Purdle's Poker Adventures

2006-12-13T22:04:00.000-08:00

well it's beena while since i posted. i've been sick and busy and having had time for a lot of poker or much of anything else. Just as an update: i'm taking a break from tourney's for a while. Not because i don't enjoy them, but because i found a much more time efficient way of making money lol. I've started playing shorthanded limit tables and i love it. Not nearly as much sucking out and the pots are bigger on average too. In the past week i've made like $600 or so. Just today i'm up over $200. That's with only 3-4 hours of play today too. It's awesome. This isn't an exceptional thing either. I've been winning consistently like this everytime i've sat down lately. It's been a blast. It just seems so easy for some reason.

Oh, just as a fun thing, here is my new favorite hand ever:

fstgrndr55 Posted Small Blind $1.00
blondie1559 Posted Big Blind $2.00
secman Posted Return Blind $3.00
Dealing CardsYou Were Dealt (Js, Qs)
thepurdle Raised to $4.00
petepatel Calls $4.00
secman Folds
kaptainkrunch Folds
fstgrndr55 Folds
blondie1559 Calls $2.00
Dealing Flop (Tc,8h,5d)
blondie1559 Checks
thepurdle Bets $2.00
petepatel Calls $2.00
blondie1559 Folds
Dealing Turn (Td)
thepurdle Checks
petepatel Bets $4.00
thepurdle Calls $4.00
Dealing River (Kc)
thepurdle Checks
petepatel Bets $4.00
thepurdle Calls $4.00
petepatel has (7d, 9d)
thepurdle has (Js, Qs)
thepurdle Wins $34.20 from pot 1 with : Pair of Tens

lmao. yes i called him down with queen high and was succesful. had to be one of my finest moments ever.

2006-12-01T22:32:00.000-08:00

Ok, so i know i just posted not long ago, but i thought i would do a follow up. I said i was going to play the next $10 Nl if it got over 50 ppl in it. It did. 66 ppl registered to be exact. Well, i got hot early on. Picked up aces early on and more than doubled up. Then flopped 2 pair from the big blind with 9-4o and busted fellow forumer thechach. From there it was mainly smooth sailing other than my kings getting sucked out on by j-7s going all in on a flush draw on the flop. Other than that all was good. Made the final table and all was good. Ended up having a rough FT. Got sucked out on twice by the same guy, on the river no less, which really hurt my chances. The second time i had to make a miracle comeback from less the 1k in chips and in about 3 hands got back up to 10k. Alas, it was all for nothing. Ended up getting blinded off for a couple rounds and then the same guy who rivered me the last 2 times went ahead and rivered me for a flush on what would have been a split pot. I really just couldn't get lucky once the FT started other than my comeback. Not that any of the beats were all that bad, well, the one was pretty bad since he was drawing to 3 outs, but other than that the others weren't that bad other than the fact that they came on the river which always makes it seem worse. I'll take the positive out of this though. I played in 2 tourneys of over 50 ppl each today. I ended up taking 3rd and 5th in them and making almost $100. Pretty good showing, it's just a shame because it could have been so much better. I really feel like i had a great chance of winning both of those tournaments and that kind of hurts, but i guess i'll take what i can get. @.@

2006-12-01T19:45:00.000-08:00

Ok, so lets start this out by saying that my streak of up and down hasn't changed. I started yesterday out really well by finishing in the money in my first 2 tourneys of the day. That was good. The bad started when i sat down at a NL table and first got QQ sucked out on for like a $20 all in by a donk on a straight draw and then like 5 minutes later the same thing happened to my AA, only it was a flush draw this time. There wasn't anything i could do about it, but it still sucked to lose over $50 in 2 hands. Seemed all to reminscent of me calling a all in with JJ against A-5 and the guy making a flush. So that was all fun. Then i went and lost some more at a limit right game which was fun.

The good news is that today i haven't played much, but i just finished a $10 NL tourney. Ended up finishing 3rd which was like $60 so that was a good thing. Now i'm deciding on my next move. I think i'm going to play the next $10 NL coming up in like 40 minutes (if it gets over 50 ppl). Hopefully i'll be able to do well there too.

You know, as much as my cash game experiences have sucked lately i can't help but think that it's going to get better. Every big pot that i've lost in the past week or so i've been about 70-30 to win it when the money went in. It's just that the cards haven't fallen right for me. If i have a couple of hands hold up i'm looking at a completely different situation right now. I guess the only thing i can do is take consolation in the fact that i'm getting my money in good consistently. ^_^

2006-11-29T17:16:00.000-08:00

Alright, so i haven't played much today. But, i did have a good day thus far regardless. Got up this morning and started watching the muralific muralusion bubble out of the $200 guaranteed. I was only half awake so i decided i might as well go ahead and play the $5 NL tourney. You know, half asleep and poker is a great idea. Well, it ended up working out pretty well. Things looked pretty grim though coming up on the bubble. I was down to about 6 BB's and decided to semisteal with pocket 5's and moved in. I got called by QQ, but ended up getting lucky and flopping a set. That turned out to be the differnce in the tournament. From there it was on to the final table and that worked out well. I ended up being the big stack with 3 left. Then i knocked the one guy out so i was the big stack going into heads up. Unfortunately i kind of lost the HU match. He outflopped me when i had the best hand a couple times and that was it. Not too much i could do about it, but still a second. Didn't take a pic as it was a second and not a win, but overall i was very happy with the result. I think i'm going to play the $1500 short hand guaranteed and hope i can do well there as well. I seem to kind of be getting back into my MTT groove the past couple days. (>~.~)>

2006-11-28T22:01:00.000-08:00

Woohoo, still more of the same. Up and down up and down. It's getting kind of frustrating. I can't put together 2 good days. Started out awesome today. Won my first 2 sng's so i was up $30. I quickly lost 3 more so i ended up like $15. Also had a bad day the other day. Lost a bunch. Sat down at a NL table and lost like $50. Made trips to get rivered by a flush, twice. Made 2 pair to get rivered by a, guess what, flush. It was pretty sick. Very frustrating. I think i'm going to stick to just MTT's and SnG's for a while.

Had a good showing in the $1500 guaranteed tourney. Over 100 ppl in it and i went out like 17th or something. Kind of got unlucky. Kind of not. Got my money in with the best hand with a chance to more than double up and got beat. It happens. Couldn't have really folded though with a-10 in my BB with only 3 BB's left. If i was a midish stack i probably fold there, but shortstacked or bigstacked i would have been forced to call. Gonna go and do some SnG's right now and hope it works out well for me. ^_^

2006-11-25T08:04:00.000-08:00

LoL. Not a lot to post about just felt like i needed to keep updating. it's been more of the same, up and down from day to day. thanksgiving night i went and lost like $80-$100. Not really much i could do. I either missed the flop completely or made a great second best hand. It was absolutely brutal. Then yesterday i decided to take a break from ring games after such a bad session and went and played some $5 sng's. Well that worked out pretty good. i placed (meaning 1st or 2nd) in 8/9. I took 1st in 6. It was pretty amazing. I ended up making like $100 on sng's which basically got me back to where i was. Today i'm hoping for another day like yesterday. If i can string a couple of those together i will be a very happy camper, but we'll see.

