AP Yearly TLB

I finally started to put in a little bit of volume in the past few weeks and have gone on a tear up the TLB. I was sitting at 15th in October and am now ranked #5. My goal is to finish top 3. The top 3 players in the yearly TLB win cash prizes as well as a $5500 Aruba seat. To do so, I'll need to get some big wins. I've had a gazillion 4 figure cashes, but only 1 5 figure cash this year. I'd like to add one more before the end of the year, hopefully a win in a major weekend tournament. I'll try to post updates semi-frequently but I get lazy sometimes and just don't feel like it

What happents in Boji...

This weekend was labor day weekend, which meant no school on Monday. My roommates and a group of our friends decided to go to my best friend's family cabin in Okoboji. It is a huge cabin with 11 bed rooms about a block from the lake. There was a group of about 15 of us, which included 4 of the hottest girls I have ever known personally.

We left friday evening and ran into some stupid detours that ended up sidetracking us and turning a 1.5 hour drive into a 2.5 hour drive. Once we got settled in, we started drinkin and playing card games. This lasted well into the night. At midnight we celebrated one of the girls' 20th birthday with a round of birthday shots and some singing.

The next morning, once everyone was awake, we packed up a cooler and took off for the beach. It was a beautiful day- 75 degrees and sunny. There was a floating dock about 40 yards out from shore, so the group swam the cooler out there and hung out on the dock, tossing the football and sipping some drinks. There were a bunch of families there to celebrate the beautiful day, and I imagine they were quite amused at the site of 15 drunk college kids jumping off a floating dock trying to catch footballs and beer cans.

By 3:00, we were completely out of beer (about 2.5 cases) so my buddy went into town to get 2 more cases. He returned with a plethora of grill food. Brats, Hotdogs, Hamburgers, Chips, and a bunch of other stuff. We all swam into shore and grilled, then ate.

We returned to the cabin in the early evening. Everyone was beat after being out in the sun all day. Some of us crashed and some of us watched college football. Around 8, everyone got a 2nd wind. We decided to go into town for a carnival and free concert. The carnival setting was very cool. It was a really small carnival, but still very fun. The setting reminded me of a california type boardwalk.

After the fair, we got some pizza and bought 3 more cases. We returned to the cabin and started drinkin again. We played this game called "Landmines." To play, players take turns spinning a quarter. While the quarter is spinning, the player has to take a drink of beer and pick the quarter up with 2 fingers before it stops spinning. If they fail to do this, they have to drink and start over. If someone finishes their beer, they can place the empty can anywhere on the table (including right on top of the spinning quarter). If someone does this while you are spinning, you have to finish your beer.

The game was so wild with so many people and before we knew it, the table was almost completely covered with empty beer cans.

I cannot say what happen next as I have been sworn to secrecy, but I will tell you that the rest of the night was a blast.

I woke up the next morning hugging a garbage can that reminded me of how out of control i had gotten the night before.

We decided to leave that morning and I returned in time to play the 200k. I ended up placing 12th for $2100. Unfortunately I ran into AA blind vs blind trying to steal with K7 and suffered a final table bubble. Later that night, I placed 2nd in the 40k for $6500. I really played well and ran well, which makes poker easy.

Gran Torino

When the movie Gran Torino came out, it was one of those critically acclaimed movies that I tend to stay away from. People hype it up so much that whenever I do actually see a movie like that, its either really disappointing or really wierd (man, movie critics love wierd movies). However, this weekend I rented it and I must say, it is an awesome movie. It's the best movie I've seen in a really long time. Clint Eastwood is so freakin balla, even at his advanced age. The plotline is great, and there are a lot of nice subtle messages sprinkled throughout. Its got everything you could want in a movie- action, humor, sadness, and a powerful message. It really made me think about how we percieve people of different cultures and create boundaries based on these perceptions. This movie gets my highest recommendation for anyone who hasn't seen it.

Poker has been decent lately. On Tuesday night, I took 4th place in the $15k guaranteed for $1750 after forgetting to add on and having only 3900 chips after the break. Then on Wednesday, while driving to Lincoln, NE with my mom (we went down to visit my sister who attends school at UNL), I won the $55 10k guaranteed on Cake poker for $2200. I got really lucky as a shortstack when my 10-8 beat AA to double up, then again when I shoved a late position limper with 47s against his AJ and hit 3 of a kind 4's. After that, I cruised and played really solid with a big stack. I'll probably take tonight off and get back at it again on saturday. I haven't had a 5 figure cash since March, so I'm hoping to get another one here soon.

Disadvantages of Multi tabling

Sundays are my biggest poker days. I usually play about 8 tables at a time, sprinkling in 12 early in the day. Though playing this many tables reduces variance and increases my chances of hitting a nice cash, it can backfire in some instances. Here is an example from yesterday:

Its about 1:15 P.M. and I am just beginning to recover from another night of moderate/heavy drinking and downing 1/2 of a large pizza from Gary's Pizzaria. I have 12 tables going, 4 of which are sngs and another 2 of which are sattys. I am 4 handed or less in all the sngs and the blinds are huge in the sattys (turbo rebuys for the 100k). (to those non poker players out there, this basically means that I have to make 6 fast decisions at the same time, and each one is essential to winning or losing money). I am frantically clicking buttons and darting my head back and forth when all of a sudden it hits....

Anyone who has ever topped off a night of drunkeness with a fat, greasy pizza knows exactly what "it" is. "It" is a form of the most ungodly, foul-smelling, sloppy shit you have ever witnessed.

It came without warning, causing me to jolt forward in my chair. Panicked, my eyes darted towards the bathroom a mere ten feet away. However, I was frozen in place, shackled by 12 flashing screens, all holding the promise of fortune. Greed held me captive in my chair.

