Thursdays

So, Thursday in NYC has always been a poker night for me. Whether it was back in the day of the beer-riddled Thursday night .25/.50 donkfest of my youth or the slightly more serious present-day, Thursday is the day I've ordained myself to enter the sometimes surly world that is underground poker in the Big Apple.

I tend to classify the type of poker found in this environment into three categories. At the top, the poker houses of Old, like the Mayfair Club, where there are three tables or more, food and drink available, and decent dealers. Unfortunately, these are now few and far between after the cop busts of 2003-4 and of the couple I know of, I have a few misgivings about.

At the bottom, there are places that make you wonder whether you are playing poker or in the middle of gang warfare. When I mean gang, I mean the losse fitting, low jean-riding gang tpe clothes the kids are wearing these days. Small, smoky, uncomfortable places where you're constantly almost certain someone is packing heat, waiting for the right moment to pistol-whip the cashier. Sometimes you don't know until it's too late if you've stumbled into one of these places...do I walk out? Will they think I am a cop or something? Unless I have a specific purpose in mind, I steer clear.

For me, I prefer the middle. The middle for me is a one, sometimes two-table house with people I already know and trust, whether they range from good friends to occasional acquaintances...the perfect mixture of social time and action-filled gameplay with folks of varying skill levels. My sojourn into this kind of action started in the waning days of the Wall Street Club, headed by Jamie. I found them through the internet, and immediately started going there on Thursday, their designated night. Changes came to Jamie's life and MattyEbs took over the Thursday night game, and then Wall Street became the Wall Street game in Murray Hill...then Stuy Town, and now, Midtown.

So, now that the history is out of the way...thursday at the house of ScottyCards, one of Matt's good friends and the house where this Thursday night game is currently played. I bought it for $170 at this 1/2 NLHE game(I have a superstition about buying in with odd numbers...never $200) and we got to playing six-handed as others arrived. I built up my stack very early against a guy who is there every week, but I never remember his name. I really should find a way to ask him in an inconspicuous way that isn't jerk-like. Anyway, through a good run of cards and a mined set I worked up to about $285 fairly quickly. MattyEbs arrived and before long we hit the key hand of my night.

Now, I wouldn't say that Matty and I play soft against each other, but we are friends and we'll do our best to not intentionally bust the other one out, if the aituation warrants it. Matt's acting before me, I'm limping with 10c7c.the flop comes x-7-7, two cards to a flush of some kind. Matt bets out 15, I call. the turn turns out to be insignificant for both of us, but there's now a flush draw on the board. Now Matty, he sometimes likes to play that card game where he will show you a card to help you make your decision easier(or sometimes harder) and I decided to play that game with him this time. He bets out 30 or something...I say, "Did you hit your flush?" He said"Are you afraid of the flush? I wouldn't be." I turn over my 7. "You want me to raise?" Here's where I should have taken the hint. Matty says,"I'll show you my ace..." He flips over Ad. I do my typical not thinking it through all the way thing and shove, Matty shrugs and flips over the case 7. Why oh why did I do that? He saw my 7, and his ace was his way of telling me that I'm outkicked..otherwise he wouldn't have shown it, I believe. But alas, I didn't process this. I had him covered, but now I'm down to 75, and though I made some hero calls and was overall happy with my play the rest of the night, I wavered from 175 back down to 80 before I got stacked off by AK hitting a straight over my two pair JQ. Truthfully, it was 5am and I was dead tired by this point, and I looked at losing the $80 as a good excuse to go home, so I made a money losing decision for the sake of some shuteye. I did learn a lot in that 9 hrs of play though, and it only makes me hungry for the next session. To the next!

The iPAD

OOOOhhhhhh. I really want one of these.

Ouch. Back to $200

I think I did about 10 of those 45 person SnGs wtthout a cash. Couple that with losing 10 bucks in the land of Rush, I'm right back to where I started. I need to mentally regroup and take a break, and come back focused later tonight or tomorrow!

Downswing, around $240

Hands like this plagued my recent .10NL session....

