Been a while...

..I've been a bit overworked and underpaid, and with the snow, LOST episodes, and lack of proper funding, I haven't been playing much live.

In live poker, I've been stacked off in two consecutive sessions with dumb plays on my part. So, that's about $400 in the can. Onlne has been equally unimpressive cash-wise, with my early PS cash advantage dwindlin down to almost even. In short, I haven't been running all that well. A bright spot prompts my entry today...

.

It was nice to put a little old=fashioned solid play to use and get it down to three handed.

I'm debating heading to AC with the GF this weekend to do this Caesar's tournament. I know, it sounds cheesy, right? It's going on in tandem with the Circuit Event, at the tail end, and it's been advertised on a lot of financial publications, so I'm thinking it might attract a soft crowd, plus a frustrated crowd from the busted Circuit Main Event. The big advantage is that the deal can all go on your credit card, and since I'm sometimes irresponsible like that, I'm about 70/30 sure I will make the trip. For $674 you get the buy-in and a room at Caesar's...of course if I don't cash I'd be mighty pissed.

Unimpressive Thursday

Well, as you all might know, New York is covered in white, but the heart of the poker underground was still thumping, thus another edition of Poker Thursdays at ScottyCards!

Admittedly, I had an odd feeling that I was going to leave down. As I walked in, Tony(a solid player) was walking out, having busted quickly on something or other. At the table sat a table that I knew immediately to be aggressive. Raoul, some guy whose name I forget and Tal, all pretty aggro guys who like to mix it up with any two cards were in full form already.

You know how sometimes you just tighten up to the point that you know you aren't playing optimally? Sure, at tables like this you have to take the shots when you have them, and have the aggressives play into you, but for some reason I was on the biggest cooler I've ever had at any table in decent memory. In 6 hours of play I didn't see a higher pair than 7's, saw AK once, and everything else was just crap.

Naturally, this is going to make you restless.

So, I donked off some chips fairly early and when I did finally get back to my starting stack, I let some chips go on that aforementioned AK by whiffing the flop and let aggro guy bet me off a Jc-7c-2s board. He had just recently shoved a multiway all -in with 83os and thought I might have still been good, but I relented.
Seriously though, I HATE it when I play like this. A cooler is a cooler, but add the passive pill I took, and you're not having any fun.

So, I leave the evening about $85 down after I shove all-in with a set of 5's, with flush and straight draws on the board. No one hits either, and I figure that's enough for the evening. I then spend what seemed like an hour in the freezing cold and heavy snow waiting for a cab, which only topped off a somber night at the tables.

Ugh, Mookie out in 18th amidst stomach pain

Something I ate...had it from the first minute, concentration was bad, but I got in with the best of it here, only to get cracked on the river.

Full Tilt Poker The Mookie No Limit Hold'em Tournament - t40/t80 Blinds - 6 players - View hand 556623

The Official DeucesCracked.com Hand History Converter



IlkkaK (BTN): t3415 M = 28.46

Bloody P (SB): t6592 M = 54.93

PinkyStinky (BB): t2880 M = 24

JJC420 (UTG): t4980 M = 41.50

ChampSampson (MP): t6024 M = 50.20

Hero (CO): t1729 M = 14.41



Pre Flop: (t120) Hero is CO with J A

1 fold, ChampSampson calls t80, Hero calls t80, IlkkaK calls t80, Bloody P calls t40, PinkyStinky checks



Flop: (t400) 8 5 J (5 players)

Bloody P checks, PinkyStinky checks, ChampSampson bets t240, Hero raises to t1649 all in, IlkkaK folds, Bloody P folds, PinkyStinky folds, ChampSampson calls t1409



Turn: (t3698) T (2 players - 1 is all in)



River: (t3698) Q (2 players - 1 is all in)



Final Pot: t3698

ChampSampson shows J Q (two pair, Queens and Jacks)

Hero shows J A (a pair of Jacks)

ChampSampson wins t3698

Again, can you believe?

Again, DE-NIED the big cash.