Moments passed as I tried desperately to control my sphincter for just 15 more minutes. My efforts proved to be useless when, at the exact moment that I trapped a guy with the nut straight to win a $530 seat, I helplessy shit my pants.

The fecal matter quickly seeped towards the edge of my shorts, finding a resting place on the black leather chair beneath me.

Broken, ashamed, disheartened, and alone, I sat crying in a pile of my own shit for the next 20 minutes while I finished the rest of my session.

First $20r win of 2009/FTOPS #1

Most of my full poker days begin at 11:00 with the $20 rebuy 6k guaranteed. It is one of the softest fields on the site. I have numerous final tables over the years with few wins. In 2009, I had yet to win... until today. I came out on top for $1800. I can attribute this win to a combination of running well and a weak final table. Unfortunately, the win pretty much breaks me even after a ridiculous cold streak of cards. On top of that, I wasted all my good luck on a small tournament on the night when I was playing the 80k and the FTOPS #1 $1million guaranteed.

I just busted out of the FTOPS tourney after flopping a set on a board of 10 j Q. Of course villain had AK and I couldn't improve. That would have given me a top 40 chip stack, granted there were still 3,000 players left.

Tomorrow I will continue trying to satty into FTOPS events and hopefully gain a little ground with my tilt bankroll

FTOPS

So I got back from vacation refreshed and was ready to get back to the game. Unfortunately, I forgot how to run good. I'm going through one of those stretches where I'm getting beat in every way possible. Despite this, I have decided to get some money on FTP (where I never play) to play some of the Full Tilt Online Poker Series events. You can check out the tournament schedule here:

http://www.fulltiltpoker.com/promotions/full-tilt-online-poker-series/schedule.php

I'm hoping to satty into all the NHE events, as I don't have the bankroll on tilt to buy into all of them. Hopefully I start to run a little better when that time rolls around.

I've also decided that I need to do a better job limiting my spending. The other day I was just thinking to myself, and realized that I spend my money on useless shit all the time. I'm gonna try to draw up a budget sometime this weekend for use in the 2009-2010 school year.

Vacation!!

On Thursday night I continued my run in the $30 rebuy tournaments by taking 3rd in the AP 15k. The final table was very strong. Some of the players included rock3656 (49th ranked player mtt player on p5's) Dark_Hawk2000, Bzimzim, DaMortician, and some others. Bzim lost 2 huge flips to rock to bust out in 6th. I made a HUGE mistake by playing a hand really poorly and was down to 20k. Luckily rock was trying to abuse a bubble, so he gave me a few walks and I was able to chip up in some other pots. I eventually doubled with 99 vs rock's K4. 3 handed I lost 2 huge pots, going into each as the favorite. The first I raised from sb with j8 suited to 28k. BB called. The flop was J 7 4 with 2 clubs. I bet 35k villain shoved 200k. I didn't think such an overbet meant he had a jack, so I called and he showed a flush draw. His draw hit on the river. Then I lost after 4 bet shoving rock3656 with A10d. He turned over KJ. He hit a jack on the river to send me out in 3rd for $1890. One thing about rock was that he NEVER seemed to miss. Within the last 2 tables, he won j7 vs AK, Q10 vs JJ, AQ vs 1010, 55 vs AK, KJ vs A10 and a couple others. He never got them in too far behind, but he NEVER lost the flips either. MBN

Tonight I will be leaving for vacation in Iron River, WI. Some people might be thinking "didn't you just get back from vacation, I thought you went to Vegas?" My answer is that Vegas wasn't vacation. Iron River is VACATION. There is nothing more relaxing for me then spending a week on the lake. I have been attending vacation up north with some family friends for the last 5 years. They are an awesome group of people (there are about 25 of us). We go fishing, boating,and swimming. We lay on the beach, play sand volleyball, grill out, and watch a baseball game. My day can be packed with activities, or I can sit around and do nothing. Thats the beauty of it-I'm on nobody's schedule but my own. Another thing I love about Iron River is that it is almost completely isolated. The biggest nearby town is Duluth, MN which is over an hour's drive away. There is no internet service and the cell phone signal is really weak. That means I can leave the world behind for awhile. This also means no poker for almost 10 days!! The timing for my break is really bad, as I've been playing solid and running pretty well lately. I was up almost 10k this week, one of my best weeks this year. Hopefully I can continue my run when I get back.

If you're not first, you're last

Any fan of Will Ferrell knows these famous words from Ricky Bobby- "If you're not first, you're last." Though I don't believe this to be entirely true, I do understand where Mr. Bobby is coming from. In tournament poker, so much of the thrill of playing comes from actually WINNING the occasional tournament. For me, these wins drive me to continue playing even moreso than the money. There's something about that 1 next to your name that really seals the deal on a well played tournament.

Yesterday was a really good poker day for me. I played insanely well, made some sick reads, and seemed to be making all the right 3bets. Simply put, I was in the zone. I started the day by placing 2nd in the cake $30 rebuy for around $1700. The player I went against HU was very aggressive, and I tried to counter by jacking up my aggression. This cost me dearly as I tried to play too many big pots. Still, the tournament ended when I 3 bet shoved with 66's and villain called with KQo blinds 6000/12000 when we were both 500k deep. I'm not sure that I really like that call, but what can you do.

