O-Poker

I am busy, busy, busy at work right now. I haven't had time to play much poker lately - only during the occassional break from work. Hopefully, I will slow down a little mid-week next week.

So, here are a couple of links:

Tuff Fish PocketFives Podcast
Tuff Fish was interveiwed this week for the PocketFives.com podcast; I haven't listened to it yet, but it shoud be entertaining.
- Link to Podcast - should get you to the podcast; I have it linked on my Itunes
- Link to P5s Article about Tuff Fish

$200K in 60 Days Challenge

Fukkeneh on 2+2 has outlined a challenge to turn $1k into $200k in 60 days playing 6 max NL cash games part time. He plans to move up levels as he reaches approximately 10 buyins for the next level and drop down if he goes below a certain number of buy-ins (don't remember how many).
- Link to one of the 2+2 threads
- Link to his Blog with daily updates

On Tuesday night, I headed out to a fun home game. A lot of the guys at the game play regularly/semi-regularly with each other on Tuesdays. It is composed of mostly guys in their 30s and 40s that have money to throw around. They decided to run a bigger game this Tuesday. There were three tables that had the following games running:

Table 1 - 5/10NL cash game running all night (starting around 5 pm)

Table 2 - $1k SNG followed by a $500 SNG (starting around 7 pm)

Table 3 - $300 SNG, $300 SNG, then $2/$5 cash game (starting around 7 pm)

They had an awesome set-up. The guy that owned the house had recently moved in and done some major renovations. The house was huge - the three tables were all set-up in the same room and there was still plenty of room to move around. They had a buffet catered by a steak house and waitresses to serve drinks.

I arrived at 6:30 pm. The 5/10NL game was just getting going. I sat down and stayed there all night. The max buy-in at the beginning of the night was $500. (They moved it up to $1k later in the night.)

I finished up a disappointing $500. It would have been more but I lost a big pot with 2 pair to a guy that was on a straight draw. We got all the money in on the turn and the river made his straight.

To say that there were some bad players at the game would be an understatement.

Some of the highlights:

A Fight - I was sitting in Seat 7. Seat 2, 4, and 9 were involved in a hand - don't remember preflop action. Flop comes 10JQr. Seat 9 bets. Seat 2 goes all in for about 1,300. Seat 5 calls (about 550). Seat 9 doesn't know what to do. Seat 2 and 9 were involved a hand earlier and Seat 9 showed Seat 2 one of his cards when he was all in heads up. So now it was back on Seat 9 in this hand. Seat 9 says he has AQ and asks Seat 2 to show him one of his cards. Seat 5 immediately gets pissed off as Seat 2 shows a King. 5 and 9 start aruging about how Seat 2 can't do that. It escalates into, "You wanna take this outside?" A few seconds later Seat 9 walked behind the dealer and then jumped across the table and swung on Seat 5 - knocking chips and drinks all over the place. They eventually calmed down and the game started back up after the chips were sorted out, the spills were cleaned up and new cards were brought over. It was later in the night and definitely woke me up.

A few examples of how poor the play was:

Example 1
Me - KK UTG.
I open for $80 and get two callers.
Flop comes AA5. I'm pretty much done here.
I check
Mid Position bets $120 (obv. doesn't have Ace IMO)
Late Position raises to $240.
I fold.
Mid position re-raises all-in. Late Pos calls.
Mid position had 77 - Late Pos had A2.
I so wished I had a hand.

Example 2
Everyone at the table limps.
I am in the SB (Seat 7) and decide to just call and see a flop with AQo because the game is so crazy and I'm OOP.
Flop comes AJ2 rainbow. I am confident I am best here and check to let a weaker ace bet for me.
Seat 1 bets $60, Seat 3 calls, I call, everyone else folds.
Turn is a 6.
I bet $150. Seat 1 folds. Seat 3 calls.
River is a 2.
I am confident that I am best here and know that Seat 3 will probably call an all-in with any Ace, so I push. He thinks and says what do you have like AJ or A6 and then finally calls with J6. He turned two pair and somehow thought it was still good even with a AJ622 board.

