Damian's Poker Blog

Too Aggressive?

2006-11-27T08:50:00.000-05:00

Most people that have played with me know that I'm an aggressive player. Depending on the day, sometimes too aggressive. One way they think they can stop me is by throwing in a big raise. If I really don't have anything or I'm weak, I'd lay it down. I've caught on to a few players who come over top of my flop bets but then lay down to my re-raise. Obviously I can't catch them every time, and occasionally I do get a call which indicates a monster. In that case I have to lay down on the turn and my re-raises no longer work. This is a great thing.... IF you catch monster hands. Why? Cause generally I'd play the nuts exactly the same way on the flop. When my opponent thinks "Here he goes again", then tries to push me out of the pot on the turn, it will be too late for him to realize that I wasn't bluffing and now I've got all his chips.

Works great ONLY if you can catch cards. Lately it seems like I can't catch those big hands which make me the big money. So does that mean I've been too aggressive? I haven't been losing all that much cause I usually pick up lots of small pots. If one of my bluffs fail I just lose the accumulation of those small gains. Nothing to show for my time, but again not a huge loss and possibly setting up my opponent for a larger hand that I can benefit from later on.

CPT at Great Blue Heron

2006-11-09T21:09:00.000-05:00

Yesterday I played the CPT event at GBH. Kinda pissed off when the tournament started late. Guess it really didn't matter since I had committed the entire day to this event. The real poker doesn't start until the rebuy period is done. Based on that, I decided to try to double up early in either the first or second level. There were 3 levels before the break and end of rebuys.

Once I realized that you only get 1 orbit per level I decided to push my stack with the next decent hand. So with the blinds 50/100 already I pushed with ATs. Got called by AJo and ended up busting out. Not to worry... Booya gave me enough for another buy in plus an addon. Did a double rebuy and watched the guy who called me with AJ win 3 more all ins against various players at the table. Too bad I never caught any cards during the rebuy period cause it was easily an all in fest.

At the break I did my add on and sat with ~6k. 100/200 blinds. Somehow I hang on until the next break with about 8k, blinds were at 400/800. I pushed with AcTc and get called by a short stack of about 4k. He's got Ah9h. What did he flop? The nut flush!!! I manage to hang around until the blinds are 500/1k and this time push with AJs. Got called by another short stack whose got K8. He flopped a K then turn and river were both 8s making his full house and sending me home. There were less than 4 tables at that point so I guess I finished around 35th. Surprising finish considering I never ever was above the avg.

Booya got some good publicity out of me. Every table I got moved to I said I won a seat for $5. The people who were interested asked for more details so I handed them a booya flyer. Guess I have to win another seat if I plan on playing in another CPT event.

CPT Event Today!

2006-11-08T07:31:00.000-05:00

I'm playing in the CPT event in Port Perry today. Unfortunately it's a rebuy NLHE event which means there will be some erratic playing during the rebuy period. I generally stay away from rebuy tournaments, but it looks like all CPT events at Great Blue Heron are rebuys. I do have enough of a bankroll to rebuy 3 times, so perhaps I'll take some early chances and hope that I win those races. If I can catch a couple maniacs early on I should be in good shape.

The other thing I'm worried about are the blind levels. 20 min blinds in a live tourny is a crapshoot. We all know that longer blind levels give the advantage to the better players. And I have done well with those types of blind structures, but in 20 min we'd be lucky to get in 2 orbits per level. They should call this Turbo CPT.

And finally.... What's up with the start time? 9am? Don't they know by nature poker players are night owls? There better be some good coffee there. Wish me luck!

Back from my Extended Poker Break!

2006-10-25T23:06:00.000-04:00

I've been busy and haven't played much poker of the past 2 months. As we all know online poker has changed a great deal with the new laws in the USA. I'm not going to get into that debate as I know lots of people have blogged it over and over. I'm just happy I'm not living in the USA.

So my return started with the PSO league. I missed most of the events and there is a bounty on me every event so it's hard to judge where my game is at after a long break. I do admit I'm a little rusty and have bombed out of the PSO league events pretty early, but I wouldn't say it's all the fault of my poor play. I did get out drawn a few times.

As for my cash game I started at UB playing 100NL. My first 2 sessions there I caught myself being too loose aggressive resulting in a small loss each time. I think UB will ultimately be my poker home since I have rakeback there. I'll try Party in a couple weeks considering they gave me cash value for my Monster Freeroll tickets.

actyper pointed me to Booya Poker just this week. I tried to get into the Poker Night in Canada league last night but missed it by 1 min as I was waiting for my confirmation email when I created the account. Since I missed the tourny I decided to play some 100NL and ended up making some change for the night. Tonight I entered the CPT satellite event for $5+.5 and ended up winning a seat into a CPT event. Booya poker looks like they are just starting up and have some great tournaments coming up for other CPT events and NHL hockey tickets.