During the night session, I once again crushed the rebuys on both Cake and AP. Lately I have been playing crazy during the rebuy period shoving any two cards and showing them to advertise that I am a donkey, then capitalizing when I actually wake up with a hand later in the tournament. It worked for me, as last night I went into both final tables (20k on cake and 15k on AP) as the chip leader. The cake table was really weak and the blinds were high relative to everyone's stack. I busted out in 7th after losing a small coinflip to drop from 200k to 150k, but the ugly hand took place when a donkey who had sucked out about 14 times at the final table just to stay alive min raised 16000 UTG blinds 4000/8000, I shoved AK for 150k, he SNAP called A3 offsuit. The flop was 2 4 J turn 7, river of course was the 5 to give the donkey the straight and 2x as many chips as the 2nd place player. I bowed out in 7th for $700

At the final table of the AP 15k, the players were a bit better. I lost a huge pot within the first 2 hands when I raised AQ from the button to 10k blinds 2/4. The BB (DAMORTICIAN) reshoved all in for 75k. I called and lost the flip to JJ for 150k, leaving me with 150k behind. After that, players basically just traded blinds until the blinds got too big to standard raise, then it became a shove fest. I won a few flips to stay alive as a short stack but lost AK vs A8 3 handed to drop me down. The next hand I shoved j10 and was called by a4. Luckily I made a straight and knocked out the guy who had just beaten my AK. I came into the HU match with 225k in chips compared to the 650k for my opponent. I battled back to about 350k when I picked up KK on the button. With blinds at 8k/16k, I raised to 40k. Villain reraised to 120k. I jammed it in and he snap called, turning over A10. The flop came QJ blank, turn blank, river... you guessed it... ace. 2nd place for $2700

So when the dust settled, I cleared almost $5k on the day, but it was still SUPER frustrating. I lost at the very least 6 crucial 70/30 hands on the final tables of these 3 tournaments (plus losing a huge pot AK vs KJ all in pre in the 80k deep to bust money bubble). Without those ugly hands, I feel like I would have won each tournament, and that is no exaggeration. My opponents didn't impress me at all. I guess thats what I get for winning coinflips early. However, I am consistently getting my chips in ahead, and thats all I can hope for.

Another Decent Sunday

Today my uncle from Green Bay wanted to play golf with my brother and I, so we skipped the morning session to play 18 holes. I had a miserable front nine (cursed shanks) but played really well on the back 9 and scored a +3 39. The course is a tough one and I'm not a good golfer, so that is awesome for me.

We got done playing a little after one and I was back in time to play most of the afternoon session. I started off really cold and blanked my first 3 tournaments. Then I made a deep run in the 50 1r 1a, finishing 3rd for $1300. Of course, the tournament only had 98 players, so it doesn't count for my p5's PLB score. I also final tabled the Bodog 100k, finishing 7th for $3500. That was a really disappointing finish for me. I was 2nd in chips going to the final 9 and there was only one proven player at the table (WU_WIZARD). The only real mistake I made in the tourney was when I raised QJs blinds 4000/8000 to 22,225 (I had about 350k at this point) in late position. The bb made pretty much a mini raise to 55k (with about 160k). I called hoping to hit a good flop in position. The flop was Q 9 5. He checked, I jammed, he insta called and tabled AA. :( I should have known, but the mini raise was popular at that table and it was Bodonk afterall. Still kind of a stupid mistake to play such a big hand at a weak table.

On a happier note, I finally made the AP yearly MTT leaderboard top 10. I am pretty proud of that, considering the lack of volume I have played. The pokerdb says I've played 700 mtts this year, and I'm guessing about 200 of them are satellite tournaments, which do not count towards the score. By comparison, the first place player has played over 1700 tournaments and has a 3rd place finish in the 200k, whereas my biggest AP cash is a win in the 30k. I feel like if I put in some volume during the 2nd half of the year, I can probably finish top 3. Volume seems a problem though, as I am becoming more and more lazy. I had every intention of grinding all summer, but there are just so many other things to do that are way more fun. I feel bad for the online players that put in 10 hours a day every day when the weather is so damn beautiful.

Last night in Vegas/My First cash of the trip!

Today was my last day in Vegas. Myself, Welcomeme, Chipmystak, and Yaboystu went to Ceasar's to play the $235 turbo. The tournament was actually a really good one. It got to be a shove fest at the end though. I ended up placing 9th out of 95 players for ~$700. It was a small payday but it was fun to go out on a cash. Stu and I both made the final table, but Stu took an awful beat 99 vs A8 for a huge pot to bubble. I lost a 40k pot with 55 against an old dude's 93o, which sort of crippled me and eventually I called with K10 and ran into AK and AJ in a multi-way pot. I could not see myself folding with that many chips in the pot and considering my stack would be next to nothing if I folded. To conclude this entry, I'm going to share a few thoughts from my trip.

1. I really do hate live poker, but it is a nice change of pace. These people are so bad that it would just be a shame not to sprinkle in the occasional live tournament. I see people calling 1/2 their stack to see a flop, making 10x raises preflop, and folding getting 10:1 on their money. I definately plan to sprinkle in a few live events in the future, HPT and Canterbury Fall Classic in particular.

2. I like the idea of Vegas more than I like Vegas itself. In anticipation of this trip, I was so excited. I kept dreaming of the big scores in the huge tournaments. In reality, I played only 4 tournaments, cashing in only one for a small amount. I know I am better than a vast majority of the players in these tournaments, but to take full advantage, I need to play enoguh tournaments to reduce the variance of those large fields. Aside from that, this city is expensive. Every cab ride to our place cost $35. Food in a casino typically runs from $10-$30. Everyone expects a tip on top of it all. The city is also so busy. There is always something to do. That means little sleep and inevitable fatigue. I enjoyed my experience at the clubs, but its not something I would want to do every night. Drinks cost too much, music is too loud, and the place is too damn crowded. I would much rather chill in a bar/lounge and have a few cheap drinks.

