davega

When All Else Fails, Change Fishing Holes

2008-08-20T14:34:03Z

It's been a week of ups and downs. I've gone through the frustrations of not being able to play in yet another PokerNews freeroll and not being able to get in the money in multiple tournaments to being able to help set up the next PokerNews Forum Tournament and finding a new fish hole.

Downs-

PokerNews freeroll on WalkerPoker. I sent an email Wednesday to verify that I was linked to PokerNews so that I would be eligible for the freeroll. WalkerPoker first responded "No" to me but then changed to "Yes" after the folks at freerolls@pokernews.com sent them an email. So I'm thinking that everything is going to be OK. WalkerPoker decided to wait until the day of the tournament to send out the tickets. Working on the east coast in the US, I didn't find out that I didn't have a ticket until about 1.5 hours before the tournament. Of course this is too late to do anything about it. I sent my obligatory emails to freerolls@pokernews.com but still didn't get a ticket. They have done a very good job of following up on this. Today, I get an email where WalkerPoker explains that I joined them prior to the PokerNews promotion. I'm not sure when the promotion started so it's possible. But I do know that I had never heard of WalkerPoker until it was listed on PokerNews. So how'd I miss out?? Whatever, I'm used to it. This is just another site where I can't take advantage of the exceptional values of the PokerNews promotions.

Sunday, the wheels fell off of my tournament play. I went 0/5 in tournaments. I played everything from the $200K Guaranteed NLHE to the $4K Guaranteed PLO. I just couldn't get things together. I didn't really suffer any huge bad beats, just played poorly.

Ups-

We got everything finalized for the PokerNews Forum tournament on September 12th on CarbonPoker. There's $1000 added to the prizepool so this will be a great value with only a $10+1 entry fee. Now there's another problem. I can't figure out a way to deposit on Carbon. I may try a prepaid Visa to see if that'll do it. Nothing lost if it doesn't. If it doesn't work, I may be looking for someone that plays on Carbon AND Stars that'll do a transfer on Carbon for a transfer on Stars. I won't get any of the deposit bonuses but at least I can play in this tourney and maybe some of the PN freerolls.

I found a new fishing hole. RAZZ on Stars. I started playing this Sunday night after doing so poorly in the tournies and found that these players really suck. It's a simple game. Lowest hand wins. A-2-3-4-5 is the best you can get. I've been playing pretty tight. Any starting hand without 3 cards to an 8 or better get mucked. I've seen players starting with a jack up to even a king. I've fished this hole for the last couple of nights for about a buy in per night. I plan on sticking with Razz fof awhile and venturing into the other non-holdem games. If they're as easy as the Razz games, I may have found an easy way to increase my bankroll.

Lastly, I decided after the debacle that was Sunday, I would stick to some low buy-in tournies. I played a $5 turbo and final tabled it. I ended up finishing 5th. At least this replaced my losses from Sunday. I went out when my 10-10 ran into J-J. This bigstack could have had anything and been just stealing the blinds. Oh well. It restored some of my tourney confidence anyway.

Until next time, may you win all of your pots until you face me.

Must Have Results

2008-08-10T02:54:29Z

It's been a couple of weeks since I blogged so sue me.....I'm overdue.

I went down to Biloxi and played in their $20K Guaranteed as planned. I made 1 mistake and got unlucky once.

I had worked up a decent sized stack when I was dealt UTG. I just called. After 4 other limpers, the button raised 3x the BB. I just knew that they were playing position and didn't have a real hand. Folded to me and I shoved. All the limpers folded and the button calls with . I KNEW IT. Very loose call. Flop comes , turns , and then rivers . Dangit. I'm down to $3800 with the blinds going up soon.

A few hands later, the blinds are $300/$150 w/ $25 ante so I'm short stacked. Player to my right is UTG and even more short stacked at $1900. He shoves. I look down at . I think about it. Being this short stacked, even if I shove, I'm really not going to isolate against anybody with a hand that would call anyway. I need chips. So I decide to simply call. Hoping to get a little more action besides. Big stack on my left smooth calls. Its folded around to the same player as the KJ hand above in the highjack seat and they shove. I call and big stack calls.