Watch out! Looks like I'm officially BACK!

Vegas Trip Report

2006-08-01T23:19:00.000-04:00

Vegas was HOT HOT HOT! Both the weather and my poker play. I had a total of 5 poker sessions, 4 times at The Wynn and just once at The Paris.

Session 1:
Played with actyper the first night. Managed to build be up for the first 3 hours then I re-raise a guy when I'm holding JJ all low cards on the flop. He puts me all in and I'm pretty much committed now so I call another ~$120 into a $450 pot. He did hit his set and that had me down to the felt. I re-buy and made back a little before the night was over. Not a way I'd wanted to start off Vegas. At around 2am Shannon Elizabeth (American Pie) and Boston Rob (Rob & Amber from Survivor) sit at our table. Shannon played pretty tight and Rob busted out his entire $500 buyin. She's even hotter in person.

The next day actyper and I hit up the Rio to see the WSOP festivities. I got lots of free stuff. I definitely picked up more clothes than I brought. On the way back I play some single deck BJ at Imperial Palace and manage to finish slightly ahead there too.

$50 SnG - Treasure Island
This one was like a super turbo with blinds going up every 10 min. I didn't catch any cards at all and by the I did catch pocket 3s some guy pushed all in over top of me so I had to fold. He later told me he had a big pair. The next hand I played I was forced to go all in, so I did that with A3o and didn't survive that one. Finished 7th.

Session 2:
After seeing Love, which is a cool show at the Mirage, I went back to the Wynn. I don't remember many hands except the last one. I was up almost 3x my buyin making up for my first night disaster. The very last hand the BB convices me to play my hand blind, so I stradle. BB calls so I blind raise to 4xBB. He calls and flop is 7-7-9. BB checks so I bet another 4xBB blind and he folds. I flip over my blind hand 57o.

Session 3:
I spent a few hours at the Mirage with dlk9s who's covering the WSOP action for pokersourceonline.com. We played some single deck BJ and I win some more money. That makes 2 +ve BJ sessions this trip.

Later in the evening I go to The Paris to check out their games. I really don't like poker rooms right in the middle of the casino. This was one of them. I was almost felted here by losing some close hands where I was simply out kicked. In the end I managed to pull to a little above even before I called it a night. 4am. I had been averaging about 4h sleep a night.

The next morning I played $25/hand BJ 4-deck. In a couple hours I was up $400. That makes 3 BJ sessions and still way up! I did dump more than half of that back into the slots. I know.... stupid, but it was fun.

Session 4:
We had the PSO party at Hooters and I finally got to meet some people who I've been talking to online for over 2 years. Nice to put some faces to the names. After the party I head to The Wynn where I've decided is the only place I want to play. MikeJ and Kugr played at the Wynn as well but left early.

I doubled my buyin with in a couple hours. I had flopped a set and I check raised all in and was called with AK since her she hit her A on the flop. There was another girl who bluffed me big time... I really don't want to get into it, but she missed her draw and pushed all in. I just couldn't call with 2nd pair. I did finish the night with 2x my buy in. This night ended for me at 5am.

Funny thing is it ended almost like the last time. I stradled, but didn't play blind this time. BB raised so I called with 57o. Flop 2J5, BB bets, so I call. Turn is 7, BB checks so I bet about 1/2 pot. He calls. River is 5 making my full house. BB checks, so I bet pot here telling him he can't call cause the bet is too big. He thought for a long time and I actually convinced him that I was trying to buy it. He called but mucked what I believe was A9.

Session 5:
Kugr met me a The Wynn for our final poker fix before our flights. Within the first orbit I get AA. I bet $18 and get called by 3 people. Flop QT8. I bet $40 he calls. Turn A making my set but also putting a straight out there. I bet $90 and he calls. I'm thinking crap he made his straight. River is J. We both check and he shows Q9. Not sure how he makes that turn call, but that's poker. I did manage to make it back and finish even. One hand that helped was 82s when I stradled.... I figure it worked for my twice before. flop was A2x I bet pot trying to steal it since I'm heads up. He called. Turn was a spade now giving me a flush draw, so I bet half pot now, and he calls. River is a 2. Thinking he was on a missed draw I just value bet and he called. Showed AT.

While walking to catch our ride to the airport we stopped to play some BJ. Kugr played some BJ switch and I played single deck BJ. We both finished up making my BJ run 4/4 and capping a nice run in Vegas.

So only 1 real session where I lost money and what seemed like impossible to lose at BJ. Excellent outting and can't wait to go back. actyper played the WSOP ME. He's got updates on his blog. Hopefully next year will be my turn.

Freakonomics Experiment - Part 2

2006-07-31T23:44:00.000-04:00

I did the experiment that took about an hour. Played 2 games in which the odds were quite simple for these little games. For each round you beat the computer it was supposed to be worth $1. Honestly, I didn't care about the money. All I wanted was a signed book :).