3. Sometimes it pays to take a chance. This reference has nothing to do with poker or gambling. Rather, it describes my decision to come to Vegas for two weeks and share a house with seven complete strangers. I had never met any of these guys in person and knew nothing about them aside from my notes on the virtual felt. Before leaving, the thought crossed my mind that the people I would be staying with could be a bunch of wierdos with absolutely no social skills that shared only poker as a common interest. That was definately not the case. The people I stayed with were all very cool. They are a collection of people from all walks of life, hailing from different areas of the country and all having different backgrounds. Each person offered a unique contribution to the atmosphere of the house. I hope to join up with these guys again in Aruba later this year. After this trip, I consider all of these people to be friends of mine (off the felt, that is).

4. The game has gotten a lot more difficult. In the live tournaments I played last summer, the players were all your typical "limp and try to hit" live players. Now, though most players are admittadly bad, far more players are willing to 3bet light and play LAG solid poker. With the rise in popularity of online training sites and poker books, there is quickly becoming less and less margin for error in the game. I am definately going to have to work hard to improve my game and stay ahead of the curve.

So there you have it, a brief summary of a long trip to Vegas. I didn't have nearly as much success as I had hoped for, but I gained valuable experience. I know that I can compete in live tournaments, I just have to get out and play them. This trip has, at the very least, set a foundation for my live tournament career. Hopefully it is something I can build off of.

So Close Sundays, 4th of July

The 4th of July was uneventful, but I didn't mind. We spent all day sitting around the pool drinkin mudslides (I don't care if you do think they are girly, these drinks rock) and beers and grilling. Thats a perfect 4th of July for me. Clover and Foolish are both gone, but we picked up Spin and a few of his friends and a few of his friends' friends for the day. The girls that came over were very cute. I guess they've got this new swimsuit trend where the tops are like tiny strands about 3 inches thick. These girls were sporting this particular design and it was working for em. One of the girls was from South Dakota and was going into Elementary Education, which I thought was interesting.

At night, we had every intention of going to the strip and getting a table to watch the fireworks, but the sun musta drained everybody. The sun + drinking all day at a pool is a deadly combination. Instead, I watched people from miles around shooting fireworks off into the sky from the patio in a lounge chair by the pool. It was strangely peaceful in such a big city.

I hate playing on Sundays. You wake up in the morning with so much anticipation. Everyone thinks that today is their day. I felt that way this morning. I started the day by placing 6th in the $30 rebuy for a little over $800. I lost QQ vs A5 for a 120,000 chip pot. Next I placed 13/770 in the cake $100k guaranteed for $1200. This was a crushing loss. I was 2nd in chips with 15 players to go and lost a big coinflip with 99 vs AK. That woulda put me at 600k. Instead I had 280k. I ended up getting all in with Q10 on a Q J J board in a blind vs blind battle and the player woke up with aces. It sucked cuz he was a maniac who was playing super loose aggressive, so it was really unlucky to run into his aces there. My final bustout of the night occurred in the $200k where I took 30/980 for $880. I lost a big hand with AA vs QJ after getting all in on a Q 8 8 board. I would have had 100k. But to be fair, I did run pretty well most of the day aside from a couple of those hands. I won flips and 60/40's when I needed to and played well enough to beat some huge fields.

Oh well, some other time I suppose. I have 2 days left in vegas. I have no clue what we're going to do. Tonight we might run to a casino and play some roulette (I am so due for a big roulette night). Tomorrow we are considering hitting up Lake Mead for some boating or jetskiing.

I suck at live poker

So as of today I am 0/3 in tournaments. Yesterday I lost the Binion's tournament after getting down to the final 3 tables. I never really had a giant chip stack and ended up losing a flip late for a big pot to bust around 23rd. The most notable aspect of that particular tournament was the 2007 main event champion Jerry Yang was playing in it. I wasn't at his table and he busted before I did, but it was still cool to play in the same tournament as a former WSOP main event champ. Today I lost the $560 venetian tournament before the first break. The hand was kind of a tough one, but I think I played it right. Here's how it played out, let me know what you think:

Blinds at 100/200 I have ~10k in chips.
UTG raises to 500 its folded around to my small blind and I see 1010. I make the call, big blind also calls.
Flop is Q Q 4. I check, BB checks, UTG makes it 750. I flat call and the BB folds.
Turn is another Q giving me Q's full of 10's. I check, UTG bets 800, I raise to 3000. He thinks for a while and calls.
River is a K. At this point I have a little over 5k left and the pot is around 10k. I decide to shove, he calls and shows KJ for a full house.

I like what I did preflop and on the flop. The turn gets a little sketchy. Maybe I should have led out turn and check/called river or perhaps even folded. As played, I thought that I had to jam because there was twice as much in the pot as I had in my stack.

After playing the tournament, me and chipmystack played some roulette. I bet $400 on black the first spin and the number came up zero for the 2nd time this trip. So on the day I lost about $1100. On the trip, I'm down about 2k. Hopefully I hit a cash in one of the remaining tournaments. I probably won't play tomorrow, seeing as it is the 4th of July. Sunday is a possibility, but not very likely. Monday might be the last day that I can play.

On the bright side, the trip has been really awesome. Its great to get away from the online scene from time to time.

VIP Dinner, Ghost/Moon, First Tournament

(A group of us at FIX in The Bellagio)

On Tuesday night we hit up a VIP dinner hosted by Absolute Poker. The event was held at a fancy restaurant called FIX in The Bellagio. They brought us a variety of appetizers and small entrees as well as free drinks. The price for each plate was around $60 and god knows how much the drinks would have been. AP covered it all. At the dinner, we met Belooga, Airkid, and Hollywood Dave.

After dinner, we went to the Palms to Ghost Bar. Ghost is a club on the 55th story of the Palms Hotel and Casino. It was a sick nice place, but the drinks are expensive as fuck. Since Foolishgolf shipped a $13k WSOP package, he bought a round of shots for 11 people. The total was $110. Back in Iowa/Minnesota, shots are like $3-$4!!

