Dear poker gods

I'm so fucking sick of every seemingly big flopped combo draw missing. Can I PLEASE win one of these flips? P L E A S E????

Couple of examples:

FullTiltPoker Game #9222299617: Table Helena (6 max) - $0.05/$0.10 - No Limit Hold'em - 23:59:58 ET - 2008/11/28
Seat 1: oceansaprt ($38.40)
Seat 2: jimsmyuncle ($3.05)
Seat 3: Dray ($10.35)
Seat 4: alexsleepy ($1.90)
Seat 5: Vilberto ($22.50)
Seat 6: naturallight52 ($8)
Dray posts the small blind of $0.05
alexsleepy posts the big blind of $0.10
The button is in seat #2
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Dray [7h Ah]
Vilberto folds
naturallight52 calls $0.10
oceansaprt folds
jimsmyuncle folds
Dray calls $0.05
alexsleepy checks
*** FLOP *** [9s Qh 5h]
Dray checks
alexsleepy bets $0.30
naturallight52 calls $0.30
Dray raises to $1.50
alexsleepy folds
naturallight52 calls $1.20
*** TURN *** [9s Qh 5h] [7s]
Dray has 15 seconds left to act
Dray bets $2
naturallight52 raises to $4
Dray has 15 seconds left to act
Dray raises to $8.75, and is all in
naturallight52 calls $2.40, and is all in
Dray shows [7h Ah]
naturallight52 shows [Qc Jc]
Uncalled bet of $2.35 returned to Dray
*** RIVER *** [9s Qh 5h 7s] [8d]
Dray shows a pair of Sevens
naturallight52 shows a pair of Queens
naturallight52 wins the pot ($14.80) with a pair of Queens
Dray: nh
Dray adds $7.65
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $16.40 | Rake $1.60
Board: [9s Qh 5h 7s 8d]
Seat 1: oceansaprt didn't bet (folded)
Seat 2: jimsmyuncle (button) didn't bet (folded)
Seat 3: Dray (small blind) showed [7h Ah] and lost with a pair of Sevens
Seat 4: alexsleepy (big blind) folded on the Flop
Seat 5: Vilberto didn't bet (folded)
Seat 6: naturallight52 showed [Qc Jc] and won ($14.80) with a pair of Queens



FullTiltPoker Game #9222404455: Table Helena (6 max) - $0.05/$0.10 - No Limit Hold'em - 0:07:34 ET - 2008/11/29
Seat 1: oceansaprt ($37.95)
Seat 2: jimsmyuncle ($3.55)
Seat 3: Dray ($10)
Seat 5: Vilberto ($24.35)
Seat 6: naturallight52 ($14.50)
Dray posts the small blind of $0.05
Vilberto posts the big blind of $0.10
akira893 adds $10
The button is in seat #2
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Dray [4s As]
naturallight52 calls $0.10
oceansaprt calls $0.10
jimsmyuncle folds
Dray calls $0.05
Vilberto has 15 seconds left to act
Vilberto checks
*** FLOP *** [Js 8s 3c]
Dray bets $0.25
Vilberto calls $0.25
naturallight52 has 15 seconds left to act
naturallight52 folds
oceansaprt folds
*** TURN *** [Js 8s 3c] [5h]
Dray checks
Vilberto has 15 seconds left to act
Vilberto bets $0.50
Dray calls $0.50
*** RIVER *** [Js 8s 3c 5h] [6d]
Dray checks
Vilberto checks
*** SHOW DOWN ***
Vilberto shows [4c 3s] a pair of Threes
Dray mucks
Vilberto wins the pot ($1.75) with a pair of Threes
Dray adds $0.85
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $1.90 | Rake $0.15
Board: [Js 8s 3c 5h 6d]
Seat 1: oceansaprt folded on the Flop
Seat 2: jimsmyuncle (button) didn't bet (folded)
Seat 3: Dray (small blind) mucked [4s As] - Ace Jack high
Seat 5: Vilberto (big blind) showed [4c 3s] and won ($1.75) with a pair of Threes
Seat 6: naturallight52 folded on the Flop

ok NOW the 60 minutes story's airing

Video Preview

Supposedly this Sunday, preview above. Should be a good watch. As to how bad it makes online poker look, we'll see what the boards say come Monday.