Example 3
I folded preflop.
Seat 10 is check-calling some small bets throughout the hand on a board with 2 spades - obv. a flush draw.
The third spade comes on the river and he bets like $300 into a $150 pot.
A guy insta-calls with top pair weak kicker and Seat 10 obv won with the flush.

Crazy Hand of the Night
Three guys got all in preflop. AA vs. AK vs. KK - Flop comes AKx. I don't think that I have seen that one ever - even with as many hands as I see online.

A few interesting comments made by some of the players:

The $1k SNG had a pretty fast structure. The blinds increased every 17 minutes and increased pretty drastically. A guy that had busted out of it early was sitting next to me in the cash game and kept saying that it is ridiculous that it takes so long for the blinds to increase. He said they should double the blinds every time the deal goes around once (no matter how many players are left). Three guys agreed with him, but said they probably didn't do it that way because 1 or 2 guys would get pissed. I think the 1 or 2 guys that he was referring to both cashed in the SNG. hmmm.

I was dealt AA on the button and after several limpers I made it $120 to go. The SB raised to $250. Everyone folded and I made it $450. The guy to my right started saying how I couldn't raise to $450 and that I had to double the SB's bet. Before I had a chance to say anything, the SB went all in with KK and my AA held up. I then tried to explain the guy sitting next to me that I only had to raise him additional $130 becuase he had raised my bet by $130 ($250-$120). He said, "I'm just telling you so you know - if you ever go to a casino they are going make you bet $500 there. You have to double his bet." I replied with, "OK - thanks. That is good to know."

I had a blast at the game and will definitely go again.

I don't post many hands (especially straight forward hands), but how often do you get to take a big pot off/own Allen Cunningham? :)

FullTiltPoker Game #1721813627: Table Butternut (6 max) - $10/$20 - No Limit Hold'em - 21:38:23 ET - 2007/02/02
Seat 1: gusmccrae ($2,000)
Seat 2: cmitch ($3,655.70)
Seat 3: stensture ($2,170)
Seat 4: buck99 ($2,090)
Seat 5: AllenCunningham ($1,907.50)
Seat 6: Neverhit81 ($615)
AllenCunningham posts the small blind of $10
Neverhit81 posts the big blind of $20
The button is in seat #4
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to cmitch [Jc Jd]
cmitch raises to $70
stensture has 15 seconds left to act
stensture folds
buck99 folds
AllenCunningham raises to $230
Neverhit81 folds
cmitch calls $160
*** FLOP *** [9s Js 9d]
AllenCunningham bets $300
cmitch calls $300
*** TURN *** [9s Js 9d] [As]
AllenCunningham has 15 seconds left to act
AllenCunningham bets $680
cmitch raises to $3,120
AllenCunningham calls $697.50, and is all in
cmitch shows [Jc Jd]
AllenCunningham shows [Kd Ks]
Uncalled bet of $1,742.50 returned to cmitch
*** RIVER *** [9s Js 9d As] [5c]
cmitch shows a full house, Jacks full of Nines
AllenCunningham shows two pair, Kings and Nines
cmitch wins the pot ($3,832) with a full house, Jacks full of Nines
AllenCunningham adds $800
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $3,835 Rake $3
Board: [9s Js 9d As 5c]
Seat 1: gusmccrae is sitting out
Seat 2: cmitch showed [Jc Jd] and won ($3,832) with a full house, Jacks full of Nines
Seat 3: stensture didn't bet (folded)
Seat 4: buck99 (button) didn't bet (folded)
Seat 5: AllenCunningham (small blind) showed [Kd Ks] and lost with two pair, Kings and Nines
Seat 6: Neverhit81 (big blind) folded before the Flop

I am posting this 7 hours before "Bluff is bringing you the coolest thing ever!" is announced.

While I am pretty certain that it won't be the coolest thing ever, I am hoping for at least something different or interesting. After all, we all need some positive distractions from all the mess that is going on in the world of online poker.

I really don't have any guessing on what this "cool thing" is going to be, so I won't attempt to guess - free balloons maybe. (If they were able to shape them into balloon animals that would be pretty cool.)

