O-Poker

First things, first - Thanks to everyone for their comments on my last few posts. Also, thanks to those that linked about my very good week on their blogs:

TripJax - Always has good things to say - interesting blog; I can relate a lot to his posts because we at very similar stages of our life (2 young kids)

Wes at Dumbasses Trump All - I like reading his blog because he is playing a lot SHNL and it is always good to see how others analyze different situations.

Scurvydog - Just starting to read his blog - looks interesting.

Jordan from High on Poker - He had very nice things to say about me - kind of creepy though. This post freaked me out just a little. :)

Sorry, if I missed anyone else.

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I need Bloglines help please. I can't seem to figure out how to put all the links from my bloglines onto the right side of the blog. Does anyone have any suggestions?

Here is what I have tried so far:

I went to my feeds, clicked export subscriptions and a html code popped up. I tried to past this into the blog template - no luck. I tried to post with just the html to see what woudl happen - no luck.

I am sure there is some simple way that I am missing. Help Please!!

Thanks,

cmitch

I can definitely say that last week was best poker week ever. On Monday, I won my WSOP seat on Full Tilt Poker. I didn't play much until Sunday, when I played the $530 on Pokerstars and busted out in the 2nd hour. I was severely short stacked early after my QQ ran into A10o and the guy caught two tens.

After busting out of the PS $530, I was debating on signing up for the Pokerstars $200 2nd chance tourney at 6:30 PM or the $200 $200K Guarantee tourney on FTP. It looked like there would be a decent overlay in the FTP tourney, so I signed up for that one. Six hours and $29,000 later I am glad I did.

I owe a large part of the victory to my wife. I rarely play the big Sunday tourneys because I have a 4 year old daughter and an 8 month old son. It wouldn't be fair to her or the kids to play the Sunday tourneys all the time. (I play on Sunday during the day about once every 2-3 months.) I had gotten up early with the kids and after their naps I asked Veronica if she minded if I played a tourney. She reluctantly said it was OK. Thanks!!

(Some of the hand histories didn't get saved on my hard drive. I have requested the full tourney Hand History from FTP. I think that the last hand before a table closes/you are moved doesn't get saved.)

I love playing against hyper aggressive players in tourneys that don't know when to slow down, especially if I have position on them. A had one of them (that happened to chip leader) seated to my immediate left early in the tourney. He had a ton of chips and was trying to push people around. He always bet the flop and if he wasn't raised, he bet the turn big. I'll call this guy (HACL)

Key Hand 1 (Blinds 200/400 w/50 ante)
http://www.pokerhand.org/?355102
I had been flat calling (HACL) with some mediocre hands and re-raising him out of pots when this hand came up. I think he was getting frustrated with me. I was dealt J10o and flopped the nut straight and called his minimum bet on the flop. Every time someone had only called his flop bet, he bet the turn harder. A heart came on the turn, making a flush draw possible and I raised him. The river brought a 5 and he basically put me all-in. I raised my remainder and he called with Q5 for two pair vs. my straight.

Key Hand 2 (Blinds 250/500 w/50 ante)
http://www.pokerhand.org/?355106
I was dealt 77 in MP. HACL makes his usual minimun raise to 1,000. I call, BB calls. The flop comes Q27 with two spade. HACL bets 1,500. I raise to 4,000. BB folds. HACL calls. The turn is the Ace of Spades - making a flush possible. I know that there is no way that HACL has the flush. He would have been all-in on the flop with a flush draw based on how he had been playing previous hands. HACL checks, I go all-in. He calls without thinking very long. He had J7 - no spade, only 4th pair. I guess I had gotten him so frustrated that he didn't believe that I had a hand. I really don't know what he was thinking.

Key Hand 3 (Blinds 300/600 w/75 ante)
http://www.pokerhand.org/?355107
It helps to get AA and get allin preflop against JJ.

Key Hand 4 (Blinds 500/1000 w/125 ante)
http://www.pokerhand.org/?355109
This was probably a questionable call on my part, but here is my thinking. (Dealt AK preflop)
I had been stealing a lot of blinds and had folded a few hands to big re-raises preflop. I raised to 3k from early position. Nemo had been re-raising my blind steals more than most. He went all-in and I really didn't think he had Aces or Kings. He would have raised less and tried to trap me into betting. I put his all in bet as 77-QQ or AK-AJ. I had 39k chips and if I called and lost, I would have 19k chips. If I folded I would have 36k chips. If I called and won, I would have 60k chips and be chip leader or 2nd in chips. I decided based on his hand range, the call was worth the risk. He turned over AQ and my AK held up.