Full Tilt Poker, $0.05/0.10 No Limit Hold'em Cash Games, 9 Players

Hand Converter by the Pokerhand.org community

Board:

resplandor (UTG): $15.30

scarfroto (UTG+1): $4.55

edgie212 (CO): $4.54

empty-alias (Button): $6.83

v8power (SB): $5.90

hamster644 (BB): $9.37

Crossfighter (MP1): $10

wayow (MP2): $18.43

Theeal74 (MP4): $4.04

Dealt to: edgie212

Pre-flop:

(2 folds), Theeal74 raises to $.40, (2 folds), edgie212 calls $.40, (3 folds),

Flop:($.95) (2 Players)

Theeal74 bets $.60, edgie212 raises to $1.80, Theeal74 calls $1.20,

Turn: ($4.55) (2 Players)

Theeal74 bets $1.84 and is all-in, edgie212 calls $1.84,

River: ($8.23) (2 Players)

Results:

Theeal74 Showed

edgie212 Showed

Theeal74 wins $7.69


You're in with the best of it, right? Eh. Couple that with 5 straight busts in the much-heralded 45TurboSNGs, you've got me around $240.

Mookie Plans

Tomorrow night, I plan on introducing my blog via chat at the Mookie to anyone who will liaten. Hopefully this might further my readership, but it's almost a guarantee that I'll lose $10 in the outing. My luck in the Mookie has been nothing short of dreadful...I've made one final table that I didn't even cash. This is not representative of my typical tourney results...this week I will endeavor to improve.

Min-cashed another 45 TurboSNG today. I love how quickly they get done (30-45 min, tops), but it is a bit of a crapshoot. But, at my current bankroll, I could play $5 single table SnGs that sometimes last longer. I enjoy them as much as the next guy, but once you're down to 3 most people play like they've watched the WPT too many times on TV. Do I want to min-cash in 90 minutes or in an hour? For now I am going to follow the steps of Jamhawk and play these a lot more, or at least a few per day.

Holy Shitballs! Late nite Super Turbo Win...$273.13

I wish I could learn how to print these FT screens on a Mac while running XP on it!

Mr. Jamyhawk has the right idea with these suckers. It is indeed a shovefest, but 2 double-ups and you're swimming. I chopped it two ways 50/49 for a big end of the evening win for me. If you had told me I'd have a $73.13 profit in 48 hours I would have been quite happy but incredulous...I really have been running well and playing focused.

I'm also finding that pimping out my progress makes me stick to my bankroll and work hard for better results! big up to Jamyhawk for turning me on to these.

$226.93 and itching for the Borgata...

Couple of bucks in .10NL while I look at the Winter Poker Open schedule.

Now, for two previous years I have satellited into the main event...quite comfortably, in fact. My record in the Main Event has been less than stellar, however, busting out in Day 2 both years. Last year, I folded KK to Lacey Jones' KK and lost a sizable pot, and then shoved a shortstacked QQ into AA right after dinner on Day 2. I am jonesing to go down but right now that $400 satellite doesn't QUITE fit into my current financial picture. I hate that I am probably going to have to pass, but playing with scared money is NO WAY TO PLAY. I echo Jordan's sentiment earlier in the week...it is just ONE tournament. There will be others.

Someone I know asked me what my goal is, i.e., a specific dollar amount for said FT Bankroll. Well, I'd like it to be as much as possible, but I'd like to see, maybe $500 by April, and then $1000 by the summer. I don't have enough time to REALLY grind here. I have a job, a girlfriend, other things taking up my time. I'd like to be in a situation where I can walk into a 1/2 table online and not play beyond m means...of course, that means a $4000 bankroll by my rules. I also want to replicate this on Stars, but since the qualifiers for the WSOP and the NAPT are so juicy there, I may only be depositing amounts solely for those purposes.

I'm excited about my PLO work today...and I find it's enhancing my reads in NLHE. PLO is so complex, going back to .10NL feels like a walk in the park!

$224.27 - PLO victory!

Although I haven't yet figured out how to print an active window running Windows on a Mac, I will still report my PLO victory without the printed screen(a la TwoBlackAces).

7th out of 189 runners, for a $21 profit. I am pretty proud of my PLO play so far, after putting in a lot of study and reading on the game. I came into the final table shortstacked at 6K with the table average around 25K, jumped up to 15K with a flopped straight, but then lost a race, 3 of a kind to a straight to go out in 7th. I plan on playing a lot more PLO in the coming days. Onward and upward, bankroll!