2006-11-21T08:01:00.000-08:00

Been so up and down the past week or so. Haven't been able to win any tourneys, but have been getting pretty consistent results. Mad $20 in the 10k freeroll on sunday and $20 in the 1k freeroll (with some help from my wife) yesterday. Other than that i've barely been staying even. Actually down quite a bit from my highest, but what do ya do. Ring games have been the same as tourneys too. I'll have a great session, then i'll have a down session. I just don't feel like i'm in rhythm overall, but i don't think i'm doing anything wrong. Just the cards are consistently falling the wrong way right now. I can't complain too much as i am going deep in my tourneys and overall i'm doing alright in ring games, but it's kind of frustrating after the rush i had been on. Honestly though i feel pretty comfortable with how i'm playing. I still feel like i'm a threat to go deep in any tourney i enter and that's what it's really all about as it is impossible to win them all (i'm not phil hellmuth ya know)...Anyway, things are ok and i have faith that i have a big win coming up soon. Just have to keep playing my cards correctly and eventually good things will happen. ^_^

2006-11-18T11:53:00.000-08:00

BPT - The House of Blues

Just got underway. Kind of missed a couple hands because of an unfortunate incident with some chocolate milk, but i'm here now. Looks like a tough table. On table 3 right now with a couple BPT winners and a 20k freeroll winner. Not very excited about my table, but we'll see how it goes. Table looks awesome though.

Down 200 chips right now due to a misread on a bet by Kufolem. I thought he was bluffing with position and i had a pocket pair and check raised..oops. Grrr. Flopped a pair with a flush draw. Didn't work out very well. Down 3 chips now. Gonna have to bounce back. Down 400....not doing too well here. Think i need to sit back a little. Apparently i love j-8..i've had it 4 times already..Big pot just now between Markster1 and Kufolem. Kufolem had a flush and markster1 2 pair. Kufolem is running over my table at the moment. Wow....currently in 107th place out of 109. This is not looking good. Kind of feel like the whipping boy right now. Need to actually hit a hand because thus far i'll i've shown are bluffs, semi bluffs and second best hands. Think i'm going to tighten up and wait for a premiumish type hand now. Losing too many chips with OK hands. Just picked up a bigger pot from markster1 with a semibluff. Woohoo, not in last at my table anymore. reverted back to my limit hold 'em limpaholic strategy and it seems to be working. 90th out of 107 right now, kind of on the comeback trail. Still fine for chips though so i'm not really worried. Markster1 lost another big pot. This time with 2 pair to a straight. Wow, i just donked out in 103rd place or something. Grrr. went all in with top pair and a weak kicker after it was checked on the flop by markem. I bet the turn and he raised, i reraised, he called with a king kicker. I had 100 chips and went all in the next hand with K-jo. He called with K-6, he made 2 pair. YES! that was some terrible poker right there. I just never found a rhythm honestly. I hate that. Just felt out of sync and like nothing i was doing was working.

2006-11-12T02:30:00.000-08:00

Hehe...so i woke up from a midnight nap. Well, i had been watching TV and fell asleep because it was boring and i was tired and woke up just in time for a $10 NL tourney. So, feeling refreshed i bought in and got ready. Well, i got lucky early and flopped 2 pair with K-j when someone else flopped a king. Got a quick double up out of that. Kind of hung around after that. Didn't really do much. Didn't play a lot of hands. Won the hands i played usually. Finally made it to the final table and yes, i was the shortstack. Oh for fun lol. Well, i stole some blinds and stayed alive until 2 ppl dropped. Then i picked up a-5s and i raised UTG. I got one caller. I hit my ace on the flop and the guy put me all in. I figured i was beat, but had a gutshot straight draw and was pretty much pot committed anyway so i called. He turned over K-Q...he had nothing. hehehe. I doubled up. Then i picked up aces and raised. Got reraised. I went all in, the other guy called and turned over QQ. I win. From there it was pretty smooth. I made a bad play and sucked out with AQ vs AK. Go me! From that point on i dominated the table. Got it heads up and put on my aggressive hat as usual and won. It was a blast. After the Heads up portion was over the other player said and i quote, "I just couldn't take anymore.." Hehehe. That's a good feeling. Just leaned on him till he broke. I love it. ^_^

2006-11-10T00:32:00.000-08:00

Alright, so with the bankroll at a new high i played a $10 NL again. I sucked. I lost. Tried to steal the blinds with pocket 7's. Guy called all his chips with k-10o? Wtf? Lol. After that i just donked out. Couldn't believe he made that call. It was something else. Anyway, no big loss, just $10 down. So i went and sat down at my favorite table. The one $1/$2 FL tables. It was a great time. Got off to a pretty rough start. Got beat by 2 outers twice and a 4 outer once. Doh! Only good thing was that i was a little up at that point so it didn't put me in the negative. Was able to bounce back from that nicely courtesy of some nice little fishies that kept calling me. Ended up playing there for like 5 hours. Left up $75. Almost tripled my buy in again. It just seems to get easier with each session. The ability to take beats like i did early on there without losing my head is helping a lot too. A month ago, i take those beats and i'm dropping my whole buy in at the table by tilting away like a drunk guy by a urinal. It was weird tonight though, i didn't get to chase any flushes..I can't remember the last time i didn't chase at some point. Oh well, it worked out for me. hehehe...i love my new pond. ^_^

2006-11-08T23:14:00.000-08:00

Woohoo! just played a $10 NL hold 'em tourney and it was something else. So i was doing ok about midway through the tourney about midstacked. Not great, but not good either. So i picked up AK suited. So, i raise, get one caller. Flop came out QJ9 or something like that. I know the QJ for sure. So i had 2 overcards and a gutshot draw and ended up getting it all in. I missed everything and was severely crippled. down to like 200 chips and the blinds were about 150..maybe i had less than 200, don't know. anyway, blinds were coming and i moved in with 7-5s and got insanely lucky and rivered a flush. Then picked up aces and doubled up again. In about 5 hands i got right back to where i was. From there it was smooth sailing to the final table. knocked a couple ppl out, it was great. So i entered the final table as a midstack. Ended up getting lucky a couple times and picking up aces again and getting into 3rd place by the time it was 3 handed. Took the chip lead by knocking the 3rd player out. Once it was heads up it was smooth sailing. I had the chip lead and dominated with aggressive play. Lost the chip lead a couple times but ended up getting it back. The final hand i had got him fairly shortstacked and raised with k-8o. he called and the flop came out k-8-x. I bet and he went all in, game over. I took down my biggest tournament win to date. Woohoo!

