Compromising Anonymity: July 2006

Monday, July 31, 2006

short post and SING dammit.

Just a short 'howdy'.

Had a great little trip to the see my cousins in the booming metropolis of Douglas, GA and a nice day visit to the OKEFINOKEE swamp. The kids had a great time and so did we. Our cousins did a great job of showing us true southern hospitality, and quiet town life.

MATH probably aint happenin for me. Cause....

Hey its my birthday!!

wo0t! You can't see it,(and be glad you can't) but I'm doing the "I may be old, but I'm happy" dance.

short post and SING dammit.

Thursday, July 27, 2006

check your brain at the door

I wish I had something clever or witty to say, but I don't.

DADI was every bit the madness I thought it might be. I doubled up on the first hand with A8 vs A7. Things went downhill from there. I proceeded to fulfill the promise of DADI by being a complete and utter donkey whenever possible. That hand I posted last night was the pennicle of my journey. 5 rebuys and an add on later I busted in 20th. yippeee

I also managed to donk off a buy in and a half at a 50/nl table with CC, weak_player and donkeypuncher. hee haw

Almost forgot to mention, I'm taking the Wife and kids on a mini-vacation this weekend, so I will get a well deserved vacation from the computer.

And remember, you be careful out there.

check your brain at the door

Wednesday, July 26, 2006

sick

PokerStars Game #5694435415: Tournament #28030748, $5.00+$0.50 Hold'em No Limit - Level VI (100/200) - 2006/07/26 - 22:32:24 (ET)
Table '28030748 8' 9-max Seat #5 is the button
Seat 2: HighOnPokr (13075 in chips)
Seat 3: willwonka (5450 in chips)
Seat 4: HCR33 (13753 in chips)
Seat 5: dnasty13 (7657 in chips)
Seat 6: 23skidoo (12905 in chips)
Seat 7: GScottW (7150 in chips)
Seat 8: chilldyl2002 (13620 in chips)
Seat 9: Astin (9383 in chips)
23skidoo: posts small blind 100
GScottW: posts big blind 200
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to 23skidoo [9d 9s]
chilldyl2002: folds
Astin: calls 200
HighOnPokr: folds
willwonka: folds
HCR33: folds
dnasty13: folds
23skidoo: raises 800 to 1000
GScottW: folds
Astin: calls 800
*** FLOP *** [5s 8c 3c]
23skidoo: bets 2000
Astin: raises 2000 to 4000
23skidoo: raises 7905 to 11905 and is all-in
Astin: calls 4383 and is all-in
*** TURN *** [5s 8c 3c] [5d]
HighOnPokr said, "i figureed out why it isnt showing rankings"
*** RIVER *** [5s 8c 3c 5d] [5h]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
23skidoo: shows [9d 9s] (a full house, Fives full of Nines)
Astin: shows [3h 3s] (a full house, Fives full of Threes)
HighOnPokr said, "wow!"
23skidoo collected 18966 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 18966 | Rake 0
Board [5s 8c 3c 5d 5h]
Seat 2: HighOnPokr folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 3: willwonka folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 4: HCR33 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 5: dnasty13 (button) folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 6: 23skidoo (small blind) showed [9d 9s] and won (18966) with a full house, Fives full of Nines
Seat 7: GScottW (big blind) folded before Flop
Seat 8: chilldyl2002 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 9: Astin showed [3h 3s] and lost with a full house, Fives full of Threes

more to come

sick

Tuesday, July 25, 2006

busy busy

I wanted to update that post a bit earlier and elaborate, but I've been pretty busy today. I was so freaking fried last night after that tournament, it was truly the most grueling final table I've been in in a long time. I totally effed up the screenshot of the beginning of the final table where I had a majority of the chips in play.

The ironic part of it is that I had just watched the WSOP circuit event in New Orleans with Gavin Smith the other night. Gavin came into that final table with a HUGE stack and kept plugging away at opponents, seemingly regardless of his cards. Unfortunately for him his aggression got the better of him and he wound up taking second.

I was determined to win this one.

When we got 4 handed I still had a massive lead over perennial MATH final tabler DrRaz(get a blog you poof), Don the weak tight pushmonkey (just kidding don), and mowenMRTIGHTumdown. DrRaz was picking off blinds, playing my role for me as I dodged and weaved. Kelly took a tough beat by don to be bubble boy, and I figured things would be over quickly. I was sadly mistaken.