Hotshot splashers seemingly at every table

I'm not sure why this suddenly seems so rampant, but I swear at just about every cash game I sit at since last week there's at LEAST one person who's playing 75% or more of their hands TRYING to outplay everyone. Take this guy moronremover; this was less than 10 hands after I sat down:



Full Tilt Poker Game #9154330531: Table Marcella (6 max) - $0.05/$0.10 - No Limit Hold'em - 23:32:08 ET - 2008/11/24
Seat 3: sjmurray11 ($11.70)
Seat 5: moronremover ($11.50)
Seat 6: Dray ($10.10)
moronremover posts the small blind of $0.05
Dray posts the big blind of $0.10
The button is in seat #3
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Dray [As Kd]
sjmurray11 folds
moronremover has 15 seconds left to act
moronremover raises to $0.30
Dray raises to $1
moronremover calls $0.70
*** FLOP *** [Jd Ts 2h]
moronremover checks
Dray has 15 seconds left to act
Dray bets $1.40
moronremover has 15 seconds left to act
moronremover raises to $3.75
Dray has 15 seconds left to act
Dray calls $2.35
*** TURN *** [Jd Ts 2h] [8s]
moronremover bets $3
Dray has 15 seconds left to act
Dray adds $4.65
Dray folds
Uncalled bet of $3 returned to moronremover
moronremover shows [4d Ad] Ace Jack high
moronremover wins the pot ($9)
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $9.50 | Rake $0.50
Board: [Jd Ts 2h 8s]
Seat 3: sjmurray11 (button) didn't bet (folded)
Seat 5: moronremover (small blind) collected ($9)
Seat 6: Dray (big blind) folded on the Turn



He check/raised air just the same with 92o against a different person not long after.

I spent Saturday night and Sunday frustrated by these types of players because they're playing so loose and so fast all I can think about is stacking them. I'm playing all kinds of speculative hands against them just knowing if I can flop two pair or higher I can break him. The problem is, the cards just weren't cooperating. I really can't think of a more frustrating situation to be in than to have position on a maniac and never being able to capitalize on it.

But there are two problems with my approach.

1) My ego. I've been walking a path of spiritual growth along with my wife the last two months thanks to my awesome church. I've tried to be very honest with myself about what some of my faults are, and pride is a BIG one. I mean, in this situation say some other player comes along and stacks the maniac in two hands after I've been trying for an hour: I'm pissed off! That's my EGO thinking I had some kind of claim to it the whole time when I never did. The point is I need to be more concerned about MYself and MY attitude so that situations like this don't affect my play. Church has helped me realize the best way to handle everyday issues like this is to just talk to God about it, be honest and ask for help to do better next time. There's nothing to small that isn't of concern for Him.

2) I was posting about this table situation on 2+2 and someone jolted me back into the realization you're not supposed to play speculative hands against maniacs. You're supposed to play hands that will make top pair, good kicker or better. When you both hit the same top pair they'll pay you off and then some (valuetown). As the session went past the 100 hand mark and moronremover got more chips I watched him call and bet 2nd and 3rd pair on the river over and over again.

Speculative hands are best played against tight players who are really only raising big pairs, AK, AQ suited etc. They'll have a harder time getting away from their hands when you flop big. But I think we all get tempted to constantly try and flop big and we leak money in the process. It's just not glamorous to play tight and solid. We all want to "outplay" everyone in every hand and if there's anything I took away from the Cardrunners training site is that's not what poker is about.

I made a buy-in overall in last night's session, which I'm happy about considering my other sessions this week. I got lucky against moronremover early where I tried to fight fire with fire (oops):