After Ghost, a few of us went to the sister club Moon. This place was much more clubby than Ghost. It was packed. Right when we got there some dude bumped 2lip and made him spill his drink on his shirt. 2lip got pissed and threw the rest of his drink onto the other guy. Clover did the exact same thing at the VIP party on Monday night. The dude got pissed and started yellin at 2lip. They probably woulda duked it out if security wouldn't have come over and broken it up.

On Wednesday, I played my first poker event of the trip. I played in the $330 Venetian Deepstack tournament. My play was really solid. I took a LAG approach that worked for the most part. I bluffed a few small pots and built my stack up. Three hands eventually killed me. The first was me getting all in with 2 pair on a 4 card straight board, some lady called with KK and hit a straight card to chop the pot. That woulda put me at 40k, instead I stayed at 20k. Next, I had 67 suited in the bb blinds 300/600. Some donkey raises from the cutoff to 1500 (his stack was about 15k). I 3bet to 5k. He thought forever and called. The flop was J 6 3. I jammed since there was more in the pot than he had in his stack. He called and turned over 66. The donkey set mined for 33% of his stack! And on top of that, he hit the ONE card in the deck that I don't win the pot on. About 20 hands later, with only 13k, I raised K10suited from late position and was called by the blinds. The flop came 10 high. The blind checked to me, so I jammed and he called. He tabled 88. I bet you will only need one guess as to which card hit the turn.

So my first tourney kinda sucked. But hopefully I wasted my bad luck. Jdawg went deep in the 100k and 80k last night. He took 4th and 3rd respectively. Today myself, chipmystack, welcomeme, and clover are going to play the $500 tournament at Binion's. Should be a smaller field with a bunch of bad players

Private parties, free booze, hookers, but no poker

(From Front Left: Jdawg, Foolishgolf, twolip69, myself, chipmystack, Standing from left: Clover777, Welcomeme, Yaboystu)
My first full day of Vegas was stressful in the morning. We took off around 11:30 in the morning to head to the casinos. 2lip, jdawg, and chipmystack were all playing the 1500 NL bracelet event (2lip was the only player to make day 2 and he just busted short of the money). After we dropped them off, I went to The Venetian to register for the $350 deepstack tourney. I went to the ATM and tried to withdraw $500, but the machine didn't work. So I tried another one, no success. Then I spent 20 minutes talking to my bank trying to get it activated. After we finally got it to work, I stood in line for another 15 minutes to get a players card. By the time I finally got all my shit together, the late registration had ended and they were only accepting alternates. So I said screw it and played some cash at Ceasar's for a bit. I lost about $175 after a failed bluff attempt.

At night, all of us went to a private party at Studio 54 in MGM Grand hosted by Ultimate Bet. All the UB Pros were there including Phil Hellmuth and Liv Boree. I met Debo34 and he seemed like a really cool guy. The party was sick. The booze was all free, the girls were gorgeous, and the place was really nice. Easily the highlight of the party was when Clover777 strutted onto the dance floor, grabbed this chubby gal, and stuck his tongue down her throat. Freakin epic!

On the way back, we were all pretty hammered stumbling through the casino. A few of us threw some money down on roulette. I bet $100 on 2nd third and of course it comes up zero, making us all losers. Just as we were about to exit the casino, welcomeme and clover start talking to 2 hookers. We tried to negotiate a deal for them to come deal our homegame, but the asking price was too high. Our intention was that we would all pitch in and the winner of the homegame would get a handjob from the hooker. That would be an awfully damn expensive HJ. Still, the skanks followed us to the cab and were told they couldn't come with cuz we had reached maximum capacity. They looked really sad. I didn't feel bad though, cuz hookers don't have souls.

Today we are just gonna chill out by the pool, have some beers, and grill. Tomorrow, I get back to work

Las Vegas Baby!

After a brief flight, I finally arrived in fabulous Las Vegas, NV. Instead of staying in a hotel, a group of online players and I rented a house. The guest list includes the following players:
Myself
Yaboystu
Jdawg
Clover777
Foolishgolf
Welcomeme
Chipmystack
2lip69

The house is freakin sweet. There is a pool, hottub, putting green, and patio outside. Inside are 4 bedrooms, a full kitchen, and a living room area with a big screen tv. I'll take and post pictures later. While in Vegas, I plan on playing several of the Venetian Deepstack series events. The buy ins are mostly 300 and 500 with one or two $1000 events scattered in there. I plan on playing them all. I also plan to try one or two satties into the main event at the RIO. I'll post my results every night if ya'll wanna follow me. Wish me luck!

Early Birthday Present

Two days from now, I will be 22 years old. That means I have to be grown up within 3 years. Gotta look for a wife, have kids, get a job, buy a house, the works. So I better enjoy the next 3 years for all they're worth :)

Last night, I gave myself an early birthday present by winning the 15k guaranteed $30 rebuy for ~$4300. I actually had a chance to win the TLB, making a deep run in the 10k as well, but I busted out just short of the final table. I believe a top 5 finish would have given me the win. Oh well, I was certainly happy with last night.

