Lots of Housekeeping
Hey guys,
Been a little while since I fired off a blog entry. I played like absolute trash yesterday and booked another losing Sunday, no real surprise through, my head wasnt in it from the start. I havent been having very good luck lately and have been playing just as poorly. Hopefully I can at least turn around my play tonight.
In other news I played a $1k at Foxwoods this friday and it was a pretty fun experience. I was with a few of the same guys for 6 hours and we all had fun together and I think one of them was a member here as he knew I made videos. I started the day instantly raising and 3betting people pretty consistently and being to the left of the same people all day was a huge advantage. First big hand was from the BB with 22. Stacks we like 6k effective at 100/200 and an aggro kid opens MP1, folds to button who is a tight older guy who limped a ton and he flatcalls. If he hadn't called I likely dont call but I am pretty sure he is strong so if I hit my implied odds are huge. Dream flop A62ss. I check, aggro young kid thinks and checks, old guy bets. At this point I knew I was getting it in vs him but really wanted it 3 ways. So I 3bet small (t2800 on a t1200 bet) and the aggro kid tanked and folded and the old guy instapushed AK. After getting those chips I really started attacking more, eventually having to show 5 high to a shorty's allin on an Kd8d7d4x board when I fired a 2nd barrel hoping to fold out the naked Ad. He had the nuts and I had to show 5h3h. Which was totally fine with me because I knew it would get me action as the table clammered about how crazy I was. Couple orbits later I raised ATo in the CO and the aggro kid instapushed 4k (pretty sure this was at 150/300) but it was his standard move in the blinds and he had done it 3 other times to either me or the button. I snapped thinking I crush his range and he tabled AK. Sigh. Hovered around 13k or so for a while when another older guy who was stupidly aggressive moved to my left. I wish I would have had more time with him because he was 3betting and calling down super light I think, things like Ace rag and the like. Got down to like 9k and won an AK > JT hand to get back to 15k which still was relatively short. Spewed back to 9k over a few orbits of not really doing much and then got coolered. Basically a short stack young kid (who I am sure is a high stakes internet MTT'er) open shoved like 8BBs, button flats, and I shove AQ in the bb for like 4k extra or so. Button had AT, shortstack had 63s. I exclaimed that 63s was definitely winning and sure enough a 6 high flop put him ahead. I ended up taking the side pot but in no time the blinds were at 400/800 and I had no room to work before shoving JTo UTG for 7k. I was called in the SB by 33 and lost the flip. Still a fun tourney overall, got me really excited for Vegas.
In non poker news my favorite band, The Receiving End of Sirens broke up, which sucks! They are having a farewell show in Rhode Island on May 2nd, I urge anyone into the genre and from the area to go. Thats all for now, more poker related stuff tonight including some more finalized Tourney Trax details. So long.
~Justin
Woo! Ship WSOP Seat #2!
Ended up staying in tonight as I am going out tomorrow night and played a few tournies with one being the $1k WSOP sat on Stars. Ended up doing rather poorly and running rather poorly in the other ones I played but had some big hands hold including a big allin 4 handed with AKs > AQs where he ended up flopping the nut flush draw and made me sweat, but it bricked out and after that it was a simple cruise to my 2nd seat. Feels good after bubbling a few Step 6s. My goal at the beginning of the satellite season was 10 seats, which would equal $120,000 gross profit or so and I am now 20$ there. I think its likely out of reach, I would be thrilled with 5 and at the very least I have guaranteed myself to be in the green in this year for WSOP sats, unlike some brutal sessions I have seen friends go through where they drop like $18k and don't get a seat, a 10K seat that is! (I'm looking at you ZBT) Anyhoo, these have come at a great time and really helped me start to claw my way out of the downswing I had been on. Looking forward to what is hopefully a nice Sunday in 2 days and a day off tomorrow night.
Stupid SNGs!
2nd in another Step 6 tonight. Went out of all my tournaments early and fired up a Step 5, won first one and played the Step 6. Had a lead 3 handed, then the two guys knocked each other out. Then this hand.