UTG-----crap, one of my queens
Me--
Highjack----Everything 's looking good.
Bigstack----CRAP.(weep ing)

Bigstack's aces hold up and I'm out.

These tournaments are good but the levels go up drastically vs starting chips. This was level 4. So one lap cost $700 and you only start with $6000. Pretty brutal in my opinion.

I was looking at the tourneys for the Gulf Coast Poker Championship and they have the exact same structure. Ouch. I'm really going to have to think about whether I want to play.........Who am I kidding? You know that I do.

Now I've been back for a week. I played my weekly cash game. I continue to do well. This is a friendly game so I decided that I'd shoot for $30-$50/week winnings just to buy lunch and keep it friendly. I won $76 this week so up a little.

Now it's time to build that Stars bankroll. I've been playing SnGs a lot lately. Doing OK. Usually play the $16 turbos but if I lose a few, I'll drop down just to get my mojo going again.

I'll try to do better on blogging but.....I probably won't.

Time for a Trip

2008-07-30T22:30:39Z

I've waited almost a month since my last trip to Biloxi. Well, it's time for another trip. the Beau Rivage has their $20K Guaranteed tourney this weekend so it's time for a short and cheap trip. I'll get up early and drive down Saturday morning for the noon tourney. I'll drive back either Saturday night or Sunday. Depends on how I do. It's about 4.5 hours so hopefully I can do well.

They also are hosting the Gulf Coast Championship at the end of the month and early September. I'll be ready to play some tournies then too.

My Main Event

2008-07-17T01:34:40Z

A couple of posts ago I mentioned that I'd have to make alternate plans since I didn't get a seat at the WSOP. I made the trip to Biloxi on Tuesday for a 2 night stay. I took a regular from my weekly poker game figuring it would be a good time for a gambling only trip without the wife.

We got down to Biloxi late Tuesday afternoon. Once we got checked in at the IP, it was time for the gambling to begin. 1st was the craps tables. Personally I've never played craps before but my buddy assured me that he could teach me easily enough. At the table, I simply copied his bets. Whatever he did, I did. After dropping a couple of hundred, I decided that I'd had enough for the time being. Let me get to the blackjack tables and get my cash back. Sat down for blackjack and played 22 for awhile. Unfortunately, 22 doesn't pay very well. Down another $150, I said "Mercy" and we went to the Beau Rivage for dinner. Another couple of hours at the craps then blackjack tables and I'm down around $600 and getting a little pissed at myself. Time to go back to the IP and play some poker.

My buddy and I both signed in together but there was only 1 seat available so he let me have it. Thank God. I played a few rounds sorta feeling out the table. Seat 2 complained constantly and 8x the BB was his standard opener. Seat 10 played pretty solid but definitely was a regular. Finally, I draw . Seat 2 raised to $16 from UTG, I call and Seat 10 calls. Flop comes . Seat 10 bets out $20. Seat 2 pushes all in for another $225. I push for a total of $260. Seat 10 reluctantly calls. Seat 2 turns over . Seat 10 turns over . Turn and river fire blanks for them and I'm back in business. I played a few more rounds so I wouldn't be taking the money and running. And it's time for bed.

Wednesday- We get up and hit the tables for about an hour. I finish up $50 and it's time for golf. After not playing for a long time, I played surprisingly well. We had to rush back to the IP for a quick shower and change in order to make it to the Beau Rivage for their Wednesday Deep Stack tourney.

There were 58 in the field and paid top 9. My buddy and I didn't draw the same starting table but he was moved to my table when his was the 1st table to bust. My buddy has very little tournament experience and allowed himself to get pushed around a little then blinded down to desparation. He goes out around 35th. I played some good solid poker but never amassed that big of a stack. Then we got down to 2 tables.

I'm pretty proud of my play at this point. I used around 15 all ins to build my stack. being called twice. I shoved from the SB 3/4 times. The last time I shoved from the SB without looking at my hold cards. The BB already had her cards in her hand and looked ready to fold so I gave her the opportunity.