The lead probably changed at least 5 times, 3 handed I got as low as ~T5000 chips, but I was finally able to dispatch Don. Heads up was truly a battle. You may recall last week TripJax and I were heads up and in the mook and I could not keep up with the aggression. This weeks MATH was very similar, however this week everytime I made a stand, I made a hand, almost every time as an underdog. I put a few seriously bad beats on Raz before finally making it through. I was spent, no other way to describe it.

Thanks alot to the ATL homies, My brother (king1112), KJ, surf, and
todd for the encouragement, it does mean alot.

busy busy

drained

MATH was a great time obviously, I was in complete control untilwe got 3 handed and it took a good amount of luck to take it down. Thanks to my rialbids King112, K, surf and astin for keeping me positive. See you at WWDN tonight.

Monday, July 24, 2006

drained

Moving on

Moving the last post down. Who wants to read that?

I'm MrHappy Donk, with a fistful of hammers and a brain full of mush.

No worries mates, the old garbage disposal is in full crush mode, I had a very nice weekend with the wife and kids, didn't play one hand of poker. Stayed up late with the wife on Friday, discussing houses and other stuff. We took the kids to a local petting zoo which they LOVED. MrBrianiac forgot the stupid camera though. We had a great time walking through the trails feeding the 'wild' squirrels, deer, donkeys, horse, bear and buffalo among others.

Sunday we had our niece's baptism in which we were chosen as 'sponsors'. Whatever happened to godparents? Crazy Lutherans.

Another interesting thing is that 2 of the pastors were females. I don't have a huge problem with it, but in my humble opinion a pastor is a father figure, a leader of men. These things add up to being male. Please don't get me wrong, I'm not a barefoot n' pregnant, women belong in the kitchen sort of guy. I guess I just draw an imaginary line at father figures and leaders of men.

Luckily my brother in law has TiVo, so we were able to get back to his place and watch Tiger put on a golf clinic in real time.

Anyone else get a load of Sergio Garcia??? I only have 3 words. What. The. Fuck.

I know Spaniards are a little fruity, but dude looked like a chiquita banana. The only way somebody can pull that of is if they can keep up or overtake Tiger. Sergio proved once again that the only thing he can do under pressure is become pudding.

I might try to play MATH tonight, depends on how tired I am. I'm definitely playing in DADI this week, it should be a blast.

Moving on

Friday, July 21, 2006

Release.

I had something I wanted to write about earlier, but I forgot.

I'm suffering form sleep deprivation I think. I've overindulged in poker, it's an obsession that I have no control over. Previously I embraced the obsession, hoping in some way that I could cleanse myself of the need by overexposure. Like a flu vaccine or something. Immersion has only breeded further obsession. I constantly think about poker. I relate almost all situations to poker.

It's all a game, a play.

I've tried setting rules for myself, ha!

I've endured self imposed bans.

I've been asked on numerous occasions just to show some levity, SOME control. Nope.

I'm running pretty good lately, although the 45sngChallenge has been somewhat humbling so far. I feel good, in control enlightened even.

I'm also feeling burnt out. My back hurts, my freaking carpal tunnel is acting up, (12 hours a day at least on the computer) I'm forgetting things, I'm completely unproductive at work.

What's the point of this post? Beats me. I need sleep.

I see the cycle, it's too easy. How do I skirt it, avoid it? All of us go through this to a certain extent. Don't we?

Sorry that I'm being a whiny bitch, but this blog is still for me and maybe if I can just get it out there, somehow I can release it.

Release.

Thursday, July 20, 2006

I'm an idiot

So I have been posting in this humble little blog for well over a year now just for my own enjoyment and possibly track my mental stability as I traverse this little vehicle called life. For awhile I was getting comment spam up the wazzo and finally changed the settings on blogger so that you needed to add a password to post. Inadvertently, I also set the moderation on and neglected to put an email address in the little box dealy thing.

So I go happily along for the next year patiently waiting for a comment here or there. I win the WWDN, nothing. I start playing in ALL of the blogger events, nothing. I even went so far as to ASK for comments at some point, and nothing.

At some point the fine folks at PokerSource decide to offer me a great afiliate deal, and I'm like 'well shit, screw the stupid bloggers, somebody has got to be reading this. I don't care anyway'.

That's it, until tonight when my good buddy KJ asks me why won't I let anyone post a comment on my blog. UMM. I can post a comment my self just fine. I tried a few months ago. I just figured no one liked me, and screw them anyway.

SO I finally figure out my problem and it has been fixed. .......

I think.

So, if your happy and you know it leave a comment. Let me know how much of a moron I am, something..... Thanks.

I'm an idiot

yadda yadda yadda

2 blogger events - 2 cashes
10 sng's - 1 cash

wtf.

