Cmon, someone leave! I'm next!



A guy that checked in AFTER me (though we both were on the board for the same time) just got seated before me, which kinda sucks, but we were chatting poker a bit over the past 3 hours and I fully expect to be holding a sizable chunk of his chips an hour from now.



The any-ace regular is still at the table, as is one of the sharky regulars. There's your usual "I'll pay ya off cuz I like you" guy, and a WPT champ with the hellmuthian shades.



If all remains as is, I'll be the only girl in the room. That's generally the way I like it.



The Bangles are on the radio. Hazy shade of winter. It certainly is.



Damn I just got all excited. They called a name... For 10/20, booo! Hehe



I am ready to rumble! My ass is going to appreciate getting off this wooden bench. My brain is going to appreciate something slightly more challenging than playing Brick Breaker on my Blackberry. My thumbs are going to appreciate not typing on this thing anymore!



I do <3 my Blackberry. Most certainly.



C'mon, chant with me: Give Shelly a seat! Give Shelly a seat! Throw me some mojo!



You guys rule. :)

One might think that my extended silence indicates that I've been seated at the only 5/10 poker table at empress.

Nope.

I'm 13th on the list now. There are a bunch of low stacks and cranky old men who look ready to leave.

Looks like I'll be pulling the poker night shift.

I originally hoped to be seated by 10pm, but I think I'm going to have to bump that to 11pm.

I've been waiting too long to give up now!

They just flew thru 3 names on the list. There is hope. Always hope.

I couldn't read any blogs. The cell signal in this dungeon is too intermittant to permit comfortable web browsing. So I'll type till my thumbs fall off.

There are an average of 7 people to each flop on the 5/10 table. Squishy! And the donkeys keep reloading. Normally that would be a good thing, but not now! I don't have a seat!

I'm 18th on the list after an hour. It's likely that a lot of the people on the list are phantom names, so realistically I'm probably 12th or so. Still, nobody is moving. My only hope is that these guys have wives waiting at home that will kick their asses if they don't make it home to tuck the kids into bed. My hope is that, come 9pm or so, the turnover will begin. I mean, hell - these people have to get up for work in the morning, right?

Chances are slim that I'll play poker tonight. I'm sitting at Empress right now, on the list for 5/10 holdem. Ninteenth on the list. 1-9. 19. They're running ONE table. Uno. 1. One 5/10 table, that is. The no-limit game is running, taking up what is normally the 2nd 5/10 table.

I could get in my car, drive the hour to indiana, and probably be seated and playing cards faster than I'll get my seat here.

I thought of going to indiana instead after work, but the lure of a quick drive home post-session sucked me in. Now I wonder if I'll get a session in at all.

I see some familiar faces at the table. I like that, because I've been rather successful at Empress in the past, and I'd love to see that nothing has changed in that regard.

This place is still smokey as hell. The air quality is atrocious. I can almost feel the cancer growing in my lungs as we speak. Anything for a juicy card game, though - right?

A rather bored and frustrated looking poker regular just shuffled by. He must be on the list, too.

If the 10/20 list was any better, I might ponder tiptoe-ing into that game for a swim... But that list sucks too.

I just burped out loud. Whoops.

I had a turkey sandwich down at the Empress deli when I got here. Besides being a little pricy, it wasn't a bad sammy.

I haven't heard a single name called for the poker room in 20 minutes. This is not good.

I think I'll read some poker blogs. I'll be back, if I don't die of boredome first!

With a new year comes a new poker spreadsheet.

For 2007, I decided to do a bit more analysis on my data. In my 2006 spreadsheet, I had the ability to view how much money I had won or lost on any given weekday as well as a $/hour rate for each weekday. For 2007, I further broke this up into locations. So, I can see how much money and $/hour I won at Resorts on Fridays, or at Empress on Wednesdays, for example.

I got to play around with the conditional sum wizard in Excel - something new for me. Aside from the apparent inability to just copy/paste a cell that was developed using that wizard, it worked quite well.

I hacked on my 2006 spreadsheet to make sure my formulas were working correctly, and in doing so I had some numbers to ponder.

My overall win rate at 5/10 limit holdem (brick-and-mortar, not online) in 2006 was $15/hour. At Empress, my win rate was $29/hour, and at Resorts, it was $-12/hour.

Hmmm.

That would seem to say to me, stop playing at Resorts! I do love the atmosphere there, and the joy of using my iPod is a big selling point.

What if... What if... I went back to Majestic Star (formerly Trump)? I've been boycotting them ever since Trump sold to MJ. In fact, I don't think I played at MJ a single time in 2006. I hear they have $5/10 limit now, though I haven't confirmed. I was in the black at Trump, too, back in the day.

That sure would mean a lot more hacking on my spreadsheet.

Well, that's not how I wanted to ring in 2007 on the poker front.

I couldn't resist the urge to play yesterday. I went and bought an iPass (the device that lets us use the open-road tolling on the tollways around here) and headed out to Resorts East Chicago (since Empress closes at 6pm on Fridays).

I have to say, I tend to fare better at Empress. I'm not sure exactly why. The Resorts $5/10 game has the same mix of fish and regulars, but I think as a whole the regulars are of higher quality at Resorts. Some may play very loose-aggressive, but they don't give their opponents action when they're on the defensive. I suppose that is the way to play LAG poker, but I certainly hate not getting paid off when I manage to spike a hand against them. I also seem to get much more unlucky at Resorts than at Empress. That's an intangible and probably a myth in my mind, but it seems real all the same.

I ended up dropping the requisite 30 big bets over 10 hours of play before calling it a night at Resorts. At one time, my final rebuy allowed me to earn back 10BB, but that dribbled away as I tried to catch a comeback wave. Howard Lederer once said, if you lose 30 big bets in a session, it's time to get up from the table. It's just not your day. That is my rule of thumb. Sometimes, I'll walk away at even a 20BB loss, but if the table is ripe... I'll stick around and use 30BB as my stop-loss.

This table was indeed ripe, particularly towards the wee hours of the morning. There's definitely something to be said for the strategy of showing up when the pool of players is good and drunk. I watched several people go from being decently solid players to absolute fools over the course of 10 hours.

The cast of characters remained relatively stable for my entire stay at Table #4. To my left was a guy named Patrick, who started out quite gentlemanly but seemed to be rather blatantly hitting on me by the end of the evening. Then came Bob in the striped shirt - a solid player who succumbed to what might has well have been an IV tap of Miller Lite into his veins. The 10 seat was a revolving door - but always had a girl in it. To my right was an old cranky guy (eventually replaced by Patrick), and to his right was "the west side" of the table.

The West Side was a bunch of apparent misfits who liked to chat it up. The 1 seat started off with a guy named Jesse, who was buying drinks for the entire table. He was on quite a roll to start out the night, but ended up felted by a guy I referred to as Earl in my head. Have you ever seen the show "My Name is Earl?" Yeah, Earl. You know. Jason Leigh's character. This guy looked just like him (a bit older and a bit less attractive, but there was a resemblance all the same), and he acted like Earl, minus the mission to become a better man.

To Earl's left was a guy whose name I cannot remember. He was a fireman and had apparently been in an accident of some kind, as he had horrible scars from apparent burns on his face and hands. He became the juiciest of them all as he got more and more drunk as the night wore on. Jim sat to Fireman's left - a quiet, sort of nerdy guy who quickly proved to be your garden variety calling station.

I don't think any of my opponents were particularly good poker players. Bob and Patrick were probably the best at the table, though Bob got worse as his eyes glazed over in alcoholic bliss, and Patrick got worse as he went on tilt from bouts of awful luck.

Jesse was a crafty player, and probably fared better at no-limit. In one hand, he raised preflop, and 4 of us saw the flop. It came an uncoordinated bunch of blanks, for which I'd flopped 3rd pair. It checked around, and the turn brought an Ace. When everyone checked to me, I bet out, representing the Ace, and Jesse raised me. I laid my hand down with a grin, smirking, "Nice AK. You got an extra $10 out of me." Sure enough, he showed me his AK. I said, "I know! Why do you think I folded?" with a smile. Most of the time, I think crafty play is wasted at these low buy in limit tables. Jesse did manage to get me to position-bet that Ace, though.