2006-11-07T20:25:00.000-08:00

Well, after the first matches (the first MTT and the first round of SnG's) for the forum league my team has some work to do. If we had done better in the MTT we would be in good shape, but as is, we are middle of the pack which is kind of disappointing as good a team as we have. We are still in pretty good shape, but i think it could definately be better. Right now, all we need is one good set of finishes in an MTT and we're right there. Honestly i'm ok with 6th right now. As good a team as we have i really expect us to move up the leaderboard at some point in the season. ^_^

2006-11-06T19:16:00.000-08:00

just thought i would give a quick update on the Blogger Poker Tour as i was mentioned in the news for the last event which is kind of cool.

"And one of the best stories of the day, 2 rookies, Stevenslb159 & thepurdle, both making the final table in their Blogger Poker Tour debut. They finished in 7th & 10th place respectively, a great leg-up to a possible top 20 place, despite their late start."

pretty sweet. here is a link to the entire article. http://www.bloggerpokertour.com/2006/11/freeroll26-takes-down-event-4.htm

2006-11-05T23:22:00.000-08:00

Today was a good day for poker. But first, let me just mention the rest of yesterday. Decided to enter a $10 tourney with my buddy Muratore. We both ended up making the final table because we just rock like that. Unfortunately we went out 8th and 9th or something so it kind of sucked. We got our money back, but not much more. Honestly though, for the cards i had it was a great showing.

As for today i started the day off by playing the forum league sng. I dominated. Absolutely dominated. Had one big bluff semi early that kind of set me for the rest of the tourney. Raised UTG with 8-9s and got one caller. I flopped a flush draw so i bet hoping to take it down. It didn't work. On the turn i picked up a straight draw to go with my flush draw so i went all in. Didn't get called and set myself up as the chipleader. I don't think i lost the lead from that point on. I was aggressive as hell, made a couple of nice lay downs and rolled over the table i thought. Caught some cards at the right times which helped, but i was very, very happy with the way i played. Ended up winning it so i was pretty happy about that.

After that i decided to go ahead and try to win my way into the 15k guaranteed tourney. My first attempt sucked, busted out of the $2 satellite so i tried again. Ended up winning that one. It was tough though. Very, very tough. Ended up being heads up against a guy named Gator. No joke, the heads up match lasted about a half hour. It was insane. Ended up winning it though. I was able to whittle him down by taking down small pots and once i had the chip lead (i started out abotu 1k down) i didn't relinquish it. It was beautiful. From there i entered the $10 satellite and also won that. Knocked out 2 ppl at once with pocket kings and had a huge chip lead going into heads up. It only lasted about 3 hands i think. I moved in with a-8 or something and he called with pocket 7's. I got my ace and won.

The 15k was a great time. I started out as a chipleader by knocking out someone with pocket aces. Then knocked out another person by flopping 2 pair with AQ. Then knocked out another by flopping trip 9's. It was monstorous. The crappy part was after that i went completely card dead. Ended up about a midstack with under 50 ppl left and the top 30 getting paid. Picked up aces and raised from the button. The big blind called. The flop came out all spades and i had the ace of spades. To my suprise he moved all in. I figured top pair or something and he was protecting his hand so i called. unfortunately for me he had flopped trip 2's. I didn't improve and that was the end of my tourney. Honestly though, even if i knew he had flopped trips i probably would have had to call. I had 9 spades that could help me and 2 aces. 11 outs. a about a 44 percent chance of making my hand and taking down a big pot. Oh well, it was a fun tourney. The level of play was overall a lot better than the normal tourneys. Also, the blinds move up slower so it gives you more time to play with skill as opposed to having to start gambling early.

So, feeling pretty good about the way i was playing i sat down at a ring game. Sat down with $40, left with $80. Was actually up to $100 but had a couple hands that cost me quite a bit. So again, still feeling good about my play i entered one last tourney for the night, another $10 mtt. I played really, really well i think. i was actually chip leader for a good portion of the tourney. Had a really cool incident too. Got transferred to a new table and had 2 ppl i had played with a couple times tell me how much they respect my game and such. Super cool. anyway, ended up going card dead after the first break and slowly dropped down the leaderboard. I ended up making the final table as the shortstack. I was able to last a until 6th, but that was all i could muster. The blinds were just too big. I did double up once, but it just wasn't enough. Ended up pushing all in with pocket 5's and getting called by Q-10o. He hit his queen on the turn and that was it. There wasn't much i could do though. If i don't move there i have less than 5 bb's which is pretty dire straights. I may have been able to wait longer, but i don't know what the odds are that i get a better hand than that before i get blinded out. I played to win and didn't lol. If i won that though i was right back in the game. Overall though it was a good showing, for the entire day actually. ^_^

2006-11-04T14:27:00.000-08:00

Just finished my first Blogger Poker Tour event, Irongirl's Omaha a Go-Go. I think i did pretty well. Made a couple of mistakes that cost me huge though. For example, early on i accidentally folded an ace high straight with a redraw to a royal flush...would have busted 2 ppl. Also accidentally called an all in on a steal attempt. To misclicks cost me about 6k in chips. Very, very costly. Other than that i played pretty well overall. that is until it got down to ten handed and i was in the money. Oops. I was sitting in 6-8 for chips and was really ok. Then i made a mistake and bet my flush draw on a paired board as a continuation bet..Big mistake, guy had flopped a fullhouse and i doubled him up. Then i was shortstacked and had to make a move. Had Akxx and moved all in to the other blind. He had AKKx. I actually took the lead on the turn with 2 pair. He hit a straight on the river though and busted me out in tenth. Hate making mistakes and i made at least 3 in the tourney that cost me dearly. I should have been in the running to win it, but oh well.

Right now, i'm watching the final table and their down to 7 handed. Not a lot happening though because every is fairly deep for chips. Egonolson is leading atm though with 56k. Next closest is freeroll26 with 38k. Looks like Stevenslb159 might need to make a move soon. He has 13k and the blinds are at 1k.

Freeroll just took the chip lead from Egon by flopping trip aces. He just has a slight lead, but a lead nonetheless. Egon had been leading probably half of the tourney. Imjusthere4thebeer just doubled up courtesy of Egon, by rivering a straight. Egon is now down to 19k in chips and here4thebeer has almost 30k. Egon bounced back though. Just won a pot and got himself back up to about 30k. MTLDon just doubled up courtesy of freeroll. Moved all in with AAxx and freeroll called with KKxx. MTL was the second shortest stack, but is now comfortable at about 30k. Stevenslb159 looks to be in really bad shape with only 1k in chips. Nevermind, he just busted out. He just picked a hand and moved in. No luck for him though. We are now 6 handed.

Shortstack is now Kufolem with 15k. Nevermind, he just busted out too. Bluffed all in, into Egon's Ace high flush. Now 5 handed. That was quick..