In the end my score was 80 which translated into $80. A day after I started to think about the games, and there's no way I beat the computer by 80. I guess it's possible, but I wasn't really keeping track of the score as I was more focused on trying to figure out what move the computer would possibly make. Even though the odds of what card I would play should have been simple I probably over thought the whole thing. We played 300 rounds and for me to hold a 27% advantage over the computer is pretty insane. I'm good, but doubt I'm that good.

When I play poker I know exactly what my chip counts are whether in a tournament or in a cash game. I usually know where my opponents stand in terms of their chips as well. I just feel I didn't keep track of the score properly in this simple game or else I wouldn't be questioning the way it was scored. For this I'm a little disappointed in myself. I haven't read Freakonomics yet, but will hopefully get around to in this fall.

Updates on poker in Las Vegas are coming tomorrow.

Freakonomics Experiment

2006-07-17T18:54:00.000-04:00

The authors of Freakonomics are looking for poker players for an experiment. Info Here

Since I'll be in Las Vegas anyways I decided to volunteer. They assure me that there will be no electrical shocking of any sort. Hopefully I get to the cheese at the end of the maze. I like Gouda!

To be honest I haven't even read their first book, so hopefully I at least get a copy of that for participating. They promise payment as well. I like Gouda! So if you are interested in poker player stats on decision making, keep an eye out for the sequal to Freakonomics.

Titan's Million Mania

2006-07-16T19:44:00.000-04:00

Titan Poker’s Million Mania was today. $1,000,000 guaranteed and what looked to be a huge overlay with only 280 people registered for the $1000+100 buy-in a few hours before the start.

I managed to find investors for 60% of my buy-in and I then backed Dekar with 25% of his buy-in. In the end only 568 players registered which left at least a $400k overlay. Not a bad tournament to be in.

I was short stacked with about 500 people left when I limped with 8d9d. I actually contemplated pushing my remaining 1400 in chips. 5 players limped before me so I just called. 2 diamonds on the flop, everyone checks, turn is another diamond making my flush so I bet ½ pot and get 1 caller. River no more diamonds, so I value bet and the guy goes overtop all in. I called and he showed 5d7d which allowed me to double up.

Dekar busted out 422^nd. Details on his Blog. Soon after I catch KK in the SB. 2 players ahead of me push and I call. KK vs TT vs AQ. KK holds and I jump to 12k and top 10 in chips. Blinds were advancing way too quick and it quickly turned into an all in fest with no actually poker being played.

Unfortunately I was ousted 196^th when my KT ran into 5T and he flopped 2 pair. With that type of overlay it’s tough to not buy in. I just wish there were more. With a million dollar prize pool Titan should at least make the blinds 30 min or longer. 15 min was just way too short and the jump in levels early makes it play like a turbo MTT. We also witnessed lots of obvious chip dumping, but I don’t even want to get into that.

The Socialist Poker Player?

2006-07-12T16:12:00.000-04:00

I just came back from a vacation in Cuba. For those that don’t know, Cuba is a communist country and embraces socialism. That means all people are equal no matter what job they do. Everything is provided by the government for free… Medical, Food, etc.

Can you imagine relating that situation to a poker player? Every player is equal. Everyone wins the same regardless of skill or effort. I don’t think you’ll find a poker player to agree to those terms. If there’s no chance of gain, then what’s the point?

That leads me to conclude that all poker players are capitalists. The better you play and the more effort you put into it should yield more benefits. That’s not to say we aren’t charitable. Poker players can donate money through PSO points and PSO will match those donations dollar for dollar. Plus most of us pay our taxes… right?

So if you are a socialist poker player I’d like to hear from you. I just can’t see that as a possibility.

Lavalife Tournament

2006-06-09T16:56:00.000-04:00

Last night was the Lavalife/Party Poker tournament. I qualified for this a couple months ago by finishing in the top 20 of a freeroll. There were lots of no shows in that one.

With 220 people qualified and even last place guaranteed a $25 Gift Card, there weren’t many no shows last night. Seems like everyone was playing for 2^nd place (a 50” plasma TV). No one wanted the 1^st place trip for 2.

I made it to 61^st then my luck ran out. Blinds started to get too high at that point where everyone was pushing with any A or K. I still managed to win a $75 Gift Card. Although I’m not sure for what store though.

Actyper made it a little further and won a $100 GC while BrianSterling made the final table and won himself an ipod. This morning I logged into Party and it seemed like the final 2 were still playing. When I opened the table it looked like they had just set themselves to be away. NO ONE WANTED TO WIN! I guess we could have predicted that since the 2^nd place prize was so coveted. I was about to post this on the PSO forum when one of the guys there confessed that he was one of the final 2 and Party/Lavalife agreed to give them both a TV.