I think by calling that hand it also made players less likely to re-raise my steal attempts without a big hand.

Key Hand 5 (Blinds 600/1200 w/150 ante)
http://www.pokerhand.org/?355112
I made a preflop call (QJo in BB) that I wouldn't normally make late without chips - but I had a lot of chips. UTG raises to 3,200. I flat call. The flop is perfect - JJ5. I check. UTG bets 4.5k. I call. Turn is an ace. I check. UTG checks. (I think this helped disguise my hand - I had been mixing it up between raising with made hands and check/raising made hands.) The river is the 4th Jack - giving me quads. I bet 7,500. UTG thinks and calls with 1010.

I am very happy with the way I played this hand. I think I got maximum value here.

Key Hand 6 (Blinds 3k/6k w/750 ante) - SUCKOUT ALERT!!
http://www.pokerhand.org/?355120
I am kind of embarassed by this hand, but I will try to explain my reasoning for the call.

I had been raising a lot. Yumbolt had come over the top all in several times. He was making a disportionate amount of preflop all-in bets. I raised my standard 3x BB (18k) with JJ and he immediately goes all-in. He had shown down A10 and AJ on previous hands with the same all-in preflop bet. I just felt that there a better than 50/50 chance that I was ahead. If I lose the hand I am at 45k. If I win it, I am at 230k and have a great shot at the final table. I made the call and got lucky to flop a set vs. his QQ. If it had been earlier and smaller blinds, I definitely would have folded. I just thought there was a better than 50/50 chance I was ahead and if I won would be in prime chips position with 24-25 players remaining.

Key Hand 7 (Blinds 6k/12k w/1.5k antes)
http://www.pokerhand.org/?355124
I was very lucky to get dealt AA in the BB against KK when we were down to 12.

Key Hand 8 (Blinds 8k/16k w/2k antes) - HUGE BLUFF on the Final Table bubble
http://www.pokerhand.org/?355126

10 players remaining. I have been selectively stealing blinds, but have a relatively tight image. I am dealt 25s in the SB. It folds to me and I raise to 48k. BB calls. The flop comes 932 and I figured the flop missed the BB. He would have re-raised me with any pair based on his past play. I went all-in and he thought forever and folded.

Key Hand 9 (Blinds 8k/16k w/ antes) - 10 players remaining - final table bubble. (EDIT - got HH from FTP)
http://www.pokerhand.org/?355329

I called the preflop raise because he was raising from the SB with just about anything. His check on the flop threw me off - it was bugging me that he didn't bet the flop, so I checked to see what he would do on the turn. The turn brings a 2 giving me a pair and OESD. He immediately goes all-in - big overbet (no way he has a 5.) I am pretty sure he has a big ace or a flush draw. It just feels like he is trying to buy the pot. If he happens to have me beat, I most likely still have 10 outs.

Give the situation (5 players at tables), my hand, and the board, I felt like my hand was the best hand. I got lucky that he didn't hit his flush.

This hand assured me a good payday . I moved onto the final table with 730k chips and 2nd place had under 400k chips and looked to take it down.

Not much eventful happened for a while. My stack dwindled a little after being pretty card dead, some failed blind steals and missing a flop with AK.

Key Hand 10 (20k/40k blinds w/5k ante) - Final 3
http://www.pokerhand.org/?355148

Milkman had been extremely aggressive once we got 3 handed. It almost looked like he was happy with 3rd place money and didn't care if he went out. He had knocked one guy (in 4th I think) out with his A4 against AQ. He made a 3xBB raise from the SB preflop and the BB went all-in. Milkman and BB were about equal in chips and Milkman called and spiked a 4. Milkman also made a questionable preflop call with Q3 for half his stack earlier.

I went all-in on the Ace Flop with KK because I felt he would have re-raised me preflop with any ace. If I checked the flop then he was going all-in. I bet all-in on the flop hoping that if he happened to have a weak ace, he might fold it. He folded.

