Donkism 101

WSOP-C Southern Indiana

2011-09-28T23:20:00.002-04:00

I'm heading down to Horseshoe Southern Indiana this weekend to play a couple of circuit events. I am playing event 2B and if I'm not playing day 2 I will play event 3. I will be posting updates of my progress on my way to the final table on twitter @shbzjenkins.

Rio Daily DeepStack Final Table

2011-07-11T00:58:00.006-04:00

After a rough week in Vegas, I played the $235 Rio Daily DeepStack tournament on Friday. I had a good feeling about this tournament and was focused on playing my best. I had a weak starting table and was able to double my starting stack during the first 2 hours. I was moved to table 1 and knew that this table wouldn't be breaking for some time. I wanted to build a solid tight image to use once the blinds and antes went up. The players at this table were a little better, but very exploitable. There was a loose foreign guy that was the table CL. He was seeing probably 70% of flops and catching with weak hands. I thought I already had a read on him, but not sure. I knew if I got involved with him he could have any 2 and I would need to keep the pot small unless I had a big hand. I raise from ep with KK, button calls, CL calls from bb (obv). Flop comes J87. He checks and I gotta feeling he is strong. I check button checks. Turn K, bingo. He checks I bet, button calls, CL shoves. Could have 9T here, if so gg but I still got outs. I get it in, button folds he has J7..bink. I double and feel very confident at this point. The only hands I had been showing were strong and I have a very solid tight image.

The structure in this tournament is nice but if you're not careful you can find yourself suddenly short stacked. I was card dead and unable to find any good spots for a while when I found myself suddenly down to 15bbs. A new player at the table with a decent stack raised from mp. I didn't have any reads on him yet. I find 88 on the button and decide to get it in. He tanks for a good 4 minutes before I think he is finally folding. He then says "I just don't think I can lay this down" and says call while turning over his cards. QQ. I stand up and say "Really" what the hell. But I know that 8 is coming and of course I bink it on the river. Now I'm feelin like I'm gonna win this thing.

I find some good spots to maintain my stack but can't get anything going. I lose 1/3 when my AKs can't hold vs. A5o. I get a little back but lose 1/2 when my AK loses to QJ aipf. I'm a little frustrated but then my railbirds show up. Mike aka Ivan_Drago45 and his wife. I find AJs in lp and shove. Button wakes up with AKs. sigh....But I hit the J on the flop and another one on the turn. The table breaks soon after and we are down to three tables.

Love my new table. I can tell some of the players, most noticeably the older guy on my left, are hoping to move up the payscale and need to take advantage. At this point I have around 400k chips which is about avg. Time to change gears. Blinds were 15-30k with 5k ante. One of the first hands it is folded to me in the sb. I rs and take down the pot. The bb tells me to be careful as he mucks his cards. I then steal the blinds from the button w/k9s the next hand. He says now that time I know you had a monster. lol. The next orbit in my bb, utg looks at his cards and I see either a 9 or T (not purposely) when he looks at his cards. Folds around to me and I know if I have overs I'm shoving....I have Ak. I shove for most of his stack. He starts bitching about no skill involved here, don't you know how to play poker, is this your only move? Then folds.

Blinds up to 20-40k. I know have about 650k stack. Tight euro kid shoves 6bbs from hijack. I find ATs on the button and had a tough decision. The only hands he had shown were strong but he was short and I thought he had a wide range. The two stacks to my left were about 500k and 200k. I decide to shove and he turns over KK. fml. I flop a ten and a flush draw and bink the flush on the river. Up to 900k or so. At this point there are about 20 players left and I have a top five stack. 3 more players out and we are now down to 2 tables. Blinds are up to 30-60k 10k ante.

Scott Cook, aka Chipless Wonder from badbeatspoker stops by to wish me luck after his awesome day 1 of the ME before heading to bed.

A young agressive kid sits on my right and isolates 2 shorty shoves with qj and kt and wins with both. He then starts raising almost every hand. He has over 2mil chips. I know I'm going to have to confront him soon. I get a couple steals this level but my stack drops to 800k. Our table seems to get down to 5 players pretty quickly and 11 left overall. We go on break and I will only have 10bbs at the start of the next level and will be in the bb. Back from break, folds to agro kid in the sb. You think he can find a fold here? I know he is raising any 2. I have A6o. He actually takes a while and asks how much I started with and acting like it was a tough decision. He shoves and I almost call, but have a weird feeling he is strong here. If he woulda shoved immediately I probably call. Very next hand it folds to him on the button. He looks down and insta shoves. I find KQs in the sb and get it in. He turns over AT. Flop comes KQx. oh shit. but I sweat the J and hold.

We make the final table and the agro kid doubles up a shorty and is now short himself. I have about 1.5mil. Blinds at 40-80k with 15k ante. We lose two short stacks and are down to 8 players. Agro kid shoves from utg+1 I find TT next position and reship. It folds around and he has KQo. I hold and we are down to 7 players. At this point the prizepool info was taken off the nearest monitor and I'm not sure of the pay jumps. I know 7th place gets ~3500. There is a sheet of paper with the payouts but I don't want to make it look like I care what the payouts are. There are three short stacks at the table and all three have doubled at this point.

The blinds are now 60-120k w/20k ante lol. I have around 1.5m still and sitting around 3rd or 4th in chips. I look around and no one has more than 20bb or less than 9. No one has mentioned deal yet and I didn't want to be the one to bring it up. But damn, there is no "play" left here and 24k dif in 1st and 7th place. So I decided to do it. "Who wants to discuss a deal?" Turns out everyone did. They didn't want to bring it up either.

So we all agreed to a 7 way chop. Now we had to agree on who was signing for what place. They needed 5 players to sign. Two players couldn't sign. French guy wasn't sure about tax implications so we had to wait a while for floor to confirm he was good. So it was between me and the drunk biker to sign for 5th place. He didn't want to sign and neither did I. So I tell him to give me 1k of his prize and I will sign. He says deal. In the meantime, the drunk biker, who was drinking double rum n cokes all night, was about to ruin the deal because he thought the frenchman didn't want to deal. While we were waiting for confirmation for the frenchman, he slurs loudly the words "Fuck it lets play the gdamn thing out then. he don't want to deal let's play" and sits down. I quickly went over and calmed him down. Eventually the frenchman heard what he wanted to hear and we chopped.

I ended up getting more than 3rd place money with 7 players left. Pretty good deal imo. Thanks to everyone who followed me on twitter and wished me luck throughout the tournament!

What a day!

Follow me in Vegas

2011-06-26T13:59:00.006-04:00

I just figured out (somewhat) this Twitter thing and will be tweeting? during my Vegas trip next week. I will be playing daily tournaments and giving updates during breaks. I have been following other bloggers' Vegas tweets and I'm hoping I can at least double my followers currently at 5, lol. Thanks.

Follow me at @shbzjenkins on twitter.

Vegas Trip Back On!

2011-06-24T23:39:00.004-04:00

I will be in Vegas July 4-9th. I had planned on going in early June but held off and eventually decided that I would not be going in June. I set my sights on going to the fall Venetian DeepStacks series. I made the trip last November and had a good time but it's just not the same as being there for the WSOP. I plan on playing 3 Venetian DS and either a Caesars Mega or the daily DS at the Rio. I also may play a mega satellite to the WSOP ME.

I haven't been keeping up on who is in Vegas this year. If anyone will be there the 4-9th let me know.

Please take a few minutes...

2011-04-16T01:40:00.008-04:00

I've never done this before..until now. Please click this link and take a few minutes to send letters to our government officials regarding online poker. I'm not sure it will help but it definitely won't hurt.

Thanks

First Dank/Mookie win!

2011-03-31T01:20:00.004-04:00

Decided to play The Dank/Mookie for the first time in quite some time. Glad I did! I don't know much about Survivor Island but heard that Smboatdrinks needed to outlast Very Josie and muhctim to get to the final two. I was rooting for him but unfortunately took him out when my AJ vs. his AT held.