Aw man.

I totally missed the deadline to sign up for the WBCOOP today. Ain't that a stick in the mud.

Oh, the temptation. $204.73

I gotta say, this bankroll management thing can be hard on your psyche, when you see a $26 7-game tournament starting up and then you realize it isn't within your requirements. I know sometimes you have to take a shot, but in the long run it isn't good on your percentages.

I'm still going back and forth on Rush Poker. I think I can make fundamentally sound decisions without taking notes and mining data, but the key is to get out before variance sucks you dry. Right.

I'm going to shamelessly/thruthfully post my bankroll on most posts, but occasionally I won't, just because it isn't topical at the moment.

$206.33 - Up late with PLO

Still up here Eastern Time, concluding a viewing of HSP on GSN and tinkering with PLO at the lowest of the low, .01/,02!

Don't hate, I'm still on a learning curve. With Super System 2 and one horrible live session under my belt, I'm tearing up the low stakes. I doubled up there in about 10 minutes, and unless I forgot to mention, my cash game rule mirrors Jesus' opinion about bankroll mgmt...double up and walk away...and so I did. So many of my poker pals (Jordan, MattyEbs) love playing PLO, it just makes me want to get better.

I know I've made about 5 posts in less than a day, but I feel more connected to my quest now. I now know why the blogging community is so vibrant, and why I enjoy reading all of you crazy folk. I expect I'll soon be bitching about getting stacked soon enough but for now....the power, the POWER!

Early Day 2 - $203.69

After some two-tabling .05/.10 NLHE for about 100 hands, I grinded up a bit and am now (somewhat) squarely in the win column. An interesting hand:

Full Tilt Poker Game #17890346911: Table Color - $0.05/$0.10 - No Limit Hold'em - 1:26:05 ET - 2010/01/25
Seat 1: aaronjamesaces ($4.35)
Seat 2: de_Bade ($10)
Seat 3: xSHEEBAx ($28.30), is sitting out
Seat 4: edgie212 ($7.96)
Seat 5: JoeBlack33 ($7.52)
Seat 6: Guard1313 ($9.31)
Seat 7: SteveO8787 ($3.83)
Seat 8: LetsGoNucks ($8.02)
Seat 9: xWhite_Rabbitx ($2.94)
edgie212 posts the big blind of $0.10
The button is in seat #1
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to edgie212 [Ah Qs]
JoeBlack33 folds
Guard1313 has 15 seconds left to act
Guard1313 folds
SteveO8787 raises to $0.20
LetsGoNucks folds
xWhite_Rabbitx folds
xSHEEBAx has returned
aaronjamesaces calls $0.20
edgie212 calls $0.10
*** FLOP *** [7s Tc 2h]
edgie212 checks
SteveO8787 checks
aaronjamesaces checks
*** TURN *** [7s Tc 2h] [As]
edgie212 bets $0.30
SteveO8787 has 15 seconds left to act
SteveO8787 raises to $0.80
aaronjamesaces folds
edgie212 calls $0.50
*** RIVER *** [7s Tc 2h As] [5s]
edgie212 checks
SteveO8787 has 15 seconds left to act
SteveO8787 bets $1.70
edgie212 calls $1.70
*** SHOW DOWN ***
SteveO8787 shows [6h Ac] a pair of Aces
edgie212 shows [Ah Qs] a pair of Aces
edgie212 wins the pot ($5.23) with a pair of Aces
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $5.60 | Rake $0.37
Board: [7s Tc 2h As 5s]

I think this is indicative of a lot of the play you find down here in .10NL...after all, we're only talking about a couple of bucks, right? Keeeeeep firing with that A6os. With AQ, I'm not considering calling $1.70 a hero call at this level. But I was a bit surprised he'd fire that much on the river. Am I supposed to think he backdoored a flush? At any rate, I need to be aware of this type of sloppy play down here...if I hope to keep moving up. I'm still thinking small/medium MTT scores will be the eventual key to making progress, but overall I am happy with where I am at.