Final table it is. We voted and decided to take money off of 1st and 2nd to guarantee 10 their buy in back. 10th and 9th busts out pretty quickly. Then "Mother Nature" called and I took a needed break. I just don't see the value of squirming in my seat. When I return, 8th was gone. I played very aggressively at this FT. I put out 7th and am feeling pretty good. Everybody is relatively short stacked and all ins preflop are the normal bet. I get popped when my in the BB doesn't stand up against the shortstacked SB trying to steal the blinds. A few hands later, I push with and get called by the BB with . Flops him a 10 and I don't improve to go out in 6th. At least I'm positive for the trip now.

Back to the IP we go. I messed around a little at the blackjack tables on Thursday but overall the trip was a fun but breakeven trip. Better than a crappy and losing trip I guess.

Since coming home, I've spent hours following PN's coverage of the Main Event. Now it's down to the November 9. Good luck to all of the players. I'll be looking to make my mark next year.

The Donk

2008-07-09T01:49:46Z

We’ve all used the term “donk” to describe a player that just beat us with an ‘inferior’ hand or to describe a player that made a bad call and doubled up the short stack on the bubble. The term is thrown around freely to describe anyone that beat us that we felt we should have beaten. And of course as poker players, we feel that we should have beaten everybody. But really, what is a donk?

The term donk is short for donkey. This is used to describe a bad player, a player that has no idea what he or she is doing, or a player that is new to the game. As poker players, shouldn’t we want a table full of bad players each time we sit down or log in? The more donks the merrier. But that’s rarely how the term is used. “I’d win if it weren’t for all of the donks” sounds a lot better to our egos than “I’d win if it weren’t for all of the bad players”. What? We can’t beat bad players? If we can’t beat bad players, then who can we beat?

So, if donk doesn’t exactly describe a bad player, who does it describe? I’ve seen players called a donk any time they won a pot with anything other than AA or KK. “What? You called my all in with AQ (and won)? You donk.” “Oh my God (OMG in chat speak), you called my minimum raise with suited connectors, flopped a straight, and slow played my over-pair costing me all of my chips? You donk.” “You called my bluff (just because I’ve played every pot)? You donk.”

In every case, “the donk” was raking chips into his stack. So why is it we feel the need to label this player that won a pot? They won, doesn’t that count for anything? Isn’t that how we keep score in poker? The answer lies within our own ego. We just can’t face the reality that we were just outplayed or that luck is a part of poker. There are better players than us. There are many times when a LAG game beats a TAG game. But rather than question our own play, it’s much easier to label the player as a lucky donk.

Since it’s usually the player that won the pot that gets called a donk, doesn’t it seem like it would be better to be a donk and win than a “good” player and lose. Like they say, “You should never apologize when you’re raking the pot.” We all make “bad” plays and get lucky. We all make good plays and get beat. It’s just a part of poker. If the best cards won every hand, it’d be a pretty boring game.

So the next time you lose to someone that played a hand different than you would or that just got lucky, just say nice hand and move on. As a player, you want your opponents to play inferior hands. It’ll even out in the long run. Besides, the donk will be too busy stacking chips to really care anyway.

Alternative Plans

2008-06-23T15:51:48Z

Sometimes life doesn't go like you planned. I "planned" on spending July in Vegas playing in the Main Event. So far (and with time running out), I have been unable to win a seat. I know, I know. With the multitude of opportunities that PokerNews and all of the online poker sites give me to win a seat, if I can't win one, I must not be the caliber of player that would do well in the Main Event anyway. Well, I don't agree but I'm prejudiced in my behalf. With time running out, I guess I need to come up with something else to do in July. So........

I booked a free room in Biloxi, Mississippi for 3 nights. There's no particular tournament going on but the cash games and daily tournaments should be OK. I'll hit the poker tables as long as there's a good game going on. If the game dries up, I'll hit the blackjack tables. This may not substitute for the Main Event, but maybe it'll ease the pain a little.