Weekend in Niagara

2006-06-05T10:18:00.000-04:00

Got to spend a weekend in Niagara Falls with BrianSterling, Dekar, Kugr84, riverrun, and Red_diamond.

The first night we hung out at the hotel for the first part and had a friendly game. There wasn’t a table large enough for us so we settled for using the queen sized bed as our poker table. Besides not being able to stack chips too high it seemed to work. Dekar and riverun decided to chop the prize money so we could get out and enjoy the night life. Dekar’s complete take on his weekend is here.

They ended up going to a nightclub while I went to find food. When I returned, the lineup was long and it was just a stream of girls heading in. I was thinking lucky guys! As it was raining, I decided to head to the casino and play some poker.

The old Casino Niagara poker room is dark. The chips stuck together and the cards were all bent and sticky too. By far the worse condition I’ve ever played in at a casino. I usually play at Fallsview if I’m in Niagara. After this experience I think I will continue to do so. Anyways there was only 1 table of 2/5NL so I ended up playing 1/2NL and made about $100. It’s so tough to play 1/2NL when your max buyin is $100. They should at least make it $200 so you have 100x BB to play with.

The second day we headed to Fallsview where they use KEM cards and the chips didn’t feel like bubble gum. Dekar, Brian, and I ended up getting on the same table. Kugr lost all his money playing BJ while waiting so he never played poker with us. I don’t think I played more than 20 hands in over 3h of sitting there. Some of those were even crappy hands like 26o when I was stealing the blinds. Dekar lost his stack when he flopped and set of As, ended up pushing and getting called by top pair with flush draw. Of course, the guy hit his flush on the river. I never even came close to showdown the entire time I was there. I ended up losing just over $200.

PSO is having a party in Las Vegas end of July. We are hoping to all meet up again at that time.

Poker Slowdown

2006-06-01T00:00:00.000-04:00

Since clearing Poker Share, I haven’t really played too much poker. I ended up doing ok at Poker Share finished up over $400 plus the free PSO gift. I left a little bit of money there so I can still play. They do have some huge overlays on their WSOP satellites. For example, last week they had 12 people in a $10+1 where top 2 got seats for the $250 WSOP qualifier where the winner qualified for the main event. The $250 satellite also had a huge overlay.

Americas Card Room phoned me to do a reload there in return for some freeroll tickets and a bunch of $2+.25 tourneys. So I deposited $100 and have already more than doubled that playing $50NL.

June 2-4 I’ll be meeting up with some PSO regulars in Niagara Falls (Kugr84, Dekar, BrianSterling, actyper, riverrun).

Poker Share

2006-05-18T18:55:00.000-04:00

PSO recently added Poker Share as a promotion site. This site seriously lacks North American players and it's quite obvious during the evenings when the number of players drop to under 500. I've still managed to find some tables to play on, although not my usual limits. $50NL has been where all the action is and I've been doing quite well against the Europeans. Later in the evenings the tables start to tighten up and I'm getting used to making the transition in my game.

Usually when it gets tight like that I like to play some hands like the Hammer (27o) and show them my cards after they fold. I'm not sure if these guys loosen up after those types of bluffs, but I it's been working for me as I've already tripled my initial buy in at the site.

PSO Poker Rewards $10k

2006-05-14T23:19:00.000-04:00

Pretty good odds in this one. Only about 75 people with a $10k prize pool. Well I have been losing lots of coinflips and preflop all ins where I have been a favourite. Just last night I busted out of a tourny when I held KK and was called by someone who had A2. Of course he hit an A on the turn. So it didn't come as a surprise for me tonight when I held AK and was up against AQ all in preflop, when he hit one of his 3 cards. Busted out 45th, well away from the money.

I suppose all you can do is try to play the odds. I will put all my money in with AK vs AQ any day regardless of my so called "luck". Unfortunately it just didn't work out this time.

Moving up to Higher Stakes

2006-04-18T20:30:00.000-04:00

I was doing so well this month on Party Poker $200NL (1/2 NL) that I decided to move up in stakes to $400NL (2/4 NL). Now I've played 5/10 NL live at the casino, but this would have been the highest stakes I've played online. It took some getting used to because I wasn't completely comforatble with $20 preflop raises. It's a little different live when you throw in 4 red chips instead of seeing "$20 call" on a button in front of you. I guess with chips you sort of separate yourself from the dollar value.

50 hands in, I was down $250 on 2 hands where guys hit their draws. I immediately rebought chips so I was at $400 again. I rather have the most chips as I can so when I double up I maximize my return. Another 50 hands or so later, I managed to win a AA vs KK showdown and minutes later win another big pot when I flopped a set.

I guess my venture into a higher limt has been successful.