PokerStars Game #16131733995: Tournament #81669594, $2000+$100 Hold'em No Limit - Level VIII (200/400) - 2008/03/21 - 01:39:49 (ET)
Table '81669594 1' 9-max Seat #3 is the button
Seat 2: WPThero (9808 in chips)
Seat 3: bigtruck4w (17192 in chips)
WPThero: posts the ante 25
bigtruck4w: posts the ante 25
bigtruck4w: posts small blind 200
WPThero: posts big blind 400
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to WPThero [7s 6s]
bigtruck4w: calls 200
WPThero: checks
*** FLOP *** [As 8h 9s]
WPThero: checks
bigtruck4w: bets 400
WPThero: raises 800 to 1200
bigtruck4w: calls 800
*** TURN *** [As 8h 9s] [Tc]
WPThero: bets 2000
bigtruck4w: calls 2000
*** RIVER *** [As 8h 9s Tc] [3d]
WPThero: bets 6183 and is all-in
bigtruck4w: calls 6183
*** SHOW DOWN ***
WPThero: shows [7s 6s] (a straight, Six to Ten)
bigtruck4w: shows [7c Js] (a straight, Seven to Jack)
bigtruck4w collected 19616 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 19616 | Rake 0
Board [As 8h 9s Tc 3d]
Seat 2: WPThero (big blind) showed [7s 6s] and lost with a straight, Six to Ten
Seat 3: bigtruck4w (button) (small blind) showed [7c Js] and won (19616) with a straight, Seven to Jack
Now thats a cooler!
P.S.
Going to do my final preview video for Tourney Trax next week. In the meantime, here are some sample charts from it.
Hours per day playing (Who says poker isnt a real job?!?!)
Cumulative Profit (Swings are part of MTTs!)
Grossing Earnings and Gross buyins+fee+rebuys (Totalcost)
Talk to you all Sunday.
Another Night in the Black, Another Close Call to Something Big
Started my night off playing absolutely terrible and was basically instantly out of almost all of my tournaments. I still had the 100k up from Stars so I tried to play seriously and well and ended up getting deep in it again. My stats in that tournament have been absolutely sick since February of '08 as I have cashed 9 times out of 21 and FT'd it twice, but those are a 9th and a 5th tonight. I recorded the last 2 hours or so live with commentary so those should go up soon. I ended up getting KO'd on this hand:
PokerStars Game #16085934980: Tournament #80983920, $150+$12 Hold'em No Limit - Level XXIII (7500/15000) - 2008/03/19 - 03:13:01 (ET)
Table '80983920 31' 9-max Seat #6 is the button
Seat 1: WPThero (557760 in chips)
Seat 6: Beldar C. (1114760 in chips)
Seat 7: skeezy20 (592760 in chips)
Seat 8: twelver1232 (540819 in chips)
Seat 9: VietCutie (175901 in chips)
WPThero: posts the ante 750
Beldar C.: posts the ante 750
skeezy20: posts the ante 750
twelver1232: posts the ante 750
VietCutie: posts the ante 750
skeezy20: posts small blind 7500
twelver1232: posts big blind 15000
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to WPThero [Ah Qh]
VietCutie: folds
WPThero: raises 23750 to 38750
Beldar C.: raises 85635 to 124385
skeezy20: folds
twelver1232: folds
WPThero: raises 432625 to 557010 and is all-in
Beldar C.: calls 432625
*** FLOP *** [2c 5c 6h]
*** TURN *** [2c 5c 6h] [9s]
*** RIVER *** [2c 5c 6h 9s] [9c]
twelver1232 said, "gg jus"
*** SHOW DOWN ***
WPThero: shows [Ah Qh] (a pair of Nines)
Beldar C.: shows [Ad Ac] (two pair, Aces and Nines)
Beldar C. collected 1140270 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 1140270 | Rake 0
Board [2c 5c 6h 9s 9c]
Seat 1: WPThero showed [Ah Qh] and lost with a pair of Nines
Seat 6: Beldar C. (button) showed [Ad Ac] and won (1140270) with two pair, Aces and Nines
Seat 7: skeezy20 (small blind) folded before Flop
Seat 8: twelver1232 (big blind) folded before Flop
Seat 9: VietCutie folded before Flop (didn't bet)
I was "meh" about it to begin with as I played 2 hands at the whole FT before this (about 50 hands) and figured Beldar would give me a lot of credit on my open so I don't know about it. He was raising a ton so I guess its ok, just sucks to run into AA, even against KK I have some hope. Anyhoo, while I was playing the 100k I fired up a Step 5 for the WSOP, won it then fired up a Step 6 and got 3 handed when I lost JJ < KQs for like 20k with 27k in place, I likely go on to win seat #2 if I win that hand but thats variance, still profited a little on it. I will likely play some more steps here and there and see what happens with them. Not including the $800 or so profit from steps I played 14 tournaments and cashed 1 today, eeek. I was playing like absolute trash early so its ok. I still ended up +$4k with the 5th so its more positive movement for me. Since Sunday I am +$13,615 and change which takes a decent chunk out of the 40k or so downswing I was on. Still need to keep playing well and plucking away at this.