I neared the money as a short stack, but picked up some good hands at the right spots, doubling up with AQ vs AJ and KK vs 77. The field was surprisingly weak for the 15k, which was a pleasant surprise. I got away 3 betting light in a few spots, and even saw a guy fold and show AK to one of my 3 bet shove. I got my first huge suckout of the tournament when my QQ beat AA 4 handed (although I would have still had 100k had I lost, instead I was up to 190k). When we got HU, I was down 2:1 in chips. The HU battle lasted a long time. My opponent was very loose aggressive. Lately, I have been trying to play to my opponent's style, rather than trying to impose my own. I generally am the LAG one, but last night I played TAG, carefully picking spots to 3bet and calling to see cheap flops rather than raising every button. I played a KJoffsuit about as bad as I could have played it and lost all but 100k of my stack. Down 6.5 to 1, I was lucky to pick up KK and double vs j10. We went back and forth for a while until I picked up 99 and 3bet his 28k raise to 82k. He shoved 365k and I called. He tabled k10 and I won the race. A couple hands later, I raised to 30k with A8, he shoved 200k. I felt that he was simply frustrated at this point, so I made the call. He showed 77. Things didn't look good until the river brought an 8 and I took the tournament down. It was awesome to run as well as I did (Won 3 big flips and even an 80/20!!)

This tournament presented a bit of a dilemna for me. Early in the HU match, my opponent got disconnected. I waited for him to get back and we continued playing. However, he got disconnected again later (when I was a bit shorter stacked) and I picked up about 4 sets of blinds while he was sitting out. Had it been a player that I knew personally, I would have had no problem waiting for him. And I always wait the first time it happens. But, I realize that waiting for someone to get reconnected costs me potential blinds, and even worse, time, which all translates to money. If I wait, we play less hands and the blinds go up faster, limiting play and having to rely more on good cards/luck. So, what do ya'll think you would do? Would you wait for him to get back a 2nd time, or would you pick up the free blinds as fast as you could?

One more week of summer class

I am done with 4/5 weeks of summer class. I am sooo excited to be done. My class is really easy, but it sorta cramps my style. The class runs from 7:30 until 9:00 on MWF and from 7:30 until 11 (lab) on T/H. So I often times go to class in pretty rough shape. Since I've been chasing the MTT weekly TLB, I've spent a couple of nights where I have been up until 2:00 AM. Actually, I have had a lot of nights like that. I have been deep in so many tournaments this week. But my only significant cash was a win in the $30 rebuy for $2800. My problem is that I have been running well early in tournaments and have been running just awful deep. For example, one night I had the chip lead in both the 20k and 15k guaranteed tournaments with under 50 people left. I didn't cash in either one, running queens into kings for a giant pot and losing a big flip AK vs 1010. I've also been super unlucky. I've lost about 10 tournaments with a pocket pair or higher ace vs an ace rag. Its super frustrating to think that a week that should have been 10k+ profits will probably end up as break even because of a few ugly beats deep in tournaments. The important thing is that I am playing well at the right time.

In 2 weeks, I will be leaving for Las Vegas. I will be out there for 10 days, and plan on playing the Venetian Deepstack series and maybe a small buy in bracelet event. Aside from that, I will be attending a good friend's wedding. So I guess the TLB race will have to wait until the middle of JULY :)

Grillout, Movies, and Hating Sundays

I didn't play very much poker this weekend. On Friday, a couple of buddies came down from the cities. We had a little grillout and then drank a few beers. Apparently I was a bit more sloppy than I remember, as I heard many stories about me the following morning.

On Saturday, my summer roommate and a friend of ours went to the movie "The Hangover." We arrived 5 minutes before the show started, and the theatre was freakin packed. The only seats open were the ones directly up front. We had to look damn near straight up to see the screen. That really sucked. The movie; however, was very good. It had a lot of college humor. But to those of you who say it is the "funniest movie ever," I'd like to respectfully disagree. I am such a fan of the movie "Old School," and will probably forever view that as the funniest movie ever made. "The Hangover" was one of the funniest movies I've seen recently, alongside "Role Models" and "Step Brothers."

Sunday, I spent the entire day playing cards. I started with the 6k at 11:00 and ended with the 10k around 1:30 AM. It was a long, frustrating day. I saw fantastic cards, and built up a stack in almost every tournament I played. However, once I started to make it deep, I lost a bunch of crucial coinflips/80-20's. I swear to you, I busted out of 5 tournaments after being crippled by aces, then building back up and losing a huge flip. On the day, I had 5 cashes, including 4 final tables. My biggest win was for $1100 in the $50 rebuy 5k (8k on sunday). With cards like those, I should have probably won closer to 10k. It will be a long time before I see cards like that again. Its just too bad I couldn't win the pots that mattered deep. On the bright side, I am sitting in 19th place in the TLB leaderboard, so I might try to make a run at it this week.

HPT Main Event

This weekend my brother and I drove up to Walker, MN to play in the Heartland Poker Tour Main event. The drive was really sweet. We drove through the woodlands of Northern Minnesota. Our hotel was located right on Leech Lake. It sure is purdy in those parts.

First we tried a couple of qualifiers. I bubbled my first qualifier and decided not to play anymore. Instead, I bought directly into the main event for $1k. Before the tourney started, I finally had the privelage of meeting Dan "kalangis612" Goonin. It was awesome finally meeting him. He seems like a really chill guy and I hope that he'll be joining me in Vegas.

All players started with 15,000 chips blinds at 100/100. The levels were only 30 minutes long. The structure was excellent until the 1000/2000 level. They didn't have 25 chip denominations, so the antes started at 100 during 300/600 level. That made play pretty sloppy afterwards. Anyways, I chipped up early taking advantage of a super weak/tight starting table. After the 1st break I won a huge pot off of a loose call station with KK on a 10 high board (I wouldn't put it past him to have q10, k10, etc). That put me at 35k. A few hands later, I lost 20k back to the same player when we got them in on an 8 high board. He had a8, I had 99. He spikes the ace on the turn for the 40k pot. I bounced back with a few good hands and aggressive play. I knocked out a couple of short stacks with JJ and QQ and built my stack up to 50k.