Good luck at the tables!

Vegas Trip Recap

2010-11-15T19:44:00.003-05:00

Back in June I headed to Las Vegas with the hope of winning alot of money. My mind was on the prize and not what it would take to get the prize. I don't want to say that I didn't have high expectations for this trip, but I wasn't focused on winning money. Whatever happened I just wanted be mentally and physically prepared everyday and play my best poker. I went to bed fairly early each night and I did some stretches and excercises each morning.

My first event was the $550 Deepstack on Saturday. I started off pretty good chipping up to about 30k in two hours from a 15k starting stack. I took alot of those chips from a crasian who loved to bluff. He was able to build his stack back up and he raised from utg. I'm on the button and call his raise with 55. Flop comes 345. He bets out and I call. Turn is a q. He checks. At this point I put him on two over cards or a medium pair. I bet and he min check raises me. Now I am thinking he could have aq here or a flush draw so I flat and plan on letting him bluff the river. River is an 8 and didn't complete the flush draw. At this point the pot is about 24k and he bets 12k leaving 3k behind. I put him all in and he turns over A2 for the wheel. UGHHHH. I didn't even think he could have A2 or 67. I hit my set and was focused on getting as much out of him as I could. I doubled up a couple times and survived for another 2 hours or so but couldn't really get anything going.

That night I played the Venetian nightly $120. It drew about 135 players. My first table was extremely weak and I built my 7.5k starting stack to around 25k in the first hour. I had one solid player at my table and the others were unbelievably easy to read. They were folding to my cbets and if I thought they were weak I would check raise or raise their cbet. I felt like I couldn't do anything wrong. I have never just ran over a table like that playing live. A couple hours in I lost a big pot when my QQ < JJ. And then I isolated a shorty's all in w/aq offsuit. He showed up with aq offsuit also. 3 clubs came on the flop and the 4th on the river giving him the pot. I went into short stack ninja mode and was able to make the final table. I went out in 9th place for a little profit.

I played the O8 limit on Sunday. It had 135 runners and I went out 45. I felt pretty good about my play considering there were some really good O8 players in the field. I lasted until around 9pm so I wasn't able to get into the Venetian nightly again.

On Monday the V had a $350 NLHE event. This would be my last deepstack event so I wanted to make it a good one. I drew a pretty tough table and was down to about 10k from 12.5k starting stack in the first hour. With blinds at 75-150 two late position players limp in and I find jc9c in the bb. The limper in the hijack position had limped with strong hands several times already. I check my option. The flop comes QT7 with 2 spades. I check and hijack bets pot. Previously I saw this player check call all the way down when he hit top pair. The last hand he won he limped with TT and bet the big when he flopped a set. I felt he had at least 2 pair and maybe a set here. If I hit I knew he would pay me off so I call his flop bet. The turn is the Kc giving me the straight and a straight flush draw. I check and he bets almost the pot. I raise and after he tanks for about 3 minutes he shoves and I snap call. He has TT for the set and rivers a K for a Full House. I'm not so sure about getting it all in here. Since I was pretty sure he had 2 pair or a set I could have flatted his turn bet and made sure the board didn't pair. The river K may have scared him and I could have gotten to showdown without going broke. Got my money in good just unlucky.

That night I played the nightly Venetian again. It drew about 150 players this night. I drew a pretty lag starting table and was getting horrible cards. I was down to around 8bbs when I got one of my best starting hands of the night 5d7d. I obviously shoved and got 2 callers. The flop comes 578 and I triple up. As we neared the bubble the table tightened up and I was able to get a few valuable steals and resteals. I won a big pot when we were 6 handed on the final table bubble and went to the final table 2nd in chips with about 200k. Even though it seemed as if I had a big stack, I only had about 20bb with an M of 8. I stole a few pots but avoided any confrontations and we got down to 5 handed. Blinds were 8 and 16k with a 3k ante. 39k in the pot and i was sitting on about 210k. The aggro player at the table raises from utg and I find AQo on the button. I shove and he calls with TT. I see a Q coming on the top card of the flop cards! As the dealer slides the 3 cards across the table, the bottom card is a Ten. sigh.... But wait flop is QT9, turn is an 8. I can chop it with a Jack! Jack. Jack. Jack. Deuceeeeeeee. Damn out in 5th for $800. First was almost 4k. During the tournament I was talking to the guy that busted me out. He won an FTOPS jersey back in August.

The Deepstack events seemed to be a little bit tougher than they were in June. I saw more pros at the Venetian than I ever have in June. There seemed to be less tourists in the Deepstack events this time around. However the Venetian nightly seemed to be alot softer. I also played 3 satellites this week and 3 way chopped 2 of them. I played some craps, pai gow, and stayed away from the roulette tables.

Venetian Deep Stack

2010-11-01T21:24:00.005-04:00

I am heading to Vegas this weekend to play a few live tournaments. I was planning on going to Hammond Indiana last month for the WSOP circuit event. I was only going to get to play two tournaments and my expenses were:

$300 for the room
$130 for rental car
$100 for gas

total $530

I had my room and car reserved and then realized that I don't even pay this much to go to Vegas. I knew the Venetian series was going on, so I checked flight prices and called Harrah's to see what rate I could get for a room. $300 for flight and $80 for 4 nights at the Imperial Palace. Wow I'm actually SAVING (hehe) money by going to Vegas.

So I will be playing the Saturday, Sunday, and Monday events at the Venetian.

Sick 1M gtee hand

2010-10-17T19:08:00.003-04:00

Full Tilt Poker Game #24784135785: $1 Million Guarantee (181789490), Table 95 - 25/50 - No Limit Hold'em - 18:44:14 ET - 2010/10/17
Seat 1: Shabazz Jenkins (5,625)
Seat 2: DarkHorse19 (4,625)
Seat 3: Kazak132 (6,152)
Seat 4: ZaReTa_SbriSsa (4,280)
Seat 5: CharlesBeck (4,915)
Seat 6: berkey11 (2,543)
Seat 7: grindtherail (5,305)
Seat 8: oleg12345 (6,268)
Seat 9: philament28 (5,287)
philament28 posts the small blind of 25
Shabazz Jenkins posts the big blind of 50
The button is in seat #8
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Shabazz Jenkins [2d 2s]
DarkHorse19 folds
Kazak132 folds
ZaReTa_SbriSsa folds
CharlesBeck raises to 100
berkey11 calls 100
grindtherail folds
oleg12345 folds
philament28 folds
Shabazz Jenkins calls 50
*** FLOP *** [Kd 3c 2c]
Shabazz Jenkins has 15 seconds left to act
Shabazz Jenkins bets 200
CharlesBeck has 15 seconds left to act
CharlesBeck raises to 500
berkey11 calls 500
Shabazz Jenkins has 15 seconds left to act
Shabazz Jenkins raises to 1,450
CharlesBeck has 15 seconds left to act
CharlesBeck raises to 4,815, and is all in
berkey11 calls 1,943, and is all in
Shabazz Jenkins calls 3,365
CharlesBeck shows [Ks Kc]
berkey11 shows [Ac Kh]
Shabazz Jenkins shows [2d 2s]
*** TURN *** [Kd 3c 2c] [9c]
*** RIVER *** [Kd 3c 2c 9c] [4c]
CharlesBeck shows a flush, King high
Shabazz Jenkins shows three of a kind, Twos
CharlesBeck wins the side pot (4,744) with a flush, King high
berkey11 shows a flush, Ace high
berkey11 wins the main pot (7,654) with a flush, Ace high

I probably could have gotten away from the hand if I had just called his flop raise and saw the club come on the turn.

Big Win X 2

2010-10-09T05:59:00.007-04:00

This is the same tourney that I chopped last Friday. I was tired and went out of the 28k and 50/50 and was going to call it a night. Man, am I glad I didn't. At the final table I got into a heads up battle with jason jiang. He was raising every pot. I picked my spots and kept letting him bluff into me. Had a chance to take him out with 2 pair vs oe draw but he caught on river. Finally my 33 held vs his k9 and I took it down.