**EDIT: The clock said 7 hours this morning and now they have added another week (7 days) to the countdown. I guess I will check back next week. (Bait and Switch?) :)

I haven't been to motivated to post lately. I am going to try to make an effort to post more often. I have a few thoughts floating around in my head that might make some good posts. I am aslo going to try to put more tough decision hands up.

I am busy at work right now, so just a quick update today.

Chrysler Pacifica Update

Original post on the car purchase and accident.
I am heading over to pick our new (some parts are newer than others - make that most parts) Chrysler Pacifica from the body shop in a few minutes. The accident happened on November 30 and we are finally getting the car back today (Jan. 30) exactly two months later. I think almost every part on the back end of the car has been replaced and painted. Hopefully everything works and runs well.

Geico (the insurance company of the lady that hit my wife) is going to look at it in a few weeks for a diminished value claim - not holding my breath though.

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Poker Roller Coaster

I have been playing a decent amount of poker over different levels and have experienced some crazy swings. Most of the swings have been from heads up play. I am going to try to cut the variance down and stick with 6 max games. In cash games, I am in the positive overall for the month, but in the negative in the heads up games.

15k, 15k, 15k hands experiment update

I have played almost 8k (of the 15k) hands of 2/4. Things are going better than expected. I am going to push hard over the next few weeks to get the additional 7k hands in and then post an update on the first 15k hands at 2/4. I may skip the 15k hands of 3/6 and move right to 5/10 because the number of 3/6 games running is usually pretty limited.

That is all that I have time for now - more to come.....

I have been thinking about posting about the whole Neteller Fiasco, but I don't even know where to begin. I think this is going to be worse than the fallout back in October. The casual players that feed the poker economy will start to dry up.

I know someone that plays poker and bets on sports occassionaly. He has never taken the time to try to fully understand all the nuances of poker and doesn't really care to take the time to understand. He probably deposits between $50 to $100 at a clip and plays at night or on the weekends in between betting on sports. If he wins (at poker or on sports), he plays higher buy-in SNGs, MTTs, or cash games until he eventually loses the money that he won from that initial deposit. A week or two later, he makes another $50 to $100 deposit. Rinse. Repeat.

I asked him a couple of months ago if he had played on different sites and he said that he hadn't played on one in particular (don't remember which site) because his credit card was declined at that poker room but accepted by other poker rooms. I told him all about neteller and asked why he didn't use neteller to deposit/withdraw. He said that it was too much hassle.

"...too much hassle." That is the problem. If it becomes too hard or there are too many hoops to jump through for the average, casual player then they will stop depositing. That sucks!!!! The money flowing in will slow dramatically.

I am getting a headache thinking about it. I made big leaps in my game over the last year and was looking forward to 2007 being even better than 2006. Now, I have no idea how long things will last.

Yuk - I'm speechless.

-------
I have gone through a few of the hands from my win last week and am still planning on posting them. I just haven't been too motivated with this neteller stuff going on.

I was short most of the final table with a couple of big stacks to my left and one to my right and outchipped by a huge margin heads up, but somehow managed to get lucky enough to win against an extremely tough final table that included (TheWacoKidd, Poketrip, lilholdem, and Andy McLeod).

Thanks for the rail support (DoubleAs, Curzdog, Loppy, a few I am missing b/c wasn't following obv chat)

I'm beat now and will post more details tomorrow or the next day.

I sincerely hope that this is not the beginning (or middle if you count Party as the beginning) of the end of online poker as we know it. After the PCA, I moved the majority of my bankroll to FTP. As of now I have no way to transfer money between sites. More improtantly, the fish don't have many ways to deposit money onto the sites instantly. Unless some other fast, easy, trusted, and reliable payment options (with reasonable fees) pop up to fill the Neteller void quickly, the casual player that feeds the poker economy will start to move onto other things.

My head is spinning. I don't know what to think right now. Maybe the sites can get together and work with each for trasnfering money between sites. I think there are still a couple of deposit options open right now.

Link to 2+2 Legislation Forum

Link to 2+2 Internet Gambling Forum

Link to PocketFives Poker Discussion (most important post will probably be pinned at the top)

My last post got me to thinking more about some specific goals for 2007 and I think I may actually have a few goals now.