As far as my game goes, I think I have plugged up a few leaks here and there and will be looking forward to seeing how my game feels tomorrow and Sunday. I am planning on actually setting aside 1.5 hours for narrating he FT of the Super Tuesday so I might end up pushing the admins to have a "Jurollo Avalanche" one day with the FT of Super Tuesday, part 3 of the 6max $100r and the 2 parts of tonight's 100k. Another thing I have been trying to focus on is only playing MTTs I think I have an edge in. After using Tourney Trax for the past couple weeks I was realizing that I am just not able to play Rebuys profitably for a few reasons so I am cutting them out of my schedule for the most part. I will play the 6max $100r on Wednesdays, and maybe a $100r or two on Sundays but thats about it. The reasons why they have become so bad for me are pretty diverse. The main reason is I don't slow down enough in the rebuy period, at any buyin level, I am so used to maniacing that its just become -EV for me to really play at all because I just do it without thinking. The 100r's most days of the week are tough enough anyway and the 22r I usually only play to fill screen space then just push allin till I bust when I am done with everything else so I am going to start just skipping it. But anyway. Thats all for now, I will be back with another update after tomorrow night, then taking 3 days off (I think) before Sunday.
Health Scare, Tourney Trax and a Sunday in the Black!
Been a while since I really made a long blog post. This one will likely turn into one. First things first, I want to apologize for not making the first freeroll we held. I had every intention of playing it but Saturday morning I woke up with ridiculous chest pains and then started having spells of light-headedness. As a 24 year old this is obviously not normal and my family does have some history of heart problems so I freaked out and ended up being taken to the ER. After about 5-6 hours of tests (and them telling me the insurance I got out west wasnt good) I was given a clean bill of health and they blamed it on stress. It was a pretty big wake up call though, in that, I don't leave a really healthy life, my sleep schedule is terrible and I eat random food during long sessions and don't get nearly the physical activity someone my age should. I am going to attempt to use this as motivation to get on a more standard schedule and start to do more working out / running. Its easy to forget about taking care of yourself when you are playing cards for a living, and like me, can stay in relatively good shape without a lot of effort, but its really crucial to stay on a schedule and make sure you take care of yourself as far as your diet and activity.
Now to some Tourney Trax news. Its almost done! I have been beta testing it the last week and its working amazing. I am going to do one more preview video and I expect it to be launched before the end of March. Really exciting. Look for the last preview Monday or Tuesday. Also, here is the logo for it, thoughts?
I think it is pretty amazing. A poster, badatmath, over on 2+2 made it for me, its fairly obvious to me he is a rather talented.
Now to this Sunday. It started off rather bad and ended rather good. Started my day a $535 WSOP sat and the Stars Million and just wasnt focused or playing well. Donked off a lot in both and eventually lost JJ < AQ in the WSOP Sat (I think) and AK < KT aipf in the Million. I won a seat to the $535 so that took a little sting out of it. Then was the $215 Heads Up on Stars where I played TERRIBLE and ran hot in rounds 1 and 2 (sorry Kcannon) and ended up getting to Round 5 (top 32) and lost KJ v 32 for a nice pot on a 642J3 board, in that order, with a lot going in on the turn and more on the river. 2 hands later we were basically even and I raised QQ pf, got a call. Flop J53, he c/r's me, I 3bet allin, he instacalls 53o and I was out. I was hanging around in a few more tournies for a bit with my last 2 being a $100+1R+1A and a $650 WSOP sat on Stars. I barely cashed the 1R+1A and was deep in the WSOP sat with a legitimate shot at bubbling. I luckily was directly to the left of the most ridiculously tight player in it so when it folded to my sb, which happened a lot because the bb was super short, I could just jam knowing he would only call with like top 5%. So that kept me afloat and I hung on for the package which is essentially just $12,500 cash since I am already sponsored by Stars for the ME. So that should bring the downswing to about $27,500. One more nice score will be crucial but for a night I can go to bed happy as I ended up Sunday up around $10k. A rare feat on Sundays.
Back in action
Back from my vacation from the internet, poker, and tv. Was really good to get away from everything for a few days but I have started off with 2 bad days in a row. Last night was just an all around disaster, got deepish in the FTP $1k and then lost a relatively huge pot with around 90 left AK < AQ aipf, then survived a few times in ridiculous hands 55 < JJ and QQ = KK. Shoved over a CO open for like 8k total (over a t1800) open from the BB with AJo and he snapped 77 and I didn't get there. That would have been for like top 20 with 80 left. Tonight I ended up playing poorly in the $1k and then got deep in the 100k again and lost AQ < ATs with like 60 left for a 7th place stack, then eventually pushed A4s with 10BBs and ran into AK. Its getting frustrating when I am essentially playing most tournaments just to break out of my downswing but I will keep plugging along, hopefully I hit a good run soon and can put up a couple big results in a row. Thats my hope at least. Tomorrow I will be going back to my parents house for a few more relaxing days, then St. Patty's celebrations this weekend. I am going to try to get the 1k Final Table video up by this Monday at the very latest. Lastly, here's 3 random videos I made in college, I found them again today and they cracked me up. Essentially we heard noises in our attack my senior year so I set up a video camera as surveillance. The 2nd video is basically a homemade trap I made and the 3rd is his capture and subsequent release. Enjoy! Back with more poker whining tomorrow night after I bust all the Wednesdays.