I've literally cashed in an Omaha tournament on PS like, every night this week. I'm playing well, I'm just catching bad luck in the endgame. The good thing is while I play deep into these Omaha tournaments, I'm running two tables at .02/.05 and have a run of about 7 sessions in the black, putting my bankroll on PS to about $115 from a starting place of $50. I like multitasking this way and simply playing cash until I bust out(or, of course, WIN) of the accompanying tournament I choose, and just call that a 'session.'

What's alarming to me is just how much soft play exists in the Omaha arena on PS. It makes me ponder a run into some cash PLO. but I think that my PLO play, while appropriate for tournaments, isn't ideally suited for cash play. Granted, I'm sure a tight aggressive approach looking for scoops in Hi/Lo would be profitable, but quite frankly my NLHE stats at low stkes are too good to ignore right now. When I get to $200 I'll start two-tabling .05/.10, and if I keep my recent tear that's only 8-10 sessions away. Slow and steady wins the race!

Breaking the barrier, and LOST goes biblical

I've been running pretty well the past couple of days, with cashes in some fairly deep fields...my endgame needs some work, though. I haven't quite been able to close the deal and get into the higher echelon of $$$. This is the marrow of one's bankroll building. Cash on Stars has kept an upward slant as well, as I'm showing about $45 in profit at .02/.05 over about 1800 hands. Since I take notes, I've starting to notice some familiar faces, some of whom I am happy to see, some not. My new era of blogging my progress has opened my eyes to how much a little bit of note-taking can accomplish.

The weather continues to be a big downer here in the Apple. Just when you get a nice day, the precipitation comes sure as, well, rain. I'm finding it is lowering my productivity in all facets of life, since I sort of have to go outside to get things accomplished. I'm up early today, though. Today is a new day, today is...(repeat). Plus, LOST is tonight.

LOST. I've enjoyed reading certain folks' theories about what may transpire...but it's becoming ever-increasingly clear that we're going biblical. As I'm no proponent of organized religion, I'm not thrilled to see my favorite show wallow into Christian archetypes, but its getting pretty clear. Jacob likes to put his fingers in many pots in both our show and the Bible - notice how he's shown up and softly steered each character at some point. That's sort of how Jacob is in the Bible. And, what ho! Jacob had a brother, Esau. These guys fought like cats and dogs in ye olde times. See what I'm getting at?

First sex, than politics, now LOST. The Evangelicals ruin everything.

Somewhat at sea

A depressing night in the poker world for me. In the irrepressible spirit of taking shots, I tried to satellite into the FTOPS ME(for 2500 points) and the super-duper overhyped F40 Sunday Million(for $10) and LITERALLY bubbled both. Not THE bubble, but about 10 out of the goal in FT, and 5 out in Stars.

I didn't lose a lot of money, so why depressed? Well, in all honesty business has been slow(for those who are unaware, I am an actor and director, and do real estate in between gigs), the weather in NYC stinks, I have a bit of a stomach ailment and to top it all off, my two shots to achieve glory fizzled like Face The Ace. I also was reading Jennifer's blog and thinking to myself, gee, how cool would that be, writing for poker? I was supposed to be a Creative Writing major at Duke, but a summer camp at Carnegie-Mellon somehow convinced me I could make a living as an actor, which I did, for a good long time, until recently, when I see Tony Award winners looking for jobs - it's a bleak scene. It's made me ponder a change of coasts, namely LA - but that costs money to do, money that I can't afford to splurge on such a risk. So, taking shots becomes more then just building my bankroll...yes, it's about luckboxing myself into major money at the FTOPS ME or the $4M Sunday Million. Ridiculous, I know.

However, in looking at my play since January, there are bright spots...I felt like I reached a different level in my cash play, started this blog, took my goals in poker more seriously and actually THINK I could go far in the aforementioned events if my bankroll warranted it.

But alas, it doesn't.

+175 @ Poker Thursdays

I was battling some sort of stomach thing for most of the short 4 hours I spent at ScottyCards(I'm usually there much longer) but a flopped full house and a pair of queens boosted by straight chasers got me doubled up pretty quickly. I announced an 11pm departure as I knew I wasn't well, and figured that so far in the month of February, up$550 at ScottyCards wasn't a bad place to be at all.

I wish I had more to report, but I'm still a little stomach-y.