Poker Rewards $10k Freeroll

2006-04-17T00:17:00.000-04:00

PSO announced a $10k Freeroll for anyone who has completed the Poker Rewards promo through them and complete 750 raked hands from Apr 7 - May 7. The $10k is guaranteed. So no matter how many people qualify, they are still giving away $10k. Based upon past freerolls of this nature, I don't think more than 200 people will show up. This makes for great odds! If you want to sign up for PSO... CLICK HERE

I started my 750 raked hands at Poker Rewards on a bad note this weekend. Deposited $400 and hopped on a $1/2 NL table. Only 1 full ring is running which means I can't 4-table this requirement. I obviously haven't adjusted to play here as I dropped the entire $400 in about 120 raked hands. I promptly went back to party poker to make it back ;).

My streak at Party continues for April. According to Poker Tracker, 80% of my sessions at $200NL have been winning ones. Averaging 22BB/100.

Taunting the Donkey

2006-04-12T22:05:00.000-04:00

I never understood why people taunt the donks. I've seen it many times where someone gets rivered by a player who obviously does not have any concept of odds. Just recently I had 45o on the button and everyone folded around to me. Naturally I raised 4x bb to try to steal the blinds. For some reason the Big Blind thinks he should call to protect his blinds. Flop comes 245 rainbow and I've now got 2 pair. Of course, BB flopped the straight with 36o. It did

Now instead of calling him a donkey and mouthing off, I just kept quiet and knew I would eventually get my money back. I'm sure lots of people have been in this type of situation where you've been rivered by a bad caller, but making them feel uncomfortable isn't going to make things better. Unless you like seeing that person leave the table with your money.

If you truly believe that the player is a donkey then keep it to yourself. Don't let other people know or they'll take advantage before you can. Or even worse, the donkey will just leave and take the easy money off the table.

Stalling Tactics in Tournaments

2006-03-16T10:57:00.000-05:00

There has been lots of talk lately about people stalling in late stages of tournaments. Is this acceptable? I would say absolutely not. Stalling eats up a lot of the time in a level. Blind levels that late in a tournament where the bubble is approaching is critical to end game play. This is the opportune time to start thinking about chipping up. There's obviously two mentalities here:

1. Just stall and survive to the money.
2. Try to accumulate as many chips as you can in a bubble situation so you can win the tournament and not just sneak into a money position.

Most top players will take the second approach. Whether you are short stacked or chip leader you should be taking advantage of the people just trying to sneak into the money. This is a critical time in the tournament where you can make moves to put yourself in contention to win, not just money.

So how does stalling become unacceptable? If someone is doing this every single hand they are allowing the levels to shorten in time. That means less number of hands per level and less number of hands in this opportune time versus what other tables get to play. Highly unfair to someone that can take advantage of the bubble situation when other tables are playing 2x the amount of hands you are simply cause someone is stalling.

This seems to be a common occurance in online tournaments cause it's easy to do and no one to complain to except people on the table typing "zzzzzzzz", etc. Imagine doing this stalling technique in a live tournament. You are guaranteed to get some dirty looks when you take a full 5 min to decide if you want to call the BB UTG. So smarten up, learn to play in a bubble situation and don't hurt other peoples gameplay by excessively stalling. It's cheating plain and simple.

PSO $25k Freeroll for Bloggers

2006-03-16T10:55:00.000-05:00

I am registered to play in the
Online Poker Blogger Freeroll
Win your share of $25,000 and a set
of Nevada Jacks poker chips.
Hosted By: Absolute Poker
Sponsored By: Poker Source Online
Registration Code: 91659992

CPT heads to Casino Rama

2006-03-10T10:52:00.000-05:00

People in Eastern Canada have been begging non-stop for major poker events in local casinos. It seems like the West is far ahead of the poker fad than the rest of the country. To this day, Canadian Poker Tour (CPT) events have mainly been taking place in BC, Alberta, and Saskatchewan.

Well I recently learned that Casino Rama (just north of Toronto) is holding a CPT event Apr 5-7 $500 +50. Kind of a low buy in if you ask me, but it's better than nothing. I'm told that there's only 264 seats available and it's almost 90% sold out.

I was planning to take the 3 days off work and drive up there for the tourny, BUT they only take registrations in person. I guess that kills my plans to play in this CPT event. I don't know how they expect people who don't live close by the casino to register. How can this be labelled a "Canadian" tour if a top poker player from Western Canada wants to register? They will quickly learn they can't play cause they would have to make a trip out to this remote casino a month in advance just to put down their buy in. This clearly excludes players that don't live close by the casino and should NOT even be labelled a CPT event.

Perhaps I'm just upset that I can't get there to register prior to the event. I guess just having a new CPT event in Eastern Canada is a big step, but if they want this thing to take off there needs to be adjustments to the way they accept player registrations.

PSO Forum Reaches 25k Members

2006-02-28T23:47:00.000-05:00

Poker Source Online's Poker Forum reached a major milestone this week. 25,000 members. I believe when I signed up on the forum, I was member #600 something. That was almost 2 years ago. Over the past 2 years, PSO has clearly become the online poker world's #1 affiliate site giving back more to the players.

