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A lot less fish to be had at $10NL.

Jim — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 17:52:58 +0000

Greedy Grebe.., originally uploaded by hvhe1.

I’m still playing at $10NL, mostly on the weekends. I’ve noticed there aren’t as many fish as the lower levels (believe it or not there are 2 levels below $10NL). It makes sense really, the higher the level the better the players. That being said, I’m surprised by how many 2, 3 and even 4 star players (silver, gold and platinum star) I see at $10NL. Even more surprising is how many of them display the badge on their avatar. I mean it’s free information for other players. I can understand wanting to show off the achievement, but personally I’d rather keep opponents in the dark as much as possible.

I’m still treading water for the most part. The bankroll is now at $371, down a little but not much change in the last week or so. It seems whatever I make one day I lose the next, or vice versa. I’m having fun though, gaining experience, and making notes on a lot of players. It’ll all start paying off soon. I hope.

Help the Twitter Poker Tour put a Bad Beat on Cancer.

Jim — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 15:51:27 +0000

It’s been a while since I have played in a Twitter Poker Tour event, but that hasn’t stopped the TPT from moving on to bigger and better things. Like doing its part to fight cancer. There aren’t many better causes out there, since so many of us are effected in one way or another by cancer. If you’re interested in playing poker with a great group of people while helping out a great cause, check out the link below.

Help Put a Bad Beat on Cancer!
On February 21st, 2010 the Twitter Poker Tour is teaming up with Bad Beat on Cancer to raise money to benefit the Prevent Cancer Foundation. Join the TPT and a host of Full Tilt Red Pro’s starting at 6PM ET on Sunday the 21st to raise money and awareness for cancer prevention!

For more information visit the Bad Beat on Cancer Charity Event page.

Here is a shocker. A poker update!

Jim — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 18:18:28 +0000

The lack of poker posts on my blog would suggest I haven’t been playing. Well I have been playing, almost daily for the last week and at the very least a few times a week before that. Unfortunately I’ve simply been spinning my wheels so I haven’t had much exciting to report or even discuss. Almost every session I end about even (which isn’t all bad I suppose). I’m still multi-tabling $5NL (.02/.05) and to put my rut into perspective, in the last week my bankroll has been as low as $406 and as high as $418 and currently rests at $414. Boring.

Now I’ve played some $10NL in the last month and for the most part it’s gone well, so I’m thinking a move up may help break my rut. I’ve just always argued that I can play for the same stacks at $5NL as I can at $10NL (both $10 buy-ins) but the risk is less for those stacks at $5NL. Yeah, you might want to read that again, but don’t say it three times fast. I think the logic is there, but I feel like moving forward at $5NL is becoming a chore, so here is hoping $10NL allows for some traction. Check back soon for what I hope is a positive update on my travels through $10NL.

Break even weekend.

Jim — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 19:05:47 +0000

It’s been a long time since I’ve had a poker update, because I haven’t been playing much poker. I’ve been playing and thinking about poker a lot more lately though. This weekend I played multiple sessions each day. Unfortunately the first session of the weekend (Saturday morning) went terrible and I lost about $10 in the first 5 minutes. Keep in mind my bankroll is barely over $400 and I was playing $5NL, so $10 in 5 minutes is a lot. I played a bit longer and lost a little more, but not with the best of attitudes, so I took a short break and came back a few hours later. I played a few more sessions over the weekend and broke even by the end of the weekend. The bankroll is at $417 which is about where it’s been for a month, so there hasn’t been much traction there. Considering I haven’t been playing much lately though, I’m not complaining. In fact, I’m looking forward to playing tonight, and tomorrow night, and…

Promotions at Full Tilt promoting bad play?

Jim — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 14:03:24 +0000

I’m currently active in Full Tilt’s Take 2 promotion. All you have to do is play 2 ring game tables at the same time, earn 1 full tilt point while doing so, and if you do so for 25 days in September they’ll give you $50. Through 8 days in September I’ve only missed playing one day so far, and all 7 of those sessions have been winning sessions. I play micro-stakes, which most would agree already has the majority of bad players, but I think promos like Take 2 make bad players play even worse. It’s like people are just trying to get their “check mark” for the day and be done with it. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not complaining, I’m simply making an observation and wondering if anyone else notices the same thing?

Playing at Full Tilt for the moment.

Jim — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 19:27:14 +0000

Wow time flies. I can’t believe it’s been a month since I last posted. I think of posting just about every day, but rarely have the time to do so. Anyway, I’ve been playing at Full Tilt for about the past 2 weeks straight. I’ve always liked Pokerstars better, but I will admit Full Tilt runs some good promotions. For the month of September, they are running an easy promo called Take 2. Basically, you can make up to $50 for the month, just for playing 2 ring game tables at the same time, which I already do anyway. So it was kind of a no-brainer to try and make as much on this promo as I can. I know $50 isn’t much money, but it’s free to try and earn it, and I can earn it playing the games I would be playing anyway. I’ll work on this promo this month at Full Tilt and probably go back to playing mainly at Pokerstars after that (unless another good promo shows up).

Slowly moving up to $10 NL holdem.