BIG Win!

2010-10-02T06:12:00.002-04:00

TOOK IT DOWN! chopped for 5200. This was another tourney where I decided at the last minute to get in. Glad I did. loose_cannon_jj was at final table. I think this was the first time I've played against him. He's pretty tough. I was lucky to have position on him. 6am here gotta get to bed...if I can sleep.

Still Alive

2010-09-19T16:19:00.003-04:00

It has been quite a while since my last post. I have been following everyone on my blogroll but have stayed away from commenting or posting. If I posted it would've meant that I had to think/write about how bad I was feeling about poker. I had high expectations for my Vegas trip and after another bad year I came home pretty disappointed and depressed. I used most of my online bankroll for the trip and my run-bad continued online. I couldn't even get myself to post a Vegas recap blog. I didn't want to come off as the guy who blames his downswing on bad luck and bad beats and everyone else. I started questioning my game and wondered whether or not I knew how to win anymore. Every decision I made seemed like the wrong one. This made me start playing differently and making more bad decisions to the point where I was way off my game. I kept making small deposits whenever I could, but couldn't build a roll with the small amount I was depositing....until Friday night.

I don't have any screenshots or hand histories to post but I spent most of the tourney short stacked and unable to find any good spots. I was all in several times with under 10 bbs. I stayed alive and made it into the money. I had some very weak tables and knew if I could catch some cards I would be able to make a deep run. At one point I made a big (and correct) laydown with aks pre vs 2 players. When we were down to 4 tables I opened them all up and observed each table. I stayed short stacked until we were down to 2 tables when I doubled up with QQ vs. AQ. At this point the table tightened up and I started I started taking control of the table. I went into the final table 5/9 and had very good reads on the players. I applied pressure whenever I could and was the chipleader with 4 to go. 3 handed I was still the chipleader and had a chance to take out the shorter stack with 99 when he shove over my button raise w/8To but he hit a ten on the flop. This hand put me in 2nd place. Same guy raised my bb from the sb and I had k4 sooooted. Flop comes AK2 with one heart. He bets and I decide to flat and re-evaluate the turn. Turn is a lovely 4. He shoves and I snap call. He shows AJ and blanks on the river. This gave me a small chip lead heads up. I felt I had a big advantage but it was 8am and decided to chop it.

I have been working ten hour days and alot of overtime, so haven't been able to stay up to play the mookie. Good luck at the tables.

The Real Tiger Woods Apology - Funny aniboom Animation

2010-06-01T23:54:00.000-04:00

Thank you Al and Full Tilt

2010-05-29T00:00:00.003-04:00

Unbelievable opportunity.....but I couldn't get anything going. One of those tournies where I always had 2nd best hand. I picked good spots and was able to stay around my starting stack for the first 2 hours or so with few good starting hands. With around 35 bbs left I picked up qq and reraised rambler. He just had a big hand to knock out pvanharibo. He 4 bet, essentially putting me all in. I'm 99% sure his range here is AA or KK so I folded and he told me later he did have kk. Then I picked up KK and Maigrey called my raise and an A flopped. I cbet and she shoved instantly so had to fold there. Got it all in w/kjo vs. 55 and turned a gut shot and flush draw and couldn't get there.
Going in, I had a good game plan, had a lot of notes on the players, and wanted to make sure my early and mid tourney decisions weren't affected by the prize pool. Hard to do with this much on the line, but I didn't want to have any regrets. I guess I'll just have to stick to the Venetian Deep Stack events in a couple weeks. Congrats to the winners.

TOC seat #2

2010-05-25T01:59:00.003-04:00

Short post, I gotta get to bed. I was able to make a comeback being the short stack with 4 left and take down the Poker from the Rail tourney. I didn't have AA or KK the entire tourney and when we were heads up, I got both within 3 hands.

TOC seat

2010-05-17T00:09:00.013-04:00

I haven't been playing very well lately and have been pretty frustrated. There was an incident at work a couple weeks ago and I think that may have something to do with it. Let's just say I was almost "rivered" by 69000 volts. Since then, I have been playing with an awefuckit attitude. Calling and shoving when I know I'm beat and pushing draws at the wrong times. Tonight I got my head right and played a solid tourney from start to finish.

I came to the final table 5th in chips. I got lucky here when my AK held and I doubled through KimLovo.

I was able to take out babaghanoush in a B vs B when I flopped top pair and he shove my flop bet.

I made a big laydown when I raised utg w/TT 5 handed. Blinds were 1500/3000 (i think). Smokee shoved all in from the button and I decided to wait for a better spot. We lost kimLovo and usaf_trevor and were down to 4 handed when I picked up TT again in the sb. Dave shoved from the button and I my TT held.

Once 3 handed, lightning was able to maintain his stack while smokee and I (mostly me) were up and down. We played 83 hands 3 handed and on the 84th hand smokkee shoved with his pair and flush draw and lightning called with his top pair.

Smokkee is one of the first bloggers that I started reading. I have had his tourney table up observing his play many times. I hate to root against someone whose game I respect so much, but I am definitely glad to have a TOC seat. GG smokkee!

Congrats to lightning for winning his seat and also congrats to ddionysus for a great tourney.

BBT Final Table

2010-04-26T00:05:00.003-04:00

I can't find the words to describe how bummed I am right now. I ran great in this tourney and couldn't get the TOC seat. I came to the final table with the chip lead, took out a short stack's AK w/KJ, and it all went to shit after that. Whenever I made a raise with a marginal hand, I was reraised. When I had a hand, my raise was called and I totally missed and they hit. There was one spot where I'm not sure if I made the right play.

6 players left. I have 52k or so.
Blinds were 1200/2400
All in at 420 rs to 6000 from the cutoff.
Button folds
Ftrain pushes all in from the small blind for 54k
I have 52k in the BB w/TT.......and fold

I'm questioning myself here. 420 was raising a lot of hands which would open Ftrains shove range. Looking back, I think that I should have called. I was definitely shoving over 420's raise but hate to be the caller w/TT. Winning that hand would've put me back in the chip lead and maybe a run to the final 2. Any thoughts?

Invitational Freeroll Thoughts

2010-04-18T00:43:00.003-04:00

Just wondering what it takes to get an invitation. Are the blogger invites going to be the same every week or will more bloggers get the opportunity to play subsequent weeks?

Vegas Plans

2010-04-16T23:44:00.003-04:00

I bought my plane ticket tonight. I will be staying at the Flamingo from June 15-21. My tournament schedule looks like this:

Wed 16th Venetian $340 NLHE
Thurs 17th Gldn Nugget HORSE $230
Fri 18th Binions HORSE $500 or Venetian $550 NLHE
Sat 19th WSOP NLHE $1k or Venetian $340 NLHE
Sun 20th Venetian NLHE $340

BBT5
It looks like there will be another BBT after all. I was hoping that there would be some sort of prize for the overall points leader but it looks like the invitation only tournament wouldn't allow that. Hopefully I can win my seat and make a run in the MTT.

Good luck to all!

Nice River

2010-03-31T00:02:00.002-04:00

All in pre in the 5050 with about 300 left. I got a few "words" in before the river came but was pleased to see the 9.

What would you do?

2010-03-18T23:09:00.002-04:00

I'm in the 32k gteed w/300 people left. I have a 16k stack which is slightly above average. Just moved to new table and 2 hands later in the bb I have JJ. Chip leader is at the table and raises from early position 2.5x bb to 1250. I have no info on this player. I don't like playing JJ oop and decide to reraise to 3500. He comes over the top all in. I can fold and still have 25 big blinds or call and most likely be behind or racing.