Freeroll has just taken a commanding chip lead by flopping a flush and getting called down by Egon's 2 pair. He now has 84k in chips. Other than that everyone else is pretty even. Hanging right around 30k in chips. MTLdon just busted out. Moved all in with AKxx and got called by imjusthere4thebeer with KQQx. here4thebeer caught a set on the flop and it held up. Now down to 4.

That was quick. imjusthereforthebeer just busted astinaguy. Moved all in with QQxx and got called by astinaguy with KKxx. Here4thebeer caught another set on the turn and that was all she wrote for astinaguy. imjusthere4thebeer now has 80k in chips and i s avery close second to freeroll. Egon is the shortstack with about 30k in chips still. So much for that. Egon just doubled up with a fullhouse and is now even with imjusthere4thebeer since that is who doubled him up. Freeroll just took a biggish pot off of Egon. He now has over 100k in chips and egon is back down around 30k. Freeroll is playing the bully like a champ and is trying to run away with this right now by wittling the other two down. Geez, he's up to 120k. it just doesn't look fair for the other two right now. Things are looking rough for Egon. he has 20k in chips and the blinds are up to 2 and 4k...It's really going to be hard for anyone to overcome freeroll right now. as long as he doesn't double anyone up, he really should win this. Egon is now out. He had to make a move and he did. He just happened to run into a bigger hand that happened to make 2 pair.

Heads up. Freeroll has 138k to imjusthereforthebeer's50k. It's over just like that. i'mjusthere picked up AAxx and moved all in...Freeroll called with KQQx and made a straight. Game over. Great match everyone.

2006-11-03T23:26:00.000-08:00

I decided to take a leap last night and sat down at a $1/$2 limit game. This was a big step since i'm skipping a step doing this. as of tonight, i would say it turned out to be a great move. it turns out there are more fish at this limit than at the .25/.50 tables. weird, but true. today, i sat down with $30 and i ended up leaving with $60. i had been up to $90, but made a couple second best hands and lost 30. a little later i sat down at another table. I sat down with $30 again and i sat there forever. Almost 300 hands to be exact. I should actually still be there because i was on a tear and the table was full of fish, but i was getting a little tired so i left. Get this, sat down with $30..i left with over $130. i made over $100 at one table. it was insane. i still can't believe i did that well. I'm pumped. Needless to say i won't be playing at the .25/.50 tables anymore. ^_^

2006-11-02T21:01:00.000-08:00

i feel sick. just played 2 tournaments and they both royally sucked. no two ways about it. First i entered the 2k guaranteed. I did fine and made it until the first break. Then after break i was card dead. Didn't see anything for about 30 minutes. Finally pick up kings, getting kind of short stacked at this point and i'm facing a raise. I really only i had one move, all in or fold. I couldn't fold kings and you guessed it, i ran into aces.

Then, just now in the $10 MTT i went out in a hurry. I can't remember the last time i went out in a tourney this early. Well at least a non freeroll. Still very early in the tourney and i pick up aces. My table has been playing retared as usual so i decided to jam the pot preflop. Raise up 5 times the BB to 100. There had been 3 limpers and i had to get rid of some of them anyway. I get one caller. The flop comes out K-x-10. Not really much to be scared of but there are 2 diamonds out there. To my suprise the guy bets into me. At this point i put him on some kind of king. Like KQ or something because these are the type of hands he's been playing. I raise, Jam the pot to push him off any draw he might be on and make sure he actually has a pair. The turn comes out a J. At this point i think i'm probably still fine. I don't think he has 2 pair. Only scary thing (i thought) was that this was a 3rd diamond so he could have theoretically been staying with his flush draw. I decide he is scared of the diamond too and isn't very confident in his king when he checks to me. I move in, trying to take the pot down right there. He calls. He hit Broadway. He stayed with a gutshot straight draw and nothing else facing the kind of betting i was making. I don't know what the hell he was thinking or how he could have possibly thought his AQo was any good on that flop, but hey, what do i know. Chasing a gutshot there...amazing. I guess it worked, but honestly i should have picked that pot up on the flop. He had absolutely nothing. I'm fuming. I don't understand how ppl that have been playing long enough to get 3 gold stars on poker.com can make such awful calls. I don't care that he got lucky and hit it. I do care that he made an awful call and got lucky. Granted, i should have let off the gas when the 3rd flush card came, but i was spot on when i knew that he wasn't on a flush draw. Little did i know that he would chase a much longer shot than a flush draw.... >.<;;

On the bright side, as i got my message saying "Congratulations you finished incredibly far from the money in the $10 NL Hold 'em Tournament" (I hate that damn message unless i have smething to be proud of) i recieved my Blogger Poker Tour coupon! Hurray! Can't wait. Ok, i'm off to go pull my ears off. ^_^

2006-11-01T23:05:00.000-08:00

Well, i've been up and down for the past week or so. Mainly down, not so much up. I've been bouncing out of MTT's on the bubble over and over and it's been getting insanely frustrating. Well today, we had the 5th Street Charity Ball on poker.com with half of the proceeds going to the Make a Wish foundation. I signed up for this a couple weeks ago and have been really looking forward to playing in an event that goes towards such a good cause. Well, i didn't realize that this was a rebuy event until about 20 minutes in, but really it didn't make any difference to me at that point. I had already doubled up a couple times and was sitting fine for chips at break, but i went ahead and took an add on anyway. Ended up doing very well and making the final table. Sat and played fairly patiently and let ppl kill each other. Ended up getting down to 3 handed as the shortstack. Ended up moving all in with middle pair from the BB and got called by Q-10 (no pair) with a gutshot stragiht draw. Actually a great call given the situation and Pajasen (read Punk) ended up knocking me out in 3rd. I forgive Pajasen though since he/she (i have no clue) ended up going on to win it all. Grats Paj!

So, riding that success i entered a $10 tourney and i looked pretty good. With 11 ppl left i was about 5th in chips and then distaster. This guy who had been moving all in constantly moved in, i called with pocket queens figuring i was ahead (correctly). Then, the BB called with AK and the other showed pocket 3's. The 3's hit trips and the AK made a wheel straight on the river. Bye, bye purdle. Oh well, i played well and actually played that hand correctly in my mind. I just couldn't lay down queens against such a loose player.

Well, still feeling good about my play i just entered another $10 MTT. Ended up doing really well. Played shortstacked almost the whole time and ended up making the final table and the money. Sat around for a while, moved in when i thought i might have the best hand and stole the blinds a few times. Still shortstacked when it got down to 5 handed and then i moved in with pocket 2's hoping for a coinflip if anyone called. It didn't work. I got called by pocket 9's and ended up taking 5th. Still not bad and i'm back to where i started the week at.