I have been kicking around shooting for a specific $$ amount in 2007, but that can get stressful - especially if you miss big milestones/targets. Instead, I am going to set a few general goals for myself. (In no particular order)

1. Earn enough from poker to pay for a majority of the major renovation/addition that we are planning in the beginning of 2008. - This is going to be my biggest motivator this year. We have been kicking around tearing down/building new vs. a partial teardown/renovation/major addition and have decided on the addition. I have a lot of ideas for what we are going to do and the better the year, the bigger the addition. (not really, but it sure will help)

2. Do not take money out of my online bankroll (maybe a little quarterly or at the end of the year only). - I think this has held my game back more than anything else. I have a tendancy to withdraw funds as I need it or as my online bankroll gets over a certain amount, then dropping down levels when I have a bad run. By leaving the money online, I will be able to move up levels quicker and more comfortably.

3. Have 25/50NL become my regular game (properly bankrolled). - I think that this is acheivable and goes hand in hand with my first two goals.

4. Play more cash games and less tourneys. - Even with the occasional big score, cash games are way more profitable than tourneys. I am not going to stop playing tourneys completely, because (in my mind) they are a necessary break from the grind of cash games.

5. Win a seat to the WSOP Main Event/Cash in the Main Event. - Hopefully, I can win my seat again this year. I had a great time at the WSOP last year and want to go back. I would really like to cash in the main event since I am now 0 for 3 cashes in big live tourneys (although one (2003 UB Aruba) shouldn't count because I was clueless back then - TJ even told me so)

6. Win a seat to the UB Aruba Tourney/Cash in the Tourney. - My wife and I really enjoyed ourselves in Aruba in 2003. I wasn't able to even take a shot at winning a seat to the tourney since then because of different happenings in life.

7. Average over 5PT/100 in all cash games over the course of the year. - I am not sure if I will be able to achieve this at the higher limits, but it is what I am shooting for.

8. Final Table/ finish top 3 in a Sunday Major/FTOPS/WCOOP. - This one may be a little difficult because I won't be playing many tourneys, especially on Sundays.

I may add to the list if I think of any more over the next couple of days.

For now, I am going to concentrate on playing the 15k hands at each level (2/4, 3/6, and 5/10) and see how things pan out from there.

Good luck (belated) to everyone in the new year.

I know that January is almost half over, but I am still not sure what 2007 poker goals that I want to set for myself.

For now, I am just going to do an experiment. I am going to play 45k hands of SHNL and then figure out things from there. I will play the following in order and will not go to the next step until I complete the previous one:

1. 15,000 hands of 6 max 2/4NL
2. 15,000 hands of 6 max 3/6NL
3. 15,000 hands of 6 max 5/10NL

I think it will be interesting to see how each level compares. I'll post updates and stats as I complete each 15k hands.

First off, I had a blast at the PCA. I met a lot of fun people and had a great time.

I don't know where to begin, so I'll start at the beginning and probably break this up into a couple of posts.

My wife and I were both excited about heading down to Atlantis. We hadn't been there since our honeymoon (6 years ago) and were looking forward to relaxing away from the kids (5 yr old and 15 month old).

The Orlando airport showed the first signs of the poker week ahead. As we arrived at our gate, I noticed several people playing poker on their laptops. (A lot of flights from around the country connected with our direct flight to the Bahamas.) A majority of our flight was heading to Atlantis for the tourney. I talked to a couple of people in the airport:

Samenole (I had met him briefly at the WSOP)
A guy from Norway that we later recruited to be a Gator fan complete with all the obnoxious rowdy fan qualities that make football so fun
A couple of guys from Gainseville - one of which had won a seat in the Moneymaker Million. (He wound up finishing in 8th place)

We had a smooth flight, proceeded through customs and went to collect our luggage. About 15 minutes later we only had two of our four bags. Somehow, the other two never made it to the Bahamas. It is easy to see how two of the bags never made it there. I mean, we had so many connections and traveled such a long distance that they could have been left on a several different planes or in several different airports. Oh wait, nevermind, we had a direct flight that was less about 1 hour in the air.