After tanking I decide that I don't know enough about him or how he got his chips and wait for a better spot. He shows 33 and I then go on tilt and give him my chips in my next bb. He raises, cutoff calls and I have As8s. I flop a flush draw and check raise all in. He has a set and hits quads on the turn.

With the JJ hand, once again I think I had just enough chips to get away from the hand. 3 or 4k less and I get it all in. Any opinions?

5050 recap again

2010-03-03T21:34:00.004-05:00

Played very solid most of the tourney. One big mistake I made was when I 3bet a middle position raiser from the button with AQ. I was about 35bbs deep. He tanked and called. Flop came KT7. With a gut shot draw I could check behind and see what happens on the turn. However, I would rather take the pot down right now. He checks and I lead out for 1/2 pot. He calls and T comes on the turn. check, check. 7 on the river makes two pair. The pot is at 105k and I have about 60k left. He bets 21k into me.

Can he be betting 2 pair A high here? and can I fold?

Got down to 27 people and my table was very aggressive. I went card dead and couldn't find any good spots. Got down to 18 players and I was short stack with around 8bbs. I'm sure my image at this point was very tight weak. Both tables were very active and 6 more went out. I was down to 5 big blinds when I was in the big blind and was moving in with any 2 when I found A4 and doubled up. Two hands later I doubled up again with ak vs aq. I am now in 7 place out of 11 players left and have around 22 BBs. Two hands later I have AQ utg and raise, very active aggressive player in the bb reraises to 70k. This is the player that just doubled me up with AQ. I put him on a wide range here and think he may be raising thinking that I just got the chips and wouldn't want to play a big pot. I can't find the fold button and push all in 120k more which is about 1/3 of his stack and he calls with 66. I don't improve and am out.

Once again I am unsure if I made the right play here. I could have gotten away and still had 19 big blinds. I try not to let the prize money affect my decisions. In a sng or smaller tourney I make this move in a heartbeat but here I am playing for 11k and can't help wondering what if...

Deep in 50/50 again

2010-03-03T03:15:00.002-05:00

50/50 regrets?

2010-02-26T16:47:00.003-05:00

(Read previous post) When we were at the final two tables, I made two big laydowns that I believe were correct. 2009 was pretty bad for me and I think a lot of it had to do with my inability to make a big laydown late in a tournament. I'm curious as to what others would have done in these situations.

Two tables left and I have about 25 big blinds. Active player opens utg+1 for 2.5xbb. I call in middle position with ATd. Big stack on the button calls very fast. Flop comes 5s6sTc. Opener cbets small and I reraise 3x his bet. Big stack button insta pushes all in. I didn't have much history at all on him. However, I knew from checking his stats that he wasn't a very profitable player. I don't see him making this play with JTo, KTo, or QTo. If he had a set, I would think that he would try to get more value but with two other players in and two spades on board he may be trying to chase away any draws. He also could've had top pair with flush draw. JJ and QQ are posibilities but I doubt it. I feel there are just too many hands that are ahead of me or that have a big draw so I puke in my mouth, fold, and am left with around 18bbs.

My next big lay down was against utg min raiser. He had just came to our table and did not see my previous lay down. I was in the BB and had AKo. I recognized this player and he was a very solid profitable player. Sometimes I just call in this spot being out of position. However, I didn't want to play a pot with this particular player oop. I had around 20 BBs and decided to reraise his 10k bet to 24,500. He tanked and used up 45 of his 60 second time bank and pushed all in. I barely had him covered. Him using the time bank appeared to me him trying to act weak, or he could've been checking my stats. Here again, I usually can't fold in this spot but I just had feeling he had AA, KK, or at best AK.

I see other players make these calls all the time and get lucky, but if I had called I probably would've been dominated. Does anyone else make these laydowns or am I just a nit?

Final table bubble

2010-02-26T03:40:00.007-05:00

Kicking myself! Had a tough decision with 10 left for most of my chips with 3 smaller stacks than mine. I had about 10 bbs and utg pushed all in for 7bbs. The other table had a 4bb stack and an 8bb stack. Utg has been playing tight on the bubble but was somewhat loose earlier. He pushes all in and I have AQ on the button. His range here I believe was pairs 77+, AT-AK, KQ and possibly KJ. I think for a while and call. He tables AK and I'm basically out. The last few days I have lost some big hands with AQ and have been thinking I should fold AQ in that situation but couldn't do it there.

Any opinions on this hand are welcome.

Amazing Horse

2010-02-18T22:06:00.001-05:00

I found this video and now can't get the damn song out of my head. All day long "sweet lemonade mmmm sweet lemonade". Just thought I'd share this beautiful song with everyone. "Get on my horse I'll take you......." damn can't get rid of it!

So close again

2010-02-15T00:00:00.003-05:00

It would've been a good day if I hadn't tilted trying to satellite into FTOPS. They wanted to make a deal with 3 of us left. I had around 600k to their 1.5m each and I would've only gotten $200 more so I declined the deal. A few hands later I was up to 1.8mil but lost a big pot when my JJ lost to 44 and then lost a couple of races. Anyone think it was bad idea to turn down deal? Just wondering what others would've done.

10$ KO Tournament Recap

2010-02-10T20:21:00.002-05:00

This was one of the few tournaments where I got a big stack early and was able stay near the top of the leaderboard the whole tournament. Once we got to the money, the table tightened up and seemed as if they were trying to move up in pay. I started playing very aggressive and moved to the top 3 of the leaderboard. I sensed that a couple of the players were getting frustrated with my aggressiveness and was waiting for them to play back at me. Then my best played hand of the tourney came. I raised with 8h9h from cutoff and the button reraised my bet 2.5x. He had his bet in about 3 seconds after my bet. I almost folded, but how quick he reraised made me think twice. I shipped my stack and he folded. Phew. I don't do that very often but I was pretty sure of my read.

I lost a couple of races and was the short stack entering the final table. I picked a few good spots and made it HU. The donkey had me by 4:1 chip ratio. I chipped away at his stack and then was able to double up, but went out when my 89 on a 89k flop was up against TT. Obviously a ten came on the river and I was out.

This was somewhat of a weird tourney for me. I didn't have very many big hands or suckouts. I took a lot of pots down pre flop or on the flop by reraising and isolating.

I feel like I am playing really good right now but haven't had the results. This will definitely help my confidence.

Good luck!

Nice Score

2010-02-10T00:47:00.003-05:00

I signed up for this tourney with about 5 seconds left in the late registration period. I'll try to post a recap tomorrow.

WBCOOP

2010-02-01T21:24:00.007-05:00

I played a lot of poker on Sunday, but only made it past level 5 in one tourney - the WBCOOP Main Event. This was only the 2nd event that I was able to play and I made the most of it, almost.

I played some of my best poker in this tournament, taking down alot of pots down post flop by going with my reads. I didn't have any big suckouts and was able to get paid off when I had big hands.

We got down to 40 players or so when I raised with TT in middle position. At this point I had 65k chips with blinds at 1400/2800. My table had several big stacks and had recently been bullying the shorter stacks, knowing the 55 to 215 SCOOP ticket bubble was close. The BB reraised me 3x my raise. My time bank only had 12 seconds left and I had to make a quick decision. I was thinking fold the whole time then for some stupid ass reason, I push. He insta calls with QQ and I'm out. I saw the time bank down to 5 seconds and I think I paniced. I thought about this all day and really believe if I had 20 more seconds or so to think about it, I would have folded. Pocket pairs 99 and below were probably not in his range for a reraise here, so at best I would have been racing and should't have taken the risk there. I could've folded and still had about 20 big blinds and an M of 10.

Anyone have any opinions on this hand?

As for the rest of the day, some of the hands I remember going out on were my AA losing to AK when he went runner runner for broadway, AA < KK on the river, AA < 66 on the river, KK < 22 on the flop and my flopped set of tens lost to a rivered royal flush.

Congrats to CK and lightning on their deep runs in the WBCOOP.