But this is how life is like poker. We go into a tournament or session with a particular plan in our heads. But often times, the cards or the other players at our table just don't follow the plan. Our draws don't hit. Our bluffs don't work. Our big hands fail to get paid off. So we have to come up with alternative plans. If our game is TAG and so is the rest of the table, LAG becomes our new game plan. If we're being out-LAG'd, it's time for a good TAG game.

Sometimes you just have to take what life or the dealer gives you and make the best of it.

1 Hour / Day

2008-06-09T13:50:44Z

Now that the WSOP has started, I've developed a routine. I spend each evening following all of the events in the Live Reporting Section but there's only 1 problem. Generally because of time zone differences, all of the tournies go on dinner break around the time that it would be prudent for me to go to bed. So......

I spend an hour a day every morning catching all of the action up. I don't look at the final post of the day until I've clicked my way back to the dinner break and followed the action in order. It makes for an entertaining morning.

Still looking to add my name to the ME entry list. Played some this weekend on bodog and Stars. Took a flat out beating. Lost 4/6 tournies to 2 outers on the river. It made me question my game. I play more long ball than short ball and I guess that's the risk you take. Need to improve my short game.

Can Anything Cure This Itch?

2008-06-05T00:35:19Z

I've been following all of the great PokerNews Live Reporting of all of the WSOP events so far and damn, it's given me the itch to go. So far, PokerNews has told me where to eat, party, and play while I'm in Vegas. The only problem is I haven't won a seat yet. It's always the details that bite you.

OK. So I look at it as having 5 more chances to get a seat:

1. The Bodog 5 Seat Guaranteed. Only 5 seats but it should be a relatively small field.
2. The WSOP Freeroll on PoolStars. But I'd have to get VERY lucky.
3. PokerNews Freeroll on Duplicate. Not really poker but WTF.
4. The Chris Moneymaker tourney on PokerStars. I won't buy in but may try to satellite.
5. The 200 Seat Guaranteed on PokerStars. $370 and it should be a HUGE field.

Oh yeah, I forgot about lottery tickets. Better chance of winning on PoolStars.

I've got to find a way to get a seat or this will be one sad summer.

For Me

2008-06-03T00:47:32Z

I decided that I would write this post for me. It's not for anybody else even though everyone is faced with this eventually.

It's been 6 days since I blogged. I would have done better but I got a call 4 days ago that my father had passed away in his sleep. He'd been suffering for the last couple of years with pulmonary fibrosis (black-lung disease). This disease has no cure. Any treatment is to prolong life and ease the symptoms. When I saw him Christmas, I didn't expect him to make it to Easter. Neither did any of my siblings (7 of us). Thank God he proved us all wrong. For the last few months, every breath was a struggle. He's been on oxygen 24/7. Baths took 4 hours because he had to rest each step of the way.

So now he's gone but never forgotten. He's in a better place. He can play golf until sunset then poker for a couple of hours in the clubhouse. It never rains and no worries about the cops busting the game. He can sleep through the Braves games and nobody will change the channel and wake him up. (Never knew how he could do that) The pain for him is gone. He's with his father, mother, and 2 brothers. At peace at last.

For me the pain will wane as time goes by. As I've grown older, I've realized how much wisdom my father had to pass on to us. I realize how much more like my father I become as years go by. Overall, it's not a bad thing. He loved to win. He hated a bunch of commotion. He loved his family. He'll be missed but never forgotten.

Minimum Play Day

2008-05-28T00:15:10Z

For some reason, I'm not really in the mood to play tonight. Sure, it could be how I've run the last couple of days. But I don't really think so. SO, I decided to play minimum stakes tonight. A couple of freerolls and nothing over $2. I figure tonight is more of a battle against boredom. I can play all night for less than $5. It's cheaper than a movie.

I've been reading all of the articles about folks that already have a seat or are going to the WSOP to work. Since I'm still trying to qualify, jealousy abounds. I've been trying to decide which final push would be best...... a big buy in for less seats or a lower buy in with guaranteed seats. I know there will be thousands of players but Stars has a 200 Seat Guaranteed tourney for $370. It seems like a good value. Unfortunately, it's the same weekend as a live tourney that I wanted to play.

Decisions, decisions.