I suppose them's the breaks.

I had a great chance to get a 1st in the 45 that I cashed in. Three handed I get AKc. Pushmonkey in front of me goes all in K9 off. And you guessed it King on the flop, nine on the turn. I was not surprised at all. At least I cashed in a 11+1 and I'm on the board.

I've deviated from my original plan regarding which SNG's I'd play. So far I've been in 2 - 11+1 turbo's, 4- 5+.50's, 3- 1+.20's and a 6+.50turbo. My highest rank before the 3rd place was 26. Ugh. Now I have to cash in at least 3 out of my 7 last tries to have any hope of making the top 4.

Entries = -56.10
Wins = +77.00
= +20.90 wo0t!

In the mook last night I was on freaking fire. I had a HUGE lead coming into the final table, but was unable to take it home primarily due to TripJax constant pressure, secondly, due to my innate inability to catch a reasonable hand at the right time. Congrats to Jax, he was also on fire coming into the final table and let his aggression take care of the rest.

I must admit, near the end of the mook I was not in top form. I had taken a muscle relaxer earlier and was feeling no pain. I know I was at a blogger cash table too, but have no idea how much I lost there, but I'm sure I lost. And just in case you think I take muscle relaxers for fun, I've had a spasm in my back for the past 3 days and really needed a reprieve from the pain. I hate taking medicine, but I was practically in tears and ibuprofen wasn't cutting it.

yadda yadda yadda

Tuesday, July 18, 2006

MATH is fundamental

Got 3rd in the MATH played 2 cash tables with bloggers, yay.
Maybe I'll post more tomorrow, I'm tired and I wasnt supposed to be playing tonight.

Monday, July 17, 2006

MATH is fundamental

Got 3rd in the MATH played 2 cash tables with bloggers, yay.
Maybe I'll post more tomorrow, I'm tired and I wasnt supposed to be playing tonight.

No soup for you.

My last shot at going to Vegas is gone. I played fairly well for over 2-1/2 hours on the 150 seat guarantee. It turned out to be ~230 seats guaranteed when we ended up at ~7800 players. Lee Jones messaged the tourney that is was the largest WSOP sattelite ever, and I believe it. I've never been in a tournament with over 2000. Early on I was getting good cards and built my stack to over 8000. I just couldnt keep it up. I felt like I had to press any edge I had and got called down with non-optimal hands. Maybe I got a little caught up in seeing some players with stacks over 15k already. In the last hour I played I lost holding AK 3 times and won with it once. I got Aces twice and Kings twice. I'm gonna import the hands and results tonight and analyze the hands I lost.

I think I'm gonna skip the MATH tonight as the wife is out of school so good luck!

No soup for you.

Sunday, July 16, 2006

45 SNG Challenge.

I've decided to spread between limits on the 45SNG's

I'll play 15 games at 4 levels.

5+.50 regular - 2
6+.50 turbo - 6
10+1 regular - 2
11+1 turbo - - 5

So I enter the Challenge 132 + 25 'behind". My goal is to cash in at least 4 tourneys. This should put me in contention for a top 4 spot, but maybe not.

I just busted in my first attempt a 5+50 getting warmed up for the massive 150 Guaranteed seats in an hour or so. I'll get at least one more 45 sng in before and during the 150 guarantee.

45 SNG Challenge.

Friday, July 14, 2006

Or not

There's really no decision to be made. I'll be playing Sunday.

I will be at the WSOP, I am poker champ.

45sng Challenge starts SUNDAY SUNDAY SUNDAY....so maybe I'll multi table the 150 Guaranteed and a MTT or 2 cause that's just how I roll.

Or not

decisions.

Played in the WWDN not tonight and played fairly well. I made a questionable call with KQd vs Chris's QQ and got the K on the flop.

I can't really defend my play there, just that he had gone in on the previous hand and I felt he had maybe good mid pairs or Ax. I know Chris is a solid player, and I made a bad call and got rewarded. What else can I say?

Then, 4 handed, I made a really stupid call vs Guin with 98c to be the bubble boy. All I can say is that I was slightly distracted.

I had joined a satellite to the 150 Guaranteed WSOP packages tourney and by the time the final table of the WWDN NOT, I was at the final table of the satellite. I was 3rd in chips and top 3 got a ticket. Long story short, I lasted to the final 3 and got my ticket to the single largest buy in tourney I have ever been in.

So now the problem is...do I use my lottery ticket to try and get another lottery ticket, or cash out?