Video of 345KV switch arcing

2010-01-08T23:58:00.003-05:00

This is a switch in one of our high voltage stations. At the end of the video you can see how close we have to be to operate the switch. This day the arc wasn't that bad. When the air is damp the arc is louder and longer.

As you crank the handle, you can't look up at the arc. All you can do is listen as it seems to get louder and louder while you're hoping that the arc breaks. This is one of the few switches I don't like to operate. I'm going to try and get more videos of different switches that put off a good arc.

Ohio Casinos

2010-01-08T20:21:00.005-05:00

Ohio's controversial casino issue passes

Issue 3, which was proposed through an initiative petition in March of this year, was passed by Ohio voters by a 53 to 47 percent margin on Nov. 3. The issue, which garnered roughly 1.7 million votes in its favor, will amend the Ohio constitution to authorize a single casino to be built within each of four Ohio cities: Cleveland, Columbus, Cincinnati, and Toledo.

It finally passed! Ohio has had 5 issues on the ballot since 1990, two in the last two years. The amendment stated exactly where the casinos would be located, however, Columbus has vowed to fight if the casino is built in their Arena District as the amendment was written. The Casino company has agreed to pick another location, but any change and it has to go on the ballot again in May. This casino will be about an 45 mins away from me. The closest casino to me now is over 2 hours away.

This isn't the best deal for Ohio but it was the best proposal so far. The licensing fees and tax rates aren't as high as other states'. After the issue failed two years ago and the economy tanked, a lot of people changed their minds about casinos and it appeared headed towards passing. The opponents were complaining that the deal is so bad for Ohio, but were unwilling to compromise and even discuss other options, assuming it would fail again. Now that it has passed they want to complain about the issue's terms. What bothers me is that it was just a matter of time before this issue passed, so why didn't the state come up with their own proposal with better terms for Ohio? The state wants to keep pushing the state lottery and recently made keno available in bars, but wants to keep casinos out. So while not the best deal, it will be nice to have a casino within an hour's drive.

Multi-Accounter

2010-01-06T23:49:00.001-05:00

Evidently this guy has about 1000 accounts on Full Tilt and plays them simultaneously.

Back in the Game

2010-01-03T16:00:00.009-05:00

It's been quite a while since my last post. I have still been following blogs and watching some bloggers at their tables but just haven't had the time or the motivation to post myself. I've been busy with work, kids and trying to build my bankroll back up. I have been playing mostly low stakes tournies and sngs with a lot of success in the Super Turbo single table and 45 man's, but then I turn around and spend my profits on tournies.

Last night I went against my better judgement and bought into a Tier 1 token sng. I have always had a lot of success in these but the buy-in was about 20% of my BR. I have been running extremely bad the last couple of weeks and lost almost everything that I had won in early December. I was able to convert my $8 into a token and entered the 28k gtee. The first two hours of the tourney I won a couple small pots I entered but played very few hands. Before I knew it the blinds were at 200/400 and I was down to 3600 chips in the BB. At this point I knew if I had any kind of hand I was all in. The cards are dealt and I see AJ and figure this is it. However, there is a raise and a reraise and a call. If I fold I have 8 bbs left but my table has a lot of big stacks and I'm pretty sure they will call with a wide range when I push. I fold and enter a 5$ horse tourney since I'm sure to be out of this soon. Next hand in the small blind I have nothing and plan on pushing if folded around to me, but there is a raise and I throw it away. The next hand I'm down to 2800 or so and get a double up with AJ and double again on the next hand to about 13k. I get my stack up to about 35k in the next few hands when I raised with 7d8d in late position and get 1 caller. The flop comes A78 and I get it all in against his AQ and just know he's gonna hit another A or Q to beat me, but my hand holds and now I have around 70k with blinds at 300/600 and I am able to keep increasing my stack to the final table. At the final table I am fourth in chips and go totally card dead. I am able to get a couple steals and one player goes out pretty quickly. We play 8 handed for a long time. Still card dead, I'm on the button and 3bet the cutoff's raise w/9cTc to pick up a nice pot. We lose another player and I can't keep from looking at the payouts. I really hate the way that affects my game. I tell myself not to let it affect my decisions but one place is almost a $500 jump. I raise w/kq in mp with about 18bbs left and sitting 5th of 7. The big stack BB puts me to a decision for my stack and I fold. This is a spot where I normally would just push my whole stack in pre-flop. We lose another player and I get down to about 8BBs when my A8 doubles against A5. Another 2 players go out before I play another hand and my 89 is all in against the BB's KJ and I'm out.

The last few days I have been on serious tilt and was doubting my game. Everything I was doing was wrong. I couldn't win a race no matter what side I was on. One win like this and it makes you feel like you are back. Last year was my worst year since I started playing online and my Vegas trip was horrible. Hopefully I can keep this up and increase my bankroll for this years' Vegas trip.

Rant

2009-08-04T23:07:00.004-04:00

I feel like I am playing better than I ever have but continue to get crushed by 2 and 3 outers when all of the chips are in. The play is so bad and I am continually getting my money in good and losing. I don't know how people can make the calls they are making with such marginal hands. And I mean calling, not raising or 3 betting but actually calling off their chips to a big reraise w/A rag or K5dd. Do I have to start playing like this to start winning again? I could never make the calls these guys do but they hit. I've had pretty good success in MTT's in the past but recently can't seem to get deep in anything. My style used to be what I thought was tight solid but I realized I was very passive. I would often end up at the money bubble as the short stack and have to win a lot of races to get deep. I was leaving a lot of chips on the table but I was still getting deep and winning money. After watching other successful players, I opened up my game and started taking down pots that I never would have in the past. But now I can't win a race when I need to or I isolate a raiser from the sb w/QQ and bb wakes up w/aa or calls off 3/4 of his stack w/a6 and hits. I try to keep a positive attitude and know that it is variance and things will turn around. But damn man the bad beats just don't stop and I know they are coming. Fairly deep in the 28k, I flop the nut flush from the bb in a 4 handed limped pot. UTG limper bets out and I check raise, cuz the way I'm running I don't want him to see any more cards. He reraises all in w/top pair (9) queen kicker and no flush draw. Well I know I'm fucked and he hits runner runner for a boat. It just seems so stupid. I can't win with sm pairs vs. overs, can't win w/overs vs. sm pairs. WTF do I do. Well, I won't be playing for a while since I donked most of my bankroll in Vegas and now at Full Tilt. A lot of expenses right now with kids going back to school, sports, and other things. Maybe I should try the Chris Ferguson experiment and freeroll to 10k. I've got a rakeback freeroll at the end of the month, hopefully I can do something in it.

Horse Final Table

2009-07-20T22:18:00.002-04:00

Frustrating. I was sitting 2nd with 9 left and I couldn't do any better than 8th place. I lost two big hands in the O8 rd. One hand I flopped broadway on a rainbow board. He called me down with 9987 w/2 crubs. sigh.......need I say more. I've cashed in the last 4 out of 5 HORSE tournies that I have played and continue to run bad NLHE tournies. I'm really starting to think I just don't have what it takes anymore to win or go deep in NLHE.

I run so %$#&ing good

2009-07-12T01:54:00.002-04:00

I didn't slow play either. He raised pre, I reraised 4x and he insta called. We got it all in on the flop.

Back to Reality

2009-07-06T21:49:00.009-04:00

This past month I have spent 7 days in Myrtle Beach, 5 days in Vegas, and 5 days camping. Now it's back to the daily grind.

My Vegas trip was fun but disappointing. I had high hopes for this trip and was ready to focus and play my best. I ended up playing 3 Venetian Deep Stack NLHE tourneys, one Caesar's Mega Stack NLHE tourney, the Golden Nugget HORSE tourney, and two Venetian second chance tourneys. I made it to the HORSE tourney my first day there and played solid for the first couple of hours. During the stud round I hit Broadway on 5th street and guy had rolled up 7's and hit a boat on 6th street for a big pot. I went out in the next Razz round when i had 7543A at 5th st. and my opponent had 7K9 showing. I got it all in and he hit a 2 and 4 on 6th and 7th for a A2457. GG me. That evening I met up with CK, LJ, and cmitch for dinner and then headed to the Wynn for a $1/$2 mixed game . I got my first lesson in 2-7 triple draw. The very first hand, LJ and I played a big pot where I had the 2nd nut hand and she had the 3rd. I ended up down about $40 but had a great time. I was hoping to get over to the Rio to rail LJ and cmitch in their tourneys but wasn't able to make it back over there.

