Hey everyone, after much thought over playing Magic The Gathering more then poker over the last couple of years. I am ready to sell my collection I am going to hold onto it until about Feb. With this in mind and discussing with Jason. I am ready to play more holdem and focus free time towards that. I just wanted to make a quick post with what is going on lately, With an approximate bankroll starting around 1,500 I will be playing as much as I can once everything is sold and figured out. So expect more posts on my progress after everything settles down.

Take care and may all your pots be monster.

Intro

Hey everybody I am here for my 57th blog post on site very exciting and thankful to be able to do this. Today will be about my trip to La Center and how I felt like I was very unlucky in two big pots that costed me my session. I bought in for 100 which at this game is enough to take a couple of hits and be ok.

Significant Hand to Discuss

I am up around 30 bucks when I receive in the big blind with a 4 way pot to the flop. The flop comes out This girl bets 5 one person calls and I called. The turn brings an which made me believe this was a good card to see cause it wasn't a spade boy was I wrong. This girl bets 5 I raise the max to 13 and she re raises to 21 I called. the river didn't bring me my king she bets the max 8 dollars and I just called saying "show me your set" and she had . I look back on the hand what are you going to do maybe raise the max on the flop she might believe I have the king and she can release it that is the only difference it could of played out but not much you can do when you get two outed like that.

Second Big Hand

Down 35 dollars at this point and being under the gun I look down at I raised to 6 bucks and had 4 callers. The flop brings the blinds check I fire out the max without even thinking this guy to the left of me folds (After some pondering) the guy to the left of him calls and the blinds fold. The turn brings a (The guy to the left of me acts like he folded pocket nines with his body language which hurts my bluff buy the pot move that I was trying to pull off) I fire out another max bet and was called. The river brings a and I bet the max, now I have raised under the gun and bet out all 3 streets if he put me on or then he would make a great call otherwise there is to many hands that I can turn up here and crush him. None the less the calls and shows and won the pot most definitely took the wind out of my sails.

Hand I Busted On

Later on I am down 65 and pick up by far the best hole card hand I have had the whole time. The action pre flop goes min raise to 4, called by a super short stack I raise the max to 12 the other super short stack goes all in for her last 10 and was called by the other players (Putting 2 players all in). The flop comes out action was checked to me I bet the max and was called a hits the turn and we checked to the river a hits the river and he bets the max I raised my last two dollars all in and he has and one of the all ins had . I look at that hand in disgust unbelieveable besides an 8 the absolute worst river card I can see. I was more then a 4 to 1 favorite to the river sent me driving home thinking that I played well but getting unlucky in some key pots is very frustrating to think about for a half an hr on the way home.

Food for Thought

After getting home and finishing this post I feel disgusted but after talking to Victor on the way home helped I was on a good streak lately and I guess I was due for a loss. With only 1 hand that I shot myself in the foot on otherwise I played well and wasn't upset about that but I guess you can't win them all. Roll now down to 440 hope I can do well in the next Justin cash game hoping we can play this Friday I would love to play some NL again. Until next time play well and may all your pots be monster.

Why I haven't wrote on here in a Longtime

For the past year since last September I have been back to playing Magic the Gathering and just recently sold my collection a couple of weeks ago. With that out of the way and a backseat in my hobby life I can turn my focus back to playing more live poker then online.

My New Place

I am in the current stages of moving back into Vancouver which will give me easier access to La Center and closer to cash games in town. Which will help with less travel to work and games to attend.

