7, 7, and one more 7!

Seven are supposed to be lucky, right? You get three 7s on a slot machine and you've won a jackpot! After 3 seventh place finishes in 3 SnGs last night had me on tilt. KK in EP, 4xBB raise, re-raised all in by.... AJo (Ace hits the turn). Sigh. JJ in LP, push all in to get called by.... 78s, flush flops. Sigh. QJo and a board of Q - J - 6 rainbow. Bet, get raised, I push, he flips over J6o YEAH! But a 6 hit the turn. Sigh.

Bad night and I didn't help things by pushing with pocket 8s from EP early in another SnG. I think the advice about playing when you feel like shit should be taken more literaly. I've been snapping at the wife, she snaps back, I take more Nyquil, tilt away some money, no one wins.

Tonight I'll be resting and no poker. Hopefully I'll refreshed enough to hit the tables a little bit tomorrow.

Working on SnG/Tourney play

I'm going to get away from the cash games (minus earning UB points playing $1/$2 LHE) to clear my bonus and hopefully get things squared away with Grubby. If it doesn't happen, oh well I've found a new cool place to play!

Since I've been feeling like shit (cold, flu, lack of sleep) I decided to play in some SnGs for a week or so since I have some red flowing on pokertracker in this catagory. 2 $5 SnGs on Party and 1 $5 SnG on UB. Yes I know the 20% juice sucks on Party but I've been at least better then break even on these ($10 ones are another story....).

One table consisted of 5 badass high school/college yahoos coaching, one consisted of no chat what-so-ever, and the UB table had someone really pissed off and decided to make his night by flaming the table for the whole tourney after he had a tough beat.

The no chat table... I finished 6th after getting blinded down, I flopped top pair with KQ, pushed and got called by K6... but waited it was sOOOOOOOOOOted, and a runner runner flush showed me the door

The AOL chat room table, I doubled up early with pocket 8s, flopped a set and someone went all-in with second pair and an ace (I'll take the gift). I got lucky with 3 left hitting two pair on the river with J2o but since I only had 3X BB it was worth the chance. Got down to heads up holding ATo and flop coming A - 8 - 9, I bet, he pushed, I put all in, he held T9 and my aces held up for a win!

The UB table I was down to the felt several times, but I caught some good cards with 3 people left K2o and a flop of K - K - 2, he bet into it, I called, a rag turn, he pushed with 77, I called. Last hand heads up I caught slick, he smooth called my min raise, flops comes 3 - K - K (think the kings liked me tonight?), I min bet, he called, turn the case K, he pushed, I typed "sorry man the kings are liking me tonight". Chalk up another win!

I think I'm going to stick around the $5 level longer since everytime I try for the $10 level I get killed for some reason. If someone has a comment or a tip, please feel free to drop a line :)

Sigh and more sighs

Tried hoping on Partypoker last night while working off my UltimateBet bonus (more on that later). Hit up a $25PLHE table, 3 to a flush flops I hold the nut King, do you think it would hit? Naw. But hey AA held up for a whopping $5 payday! I don't like the idea of slowplaying aces since I've gotten burnt on it more times then not (the exception is hitting a set + no scary flush/straight draws of course). I had a flops seen percentage that would have made Chris H. proud (15% in 100 hands, and I can count 3 times that I voluntarily stayed in. Horrible horrible cards. I played in a couple $5 SnGs to make myself feel better... tripled up early with PRESTO! Then lost A5 vs. Aj I flop two pair, he hits his jack on the turn. Gah, welcome to 7th place. Tried one more, got down to 4 and I pick up AA on the button, I push in my meager stack and someone stayed in with Q7... which hit a broadway straight. Great, wonderful, sigh.

Well UB wasn't a total wash, managed to win 18BB at the $1/$2 tables over 1.5 hours of play. I was up 25BB on one table but a series of AK vs. my KK and he calls to the river to get..... an A, sigh. 4 - 5- 6, and I hold 4 - 5 in the BB, I bet, get called, turn 9, I bet, get called, river A, I check, he bets.... turns over A9, sigh. Oh well, guess they were taking their $$ back after I rivered a Kings over 4s to bet someones flopped set of 8s.

The nice bonus was trying out a UB points SnG for PL Omaha (a.k.a. BINGO!). Sure enough while I got myself a lemonade 2 people were knocked out on the first hand. I got shortstacked early and had to play on my belly most of the time. Then I caught a set of Aces, a nut flush, and the barn burner with 3 people left a flopped nut boat with two aces on the board. I trapped the other guy who had the 4th ace and suddenly I was tied for the chip lead going heads up. I don't remember much but I hit a set of queens plus an inside nut straight draw. The other hit his wheel but mine was 7 high plus if the board paired... he went all-in, of course I called and won. I earned 500 UB points for the Rocky-like come from behind victory. I don't know what to do know that Grubby said that I didn't get under his flag at UB due to a computer mixup, which sucks since that's the only reason I was playing there in the first place. I hope UB fixes it and gives him the credit he deserves for the referral.