The next day I played my first Venetian tourney. I was down early but came back and had a little below average stack just before dinner break. I had AKss in ep and raised, agro guy rrsd me from button. I rrsd all in and he called w/aq. Flop 345 w/2 spades. Qs gives me the nuts and he's calling for a 2 to split. Turn is an 8 and river is a black queen.......of crubs! Are you fking serious? My one big regret in this tourney was when I was down to about 17 bb and utg big stack raised. I was utg + 2 and had JJ. I was telling myself to push but couldn't do it. I decided to just call. The button called also. The flop came AKx. They got it all in w/one having AK and one AQ. Wouldn't you know the turn was a J. I would've tripled up. The next two deep stack tourneys I couldn't get anything going and went out around mid field in both. I did win a $130 satellite into the 2nd deepstack.

Both of the second chance Venetian tourneys I started off good. The 2nd one I played I was running over my table and then the table broke. I thought I had a lot of chips and my new table had 4 stacks larger than mine. The first 3 hands I was at the table, the big stack raised pre and was all in on every flop w/marginal hands. In my BB a shorty pushed for 4x the bb and big stack called. I look down at QThh and decide to see a flop. Flop comes Q9x. I check for the trap and just as he had been doing big stack says all in. I insta call and he tables A9. I think I'm in great shape until the river brings another 9. .........sigh

My last day there was Sunday and I played the Caesar's $330 tourney. I had a pretty soft table and had my starting 15k stack up to 26k after four hours and only showing down 2 hands. I was feeling confident and making great reads until this hand..... Blinds are 400/800 and utg pushes all in for 6k. I'm in the sb and find a pair of Q's. I rs to 12k and bb pushes all in. I know I'm probly fkd but have to call. He shows AA and I'm done.

I played 6 NLHE tourneys and didn't see AA or KK once. I had QQ twice and lost with them both times and I didn't flop one set. There were times in the tourneys when I wasn't in the hand but had some great reads on the players. I probably should have played more hands just to get in and try to outplay them post flop. I only played one NLHE $1/2 session at the Flamingo for about 2 hours. I bought in for 200 and cashed out for 350. One good player and the rest were pretty bad. Definitely should have played more cash.

I had a couple of good craps sessions and put $20 in a slot machine and cashed out $140 (my biggest slot machine cash ever). I was good and stayed away from roulette until my last night. Bad decision. I was able to meet up with Lightning for a couple of beers. It was after talking to him that I decided to play the cash game.

Overall I felt like I was playing good and making good reads, and at the same time not giving any tells away.

Vegas Baby....

2009-06-16T22:39:00.005-04:00

Well, I will be boarding my flight 8hrs from now. I was planning on taking the laptop and posting updates on my final table(s), but I won't be able to take it with me. I don't have as good of a memory as some of the bloggers, but I will do my best to recap when I get home. Good luck at the tables.

Surf's up

2009-06-09T21:37:00.003-04:00

F*@k Poker

2009-06-08T10:22:00.003-04:00

Fuck poker. Fuck the TOC. Fuck JJOK. Fuck Actyper. Fuck Ck. Fuck Karma. Fuck my last post.

JK. Congrats to all.

TOC at the Beach

2009-06-07T15:42:00.023-04:00

View from our condo

When I scheduled my Vegas trip, I didn't realize I would be gone on Father's Day. strike one. When we scheduled our Myrtle Beach trip, the TOC date was May 31st, according to the Full Tilt bbt4 page. So I promised the wife and family that the Myrtle Beach vacation would be "Poker Free". strike two. So here I am, on vacation with the family and will be playing tonight. My wife asked "Do you have to play?" Well no I don't, but to pass up a freeroll 1 in 21 (or better) shot at 12k seems unthinkable. Luckily, my wife somewhat understands and doesn't have a problem with me playing tonight. Thank you Mrs. Jenkins.

My wife has asked me in the past "Don't you sometimes wish you didn't have a family so that you could move to Vegas and play all of the time?" Well to be honest, that thought has never crossed my mind. Yes, I love to play poker. I also love coaching my kids in baseball and softball, going to track and swim meets and waiting for hours just to watch a couple of races. I love coming home from work and hearing Cody yell DaDa as he's running to the front door. Poker gives me an outlet to compete with others at something I like to think that I am good at. I mostly play tournaments and sng's because of the "rush" I get when my name is at the top of the leaderboard at the end of a tournament. I also play to win money to be able to take my family on trips, to buy things for the house, and to hopefully one day win my way into and cash in a major tournament.

I hope to log on in the morning and see a bunch of comments congratulating me on my TOC win. However, whether or not I win a seat, tomorrow I will be boogie boarding with my daughter, golfing with my son, building sand castles with my youngest daughter, and chasing the baby down the beach. If I don't win a seat, I know I will get another kind of "rush" when I see the looks on my kids' faces as they catch a big wave or show me how far they can swim under water or hit a great shot on the golf course.

I have had a great time playing with everyone in the BBT and wish everyone good luck in the TOC.

Skillz Baby..

2009-06-03T00:52:00.003-04:00

Any opinions on this hand?

2009-05-27T21:30:00.009-04:00

I got deep in the 28k gtee again last night. I'm just wondering what other people might do or think is the best play in this situation.

Once we were down to around 80 players, the tourney dynamics changed quite a bit. Everyone was taking a lot of chances and 3 betting with marginal hands. I had just gone from 35k chips to about 90k (about average) in the span of a few hands when this hand came up.

Full Tilt Poker Game #12458265087: $28,000 Guarantee (92762037), Table 11 - 2000/4000 Ante 500 - No Limit Hold'em - 2:33:04 ET - 2009/05/27

Seat 2: Shabazz Jenkins (89,956)
Seat 3: Oaklandish (79,055)
Seat 4: woundedknee99 (107,040)
Seat 6: ErikTheKing7 (110,928)
Seat 7: xHanzox (54,748)
Seat 8: AriAri7 (117,695)
Seat 9: icudonk (102,400)
Shabazz Jenkins antes 500
Oaklandish antes 500
woundedknee99 antes 500
ErikTheKing7 antes 500
xHanzox antes 500
AriAri7 antes 500
icudonk antes 500
icudonk posts the small blind of 2,000
Shabazz Jenkins posts the big blind of 4,000
The button is in seat #8
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Shabazz Jenkins [Qc Qd]
Oaklandish folds
woundedknee99 folds
ErikTheKing7 folds
xHanzox folds
AriAri7 raises to 9,555
icudonk folds
Shabazz Jenkins raises to 28,000
AriAri7 raises to 117,195, and is all in
Shabazz Jenkins calls 61,456, and is all in
AriAri7 shows [Ad 2h]
Shabazz Jenkins shows [Qc Qd]
Uncalled bet of 27,739 returned to AriAri7
*** FLOP ***
[Kd Kc Ks]
*** TURN ***
[Kd Kc Ks] [6h]
raskals1 (Observer):
whoaraskals1 (Observer): whoa
*** RIVER ***
[Kd Kc Ks 6h] [Ac]
raskals1 (Observer): whoa
AriAri7 shows a full house, Kings full of Aces
Shabazz Jenkins shows a full house, Kings full of Queens
AriAri7 wins the pot (184,412) with a full house, Kings full of Aces
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 184,412
Rake 0Board: [Kd Kc Ks 6h Ac]
Seat 2: Shabazz Jenkins (big blind) showed [Qc Qd] and lost with a full house, Kings full of Queens
Seat 3: Oaklandish folded before the Flop
Seat 4: woundedknee99 folded before the Flop
Seat 6: ErikTheKing7 folded before the Flop
Seat 7: xHanzox folded before the Flop
Seat 8: AriAri7 (button) showed [Ad 2h] and won (184,412) with a full house, Kings full of Aces
Seat 9: icudonk (small blind) folded before the Flop

When I was thinking about this hand today, I realized how much of an impact my stack size had on my decision, which cost me my tournament life. I had approximately 22 big blinds at this point and was comfortable with my table. If I had just 15 to 18 BB's in this situation, I definitely shove here. In the past I would have probably shoved this stack most of the time not wanting to risk getting called by a marginal hand. If I would've shoved, he most likely folds and I am still alive in the tourney.