Full Tilt Poker Game #9154610290: Table Marcella (6 max) - $0.05/$0.10 - No Limit Hold'em - 23:50:54 ET - 2008/11/24
Seat 1: dr800big ($11.20)
Seat 2: farmersagent07 ($5)
Seat 3: sjmurray11 ($15.25)
Seat 4: rich6300 ($3.85)
Seat 5: moronremover ($15.80)
Seat 6: Dray ($10.55)
moronremover posts the small blind of $0.05
Dray posts the big blind of $0.10
The button is in seat #4
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Dray [Ac Qd]
dr800big folds
farmersagent07 folds
sjmurray11 folds
rich6300 folds
moronremover raises to $2.70
Dray has 15 seconds left to act
Dray raises to $10.55, and is all in
moronremover calls $7.85
Dray shows [Ac Qd]
moronremover shows [Kh Kd]
*** FLOP *** [As 3h 3d]
*** TURN *** [As 3h 3d] [8c]
*** RIVER *** [As 3h 3d 8c] [Qs]
Dray shows two pair, Aces and Queens
moronremover shows two pair, Kings and Threes
Dray wins the pot ($19.10) with two pair, Aces and Queens
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $21.10 | Rake $2
Board: [As 3h 3d 8c Qs]
Seat 1: dr800big didn't bet (folded)
Seat 2: farmersagent07 didn't bet (folded)
Seat 3: sjmurray11 didn't bet (folded)
Seat 4: rich6300 (button) didn't bet (folded)
Seat 5: moronremover (small blind) showed [Kh Kd] and lost with two pair, Kings and Threes
Seat 6: Dray (big blind) showed [Ac Qd] and won ($19.10) with two pair, Aces and Queens



I fell for that one hook, line and sinker. Purely a product of my ego and just not thinking about it long enough. Hindsight obviously fold and wait for a better spot.

Then two hands I felt I played well. The first one gave me a nice tilting image to make for an easy payday on my 2nd. Murray was pretty loose playing 40% of his hands, not as loose as moronremover, but still. :)



Full Tilt Poker Game #9155044888: Table Marcella (6 max) - $0.05/$0.10 - No Limit Hold'em - 0:21:11 ET - 2008/11/25
Seat 1: dr800big ($10.40), is sitting out
Seat 2: Precious_hwi ($9.35)
Seat 3: sjmurray11 ($14.60)
Seat 4: rich6300 ($0), is sitting out
Seat 5: moronremover ($11.80)
Seat 6: Dray ($21.85)
moronremover posts the small blind of $0.05
Dray posts the big blind of $0.10
The button is in seat #4
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Dray [Td Ad]
Precious_hwi folds
sjmurray11 calls $0.10
moronremover folds
rich6300 adds $4
Dray has 15 seconds left to act
Dray raises to $0.30
rich6300 has returned
sjmurray11 calls $0.20
*** FLOP *** [8s Ac Jc]
Dray bets $0.50
sjmurray11 calls $0.50
*** TURN *** [8s Ac Jc] [Qd]
Dray checks
sjmurray11 bets $1
Dray calls $1
*** RIVER *** [8s Ac Jc Qd] [2h]
Dray has 15 seconds left to act
Dray bets $1.50
sjmurray11 calls $1.50
*** SHOW DOWN ***
Dray shows [Td Ad] a pair of Aces
sjmurray11 shows [As 2c] two pair, Aces and Twos
sjmurray11 wins the pot ($6) with two pair, Aces and Twos
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $6.65 | Rake $0.65
Board: [8s Ac Jc Qd 2h]
Seat 1: dr800big is sitting out
Seat 2: Precious_hwi didn't bet (folded)
Seat 3: sjmurray11 showed [As 2c] and won ($6) with two pair, Aces and Twos
Seat 4: rich6300 (button) is sitting out
Seat 5: moronremover (small blind) folded before the Flop
Seat 6: Dray (big blind) showed [Td Ad] and lost with a pair of Aces