Key Hand 11 (20k/40k w/5k antes) - Heads up.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?355151
I played this hand horribly. I should have bet the river hard.

Key Hand 12 (25k/50k w/ antes) - Final Hand

I flop a pair on a non-scary board and we get all the chips in. Only problem he has AA!! GG me.

I think the main reason that I did so well in this tourney was that I remained focused and played the players a lot more than my cards. (Of course, getting AA against KK with 12 players remaining didn't hurt.)

It was nice to have a cheering section during the tourney - Loopy, his wife, and Matt and his wife.

My biggest online tourney cash before this was $8k, but that was over 1 1/2 years ago, so this felt great. Hopefully, I can ride the hot streak for a while.

Feel free to let me know if you think I played a hand poorly. I am open to suggestions on how to play some of these hands differently.

cmitch

When you are running hot, you are running hot!!! I just took down 2nd place for $29,000 in the FTP $200K Guarantee!!

Full Tilt Poker is my new favorite site - after this and winning my WSOP seat on Monday. I really don't know what more to say right now.

I am too jacked to post a tourney report now, but will as soon as I come down.

cmitch

I am finally slowing down a little at work (of course slowing down is all relative), so I have a little time to write up a tourney report on how I won my seat to the WSOP.

I am soooooo excited about playing in the Main Event. It hasn't really hit me yet. This will be the 2nd big buy-in tourney that I have played. The first one was the Ultimatebet.com Aruba WPT event.

Last year, a few of us went out to Vegas at the beginning of the WSOP. I took $5,000 out there with me and had plans to play the $2K PLHE event. I didn't play in the event because one of the guys talked me out of it. I bought into his speech about how it was a big buy-in relative to my bankroll and how the odds of cashing were slim because of the large field. Afterwards, I regretted not playing in the event. Instead, I played a $500 MTT at the Bellagio and wound of getting $5,000 in a deal amongst the final six players. (So, not all bad.)

(I saved a few of the hand histories on www.pokerhand.org but I can't access them right now because it looks like they let their site registration lapse. I'll try to go from memory on the HHs)

I have had a crazy month between being extremely busy at work and home. I worked late a few nights last week and worked on Sunday. Monday night, I knew I was going to be working late and around 6:30 PM I decided to take a break and play a $150+$10 SNG Satellite on Full Tilt Poker to their Monday night 9 PM $1K WSOP Super Satellite. The SNG paid entry into the Super Sat and around $280 for 2nd.

I was playing super-tight in the early stages on the SNG and paying close attention to how the other players at the table were playing - suprisingly a few of them seemed like very weak players. After a few orbits the following hand came up:

Key Hand 1 - Blinds 30/60. I was dealt 66 in the BB. There was a small preflop raise and two callers. I called and the flop came J66. I was first to act and checked. The next guy went all-in with QQ. The guy after him (guy still had avg stack) thinks and calls the all in with 88. The next guy folds and I get an easy triple up.

I took control of the SNG from there on out with the big stack knowing that no one wanted to bust out before 2nd. When we were heads up, I had a slight chip lead. My opponent was not much of a heads up player. He would min bet on the flop every time he missed and bet big every time he hit. I slowly grinded him down and won my entry into the Monday night 9 PM $1K Super.

The $1K super sat had 73 entries paying a $12,000 WSOP package for 1-6 and $1,000 for 7th.

I decided that I wasn't going to play scared in the $1K Super Sat and was going to try and pick on the scared money in the tourney. This didn't work out so well when I flopped 2nd pair and thought I could bet another guy off his hand. He actually called me down with 2 pair and just like that my starting stack of 3,000 had dwindled down to around 2,000.

Key Hand 2 - Not much happened for the next 15-20 minutes. Blinds were 30/60. I was down to 1,800 chips (60 out of 61 players remaining) when I was dealt QQ UTG. The table had gotten a little more aggressive - every preflop limp was getting raised. I limp, everyone player at the table called. The small blind raised to 150. He had been playing very loose and raising some questionable hands. I decided that I wanted the pot right there and raised to 500. Everyone folded and the SB called. The flop came down with all low cards. SB checked and I went all-in. He insta-called with 77 and I was up to around 3,900 chips.