If you haven't already, check out PSO. They have Instant Bankroll, where you can get $100 free for Party Poker with no deposit, no credit card, and no major commitments. And you can get free gifts just from playing poker. If you are going to play anyways you may as well get free stuff right?

Don't forget to check out the poker league where PSO is giving away a $1500 WSOP entry. League event buyins are only $5. Congrats on 25k members, I don't know where I'd be without PSO today.

Las Vegas Jan 1-8

2006-01-13T23:20:00.000-05:00

Well I'm back from a week in Las Vegas. We stayed at the Imperial Palace this time. Yes, I know it's old and not as nice as the new hotels, but it was available during a very busy week (CES) and it was right in the middle of the strip.

Since I was staying at the Imperial Palace I naturally decided to try their poker room. The only thing they were offering was 4/8 limit and 1/2 NL. Well I generally stay away from limit so I decided to kill some time playing 1/2 NL. I quickly learned that there were just too many beginners in this poker room and seemed like chasing and catching was their specialty. After losing my $200 I decided that I would try to stay away from this place if at all possible.

Next stop was the Wynn poker room. I had heard that it's the best one in town. It's definitely nice and cozy. Chairs were adjustable and there were a very wide variety of games. I was planning to play 2/5NL, but there was a long list, while 1/3NL had a seat open so that's where I parked myself for the next 6 hours.

When I went to buy chips I asked "What's the maximum buy in?". I got the weirdest look. Apparently there is no maximum buy in like at every other poker room that I've been to. I buy in for $300 which is a rack of $3 chips. Yes, that's right, $3 chips. I wondered how long it would take me to count by 3s. It looked like I wasn't the only one with that problem.

One notable hand: I had QQ and raised my standard 5x BB ($15). I got called by 2 people and flop was TQx. I was first to act, so I check, there's a bet of $30, 3rd person calls, so I raised to $60. Original raiser re-raises to $120, the other person quickly folds, so I move all in for another $150. Now looking at a pot over $700. He flips over QT turn is a T and my bigger full house beats his. I did finish my first day at the Wynn up over $700 and I knew I would be back.

Now if I had stuck to my original plan to ONLY play poker I would be fine, but of course I had to play slots, craps, and blackjack. Good thing I had poker profits to feed those other fun games. I did get to take a look at some of the other poker rooms on the strip. The famous Bellagio was nice. It wasn't as intimate as Wynn. Ceasars Palace just opened their poker room less than a month ago, and it's very nice as well. To me it felt like a conference room though. All the other poker rooms I saw were in the middle of the casino, so not really a separate room.

I did go back to the Wynn and this time played for 8 hours. I was up $300 after that session. Again playing $1/3 NL since I had such good luck at it last time. My KK did get busted by 66 when he somehow made a straight on the river. We were both all in preflop. It's amazing how busy the poker room still is at 4am.

We took the deuce (bus) downtown and I had to take a look at Binion's poker room since that's where the WSOP was born. They have a wall of champs. Interesting to see how young everyone looked in the 80s and 90s. I didn't get to play here as we had to meet MikeJ for dinner.

Dinner was at the Rio. I thought it was an excellent buffet. For some reason it closes at 10pm. I thought everything was 24h in Las Vegas. After dinner, MikeJ and I played some 2/5NL. The Rio is where most of the WSOP is played. MikeJ got into and amazing hand when he had AA vs KK, vs AJo. Everyone was all in preflop. Flop: xTK. So now KK is ahead. Turn: Q. The worst hand makes a straight. And miraculously the river is a 4th club. It turns out one of the Aces MikeJ has is a club. He takes down the $700 pot. We didn't stay long and I was maybe up about $5 when we cashed out.

My final day of poker was spent at the Wynn (of course). I really felt comfortable in this place. Right from the beginning I was being out drawn. I should have stopped once I realized I was going to have a bad session. I had QT and flop came QTx. I bet $15 into a $15 pot. 1 caller. Turn is 8. I bet $45, he calls. River is J. What does he show? 99. Yes he caught his straight. Seemed like that was my day. I finished down $400, and saved by MikeJ who came to get me for dinner before I had to leave for the airport.

In the end, I was still up playing poker for the week. When I return I will definitely play at the Wynn. And will probably play at Ceasars as well. I only wish we had live NL games close to home. I guess it's online poker for the time being.

Party Poker Software Bug

2005-12-31T15:39:00.000-05:00

I'm pissed off at Party Poker right now. I'm playing the $15k guaranteed tournament with unlimited rebuys.

You aren't allowed to rebuy unless you have 1000 chips or less. Standard rules... BUT there's a huge loophole. You are able to do the rebuy during a hand. I watched a guy go all in 6 times and while he was all in he did a rebuy adding 1000 chips. Within the first 30 min he had over 7000 chips and not because of his great cards.