Bay Area trip to Jason's and Poker

I just got back from my once a year trip to the Bay Area to visit with family and head over to Foster City to see Jason. Mix alcahol some poker and fun times always equals a great trip. Now time for the poker on Saturday night our group made a trip to Livermoore where Jason's old co worker Neo lives and literally across the street is a small poker room attached to a bowling alley. The place to me is best described as more depressing as playing at Chips in La Center. Combine a small room, An older crowd and no music (Not even turned down low over the speaker system) It is so boring to play there. After learning how to play Settlers Jason Neo and I headed over to the tournament that started at 7. After some play I caught a lucky with to river the wheel. Two hands after I was knocked out and headed on over to the 3/100 cash game which is right up my alley. For those of who are wondering what is the 3/100 game? This is where you can bet anywhere between 3 dollars and 100 dollars with no cap on how many times you can make the max raise (At this casino that is there rule always check with the floor mgr cause each casino is different).

Two Important Hands

The 1st hand I will discuss was actually the 3rd hand I sat down at the table I started this game with 176 dollars. I pick up in the big blind someone makes a pre flop raise to 18 dollars and two people call I make a strong re raise to 75 dollars hoping for 1 caller to isolate my hand. I got my wish with 1 person putting there last 17 dollars on top of my raise he flipped over . With the flop bringing him a 10 to make a straight it failed to come up with this win I received a nice shot in the arm right out of the gates.

The 2nd and last hand I will talk about I pick up in the small blind and it was a 5 way limp pot going to the flop. The flop brings with being 1st to act I check and the action get's checked around to this guy and he bets just under the pot with a 20 dollar bet and without hesitation I make it 70 dollars to go and after much deliberation he decided to fold and showed {kj}. Now I bet your asking why wouldn't you just call the flop and check raise the turn? To be honest the pot was big enough for the hand to my stack at the time. I was playing the tight aggressive style but sometimes with bad hands as well I was betting the same way. I was figuring that I wanted to play for whatever his stack was for a huge pot after knowing that I out flopped his hand with him not instantly calling my re raise on the flop.

Food for Thought

After Saturday's session I was up 287 dollars this more then paid for my trip. With this win I will have the confidence to sit right back into the 4-40 game at Last Frontier Casino at La Center and expect to do well with patience and common sense. After Saturday and recent wins at a cash game that Justin hosts here and there my bankroll is at 540. I am now looking forward to increase my roll and writing on the site more. Until then take care and may all your pots be monster.

The Latest

Hey everyone it has been ages since I posted on here how about I get you caught up. Or the non poker playing that I have encountered over the last 4 months. Anyway basically to sum it up I have played at a minimum online and nothing live at all.

The Setup

Everybody starts out with 6k in chips and the starting blinds are 25/50 the pay out is 3 places and tonight he had 8 people participate I guess on a normal basis there is 12-14 people. After the re buys the pay out was 30,70,140.

My Start

Basically I just folded a few rounds and sat patiently. I hit a flush on the river out of the big blind against a flopped 2 pair that this guy slow played and it bit him in the ass. Not to much later, I pick up with the blinds at 100/200 I made it 600 to go in middle position and I got 2 callers. The flop came out action goes check, bet 1k I go instantly all in and was called. This guy to the right of me flips over the turn brought him a double gutter with his outs being any Queen, 9, or a King I was sweating it out. The river put out a blank and I picked up a much needed pot and started to command the action. If I would of lost this pot I would of been under 1k and most likely out in 8th place and a early night.

Knockout Stages

We still had our original 8 when the re buys were over after the 1st hour. I was 2nd in chips and looking good with the average stack of the other players were about half of what I had. With this in mind I had the confidence to have a money showing for sure. I stole the blinds a couple of times from late position and kinda just hung around waiting for the blinds to climb up to have some people just go all in cause they had to. I picked up I raised 3 times the big blind and he goes all in I called after deliberation. The host had I pulled it out and took out the 1st guy. After some play we were down to 6. Play was pretty tight I was caught stealing a pot and stole some pots just hanging in that 2nd place spot and waiting for people to make mistakes. I ended up taking out the 6th place guy with in a 3 way all in pot with the short stack all in and with me and the other guy checking it down.