Full Tilt Poker Game #9155069670: Table Marcella (6 max) - $0.05/$0.10 - No Limit Hold'em - 0:22:58 ET - 2008/11/25
Seat 2: Precious_hwi ($10)
Seat 3: sjmurray11 ($17.30)
Seat 4: rich6300 ($4)
Seat 5: moronremover ($12.10)
Seat 6: Dray ($18.25)
Precious_hwi posts the small blind of $0.05
sjmurray11 posts the big blind of $0.10
The button is in seat #6
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Dray [Qc 9d]
rich6300 folds
moronremover has 15 seconds left to act
moronremover folds
Precious_hwi adds $0.05
Dray calls $0.10
Precious_hwi folds
GrapeVineZZZ sits down
sjmurray11 checks
*** FLOP *** [8h Tc Jd]
GrapeVineZZZ adds $10
sjmurray11 bets $0.50
Dray has 15 seconds left to act
Dray raises to $1
sjmurray11 calls $0.50
*** TURN *** [8h Tc Jd] [6s]
sjmurray11 bets $3
Dray has 15 seconds left to act
Dray calls $3
*** RIVER *** [8h Tc Jd 6s] [2d]
sjmurray11 bets $3
Dray has 15 seconds left to act
Dray raises to $14.15, and is all in
sjmurray11 calls $10.20, and is all in
Uncalled bet of $0.95 returned to Dray
*** SHOW DOWN ***
Dray shows [Qc 9d] a straight, Queen high
sjmurray11 mucks
Dray wins the pot ($33.65) with a straight, Queen high
sjmurray11 is sitting out
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $34.65 | Rake $1
Board: [8h Tc Jd 6s 2d]
Seat 2: Precious_hwi (small blind) folded before the Flop
Seat 3: sjmurray11 (big blind) mucked [6c Js] - two pair, Jacks and Sixes
Seat 4: rich6300 didn't bet (folded)
Seat 5: moronremover didn't bet (folded)
Seat 6: Dray (button) showed [Qc 9d] and won ($33.65) with a straight, Queen high

I have no idea how to play this game...

I'm up at the radio station right now and I just finished bubbling a $26 knockout 90 man tourney, just missing the money. It was a rollercoaster tourney where I was close to elimination a number of times, but I would estimate before I busted I pushed all in at least 25 times because the blinds got so big. :) It was funnn.

I was close to having a big stack down the stretch when I moved in with A7 and was called by K9. The flop came down 7 T x, turn is an 8, and the river brought a Jack making him a straight. I came back after that though, just unfortunate I bubbled but I did all I could.

SO the point of this is that I jump into a nickel/dime cash game right after and I somehow forget that a full house beats a flush my first hand in the big blind:

Full Tilt Poker Game #9118594534: Table Mabel (6 max) - $0.05/$0.10 - No Limit Hold'em - 23:08:36 ET - 2008/11/22
Seat 1: SOUSOU921 ($2.70)
Seat 3: Spack Jarrow ($11.90)
Seat 4: popathesmurf ($10)
Seat 5: Dray ($10)
Seat 6: Phydeaux_00 ($18.25)
popathesmurf posts the small blind of $0.05
Dray posts the big blind of $0.10
The button is in seat #3
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Dray [5d 2d]
Phydeaux_00 calls $0.10
SOUSOU921 calls $0.10
Spack Jarrow has 15 seconds left to act
Spack Jarrow folds
popathesmurf has 15 seconds left to act
popathesmurf adds $0.05
popathesmurf folds
Dray checks
*** FLOP *** [4d Td 6c]
Dray checks
Phydeaux_00 bets $0.35
SOUSOU921 calls $0.35
Dray has 15 seconds left to act
Dray raises to $1.55
Phydeaux_00 calls $1.20
SOUSOU921 raises to $2.60, and is all in
Dray calls $1.05
Phydeaux_00 calls $1.05
*** TURN *** [4d Td 6c] [6d]
Dray checks
Phydeaux_00 checks
*** RIVER *** [4d Td 6c 6d] [6s]
Dray has 15 seconds left to act
Dray bets $3
Phydeaux_00 calls $3
*** SHOW DOWN ***
Dray shows [5d 2d] a flush, Ten high
Phydeaux_00 shows [Ts Ks] a full house, Sixes full of Tens
Phydeaux_00 wins the side pot ($5.80) with a full house, Sixes full of Tens
SOUSOU921 shows [Ad Ah] a full house, Sixes full of Aces
SOUSOU921 wins the main pot ($7.35) with a full house, Sixes full of Aces
Dray adds $5.70
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $14.15 Main pot $8.15. Side pot $6. | Rake $1
Board: [4d Td 6c 6d 6s]
Seat 1: SOUSOU921 showed [Ad Ah] and won ($7.35) with a full house, Sixes full of Aces
Seat 3: Spack Jarrow (button) didn't bet (folded)
Seat 4: popathesmurf (small blind) folded before the Flop
Seat 5: Dray (big blind) showed [5d 2d] and lost with a flush, Ten high
Seat 6: Phydeaux_00 showed [Ts Ks] and won ($5.80) with a full house, Sixes full of Tens

I have no problem with my flop play. But I should have bet the turn and NEVER should have bet that river. But something went off in my brain that said "I have him" and then he turned his hand over and I went WTF DO I KNOW HOW TO PLAY AT ALL???

