Tag Archives: Poker – General

Keeping Busy and SaleCamel.com

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Hi all, I know I haven’t posted for a while, but things have been busy. As you know, I have several sites that I write for where I actually get paid, so they tend to get priority. As well, I have gotten back into rebuilding laptops, so that has taken some time from my schedule.

One thing that I will mention is a site I ran across the other night. For those of you that like to shop, you should check out the daily deals at Salecamel.com. They aggregate deals from all over the web and put them into one site for you. The site is updated every five minutes and you can find pretty much whatever you want.

I’ll do my best to try and get a post up here a little more frequently. As of right now, it looks like I may be getting busy again. I’ll keep you updated.

Tunica, Online Poker, and Holy Crap – I Played a Home Game

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I got back late on the 5th from my trip to Tunica to cover the WSOP-C for PokerNews.com.  It was a decent trip overall.  I didn’t play poker but twice.  I played one cash game and finished ahead and busted out of the only satellite I played in.  The satellite was just for giggles mostly and to say that I at least played at the circuit this year.

The tournament had a decent turnout, but the numbers were still down from last year.  The field that came out was a strong field nonetheless.  Gavin Smith, Bill Edler, Matt Stout, Kathy Liebert, Allen Kessler,  “Captain” Tom Franklin, and Jason Potter all came out. There were also some tournament regulars there as well that you see all around the circuit.  Heading down to three tables, it looked like we might have a pro stacked final table.  In the end, only Matt Stout and Mike Leah were the only true professionals at the table.  We all were pulling for Stout to take it down, but he was knocked out in third.

I got several compliments on my coverage of the event.  A couple of different people came up to me at the final table and was quoting my blogs back verbatim.  Matt Stout even gave me a shout out in the shout box.  That was appreciated.  Hopefully I will get to cover some other circuit events before the beginning of the WSOP.  Considering that it took 6 months to get this one, the prospects don’t look bright.  However, I am available if needed.

Lately, I have been trying to pull the same type of stunt that both Chris Ferguson and Daniel Negreanu have been doing.  They both started out at micro stakes and tried to build up a bankroll.  The difference is that I am trying to do so in Stud 8 or Better.  I have discovered that I may be in for a long road to hoe.  My sessions have been up and down lately and it is becoming apparent that I need to stick to a tighter strategy.  I have been tinkering with my game a bit in NL and in Stud 8 and I notice that in Stud 8, I am leaking off chips.  Typical beginner leaks that I know are there but I have been ignoring because the leaks may cost me literally a buck at the most when I have them.  Of course, when I am hitting, I am hitting decent.  The problem is that I cannot play like that long term in a limit game and hope to be successful long term.  Honestly, I have already decided what I am going to do, but I just wanted to ramble a little bit.

For the first time in almost two years, I played a home game last night.  A friend of mine hosted five other people and we played a “Dealer’s Choice” home game.  Of course, every hand I dealt was Stud 8.  With the exception of myself and one other player, all of these players were utter novices to poker.  One didn’t even know a flush lost to a straight.  As a result, I played very very loose to begin with.  How loose?  I called with a J-10-9 offsuit in Stud 8 on third with 3 low cards up.  That’s how loose.  I ended up making a straight and nobody made low.

This group play uber loose and somewhat aggressive at times.  They also played a wide mix of games.  The oldest guy at the table played 5 card Draw and 5 card Stud almost every time.  I didn’t play a single hand of 5 Stud.  The guy that didn’t know a flush beat a straight liked to play this wierd Indian Cross poker.  I basically only played the deal unless I hit the board super hard.

The hand that I won the biggest pot on was a variation of blind man’s bluff.  Yes, I am talking about where you take a card and put it on your forehead and bet according to what you see.  Well, the first card was dealt and I looked around and the highest card I saw was a 10.  At this point, I am thinking that I will stick in this hand and take a 2nd card and see what develops.  There is a raise and everyone calls.  Then a 2nd card is dealt.   I take a look around and the best hand is 10-6 out of the other 5 players.  I decided that I would pump the pot at this point, and I did.  I got four bets out of the remaining 4 players in the hand.  When we showed down, I just said “I win” before even looking at my cards.  Everyone was in shock.   I explained that everyone had a 10 high or lower and the odds of my not having a face card were long.  Also, I picked up a non-verbal tell from another player that told me that he feared my hand against everyone else’s.  Oh by the way, my hand was J-10.  I beat them with Jack high!!!

I was up probably double my buy-in and then gave a little of it back on a couple of hands where I had a 4 low in stud 8 and couldn’t catch.  I still finished up 3/4 of a buy-in.  In the end, I called it a night when every hand was being played with wild cards.  When there are wild cards, that eliminates the skill factor and makes it a total game of luck.  The good thing is that I picked up some tells and betting patterns of players.  The next time I go to play in two weeks, I’ll probably do as well or better.