Had dinner with the grandparents tonight, Grandma isn't looking too good so I was glad to see her in good spirits. She's still smoking and sipping on Whiskey and water but why give up the things you enjoy if your on your way out?

Omaha Hi and very Low

There was a buzzing in my ear to stop playing Omaha last night on UB but did I scratch it? Noooooooooooooo. At least I came back to break even on the hold em' table and only had to take the lost at Omaha.

Playing $1/$2 is a different experience for me, the dollar amounts swing more but the players are mostly just as bad. I need to stay away from tilty play especially when I get sucked out by the same person 4 times in two orbits. Hit a set? Hey runner runner flush comes in! Hit a boat? Runner runner quads! Sigh, just gotta ride it out right?

I managed to get up to 650 UB points, only 2,350 to go to clear the bonus with Grubby. I got my eye on one of those Lederer DVDs.

Today I'll toast a Shiner bock (not a bad beer as I've found out) to the Vikes! They best not pull a Yankee (sorry couldn't resist ).

UB and me

I started at UltimateBet last night and worked off 25.00 of the $100 bonus dollars. I signed up thru the Pokergrub (Grubby), I'm going to shoot for attaining 3,000 UB points for the free DVD videos he's offering. So far so good, I'm up $70 + $25 bonus dollars. The play here is tighter and better then most sites. As long as I play tight I should be able to make a profit. I would have been up more but caught a cold wave of getting the 2nd best hand.

Party's $25PLO8 tables continue to be a wave, lost a stack on Friday night with 2nd best flush and 2nd best low grrrrrr.

Not much to write about for the rest of the weekend, going to help my grandparent's move and VIKING FOOTBALL. Bet the house on the over of the Vikes/Titians game, in fact bet the over for every Vikings game because their defense is a bigger siv then a peewee hockey goalie.

My parlay this week.... Vikes (-6.5) and the Giants (-7) MOTOR CITY KITTIES ARE GOING DOWN!

More Pacific fun

I started Sunday with $2.72 at Pacific, after a couple referrals, 2 $2.20 20 person SnGs, and a $8.80 20 person SnG its up to $227.72

I won the $8.80 SnG last night, made some decent traps and blind steals, but most of all I only got sucked out once when I was the favorite. Big Slick held up, Mrs. Slick came through twice, I dumped 6s and KQs in LP after an all-in raise. I think I'm finally becoming a better tournament player, or at least a more patient one. I'll be joining the bloggers today at Stars for Iggy's tournament tonight, I expect to be the second one knocked out. Hopefully I'll be able to bump someone out for a bounty before I get the boot.

Note to self: $25 PLO8 is not good to play while not paying attention. I played god-awful cards, I got 2nd best hands, I paid the price. Granted the rest of the table was playing bad cards too but that's no excuse. Luckly I hopped into a $25NLHE table and was able to double my stack with KK vs. AQs. I wonder though if I pushed too quick, I was in LP, someone in EP raised to $2, MP called, another MP called then it came to me. Should I have made a pot size raise instead? Hindsight is 20/20 of course because the pair flopped a set and would have been nuts. Grrrrrrr. But, I've found that everytime I slowplay I invite the PartyKarmaPokerGods to put my nuts into a walnut cracker and laugh at me while I apply ice to the wound.

See everyone tonight, $20 is the largest amount I've put up for a MTT online so I hope I don't retreat into granite mode.

Quick night

I was damn tired after only getting a little sleep the night before so this evening I just fired up a quick 20 person $2 + $.20 SnG on Pacific. The last one I played in I took 2nd so I wasn't counting on continued success, I was waiting for a suckout but alas some slow-plays and timely bets netted me another 2nd (yes I suck at heads-up play, no I will not play you heads-up). Except this time I thought I did fine heads-up but my opponent thought his cards were better (they weren't) and as he pushed in vs. my flopped two pair thought his Ace high was good on a 4 - Q - 2 flop, unfortunately for me the river brought a 5, which gave him a wheel. Sigh, maybe next time.