Thanks TFPL for making job interviews and bank visits comical

The Fantasy Poker League is the bar poker company I worked for up until May of this year. TFPL is actually the public brand name, but the company that owns TFPL is "Got the Nuts LLC". This often ilicits a smile from someone who comes across the company name and doesn't know poker vocabulary.

I had an interview with an FBI agent this afternoon. We went over an application I submitted to gain access to a secure database my dayjob uses regularly. It was a very lengthy application asking me for residences in the last 7 years, people who knew me at each and could verify, etc. So when he got to the employment history asking about part time jobs he couldn't help but laugh at Got the Nuts.

So, for those who don't know, the nuts is an unbeatable hand in poker. No matter what cards are on the board or in your opponents hand you can't be beaten. Likewise, you never want to hear your opponent say "I got the nuts" after you've called their bet on the river. It leaves no room for interpretation, if they've got the nuts, you can't win.

So thank you Luis, for creating a company name that future employers and cashier girls at the bank can giggle at when I deposit your checks. Well, at least they did when I still worked for Got the Nuts.

Late night cash games this week

So the last two nights I've been up past my bedtime playing nickel/dime cash game with a few sngs thrown in.

I'm embarrassed because Monday night I tilted like I do on rare occasion and lost more than I should have. The dollar amount ended up being around $40, which isn't much on it's own but it equated to over 10% of my roll. Bankroll management says you should never lose more than this in a day and if you do you should take a break.

I started out at cash and was too loose early and had to work from behind right away. But I stayed focused which is a big goal of mine lately and ground it back up. Caught a break when I flopped a set (3 of a kind with a pocket pair in hand) of fours, turned a boat (full house) and my opponent made the nut flush (highest possible) on the river.

The problem started when I misplayed a nut flush draw myself later on against the same villain when he made two pair on the turn. Then another hand not long after I flopped two pair with JT against a guy who flopped a straight. With the last one my instincts were flaring up but I refused to listen.

These two hands reminded me of an old lesson I learned: all it takes is one mistake. That typically refers to tournaments because when you're out you're out. But in this case my mistakes led to tilt, which led me to play longer than I should have and subsequently lose more than I should. I even did the old heads up tilting where I sat in a $5, lost, and then immediately jumped in to a $10 heads up sng and lost that too. The worst thing you can do is move up to higher buyins when you're tilting and losing. It only adds fuel to the fire and that's exactly what I did. I even said out loud "This is stupid but fuck it".

Eh oh well. I don't think I'm actually playing too bad, but I still see a lot of room for improvement. For crying out loud I can't seem to just crush the lowest limit online and it's depressing considering how obsessed I am with this game. Right now I just want to pay more attention to how people are playing and be more adaptive with my strategy. Reflecting back on the last 2 nights sessions I think I could have been more aggressive than I was. Time to attack it again for a little bit.

2+2 Threads I'm reading this week

News, Views and Gossip (NVG)is the 2+2 subforum where I keep up with just that. All the underground ramblings, scandals are all here.

Big story this week is Clonie Gowen suing Full Tilt. She's seeking 40 million, her 1% deal of the site she estimates to be worth 4 billion. It seems all the FTP pros don't have a written contract as to what they're owed in order to cover their asses from prosecution if the Department of Justice were to ever go there.

Someone posted and old feud between Howard Lederer and Daniel Negreanu. It's from the old rec.gambling.poker newsgroup where a lot of today's superstars were posting before the poker boom in 2003. Apparently DN talked mad shit about Howard's sister Annie Duke, who doesn't have the most endearing reputation these days anyway. Thread starts with HL's post against DN, but if you read further down someone posted a thing from DN detailing all the things Annie did to piss him off in the first place. Captivating stuff.

Oh and to follow up on the 60 minutes story, that thing never aired. It keeps getting pushed back and back so no one really knows when it'll happen. I'm glad I didn't miss it while I was flying back to Austin, but I want to see it already!

Spicy Donut - another friend to check out

I added a couple of more blog links under Unpoker Blogs on the right hand side. Pen Pen is a friend of mine from high school. Hers is pretty personal so I don't know how much people who don't know her will be interested in it, but I want to link her anyways.