Jim — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 18:25:35 +0000

In recent weeks the bankroll has been as high as $424 and as low as $390. Currently it rests at $409. Last night I played some of my first $10NL at Pokerstars and it went well. Of course I’ve played $10NL before, but only here and there and rarely with the intention of “moving up”. Last night was the first time I played with thoughts of officially moving up. I still mixed in some tables of $5NL (yes I am very conservative with my bankroll), hence the “slowly” moving up. I’m going to play at least one $10NL table each session to get a feel for the players and action, and as long as it keeps going well I’ll make the official move at that point. So here is hoping I’ve moved up to $10NL soon! Oh, and here is one of the bigger hands I had at $10NL last night:

PokerStars No-Limit Hold’em, $0.10 BB (6 handed) Hand History converter Courtesy of PokerZion.com

CO ($2.70)
Button ($10.30)
SB ($7.15)
BB ($5.45)
UTG ($5.65)
Hero ($10)

Preflop: Hero is MP with Kd, Ks.

1 fold, Hero raises to $0.35, CO calls $0.35, 1 fold, SB raises to $2.5, 1 fold, Hero raises to $10, CO folds, SB calls $4.65 (All-In).

Flop: ($17.60) 9s, 5d, 6d (2 players, 1 all-in)

Turn: ($17.60) Ts (2 players, 1 all-in)

River: ($17.60) 9d (2 players, 1 all-in)

Final Pot: $17.60

Results:

SB has Kc As (one pair, nines).

Hero has Kd Ks (two pair, kings and nines).

Outcome: Hero wins $17.60.

I’m playing poker again!

Jim — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 18:34:48 +0000

That’s right, my poker blog is going to start featuring poker again, as I have resumed my journey. I’ve been playing every day at some point for about the last 5 or 6 days. I was playing every Thursday in the Twitter Poker Tour, but that was it. I have the desire to play again. It’s been a long break, probably close to a couple months, but I see a lot more poker in the future. Last night, the very first hand I played I was dealt pocket Aces. The turn saved my ass after the villain flopped three of a kind:

PokerStars No-Limit Hold’em, $0.05 BB (5 handed) – Poker-Stars Hand Converter from HandHistoryConverter.com

SB ($14.56) Hero (BB) ($10) UTG ($7.22) MP ($13.93) Button ($6.85)

Preflop: Hero is BB with Ah, As 2 folds, Button bets $0.10, SB calls $0.08, Hero raises to $0.35, Button calls $0.25, SB calls $0.25

Flop: ($1.05) 8d, 10d, 8s (3 players) SB bets $0.60, Hero raises to $2, 1 fold, SB raises to $14.21 (All-In), Hero calls $7.65 (All-In)

Turn: ($20.35) Ad (2 players, 2 all-in)

River: ($20.35) 7s (2 players, 2 all-in) Total pot: $20.35 | Rake: $1

Poker, TPT, video games, golf, Stanley Cup finals.

Jim — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 16:15:11 +0000

It’s been a while since I posted, which means I have a lot to talk about. First, Poker. I’m still only playing on Thursdays in the Twitter Poker Tour, where I was in first place for a week but had a terrible showing last week on Full Tilt resulting in me dropping to 2nd place overall. My brother asked me last night, “are you done with poker except for Thursdays?”. No- my interest has just waned a bit, but I expect I’ll be back to my addictive ways eventually. Which brings me to video games. I’m still addicted to Call of Duty: World at War on Xbox 360, but I’m starting to get burnt out on it, in fact last night I looked at my other games and almost played another one. Now for golf. I hate golf! When is our next tee time?! I have the classic love / hate relationship with golf right now. In just over a week I leave for our annual golf trip – 12 guys golfing until we drop for 5 straight days. It’s a blast but I have again developed the snap fades (screw it, I’ll say it, the SHANKS!). I’m a decent golfer, hover around a 10 handicap, but the shanks have been turning my brain to mush for the better part of the last 3-4 years. I can be playing the best golf of my life, then I hit one SHANK, and can’t shake them for weeks or months. I really don’t need this just before we leave for what SHOULD be some of the best golf of the year. And my Red Wings. They’re up 2-1 against the Penguins who avoided a sweep with a win last night. Shh…don’t tell the media though, they think that win last night was for the Stanley Cup! I admit, the Penguins played great last night, but the referees certainly didn’t hurt their cause. At one point, the Penguins had too many men on the ice for 20+ seconds. Come on refs / NHL, you have to be a little more covert than that.

Alright, I’m off to the golf range.

Thanks to the Red Wings.

Jim — Fri, 15 May 2009 16:02:15 +0000

For giving this Detroit sports fan something to look forward to still. The Pistons have fell off their success pedestal recently, the Lions have never had a success pedestal, and the Tigers are making their 2006 trip to World Series look like a fluke. Thanks to Red Wings big win last night against the Ducks in game 7, it isn’t all doom and gloom. Now we have an original six match-up against the Chicago Blackhawks who have been waiting and resting for a couple games now. Should be a great series!

Also thanks to the Red Wings for making my debacle in the Twitter Poker Tour last night easier to handle. I was probably playing as well as I ever have on Full Tilt when an A-7-x flop hit my A-10. I misread my opponents hand since I watched him playing a lot of hands and a lot of weak Aces. I was right he was playing another weak Ace (A-7, flopped two pair). I feel so stupid, because I always think through my actions, but this time I just snapped it off assuming he was sold on his Aces but my kicker would get him. 10 seconds of thought and I could have assumed the flop lined right up with his range. Oh well, live and learn. Three or four hour plus online tournaments can be grueling (three hours assuming you played well, so mine only lasted about an hour) because all it takes is one lapse in focus and you’re done.