Every fiber of my being says sell the W$ and be happy with a nice chunk of change ($370W$) for my efforts. Actually that’s the non gambler rational Brian. The donk monkey risk taker says, play and win. Why not? Honestly it’s a very tough call.

So, if you are a fair poker player who never risks more than ~200 or so in any game of poker, do you play a $350 tourney with 2500+ to try and get to the largest poker game in history, or do you pass, and take the easy way out?

I have 2 days to figure that out.

Thursday, July 13, 2006

decisions.

aim, focus, shoot.

Timing is everything. I've really been trying to hone some key skills in my game that are sorely lacking.

1. Focus. The single most important factor that I can think of. If I am focused, I play goot, otherwise I'm me.

2. Money Management. I am diligently working on real tracking of my money, cause I'm leaking like a sieve.

3. MTTS. I consider myself a good tournament player, my results are fair. I think I can get better here.

So, its quite advantageous that the 45 SNG challenge is here! Drewspop from Hometown poker is running this challenge, and I am very excited to put myself to the test against some of the best players around. (pst thats you poker bloggers)

The challenge will allow me to set aside a portion of my roll and track its (d)evolution. Money Management

It will focus my attention to a singular goal:
beat some of the best poker players I know. Focus.

It is a MTT contest. MTT's

Aint that convenient? Wish me luck.

Poker in the 'hood is tomorrow. A mix of $20 SNG's and 1/2 cash.

If any of you ATL players want to drive up to Cumming, let me know and I'll get you directions.

aim, focus, shoot.

Wednesday, July 12, 2006

Humdehump

I've given MTT's another shot recently. I had quit playing MTT's for awhile since I was leaking alot of money. Now that I've been focused on cash games for a bit, I realized I don't really enjoy cash games. I mean, it should be obvious that I don't play poker to make money, because I really suck at that aspect. I can make a big score here and there, but my money management skills are horrible.

By the way, if anyone has links, suggestions or posts about money management, I'd really like to read it.

So, besides the MATH and WWDN (MOOK tonite), I've played 3 (M)MTTs. (*massive +500ppl) tourneys (2- 10+1, 1- 3+.50) I know the play is not optimal in these games to say the least, but I feel like a good player should be able to traverse these for at least a good hour before getting sucked out upon. The first 10+1 didnt give me much hope as I went in with Kings in the first hour and got crippled by the lamer(ATo).

Monday, I 2-tabled the MATH and a 3+.50 (~1100ppl). Down to ~70ppl I get KJs in the cutoff and raise to no callers 3x the blind. BB smooth calls with TT then calls my all in with 4 spades. IGH

My thinking here is that it was an obvious steal attempt, and the BB had a hand and played it pretty well. Although in that position with TT I would have raised or gone over the top. So, kudos to him and I cash, but not as mush as I'd like.

Last night after getting my KK crushered by the hammer(jack hi str8??) and pushing my weak ace into not one but 2 stronger aces in the WWDN, I fire up another 10+1MTT (~600).

I felt really good during this tourney. I was unpredictable, without being too loose and was able to control my starting table for a good bit. I got moved and played the first few hands very loose, showed the hammer on an all in, then got beat with JJ vs Ax then doubled up with JJ vs Ax. I took a big lead (for the table) when I hit the flush with T9h (in the cutoff) on the flop, and nearly turned it into a straight flush.

I put it in cruise control until the bubble passed (126). Then I donked of a few chips and misplayed mid pairs (66) vs a connected board. Again, down to ~70 I get KJs in decent position (2 in front of the button I think) and I make a play for about half of my chips. SB slowly calls, and the flop is blanks. Q comes on the turn, I fire out the rest of my chips and I think I'm gonna take it down as the OC is taking ALL of his time. He finally calls w/JJ and IGH.

Anyone else see a pattern there? Think I overplay KJ?? Ya think?

I'm gonna add some hands to PT and see if I can find a problem there. I really like KJ, especially suited, maybe I like it a little too much.

I'll be playing the MOOK tonight. Hope to see you there!

PS, I'd like to give KJ a shout for his recent streak in blogger events! Keep mowenumdown!!

Humdehump

Friday, July 07, 2006

7706

I had a short but well deserved vacation last week. The in-laws took the kids to Tampa last week, It was the first time since our cruise last year that we've been kidless. Having no real plans for that time was a little disturbing, but the both of us are burning out with stress. The wife has finals coming, we still haven't found a house to live in, and we're STILL dealing with fallout from the floor debacle.

So besides drinking copious amounts of beer and sleeping far too late we got some much needed cleaning done and some MUCH needed us time. If you're allergic to goofy spousal adulation you can skip the next paragraph.