Earl racked up a sick number of chips throughout the night. Eventually, the guy was raising nearly every hand he was in, and was making mad hands with 45o and other such gems. It was his night, for sure. He was responsible for cracking my flopped set of 7's with 94o on a board that looked like 7-8-K-T-6. He went a long way for that gutshot, but like I said - it was his night. If I was hitting like crazy as he was, maybe I'd chase everything too. He also cracked my AA and my QQ - once with a straight with 86o and once with a wacky 2 pair. Earl was drinking CC and ginger ale like it was water, and I really wanted to stick around and get some of those chips back from him. His luck started to slow around 3am, and if only I wasn't ready to pass out from hunger, I might have played a little longer. Earl had about $800 in front of him when I left at 4am.

My table was a bit feisty. Patrick and Earl got into verbal sparring matches a few times, as Patrick took beat after beat from the Jason Leigh look-alike. After the cranky old man felted, we got a loud and proud African American fellow named T. He sure was fired up! He had some booze in him, and I'd venture to bet some wacky tobacc-y as well (since the aura of scent that surrounded him sent me back in my mind to many a Dave Matthews Band show). He was constantly yelling at Earl, and chattering about how the people at this table were idiots, raising preflop. "Why would anybody raise preflop?" he asked. "You have no idea what cards are coming! Why waste your money when you don't know if you're gonna hit it! Raising with 66. You people are fools!" (sprinkle in some F-bombs for flavor). Eventually his taunting turned to tilt, and he started raising every hand. I would have loved to consider him a blessing to the table, but he literally talked so constantly and so loudly that my left ear was ringing. (He sat directly to my left after Patrick moved to my right, trying to change his luck). Nothing against T - he was generally a very polite guy (aside from the repeated F-bombs) - but man... shhhhhhhhh!

I thought I was going to leave last night with a phone number in hand. Patrick was a nice guy, and I enjoyed chatting with him throughout the evening. He started out very polite, apologizing when his leg would bump mine under the table. By the end of the night, one of the dealers had assumed we were dating, and Patrick was making efforts to find reasons to squeeze my leg under the table. It was harmless flirting, but I was admittedly playing the cool-as-a-cucumber thing, maybe a little of the hard-to-get thing (maybe because I'm neither looking for any sort of serious relationship right now nor a poker room bootie call).

He was asking all of those get-to-know-you questions throughout the night, and at one point was trying to wrangle my words into some sort of invitation to come over to my house. To that, I laughed and said something like, "I don't know about an invitation, but if you're nice enough, I'll let you call me." heheheh I have to laugh out loud at myself sometimes. I was definitely acting like I was all that and a bag of chips, but what the hell. He was all about the Pringles.

At the end of the night, Patrick was down on his luck, and I really had to hit the road (as my commute takes a good 45 minutes, even with the glory of open road tolling). Around 4am, Patrick felted and went back to the ATM, and the big blind got around to me, I announced my departure from the table. I gathered my things and headed towards the cage to cash in my remaining chips. I ran into Patrick on the way. Here's where I thought he'd ask for my number, but instead he said, "Get home safely," and kept walking. I continued on, and as he passed me, he hesitated and said something like, "I'd hug you..." I'm sure there was supposed to be a "but..." on the end there, and as I looked back he looked awkward and confused. I waved and kept walking.

Maybe if I was looking for love at the casino, I'd have taken the lead and given him my number. The irony is not lost on me, however, that the last time I found love 4 years ago was also at a casino. That didn't work out so well. (Randy and I remain great friends, but I honestly thought I'd get a husband out of that deal - not just a friend). So, I'll paint myself flattered that Patrick was interested in me, and apologize to no one in particular for not at least giving Patrick an out there. I wouldn't have minded exchanging numbers with him. He seemed like a nice guy, and good looking for my taste. There's a tiny bit of guilt in the back of my mind for leaving him high and dry like that.

But not too much guilt. Here's a tip for the guys: I know it's 2007 and women can be equal to men and all that jazz, but 99% of the time it is STILL appropriate for YOU to do the asking for phone numbers! I may be a model of the modern independent woman, but damn it... I don't want to do all the work. Grow a set and ask for my number, if that's what you want.

And that concludes my day at Resorts. I'm itching to go back and see if I can't rectify that -30BB thing this afternoon, but there's a winter storm warning for the Chicago area, and they expect an ice storm this evening into tomorrow. That's probably not the wisest time to head out on the roads, but the worst of this is supposed to hit north of here, with only rain south of here. The dividing line of this storm is I-80, and I-80 is exactly the road I need to travel to get to the boats. I live barely on the south side of I-80. Should I stay or should I go...

I've hand to reinvest but I'm on my way back. Send me some vibes!!!!

Resorts update: it's not going too well. I'm hitting sets with my low pairs and picking up JJ+ preflop, but they're all getting crushed. There's money to be had if I could just outrun the scoobs.

I'm not out yet, and I will use the fact that I just heard uncensored Green Day on the lower deck as my inspiration to go kick some ass.

PS - I've managed to be nice, and even have a guy buying me drinks. Diet cokes, but hey... Drinks are drinks!

Waiting at Resorts East Chicago for my poker seat at 5/10 LHE. The ride here was incredibly smooth for a Friday rush hour, thanks to my shiny new iPass. I'm 7th on the list, and they've got 2 tables going. It doesn't sound like another table is opening for an hour or so, and likely I'll be waiting that whole hour. The list already has 20 names after me, so I think my timing was as good as it could have been, short of arriving at noon.

It's been a long time since I've been to a poker room. I'm trying to remember the last time. I definitely haven't been here since July, when I put my old house on the market for sale. That's been 7 months right there. I hope I remember how to do this!

Strategies?

1. Don't pay off people who likely hold the goods.
2. Raise my OESD's and flush draws.
3. Don't chase unless I've got the pot odds to do so.
4. Don't bother playing fancy against the scoobies. They're too ignorant to notice and they don't know how or when to lay down a hand.
5. Position position position.
6. Go after those orphan pots! I'm a good mommy to orphan chips, for sure.
7. Be nice. Stop glaring at people. You attract more scoobies with honey.
8. Smell like a girl. Yup, got that one covered. Mmmmm moonlight path.
9. Hide the Full Tilt Poker jacket. This is my first time here. Really.

The very nice security guard suggested I go sit down at one of the open tables instead of standing in the waiting area. I thanked him and took him up on the offer.now I can enjoy smoke free air while reading the CNN headlines.

I'm glad I remembered my iPod. It seems like it might be an iPod kind of night.

Is there nothing more important going on in this country than pop stars going wacko? And damn, does she look ugly as a bald chick. This might make me a horrible person, but there's something warm and fuzzy about one of the formerly Beautiful People turning ugly. Boohoo. Too much money, too much fame, too many opportunities to make your life and those of your children great. It must be rough.

A chatty and not handsome at all guy just sat down next to me. Oh lord. Here we go. Please call my name soon!

In my excitement to get back to playing poker at Empress, I forgot how whacked their poker room schedule is. They close at 6pm on Fridays (so much for today), and are closed on weekends.

Guess I'll have to wait until next week to play. :-/

Unless... I stop and buy that iPass I've been meaning to get, which would enable a much smoother ride to the Indiana casinos... and take me a road trip to Resorts tonight...

... can't.... resist.... temptation... must... play.... poker!

I played a little poker on Full Tilt last night. Warming up for my return to Empress, you see. Yes, my tax refund arrived today, as April said it would. I haven't decided if the magic day is today or tomorrow... or both. Thinking about it as we speak.

One of the problems I have with my game online is that I will pay off hands on the river when it's likely I'm beat. I do it because there are SO many scoobys online that I just have to make sure I'm beat. I just have to see it. And every time I pay off a turn and/or river bet when I'm certain I'm beat, I chastise myself for being such an idiot.

For what feels like the first time, I folded a hand last night and resisted the curiosity to see that I was beat. I paid off one street too many, but saved the bet on the end.

The game: limit holdem, $2/4. I had KK in middle position and raised preflop when action folded to me. The big blind called. The flop came Js 2s Ad. The BB checked. I bet out. My opponent hesitated, then called. The turn came Js 2s Ad [2h]. The BB checked again. I bet out. The BB raised. I should have folded here, but I called with a sigh. The river came Js 2s Ad 2h [Tc], and the BB bet out this time.

Hello, typical "I outflopped you and I'm sucking as much money out of you as I can!"

I folded on the river, saving $4.