3 Handed

After a knockout of the guy to the left of me and a showdown pre flop with vs we are in the money and now down to 3 players the blinds at this point are 500/1k. With being 2nd place in chips and 2.5-1 behind the chip leader I was hoping to get my money in good and see what happens. I picked up in the small blind and it was a 3 way limp pot. The flop comes out I bet out 3,500 and the chip leader goes all in after not much thought I called pretty quick. He shows with outs being an 7 or a diamond to catch I did not get unlucky and won. This was a huge pot that turned all the momentum to me cause I ended up doubling up through the chip leader and have all the makings now to win. I took out the former chip leader with you guessed it vs .

Heads Up and Food for Thought

We get down to heads up and it took about 30 hands going into the heads up match I had at least a 3-1 chip lead. In the Beginning he won a few pots and narrowed the gap a little bit. I proceed to chip away at his dwindling chip stack with a lot of flop betting and pre flop raising. I ended up with the winning hand of and he didn't connect with that I was happy to end about 4hrs of play and the win. He was kind enough to take the picture that I now have on my Facebook page.

With this being a weekly thing on a Thursday I am very happy that I can finally play in a weekly game. A big thank you to Steven for inviting me to the game and a thank you to Anh for hosting. With that I am ready for bed it is 3:15 am. Take care and may all your pots be monster.

Smashed on Cake

Hey everyone, I have played enough in the last week to write another post about my play and my goal to obtain from my last post. First off I wanted to give you a great update on Cake, playing some 25/50 while smashing that today. I then went to a 50/1 table and got lucky on the river on two hands that I misread and felt like I received a gift to win. Regardless, I now have 415 in the account and very happy about it now I can regularly play 10/20 and go for 15 dollars per session. That seems like the correct winning ratio for my account balance at the moment. After the next section I will talk about the hands that I escaped in and doubled up in both.

La Center On Thursday

When I last left you, my live roll had 220 and going into Thursday I went with 270 after a nice win at Justin's cash game which was up down then up again. I only wanted to play the 2/8 spread game and started off on a terrible start. I lost my 100 that I bought in based on terrible whole cards, bad flops, and when I had somewhat of a good hand I would keep getting raised and forced to fold. I bought in for my last 170 ( All of my bankroll) and after 30 minutes or so I caught fire by turning the nuts with a gut shot and made some nice money. Then the next hand I had and flopped a set I got a max bet on the turn and river out of it. Later we had to combine tables I brought $213 over by this time it was 2am or so. I proceeded to flop a flush in a 5 way pot with and won a very nice pot and knocked out 2 people in the process. Lost a pot by flopping a gut-shot and a flush draw on the flop, I did win with three times twice by bluffing but felt like I played the hands correct with my foes not showing strength. Overall after 5 and a half hours of play I was down 70 which is good to climb out of an early hole. I was able to play a whole bunch of hands now sitting at 200 looking to play again up there but that will have to be in the future.

Hands that I escaped on Cake

The first hand that I will discuss, involves me having with a 7 high board I bet out and was raised thinking I can get him off his hand. I shoved he called with and this was for most of my account with a on the river I doubled up. The second hand was with me having I raised 6 dollars preflop with one caller to the flop. It came out with I bet out 15 and was called the hit the turn I immediately shoved he insta called with . I proceeded to river a for the win I left the table soon after. Now I am going to take a couple of days off and not think about the session and re group before I go into the 10/20 cent bankroll play.

Concerns

Lately when the flop comes out with 3 flush boards I am assuming that they don't want to call. With there suit being to low for there draw or won't call with top pair and a good kicker cause they would think that they are running into a monster that they can be potentially drawing dead to. I am also over valueing pocket pairs on low boards. With my pair higher then what the flop brings out. It looks like I am just misreading the strgenth of hands. I am just assuming that I am either good to make this play or just think that my pocket pair is good enough to call an all in. Maybe it is me not being as sharp any suggestions from the pokersoup community?