I have to say that I love when I get to spend some alone time with the missus. We have an enormous amount of fun together, and tend to push our time together to the limits of exhaustion. I guess a lot of that has to do with the fact we busy ourselves with so many things outside of each other that when we get together with some time we realize why we are together. We push each other to be our personal best. I have to admit, I would not be where I am without the wife. I am certainly a better person with her in my life.

So, it was with great anticipation that I returned to the virtual felt last night to play in the WWDN: Not. I got in a few SNG's early and should have taken the hint to go to sleep. The cards were not falling my way last night. I lost consistently and deliberately. Before the tourney though I had made my $ back in 100NL. Actually, I was a little ahead going in. I got my big brother involved as well. In case anyone noticed the 'new guy' (king1112) that's my bro. He done me proud and made it into the final table, but could not cash. Congrats to mookie99 and mowenumdown on a great heads up match. I missed the last few hands, but it seems the poker gods made up for a bad beat that mookie took vs mowen 3 handed. (K6 vs AK??).

I thought I was gonna make a move starting with this hand:

PokerStars Game #5477896265: Tournament #27048121,
$10+$1 Hold'em No Limit - Level III (25/50) -
2006/07/06 - 23:10:11 (ET)
Table '27048121 3' 9-max Seat #7 is the button
Seat 1: Darzog (3520 in chips)
Seat 3: GScottW (2795 in chips)
Seat 4: Drizztdj (1480 in chips)
Seat 5: 23skidoo (1465 in chips)
Seat 6: bbblyn67 (1185 in chips)
Seat 7: L0K1 (1080 in chips)
Seat 8: peggydee (2105 in chips)
Seat 9: mowenumdown (600 in chips)
peggydee: posts small blind 25
mowenumdown: posts big blind 50
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to 23skidoo [Ts Tc]
23skidoo: raises 150 to 200
L0K1: raises 350 to 550
23skidoo: calls 350
*** FLOP *** [Qh Qs 4h]
23skidoo: bets 529
L0K1: calls 529
*** TURN *** [Qh Qs 4h] [8d]
23skidoo: bets 50
L0K1: calls 1 and is all-in
*** RIVER *** [Qh Qs 4h 8d] [6h]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
23skidoo: shows [Ts Tc] (two pair, Queens and Tens)
L0K1: shows [Ad Kd] (a pair of Queens)
23skidoo collected 2235 from pot

but three hands later i get fooked by a well played hand.

PokerStars Game #5477935635: Tournament #27048121,
$10+$1 Hold'em No Limit - Level III (25/50) -
2006/07/06 - 23:12:55 (ET)
Table '27048121 3' 9-max Seat #1 is the button
Seat 1: Darzog (3395 in chips)
Seat 3: GScottW (2745 in chips)
Seat 4: Drizztdj (1480 in chips)
Seat 5: 23skidoo (2745 in chips)
Seat 6: bbblyn67 (1185 in chips)
Seat 7: mookie99 (4805 in chips)
Seat 8: peggydee (2155 in chips)
Seat 9: mowenumdown (525 in chips)
GScottW: posts small blind 25
Drizztdj: posts big blind 50
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to 23skidoo [Jd j's]
23skidoo: raises 200 to 250
bbblyn67: folds
mookie99: folds
peggydee: calls 250
mowenumdown: folds
Darzog: folds
*** FLOP *** [2h 5c 9h]
peggydee: calls 450
*** TURN *** [2h 5c 9h] [9s]
23skidoo: bets 750
peggydee: raises 705 to 1455 and is all-in
23skidoo: calls 705
*** RIVER *** [2h 5c 9h 9s] [Td]
23skidoo said, "ack"
*** SHOW DOWN ***
23skidoo: shows [Jd j's] (two pair, Jacks and Nines)
peggydee: shows [9c 9d] (four of a kind, Nines)
peggydee collected 4385 from pot

I probably should have known something was up when peggy cold called the 450 on the flop but I refused to see the DQB!!!

Then I proceed to lose a buyin and a half at 100NL..ugh. 3 hands:

KK vs AA
KQ vs AT (KQT flop villain makes a set on the river)
AT vs K9h (AhThx flop, heart comes on the river)

So just maybe I'll take the weekend off.

For all you bloggers traveling to Vegas:

PLEASE BE CAREFUL!!

1. Don't get mugged/rolled.
2. Don't get thrown in jail.
3. Don't tap the glass.

Oh and 4. Have fun.
I expect lots of updates and pics, so you best not disappoint!!!