I didn't play many big pots for a while. I built my stack up some by calling some players that looked like they were trying to steal pre-flop and then betting out on the flop if it came all low cards. I was also stealing the blinds of a few players that were playing very very tight.

Key Hand 3 - I had built up an above average stack and raised preflop with KQ. A very tight player with a stack about half the size of mine thought for a few minutes and then called. I was guessing he had a mid-pair, AK, or AQ. The guy was pretty tight and would have raised pre-flop with AA, KK, or QQ. Either way I knew that I was behind preflop and was giving up the pot to any flop that I didn't hit. The worst possible flop for me happened - 10JQ with two diamonds. I had his hand range as AK, AQ, mid-pair. The pot was a little less than twice his stack and he was folding any mid-pair and probably AQ (the guy was tight) to my all-in bet. The only other option was to check-fold to his all-in which wasn't really option based on the size of the pot. I decided to put the decision on him. I went all in (mainly because of the size of the pot relative to his stack and figuring I still had outs if he called) and he used up most of his time before he called with Pocket 10s. The turn gave me a flush draw. I missed my flush draw and my straight draw and I was suddenly the short stack again at around 2,500.

Key Hand 4 (Luckbox suckout hand) - I had the two chip leaders to my right. Both of them had been raising my blinds every time. The chip leader (CL) was very loose and didn't seem to have much concept of position and was following every pre-flop bet with big continuation bets then shutting down if he met resistance. He was betting 9 out of 10 hands when the pot had not been bet into yet preflop. I had noticed that he made very big preflop bets when he had a hand and smaller bets with weak hands since the guy that was 2nd in chips was on his left. I was dealt Q9s in the BB. My stack was dwindling. I don't remember my exact stack size - I think it was around 2,800 and the blinds were getting high. CL raised around 2x BB preflop. I called with the intention of going all in on the flop if it wasn't scary. The flop came 8Jlowcard (3 maybe). I went all-in with my gutshot and CL insta-called with 89o. (That didn't work out as planned.) The turn brought a lovely 10 and I doubled up to about an average stack size.

Key Hand 5 - There were a lot of ups and downs for a while, but nothing very memorable until we had about 16-17 players remaining. I had 13k chips and the blinds were pretty high. CL raises big preflop. The guy to his left (with around 14k) goes all-in. I look down at KK and call. CL folds. My KK holds up against AQ and I am top 5 in chips.

Key Hand 6 (Hand that really won the seat for me) - CL hadn't let up on the preflop raising. I was dealt A7 in the SB and CL made his standard button raise. I had a big stack and decided to call his raise with the intention of check-raising him on almost any flop. (The blinds were high but still managable with my stack. If I had to fold after the C/R, then I would still be in about the same shape) The flop came A,lowcard, lowcard. Pretty scary for my hand, if this happens to be the time that CL picks up a big hand. I checked the flop. CL bet. His bet screamed that he was trying to buy the pot. I called and wanted to see what he did on the turn. Turn was another low card. I checked, CL checked (looked to me like he was giving up). River was a low card and I went all-in into a very big pot. I only had a few less chips than CL and knew he didn't have an ace. CL folded and I was now the chip leader with 12-13 players left.

I think that was the hand that allowed me to win my seat. I was a chip leader and was able to build my stack by picking on the small stacks.

Key Hand 7 (First hand of the 9 handed final table) - I was dealt AA in the cutoff the 1st hand of the final table. I was chipleader and the blinds were high. A big stack made a 3xBB raise and I decided not to try to get fancy. I went all-in and everyone folded. I didn't show my hand. I think this set the tone for the other players at the table - I had chips and wasn't scared to put all of them in the middle. They didn't know I had AA.

We were 7 handed forever until finally the short stack got knocked out. Woooooohooooo!!! Sorry short stack - you did get the bubble prize of $1,000 though.

I may have a few of the hand histories a little fuzzy but they should be close. If pokerhand.org gets their site back up, I will post the links to the hands.

I am glad I won my seat on Full Tilt. They seem to know how to treat players that win on their site. The best part about the win is how everything came together. I didn't plan on playing in the WSOP sat on Monday. I was just taking a break from work and everything fell into place. On April 24, I wrote a post titled I want to Play in the WSOP. I listed what I thought were the best ways to win a seat to the WSOP - 1st on my list was the FTP $1K super sat. I listed one of the pros to winning on FTP as "will probably be treated 1st class if win through them" and I truely believe I will.