At this point, about 80 players remained and the average was around 35k. The blinds were 2000/4000, so my M was fairly low. I picked up A7 in late position and shoved. The player directly to my left called his 33k stack with QQ and I lost the pot. Down to 17k in the BB, I called a late position shove of 20k with 64 suited. There was already 11k in the pot before her shove, so the 64 was an easy call (had to take the gamble, no matter how ugly it looks). Villain turned over k10 and i hit my 4 to win the pot. About one orbit later, I picked up Jacks. A player UTG shoved and I reshipped. The small blind called. Sb turned over 99's and UTG turned over AJ. My jacks held and I nearly tripled up.

With about 50 players left I went completely card dead. The structure was awful, so it was either push or fold, which really hurt my standard mtt style. I prefer making small raises to take down blinds rather than shoving all in and playing big pots. I chipped down to about 65k with about 40 players to go. Here, I went into reship mode. I reshipped a late position raise a couple times, once with 55s and another with AQ. I chipped up to about 80k when we finally made the money with 30 players remaining. At this point, the blinds had been raised to 2500/5000 with a 500 chip ante. I picked up KQ UTG+1 at a 9 handed table and shoved all in. It was folded around to the big blind who called with 10s. I lost the flip and sent 35k his way. I stole a few more blinds and chipped back up to a little over 50k. Then, I picked up KK UTG+1 and shoved. The bb (guy with 10's from earlier) called with AJ. Flop brought an ace, good game me. I was just a few tables short of getting my ugly mug on tv.

This tournament made me realize how much I hate live poker. I played really well for over 8 hours. The end result: a cash for $1,088. The buy in for the tournament was $1100. I lost $12 on the day. So to conclude my tournament recap, I'm going to just rant for a little about live poker tournaments.

-The players are so ridiculously bad, yet they ridicule me for my aggressive style, especially when I get caught. Fuck people, I'm not gonna sit around like ur nitty asses letting the blinds and antes chew me up waiting for aces or kings.

- The structures suck. They think that a good structure means more starting chips. Not the case people. On the money bubble, I had 65k chips, which was the average stack. This was an M of approximately 4. The majority of the field had an M under 4. Just ridiculous. Would it kill you to have 25 chip antes and a 150/300, 600/1200, and 800/1600 level?!

- Dealers suck. Some of the dealers for this tournament were blackjack dealers and slots attendents who had a 3 day crash course in dealing poker the week before the tournament. I could tell. Some of them were very good, but at least half the dealers I had seemed lost. They miscounted antes, couldn't seem to figure out how much was in a person's chipstack, and they frequently forgot to give players change from higher denomination chips. On top of that, they took a really long time to deal the cards in general. And then, at the end of the tournament, the last thing that was said to me wasn't "god damn tcb, had it not been for that ugly final hand you probably woulda shipped this tourney. Congrats, you are the man." Instead, it was "if you'd like to leave a tip for the dealers, which we encourage, you can leave it in this tip box." I grudgingly left the dealers $8, which is a lot more than they deserved.

- A lot of players think they need to hollywood it up. They've seen it on tv and they wanna act just like those guys. These people look at their cards, put the card marker down, look at them again, fold their hands against their chin, look at the cards again, then fold. From under the gun! I swear we probably played an average of 15 hands an hour...

- Busting out of a live tournament is heartbreaking compared to an online one. People, I have probably had several hundred mini cashes in big tournaments because of bad beats. But after those beats, I realized that I could just close my computer and start again the next day, or better yet, fire up another tourney while lying on my couch in my 'draws watching South Park. Live play is different. I drove 5 hours north, stayed an entire weekend, played 8 hours, only to bust on a sick beat just short of a televised final table, against a SUPER weak field. Then, after that beat, I had to hop in my car and drive another 5 hours back home in the rain.

In conclusion, I am glad I'm not a live tourney pro. I much prefer playing online. I will still take the occasional live shot. I'm going to vegas in late june to play the Venetian series events and possibly some smaller buy in WSOP events. After that, I plan to play some more close HPT events and the Fall Poker Classic at Canterbury.

15k guaranteed Win/HPT Tournament

This weekend I am driving 4 hours North to Walker, Minnesota to play in a Heartland Poker Tour event along with my brother. We are leaving tonight to play a couple satellites/sngs to try to get in cheap. The buy in is $1k and the sattys are $250. I've heard they are fairly soft. I've got some momentum going in, as last night I shipped the 15k $30 rebuy for around $4200. I was fortunate to pick up some big hands early and build up a stack going into the money. I abused the money bubble and brought the 2nd biggest chipstack to the final table. There I took advantage of a fairly final table. I got HU against a player who said it was the first tournament he had ever gotten HU in. Knowing he was inexperienced and probably nervous playing for that much money, I played hyper aggressive and leaned on him. The HU battle actually lasted for quite a few hands. Eventually, I made the hero call after raising 5 7, getting called, and having him shove a j 5 4 board. He showed a4 and I took down the pot and the win.

I'm excited for the HPT event, thats for sure. My brother has actually done really well in limited live tournament play (he's only 19, so no Vegas for him just yet). I, on the other hand, haven't done shit in live play. My biggest cash is for something like $700. I've probably played over 30 tournaments lifetime in live play. I really feel like I am playing solid poker and the deep structure will allow me to play a little, rather than get into push fold mode right away.