Evening 1, $198.72

High points: 2nd place in a 2.25 SNG, running in the top 3 for MOST of a 2.25 180 person SNG.

Low points: 4betting a min raise with QQ, Villain calls with 58o. Flop comes 58J, he checks, I fire 3000. He reraises to 7600. I smell a set but I have about 8K more than him so I foolishly put him all-in. His two pair holds up.

So, I'm in 2nd place here and I get two queens. Here's a big hole in my post-flop play. Even though his bet SCREAMS a set, I also ignore a possibility of two pair, despite the fact that HIS choice to call my raise with 58off was idiotic. J8 might be there, but who would call with that? Even 55 or 88 are less likely than JJ here, and true, I should have played it assuming JJ or 88. We're running about 22 left, 4 out of the money, but I'm not playing to cash, I'm playing to win. Moral of the story: If you smell trouble, it's probably trouble. I end up netting 2 bucks or so and bust out 15th.

I'm interested in opinions about which tournaments people advocate on FT for bankroll building...I've played the 3.30 Turbo Kos but my luck has been bad there. I also hear a lot about the 45max Super Turbos, but it feels like a ahovefest to me. Yes, I've cashed them, but you've got to double up twice. I just think my EV isn't good there. I'm always open to suggestions!

I also hit a few hands in Rush to get me to the final total of the night. Conclusion? Rush Poker, while enjoyable, is like Sunny Delight(or maybe TANG?), and a regular ring game is fresh squeezed orange juice. You get a feel for the table, reading your opponents...ah, fresh squeezed goodness.

Ok....maybe the Vikings DIDN'T win....

My first post - an exercise in futility?

So, as the Jets met their demise and as I watch the Vikings hurtle to their inevitable berth in the Super Bowl (hyperbole?) I have decided to embark on a solo journey into the blogosphere, like so many other pokerati before me - often have I read the pages of Poker Grump, BWOP, F Train and my friend Jordan of High On Poker fame, almost to the point where I feel like I know them personally. I wonder if THEY wonder who edgie212 is when they face me in the Mookie(although I haven't been much of a force to be reckoned with on that front).

So, in short, this is who I am. My name's Jeff, and I live and work in New York City. I came here to follow my dreams to the Broadway stage, which I've done and achieved many times. You may spot me on an original cast recording on ITunes - you may spy me on TNT in a Law and Order rerun...as far as the acting biz goes, I've done a bit of everything...and in between gigs I work in real estate. There does exist a third, unbridled passion - poker. Initially, this blog will be about my mission to turn my $200 Full Tilt bankroll into, well....something else, hopefully more than $200. I also shamelessly want to participate in the Blogger Challenge on PokerStars. But I aspire to a larger goal, which is to perhaps become one of The Read, and no longer be just a Reader.

So, here is what I have done. I have taken out some money from FT(to pay some bills) and reduced it down to $200. Just before I did this, I made about $25 dollars on Rush Poker, which I have to say is as exhilirating as it is intimidating. While I think it won't take long for the 2 + 2'ers to start formulating plausible strategems to beat this sucker, I've found it to be pretty simple in the outset...tight is right, 4bet your big hands, limp when you can with speculative hands late, or, just raise in late position if nobody has come behind. I'd say about 4 out of 5 times I've raised late with no one behind, the small blind follows suit and the big blind presses quick fold once I've raised. I think as this fad becomes fixture, people are going to get keen to this - I've been interested in what people have had to say so far.

So, skill set - I'm a decent live player - an overall winner in cash games here in town, and I've cashed in several tournaments in AC, Vegas and other places. I'm a NLHE player primarily...I enjoy Stud Hi and Razz(and fare well with these games online), and I'm steadily learning PLO and other Omaha variations - but I still have a lot to learn on that front. I'd say that I am a weaker online player on all fronts - I tend to build a bankroll and then play beyond it, then the untimely demise of aforementioned bankroll - no more of that. My rules will stay firm. I will never risk more than 5% of my bankroll - EVER. I will endeavor to even keep my MTT action BELOW 5%, but I will play SNGs at 5%.

So, a shout out to all you bloggers...I'm ready to join the big time. Meanwhile, I'll be watching the Vikings win.