Spicy Donut is another friend from high school, Devin Lawson who's one of the most amazing artists I've ever known. DEFINITELY worth checking out.

74 wins huge pot in WSOP heads up battle

Taken from PokerNews:

Play slowed down for a bit as Demidov picked his spots carefully to try and grab chips where he could in the face of Eastgate's lead. Finally, the dam burst and the two players collided in another massive confrontation. Demidov opened with a raise to two million from the button, and Eastgate called. Eastgate checked the Kd Td 7c flop, and Demidov checked behind. Eastgate fired out 2.5 million when the Jd hit the turn, and Demidov raised to eight million. Eastgate called, and then checked the river when the 3s came down. Demidov thought for a moment before betting out 12 million, and Eastgate made the call in the biggest pot yet in the heads-up match. Demidov showed Ac 9s for ace-high, but Eastgate tabled 74d for the diamond flush and dragged a pot worth over 44 million.

I sucessfully dodged all spoilers for two days and that made me happy. Before the final table was even decided I really felt this would be the year for the young internet pro, and I was hoping Hellmuths record would be broken and it was! There are just too many of these amazing young kids now for one to not clinch the big one you know?

Moreso I'm happy that a very capable competent player won this year and not a half decent amateur riding a once in a lifetime wave of luck like the last two champs Jerry Yang and Jamie Gold. It's not to detract from their skill, but only to pump up Peter Eastgate's abilities. His win may not bring a slew of new players to the game like a Dennis Phillips win would have, but to me that's ok. Poker's still going strong for now and ultimately I think the defeat of the UIGEA will help usher in a new online boom more than any WSOP champ at this point.

I think the 4 month delay wasn't as bad or as good as everyone thought it would be. I did like the change of venue and having it be in the Penn and Teller theatre, I think that should stay. But as a poker fan I'm still extremely unsatisfied that a 4 hour heads up match can be boiled down to 2 hands. I wish there was a way we could still get ratings and advertising dollars but at the same time show some more actual POKER and not just all-in hands and bustouts you know? People on 2+2 had mentioned doing it Poker After Dark style and chopping it up into multiple episodes and I don't see why it couldn't be done? If it's a matter of scheduling, then don't televise so many prelims, I dunno.

I just think there's so much potential to make it better than it is now. Someone just needs some balls to take a risk and keep experimenting with the format.

This just in my email! Bush administration trying to hammer in the UIGEA bill harder.

Dear Dustin,

Just one week after a historic election the Poker Players Alliance is pitted in a fight to keep anti-Internet poker regulations from being enacted and we NEED YOUR HELP!

The current Administration is hastily finalizing a number of “midnight rules” before they leave office and the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) is on the list. See the 11/06 story in Dow Jones. Just like UIGEA was snuck into legislation in the dark of night in 2006, our opponents are again trying an 11th hour sneak job. We need you to help us expose and stop this reckless rulemaking.

Please call the U.S. Federal Reserve and tell them not to approve the UIGEA regulations -- Consumer Complaints, 888-851-1920 or Public Affairs, 202-452-2955.

Tell them:


-The federal agencies responsible for our nation’s economy should not be focused on Internet poker regulations.

-Finalization of the UIGEA rules will add additional burdens on our already crippled financial systems.

-Internet poker is a game of skill and form of recreation for millions of Americans; it should be exempted from the UIGEA.

-Please do not finalize the UIGEA regulations until their impact on our banking systems and average Americans has been fully studied.

Tell us how the call went by clicking here.

Your call will make a huge difference and will add the public’s voice to these last minute policy decisions our government is poised to make. We can’t stand idly by while they make decisions that will impact our right to play America’s card game. PLEASE CALL TODAY!

Proud to play,
Alfonse D’Amato, Chairman
Poker Players Alliance

Apestyles gets an article in the Sunday Statesman

Online poker pro: 'A hard way to make an easy living'

John Van Fleet is without a doubt Austin's premiere online poker professional. He's ranked #1 in the state actually on Pocket Fives last time I checked. I was poking around the news sites trying to find the story about a northeast Austin game getting robbed this weekend when I found the above article. Cool stuff...