Tunica, Friendship, and HOUSE M.D.

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This year looked as if I would miss the WSOP Circuit in Tunica for the second straight year.  That was until last week when PokerNews called me up and asked if I wanted to help cover the Main Event.  Considering that my main client has recently cut his budget and my other client has me on hold, I jumped at the chance.   I’m going to head down on Friday and may even play in an event on Saturday, but I don’t know.   I may just stick to some cash games and see what I can do.  The event will be fun to a degree as I should see a few people I know down there.  I wish I could play a little more than I am, but I have other things going on.

My weight loss is still going well.  I am down 12 lbs officially.  My workouts are going well also.  My stamina has increased to the point where my trainer wants to make my circuits longer.  That’s fine by me.  The wierd thing is that I am developing muscles that I don’t remember having before.  Of course, that’s a good thing.

I have developed a deeper appreciation for a certain friend this past week.  For several years now, I have always been the one that made her stop and think about things regarding life, etc.  Lately, she has turned the tables on me and challenged me as to my motivation behind my weight loss, etc.  She was concerned that I was doing over a particular girl.  I had to go over the reasons that I am doing this, which are primarily for my health and not for any “potential future.”  She also gave me her opinion…in full detail about certain things.  Yes, I am being a little vague, but the details are private.  Suffice it to say that I am glad that she said what she did, if for no other reason than to show that she cares about me more than I thought.  She also made me think about several things too.

Anyway, I have begun to really start to follow the show House M.D. with a great deal of seriousness lately.  I don’t normally get into hospital or doctor dramas, but this one is different.  I actually identify quite a bit with House and Wilson actually reminds me a lot of my friend I was speaking about above.  I’ve went back to start watching Season 1 and will start working my way through the show until I have all the eps watched.  Maybe this will be my new CSI.

Btw, I think that Grissom’s last episode is how they should have ended CSI as a series.  I will probably watch the show…but it will never be the same.

Back on the Tournament Trail Again

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It has officially been one year since I took a trip for the sole purpose of playing in a tournament.  Last year I played in the United States Poker Championships and then took a hiatis from poker due to financial reasons.  I took my poker bankroll and turned it into rent and expenses money.  From that point, most of you know my journey from business owner to poker writer.  Well, as of next month, I will be back on the road playing tournaments again.

The Fall Poker Classic at the Golden Nugget casino in Las Vegas will take place starting Nov 24th and I will be there.   Every event except the Women’s event is a non-holdem event.  Right up my alley.  It should be a blast.  I will be staying at the 4 Queens Hotel and Casino due to a great rate I found there.  I plan to go out and do well at the Nugget.  The tourney set looks to be a great one.  I hope the structures match the promise.

After the event, I am not quite sure what I am up to next.  I may stay in California a few days and play out there.  There will be a couple of events at the Bike I might play and I would like to play some west coast stud and stud 8.  That’s not a definite yet.  The Tunica Circuit event is out and the schedule looks ok now that they have posted the right one.  I might go down there for a week in January.  I am not sure yet.  I’m also going to see if the Trump is going to put up a schedule for December for their Trump Classic.

One of my new gigs looks to be able to provide me enough stability financially to allow me to travel again, and if it keeps up, that will be great.  Not much else going on right now with me other than staying busy.  Depending on how I feel, I may drive up to AC this week and play some cash games.  I can’t wait to get back out on the poker trail.  And now that my work is actually centered around poker, my play will support my work.

United States Poker Championship Draws Air

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Last year the United States Poker Championship drew over 164 players.  The winner took home over $606k in prize money.  ESPN had another set of poker reruns that they could run over and over again.

Enter the 2008 United States Poker Championship…..

ESPN decides not to renew their contract to broadcast the USPC.  What happens as a result?  The total number of players for the Main Event clocked in at 52, and that was after they let 2 players register late.  What a difference a year, and a lack of TV coverage makes.

This goes to show you the state of a lot of major poker championships.  If there isn’t any TV exposure involved, then the drawing power just isn’t there anymore.  Events like the World Series of Poker will still draw crowds regardless of TV coverage.  It is the World Series.  People will come.  However, what reason do they have to come for the United States Poker Championship.  The answer used to be, “To get on TV.”  Now the answer is…….you tell me.   It isn’t to win the prize money.  If that is the case Antonio Esfandiari would have hung around and played.  He showed up, but decided not to play.  I guess 200k just isn’t worth the effort.  It goes to show you that money isn’t the only driving force in poker today.