This pattern is SO typical! The action on the turn clearly indicating the true strength of the hand, and the river bet by my opponent making it certain that my KK got outflopped. Or maybe out turned. I couldn't beat an Ace and I couldn't beat a deuce, and considering my opponent was in the blind, he could have had anything. True, he could have been drawing to a flush and missed, but my notes on this guy didn't give him that much credit.

I think another reason why I tend to pay off on the river on these hands is that in limit poker, the odds of being bluffed almost justify the call on the end, with as much money as there is in the pot by the river.

The true lesson here is, I should have folded to the raise on the turn.

I also managed to donk of $26 of my profits from the cash table in the $15k guarantee NL tourney. It was early in the tourney and I got myself involved in a pot with 55. I called a 3xBB raise preflop. The flop came T-9-2, and I bet out on the flop, trying to steal control of the hand and hoping I was against an AK or something that missed that ugly flop. My opponent raised me all in. I thought a bit, because this table was FULL of all-in moves in this first round of play. I was shocked at some of the scooby moves I was seeing... people pushing all in with 2nd pair, etc. I thought to myself, "This table is full of donkeys... I call." He had QQ.

I know better than to CALL all in. It's push or fold. If I'm not the one pushing, just call me the moron here for calling off all my chips on a hand where I could only beat a bluff.

I still left the tables with a small profit, which felt good.

Now, to take down Empress...

Did my taxes last weekend. I'm anxiously awaiting my refund (10-12 days, TurboTax.com promises!)

First on my list of things to do with my refund: check out the recently re-opened Empress poker room. Huzzah!

Soon, my pretties. Soon.

Well, the new Blogger didn't eat my template, but it sure effed up my DNS when I tried to use it's "custom domain" option.

Here's how I had this site set up before: I used Blogger hosting at a blogspot.com address. Then, I registered a domain, hellaholdem.com, and via my domain host's control panel, set up that domain to forward to the blogspot address. It worked, so I could advertise my site as hellaholdem.com, but the down side was that the address would always revert to the blogspot.com domain as soon as a visitor got here.

Well, the NEW Blogger has a "custom domain" option, where basically the redirect goes the other way. Anyone trying to get to the blog at the blogspot address would be forwarded to the hellaholdem.com domain. Blogger still hosts the blog, but allows for it to be displayed under the domain address via CNAME records in your domain's DNS settings. Sweet, right?

Yeah, if it worked....

It turns out that the redirect would only work for people going to http://hellaholdem.com. But you see - most people use http://www.hellaholdem.com. But that later URL (with the www) is broken in Google/Blogger's forwarding system.

There were some horrific looping domain alias solutions people had posted online, but it's really bad practice to set up DNS records that way.

So after 2 days of being offline due to Google/Blogger's broken DNS forwarding, I gave up and reinstalled "the old way."

Did anybody get the custom domain option to work for both root domain requests AND www requests?

The new Blogger didn't kill my blog! w00t!

Poker stories coming soon. I cannot wait to get back to Empress and live poker!!!!

In the meantime, there's a storm brewing in Miami....

Like the subject says.

That is all.

w00t!

Oh, that and Blogger is forcing me to switch to the "new" Blogger with my next post, and I expect it to tear my template to hell. So... hella here might get ugly till I have a chance to build a new template. Sorry! Blame the Blogger gremlins.

Yes, Virginia, there is poker on this blog!

I played a little of the poker stuff last night, as my friend Scott hosted a mini Diamond game. As I've said before, cash has been a little tight 'round these parts, so my mortgage was rooting loudly for me.

I was feeling good last night. Normally, when it comes to no-limit holdem, I'm a tournament kind of girl, but I haven't played a whole lot of poker lately. Instead, I've watched a whole lot of High Stakes Poker on TV. That had me in the mood to play a cash game last night. The tournament alternative was likely going to be a rebuy game, and of all tournaments, I like those the least. So I threw my hat in the ring along with my vote for a cash game.

A cash game it was. $1/2 blinds. The five of us (Scott, Ed, Jim, Randy and myself) bought in for $100 in Monopoly money each. We played for a while - nothing really notable, no big hands, but after a bit I looked at my stack, and I'd nearly doubled up. Funny, I don't remember doing it. Here's what I do remember:

OK, I just spent like 10 minutes trying to write out the hand I was in with Randy, and I just can't remember all of the details. I had JJ and flopped a set on a K high flop. I think I bet out the flop and he called, then I checked-raised the turn. I was a tiny bit afraid he had KK as we went into the turn, but thought by his reaction to my check raise that my set was good. I underbet the river such that he had 8:1 odds to call me, and... he did. He had QQ. That was probably my biggest pot of the night, though I vaguely remember taking a decent sized pot off of Jim as well with AK and top pair, Aces.

There were a LOT of offsuit aces that I folded preflop that would have hit 2 pair on the flop. Had I loosened up a bit more, I probably could have snagged a few more pots. That happened probably 4 or 5 times. Ahh, the hands that could have been.

I slightly more than doubled up my Monopoly moolah, and January will end in the black.

In other news, rumor has it that the Empress poker room may be open as early as this week. C'mon, W2, where are you???!!

BEAR DOWN, CHICAGO BEARS

Bear Down, Chicago Bears
Make every play, clear the way to victory!

Bear Down, Chicago Bears
Put up a fight with a might so fearlessly!

We'll never forget the way you thrilled the nation
With your T-formation

Bear Down, Chicago Bears
And let them know why you're wearing the crown!

You're the pride and joy of Illinois,
Chicago Bears, Bear Down!!

I'm suffering from a bit of a cold here in Chicagoland. 60 degree weather turned teens practically overnight wreaks havoc on the human body. The Sickness has reduced me to the couch for most of today, and by 6pm I was starting to feel like I might have stored up enough energy to sit upright. So I'm doing something pretty unusual for me:

I'm watching the Golden Globe awards on TV and playing some $10 SnG's on Full Tilt.

Well, I've only played one, and some early technical difficulties nearly led me to an early retirement. My laptop has a very sensitive touchpad. I was feeling too lazy to climb across the couch to grab my USB mouse out of my backpack, so I was using the very sensitive touchpad. As a result, I called a 395 bet (about 1/3 of my stack at the time) on a flop of overcards with 94o from the big blind. D'oh! (I folded on the turn).

I was down to the felt when Baz showed up, but because I was watching the Golden Globes, I didn't notice my trusty railbird until I had chipped up a bit. With Baz's luck, I doubled up a couple times and managed to take 3rd place.

In my final hand, I had A5c versus A5s. Of course, I lost to a flush. (This story couldn't end any other way!) 3rd place was nice, though. I'll take the profit!

I'm not sure if I'll play anymore, as my head is starting to hurt a bit, but thanks to Baz for the mojo!

/Boooooo. Cars just beat Happy Feet. Lame.

Nothing doing in last night's Bad Beat on Cancer tourney. I went out 27th, AJ vs A3 or A4... I can't remember which... but he/she hit the gutshot on the river for the wheel, and I had too much invested in the pot by that time not to confirm my gut feeling that I'd been sucked out on. Ce la vie.

I've finally received my invitation to switch to the new Blogger. I'm not sure if I'm going to do it right now. I've heard of people with custom templates having problems with the new version. I don't want to have problems.

Still no news on whether Empress Joliet has reopened up their poker "room." (Does 3 tables qualify as a room?) I should just pick up the phone and call over there and ask, eh? I'm definitely a bit antsy to play again. The next Diamond home game is in a couple weeks, so it'll be nice to resume those again.

There is definitely more poker in my future. Stay tuned!

Come check out Phil Gordon's Bad Beat on Cancer tourney on Full Tilt Poker tonight in... 11 minutes or so :)

Five bones.

I'm registered to play in it, while watching Clerks 2. I heart Netflix, and I heart Kevin Smith.

Just watched the intro. Fat people are taking over the United States. Look out, skinny. Here we come. Give us your pizza. ROFL!

A little birdy told me that poker is likely coming back to Empress Casino Joliet (which is about 10 miles from my house). The rumor was that it was supposed to return after the 1st of the year.

I'm absolutely SILLY-excited to hear this!

As a side note, I realized after consulting Google Maps today that Hollywood Casino (Aurora) is the same distance from me as the Indiana boats, BUT I could get there with zero road construction encounters. (The worst part of driving to the Indiana boats is getting stuck in the construction traffic on I-80 - and I do mean *stuck*). Something to keep in mind... I've never been to Hollywood.