Food for Thought

This will be a brief section but now with 618 combine with both the live and online bankrolls. My goal is in site stay tuned for posts coming up, upon which I will give everyone new updates on my progress in the meantime, Take care and may all your pots be monster.

Update

I wanted to start out by saying good luck to Jason, Jeff & Stephen then last but not least Adrian in your events at the WSOP. In my last post I was talking about my live bankroll, well with moving into my new place that has been stagnet but what has been going on is my online play. I said that I busted my $100 that I deposited. Well, I received $2.20 in rakeback and after I got my internet, in less then 3 weeks with playing on average of a half hour a day playing the ranks of 2/4 cent then some 5/10 I have been dominating the 5/10 cent game and I now have $150. After play this weekend I am just under $150 but it is actually alot of fun to findout what I can turn this into from 2.20. I am playing 2 tables of 5/10 cent and trying to win an average of 10 bucks a day and move up from there.

Food for Thought

This was just a quick update on everything, I am wanting to see about playing with my live roll of $220 and go play the 2/8 spread game at La Center and build from that amount. My goal is to get to 1k and make a Vegas trip for myself and play nonstop hoping that goal will be obtained by the end of the year. Until next time play well and may all your pots be monster.

P.S.

Be sure to checkout Jason & Adrian's progress on his twitter page after noon on Monday to track how they are doing in a 1,500 event in the WSOP.

Intro

Hey sorry about having no posts in the last 2 months. I have not been playing much (especially live) lost again on Cake running into bad luck but this time it is for half of my original investment from the previous time so not the end of the world. In the meantime live play has been on the after burners with typing up the strategy and finally finishing that last month I would say a main focus on my agenda.

Ashland Trip

As usual when I go and see a best friend of mine Brian that lives now in Ashland. I will play once at the 7 Feathers Casino in Canyonville about an hour north of Ashland. Where the 3/6 game to me is very easy people limping in on every hand!! calling you down with inferior kickers and will call raises it is almost like heaven at times. This time being last Thursday, I was only able to play for 45 minutes. I started out getting flopping top pair in a 3 way capped pot. I Kept betting out until the river and the guy folded to me taking down a nice pot. I am dealt in the SB I raised and was called 4 way pot to the flop. I missed the flop and bet out on the turn after missing again and getting 1 caller then I missed the river. I tried to fire again but it was a dumb move. This guy called me with the top pair on board which was an 8 not that big of a loss. I get dealt I proceeded to turn trip kings in a 3 way pot. I got a caller all the way to the river. Finally, what is great in the strategy playing Ax suited is a great option especially in limit I have I flopped 2 pair with 1 caller and 1 other is all in I turn the house with a and get a caller all the way and rake in a nice pot.

After flopping top pair with Ace rag non suited and flop top pair with Q10. Three people cash out bringing us down to 3 handed and ending the game, it was terrible. I was seriously a tidal wave of destruction. I felt a rush night coming on but it didn't happen. I ended up cashing out with a total of 165 bucks. I bought in for 65 (losing some in roulette) coming out of the night ahead and knowing that this time I was just dealt very good hands more often then average. I didn't even have to think about my plays or question anything really which is nice to take a night off from time to time.

Pretty nuts in a span of 45 minutes you get delt Ak suited 3 times and Ak off suit once turn a full house and your top kicker holds twice it is a beautiful thing.

Food for Thought

Here I am now I am caught up with expenses I can proceed to keep money in my room again and keep a live bankroll for the 1st time in a longtime. I found out through email that the Bridgeview Rounders has a cash game that I can play in and will seriously look into playing in that game in the near future. Winning some money will help instead of taking my whole roll just to go and play 1 session. I would rather take my time and build. As for the total it is only 230 for now but it will grow. I had a 165 bankroll in my head that was in my "checking" account. After getting money back that I was owed I didn't have to worry about taking anything out of the bank. Now I am looking to hit up La Center and the crazy crazy 3/6 game that is there and really test out the strategy. Until then, play well and may all your pots be monster.