One last thing. Played int he halloween tourney last night at poker.com . It was really a great time. I think i was playing well enough i should have at least made the money, and maybe another final table, but it wasn't meant to be. Midstacked i picked up Aces against 2 all ins. I of course move in and see i'm up against AK and QQ. Queen hit on the turn and that was it. Oh well, it was still a great time.

Overall, i think the past couple days i've been playing some of my best poker. Aggressive, but not too aggressive. Tight, but loose enough that ppl have to fear me. Hoping one of these days the good play will pay off for me and i'll get a big win. I'm going to satellite my way into the 15k guaranteed for this saturday and hope to hit big. We shall see.

2006-10-28T15:44:00.000-07:00

Well, even though for some reason i didn't get my coupon for the Blogger Poker Tour, i am currently watching the final table. I've been watching since it got down to ten players and i just have to say that Cawtbluffin is playing very well. He came in as the big stack and has stayed in the chip lead without risking a large portion of his chips at any point.

We are now down to 4 handed play after this:

Starting Hand #4085331-243
DavidMalek is the Dealer
Shuffling Cards
Chatuba Posted Small Blind 2,000
kufolem Posted Big Blind 4,000
Dealing Cards elc3105 Folds
CawtBluffin Folds
DavidMalek All In
Chatuba Calls 5,478
kufolem Calls 3,478
Dealing Flop (5c,4c,7h)
Chatuba All In kufolem Calls 2,872
kufolem shows (Kc, 4s)
DavidMalek shows (Ks, Td)
Chatuba shows (Ac, As)
Dealing Turn (8d)
Dealing River (8c)
Chatuba Wins 5,744 from pot 2 with : Two Pair, Aces and EightsChatuba Wins 22,434 from pot 1 with : Two Pair, Aces and Eights

Down to 3 handed now:

Starting Hand #4085331-246
elc3105 is the Dealer
Shuffling Cards
CawtBluffin Posted Small Blind 2,000
Chatuba Posted Big Blind 4,000
Dealing Cards
kufolem Raised to 8,000
elc3105 Folds
CawtBluffin Folds
Chatuba Raised to 12,000
kufolem All In
Chatuba All In
kufolem shows (Qc, Ad)
Chatuba shows (As, 2s)
Dealing Flop (Ah,3d,2d)
Dealing Turn (Tc)
Dealing River (Ts)
kufolem Wins 8,310 from pot 2 with : Two Pair, Aces and Tenskufolem Wins 58,356 from pot 1 with : Two Pair, Aces and Tens

So, in the final 3 we now have: Cawtbluffin with 65,299 in chips, Elc3105 with 64,035, and kufolem with 68,666. Blind are at 2 and 4 thousand.

Kufolem just took a big pot off of Cawtbluffin and now has almost 90,000 in chips. Another big pot just now between elc3105 and Cawtbluffin. Cawtbluffin took it down with a strong all in on the flop after Elc bet and got himself back up to about 90,000 in chips. Elc is now in trouble with under 20,000. Elc just doubled up courtesy of Cawbluffin and now has almost 50,000 in chips. Cawt raised preflop and elc moved all in. ended up being A-8 vs. A-6 and elc's A-8 held up.

Looks like Cawtbluffin just got caught bluffing by kufolem and is under 40,000 in chips for the first time in a long time. kufolem has taken a sizeable advantage with 130,000. He's playing the bully like a champ. Looks like he may have a chance to pull this out. Cawtbluffin just doubled up with 4-100 vs Elc's AJs. Cawt hit his 10 on the flop and he now has over 50,000 in chips. Elc is under 10,000 and things look grim for him.

That was the end of elc. He moved in with KQ and Cawtbluffin called with A-10. They both made 2 pair, but Cawtbluffins was better.

Heads up play has started and chips look pretty even. It's over. Just a couple hands in and It was all in preflop. Pocket 6's vs. AQ. AQ got help for kufolem and he was able to take down 1st place. Well played everyone.

2006-10-28T13:34:00.000-07:00

Grrr. It has not been a good day at the tables. I entered 2 tourneys a $5 and $10 and both ended in similar fashion. First the $5 since that was my first of the day.

Ok, so i didn't play great early, made a couple of mistakes and got shortstacked. So here I sit with 5 BB's left in my big blind. A loose raiser makes the minimum raise and i move in (of course). He calls and turns over 9's. Then, he proceeds to hit a set on the flop. In with the best of it, just unlucky.

Then, just now in the $10 it's still early, but i haven't done much. It's the 3rd level and I really haven't played a pot yet. Then, there is a huge raise UTG which looked like a big ace or a middle pair to me and a call from a bad player, so i put him on some kind of ace. I'm looking down at jacks again and decide i have the best hand and that the pot is big enough that i want to take it down now. I move in. The first guy sits for a while and folds. The second guy, sits for about half a second and then calls with A-10o. Awesome, in with the best of it as usual. 70-30 favorite and i feel pretty good about it. Flop comes out and i'm still safe, but there are 2 hearts in it (i'm sure you can see whre thsi is going). I have the jack of hearts, The guy who maade the bad call with A-10, of course, has the Ace of hearts. Long story short, he hits a runner, runner flush and away i go. I tried to think if i made the right move or not and i don't know. If i just call i end up maybe having an ace hit that flop and having to fold. If i fold, i think i'm playing way too tight. Jacks in that situation were most likely the best hand. I don't know, i really like the idea of making bad players make bad decisions so i think i still like that i moved in there. I did exactly what i wanted. Made him make a poor decision and got my money in as a favorite, and not just a small favorite. I really think i had 2 choices, fold (too weak for the players i was against, they were raising with junk) or move in...I wouldn't be nearly as upset if he caught the ace or something. Did it really have to be runner, runner flush to beat me. I think that's my least favorite way to lose a hand... >.<;

2006-10-27T07:23:00.000-07:00

so it's been up and down since i won the $10 NL. I dropped down and then i bounced back up and got ahead, and then i bounced down and bounced backup and got ahead. Very up and down. I don't think my play is as consistent as it should be. Made a couple final tables the last couple days, one in omaha, and one in hold 'em, but no win so no big payday Oh well though, it will come.

In other news, it looks like i'm going to be joining a great group of players for the poker.com forum league. They were the league champs the last season and i already know most of the ppl on the team. it should be exciting and i hope to be able to help return them to glory :)

2006-10-21T09:08:00.000-07:00

Ok, so yesterday was kind of a down day for poker. I entered a few tourneys and didn't cash in any. Ended up down like $40 so i was kind of down about that. Played a ring game and sucked there too. Got a little bit back by laying 3 heads up matches and winning all of them. Then won a SnG and took second in 2 others so that helped bring me back up. Still ended the day down about $15 which was crappy since i haven't had one of those days in a while.

