$20,000!
This is our goal. When I say "our" goal, I am referring to the five other guys I live with here at UD and myself. By the end of the year, we want to make $20,000! This doesn't mean we want to win $20,000 but rather profit 20,000. We're only going to count the money that is cashed out of online poker sites towards our goal. So when the doubting Thomas' that are out there say "Prove it", we will show them the copied checks equaling X amount.
Everyone moved in Saturday to school so we set the goal starting that date. Yea it kinda sucks we can't use the $5,400 that Kevin cashed at the Bodog.com Sunday $100,000 Gauranteed tournament when he came 5th out of over 875 people. And yea, we can't use any of the $7,500 in tournament winnings I had in the month of July alone, but here we go starting at $0.
Doug, the 6'7 accident prone confident newly taken extremely intelligent Pre-med major, decided we needed a short term goal for the weekend of $500 to get things going. Long story short, the five of us played and we stuck some big cashes on the board, especially Kevin.
The weekend's top three results:
8-18 Kevin, 2nd place out of 1,010 entrants, $10 buy-in, = $1,414
8-18 Damian, 4th place out of 885 entrants, $10 buy-in, = $577
8-19 Kevin, 2nd out of 256 entrants, $20 buy-in, = $768
Total winnings in two days in tournaments at 229 Stonemill = $2,759.00
Okay, so we're off to a great start. We are going over hands and analyzing plays both that we make and our opponents. This is a great way to get better at almost anything. Talking with other players about their reasoning behind certain plays can only help you. It gives you different views on the way to play. And with the game of No-Limit Hold'em, there are rarely times where the play is black-and-white as to what is the correct one. Hopefully all of us, well not really me, but the other guys will listen to new ideas and tweak there game for the better and we'll keep cashing big and make our goal of $20,000.
I mean, who's ever gonna stop us?
Monday, August 20, 2007
Monday, August 13, 2007
Back in Action!
Alright, it's been too long since I've posted. It's been an insanely busy week. Weddings, meetings with pastors (for my wedding August 9th next summer!), concerts, recording the new CD at the studio, trips to Cincy to visit Gabe, and moving into UD for senior year! Anyway, I received a call last night from one of my two best friends Clay telling me he was coming into town for one week. Let's play some fuckin' cards.
Clay and I decided we were going to play some cards tonight but we didnt know exactly in what setting. We could have always played heads up - Hold'em, Omaha Hi-Lo 8/ob, Chinese poker, or any form online - but we decided to play live at a club in Dayton.
I bought in for $100 at the $1/2 NL game I have beat now for three years. I haven't had a losing night at this joint since New Year's Eve of 2005! I came off a session of turning my buy in of $100 to $521 in only three hours. I can't remember the last time I was behind when all the money got in against these guys. It's a wonder I don't go here everyday. I think I may check in to that.
A really interesting hand came up around twenty minutes into play. A loose aggressive player (as if there's a different kind playing NL at a barely legal club in Dayton on a Sunday night at 11PM?) straddled the BB making it $4 to go. I look down at two black Queens and non-chalantly call. The maniac gambler to my left makes it $24 to go and I was planning on calling him and check raising a safe board of unders on the flop. Unfortunately, the only other decent player at the table besides Clay and I re-raised all in for $49 more. Now this means that besides being faced with a raise and a re-raise, my opponent to my left had the option of raising again if I chose to call the $49. I thought longer at this spot than I have ever before at this club on one single decision. I tried to pick up on something from the guy to my left and I just kept thinking that this guy is really strong. He was breathing heavily and was giving off all the tell tale signs that he had a strong hand. I thought I was at best a slight favorite so I folded and gave up my $4 instead of putting in $100 with little to no clue with where I was in the hand. The maniac called and showed Ak suited. The other player showed AK as well and the flop blanked out so they split. My QQ would have held up. Now I know you guys wanted me to say the manic had KK and to see that I made an above the rim "professional" fold, but that's not the point. I made the correct play because I knew I was not dominating these two players in the hand. And let's be serious... do I want to put my whole buy-in or even close to it in without dominating my opponent? Especially at this table. I had made the correct read of the situation and the correct play... fold. Again, this isn't a tournament. My goal is not to earn every chip on the table by the end of the game. I am playing live poker. I am a business man. I want to use my chips like investments - carefully and skillfully sending my money in with positive expectation and high percentage of return. I think that made sense.
When the smoke cleared, and I managed to not risk anywhere close to 50% of my stack on one hand and be anywhere near even money with these donkeys, I walked away from the table with $439. Another big win! I avoided many situations where other players would have lost a lot of chips and I picked up a lot of small pots when others would have not sensed weakness.
I also ran a successfull, can I say amazing, bluff on two guys for a pot over $150. I mean this was the kinda of bluff written about it, well, poker blogs. It took twenty minutes for the hand to not be analyzed and talked about. I guess that's what happens when you raise pre flop, bet the flop, fire the third bullet on the turn, and flip up 2-4 off suit on an A-Q-9-6 board! Oh baby, I had these guys on tilt. "He has balls the size of your head." "That guy can surely play." "That was amazing!"
