down the road, and knowing my father, he's stubborn enough to fight it forever. I love my father, I don't tell him that near enough, but I do. Its just something I don't say to him. But I want him to live! His granddaughter wants him to live. Please Dad...don't give in.

My father taught me how to fish when I was a kid. I remember one time while camping, my brothers and some friends were playing some kind of hide and seek game, and Dad was getting ready to head out to fish a place he never fished before. I didn't feel like playing hide and seek (just NOT my kind of fun). When they all left to play, Dad threw my fishing rod and tackle box into the van, told me to get in and hide, and he took me with him for the afternoon. I was thrilled! Off we went to a section of river, just me and him. I remember that was the day he caught the biggest brown trout of his life, I was there! It was MASSIVE! A real beaut. I remember he was on the shore, I was standing up to my crotch in the river fishing a different hole, when I saw his rod tip bouncing. 'Dad I think you got something' I said. He looked, gave it a second or two, then jumped up and set the hook. What was on the other end of that line was the most spectacular brown trout I have EVER seen. Dad played it well, then horsed it on shore. Now, at the time, this was how you fished...set the hook, bring it in hard and fast...now I know he's damn lucky he didn't loose that monster. At the time, he was a member of a fishing club, and he submitted it for the annual Fishing Awards at the end of the year. AND HE WON IT THAT YEAR!! FOR THAT FISH!!! I will remember that trophy sitting on our old TV set for an entire year. It was because of that fish, that day my father took me, his fishing buddy, out for an afternoon, and came back with a prize. I don't know who was more proud of that day, me or him, but it was the most memorable moment I have of my father.

There are a lot of stories about my father and fishing. Maybe I'll post more in later entries, who knows, but right now, I just want to be able to return the favour to him and get him out fishing one more time.

Haven't started tying flies for that swap yet, but the date isn't until the end of March, so I have plenty of time still.

I see another Canadian won the PokerStars Caribbean Tour, and he's from Toronto. $3MILLION first place prize, all from a satellite seat too. I REALLY need to play more satellites. Canadians this past year or so have done very well. I could be next!! ;)

Looking Forward; 2009

Before I get into the projections for the new year, just a couple of quick things that happened over the holidays.

Boxing Day was spent at my youngest brother's in Cambridge. He and his family, our parents, and other brother Dave all joined in for some really fine eats. Ham, trout, salmon, chicken, all cooked very well, despite my sister in law not being able to boil water without burning the crap out of it. The meal was excellent, and no one even mentioned the lack of salt beef this year. Because of our Newfie heritage, a Christmas without salt beef was going to be questionable. Mom & Dad were both told by their doctors they are forbidden to eat the stuff any more. Talk about knife in the heart of a Newfoundlander! Still, with all the selection that was there, it was a very good holiday feast shared by family. After dinner and the official gift opening, my brothers and I sat down to play some hold em. No money exchanged, just for fun. Dad came down just as we were starting, and we invited him to play. Now Dad doesn't know hold em, but claims he can play poker, just hasn't in 20+yrs. So after a quick tutorial, we were playing together. I have never played cards with my father, and it was great for the four of us to play together. Still, of course, newbie donkey took the whole game down. Now we'll never hear the end of it from him. Took a pic of him with all the chips with my cell, and I'll download it when I figure out how. Spoke to Mom the other day on the phone, and she told me it was all he talked about driving home, him playing with his boys...and beating us. Seems he really enjoyed it as much as we did.

Nathan brought down his Mum's Christmas present...a used clothes dryer. And wouldn't you know it, the damn thing doesn't work. He's handling the issue with whomever he did the work for in lieu of cash, but it has really left us in a spot. After some discussion, he has found a new dryer for her, and is bringing it down soon, only thing is I offered to pay for it because he really doesn't have the funds to do it himself. His business, this is the wrong time of year, and he's a bit strapped for cash. No problem, but I'm a little short as well, and will need to budget a bit in January to do it. Truck needs work too, have to include that in the budget as well. Sigh...new year...same old crap though.

Okay, 2009...what could it mean to yours truly?