If anyone hears anything about Empress, please let me know!! :) Thanks!

Happy New Year!

Tomorrow, this blog turns 2 years old. The cliche thing to do around this time of year is to draw up some resolutions for the new year. I thought I'd first look back at last year's resolutions, and see how many came to fruition.

Become consistantly profitable in the $200-max NL cash game at the casino

Not long into 2006 (and shortly after the Dec 28, 2005 KK Quandary, which led to my biggest single-hand cash game loss ever, $800), I decided to go back to limit holdem, which much better suits my playstyle. While I didn't accomplish this particular goal, I think I accomplished its intent, which was to become profitable in my casino cash game. During the first half of 2006, I was in the black playing $5/10 limit holdem at the casino.

Online poker goals: Learn to play "my game" online. Become profitable at the $50-max buy-in level of online NL cash games. Continue to work on my no-limit cash game.

After switching back to limit holdem, I was again relegated to the micro limits (ie. lower than $3/6 holdem). I've never had enough faith in my online game at the low limits to invest significant amounts of money to my online bankroll. 2006 solidified my opinion that there are just TOO many newbs and donkeys at the lower levels to be able to outrun their luck. I'd much rather play at a casino. With that, I spent much more time this year at the casinos and much less time playing online. Throw in the US prohibition of online gaming, and I haven't seen too much online poker action this year.

Focus more on each hand's story and my opponents and less on my own cards.

I still have trouble with this. I play my cards. I rarely have the ability to play in spite of my cards. I'll keep this on my list for 2007.

My final (and a bit lofty) goal for 2006: build up to $5,000 in my poker bankroll.

I got about halfway there. In July 2006, I decided to sell my house and buy a bigger one in a more expensive neighborhood, closer to all of the shopping and entertainment amenities of the area. I had about $2,500 in my bankroll at the time, and spent it all on fixing up my old house and buying stuff for my new house. Considering that was around the half-way point of the year, I might have been on target to reach my goal. I'm going to consider this a possible success.

Where does this leave me, heading into 2007? Well, Empress Casino Joliet closed their poker room, and my schedule currently doesn't allow for many trips out to the Indiana boats. I'm still not comfortable investing money in an online bankroll, so really it seems that poker will take a bit of a back seat to life for a while this year. I don't have the money to reseed my bankroll right now, though I'd like to do that at some point this year. I need to work a bit more than I did last year to afford my new house, and I'm OK with that.

My poker goals for 2007:

• Reseed my B&M bankroll and continue playing $5/10 limit holdem
  
• Learn to play the player and not just my cards
• Make it out to Vegas at least once this year
  

Yup, that's it. Keep it simple. Sometimes, life, family and work have to come before poker - but that doesn't diminish my love for the game. I still love the game of poker, and I'll carry that with me into 2007.

Here's hoping you reach all of your goals in 2007, whether personal, professional, or poker related. :)

Merry Christmas, and a hella Happy New Year to all! :)

This made me giggle this morning. I love posts like these, full of the random and often goofy-ass shit you hear only in Vegas...

Go visit Grubbette

I'm playing in the Full Tilt Bad Beat on Cancer tourney, but I fear I am not long for this world. With the arctic chilly cards I've had, I probably should have been out long ago. I'm 7 places out of the money right now (9 pay out of 98 entrants, I think it was). Booo.

Or not. April (CA) just popped into the chat, suddenly I had back to back AA and JJ - and doubled through both times! I'm 9/11 right now and 9 spots pay. Of course, this being a cheap charity event, pay is small, but considering how long it has been since I've actually played poker - I'll take whatever I can get!

At one point, there was this player I'd tagged as typical donkey style. (My literal first comment on him was, "Hee haw"). After a little while, I'd tagged his preferences, and threw a little salt into a wound when I bet him out of a pot in which I'd flopped a set. He then asked me if his 9 for 2nd pair was good. I replied, "9 was good." He said, "Damn you must be taking notes on me!" Ha! No... I just want you to call me down more! He got knocked out a few hands later, and I thought to myself, "Man, that sucks! Just when I figured him out and set out some bait!"

Isn't that how it should go, though? The donkeys shouldn't really be around long enough that you can play fancy against them, unless they're on a lucky streak. Sometimes I need to remind myself not to waste time getting fancy against the donkeys. Pound on donkeys with ABC and save the trickery for someone smart enough to be tricked.

One more person out and I'm in the money. Fingers are crossed. My cards are nasty ugly. But the new FTP interface is nice. I'm playing the Racetrack style with avatars. I had to re-download the client and re-install it, since for some reason it didn't want to do its usually in-place upgrade via the software update since I upgraded to Windows Vista. The new install, though, worked fine. I played next to Andy Bloch for a good portion of the evening. He's very polite, and generally quiet. Unlike when people like Phil Gordon play, there weren't a zillion teeny-bopper fanboyz badgering Mr. Bloch, which made the chat nice and tolerable.

Final table - nice! $2 profit so far :)

I miss playing poker in the casino. I miss it a lot. Sometime in 2007, if I'm not mistaken, the major construction on I-80 will be complete and I will once again be able to make it to the Indiana casinos in 45 minutes or so. As it stands, I'm lucky to do it under an hour 15, and I just don't have enough free time to make that trek each way. I miss Empress Joliet. A 15 minute drive is so much easier. I shouldn't complain; some people don't even have a casino within driving distance.

The only success I tend to have online is in NLHE SnG's and tourneys - but I don't like them so much, aside from the occasional game. My favorite game is limit hold'em, and I don't have the same success rate in that game online as I do F2F. I sure do miss the poker room.

Well, I went out in 8th place. Pushed with the nut flush draw (and as it stood, 2 live over cards). If I wasn't so sleepy, I might have tried a bit harder, but I was the shorty anyhow and at some point you must either play to win or go home :)

With that, I'm off to bed...

Apparently it's OK to trash people and talk about their personal problems on your blog, as long as you don't use names. This is the first and last time I'll ever read Michael Craig's blog, and you can bet his book is going right in the fireplace.

I can't even summarize in a decent or respectful way. This post is just sick.

Somewhere, It's Hammer Time - Part II by Michael Craig

Of course, parts 3 and later show bloggers in a very obviously over-compensated bright light.

The bloggers mentioned are referred to as Craig's "new friends," but where I come from, a friend wouldn't expose your worst moments to the world just to have something to write about.

I'm even more disturbed that PokerWorks.com approves of this sort of opportunistic bashing.

Kudos to SLB for being the first to comment on Craig's piece.

UPDATE:

Falstaff commented on Mr. Craig's post page that the things said in that post are no worse than things Mr. Craig has said about his other friends such as Mike Matusow. I find it noble that Falstaff would publicly post in defense of his blogging site-mate, but I beg to differ.

Just because it's "no worse" doesn't make it right. The "concern" expressed here is so thickly veiled that I'm inclined to find it more likely that Mr. Craig falls into the category of those with "no conscience" that would find this "funny." (Mr. Craig's words - not mine).

I wasn't at the blogger gathering this time around, but can piece together the faces behind the missing names based on tidbits from other trip reports. Does our "sobbing, hyperventilating" friend want the whole poker blogging community to know of her addiction problems? Maybe, but that's not Michael Craig's judgment to make. I wasn't there, and now I know. At least the detrimental effects of someone's behavior are limited to those who witnessed the event. Thanks to Mr. Craig and the almighty and constantly archived internet, many more people now know and will be able to research the fact for years to come.

That's the thing that irritates me the most about irresponsible posts such as this one. I'm not saying Mr. Craig is the only blogger to write such posts - but he's one of the highest profile bloggers to do so. As a professional writer, I would expect Mr. Craig to have the skills to focus his creative talents on things other than bashing people for fun and profit, and the common sense to be a little more sensitive to the implications of posting private details about peoples' lives on the internet.

I stick to my original notion that friends don't say things like that about friends. Obviously, the definition of "friendship" varies from state to state and blogger to blogger.

(Waffles, however, said it much better than I ever could).

In honor of Al and the stories of degenerate gambling and debauchery that are about to occur (and that I will miss) in Sin City, I listened to my entire catalog of Anthrax tunes last night.

Dude I miss Judge Dredd.

Good luck in Vegas, you lucky bastards.

I'll be reading :)

I need some cash to materialize ASAP, or else my face will be (mostly un-noticeably) absent from Vegas next weekend.