Did it really mean that much that these guys, who were terrible at cards and life, told me how great I was? No. But winning money is always fun. And I bet you're asking what happened to the "Never show a hand rule!"? I couldn't help myself. I mean I have won at this club for two years now BIG time and I guess I just got sick of the classic "He wins because he just waits for Aces" line. I plan on getting called down even more the next time I go. And this time, I will show up with my usual close-to-the-nuts hand.
Overall, it was a great night for the program. Clay and I shared a few beers, a black and mild, and watched some classic Hellmuth on YouTube.com. It's great to have him back in Dayton for a week in with regards to poker... it's great to be back in action.
Clay and I decided we were going to play some cards tonight but we didnt know exactly in what setting. We could have always played heads up - Hold'em, Omaha Hi-Lo 8/ob, Chinese poker, or any form online - but we decided to play live at a club in Dayton.
I bought in for $100 at the $1/2 NL game I have beat now for three years. I haven't had a losing night at this joint since New Year's Eve of 2005! I came off a session of turning my buy in of $100 to $521 in only three hours. I can't remember the last time I was behind when all the money got in against these guys. It's a wonder I don't go here everyday. I think I may check in to that.
A really interesting hand came up around twenty minutes into play. A loose aggressive player (as if there's a different kind playing NL at a barely legal club in Dayton on a Sunday night at 11PM?) straddled the BB making it $4 to go. I look down at two black Queens and non-chalantly call. The maniac gambler to my left makes it $24 to go and I was planning on calling him and check raising a safe board of unders on the flop. Unfortunately, the only other decent player at the table besides Clay and I re-raised all in for $49 more. Now this means that besides being faced with a raise and a re-raise, my opponent to my left had the option of raising again if I chose to call the $49. I thought longer at this spot than I have ever before at this club on one single decision. I tried to pick up on something from the guy to my left and I just kept thinking that this guy is really strong. He was breathing heavily and was giving off all the tell tale signs that he had a strong hand. I thought I was at best a slight favorite so I folded and gave up my $4 instead of putting in $100 with little to no clue with where I was in the hand. The maniac called and showed Ak suited. The other player showed AK as well and the flop blanked out so they split. My QQ would have held up. Now I know you guys wanted me to say the manic had KK and to see that I made an above the rim "professional" fold, but that's not the point. I made the correct play because I knew I was not dominating these two players in the hand. And let's be serious... do I want to put my whole buy-in or even close to it in without dominating my opponent? Especially at this table. I had made the correct read of the situation and the correct play... fold. Again, this isn't a tournament. My goal is not to earn every chip on the table by the end of the game. I am playing live poker. I am a business man. I want to use my chips like investments - carefully and skillfully sending my money in with positive expectation and high percentage of return. I think that made sense.
When the smoke cleared, and I managed to not risk anywhere close to 50% of my stack on one hand and be anywhere near even money with these donkeys, I walked away from the table with $439. Another big win! I avoided many situations where other players would have lost a lot of chips and I picked up a lot of small pots when others would have not sensed weakness.
I also ran a successfull, can I say amazing, bluff on two guys for a pot over $150. I mean this was the kinda of bluff written about it, well, poker blogs. It took twenty minutes for the hand to not be analyzed and talked about. I guess that's what happens when you raise pre flop, bet the flop, fire the third bullet on the turn, and flip up 2-4 off suit on an A-Q-9-6 board! Oh baby, I had these guys on tilt. "He has balls the size of your head." "That guy can surely play." "That was amazing!"
Did it really mean that much that these guys, who were terrible at cards and life, told me how great I was? No. But winning money is always fun. And I bet you're asking what happened to the "Never show a hand rule!"? I couldn't help myself. I mean I have won at this club for two years now BIG time and I guess I just got sick of the classic "He wins because he just waits for Aces" line. I plan on getting called down even more the next time I go. And this time, I will show up with my usual close-to-the-nuts hand.
Overall, it was a great night for the program. Clay and I shared a few beers, a black and mild, and watched some classic Hellmuth on YouTube.com. It's great to have him back in Dayton for a week in with regards to poker... it's great to be back in action.
Monday, August 6, 2007
The Big Plan!
What does it take to be a winning poker player? Too many things to write about in one journal entry.
One thing I am trying to do is make a plan and stick to it. I have written out a plan for my last year at UD. I will post the whole plan soon.
Meanwhile, I turned 22 August 4th and recieved Phil Hellmuth Jr.'s Black Belt Poker Course. It contains over four hours of poker strategy.
More to come soon...
One thing I am trying to do is make a plan and stick to it. I have written out a plan for my last year at UD. I will post the whole plan soon.
Meanwhile, I turned 22 August 4th and recieved Phil Hellmuth Jr.'s Black Belt Poker Course. It contains over four hours of poker strategy.
More to come soon...
Thursday, August 2, 2007
July Online Tournament Results
216 Tournaments played
51 Cashes (23.5%)
36 Final tables
16 Top three finishes
5 Wins
Total winnings = $7,311.44
*Highlight tournament: Beating out 419 people in a $10 buy-in NL Hold'em tournament to win over a grand!
51 Cashes (23.5%)
36 Final tables
16 Top three finishes
5 Wins
Total winnings = $7,311.44
*Highlight tournament: Beating out 419 people in a $10 buy-in NL Hold'em tournament to win over a grand!
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