Most of the people I know who went to Westlake know who John is, even people who know nothing about online poker. This summer I met my extended family of cousins, aunts and uncles for dinner. A lot of my cousins that live here in Austin went to Westlake. My cousin Chad's girlfriend found out through the course of conversation that I was into poker and that I played online. She asked if I knew him and I said I knew of him, but not him personally.

I actually messaged him once on Pocket Fives to ask him about a story my old college roommate told me. He responded back saying it was true (I won't go into details, sorry too personal I think). That's all I got and I haven't contacted him since. Truth be told I've often thought about trying to befriend him to maybe learn a thing or two. I don't know if that will ever end up happening though.

The article is really good I must admit. The only incorrect information was calling sit-and-go's "sit-and-plays".
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I'm purposely avoiding my regular poker sites today in the attempts to shield myself from finding out the results of the World Series. They were supposed to play down to the final two yesterday and I think today they'll finish the heads up battle. This year is the first time they've delayed the final table for 4 months to air everything up to it on ESPN, THEN air the results on delay. The idea was to generate more hype and garner bigger ratings.

But the great thing is you have a better chance of avoiding the results and keeping the element of surprise. Since I follow all the tourneys online as they're happening I pretty much always know who's winning every WPT that's aired because it happened 6-8 months prior. If I can successfully dodge spoilers until tomorrow night I'll actually have that element of surprise. Pretty exciting.

Flight delays meant no Harrah's this weekend :/

I'm not exactly a frequent flyer, but I've never experienced flight delays before. Today I learned what it was like. I was scheduled to leave Austin around 7:30 this morning, connect in Houston and arrive in New Orleans just after 10am. Unfortunately the Austin plane was brand new and we experienced a lot of vibrations on the runways so we turned around and went back to the terminal.

We got put on another flight to Houston immediately but that was still delayed because of all the people from our plane (over 100). I make it to Houston but could not make my connecting flight into New Orleans. I had a choice of waiting for an 11:55 New Orleans flight that had no seat guarantee, or I could get a sure seat on a plane to Lafayette. I took the latter and felt bad my mom drove to NOLA and had to turn right back around and pick me up in Lafayette. But to top it all off you know what? The flight to Lafayette was delayed for over an hour because of a seat maintenance issue! Hey what can you do? I really wasn't perturbed with the overall 3 hour total delay because I wasn't missing out on anything important.

I had a good day once I got here though. Had lunch with Mom. Took a short nap. Got up and ate dinner at my sister's and spent time with my 2 week old niece Kaylee who is incredibly sweet and precious. I get so nervous holding little babies, I'm terrified of dropping them or hurting them in some way. Once I had her I barely shifted her at all for that very reason. But she's so cute and she did wake up and was looking around a lot certain parts of the night. Mom took this picture and it feature's my Obama pin perfectly! (My family is Republican so I wore it to razz everyone, especially my sister) So great.



Another of me and Kaylee:


Ashton fell asleep using Queenie as a pillow LOL:


Kuristin said Ashton and Queenie have ended up face to face asleep before or curled up together, but this scenario was a first and just friggin' funny to see.

Grandma still doesn't know I'm here. She's out of town for a funeral but will be back tomorrow for the party. I can't wait to surprise her. We went to Target after dinner and I got her a new red electric tea kettle that will match her new red kitchen my mom and aunt Lori are giving her. :)

As for poker I just finished up a deep run in a $3.30 turbo 6 max. 12/216 just shy of the final table. I was using M calculations (take the blinds and antes and divide them by your chip stack to determine your plays. Comes from Harrington on Holdem Vol. 2) throughout and that was helping while I played an $11 regular speed tournament at the same time.

The hand that crippled me I had AJ against KQ. Villain was short stacked around 5 big blinds and pushed from early position, I reraise all in to isolate knowing his range was wide and AJ was easily ahead of it. He hits a 4 card flush to double up. I didn't have many chips when the hand started so 2 hands later when I picked up 44 I had to go with it and lost. :( $7 bucks profit woo hoo!

I think mom and I are going to try and drive to Isle of Capri tomorrow night to play some. Even though Harrah's had 1/2 running and is better for my puny bankroll, I would prefer to play at the Isle on a Saturday night than Harrah's on a Friday or Sunday morning just so I can get action with the recreational crowds. Anyone who's playing on Friday or Sunday morning is probably more decent on average than the donks that are there on the weekend nights. We'll see if it happens. I really want to go but I'm struggling internally because that's not really WHY I'm here. Plus I'm going to be here for a week come Christmas time so I'll have opportunity then.

