Going as planned

I sold my 2006 Honda CBR 600rr today and just increased my bankroll to a very comfortable level. Ya all better watch out because I got more $$$ now and I have been closing up some leaks in my game at the same time. I am not going to share all my secrets but my goals are being reached so far at just six weeks into it.

I am now on a ten session winning streak and hope to keep milking it for much more. How have I done it? Playing good, running good and sidestepping landmines. You ask “what the hell does that mean?” Well, it means I am focusing on my game and have been getting lucky at the same time. It is a continuous process of adjusting my play based on the game and table dynamics. It is of popular belief that to master the game of chess you need to devote your life to the craft. Then why is it that everyone thinks they can become an expert at poker after reading a few books, watching high stakes games on TV or winning a tournament here or there?

There is not a day that goes by that I am not reading, watching or playing the game of poker because I realize that to improve my game, I must study the game. I also just happen to love everything about it. If you only knew how much I want to make this my life and career. It’s all I think about.

The new location for Nautica sucks because it is cramped and unorganized. The rooms are split up and the coffee is always cold. On the plus side, you can get up from your table and grab a beer without walking outside! That can be a problem as well if you spend too much time at the bar. I can’t wait for Higbee’s to open their 25 table card room up with professional dealers and more of a casino atmosphere. My mail will be transferred as of that time to that new address. Guaranteed.

Me versus Bad Beat Jackpot donkeys

I’m sitting at a table in Detroit’s Motor City Casino after 30 hours(interrupted twice with naps) of grinding it out. The 14 table card room is full because the bad beat jackpots are so off the charts. There are two of them and one is at $150,000.00 for Aces full of Kings versus any better hand. The second one is at $220,000.00 for quads versus quads. You would not believe how many people are playing just to win a jackpot. In fact, that was all anybody would talk about while I was playing. Good luck if you bet so much pre-flop that you scare everyone out of the pot and jeopardize the table’s chance of winning a badbeat. You would have been chastised by a bunch of old people for hours.

Anyways, I wanted to mention a particular hand that topped off a good trip to Motor City. I was dealt 10c10h in fourth position of a full table. UTG opens for $15.00 and I just call to let more players enter and juice up the pot a little. Four players stick around to see a flop of 10d8c4c. The flop is checked to me and I feel like slow playing this one so I check. Surprisingly, seat five bets out $50.00 and everyone else mucks. He has $500.00 in front of him to my $350.00. I think to myself for a minute, do I 3-bet or call? Well, this particular stockbroker type always bet fast in previous hands when he thought he had the best hand and wanted to get players off their draws. I called and checked in the dark knowing full well that if the turn was a safe card, he was going to over bet the pot thinking that I was on a club draw. Boy was I right when he fired out $150.00 after the 6h hit the turn. I tanked to appear unsure of myself and peaked at my cards one last time. “I’m all in”. That was the last thing he was expecting and asked me if I hit my straight. I just looked down and didn’t say a word. He reluctantly called and was beside himself when I tabled my tens. I asked him, “how many outs do you have?”. He said he had very few and mucked his cards when a 3d came on the river. NICE!

How do you like that bitches?

I got involved in a hand yesterday that I’m proud of because of the way I played it. I got dealt JJ and opened out of position for $20.00. I got two callers and saw J52 on flop. I was so strong I wanted to appear weak and decided to bet out $20.00. That seemed like a scared bet to me and it worked because I got one caller on the hook. He had about $80.00 in front of him. I thought to myself “How can I get the rest of his money? I know…I will check the flop if it’s not a scare card”. Turn was a blank, I paused and then checked. The other player tanks, then slowly grabs his stack and slides them forward. Bingo! “I call”. River was a blank and I tabled my set. He never showed his cards but I am assuming he was weak and was just making a play. I really don’t think I could have maximized that pot if I played it any other way. I love when a trap works out as planned!

One of Those Months

Do you ever have one of those sessions where you play you’re “A” game and still get it up the ass? The whole month of December has been that way for me. Today I played at St. Elias church since Nautica is closed for the holidays. It basically attracts the same players but the dealers are much better and you are encouraged to tip on your winning hands. The rake is a little worse at 10% up to $7.00 max per pot versus $5.00 or $6.00 max. However, I am alright with that because the average hands per hour is a lot better than downtown. They also have better control of the table, are able to calculate side pots and keep the action moving if a player isn’t paying attention.