With that said, what about me?  What have I been up to?  Writing, writing, and more writing really.  I have had a couple of projects that have taken up a lot of my time.  The good news is that I have made enough money to where I am not going to be struggling to pay bills for a while.  In fact, I am seriously looking to find a tournament set I deem worthy to play.  Shakopee is out.  I looked at the schedule and it was “ok,” but the structures are horrible.  The USPC is out because I was too busy and bluntly, I have never played well overall in AC in tournaments.   Tunica is a possibility.  I am waiting for the schedule.  The Golden Nugget in Las Vegas is holding a tournament next month that is all Non-Holdem events.  The buy-ins are somewhat low and I am considering that one.  I could actually stay 7 days across the road at Binion’s and probably play the entire set for a grand total of $2,000, including airfare and plane ticket.

I think I will look around a bit more before making a final decision.  I would really like to do Tunica tho as I might could tie it into my writing better since it is a WSOP Circuit event and two of my blogs are WSOP blogs.  Of course, the AC Circuit is in December, but I will bet you that it will be all NL crapshoot.

Sweating Tourneys on PokerStars

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I’m currently sitting here watching a guy on PokerStars play in a couple of tourneys and giving advice along the way in a certain game.  Mostly on Stud 8 and some on Stud.   He has done pretty well and is at the final table of one tourney right now with the chip lead.  Should be interesting to see if he wins.  In the time I typed this sentence he just became second in chips.  It is interesting watching people play mixed games that are weak in a couple.  Fortunately he was bright enough to seek help.  Anywho, not much else going on.

They are down to three.   He has a decent chance to win.  I guess we will see what happens.

Birthday, NL 2-7 Lowball, and Stud 8 or Better Runs

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September 13, 1975 is when it all started.  From that day forth the world has been host to THE James.  Today is the celebration of that day.  And what am I doing for this grand day?  My ass is getting up early, going to a bunkhouse kitchen and entering shooting scores into a computer.  Ya, real exciting eh?  Well, not all 4-H volunteer work is exciting, but it has to be done.  I’ll be going a little early so I can go have a birthday dinner with my friend Summer.

Have you ever had one of your friends go off in such a rage of anger that you end up touched about how much they really care about you?   That happened to me this week.  I won’t go into the why my friend went off like she did, but by the time she was done I was really touched by what she said, even if she was hopping mad when she said it.

Tomorrow, I am going with my friend Erin to see Mamma Mia.  She couldn’t get together with me today because of her working.  Believe it or not, I picked this movie.  For those of you that look at me cockeyed, realize I am a person who saw Sweeney Todd at the theatre 4 times.  Besides, the only other movie I wanted to see I promised another female friend I would go see Wednesday.

Lately, I have been playing a lot of NL Single Draw 2-7 Lowball sit-n-gos on PokerStars.  With the exception of one, I have at least cashed in every one.  In these Sngs you must make it heads-up to make the money.  Today I played 3.  I won two and finished 2nd in the other one.  I have been have somewhat poor results in triple draw limit lowball.  I found out really quick in this game how wide of an array of hands you can consistently win with.  One thing that I do like to still try and stick with is to try and only do 1 card draws while we are still 4 handed or more.  Obviously that doesn’t always become the case, but I try.

My runs in Stud 8 or Better lately have been pretty bad.  Some of it is frankly bad play on my part.  I have been making a few plays and getting too fancy.  In the last day or so, I have went back to playing with a little more sense and have at least finished ahead in every session.  I think I need to go back and focus on playing some tournaments as opposed to the cash games I have been playing.  I enjoy tournaments a lot more and I seem to focus harder on them.

Speaking of which, I have tried to pick up a couple of books to work on my Stud HI tournament game a little bit.  I am a good stud player.  I know this, but my tournament results live when I have played have been outright horrible.  My feeling is my problem comes from playing a certain style that doesn’t work as well as it should in tournaments.  I’m going to take a look at a couple of books and see if I can get some inspiration.  I may just end up getting a friend of mine to sit me down and teach me some finer points like Bill Boston taught me regarding Stud 8.

I intended to go to Atlantic City sometime this coming week for the United States Poker Championships.  That’s not happening now.  I love the schedule, but I am holding onto my money and also focusing some on my writing.  My gigs have really picked up lately, especially from one dude that has me writing a lot on poker.  I talked to the guy at PokerNews about future gigs with them and it isn’t looking real promising.  I got the “we may have work” line.  I probably won’t hear from them until around WSOP time.   That’s fine too.  Actually, if things keep going the way they are with this one client writing, I may not want to take on any other gigs for a while.  That wouldn’t upset me at all.

Anywho, have a great weekend all.  Maybe Ill come back and tell you what Summer got me for my birthday.

So I Happen to Be Awake at 10 A.M.