So the question is: Is the best play here to raise for value or play scared poker and shove to just take down the 18k pot?

Freak Ice Storm Last Night

2009-05-18T23:39:00.011-04:00

No, not really. This was our first winter in this house a few years ago. We moved from a 1/4 acre lot without any trees to an acre lot full of trees. This storm came 2 days before Christmas and I ended up working 3 days straight. We were lucky as our power was only out for 10 hours. Luckily, we didn't have any damage to the house or to the tree house. Okay, I might have gone a little overboard on the tree house.

Sick Hand and a bad Sunday

2009-05-17T22:22:00.005-04:00

The flop was checked around and we got it all in on the turn. The river actually helped me get about 1/2 of my chips back.

It was an all around pretty bad Sunday for me. I finished 3rd in a FTOPS ME sat where top 2 got seat. In the brit blogger game I barely missed the much needed points. And just about every 0ther tourney I got fkd one way or the other. When I start losing like this I keep registering for more tourneys and blowing through my bankroll. Just as I am typing this I get fkd again in the 5050. I 4 bet donk and after taking all of his time he can't get away from his hand, which I of course know I'm beat when he calls.

No Power

2009-05-05T21:23:00.002-04:00

I sat down at the computer around 9:30 on Monday night getting ready to play the Riverchasers tourney. As I was reading the day's news, the lights shut off, then back on, then back off, then back on (shit, please not a 3rd time), then back off. Damn............
I work for the power company and know if the breaker trips a 3rd time, it goes to lock out. Lockout means the breaker can not be put back into service until a lineman patrols the lines to find the problem and make sure there aren't any more hazards.....at least 2 hours.
So I sat on the couch and was asleep before 10. This has to be the earliest I have fallen asleep in months. See ya at the tables.

Nice river... and vegas plans

2009-05-03T00:43:00.003-04:00

I called the LAG UTG raiser hoping to hit the flop here. Player behind me decided to call also. UTG player made a C bet on the flop which i decided to just call since there was a player left to act behind. Player behind called also. I figure with an overpair he would raise and a small chance he flats with a 4 but likely to raise w/the spades and 2 players in. So I put him on a draw.
The turn gives me a straight flush draw. Initial raiser bets again and I raise hoping both players fold. Player behind me reraises all in and I have to call hoping he doesn't have the full house. Sure enough he does but I hit the only card in the deck that could beat his full house. It feels good to be on the winning side of that for once.

This is the first time I have played a cash game in quite a while. I have always made a profit in cash games but I get very bored playing them. Usually when I go to Vegas I only play tournaments. I always plan on playing cash games but end up at the roulette or craps table. This year I am going to force myself to sit down and play, so I'm going to try and mix in some cash games with my daily tourneys and sngs.

As of right now, here are my tournament plans for my Vegas trip.
June 17- $200 O/8 limit at Binions
June 18- $300 NLHE at Caesar's
June 19- $300 NLHE at Caesar's
June 20- $500 NLHE Venetian
June 21-$500 NLHE at Caesar's
There is a $500 PLO at Venetian on the 19th that I will try to satellite into, as well as the 1k buy-in tourney on the 21st. I still haven't ruled out playing event 39 at the WSOP on the 20th. I may try to satellite in or I will need to win a seat or have another big cash in a MTT to be able to do so.

FreeRollllllllin..........

2009-04-26T20:45:00.002-04:00

I have been playing good in MTT's lately but unable to get past final 3 tables for a decent cash. So today, on my anniversary, I not only make it to the FT but was able to get a big chip lead HU. I told my wife that I would only play the blogger today and she didn't mind. However, I went ahead and enrolled in the monthly RTR freeroll not expecting to last longer than the Blogger tourney. So she was pretty upset with me during the whole final table. In my defense, I am pretty sick so if I wasn't playing I would've been lying on the couch anyway.

The first hand of HU we got it all in on this hand.

Full Tilt Poker Game #11889528036: RakeTheRake.com $25,000 FR (88600968), Table 26 - 12000/24000 Ante 3000 - No Limit Hold'em - 20:22:22 ET - 2009/04/26
Silly Pirate (Observer): nice !&$%ing hand
Seat 7: Shabazz Jenkins (1,253,348)
Seat 9: sfanants (638,152)
Shabazz Jenkins antes 3,000
sfanants antes 3,000
sfanants posts the small blind of 12,000
Shabazz Jenkins posts the big blind of 24,000
Shabazz Jenkins: gg
The button is in seat #9Silly Pirate (Observer): amazing
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Shabazz Jenkins [9s 9d]
Silly Pirate (Observer):
ggsfanants raises to 72,000
Shabazz Jenkins raises to 1,250,348, and is all insfanants calls 563,152, and is all in
Shabazz Jenkins shows [9s 9d]
sfanants shows [As 3h]
Uncalled bet of 615,196 returned to Shabazz Jenkins
*** FLOP *** [Tc Kh 8h]
*** TURN *** [Tc Kh 8h] [3c]
Silly Pirate (Observer):
shabazz if u win this which i know u will please ship me 5
*** RIVER *** [Tc Kh 8h 3c] [3s]
Shabazz Jenkins shows two pair, Nines and Threes
sfanants shows three of a kind, Threes
sfanants wins the pot (1,276,304) with three of a kind, Threes
Silly Pirate (Observer): !&!$
*** SUMMARY ***Total pot 1,276,304
Rake 0Board: [Tc Kh 8h 3c 3s]
Seat 7: Shabazz Jenkins (big blind) showed [9s 9d] and lost with two pair, Nines and Threes
Seat 9: sfanants (small blind) showed [As 3h] and won

That was an $1800 3 on the river. Damn.

Happy 1st Birthday Cody!

2009-04-26T15:02:00.003-04:00

Today is my son's 1st birthday and my wedding anniversary. Cody was a BIG suprise and was totally unexpected. My wife was planning on going back to work once my youngest daughter started 1st grade. The day after the first day of school we found out she was pregnant. Not too long before, we had given away all of our baby clothes and furniture.

After having 3 kids I couldn't imagine having another baby in the house, but now can't imagine life without him.

So close again....

2009-04-20T01:18:00.003-04:00

Congrats to TuscaloosaJohn for taking down the Big Game. It was a very tough final table. My AK ran into the much better hand A9 held by 1Queens Up1 and I finished 3rd. I got the much needed points but would have been nice to take this one down.

Also, congrats to 2BA and Heffmike for making the final table of both blogger tournaments today.

Almost 2 for 2

2009-04-03T23:50:00.006-04:00

If I could just stick to these SNGs my ROI would be great. I end up spending my profits chasing the big score in tournies. I've noticed these being a lot softer on weekend nights. Anyone else think the games are softer on Friday and Saturday nights?

I finished 2nd in the Mookie on Wednesday which moved me up to 2nd place in the points standings and giving me a great start in April's points race.

Congratulations to 1Queens Up1 for taking down the the March points race.

Vegas plans....