Anyways, let me tell you a few hands I got involved in. I raise $6.00 bet to $30.00 with AA, and get called to see a flop of Ac10d3d. I check/raise to bet of $40.00 and all the money is in. Duchebag rivers a flush with 8d9d. -$100.00

I open for $12.00 with 77 and get one caller. This broad is first to act and bets $15.00 on Qd9d7c flop. I call and get bet $20.00 into on Ks turn. I push and get called for another $85.00. River is blank and I lose to 10J straight. WTF -$132.00. I played it slow because I put the lucky son of a bitch on a flush draw with a possible pair. I like how I played my hand because I want to maximize very strong starting hands. I just ran into a sneaky draw that caught up. My bad for trying to get some chips in the middle.

I open for $10.00 with AK. I get min/raised and call to flop of K84. I check/raise all in and watch son of a bitch turn over AA. BRICK…BRICK. Really? - $140.00

To top it off, my draws never improved. I Flop open/ended straight/draw, miss. I Flop a high flush/draw with top pair...brick, brick. Am I being punk’d right now? Is Ashton Kutcher behind that door? This poker shit gets old after a while.

I can get over a bad session much easier if I play bad because then it is easy to fix. When I play my best and still get screwed, I steam for quite a while because I can’t stand when retard play gets rewarded and I am not able to fix anything. I sometimes leave these sessions in shock at how bad the play is and wonder why I am not going to the cage cashing out $3000.00+ in chips! I wet my pants over these fricking idiots when they sit at my table. What did I do to piss off the poker gods? I am not referring to everybody. However, out of a table of 10, four of them don’t even have the capacity to add numbers. It’s just sick and wrong to see red chips in front of them. Wrong I tell you, Wrong!

Merry frickin’ Christmas you donkeys. Just wait until 2011 because I am coming after you all with a vengeance!

New Years Resolution

Here’s the deal. I have been keeping stats the whole year on every poker session played. I made money this year but have a lot of leaks I need to fix. For example, when I play sessions five hours or shorter, I make money. When I play downtown, I make money. When I play at Dave’s in Lorain, I make money. All other sessions are losers. Two known reasons are because I like to drink and because I play longer than I should. For the new year, I am going to commit myself to minimizing these leaks. Also, I seem to make money against people that know me because they always pay me off if I play my best game. I have a loose, aggressive image and that means I get a lot of action. As long as I play the nuts, I will get paid off.

I can’t wait for a casino to be built here. I am so tempted to move to a town that has multiple card rooms. Why can’t I just say screw it, grow some balls and move? Maybe if I get fired, I will get a temporary place in Detroit while keeping my original apartment to try and make a go at it. That city has three card rooms so it would be a good trial run. What am I waiting for?

I think one of the reasons I am hesitant to make a move is because of the horrible sessions I run into from time to time. Let me give you a couple of examples. Two days ago, I entered my first hand with AA and made it $15.00 to go. I got one caller and saw a flop of Jh10h5c. I bet $50.00 and get called. I went all in when a 2 comes on the turn and get called by J10. Guess what came on the river? J! The second hand I got involved in, I made it $15.00 to go with AK. I get one caller and pushed for $150.00 on a flop of 8h3h2c. I get called and lose to 7h6h when river gives duchebag his flush. Third hand, I made it $15.00 with AJ. I get one caller and saw flop of J102. He pushes for $90.00 and hits with a 10 on the river. REALLY?

Winning poker is all about fine tuning your game and minimizing your mistakes. Too many players are experienced at live and online play that the competition is that much stiffer. You really have to be at your best if you want to make money in the long run. Stats don’t lie and I promise you that this time next year I will show an improvement in my game. I don’t have a choice.

If only if was that easy.

It really is unfair to read article after article in Cardplayer or Bluff magazine about these punk kids who start out playing poker for fun and end up millionaires without missing a beat. They need to start publishing badbeat stories about people who fail. Otherwise, readers get the wrong impression of how simple it is to become a successful card player. I bet there are a 1,000 failures for every person that makes a living playing cards.

The more I hate my job, the more I want to take a stab at playing cards for a living. However, there are a couple obstacles. First, you need multiple card rooms at locations which are open 24/7. Cleveland does not have them. Second, you need to move up in stakes to at least 2/5 NLHE which means having a bankroll of 70-100 buyins and that equates to a minimum of $35,000.000. I can handle it but would have to dip into savings/living expenses for this to work. Not a good idea to mix bankroll with money set aside to live off of. Third, you need to make the jump with one or more people who have the same goals so you can feed off each other and support each other. I know of one person that is looking to make a living at it but they are not completely ready as of this time.

I have very little holding me back from packing my bags and leaving for the card rooms tomorrow. I would have to quit my job, forfeit health insurance and pay rent on an empty apartment until June of next year. However, I think I should pick a better spot to make a move. The ideal time would be when I got laid off, just before my lease is up for renewal and I got another person to go with. I think the time is very, very close.