We met another couple while filling out the lost luggage paperwork. They were from Jacksonville and he had won a spot into the Moneymaker Million. Jerry seemed like a good guy and he is from my hometown, so he was definitely the guy that I was rooting for in the Moneymaker Million. He managed to finish 2nd. I can't imagine played heads up poker for $700k (1st place was a million), but he still seemed pretty excited about winning enough to buy a house. I guess $300k is a nice consolation.

Our cab ride to the hotel was crazy. I am not sure how old the driver was but he told us a story about when he was doing some work in Orlando in the early '50s. He couldn't stand up straight and I am guessing that he couldn't see much farther than 50 feet. It took three tries to get the cab started. For some reason, he took us on the "scenic route" (not at our request) at about 10 mph while people were honking and passing us. We almost ran off the road more than a few times and he nearly hit a couple of other cars. We started feeling better about 45 minutes later when the bridge to Atlantis was in site. A few minutes later, he left me wondering how strong the barricades were on the side of the bridge as we almost rammed into it when the steering wheel slipped out of his hands.

Somehow we arrived safely at the hotel and were ready to begin a week of relaxation (and a little poker.)

More to follow.....

Wooohooo!!!

Football and Basketball!!!!

:)

Just back from break

Blinds 300/600 75 ante

39k in chips

Short stack all in for 4,800

Cutoff flat calls. I raise to 10k with QQ to see where I stand. I know this player will raise me with AA or KK here and will flat call me with AK. He flat calls. I am 85% sure he has AK.

Flop JJ5 - 2 hearts.

I shove all in. Cutoff insta-calls with AhKh. Heart on the river and I'm down to 8500.

One hand later. A guy with 9,500 shoves all-in. I have 99 and call. He turns over K10. 10 on the river and I am gone.

If I win the QQ hand, I am sitting on about 70k. I was sure he had AK - didn't want to see AhKh.

GG me.

Yukkkkkkkkk!!

Link on P5 Live.

It is finally here. We are leaving tomorrow (1/4) at 2:00 PM.

My start day is Day 1B (Saturday).

I will try to post updates or email Loopy and see if he can post updates. If interested, you may be able to find information about me under my name (Charles "Mitch" Mitchell), my screen name on pokerstars (sportingimag), or my P5s screen name and screen name on most sites (cmitch)

I have signed up for coverage on PocketFivesLive. I am sure they are going to be swamped covering over 125 players and I am not a ranked player, so I am not sure how much information on me you will be able to find there.

N82 has a press pass (thanks to Bluff) and is going to be taking pictures. If you want to see high quality pictures of the tourney and players check out his site - Click here.

Otis will be updating all of the action over at the Official Pokerstars Blog.

I am going into the tourney with no expectations. I am going to enjoy myself at Atlantis and in the tourney. I am going to try to maintain my "A" game the entire tourney and hope that things go my way.

Good luck to everyone that is in the tourney.

I was reading through the latest Bluff Magazine and came across an article by Marvin Garden. He had a great quote by Bruce Lee that is very applicable to poker even though it was related to martial arts.

"The highest technique is to have no technique. My technique is a result of
your technique; my movement is a result of your movement."

I wondered if there were any more Bruce Lee quotes that applied to poker so I searched Google and suprisingly found quite a few. Below are some of the better Bruce Lee quotes that could just as easily be about poker as martial arts.

"Mistakes are always forgivable, if one has the courage to admit
them."

"A quick temper will make a fool of you soon enough."

"To hell with circumstances; I create opportunities."

"Let an opponent graze your skin and you smash into his flesh; let an
opponent smash into your flesh and you fracture his bone; let an opponent
fracture your bone and you take his life! Do not be concerned with your escaping
safely; lay your life before him!"

"Take things as they are. Punch when you have to punch. Kick when you have
to kick."

"Do not be tense, just be ready, not thinking but not dreaming, not being
set but being flexible. It is being "wholly" and quietly alive, aware and alert,
ready for whatever may come."

"Empty your mind, be formless. Shapeless, like water. If you put water into
a cup, it becomes the cup. You put water into a bottle and it becomes the
bottle. You put it in a teapot it becomes the teapot. Now, water can flow or it
can crash. Be water my friend."