Thanks guys

250 hands tonight at Stars, down 14 bucks. I was up $120 at one point, so it was kind of all over the place. I'm a bit rusty, as evidenced by a few silly calldowns. I managed to induce bluffs a couple times on the river though, so I haven't lost my skills completely.

Played a home game last night and netted $70.

Hmm, I guess it's been awhile since I wrote anything here. I kind of got sick of poker for awhile, but lately have been getting interested in it again.

I've been playing in the $60+5 Saturday NL tournament at a local casino (Ocean's 11) for the past couple months, and the $4/8 kill game afterwards. I finally made the final table last week (190 players), and again this week (180 players). Last week I went out 9th for $480 and this week we worked out a 9-way deal where the chip leader got $2K and the rest of us got $1120. Not a bad payday.

The tournament can kind of turn into a crapshoot in the second half, but I'm getting good at figuring out whose blind to steal and what kind of cards I need to push with.

Key moments from yesterday:

2nd level, two T25 blinds:

I basically have my starting stack (T2500) and have not played a hand yet. It folds to me in the CO and I raise to T100 with [6s] on a steal. The SB calls.

Flop is [5s][6c]. Wow, nice flop! SB checks and I bet T200, and he check-raises to T700. I don't need to think too long about pushing, and he thinks a long time and folds. Pretty sure it was 77-99 or maybe a 76. I'm up to about T3300.

5th level, T100/200 blinds:

I haven't had a playable hand in a long time (pretty much the whole tournament so far), and have about (T3000). About this level people start getting fairly tight, so I raise to T500 from MP on a steal with [2d]. SB thinks awhile and calls, BB calls.

The flop comes T high all hearts, and SB bets out T2000. BB and I fold.

7th level, T300/600:

Still fairly card dead, with about T2000. The blinds are about to go up to T500/1000, so I push from the cutoff with Q7o against a tight player who barely has me covered. Unfortunately he has ATo and we are off to the races.

He flops an A and I get up on the turn thinking I am drawing dead, but I've failed to notice that there's 3 clubs on the board and I have the mighty . The flush hits on the river and I am back in the game.

My rush begins, and I steal the blinds for several hands, and then get my money in with AK against QQ and QQ, spiking a K on the river, and called two all-ins with [Qc] against 33 and Q7o (I had everyone covered for this one), with a Q on the flop. By the T3K/6K level I was up to 80K and had everyone at my table covered.

I rode my stack to the final table (we made a deal to create a 10th place and start 10 handed), where I only had about 4BB at T5K/10K, but there were 3 or so people shorter than me. After 10th place was knocked out and the blinds were up to T10K/20K we cut our 9 way deal.

Party gave me a free $40, so I decided to mess around a bit at the $.50/1 6max in my first foray online in awhile. By the time I cleared it it was down to $14 , so I doubled it on a hand of blackjack and ran it up to $55 back at the tables, and cashed it out to neteller.

So basically I remembered how ridiculously convenient and entertaining playing online can be (tell me again why congress wants to outlaw this game), so I fired up Stars $3/6 6max and promptly rediscovered my mizorly roots.

Poker Stars
Limit Holdem Ring game
Limit: $3/$6
6 players


Pre-flop: (6 players) Hero is CO with
UTG calls, UTG+1 folds, Hero calls, Button raises, SB calls, BB calls, UTG calls, Hero calls.

Flop: (10SB, 5 players)
SB checks, BB checks, UTG checks, Hero bets, Button calls, SB calls, 2 folds.

Turn: (6.5BB, 3 players)
SB checks, Hero bets, Button calls, SB folds.

River: (8.5BB, 2 players)
Hero bets, Button calls.

Results:
Final pot: 10.5BB
Hero showed
Button doesn't show

Poker Stars
Limit Holdem Ring game
Limit: $3/$6
5 players


Pre-flop: (5 players) Hero is UTG with
Hero raises, 3 folds, BB calls.

Flop: (4.33SB, 2 players)
BB checks, Hero bets, BB raises, Hero calls.

Turn: (4.17BB, 2 players)
BB bets, Hero calls.