2009-03-19T23:55:00.005-04:00

I've got my Vegas plans set. I will be arriving early on Wed. June 17 and leaving on Monday June 22. The Venetian Deep Stack summer schedule just came out and they don't have one $330 tourney while I am there. I planned on playing a couple of those and trying to satellite into the $550 and the $1k. Last year I played in a couple of the Caesar's Mega Stack events which have great structures. Hopefully they will have a few of the smaller buy-in tourneys that week.

The last two year's I've played a tourney in the Binion's Summer Classic, a H.O.R.S.E and an Omaha/8 limit. They have great structures and treat the players very well. The lower limit cash O8 game and the 1-2 NL cash games were very soft. They don't have their 2009 schedule out yet but I hope that they will have an omaha or horse event that week.

As far as the BBT4 goes, I'm sitting in 7th place in the points with 7 events left in the month. I'm hoping to make a run at the monthly 2k prize. Last year I lost the 3rd month prize by just a few points. I got deep in the Mookie for the 2nd straight week only to lose to heffmike's donk preflop all in raise from sb into my KJ in the bb. He flips over T2o and takes me out. He did have me covered but I only had 4k back after posting the 1200 bb and I figured he would know my calling range had to be huge considering my stack size and pot odds. I just can't see how that play makes any sense.

Took the kids to see Race to Witch Mountain today. Pretty good movie with lots of action. The kids loved it.

Nice, my AQ just flopped qq6 rainbow i check raise late pos bettor he insta pushes with TT and hits his GD T on the river.....now I'm pissed L8

Gettin it out of the way early!

2009-03-01T20:06:00.005-05:00

I won the first blogger tournament today! I don't even know how to get screen shots to post yet. (can anyone help me out?) I had a few bad calls and played a couple of hands badly but overall I think I played pretty well. Once we got to the final table I was totally card dead for an hour or so. I picked up a few pots with air and was able to stay alive. Once we got 4 handed I was in the sb and Joanada was in the bb. I had q9 and limped into unopened pot. I had about 1 1/2x her stack and didn't want her to come over top. She checks her option. Flop came A95. I bet about 2/3 pot and she tanks then goes all in. At this point I only have about 6 big blinds left. She had been playing pretty tight but with her stack size, I figured she woulda pushed pre with any A. If I call and lose I've got about 3 BB left so it was tough to get away from. Even with my small chip stack, I've got a good read on the other players and feel good about my chances to win. So I gave her credit for the A and I folded my q9.

Joanada went out a few hands later and then my 77 held up vs cooldog's all in push w/8T. So I get heads up with microvillain which is exactly the situation I was hoping for. I think he had the chip lead by about 60k to my 40k. I was able to pull to about even and then fell back to about 25k. Came back up to about 35k w/blinds at 1500/3000. He raised his button to 9800 which he had been raising about 70% of the time and I have a9. I decide to push but when he types in "crap gl" I know he's calling. He shows 55 and we are racing. By the turn I think it's over until the river brings the beautiful A. I rake in the pot and leave him with about 20k. He has been the big stack throughout the final table so I'm not sure how he's gonna play the short stack. I raise his blind with 9Th and he insta pushes all in. This is a close decision for me, 34k in the pot and will cost me 12k to call. I decide to wait for a better spot. The following hand I have KT in the bb. He raises 3x bb leaving about 22k behind. I figured he'd be pushing all in pre here with any decent hand and with the frequency that he had been raising, I put him on a wide range of hands. So i come over the top and he calls w/Ax. Not looking good until I spike a ten on the river and it's over!

Still have the Big Game to play tonight, so I hope I can make it two in a row. Gl.

2009-02-24T20:22:00.003-05:00

BBT4 is here! I didn't have my blog up last year for bbt3, but I have been following several blogs for the past couple of years and played in the bbt3 last year. I started this blog back in 2007 but never kept it up. I'm not much of a writer and don't have a whole lot of time to keep up with a blog but I'm going to do my best to keep regular updates.

This past year online poker has been pretty bad for me. In 2007 I won quite a bit and was able to play in my 1st WSOP $1500 event. I had my AA cracked in a big pot close to the money. Last year, I won the 17k gtee early in the year and was able to go back to Vegas for the WSOP but I only played in the Venetian and Caesars events. I will be in Vegas this year also and hope to have a bigger bankroll. Since the 17k win i have been running pretty bad but hope to turn it around this year.

GL, see ya at the tables.

Almost 3

2007-06-05T23:18:00.000-04:00

Well, I almost won my 3rd WSOP bracelet package in Sunday night's race. I started off horribly and was down to around 600 chips at first break. It seems like the tournaments that I place high in always start off this way.

I was sitting around 15th with 18 left and fought my way to the final table. I was short stack once again when we got there and the table was tight. I doubled up when my kq won vs. a9. I made my way to the top 3 but was out chipped by 45k and 40k to my 18k. Several hands later I just called a 2xbb raise from button w/KQo. I usually raise here, but since i have less than 1/2 the stack of 1st and 2nd, I am hoping to flop a big hand and trap. Flop came AQ9 w/2 hearts. I didn't put him on an A since this guy raised only 2xbb w/marginal hands and 4xbb w/big hands. I bet 2/3 pot and he smooth called. Turn brought a J and I check. He insta shoves all in. I still had 19k left w/1 and 2k blinds.

I believe if I had more time I would've been able to get away from this hand. But for a split second I believed he was on a draw and my inner donk came out and called. He showed QJ and took the pot.

Still though it's nice to have some high finishes right before my Vegas trip.

Just in Time

2007-06-03T00:29:00.000-04:00

With my Vegas trip just 4 days away I needed something to boost my confidence. Last night while I was writing my first post, I was playing the 26k gntee at FT.

After starting out horribly and donkin away to about 600 chips I was able to double up and get a few steals. I was sitting at about 180th place when we got to the money. After doubling up w/aq vs. chip leaders 33, I was in pretty good shape. To make a long story short, I made it to the final table but was the short stack. I survived a couple all ins and watched as 4 others went out. Here is where I am questioning my play. I'm hoping I can get some feedback of what others would have done.

Chip leader on button has 1mill chips, I in sb have 110k after posting 12k sb, BB has 30k after posting 24k BB. Chip leader has been pushing w/marginal hands and goes all in again on button. I have A9 off. I'm 95% sure here that short stack in BB is goin in with anything here. Fourth place pays 500 more than 5th. If do call and shorty happens to win, I don't want to triple him up, so I fold. Short stack does call w/kt vs. chip leaders 33. Flop is AKQ. Short stack wins with pair of kings. Damn't I would have doubled and taken shorty's last 30 k. I still feel that I made the right play. Any comments?

Also can anyone tell me how to copy and paste a screen shot?

First Post

2007-06-01T22:41:00.000-04:00

Ok. I opened this account in February and am finally getting around to my first post. I originally opened the account only so that i could respond to some of the blogs I read. I don't have the time to post often, but I will do my best to post regularly.

After winning the nightly horse tourney in March and a 2k bracelet package in April, I put some of the money away for my Vegas trip next week and was going to use the rest to build my bankroll. Well, I still have the money for Vegas but my online bankroll is lookin pretty bad. There are several reasons for this.

1. After 2 big wins (for me at least) and some smaller wins, I felt like I was on a roll and would continue winning, so I played way too many tourneys and with too big of a buy in.

2. I wanted to be able to play 2 WSOP events and was trying too hard to win and trying to force a win instead of playing my game.

3. Internet poker is rigged. haha

I got my poker books back out and have been doing some reading and I think I've got my head back on straight.

Anyway I'm flying out to vegas on June 6 and leaving June 12. I will be playing WSOP event #15 on Saturday the 9th. My buyin in is taken care of but I hope to play some satellites at Rio and win my entry again. I plan on playing at least one event at the Venetian Deep Stack Extravaganza. I have been wanting to play a live horse tourney and probably would have never checked for any tourney's at Binions, but found their tourney schedule on cracknaces' blog. They have a $250 buy-in on Friday w/6k starting chips, so I will almost definitely be there for that.