Where am I going to go? Florida! Card rooms full of old men who can't stand their wives! Las Vegas has too many sharks, Reno doesn't have the action and not sure about Atlantic City or California. I know of two people who made the move and went on their own. That takes a lot a backbone and I respect a person who can take the risk of moving to a place they have never been to, don't know anybody and have no idea if it is going to work out or not.

Mark my words...It is only a matter of time, easy or not.

Rivers Casino

I just finished a 22 hour marathon session at Rivers Casino and I am about to bore you with some interesting hands. Before I begin, let me lay out the experience. I arrive at 1:00pm and sit down to a table of seven players. The card room had about 8 out of 26 tables in use and I immediately recognized many players and employees from my previous trips to Mountaineer. I buy in for $300.00 max and sit at my favorite seat(six) for a $1-3 NL game. I know going in that this is going to be a long session so I am not in any hurry to mix things up until I get a feel for the table.

It always seems early on during the day, the table plays tight and the bets are small. Almost like a damn limit game. An average opening bet is between $8.00-$10.00 dollars and a c-bet at $15.00. Screw that. Whenever I entered a pot, it was $15.00 to go and $25.00 for my c-bet. This really took people off guard and it got me noticed. This accomplished one thing however. I got people out of their comfort zone. I sat for the first few hours playing pretty tight, drinking coffee and listening to music. I was just getting a feel for the table dynamics. Most stacks were medium to small and maybe just one over $600.00. I hate playing against a bunch of small stacks because it limits your options but I realized the table would continuously change as the day went on.

For the most part, my stack was always growing. I never went below having $500.00 in front of me after I got to that point, which was fairly quickly. I was there to grind and stay away from race situations as much as possible.

Here are a few fun hands;

Later in the day I started drinking Coronas and started getting obnoxious. Some players were humored and some were not. A get dealt KK and open for $15.00 while announcing that I am holding a big sale to get rid of overstocked Halloween costumes. I get one caller and see a flop of AQ7. I cut out $49.00 and mention that it’s a discount because the store down the street is selling the same hand for $50.00. The other player is not amused and pushes for $275.00. Before calling, I told the guy that his AQ is going to suck out on me but I call anyways. He tables AQ and catches his Ace on the river. I wasn’t steaming because I knew I got my money in good. -$290.00

Another hand came when I got dealt 78s. It was many hours into session so I had a good feel for the people I was up against. I opened for $15.00 on the button and got one caller. He was a pretty tight, young, Asian who played pretty tight and always showed the nuts at showdown. Flop was 533 two spades and he made it $50.00 to go. I look at him and he said he was ready to commit his last $300.00. I remarked, “You will do that with a 3?”. He responded, “I’m ahead of your flush draw”. I told him he was correct and called. Turn was 9s and I immediately stared at him for 10 seconds. Without looking away, I said “all in”. He immediately called and I knew at that point, I was beat. He tabled 93 for the boat. River was Js, not that it matters. -$365.00

Hand of the year;

I get dealt AA and open with my standard $15.00. I got one caller and this hand came really late in the session against an older, call station gentleman who played some very questionable hands throughout the night. Even so, he was sitting on $900.00 in front of him. Flop A74 and I check because he had a reputation for betting in position. He made it $40.00 and I did my best acting job possible. I went in the tank, but not too long. Only long enough to make my call painful. Turn was J and I check after contemplating for exactly three seconds. He bets approximately $100.00 and I irritatingly ask the dealer to count out his bet. I tank for 10 seconds and weakishly call. River is a 10 and I don’t even look at the guy. At this point I am thinking to myself “how I can get the rest of his chips in the pot?. But do I bet or call the river and hope he bets into me?”. I put him on two pair and check because I don’t think he wants a showdown. He bets $100.00 and at that point, knew I had him. I tank for 20 seconds and sheepishly announce “all in”. He instant calls and I table my AA. He mucks, table goes wild, and I sit there with my head down, smiling ear to ear. I couldn’t look at him for the rest of the hour he played. I really don’t feel I could have gotten all his chips if I had been aggressive in any way. I was very proud of my trap and I must have really sold it because nobody at the table expected to see my pocket cards.

Other than those few pots, I spent my time grinding out small to medium size wins. It was a good session for me, I entertained the table and severs, and I left +$600.00. My deepest stack at one point was +$1200.00 but some hands did not go my way. The servers were very entertained by me because I was acting like an idiot to at times. Whenever a girl came around to take drink orders, I would ask for something I knew they did not have. For example, “do you have any diet Orange Crush?, No?, screw it then, I’ll take a Corona”. “Do you have any Dads Rootbeer? You do? Is it diet? No?, Then I’ll just take a Corona”. I told one server that my bottle had a hole in it and wanted a replacement. She fell for it and was ready to get me one until one of the players ratted me out. That bastard.