River: (6.17BB, 2 players)
BB bets, Hero calls.

Results:
Final pot: 8.17BB
BB showed
Hero showed

Buncha bonuses at Stars, so I'll try to work those off a little.

Out early in the O11 $65 tourney today. I won a couple small pots right away to bring me from T2500 to T2800, and then lost my stack on a big hand.

With the blinds at T25/25 a terrible player (he's already busted two people) 2 off the button raises to 200, CO calls, I find [Kh] and bump it to T600. Both players call.

Flop comes [5d][3h], terrible player bets T300 into the T1800 pot, CO folds, and I'm fairly certain he has a smaller pair and push my T2000 or so. He mumbles something about going home early and calls with [8h]. I lose the coinflip and that's it for me.

100 hands, $100 at $3/6 6max.

This guy was terrible, cold called pretty much every raise I made:

Poker Stars
Limit Holdem Ring game
Limit: $3/$6
6 players


Pre-flop: (6 players) Hero is SB with
UTG folds, UTG+1 calls, CO calls, Button calls, Hero raises, BB calls, UTG+1 calls, CO calls, Button calls.

Flop: (8.33SB, 5 players)
Hero bets, BB calls, UTG+1 folds, CO calls, Button folds.

Turn: (5.67BB, 3 players)
Hero bets, BB raises, CO folds, Hero calls.

River: (9.67BB, 2 players)
Hero checks, BB bets, Hero calls.

Results:
Final pot: 11.67BB
Hero showed
BB showed

Yah, there's some pretty big donks there.

130 hands, $150 tonight. I was pretty card dead for most of the session, but I managed to hit a few hands, including one flush over flush and a runner runner straight where I peeled with overcards and turned an OESD.

This one was really hawt:

Poker Stars
Limit Holdem Ring game
Limit: $3/$6
6 players


Pre-flop: (6 players) Hero is SB with
UTG calls, UTG+1 calls, 2 folds, Hero raises, BB calls, UTG calls, UTG+1 calls.

Flop: (6.67SB, 4 players)
Hero bets, 2 folds, UTG+1 calls.

Turn: (4.33BB, 2 players)
Hero bets, UTG+1 calls.

River: (6.33BB, 2 players)
Hero bets, UTG+1 raises, Hero 3-bets, UTG+1 caps, Hero calls.

Results:
Final pot: 14.33BB
UTG+1 showed
Hero mucks

110 hands at PS $3/6 6max while I watched a couple episodes of Band of Brothers. Was up pretty much the whole time, ended up $96. I think I'll try to make SilverStar for next month. I need about 948 FPPs, which will also clear a bonus or two.

me and bri played poker with one of the guys in band of brothers at the taj.

i called a bluff of his down for a good amount of money

he also got ass-raped (literally) in the show Oz. haha.

Haha, nice. Looks like it's Kirk Acevedo who plays Staff Sergeant Joseph Toye.

I'll try to picture you snapping off his bluff, rather than him getting ass-raped.

A couple short sessions today for 185 hands. Up $40 in the first, down $7 in the second.

I think I'll try to get in 100 hands a day for the rest of this month.

96 hands at PokerStars $3/6 6max for $26. Mostly unremarkable session.

There's pretty much nothing better in limit hold 'em than pumping draws on the flop -- it's a shame you can't get there every time:

Poker Stars
Limit Holdem Ring game
Limit: $3/$6
6 players


Pre-flop: (6 players) Hero is BB with
UTG raises, UTG+1 calls, 3 folds, Hero calls.

Flop: (6.33SB, 3 players)
Hero checks, UTG bets, UTG+1 calls, Hero raises, UTG 3-bets, UTG+1 calls, Hero caps, UTG calls, UTG+1 calls.

Turn: (9.17BB, 3 players)
Hero checks, UTG bets, UTG+1 calls, Hero calls.

River: (12.17BB, 3 players)
Hero checks, UTG checks, UTG+1 checks.

Results:
Final pot: 12.17BB
Hero showed
UTG showed
UTG+1 mucks