Thanks for all the congratulatory comments on my last post.

See you all in Vegas,

cmitch

I finally won my way into the Main Event of the WSOP. I was working late (see my last post) and decided to take a break and play a $150+$10 SNG to the $1K WSOP Super Satellite on Full Tilt Poker. I won the SNG for the entry into the $1K Super Sat and then wound up winning my seat to the Main Event in the Super Sat.

I saved some of the key Hand Histories and will post all the details of the win when things slow down at work in a few days.

cmitch

I have two projects due this week and have been working all weekend. I will probably be working very late every night this week. (Sometimes I wish I played poker for a living - might have to live in a shack though). So, I probably won't be posting much (if at all this week).

$50K Challenge - I am somewhere around even for the week. I think I had a net loss around $20 at NL cash games and made a little in tourneys & SNGs. I need to update my poker spreadsheets, but work is the priority right now.

Party WSOP Steps - I think I have played somewhere between 12-15 WSOP Step SNGs on my original buy-in. My weekend went - step 3, 3, 4, 4, 3, 3. I am back at WSOP Step 3. I feel like I'll never make it to Step 5 at this rate.

I'm not going to be playing much poker this week and that sucks!!!

cmitch

Courtney Friel is no more. If you haven't heard the WPT has fired Courtney and hired a new host - Sabina Gadecki (pictured). You can read the story here. I fact that I found interesting (I'm probably the only one) is that my sister's name is Courtney (same as fired host) and my sister-in-law's name is Sabina. Spooky, huh?

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WSOP Steps

The steps are taking time away from my cash game play, but I want to try to win my way to the WSOP.

Tuesday night, I played my WSOP Step 4 entry and was promptly bounced back to WSOP Step 3 when I got all in with top pair and flush draw on the flop against an overpair and didn't improve.

Last night, I played the WSOP Step 3 and won my way back to WSOP Step 4. I have been tearing up the WSOP Step 3s every time I get bounced back to them. Hopefully, I can carry that over to a WSOP Step 4 at least once.

I am overloaded at work, so that is all I have today.

Good luck at the tables,

cmitch

I played a WSOP Step 4 last night and finished 7th. We were still 7 handed at 200/400 blinds (starting stack 2,000 chips). I was in BB and called a short stack all in for 300 more with KdQd against As4s. The flop came K38 with 1 spade, turn a spade, river a spaded. Suddenly I'm the short stack. I went all in a couple of hands later with 55 and got called the same short stack. He had A9 and hit a 9. So I was moved back to WSOP Step 3.

I played the WSOP Step 3 tourney and took first to move back up to WSOP Step 4 yet again.

I was the short stack when we were down to 4 players and 2 of the 4 players were playing scared (top 2 advance to Step 4; 3-4 replay Step 3). The big stack tried to push me out of the pot when I flopped top pair and OESD. My hand held up and my stack a little more than doubled. I was patient and picked up small pots here and there until I finally won it.

Back to WSOP Step 4 again.

This seems never ending. I'll update my progress.

cmitch

WSOP Steps

I had that feeling again this weekend - trapped in the Steps and can't get out. Here is how my weekend went on the Steps.

1. WSOP Step 4 - Came in 4th (top 2 advance to step 5 - 3&4 both replay Step 4). The blinds were high 4 handed and the big stack (to my left) was pushing, pushing, pushing. I called one of his pushes with AK and was in great shape against his K9 until a 9 flopped.

2. WSOP Step 4 - I got all in preflop with AhKh against AcKc and he made a flush. I forget exactly which place I finished but I was moved back to WSOP Step 3.

3. WSOP Step 3 - I pretty much dominated this SNG. I led from start to finish after doubling up early with a set.

4. WSOP Step 4 - Pending.

I'm not sure when I will play this Step 4 because I am swamped at work. (Maybe one night this week.)

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FTP H.O.R.S.E Sunday Night $215

What can I say about this tourney. Hmmm. Well, I didn't finish last. There were two guys that got knocked out before me.