So this morning i decided i was just going to completely focus and enter a $10 NL Hold 'em tourney. It was a struggle. I never saw a pair bigger than pocket 10's and i ended up laying those down (incorrectly even). Got a double up from my BB when i hit 2 pair and someone moved in. That was basically the only hand i won for a long, long time. Ended up hanging on until the final table and entered as the 2nd shortest stack. Kind of a crappy deal since only 5 get paid. Regardless of the fact that i had less than 10 BB i stayed patient. The shortest stack got knocked out so now i as the short stack. I was starting to feel kind of desperate and decided to go ahead and make a stand when the small blind (the big stack) tried to steal my BB and i moved in with KJ. He folded and i added a good little bit to my chip stack. Only a couple hands later i picked up AQ suited and moved in with it. I got called by the big stack with Q-10o and was able to double up. This jumped me into the top 5 so i felt pretty good and started my sit back and wait game again. I laid down a couple hands i would have liked to push with but decided they really weren't worth the risk. Finally, down to 7 ppl i picked up AK and moved in. I got called by pocket 10's and a junkier ace and tripled up. This made me the big stack and now i was in realyl solid position, especially since i felt i was the best player at the table. Sat back and we got down to 3 handed and i was still the big stack. The second biggest stack got crippled by the short stack (moving what had beent he short stack into 2nd) and i put him all in with pocket 3's. He had 2 overcards, but my 3's held up and now we were heads up and i had a 2-1 chip advantage. I started getting real aggressive. Raising with anything decent, queen or better and the guy kept folding. If he pushed back i would let it slide and then come back with more on the next hand. Hit a break when i limped a junky jack and ended up making a straight on the river and taking a good chunk of his chips. I basically just wore him down and finallygot him so he had just a couple BB's left. i ended up putting him all in with pocket 2's. He called and it was a coinflip, until i hit a set on the flop. Game over. That's 2 tournament wins now. Hurray! ^_^

2006-10-20T06:52:00.000-07:00

Woot! I finally got an outright win in a tourney. Again, a late night tourney before bed. Entered the $5 Omaha. It started with just 17 ppl which was both good and bad. Meant less ppl, but also that i had to make the top 3 to make the money. Well, so the story goes. I made the final table (hurray i beat out 7 ppl) and i was the shortstack. Of course. Well, i held on and held on. Picked up a couple double suited aces and raised and then went all in on the flop. I didn't get called either time. The final table actually was awesome. Great play overall and took over an hour. Not sure what happened, but i ended up making the final 3. Then, down to threehanded the second stack made a huge mistake and busted out to the big stack. So here i am, the shortstack and i have to come from way back. I think it was about a 3-1 chip advantage. I somehow battled back. Picked up a couple hands and was able to wittle him down until i had the chip lead. From there on it was smooth sailing. I dominated heads up and took home the prize of $45. Not great, but not bad either.

I guess i'm pretty good at Omaha even though i don't really feel very confident. My record now is 5 entries, 3 cashes. A third place and a 1st. That's better than my hold 'em record so i guess i need to play more Omaha. I don't know if it's that i'm good at the game or that the ppl i'm playing against are bad, but either way it's working for me. ^_^

2006-10-19T00:36:00.000-07:00

Hurray! another good day at the tables for the most part. Entered a $10 MTT Hold 'em tourney this morning and made the final table and left with a few bucks. Can't remember what place i took. It was somewhere around 8th or so. I made a mistake there. I got impatient and tried to steal all in shortstacked and got caught. Oops! lol. Oh well. Didn't do much the rest of the day. Entered a $5 tourney and just missed the final table. Again, i got impatient and got caught stealing. I need to work on that. Entered a SnG or 2, won 1. Dominated it. Didn't get great cards, but destroyed the table with tons of pressure. Ended up calling the guys all in heads up with K-7s and he was caught, he had 10-9o. Oops for him. I hit my king and it was over.

Then, just now, i entered an Omaha tourney to see if i could do it again. I wasn't very hopeful once it started because less than 30 ppl entered which meant you had to get to the top 3 to make the money. Considering i still don't consider myself that good at Omaha i didn't feel very good about my chances. Ended up doing pretty well. Double up when i made top set with Kings and it turned into a fullhouse. Guy overcommited with his trips. It was perfect. From there on i just held on. I didn't see a lot of cards and just tried to survive. With 11 ppl left i picked up a goofy suited ace hand and decided to play it. Picked up a flush draw on the flop and everyone checked. Then, on the turn all hell broke loose. I picked up the nut straight draw to go with my nut flush draw and i was getting ready to push when 2 players in front of me pushed all in. I don't know if this was a mistake or not but i decided to lay it down. I think i maybe should have called since i had soooo many outs, but oh well. Ended up i would have made my flush and won a huge pot, but i chose the safe route and survived until the final table. I was the shortstack at the table and pretty worried. Felt i might end up having to end up picking a hand and just praying but i stayed patient. A few players got knocked out and i survived by stealing a couple blinds with mediocre holdings. Then i picked up queens in my big blind and hit top set. I pushed in and got called and doubled up. Not much later i pushed with aces and knocked a guy out when they held up. Now i was the chip leader with 4 to go and decided to sit back and wait. Waited for the 4th guy to get knocked out to make sure i made the money and then it was down to 3. Honestly at this point i didn't care what place i took. Ended up getting knocked out when i made a straight and another guy made a flush. I made a mistake there, but by the time i realized he was playing a made flush i was already down to just a few chips. I decided to just walk away with 3rd and was pretty happy with it. Now, in Omaha tourneys, i've made 2 final tables in the 4 that i've entered. Not sure if it's blind luck or if i'm doing something right, but i'll take it. So now, in the past few days i've made more final tables than i can count. I'm really starting to feel confident about my poker skills overall. One thing that i've noticed though, my cash game skills aren't as good as they were before i started playing so many tourneys. I think i must be changing something about the way i play, but i'm not sure what it is. Honestly though, i'm making more money in MTT's faster than i ever did playing just SnG's and cash games.

*Note: i have officially reached 100% gain on my original starting cash of $50. I must be doing something right ^_^

2006-10-17T07:27:00.000-07:00

Well, yesterday ended up being a pretty good day overall. Ended with 3 total final tables yesterday and ended up cashing in the $1k freeroll. Not too shabby if i can say so myself. The last tourney of the night fo me was a $10 NL event and i got to play some more shortstacked poker. The best hand i got the whole tourney was Jacks and i didn't get any action. The second best hand was AK and i got to fold that lol. Hard to lay it down, but it was the right move given the situation. All in followed by an auto call from a tight player. Got rid of it and as i figured he had a big ace (A,J) and the other guy had a pair. The pair held up. Got lucky on an all in steal attempt with KJ. Moved in (shortstacked of course) and got called by AQ. It looked bleak for a minute, but i hit my King and got to double up. From there on it was just survival. It was almost down to the final table and i was playing the best i could with the stack i had. Ended up moving in with AQ (still shortstacked lol) and got called by a lesser ace and i held up. That was the last exit before the final table and from there again, i was just trying to survive. I stole when i thought i could and moved in when i had a decent hand. I was able to outlast 4 ppl to bring it down to 6. Then, from the button i moved in with A5 suited. Really jsut trying to steal the blinds (had less than 5000 chips with the blinds behing 1000/500) but i got called by A8 and lost. No big deal though. He almost folded it first of all, and second of all, i had to make a move as tends to be the case at final tables. It was either try to steal or get wrecked when they come around again. Either way, for the cards i had i did really well. I didn't ever have much, but i made the most of it as best as i possibly could. ^_^