Ohhh Donkaments
Went deep a few times today and lost the big pots I needed to win. My KO hand in the $1k tonight was absurd. This terrible player opened in EP to t460 at 75/150 and effective stacks were like t4200, so I called with As6s from the BB thinking he will stack off light. Flop T86ss, so I planned to c/r. He bets t800 and I shoved, he called with QsJd! So not only did I get called light but was ahead with A high. 9c on the turn changed that thought and I lost. Got deep in the 100k again too but ended up losing QQ < AT with like 30 left. I have been dabbling in some cash and SNGs lately so I might do some videos on those for critique by some of the other pro's. Last night I was 4-3 in $1k turbo heads up matches vs. amak316 who is pretty good and basically with the turbo format we were just paying rake and trading EV. I have a few players I like to play there so I will likely start picking them off if I see them playing. Then after some losses tonight I played some 5/10 NL Heads Up cash and ran well and made like 2 buyins in 50-60 hands.
Big big day for the election tomorrow, I sincerely hope Obama can close this thing out with a TX win.
~Justin
Some musings (Sundays, Tourney Trax, etc)
Another Sunday gone and another red figure in the books for me. I didn't play particularly well today but the couple big pots I got into in the tournies I was playing well in turned out disastrous. Its the standard running bad turning into playing bad syndrome. I am going to play tomorrow night and maybe Tuesday then will get a much needed rest from Wednesday to Monday. I am going out to Oregon for 4-5 days to visit a friend in Portland so that should be a really good rest. I basically never let variance get into my head but getting deep so often lately without the big score I am craving has been killing me. Maybe I can get a good score tomorrow or Tuesday (if I even play Tuesday). End game variance sucks so much worse then middle or early game too. On to brighter things.
Tourney Trax is really coming together. For those who havent checked out the preview video its up on the training site. Pretty sure I am going to add some better input techniques for rebuys but even in its' current build I think its not like anything else on the market for tracking MTT results. Granted, it is a little more user oriented then thepokerDB, but its worth it in the long run because for the little effort it takes you get precise rebuy numbers as well as accurate $/hour rates and what not. I think it is a great addition to something like pokerDB and will hopefully find a nice little niche market.
In other things I did a first run through of my WSOP schedule, and I am stoked to get out there and play again this year. I am looking to play like 15-20 events (all NLHE) and got a house with Badgerpro, SLOPPYKLOD (aka MrDoggy) and mman_status (who got another top 20 finish in the Million tonight, probably a top 25 MTT'er who constantly gets F'd deep, more then anyone I know) who are all top notch guys so it should be good. I lived with all of them last year so I am sure there will be more of the same this year I am sure. Living with poker players is a pretty big trip for me because I am so used to being around people with polar opposite schedules then me. Get up, go to work, relax, and repeat. My life is strange to them, but theirs would be in Vegas. Its comforting to know I am not the only one crazy enough to do this for a living. I have been thinking a ton about life post-WSOP and while it definitely will depend on my results this year I might look into at the very least looking for a part time job to use my degree in city planning. I wouldn't mind working for an NPO somewhere as I wouldn't really care about my wages. I constantly read about people doing amazing things with little to nothing and look at my life and how blessed I have been to have success and a good family and I feel like I wasting an opportunity to help people at a point in my life when I can literally up and leave for a while without disturbing anything on the home front. So this is definitely something I want to look into and attempt to motivate myself for. Its strange that if you really think about the profession of playing cards, there's really no reason I shouldnt donate my time SOMEWHERE. Same goes for professional actors and athletes, when you are blessed enough to be able to do something so trivial and make good money, I think you are obligated to society to do something more. But anyway kiddies, thats it for now. I will probably post some kind of update on my next two days before I take off for the Pacific Northwest.
~Justin
P.S.
Expect videos this week, i.e. the end of Super Tuesday.
P.P.S.
This is my theme song for Sundays, and cracks me up when thinking about as written for an online poker player on sundays
Adios!