By the way, I suck at Omaha H/L - having the 2nd nut low twice in a row isn't good.

I was already getting low when Razz rolled around and towards the end of the Razz round. I was dealt A23, next card was a 6 and decided I was getting all my money in on this hand. I proceeded to pair my 3 and my Ace and my final card (after all my money was in) was a King. I lost to 10 high. GG me.

Razz is fun.

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$50K Challenge Update

Click here for details of $50K Challenge

Current Bankroll - $7,207
Profit since last update (1 week) - $1,352 (not sure I am counting the value of the WSOP Step "freerolls" correctly. I am going to review my spreasheet later)

End of May target - $12,400 (obv. need to re-evaluate and update targets)

I'll post the full details (BB/100, $/hr, etc.) at the end of the month.

cmitch

I was beginning to think that people had stop finding anything interesting about this blog (not that there is much interesting here) because no one had posted a comment on any of my posts in a while.

I felt much better today when I received an email from Chris (drewspop) at Hometown Poker. He said that he had tried posting a couple of comments and it didn't work. I think I know what happened. Someone let a spam post and I went in the settings and deleted it. I must have clicked something that said I had to approve comments but there was no where for me to approve them. Can anyone say computard!!

I think I have fixed everything now - hopefully everything is working.

Because the comments weren't working I wasn't aware until yesterday that CC from Quest of a Closet Poker Player had linked my Mini-Step win. It's a great blog - check it out if you haven't already (you probably have but go there again anyways)

Please leave a comment on this post so that I know everything is working. You can comment on any of my past posts that have no comments or just tell me I suck.

Mini-Step Hell no More

50K Challenge update (5/8)

Sometimes Comments are Funny (kind of ironic since my comments section has been working)

Young Guns vs. Old School (was surprised I didn't get any comments on this one - now I know why)

Not Quite as bad as John Daly (no comments needed here - I was stinking it up pretty bad)

I want to play in the WSOP (Any thoughts on this would be helpful)

etc. etc. etc.

cmitch

I'm fairly new to the whole podcast thing - especially since I don't even have an Ipod, but I downloaded the Itunes software to listen to the www.pocketfives.com podcasts. They are pretty interesting since they interview a lot of online players and discuss online poker related topics. Some recent guests include Green Plastic (cash game monster) and Greg Raymer - good stuff. Click here for a link to the P5 Podcast Page.

Since then I have been searching around for a few poker related podcasts to listen to while working. I have found a few worth listening to, but would really like some suggestion on good poker podcasts.

Please leave the information on any good poker podcasts that you know about in the comments sections. Again, I am kind of new to setting up podcasts on Itunes, so if there are any special instructions that I need to know about please post those also.

Thanks,

cmitch

I played a Mini-Step 5 last night on Party Poker. I had won my entry by winning a Mini-Step 4. At times I have felt trapped in the Party Steps, but my Mini-Step Hell ended last night.

I wound up winning the Mini-Step 5 for $2,000.

Payouts for the Mini-Step 5 are as follows
1st - $2,000
2nd - $1,000
3rd - $500
4th - $300
5th - $200
Starting Stack 2,000 chips; 10 min levels

I had a few keys hands come up that allowed me to take down the SNG.

Key hand 1 - Blinds 100/200 (7 or 8 players)

I was dealt AK on the button and my stack was at 1,450. UTG min raises, it folds to me, and I decided I have to go with the hand because the blinds are increasing in 1 minute and I need chips. I push all in and UTG calls with A10o. My hand holds and I now have chips.

I think this was a horrible play by the UTG player. He min-raised UTG with a weak hand and it has to be a big dog to almost every hand I was raising with.

Key hand 2 - Blinds high (don't remember exact) (4 players)

I was dealt KJs on the button and raised. Aggressive BB called. I flopped a gutshot draw and bet the flop. BB insta-called. Turn gave me more outs - I had a flush draw also now. BB checked and I sensed a check raise coming, so I checked behind hoping to hit my flush or straight outs. The straight card came on the river but it also made flush possibilities for a different suit than mine. BB immediately over bet the pot all-in. I thought there was no way he would do that with the flush. If he had the flush, he wasn't pushing so hard. I called and he was on a busted straight and complete bluff.

I maintained the chip lead for the rest of the SNG and took down 1st after about 20 hands heads up.