2006-10-16T13:13:00.000-07:00

up until now the only game i have really played has been hold 'em, both limit and no limit. ther other day i decided to try out an omaha tourney and see how it went. Never played the game, but i think i'm a sharp cookie and can pick up a game quick enough. Well that first attempt was ok, i didn't really do anything, beat out about half the field and that was it. No big deal, i wanted the experience. So today, again riding my success of making another final table decided to go ahead and enter another omaha tourney. Little did i know how well i would do.

Tourney started out slow. I didn't really play too many hands and when i did i tried to see it cheap. Won a couple pots and kept alive. I spent almost the whole tournament under 10 BB and was about average for a stack. There were a few bigger, but not a lot. The only big hand i won was limping QQxx from early position and hitting top set. Got it all in with the best of it and held up. That gave me enough chips that i was able to make the final table and last until 8th place. Not a lot of cash in it, but i was proud of the fact that i was able to go deep in a tourney in a game that i don't really have experience in. It's a good feeling, as is making 2 final tables in one day. ^_^

2006-10-16T09:10:00.000-07:00

So, i woke up this morning and decided to go ahead and play some more poker. I'm not an addict i swear lol. Honestly though, i feel really good about how i've been doing lately and would hate to stop playing when i'm playing so well. So anyway, played a SnG to start the day and took second. Didn't play great. I honestly think i got outplayed headsup. Either that or outflopped, i can't be sure which. Anyway, i felt alright about how i was playing so i entered a $5 MTT. Less than 50 ppl entered so i knew i had to make the top 5 to make the money. Not the best odds. I would have preferred if a couple more ppl had entered so it would have been the top 10 getting paid, but oh well. So the tourney started and i decided to go with my normal strategy. Tight early on. Won a couple pots checking the best hand to ppl and letting ppl bluff off their chips to me. Love doing that. Lost a hand with K-10 that hurt. Hit top pair and bet it. Bet the turn and got called by 2 ppl still. Check called the river and got to see K-8, who happened to hit 2 pair on the flop. That kind of crippled me and i tighted up even more. Spent most of the tournament below 10 BB and clinging to life. Finally, someone made a huge raise up front, i read it as a middle pair and moved in with AQ, i hit my ace and doubled up. This was huge for me, but i kept playing the same way. Got down below 10bb again and picked up AK to a raiser, i moved in hoping for another coinflip or domination. He called with pocket 6's and i hit my ace again. Another huge moment, but i still didn't have a lot of chips. If i remember correctly this as at the final table, but remember, only the top 5 get paid so final table means nothing at this point. A couple people get knocked out and we get down to 4 handed. Excellent, i made the money. I'm shortstacked at this point, don't really remember how that happened, but doing well regardless. Then near disaster struck. In my BB i have 87o and the small blind limps in. I hit 2 pair on the flop, but there is a straight draw on the board. I bet out hoping to force out a draw and get reraised. My bet dwindled my stack and i really felt pot committed. I really couldn't fold at this point even if i put him on the straight so i moved in and he called, with the straight. Then a miracle on the river, an 8 giving me a fullhouse. I win a big pot on sheer luck. So midstacked now and nothing really happens. Some good folds around the table and there aren't any major confrontations. Then, i make a mistake. I pick up aces in the small blind and decide to limp hoping they catch something they can play with on the flop. I flop comes out with a pair on the board and all low cards. I check looking for action and she checks behind me. on the turn a 3 and i bet out and get called. The river, another 3 and i move in, aces are cracked by k-3 making a fullhouse on the river. Honestly though, i deserved it. I played the hand terribly. I figured the 3 hit her and moved in anyway. Terrible play. Not sure where i would have finished if i raise before the flop and bet the flop and force her to fold, but regardless, i made a mistake and paid dearly for it. Overall though it was a good showing. Played well and hit cards when i needed to. Regardless, i'll be kicking myself for how i played those aces for a good while. ^_^

2006-10-15T12:42:00.000-07:00

OK, flat out, that $1k guaranteed sucked. It didn't say rebuy on it anywhere, but it was. Spent $15, never did anything. Sucked. However, even with that we have had a good day thus far. Entered a $5 freezeout (no rebuy, they're the devil) and went deep. Really deep. Made the final table as a midstack. A field of like 155. Not too shabby. Called an all in from a mid and shortstack at the final table with pocket 9's. They held up against a-10 and k-10. woot! score one for the home team. This jumped me up to a big stack and i stayed there until we got down to 4 handed. Took a hit with Ak when someone moved all in with Queens, but i bounced back when i picked up queens and doubled up. At this point we are 4 handed and everyone is about the same for chips. Lots of going all in. No major confronations. I picked up Jacks in the big blind. One limper from the button. I put him on a hand because we hadn't seen a flop in ages and knew if i just raised he would probably move all in. So i saved some time, moved all in and he called with A-9 o. Looked good for me after the flop, no ace. Still good after the turn, no ace. Then, thunder struck on the river with an ace. You have no idea how torn up i was to see that. This left me with basically one round of chips and i just moved in with junk. Got beat and that was it. Went out in 4th and took like $42. Not too bad, but i really was in position to win it. I think i made a mistake though. Should have just checked my jacks and then bet the flop. He missed and would have had to fold and i would have picked up a small pot. Only problem is then i run the risk of an ace hitting on the flop and having to fold, but still, a small pot. Nothing i can do about it now. Just something to remember for next time i run into that type of situation. Overall a good showing though. ^_^

2006-10-15T08:08:00.000-07:00

Alright, so after entering a $5 and $10 MTT yesterday i was a little down because i didn't make the money. But, i was able to bounce back in a big way. Even after the $15 in entry fees i was able to come out $15 ahead for the day. Got on a huge streak in Sit and go's. Won 4 of 6 and placed in 5 of 6. The last one wasn't even fair. I was getting ready to go to bed and decided to play one more. On my first hand i picked up aces. One guy went all in as soon as it got to him. Another guy called, and i, of course, called. They were holding AK, QQ, and my aces held up after hitting trips on the flop. From there on, it wasn't even fair. Picked up queens a couple hands later (i do mean literally a couple hands later) and was able to win a small pot. Then, picked up 8's. Limped in and hit a set. One more person gone. Then, i couldn't believe this, but i got aces again. Raised preflop, got reraised and moved in. He had junk, but called anyway. Then it was heads up and i had a 5-1 chip advantage. Pushed in with a couple Ace highs and won again. It was absolutely sick. All said that sit and go was done in 22 hands and i had won 11 of them. Couple my great showing in the SnG's with the fact that i made $5 playing a ring game and it was a pretty good day.