Where, oh poker fairy, have you been?

I bought a new house 3 months ago - a bigger, better, nicer house! A lovely house! A spacious house!

It's kicking my ass.

Why can't I be a DINK ("dual income - no kids")? Being a SINK is fuckin' hard sometimes. At least I have nobody to clean up after. And Xmas shopping will be WAY cheaper this year, sans-boyfriend.

Pray for the poker fairy to visit and stick a grand under my pillow if you want to see me in Vegas... though I did just RSVP for the June event, and I WILL have money by then!

Geek claims he's not clever, but this had me laughing my ass off this morning:

Goodbye, Jim Leach. [sic] "You click your mouse, you lose your house," indeed.

I must apologize for skipping over all of the "live-blogging politics" posts from yesterday. Yes, I did my civic duty and voted yesterday (go blue!), but - live-blogged politics? I think I would rather stick pencils in my eye than READ about the minute by minute projections of each state. It's hard enough watching it, and at least then you get pretty colors on TV for stimulation.

Poker has been scarce around here lately. My new mortgage is kinda kicking my ass, so I withdrew more money from Full Tilt to pay some October bills. I plan to make it out to Vegas in December, though I have no idea how I'm going to pay for it. That's the joy of having the attitude I have. Me to Self: Ahhh, just go. You'll figure it out.

I know this has nothing to do with poker, BUT since many of my fellow poker bloggers are users of Googles Blogger.com (or Blogspot.com)...

I read a few days ago that (finally), the blogger beta is fully cooked, and that account migration will be available "really really soon" for all blogger users. (See Blogger Buzz post). I'm also reading tons of reports of various bloggers across the webosphere switching over.

How the hell do you switch? I want to switch!!

I read somewhere that there should be a link in your Blogger dashboard, but I don't have one.

Have any of you switched, or seen a link that allows you to switch to the new blogger beta version? If so, how? Where? Help!

The Great Space Coaster touches down in Indiana for some live WSOP Circuit Event coverage! Check out the World Series of Poker web site today or tomorrow for Spaceman's live coverage of the event. w00t!

Does Iggy know there's still a Party Poker banner at the bottom of his blog?

My brain is leaking out of my ear after that uber.

Bobby Bracelet has done amazing work once again in the final round of auctions for Peyton!

The best item up for auction of all times: (sorry, had to bust the nut right away. This one is too good!)

A genuine Genesis model poker table from Lucky Leahy's, signed by over 30 professional poker players! Not only is it an awesome table - it's been touched the the hands of gods.

Also up for your bidding pleasure:

A package of items from WSOP Champion Greg "The Fossilman" Raymer, including an autographed fossil and t-shirt, and a PokerStars tote bag.

An autographed basketball jersey (size XL) from Mike "The Mouth" Matusow.

Another HUGE Package from Donkey Puncher and Bobby Bracelet - this time including the abominable AlCantHang himself!

Last but not least... a while back, Paul Hannum, WPT camera man and director of the movie "The Real Old Testament," donated a DVD of the movie to our Peyton auctions. Before we could list the DVD for sale, however, Paul Hannum passed away, leaving behind his fiancee and a child on the way. Proceeds from the auction of "The Real Old Testament" DVD will be donated to Hannum's family via http://www.babyhannum.com/registry.htm.

BID NOW and BID HIGH!

The latest email scam to reach my inbox takes advantage of the recent US anti-gaming legislation, at least psychologically. I got pretty excited for about .03 seconds - thought maybe it was a birthday present :)

Hyperlinks removed for your protection, but they went to a fake Neteller site set up on someone's AOL home page. Brilliant!

Dear NETELLER Client: You have just received $684.00 USD in your NETELLER Account from partypoker.com affiliate programs. Payment details Amount: USD 684.00 ID: 2050551 Subject: You must use the link below to accept the payment. Note: https://www.neteller.com/accept.php?payment_id?=2050551 We hope you enjoy your cash.Use this link to accept the payment :https://www.neteller.com/accept.php?payment_id?=2050551 Please note that the fee of $1.00 USD has been deducted from the amount. Thank you, The NETELLER Team

Go read what Bill said.

Clarification: I should have said, go read Neteller's updated statement (PDF). I linked to Bill, who linked to Neteller's updated statement on the gaming ban.

Their updated statement is basically that they intend to treat their business as if it is within US jurisdiction.

That said, their foreign status is now irrelevant. It is as if they are a financial institution operating in the US. I'm sure they will fight to be categorized as some financial institution that is exempt from this law, but our government granting that exemption is unlikely. They may be buffoons but they know who Neteller is.

My question to Full Tilt, after being bombarded with bright and perky Affiliate newsletters about how great things are now that Full Tilt has become our savior:

Does Full Tilt have any opinion of the legality of the affiliate program, in light of the new legislation?


Their response:

Hello,

We are not in a position to answer specific legal questions nor to provide general legal advice to our affiliates. Please seek appropriate legal opinions from an attorney or other authorized legal advisor as soon as practical. Additionally, if you are interested in following the various issues surrounding poker today, you may wish to visit the PPA site at http://www.pokerplayersalliance.org/. Thank you for your support.

Best regards,

Lisa

That's funny, because if I'm not mistaken, they doled out a huge piece of legal advice to their thousands of US players, stating that playing online poker does not break any US Federal laws. That nugget immediately followed their statement of "After consultation with numerous legal experts in this field, we want to make you aware...." (See FTP's press release)

There are a million ways they could have worded that affiliate email that wouldn't have sounded like, "Yup, affiliates are breaking the law, but we won't tell you - we'll keep accepting your referrals as long as you don't get caught! Good luck with that!" or, "We love our players, but affiliates are on their own!"

Thanks a lot. Keep on handing out the legal advice so long as it lines your pocketbooks. Besides - my question was stated purposefully NOT to ask for advice, but to ask for a statement on their position on the topic.

Reading skills are overrated anyway.

My question to Full Tilt, after being bombarded with bright and perky Affiliate newsletters about how great things are now that Full Tilt has become our savior:
Does Full Tilt have any opinion of the legality of the affiliate program, in light of the new legislation?


Their response:

Hello,

We are not in a position to answer specific legal questions nor to provide general legal advice to our affiliates. Please seek appropriate legal opinions from an attorney or other authorized legal advisor as soon as practical. Additionally, if you are interested in following the various issues surrounding poker today, you may wish to visit the PPA site at http://www.pokerplayersalliance.org/. Thank you for your support.

Best regards,

Lisa

That's funny, because if I'm not mistaken, they doled out a huge piece of legal advice to their thousands of US players, stating that playing online poker does not break any US Federal laws. That nugget immediately followed their statement of "After consultation with numerous legal experts in this field, we want to make you aware...." (See FTP's press release)

There are a million ways they could have worded that affiliate email that wouldn't have sounded like, "Yup, affiliates are breaking the law, but we won't tell you - we'll keep accepting your referrals as long as you don't get caught! Good luck with that!" or, "We love our players, but you affiliates are on your own!"

Thanks a lot. Keep on handing out the legal advice so long as it lines your pocketbooks. Besides - my question was stated purposefully NOT to ask for advice, but to ask for a statement on their position on the topic.

Reading skills are overrated anyway.

Neteller vows to stay in the US.... so says the Wall Street Journal.

I'd rather read a statement from Neteller themselves, saying something warm and fuzzy like, "We talked to all kinds of lawyer type people and we will continue to accept US clients because this new law does not apply to us," but this is a start.

The WSJ article ran yesterday. The link will expire, as the WSJ is a subscription based newspaper, but the article didn't say much besides Neteller's quote: "We are staying in the U.S.," said Bruce Elliott, Neteller's executive vice president, marketing and sales, told a online gambling conference in Barcelona. "I don't think we have a very big problem."

Took 3rd in tonight's Mookie. Yeah, I know I said I was done playing. I lied a little.

My KK went down to worldpoker's AT when he pulled a straight outta thin air. It was like magic, I tell ya!

Had fun though. Now I must sleep.

Online poker is not illegal... at least not any more than it was already illegal, if you live in such a state. Check out this CardPlayer article: "Legal landscape of online poker has not changed"

Made me feel a little better about playing, anyway. The legal experts seem to be avoiding the topic of affiliate revenues, though. And we still have to wait and see if companies like Neteller will shut their doors to US players, making it impossible (or at least more difficult) for us to reload accounts or withdraw winnings. CardPlayer mentioned the possibility of the gaming act not covering check transactions, opening up the possibility of using e-checks to fund accounts.