I'll try to post some HHs later.

cmitch

I am going to start posting weekly updates on the $50k Challenge. Click this link for the details of the Challenge.

I had a very rough April and decided to take things a lot slower duing May. So far, so good.

Some of the things I have been doing differently:

1. Cut down the number of tables playing simultaneously. I usually only play 2 or 3 tables now - rarely 4 tables. I will only play 4 tables if the TV is off and my wife and kids are sleeping.

2. Slow down when tired. I have gone to bed a few times when I wanted to keep playing because I knew that I was too tired and losing focus. I am sure this saved me money.

3. Take it all in stride. I think that dropping down levels has allowed me to shake off the ups and downs of NL cash games a lot easier. I would sometimes get frustrated and let it effect my game after a rough beat. It is easier to get away from that feeling when the $$ are smaller.

4. Switch things up. I have played a few MTTs and some Party Step SNGs when I was starting to get a little bored of the cash games.

$50K Challenge Update

Current Bankroll - $5,855
Profit since last update (1 week) - $1,609

I'll post the full details (BB/100, $/hr, etc.) at the end of the month.

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Party Mini-Steps and WSOP Steps

I played a couple of these steps yesterday for a change of pace and things went well. Below are the available steps that I currently have.

WSOP Steps
Step 1 ($11) - 2 available
Step 2 ($55) - 1 avaiable
Step 4 ($640) - 1 available - I am going to take my time with this one and play it when I am feeling my best

Mini-Steps
Mini-Step 1 ($6) - 2 available (from a long time ago)
Mini-Step 5 ($430) - 1 available (worked my up to this one yesterday - will prob play it tonight or tomorrow night)

Basically, things seem to be back on track with my poker game and I am feeling a lot more confident in my play. I have made some good decisions and big lay downs that have saved me a lot of money.

cmitch

This comment came from a losing player. I flopped a straight draw and he min bet until the river and I hit my card on the river. He was first to act and went all-in. I, of course, called.

You hear the term "Young Guns" all the time when watching poker on TV or reading poker magazines. They always seem to be referring to the young very aggressive players.

I understand all of this, but I still have a question.

What age is considered a "Young Gun"? Where is the line drawn?

I am 33 (about to turn 34) and I know that I am well beyond the age group that would fit into the young gun category. I, also, don't think I fit into the "Old School" category. The funny thing is when reading poker forums, you see people in their early 30s referring to people as old as 25 as a young player. The reverse is also true - early 20s referring to early 30s as old. (The 20 year olds will fall into that old category before they know it.)

I was talking to a very good NL cash game player at the tables the other day. I asked him how old he is and he said 18. He then asked me, "Are you one of those old grey haired players?" I told him I am 33. He said, "Yep, you are one of those old grey haired players."

I don't won't to be old before my time. I think we can call the 25 years old and younger players young, but please leave us 30 somethings alone. We are not old yet - maybe at 40 I'll start thinking I'm old.

So what is old? What is young? Do you consider yourself old or young or like me somewhere in between?

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In honor of TripJax, I will post on today's post a list of everyone that left comments on the last post. He calls it - Big Ups To These Fine Folks Who Left A Comment In the Last Post:

No comments on last post - pretty pitiful, huh?

cmitch

For those that haven't heard yet, John Daly claims that he has lost somewhere between $50-$60 Million gambling - Talk about TILT!!! Click here for the story from ESPN.


$50K Challenge Update

Previous Update - $5,240
Loss since last update - ($994)

Current Status - $4,246
Goal for End of April - $9,800

My roller coaster run continued. I was actually up pretty good for a while and then crashed and burned again. I will spare the bad beat and poor play stories. I haven't played near the amount of hours that I wanted to during April because I have been swamped at work.

So, what is my plan now? Back to basics. I will only play SHNL cash games and no more than 3 tourneys/week for the next 2 weeks. I have fallen back into that pattern of playing whatever looks good for the night. I, also, started playing 4 tables again. I am much more profitable/hour when playing 2 tables and will stick with 2.

I am well short of my goal and am going to focus on getting back on track during the month of May. I am going to set a target of $800 - $1,000 per week of profit for the month of May and re-evaluate my monthly goals soon.

cmitch