One note, the Sng's at poker.com have gotten a lot easier to beat since the legislation attempting to ban online gaming passed. We have had an influx of new players and the skill level just isn't really there. I'm loving it. Just sat down and took second in another one this morning. Now, i'm getting ready for the $1k guaranteed tournament. Buy in was $5 so it's a good deal. Hoping to go deep. Going to be about 150 ppl in it and i'll need to get to the top 20 to make the money. I want the final table though. I want a win, but we'll see how the cards fall. Wish me luck. ^_^

2006-10-14T14:47:00.000-07:00

Well my streak of making the money ended today. Played in a $10 NL hold 'em MTT and was card dead from the moment it started. Never really got any cards that i felt good playing. Picked up QQ one time and won a decent pot, but that was the exent of it. Finally, with about 10 bb left and in the small blind i got 6's. A late position player raised and was called by the player on the button. I decided i had to make a move in hopes of everyone folding or being called by 2 overcards. Well, i got part of it right. Everyone except the initial raiser folded and turned over pocket 7's. I hit my set on the flop, but so did he. We both made a fullhouse but his was better and i went out. I don't think i made a bad play however. He almost mucked his pocket 7's. And regardless, i was going to make the call with my 6's and when i hit my set i would have moved in. Either way, the outcome would have been the same. I'm kind of amazed he made that call though since the only hand that i really played went to showdown and i had queens. It's either a genius call for him or blind luck. I honestly think he thought he was in a coinflip and decided to take the chance. Oh well. The 2k saturday freeroll starts in about 10 minutes. Hopefully i can have another good showing there. *crosses fingers* ^_^

2006-10-13T19:55:00.000-07:00

Well, one more 1k freeroll, one more cash. No final table this time unfortunately but it was another good showing if nothing else.

For the first hour, i think i folded close to 90% of the time. Picked up AK twice and won both times just by putting pressure on ppl. Never flopped a pair. Was able to accumulate enough chips to feel comfortable, but not enough to really feel good. However, after the first break things started to pick up. In a span of about 10 minutes i picked up AA and KK twice each. Never won a big pot with either hand as my raises were getting too much respect at this point, but won enough to put me in good position anyway. Unfortunately that was the end of my good luck. I was a middle stack after the second break and then the cards dried up. The one hand i really saw was AQ and i missed, bet the flop and then had to fold to a reraise. A little bit costly. From that point on it was just survival. Saw one pocket pair after that (9,9) and stole the blinds. Stole the blinds a couple other times with lesser hands. Eventually ended up moving in with A5 shortstacked (less than 3 blinds) and got called from the big blind with KK. I didn't hit an ace and that was all she wrote. Not a lot else i could do in my position though. I had an ace. I could either try to make a move and pray for the blinds to fold or a lucky double up or just get blinded away. I hate being blinded away so i chose door one. Overall a good showing however, went out in 22nd place out of over 500 so i can't complain too much. It would have been nice to make another final table, but i feel my overall showing was very good. Now i just have to keep up this streak until the 10k freeroll on sunday. ^_^

2006-10-13T10:57:00.000-07:00

So, I just finished a tournament. Meh, didn't do that well. pretty card dead. The one time i picked upa real hand (K,K) the guy who called my all in also had Kings. So, we split the pot and i didn't really get any richer. Then, shortstacked i picked up AK and moved in. Was called by pocket 6's and i didn't improve. So goes poker, and so goes life.

Now, that i got my update out of the way i want to rant a little bit about the legislation that was just signed into law by president Bush today. I can't believe that thsi type of underhanded crap can pass. No one read, and no one cared. The law that was passed overall had nothing to do with Poker or online gaming, it had to do with Port security and they snuck it in. It's the biggest joke i've ever heard of. Needless to say i'm not that worried about it, just annoyed at how our government works. Oh well i guess, at least poker.com is still letting us play and aren't shutting us out like so many other sites. I feel bad for all the players who have money in those accounts though (thank god i don't). It's going to be an absolute hassle for them to get their funds. >.<

2006-10-13T10:20:00.000-07:00

Well, yesterday was a great day for poker in the Purdle household. Well, yesterday with some continuation from the day before...

The day before yesterday i decided to enter a $5 MTT on poker.com (the only place i play) and after much hard work, sweat and near deather experiences made the final table. I ended up taking 6th in the tournament so i was pretty happy with the outcome overall.

Riding the successes of the day before i decided to enter another $5 MTT yesterday. This might have been one of my best tournaments ever. I went the whole tournament and only saw one premium pocket pair (K,K) after i had already made the final table. I also did not see but one big ace (A,K) and didn't even get any action on it. I spent the whole tournament shortstacked clinging to life and still somehow managed to finish 5th. Overall it was a great time, played with some pretty cool ppl and did well.

So, after finishing there it was time for the 1k freeroll on poker.com. I entered of course and got myself ready to go. Take into consideration i had just made two straight final tables so i was feeling pretty confident about my chances. This time however, i wouldn't have to cling to a small stack. I got lucky and picked up kings and ended up getting it all in against someone and they held up. Hurray! Score one for the home team. From there on, i was a force. Never the chip leader but always in the top echleon (is that spelt right?) of stacks. I was however the chip leader at my table for a long time and used this greatly to my advantage stealing blinds here and there and playing big pots only with premium hands. My favorite move in the whole tournament had to be about midway through. I was still sitting pretty and someone tried to (i believe) steal my blind. I looked at my cards and had some nice suited connectors (7c,6c) and reraised. I flopped a straight. unfortunately, he didn't pick up anything on the flop so it was wasted.

We grind on for a while and finally, i find myself at the final table. Up to this point i have not put all of my chips at risk without a premium hand and i decided i would stick to my strategy. i still had about 70k in chips which was about middle of the pack so i was in no real hurry. And then it happens, with 6 players left there is an UTG raise of 24k...a good chunk of my stack. I look down to find pocket queens. After almost no thought at all i push all in. I knew the guy was a loose raiser and i had him right where i wanted him. Everyone folds and it comes back around to him and he says, "Good luck to us.." and calls with pocket nines. At this point i'm nearly jumping out of my seat because i know he practically has to hit his set to win and if i win i will be right up there with the chip leader. And then came the flop and much to my dismay, there's a 9, he hit his set. I don't improve and am crippled. A couple hands later i walk away in 6th place. I can't really say i did anything wrong just got unlucky. I can only think of what might have been. Oh well, it was a couple days overall. Now to see if we can keep this streak running. 3 final tables in 3 tournaments is pretty good i think :)