I called Party and they said they know about this bug and it has been escalated. Well that doesn't help me in a tourny that I'm playing in and a guy can rebuy/add-on with no chip minimum.

Completely unfair for everyone else playing by the rules!

If they know about this bug in the software, they should either:

1. allow unlimited addons which it essentially is anyways,
2. cancel all future rebuy tournaments, or
3. let everyone know about this bug so we can all take advantage of it.

Fair gaming? Had this been any company in the United States or Canada you would see a huge class action lawsuit within minutes.

As for me, I'm still playing in this tournament and will try to beat the cheaters without cheating myself. 700 people left. I will, however, avoid Party Poker tournaments for the time being. Who knows what other bugs they have in their software that they aren't telling us about.

WPS Picture

2005-12-21T11:25:00.000-05:00

Thanks Skyrattler for sending me a picture with me, Raymer, MIKEJ.

World Poker Showdown Cruise

2005-12-19T11:04:00.000-05:00

We just got back from an amazing Caribbean cruise. We were aboard the Royal Caribbean Mariner of the Seas for a week with stops in the Bahamas, St. Thomas, and St. Maarten.

What made this vacation special was not only was there poker, but we also got to hang out with all my friends from PSO. I'll have to break this vacation summary into two sections: Poker and Vacation.

Poker Summary

Honestly, I didn't want to play a lot of poker on this cruise. PSO gave away SIX poker packages to freeroll winners, and I decided to tag along more for fun than for poker. My plan was to play the PSO sponsored $100 event, plus another $100 event, and maybe a satellite for the main event.

$100 + 30 Event

The first $100 event was with rebuys. I hate rebuys. Thought I would just stick it out without a rebuy or add-on. I got to play on the same table as Greg Raymer for about 2h before I busted out 28th out of 104 entries. I wasted time I could have spent with my wife, but I think I needed this warm up for things to come.

Private PSO Tournament

The second evening we held a private PSO tourny. Pretty much a 2 table sng with a $35 buy in. This by far the most fun game. I knew everyone, maybe even played them online at one point. To have a live game with these people was just plain fun. I finished 3rd and won $80. SkyRattlers (Darren) finished 2nd and 41DMB41 (Cory) won it. Too bad we couldn't have some more of these private low stake games.

Main Event Satellite $260+30

The third evening was the second Main Event Satellite. I skipped the previous one to play in the private tourny. I was about to skip this one too as I did come to spend time with my wife and up until the third evening I had been playing non-stop poker in the evenings. Jim from Nevada Jacks told me I should play as he thought I could win it. 5 minutes before it started I decided to just play it instead of having a big "what if..." later.

There were about 45 people in this satellite. That meant the top 3 finishers won a $2600 seat into the main event and 4th place got $1900 cash. With about 30 people left I was very short stacked. $650 in chips, blinds $100/200 with $25 ante. I had to push my stack soon so I was just hoping for some cards before my blinds came around again. I magically look down and see pocket 10s. I calmly push all my chips into the middle hoping I get called, yet not quite sure I want to be called. When I got called by 2 players, I thought my game was done. Flop was KTx, both players toss money into the side pot. Turn was an A. This time there's a reraise.... River is another A. There's another bet and raise making me think I'm done. Turns out the winner of the side pot only had A9 for a best hand AAAKT, and my pocket TT hold up for a full house, tripling me up to just over $2000.

I managed to hang on and make the final table. Sitting to the right of Monica (KrazyKanuck's girlfriend). This worried me a bit as I have heard she is a very good player. Definitely distracts the guys at the table with her low cut tops :). She took out 3 guys very early on the final table when her KK held up versus AK, QQ, and 49o who was all in with the Big Blind.

Now she had more than half the chips in play. Instead of bullying, she decided to try and coast to the final 3. Unfortunately for her, she also announced this to the table, which meant FREE Big Blinds for ME!!! All I had to do was raise her with any 2 cards as long as there were no callers in front of me. This saved me and I managed to make the top 4. Extremely short stacked, maybe $5k in chips with ~$50k in play. I'm thinking to myself, $1900 isn't bad. I may be better off with $1900 instead of the seat so I can spend the rest of the cruise with my wife.

Well I went all in with A6 and got called with A8, I managed to flop a 6 and double up. Every time Monica is in the Big Blind I go all in, making her still fold and each time showing her 26o, 93o, etc. Finally the 4th time around I push all in as usual, this time she calls. I honestly didn't look at my cards. She turns over 33 and I flip over T8o. I flop a T, and river another T to win my seat to the $2600 Main Event. Had I won the $1900 I wouldn't have shelled out another $700 to buy in to that event.