On a side note... Firefox 2 Release Candidate 2 is out, and I'm running it. My favorite features so far are the x's on the individual tabs in the browser window, and automatic spell check when you're typing in text boxes on a web page (such as, writing this post). Misspelled words get underlined as you type. Sweet.

I got this via email from Full Tilt Poker around 9pm tonight:

Dear phlyersphan,

Full Tilt Poker is here to stay!

As an online poker player, you have probably heard about the new legislation passed by the U.S. Congress earlier this week that attempts to prevent you from being able to transfer money to online gaming sites.

While this new law has prompted some sites to announce plans to abandon the U.S. market in coming days, we assure you that Full Tilt Poker will continue to provide all of its players - both inside and outside of the United States - with a full complement of real money ring games and tournaments for their enjoyment.

After consultation with numerous legal experts in this field, we want to make you aware of the following:

* Legal

The new U.S. legislation does not in any way attempt to criminalize the act of you playing online poker. By playing online at Full Tilt Poker, you are not breaking any U.S. Federal laws.

* Full Access

The passage of the new Internet Gaming law will not have any impact on your day-to-day experience at Full Tilt Poker. We will provide all of our players, everywhere in the world, with full access to all of our games and tournaments.

* Easy Deposits and Withdrawals

We will continue to provide our players with all of the safe, secure and convenient methods for transferring money to and from the site. In fact, in recent discussions with our payment processors, we have been assured that this new law will have no immediate impact on their day-to-day business. And as always, any monies that you have on deposit with Full Tilt Poker remain completely safe and secure.

Furthermore, we firmly believe that online poker is not encompassed by this new legislation. In any event, we will continue to lobby for an express carve-out for online poker and for your right to play a truly American game from the privacy of your own home and computer.

We are excited about the future here at Full Tilt Poker and in the coming weeks and months, we plan to roll out many new features designed to enhance your online poker experience.

We appreciate your loyalty to our site and, in turn, want you to know that we will remain loyal to our valued players in the United States and throughout the world.

We look forward to seeing you at the table.

Sincerely,

Full Tilt Poker

Because I am such a huge chicken shit law abiding citizen of the United States of America, I've removed all of my poker affiliate links from this blog. While I was at it, I went through every single post I've ever made and removed all hyperlinks to online gaming sites. (Scurvy scared me!) It took a few hours. To me, it was better to preserve my tales of what once was than to lose all of that.

Sigh. This sucks.

Last night, I played poker online for the last time. I got killed in the Mookie game, losing most of my stack with QQ vs. KK. I made it to the top 16 or so, but that was it for me. I played in the second chance game and went out on the final table bubble. I was profitable on my cash table, though, so I was able to cash out for more than what I started with. I actually played a little NL at the cash tables, for once.

Upon completing my poker for the evening, I sent a withdrawal request to FTP. Upon waking this morning, my funds had been transferred and should be in my bank account shortly.

I spent the few FPP's I had on PokerStars this morning to get a knit beanie hat. It gets cold here in the winter, and I'll need a hat for my long treks over the border to the Indiana casinos.

I'm all cashed out. No more online poker for me - at least not until we see what happens when this bill is signed into law. I'm lucky to have poker rooms within an hour's drive from my home. I wish Empress hadn't closed their room. A 15 minute drive is so much nicer than an hour. But, that's beyond my control, as is the whole online gaming ban.

It's funny, since playing poker online is illegal in my state anyway. Why abide by the law now? I'm not quite so afraid that playing online poker will be what gets any of us in trouble, since that's not the focus of the gaming ban. It's the banner ad revenue and affiliate links that make some of us criminals now for aiding these online poker sites. That's what makes me nervous.

Oh well. Such is life. Reading through all of my old posts, I saw that I really did spend a lot of time at the casinos - and that was back before Empress had a room. I drove out to Indiana 2 or 3 times a week, for months. I'll just have to go back to doing that. And host more home games :)

Daniel Negreanu has weighed in on the online gaming ban.

In a nutshell: by his understanding, since Neteller is neither a US bank nor an online gaming site, players transferring money to Neteller are not breaking the law, and what Neteller does with your money after you transfer it there is untracable. His assumption is that because Neteller is not a US bank, the US will have no jurisdiction over what it does with the money it holds.

He also expects all privately held online poker sites to continue running, "business as usual," as he puts it.

Negreanu is very clear to say that this is all just his understanding of things, and that it's really all still up in the air until things are signed into law.

I'm playing what will probably be my last night of online poker. I've cashed out everyplace but Full Tilt, and in true Maudie fashion, it's all or nothing tonight. Not that I've got much left to put balls-to-the-wall. I spent most of my poker bankroll selling my old house and buying my new one. It's a sad night, really.

The Mookie tourney starts in 15 minutes or so on FTP. I'm watching opening night of the NHL hockey season in HD on my new TV, which is sweet. Hockey looks ungodly amazing in HD.

Soon, the law abiding citizens amongst us will be all cashed out from the online poker sites. One of these days, I'll have to cancel my affilitate memberships and dig through all of my old posts to remove any links to poker sites. That's not a task I'm looking forward to, but I surely don't want to just delete the contents of this blog and start over. This blog and the community of people I've come to know as a result of writing this blog and reading your blogs is a big part of who I am and who I've been the last couple years. There's no delete key that can remove these past couple years from memory, and there's no law that can break the bonds of friendship that so many of us have formed. Still, things won't be the same as they were. Maybe that's not the worst thing in the world, but it's change that I'm not looking forward to.

So, I encourage you all to come play the Wednesday night Mookie on FTP, this week in honor of DuggleBogey.

And accept the things we cannot change. And vote in the next election.

Full Tilt Poker has the most reasonable response to this online gaming ban that I've seen yet.

God I love FTP.

An Open Letter From Full Tilt Poker Regarding the State of Your Online Poker Experience

Spent some FTP points... I was debating between the duffel bag and the FTP plastic playing cards, but since I already have a set of Kem cards, I figured I'd get more use out of the duffel.





Now I don't have to go buy a jacket.


I think I might make a trip out to the casino tonight. Whaddya think?

What a crazy weekend for poker.

Saturday night, I met up with Armando, Kathie and the gang for a long-overdue rendition of the JackHammer game. Armando and Kat got a new house, and it's simply gorgeous, making for a fine backdrop for our poker festivities.

Joining us were Jen, Rob, Ed, Eric and Manda, and eventually Tom. I feel like I'm missing somebody. Please correct me if I'm wrong! It was good to see everybody, and though I didn't play a whole lot of hands due to the overpopulation of 10-3 in my pocket, I had a great time - even when my brother knocked me out on the bubble, calling my short-stacked all-in with Ace high. Bastard. (I had 8-6 of hearts). OK, fine, it was the right move. Grumble grumble grumble. The sleeping vagi-ant got me. He got Jen too, when he pulled a big blind straight flush out of his ass to destroy her Jack-high flush. Rob spent the evening "one cigarette away from being an idiot," and since most of us were drinking heavily, it was a game for the ages.

Congrats to Armando and Kat on the new house, and thanks for having us!

In other news... it seems that I'm going to have to start making the trek over to Indiana if I want to play any poker. The fine lawmakers of this country have pulled a move that only a tantrum-bound 6 year old could appreciate. When they couldn't get their anti-gaming legislation to grow legs on its own merit (maybe because it's completely idiotic, considering the various forms of gaming that are LEGAL - not to mention potential revenues that could be gathered by legalizing and regulating online gaming), they attached it to a bill that was most certain to pass - a port security bill. (Not that port security has anything to do with online gaming...) The president (intentionally written with a lowercase P, because he too is an idiot not worthy of the title) will surely sign it into law, and we will be unable to transfer money to and from online gaming companies. Party Poker and others have already announced that they will suspend all U.S. accounts once this is signed into law. It was fun while it lasted.

If I were involved in any of the companies in the UK that are suffering massive stock losses as a result of this U.S. legislation, I'd be mighty pissed at the short-sightedness and juvenile behavior of our government. It's not a proud day to be an American. In fact, I haven't felt "proud" of my government for a very long time.