Well, here's hoping the work situation improves dramatically! And I don't mean with the place I'm at now, I'm done with that zoo thank you. I need to get a totally new start somewhere else, somewhere that I can have potential again, somewhere where I can feel as a part of the team again, someplace that actually works to improve things for the company and not make every goddamn decision based on the CURRENT financial position with zero concern for future requirements. I actually took the liberty to see what the sales projections were for 2009. If we were to hit it, it would be over $16m in sales....BEST we would ever do. The problem is that most of the work hasn't started yet, and with the current leadtimes for production and processing, we're very very late. Reason we're late is because the bean counters are not paying for any raw material purchases, and the CEO refuses to get any operating capital extensions from the BOD or banks. My To Start list of jobs is now over 100...and its NEVER more than 20!! If we can't start jobs on time, we'll never hit that sales target. I'm not seeing any positive moves, and with Sciex announcing they are closing in 2010 and will be offloading most of their production by June 2009 to Singapore, I'm not liking the picture at all. There are other personal reasons for my decision as well, but that's the icing on the cake. CFN is in bad shape, and I need to get off that sinking ship. Can't come soon enough for me.

Okay, enough doom and gloom, time for some positive thinking now.

Poker wise, I want to be able to get out more and play some live tournaments outside my own league games. This means Woody's, West Side, maybe a couple of underground games once in awhile, and ultimately, a casino tourney. Maybe NOT Vegas in April, but at least some bigger buyin event somewhere locally. Speaking of Woody's, I qualified to play his Season Ending game tonight. Game time is 7pm. Its a freeze out, which is different from his usual rebuy format. Since I play a lot more freezeout than they do, I might have a small advantage, and considering that I'm starting short stacked tonight because I didn't earn as many points as the rest did, so I'll be at a big disadvantage chip wise, but I think I can outplay them more preflop because of the game format. We'll see anyway. I haven't played a West Side game in a very long time, and I usually do pretty good in them. Haven't won any of them, but usually go pretty deep, and besides, the cash games afterwards are very good to me ;) The Vegas trip is on my mind too...would love to go, just not sure if I can swing it or not. Maybe I'll talk to Darryl, he's the one organizing it.

My golf game is on winter break, and most likely will be until April at the earliest. I'm not going to pay for lessons again this year, but I want to hit the ranges a bit more than last year. This year, I think I'll concentrate on my short game more, try to save myself a few strokes that way. I usually can get to within 120yds easily enough...but muff it from there with club selection, distances, and accuracy. If I can concentrate on those aspects of my game, I'm pretty sure I can break the 90 mark this summer. Also, want to get a chance to go see my brother Dave and get out to play a round or two with him. He lives 8 hrs away, near Ottawa, so if I do go, I want to make it an extra long weekend sort of thing, that way we can golf, go fishing, and maybe even play some poker somewhere together.

This year, I also want to get out and do more fishing. Not a lot maybe, but definitely more than the once I got out last season. Its something that I KNOW I enjoy, and really would like to get back into without it having to cost a fortune to do it. I haven't started tying those flies for the swap yet, but I will by the end of January. Might take me a bit to remember how to do them, but its like riding a bike really...I hope. One thing I do want to do is get together with a couple of guys from Hipwader forum and get a fishing partner again. There are times I want to be just left alone to fish, but there a lot times that having a buddy around to bs with is just as much fun. Since moving to Brampton, I don't see my best friend much at all anymore, and it gets a bit too quiet on the rivers sometimes.

UPDATE: JAN 4
Played Woody's game last night, and did pretty well. Didn't win it, but I did take home 4th place cash. Great way to start the new poker season! It was good to see all those guys last night too, and the fact that half of them can't play freezeout format was a bonus. Only hand I really had all night was KK UTG and I three bet it to 300. Folds around to Bill in LP and he cold calls it. Then it gets re raised all in by dealer. I quietly call, Bill wisely folds, and my KK hold up against AQo for a change. That double up kept me in the game the rest of the night. Good thing too, as I never saw another decent hand to play for quite awhile. Last hand I played I had 78o. Bill raises just enough to push me all in as I didn't even have 4BB left. He shows a dismal 10 2o, but hits the deuce on the flop and I didn't improve. He goes on to win it all after that. Good game, good bunch of guys, and I know I can play them too. Like I said, would like to play there more often this year.