Main Event $2500 + $100

Here we go, the big four day event with lots of poker pros. I draw a seat and it turns out I have MIKEJ (PSO) 2 seats to my left. I was hoping we would start on different tables, cause I didn't want to take all his chips. Just before the cards are in the air, Greg Raymer takes his seat to my immediate left :(. I'm thinking I have drawn the worst seat in the tourny.

The Greg Raymer Staredown

I got lucky in the first hour when I rivered a full house and doubled up. This was what put my game plan to work. With Raymer on my left I had to be aggressive with him. I had to try to steal his Big Blinds as much as possible, and that's what I was doing for most of the evening. During the 3rd hour I raised my usual with Raymer in the Big Blind and this time he raised me. I had AKo this time, so I called. Flopped an A and checked. Raymer made a pot bet of $1000 and without hesitating I raised him to $2000. Now I'm staring directly at him as I say "raise" and throw my chips in. I was staring at him to pick up a tell, I can tell you there was none there. Just his trademark glasses looking back at me for at least 5 min, which felt like a lot longer than that. I was finally relieved to see him muck his cards saying that my set or my A was good. I mucked without showing, but I did learn afterwards that he laid down KK.

Raymer's Glasses

About an hour later Greg Raymer was getting short. I did my usual raise, this time on the button. Raymer immediately pushes all in, and MIKEJ considers going all in himself. One all in is fine, but two all ins I wouldn't have liked. MIKEJ did fold (JJ as he told me later), I call Raymer and flip over QQ. He has 67s. My ladies hold up and I have eliminated the 2004 WSOP champ. He signs his glasses and hands them over to me as a trophy. I've never watched the 2004 WSOP DVD, so I think I'll go out and buy one just to watch it now.

Greg Raymer was a nice guy. Just a little too chatty at the table for me. I don't like to talk when I'm playing and I don't listen to music as I find it distracting. Just hope people don't take my quietness as offensive, I just like to observe and concentrate.

End of Day 1 and Day 2

I ended Day 1 with the outright chip lead. $42k, the next closest had $25k. Day 2 my stack started to vanish. 2-3h into it I was down to $15k. I had KrazyKanuck to my right. He was short stacked starting. I tried to bluff KrazyKanuk early and after a long staredown with him, he decided to call. Not an easy call for him as it would have left him with ~$5k. but managed to double up when his KK cracked Phil Nagy's (ACR) AA. By the end of Day 2 I built my stack back up to $50k. Mostly on stone cold bluffs versus the non experienced players and I tried to stay away from KrazyKanuck once he built a big stack.

KrazyKanuck (Jim Worth) is a very good player. Extremely nice guy. I read one of his articles in Canadian Poker Player which really has shaped my game. I rarely talk at the table, but I got into a conversation with him. It did distract me and I accidentally called. Can you believe the guy actually apologized for distracting me? It was completely my fault and I have KrazyKanuck apologizing. Great guy and I will continue to read his articles.

Final Table

I managed to make the final table with a slight lead over JD604 (Jason) another PSO member and a fellow Canadian. I was nervous before the game began, but as soon as the cards were in the air I was calm as usual and playing to win this thing. 10 people at the final table, top 5 paid with 1st being $27k and 5th $10k. 6th place got a handshake and that's all. I'd say that I was one of a few amateurs at the table, it was definitely dominated by pros.

A short stack goes out quickly, then surprisingly Monica goes out when her KK ran into JD604's AA. Another short stack goes out, then KrazyKanuck soon after. Now we sit on the bubble and with blinds at 4000/8000 and 300 ante, I am not catching any cards and am in danger of bubbling out like my friend AngryRook did at the USPC. That cost him $28k. I see a guy raise in front of me and one caller. I decide to push my remaining $20k all in, and get 1 caller. Thank god he had 88 vs my 99. He didn't catch any of his 2 outs, and I double up to $50k and a better shot at making the money. Phil Nagy then goes out on the bubble and another short stack goes out 5th. I'm getting short again with $20k in chips and I decide to push all in with my 33. This time I get 2 callers and one of them flopped a pair of tens to take me out 4th.

So $12k wasn't a bad payout considering I only paid $290 to enter the satellite. JD604 ended up winning. He played a strong game and I'm glad he took home the trophy.

My buddy dlk9s (Dan Katz) also finished 3rd in a $100 + $30 event. Paying him $2500. JD604, dlk9s and myself ate at the same dining room table every night. So I guess our table cleaned up.

Vacation Summary

Problem with playing so much poker was that I didn't really get to enjoy the ship. We did do lots of excusions. Snorkelling in the Bahamas, Blackbeards Castle in St. Thomas, and Ziplining above the trees in St. Maarten. My friends will have access to my pictures soon.

Welcome to my Blog

2005-12-19T09:54:00.000-05:00

I'm not much of a blogger, but I figure this is a great idea to let my friends and family know what I'm up to (if they care), rather than sending out mass emails to people.