So now, I'm wondering what people are doing. Are you all cashing out your online poker funds? I'm sure some sites will force withdrawals when they suspend U.S. accounts, but that mass exodus of money will surely hurt some sites. What if they don't have the money to refund to all of their U.S. players? It makes me think that initiating the withdrawal yourself is not a bad idea. Someone mentioned frequent player points - don't forget to cash those out! I was saving mine up for a Full Tilt Poker jersey. I was almost there. I guess I'll go order some random crap and buy my jersey on eBay (assuming that guy isn't a U.S. player). Damn. I probably won't even be able to get one on eBay.

Oh sad.

Wanna play some fantasy hockey? The One Eyed Jacks league is in its 2nd year. Come join us so I can kick all of your asses. All team management is done online. Email me for details - phlyersphan at gmail dott com

Ain't she gorgeous????




No broken screens here!!!

I have to get to work with the twist ties behind the equipment and clean up that mess, but otherwise I am in a state of pure HD bliss over here. Who cares if my FTP account is down to thirty bucks?? I HAVE A BIG SCREEN HDTV! w00t!

For those of you who haven't invested in Poker Tracker, here's a web site that will replay and animate any hand you've played (cash game or tourney) on Poker Stars - free. Just copy and paste your hand history into it. No downloads required - behold the power of the web! Animated poker hand replayer

Barney's blog isn't a bad read, either! :)

This past Monday, I went to Tweeter and purchased my first ever big screen TV. I got a Mitsubishi 57" DLP projection HDTV - model WD57732 for the videophiles out there. I was absolutely giddy.

Today, the most gorgeous TV I've ever seen was delivered. As the guys took it off of the truck and out of the box, they noticed a slight problem.

Half of the screen had been smashed in, presumably when the TV was loaded onto the truck.

Moment of silence for the big screen.

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

They'll be back on Monday with a new TV. I think I finally understand what "blue balls" feel like.

Wow... I say all sorts of nice things about Full Tilt, and all I get in return is....

69 hands, -$169 at 3/6 LHE

I should have walked away after my very first hand. As a bit of history, I specifically chose a table where a known donkey-clown psychopathic maniac was seated, as he's always good for dropping a few hundo. I won't disclose his name here, though WillWonka mozied on over to my table and spent some time with my favorite FTP maniac as well.

My first hand: I raised preflop from late-middle position with 99 after it had been folded to me. Nutcase re-raised me, and I capped (hey, may as well get the money in in case I get lucky against this bozo). I flopped 2nd set on a board of 9-Q-2 rainbow. He bet. I raised. He 3-bet and I called. The turn came a 4, still rainbow. He checked, I bet, he raised, I called. Does this whackjob seriously have pocket Queens? The river came a ten. He bet. I saw the writing on the wall. The jackass was pushing his weight around all that time with a gutshot draw. Bastard's got KJ. I call. He sure did have KJ.

I reloaded and buckled in on my quest to get my money back from the joker, but alas, he hit and run, hanging around for a few more hands before blowing that pop stand. I watched my player list for a few minutes, hoping he'd sit down elsewhere so I could change tables, but no luck.

I didn't last long before my state of mind was so battered that I deemed it necessary to log off before I flushed my bankroll down the drain.

Oh well. Tomorrow, they say, is another day.

I hopped over to Poker Stars today for a little lunchtime change of pace (since my regular poker site is Full Tilt). Man... FTP has really spoiled me. It seems I am actively irritated by any software other than FTP. Full Tilt is smooth and slick... convenient and efficient... and the audio effects don't mimick nails down a chalkboard.

What can I say? I'm a Full Tilt Poker kinda girl.

Another poker nuisance this week... and all weeks really... I can never play in the WWdN tourneys, because I work on Tues and Thurs nights. Waaa. You peeps should make more Mon/Wed tourneys! Yeah! And how about on Full Tilt? LOL

OK I'm done amusing myself. It's time to go to work. Tomorrow, I'll be attending my 20th Dave Matthews Band show. I expect some insane inebriation. Until next time....

Reprinted from: How to dissuade yourself from becoming a blogger

What a buzz all the bloggers are making these days! It seems like just about everybody is pouring their musings into a text box. Are you feeling tempted to start a blog of your own? Here are some ways to bypass the trend.

Warnings

• The information you post on the Internet is likely to linger for years and years to come, as web pages are archived by "snapshot" services like the Wayback Machine. Once it's out there, you can't take it back. An employer running a Google search on your name years down the line might be turned off by your now documented obsession with your cat.

Just so ya know I'm still playing some poker...

Amidst the insanity of selling my house, buying a new one, and moving this weekend, I did manage to play a little bit on Full Tilt Poker. I took 2nd place in a $36 turbo NLHE sit n go, and managed to squeak a nice little 16BB win out of a couple 3/6 LHE tables over about an hour's time. I miss the casino poker room dearly, and hopefully as things settle down a bit around here, I'll have more time to make the trek out to Resorts in Indiana. I heard that Horseshoe is supposed to open a big poker room sometime... vague recollection puts it at the end of this year? Don't quote me on that.

The house closings and the move went well. I've done some painting around here, and have begun the laborious task of unpacking. I have a lot of shit for one person! The good news is, DirecTV was already here (so I'm set for NHL Center Ice and the start of the hockey season), and the cable company hooked up my cable internet on Friday. I've got the home network all set up as well as the Vonage phones, and my office is mostly put back together.

The fun part is yet to come: shopping! On the shopping list:

- A big screen HDTV (I'm going for a DLP projection TV and am debating between the 65" screen and the 50-something" screen)
- A new entertainment center
- A new sectional couch

I've got the furniture all picked out. I just have to go buy it :)

Back to unpacking...

Lucky readers: today I share with you my "duh!" moment of the day.

Game: limit hold'em
Venue: online
Scenario: you are in the small blind and action has folded around to you

Tip: RAISE!

OK... so I've always kept in mind the strategy of raising when you're the BIG blind in this situation (as you'll have position on the small blind throughout the hand), but here's the thing with playing online... when multi-tabling, often people check their starting cards in the big blind and hit the check/fold button, thinking, "I'll see a flop if the pot is unraised, but it's not good enough of a hand to call a raise." I never thought much past that when I'm in the big blind. But today, I realized that since so many people click that check/fold button and shift their attention to their other table, a raise from the small blind triggers that insta-fold. If the big blind player isn't watching the table and uses thost auto-action checkboxes, you win.

I know. It's so obvious. I've now stopped using that auto-act check/fold button on hands that I might like to play heads-up. I still use it for hands I won't play no matter what, but otherwise I'll wait to act in turn - just in case action folds around to the small blind.

I had a fantastic 40 minutes at 3/6 today, nearly tripling my money. I'm wearing some lucky 4-leaf clover earrings that my mom got me from Ireland, and they've been granting me crazy luck! First my win Friday night, then a decent profit online last night, and today a SWEET win! I'm heading over to the Diamond game in a little bit... let's hope my luck continues! Mama needs a new couch! :)

As you might have noticed, it's been a cricket haven around here since the WPBT Summer Classic. August 2006 has been a pretty crazy month for me. It's going to go out like a lion, too - but that's OK.

When I got home from Vegas, I put the finishing touches on a deep-clean of my house, did a little staging and put my house on the market. You see - I'm currently in an adjustable rate mortgage, and I'm only locked in for another couple years. I want to lock in while the rates are still reasonable, and lock in for 30 years. Problem is, I've outgrown my house. When I investigated what kind of sales price I might get for this place (where I've lived for about 4 1/2 years now), I was floored. Cashing in on my equity to pay off some debt, invest a bit, and buy a bigger place was a no-brainer, and in the end, my monthly expenses will be less than they are now. Win-win.

I got 2 contracts on my house the first day it was on the market. I picked one and put up the sold sign. I'd already looked at some new places and had my heart set on a townhouse on a golf course, with a creek and the course as my back yard. My realtor said it's a great course (I don't golf), so it's not likely to get bulldozed and replaced with a WalMart. Sold. The rest of August was spent shmoozing with appraisers and home inspectors, and haggling with my buyers over miscellaneous crap. They ended up being the buyers from hell, but in light of the fact that this process is almost over, I'm going to try and stay upbeat in hopes that it will carry into some good karma and a smooth closing.

I close on my sale and my purchase at the end of this month. I'm moving the same day. It's gonna be a crazy day. I hired movers, though, because I'm too old to deal with that crap. I've learned the value of service in my old age.

