Rant

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

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

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

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....

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

TOC at the Beach

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..

Any opinions on this hand?

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

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

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

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

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..........

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!

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....

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

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....

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!

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.

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.