If I do make it'll be same plan as last time: take $100 to the bonus table and try to double it, go sit at 2/4 and try to parlay it into whatever. I'd be happy if I could just freeroll the flight cost and have money to come back with next month. I feel very fortunate to have had live success the last couple of months so that I could fly here and do something spontaneous and fun with my family. Well, that's all I got. Not too much poker I know, but I want to keep adding other content to keep the outside world interested in reading.

Don't be results oriented, another poker-life metaphor.

In poker, especially when it comes to bad beats it's very easy to be results-oriented. You move all in the with the best hand and in a great spot only to get sucked out on. It's easy to say I shouldn't have done that because I lost, when really you should happy be that you did all you could do and after that it was out of your hands. That's the voice of wisdom and common sense speaking.

My head's been swirling with the election results and my crave for bipartisanship among other things today. I was thinking it would be easy to be results oriented voting Democrat in a historically red state (or vice versa). I can understand when people say there's no point in voting [whatever minority party] in this state because it's probably never going to swing that direction anyway. To me that's the same thing as being results oriented.

Just because your man doesn't win doesn't mean you shouldn't do the right thing and exercise your right as an American to vote. If you view the value of your voice by whether or not your vote led to victory, you're missing the f-ing point. You still need to do what you can and accept that it's out of your hands after that. Just because you didn't get what you wanted one time doesn't mean you have to stop playing the game or leave the country.

On the other side of that argument, just because someone wins an election doesn't mean it was the correct decision. Just like idiots who don't really know what they're doing can get lucky and win a poker tournament, so can unqualified politicians win offices. That comes in handy when party leaders start talking about voter "mandates". Maybe it wasn't necessarily your own merit that got you to the top. Maybe you got lucky, maybe the stars aligned and whatever the climate of the country was helped you get there. That doesn't necessarily mean you know what the hell you're doing.

My wife rolls her eyes everytime I try to make these poker to life metaphors but I'm continually amazed at how true they can be. Part of the reason I love the game so much is that while I grow and learn important lessons over the years playing poker, I feel they've helped illuminate and solidify real-life values that I hold. It's a great game and we live in a great country. God Bless America!

Now legalize and regulate online poker already dammit!

I love my 74

Bruce had his 30th bday party last night. We broke out a cash game with the regulars and a few fish who jumped in to blow through 20 bucks quickly. One of his good friends Ernie did it on the very first hand with A9 against KK. Ernie hit 2nd pair and that was good enough! :)

I was able to bluff 74 2/2 last night which was nice. First time is the one I remember most. I bring it in for 80 cents in early position. Eric calls me in the big blind. Flop is K 5 3, all clubs. He leads out for like $1.20 and I pop him up another $3.50. I did not have a club in my hand, but this move is something I picked up watching Cardrunners training vidoes. On a flop of all one suit and someone has a pair it's very hard for them to call without one of that suit in their hand. Eric had KQ and had to lay it down subsequently and because I had position and control of the hand, I took it DOWN BABY! :)

If memory serves me the 2nd time I won was against Pat where he had JJ. Once again I'm first in the pot preflop so I raise to 80 cents. Pat called and I think Eric did too. Flop comes Q x x. I lead out for $2 and Pat calls. The turn is another blank low card, I just have 7 high. I decide to bet $3 so that it looks like I want a call and I'm milking him with a hand like KQ AQ, etc. It worked and he folded and I showed it to him. Hehehe.

I was behind most of the night after I 3bet Eric with AJ for 4.20 and got called in two spots. I pushed my last $7 something after him and the other newbie checked to me on a flop I completely missed. Eric looked me up with 55 and it held for the next 2 streets.

The night got hazy after that but just like last time as the game got more shorthanded I was able to chip up, bluff and do a lot of things I can't always do at a full table of regulars.

Oh yeah the only other memorable hand I played was raising 2.5x to 50 cents with 24c under the gun. Flop comes one club it gets checked around. Turn's another club and I semibluff, get called by Eric. Hit my 3rd club on the river and value bet him, get called. Fun to turn over 24 for the winning hand hehe. Can you tell I was feeling confident and cocky last night?