I also went back to work mid-August. I've just finished my first week of classes. It's been a bit chaotic on that end, too, but since this is the weekend, I don't feel like rehashing anything that might bring me down. I'll leave work at work, for once.

ForPeyton.com has been a fantastic experience as well, and is the spearhead of a handful of web site projects I've been doing this month in my side-business. Nothing like being so busy your head might explode!

In terms of poker, I haven't made it out to the casinos this month. Actually, I took a cash advance from my bankroll to fix up my house to sell it. I plan to replenish from the proceeds of my house sale next week. I've been limited to online poker, of course at Full Tilt. I was doing quite well sticking to the "no cash games" rule in online poker. At the donkey limits (I play between 2/4 and 3/6 online), I just can't seem to outrun the luck of the fishes, despite the fact that my Poker Tracker stats are precisely where I want them to be. I haven't hit the 10,000 hand mark since my hard drive crashed last spring, though, so I need a bigger sample size to know if I'm really just getting unlucky. I crave limit hold'em, though, so despite the fact that the place I'm profitable online is in sit-n-go's, I can't help but sit down at the limit tables every so often.

Last night, I took down first place (out of 10) at my cousin's weekly drunken home game. I've been playing nearly every week there the entire summer, and this was my first win. The game is frequented by players who will routinely find themselves all in at the river, but have not yet looked at their cards. It's hard to outrun the lucky ones. The ironic thing last night was that I showed up without any cash on me, so I announced at the outset that I was going to win because that's the only way I wouldn't owe anybody money. I should show up penniless more often. It came down to me and my cousin Tracy. Luckily for me, she was quite drunk and I was getting quite lucky, so things went down pretty quickly.

Despite the fact that I still have a ridiculous amount of packing to do, I'm going to head over to the Diamond Game for a little poker action tomorrow afternoon. If today goes as planned, I'll be almost done packing. Then I can finish up Sunday morning, and hopefully spend Monday doing one last deep clean on the house. Tuesday and Wednesday I have to work, and the buyers will likely do a final walkthrough on Wednesday sometime, so I need to have the place ready to go by then. Thursday is The Big Day.

Here's hoping for a heavenly experience with the buyers from hell! I'll be back on the felt after Labor Day weekend - I promise!

Hmmm... OK don't read that subject line literally...

Poker bloggers extraordinaire, Bobby Bracelet and Donkey Puncher, have put together a HUGE package for your eBay bidding pleasure. It's so HUGE that I can't even tell you what's included.

Check it out and BID NOW on eBay!

The Bobby Bracelet/DP HUGE Package

You know the drill... fight cancer, help an adorable little girl, get some cool poker swag... BID NOW on eBay!

Even if you can't bid, you should at least go check out the listing for the autographed photo of Carlos Mortensen. Trust me.

This time up, Bobby Bracelet has procured a plethora of autographed CardPlayer Magazine covers from various poker pro's and hotties - hotties for the ladies, this time (and I ain't talkin' 'bout TJ!). These are framed and make great collector's pieces.

Antonio "The Magician" Esfandiari

Michael Gracz

Erick "E-Dog" Lindgren

TJ Cloutier

Carlos Mortensen

Daniel Negreanu

David Williams

We also have two featured auctions:

First - an autographed cowboy hat from Kenna James!! No kidding, folks. This one is sweet!

Next - an autographed Full Tilt Poker jersey from Layne Flack. This auction also includes an autographed and framed cover feature photo from CardPlayer Magazine.

Last but not least... we have two more CardPlayer DVD packages to auction off: one with CardPlayer T-shirts and the other with Hellmuth's DVD and the Poker for Dummies DVD. Great gifts for new poker players!

The poker world has been very kind to donate such great items for this cause. Please be so kind as to BID HIGH and help us fight cancer and help secure little Peyton's future. Thanks!

Won a $10 SnG on Full Tilt tonight. My eyelids were drooping as I fired up FTP, so I'm not even entirely sure why I played... I was literally nodding off throughout the heads-up match! It was a good match though - swings back and forth, with some actual poker being played. Once again, I cannot recall my opponent's name.

I still have to get around to writing up my Vegas reports. Sorry guys and gals! I've been pretty busy getting my house on the market for sale since I got home from Sin City. Send me some good house mojo vibes if you have any to spare - it's been a crazy weekend and I hope to be signing some buying-and-selling papers on Monday! :)

I played a bit tonight on Full Tilt (thanks in part to the handsome new picture of Gus Hansen on the main lobby screen.... yum!) I managed to win one of those 6 handed NLHE $6 sit n go's where you win a $26 token. I like having tokens. They are nifty.

Yesterday I got crushed in back to back $20 SnG's, so I stepped back tonight to mingle with the scoobys. It paid off, and I actually enjoyed the heads-up match quite a bit. I always intend to come here and give kudos to my opponent, and for the life of me I can never remember their names. Oh well. Nice match, guy who was playing around 11pm tonight!

Just wanted to let ya's know that I haven't turned into an ebay entrepreneur. Still playing a little poker - though I haven't made it to the local card room in what seems like ages, thanks to them closing down Empress. (Yes, I'm still whining about that). Frown. One of these days I'll make it to Indiana, but not likely soon.

Why? 'Cuz I'm selling my house and movin' on up! Buying a bigger place that's closer to friends and family. Good stuff. It sure is keeping me busy. In fact, I have another showing in less than 12 hours. I'd better go get some zzz's. Night all!

C'mon, folks! Get your butts over to www.forpeyton.com and bid on some cool stuff to benefit an adorable little girl who lost her mother. FIGHT CANCER! It sucks and we can beat it IN OUR LIFETIME - with *your* help.

Bidding ends tomorrow!!!

If you missed out on the cool swag we auctioned off in Round 1 of the Auctions for Peyton, then hop to it and get in on the action in Round 2!

Here's what we've got up on eBay for your bidding pleasure:

CardPlayer package including Phil Hellmuth's DVD and Poker for Dummies DVD, and a 1 year CardPlayer Magazine subscription

A Duke basketball cap autographed by head coach Krzyzewski -

An autographed copy of Annie Duke's book in hardcover, plus her DVD

An autographed copy of Annie Duke's book in softcover, plus 2 DVD's including her Girl's Guide

A 2 hour poker lesson with poker pro Robert Mizrachi

Dinner and poker chat in Manhattan with poker pro Steve Zolotow

A package including a 1 Year Subscription to CardPlayer magazine, Phil Hellmuth's DVD, CardPlayer t-shirts and more

2 Tickets to attend Full Tilt Poker's WSOP 2006 Gala Event at PURE Nightclub at Caesar's Palace, Las Vegas

Invidation to attend Howard Lederer's 4th Annual WSOP (World Series of Beer) and Karaoke Championship in Las Vegas

Let's get it on! Support the cause. If you'd rather not bid, you can always send donations directly via ForPeyton.com. Thanks!

Donate to the ForPeyton.com fundraising drive to help out a little girl named Peyton Novoa and to fund research for small cell ovarian cancer. Place your bids now!

WHAT: Full Tilt Poker WSOP Gala Event
WHERE: Pure Nightclub - Caesar's Palace, Las Vegas, Nevada
WHEN: July 26, 2006 at 10pm

BID NOW ON eBAY!

Have you ever wanted to attend an event with professional poker players and celebrities? Well, here’s your chance! We have two of these invites to auction off, and you are not going to be disappointed.

You and a guest will be living the high life as guests at Full Tilt Poker’s Gala Event for this years World Series of Poker. Held at Pure, an amazing nightclub located in Caesers, mingle with professional poker players and celebrities while enjoying an open bar stocked with premium liquors and food as well. In case it interests you, the Pussycat Dolls will be there as well.

Just in case you’re the timid type when it comes to events like this, Gavin Smith - World Poker Tour Player of the Year and an all around great guy - has offered to introduce you to whoever you’d like.

Timing on this is tight because we just became aware of these generous gifts from Full Tilt and Gavin Smith, so get your bid in high and start planning your big night out!

We will ensure that the winning bidders will have their tickets waiting for them in the Full Tilt Poker suite located onsite at the World Series of Poker, Rio Casino & Hotel.

BID NOW ON eBAY!

Brought to you by the fine fellow with Huge Junk Confirmed Ad Infinitum, our favorite Spaceman, Gavin Smith, and Full Tilt Poker. (Me, I'm just the computer geek amongst us).