Fired up Stars for the time in a while to sign up for the blogger tourney (DON'T TAKE ALL MY MONEY PLEASE!) and played a little .50/1 while I was finishing up the SnG on Pacific. The players seemed quite bad this evening, a big difference from the last time I was there getting check-raised while holding the 2nd nuts and losing. Made my 4BB after an hour and felt satisified. Question about the FPP they give out... how the hell is a low stakes player like me supposed to earn any points when the pot has to be $10 in a .50/1 to get just one FPP? That's the reason why I didn't reload because getting 600 FPP would take at least 3,000 hands if not more to achieve. I've heard UB is the same way so I'm skeptical of putting money in there especially since I play .50/1 to burn off bonuses (but I will dabble with 1/2 since I'm getting more comfortable at that level.

Found out a good friend of mine is having difficulties with her pregnancy. All I could offer was a prayer and a sounding board if she needed to talk to someone. I hope things go well for her, she deserves it.

Pacific Poker again?

After receiving two very generous referrals from people I met at Absolute (Thanks Travis and Matt), I've dabbled around the site again (it was the first online poker site I joined) to find the competition has not changed.

Played in a $2 2-table SnG and after only playing 4 hands found myself at the final table. I was one of the shorter stacks but after some blind steals and some overly aggressive play by the other players I found myself in the money and eventually taking 2nd. I believe I played maybe 15 hands to get to the final 2 and lost when 4 - 4 went up against 9 - 9.

I went to watch my wife play volleyball last night, not the prettiest thing in the world to watch but after all these years of her watching me play softball and volleyball I thought it was due that I should become a spectator. She made some mistakes but the best part was her smile even though her team didn't win a game all night. She was genuinely having fun, and it made me happy to see it.

Vikes win vikes win!

But those pukes from Detroit busted my parlay. Last time I ever bet on the "Motor City Kitties" as Common Man Cole calls em' on KFAN radio.

I'm beginning to wonder if PL Omaha hi/lo is indeed the crack-cocaine of poker. Even the wild $25NLHE tables at Party don't compare to the chip flinging that goes on within these tables. I managed to double my stack in two short sessions (one PLO and one HE), I was mightly pround of doubling my stack with 65s and a board of 3-4-5 and two of my suit. Normally my weak-tight ass would have folded to the all-in, but with a re-draw to a straight and a flush why not go for it? The fishy turned over A4o, whoa. Another unlucky customer gave me odds to draw to my nut flush over his two pair (this game is much easier when you win isn't it?). In PLO8 I stayed in with a marginal A - 2 - 5 - 8 hand, caught the nut low off the flop, nut straight on the turn, two people pushed me all-in with A - 3 lows and one flush draw (that didn't hit) and I tripled up. I hit top set on the very next flop and lost a pot size bet when I had to fold in face of 4 straight cards hitting the board.

The house didn't sell over the weekend unfortunately, so we're back to square one in finding a new place to live.

Canterbury trip!

First live poker in 7 months, whoa. I got seated at a pretty dull table after 15 minutes of waiting. There was 3 calling stations, a WSOP wannabe, a wild haired kid (decent player), and a couple of weak-tight players.

I had several good starting hands but nothing seemed to connect. Won hands with KTo and 93s (IT WAS SOOOOOOTED but in the small blind). My mom came back from Mystic down $80 (felt bad I didn't go with) and I was racking up my chips and I get 99 in LP. Wild haired kid raises off the BB (he's been hitting everything, top sets, nut flush, nut straights, you name it). I call the raise to set J - T - 9 rainbow flop. I bet my set and he raises (I put him on KQ just because of how excited he got after the flop) so I sigh and call. A rag 2 completing the rainbow comes out, I bet, he raises. I asked him how many nut straights you're allowed in a day, he didn't respond (like I said... boring table). The river brings a glorious T, I bet and he just calls and I walk away up $35. Now if I wouldn't have snuck back into the California game room I would won a bit more.

Thought I saw Chris Halverson (Ferrari hat, big jacket?) but I felt a little strange going up and saying hi (sorry Chris if it was you I'll be little more personable next time!). I was wearing my Addasis (sp?) black hat and blue and black wind jacket. Maybe next time I won't be such a pussy and say hi.

SnG fun!

Played in 8 SnGs today 1,2,2,3,3,4,7,9 too bad it was at the $5 level, but hey I'll take win :D

Almost cleared the bonus at Absolute finally, put in about 3.5 hours there today, made a whole $3! RAWR! Met some nice people there so I'm leaning toward not cashing totally out after clearing the last 150 hands.

I'm heading out to Canterbury tomorrow, first live poker since I was in Vegas, hope I remember the auto post blind button. Wish me luck, maybe I'll see Chris H. and/or the Stripper by Night.

Bowled like crap tonight, in fact I've bowled like crap the whole season so far. I used to have a 178 average, now its at 157. Can't figure out what the hell is going on. Guess I'll just enjoy the 2 for 1s and stop trying to be so competitive.

Fishies bite back!