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The last few days my sleep patterns have been reversed.  For those of you looking at me confused, that means I am sleeping like a NORMAL PERSON.  What the hell?  The good thing is that I have picked up two more clients.  I don’t know how the volume will pan out, but I have been paid for the work done so far.  Seems like whatever I try and pursue, I wind up successful in some fashion or another.

Schedules have come out for events this month and next in Oklahoma and Tunica and both have a good mix of games.  If it weren’t for the expense of getting to Oklahoma, I would go out there and play the events.  I’m still toying with Tunica.  I may choose that over Atlantic City.  I haven’t had the best of luck in AC tourneys other than daily’s.  Plus, the Tunica events are cheaper.  The one downside is that the trip is twice as long as the AC trip.  I may just go up to AC and play cash games.  Yes, I’ve probably already said that, but I’m still toying with the idea.  I saw the schedule for the Bike’s Big Poker Ocktober.  I am not impressed.  One Omaha Hi-Lo and one Stud Hi-Lo event, and the rest crapshoot.   I am waiting to see what the Commerce puts out.   Yes, I am contemplating a trip out west.  When?  Who knows.  How am I getting the money?  Who knows.

I wrote an article today on Omaha Hi-Lo.  I thought I would have a hard time coming up with an 1,000 word article introducing the game and providing basic strategy.  I fooled myself.  There is so much involved just educating a player how to play the game properly that I didn’t really get much into starting hand values etc.  I wound up making the article an introduction to Omaha and will have to write a second article on beginner strategy.    Other games, I didnt have to do this as I didn’t have certain aspect of the game to explain.  Works for me tho, more money from the articles.

For those of you asking, no, I haven’t heard anymore from PokerNews about future work.  Others are getting gigs and I am not even getting replies to messages.  Oh well.  It’s always best to go out and find your own clients anyway folks.   I would love to have enough writing and blogging gigs to where I don’t need another job.  I’m working on it.

I truly think that  I am done with the data business for good.  I just don’t have the desire to work it anymore.  The money was good while it lasted but the landscape of the business model changed too much to make my way of doing things profitable anymore.  Change occurs inevitably.  I cannot complain however.  My house is paid for, as well as my car.  Many people twice my age cannot boast that.

I was asked last night if I had been playing any lately.  I wish I could say I felt like it, but I don’t.  Online poker just doesn’t do it for me.  If I am going to play, I want to play live.  Even then, I can only play so much before I am bored with it.  A certain person keeps trying to get me to come play a game locally and at their home game. I just am not interested.  I’ll read about it, write about it, even watch it on TV.  Play?  Nah, don’t feel like it.

I’m Horny, and You Can Be Too!

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Why am I horny?  Besides being male?  I have a good reason to be, but I digress.

I’ve been doing some freelance writing lately.  Trying to pick up some writing contracts.  So far it has been slow going, but I have one guy that is using me to write some poker related content.  I’m also waiting to hear back from a couple others.

I’m no longer obsessed with Holdem.  Thanks for asking.

Did anyone here ever see the episode of Press Your Luck where the guy won over 100k.  He memorized the light and slide patterns.  I watched the episodes and it was blatantly obvious that something was up.  The guy got his money, and apparently was an idiot in how he spent it.  I guess he got a life Whammy.  :-)

For those of you wanting to see more Melissa Castello, she will be covering the APPT in Macau.   Yay Melissa!

Also thanks to Amy Calistri for adding me to her blogroll.  (You know some of you other folks could do the same.  Slackers.)

I’m Not Wearing Underpants

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Why do the trees wave at you in the morning time? Their branches wave back and forth as to say, “Hey! Look at me and how chipper I am at 9 am.” Don’t they know I am not a morning person? I mean c’mon, don’t you think they would have better things to do?

Do you ever stop and try and figure out what dogs are saying when they bark at you? I do. Sometimes, I will try and bark back at them in the same pitch and voice. Sometime they stop and look at me like I’m crazy. They just need to learn how to speak English and make things simpler. Yo no hablo woof woof.

Cards are in the air. One time, I would love to see a dealer go, “52 Card Pickup!” and toss the cards everywhere. Then the saying would actually fit.

I’m still waiting for my Egg McMuffin Jolyn.

Have you ever seen a pink and purple polka dotted elephant wearing an athletic V-neck top? I have. And I was sober.

I was talking to the floorwoman (see egg mcmuffin above) one day and she told me about the first time they held the Roshambo tournament at the World Series. At the time she was a dealer and the only Roshambo she ever heard of was SOUTH PARK ROSHAMBO. Suffice it to say she REALLY wanted to see how that was going to go down.

Gluing a phone to a camera does NOT make a camera phone.

Pink Monkeys are not blue.

And last but not least,

Wet Dogs Smell Pretty.