Took in my first lost last night at PLO8, lost two stacks to rivered full house with my nut flush :( Its making me a little gun shy, but damn these people play trash like its the nuts. But the cards never came last night and I was out two buy-ins.

Fired up a $5 SnG before heading to bed to make me feel better, had a nice chip lead with 5 left and got dealt TT in the SB. Folds around to me I raise the BB to push him all in (he managed to suckout AA and QQ with two pairs, so I was ready to bend over myself. Sure enough he calls with K5o and spikes a K. Grrrrrrrrrrrr. I said my "nice hand" and later bumped him out with AJs vs. KJo. But without the commanding chip lead I had I got blinded down too much and only took 3rd (moral victory after a bad night in the cash games?).

Still got 600 hands to go for the Absolute bonus. Tough place to play, too much of a mix of total fishes and tight-aggressive players. I play sort of weak-tight there for that reason.

Today we had someone coming over for a 2nd viewing of our house WOOWOO! If they put up a purchasing agreement we're good to go for the place we want :)

Might be heading out to Mystic Lake casino this weekend for my mom's b-day (tradition) for some -EV action (I can't resist the Reel Em' slots). Wish me luck!

Down 38BB at .50/1 poker???

I got killed playing shorthanded .50/1 LHE at Absolute last night. Raise with AA? HA! Loser to 78o, 84 sOOOOOOOOOted, and 22 (unsuited thank god). I'd make a raise all 6 people stayed in to the river (and I'd hit TPTK) and a ragged two pair would hit for one of the 6, bleh. I tried being sneaky with a hand like KK, flop a boat and.... win the blinds because no one bet. I did win 14BB at the 1/2 table to cushion the spankings at the other table but I'm still picking out the splinters this morning.

Found out amateur night at the $25PLO8 table @ Party are not just for the weekend. Couldn't catch a hand to trap on all night but watching some of the showdown hands left me hungry to come back again.

Me and wife signed a bunch of forms for a new house YEA!!!! Now, all that's waiting is we need to sell our current house. The backyard is beautiful, nice neighborhood, I hope we get it.

New House?

Today I'm going house shopping with the missus and our dads (one's a general contractor, the other is an electrician) I think we'll get the best deal for our buck. I plan on paying for the new house with my hefty profits from playing .50/1 LHE at Party so look for me behind your local McDonald sifting throught the cardboard boxes.

No poker to talk about last night (Monday Night Football!), I'll probably fire up Absolute to keep working on clearing my bonus there (only 650 raked hands left!!) and try out $25PLO8 again on Party and see the competition is a little more stiff during the week.

Going to try to get out to Canterbury this weekend with my mom (since I'm unable to drive) and play some live poker for once.

Up and down

Yesterday certainly was an adventure on the tables. I finally got back to even on the Absolutepoker tables with Hilton Sisters quads on a flop and three people betting into me (too bad it was .50/1 limit).

Tried out $25PLO high/low yesterday, talk about a bingo game! Managed to double my stack but my god some of the hands these guys were betting their stacks with made me wonder if they were thinking this was funny money. I think I'll be investing more time at these tables, they seem very profitable compared to the limit Omaha tables.

I think I managed a $5 profit after dropping $15 at the $25NLHE tables (played bored the whole time) and a wild $10 SnG (AJs vs. KQo, two of my suit on the flop, he catches a runner runner boat, bleh!).

My son has not been a happy camper lately hopefully its just a new tooth coming in. His screaming has made my ears ring so much I keep picking up the phone.

Tonight is my mother-in-law's b-day and we're going to Billy's in Anoka. Good eats, good wings, and plenty of Monday Night Football. :D

Soooooooooo close

Played in the $9 +$1 qualifer for the Sat. $200 + $15 on party and finished 21st (5 out of the money, 8 out of qualifing). Was rolling along but went card dead late in the tourney.

Took my son to the park today, and some asshat in a Benz wouldn't stop for the crosswalk for us crossing. Not happy.

Looking for the Vikes and Saints to cover tomorrow. Gophers flopped once again vs. Michigan. Twins plain choked. Is it still worth it to love the home teams if they keep coming up short? Yeah, I still cheer em on but its dishearting to see them lose such close games every year.

My first post

I just got done viewing 5 potential new abodes with a 14 month old son. Can you say migraine?!!?!?

Luckly its bowling and 2 for 1s night at Spectrum lanes to wash away any lingering effects for the headaches.

Took 5th in a 3-table tourney on Party this afternoon.... the kicker is I didn't play the last 12 hands. I put the table on auto-pilot while we went to the house showings :D

I'm not a talented writer so I suggest two or three shots of something strong before attempting to comprehend my babbling.