TLB Challenge Final Day

The TLB challenge has come to a close and I did not make my goal of winning the weekly. I only played 5 tournaments on saturday and did not cash in any of them. I made it very deep in the 100k but lost a giant pot all in preflop with KK against QJ (so much for running good). Had I won that pot, who knows, I think it would have been very close. After losing that pot, I did not feel like playing poker anymore. Instead, I went home to go to a campground with a few of my buddies to celebrate the memorial day weekend. To me, last night was definately worth the $700 in prop bets that I lost. Here is a breakdown for my Saturday:

$82 6k 40/100
$33 5k 40/170
$123 10k 61/96
$162 15k 35/89
$320 100k 45/244

Total Buy Ins: $720
Total Winnings: $0
Net Loss: $720

This challenge has been really eventful for me. It shows me just how much I could accomplish in poker if I really dedicated myself to it. I played several 10-12 hour days and one 15 hour day. I feel as though I could be a constant threat to win the TLB if I become willing to put in the hours. However, as a student and social animal, I will simply never be willing to grind that much. I need my time away from poker. This summer might bring a couple more runs at the TLB, but I can't see myself constantly grinding like some people do. As I said before, the potential money I gave up by not playing the night tournaments last night was definately worth it to go drink a few beers around the campfire with my friends.

Here is my breakdown for the week:

Total Buy Ins: $5789
Total Winnings: $11,064
Net Gain: $5285
Prop Bet Loss: $658
Weekly Profit: $4627

TLB Challenge Day 6

Wow, what an awesome day I had yesterday. After running like absolute dogshit the previous day, I was frustrated and really didn't even wanna play. It was a Friday and I kinda wanted to go over to a buddy's place and just say screw the TLB challenge. But I decided to suck it up and play. I busted out of the first few tournaments early. Despite this, I decided to play the $50 rebuy. This is actually a really tough tournament. Its probably 95% regulars and 5% donks who don't see the "rebuy" part of the tournament title. There are usually even a few top 100 ranked pocket fives players that play it (AJKhoosiers, RDCRSN, Sandler1860 and others). So the field is tough and I have generally stayed away from it. Basically nothing eventful happened until there were about 25 players left. I doubled up with AA vs QQ to move to 20k. Then I chipped up a bit to about 30k only to lose a coinflip for 2/3 of my stack with JJ vs AK. I was down to 10k with blinds of 800/1600 and shoved 66. I got called by AK and the flop saw an ace. However, my lucky ass spiked a six on the river to stay alive. I limped into the final table with about 30k in chips, good enough for 7th position.

The final table was crazy. I'm pretty sure that 4 players were knocked out within the first 12 hands. Then, 5 handed, the big stacks started clashing. Some guy called a 4 bet shove with a6 for over 80k in chips. Then another guy called DAISYXOXO's 4 bet shove with 33 and beat Daisy's a8. Three handed, the same guy 3 bet shoved a7 and beat the other dude's pocket jacks. Meanwhile, I just sat back after winning a coinflip to double up. When we got HU, my opponent had 350k, I had 50k with blinds of 800/1600. The combination of his super aggressive/loose style and a good run of cards got me up to about 120k. Here I played the biggest hand of the tournament. He raised the button to 9k, i reraised to 27k with ace-7 off and he called. The flop was 10 7 4. I shoved my remaining 90k into the pot and he called with a 64 suited! The board ran dry and I won the pot. Later I got him to call a 4bet shove with a10 against my ak. To seal the deal, I shoved his preflop raise of 12k chips (leaving him with 80k) with a9 and he called, tabling a5. My 9 kicker played and I took down 1st place, my first ever win in that particular tournament. It was one of the craziest final tables I have every played. A forum friend, DEALACE1 watched the tournament from the time there were 15 people left. I really appreciate his support.

In the nightcap, I made a deep run in the 25k, playing with Bigdogpocket5s once I got into the money. I went card dead at the wrong time and shoved a7 into queens from the button to finish in 23rd. However, I did go on to win the $22 4k 6 seat tournament later that night. This tournament was a lot less eventful than the 15k. It was a much weaker field, and many of the players were simply trying to move up the payscale. I also got very lucky a few times, making a runner runner flush with a 56 shove from the button and hitting a 7 after shoving pre against AQ and him flopping two pair, but both times i was in preflop as only a 60/40 dog and a coinflip. I admit I definately ran hot when I needed to. Thats what makes poker interesting. Yesterday I lost 3 huge pots in big tournaments, 2 of them were 3 outers after seeing a flop and one was a 70/30. Today, I hit two huge 2 outers on the river for my tournament life. I was just happy to be able to take advantage of my good fortune.

Here is the summary of my day:
$82 6k 24/108
$33 4k 89/129
$183 8k 51/85
$61 4k 20/111
$44 5k 139/146
$155 15k 1/74 $4350
$66 6k 74/155
$11 5k 295/707
$130 25k 24/225 $163 +$20 bounties
$27 10k 172/471
$123 15k 59/133
$22 4k 1/246 $1280
$55 10k 96/244

Total Buy Ins: $992
Total Winnings: $5813
Net Gain: $4821

So this day earned me 236.96 TLB points. This brings my total to 587.6 points with only one day to go. I am currently in 4th place, 167 points behind the leader, who chopped the 80k earlier this week. This should make for an interesting final day!

TLB Challenge Day 5

Ugh, now I remember why I don't do this whole grinding thing. Its probably because I truly hate poker and long for the day when I can finally retire. The theme of my day was tcb21 is going to get bad beat and coolered in every single tournament. It started with the 4k $15 rebuy which i have final tabled two days in a row. There, with a top 15 stack deep, I hit the nut straight on the turn only to get beat by a fat full house on the river for the chip lead. Then in the 15k $50 rebuy, I am on the money bubble and pick up JJ in the sb. The table, which had not seen a pot go unraised in about 1.5 hours decides to fold around, so I std raise to 2785 with blinds 500/1000. The bb calls. The flop is 8 7 3. I make the lead around 3800 and get min raised. There, I jam my 20k stack and get insta called by k7. As you can guess, the king hit the turn and I busted. Then in the 6k (wtf is that AP, why get rid of one of the 3 good tournaments you actually have) I have a nice stack deep around 20k with blinds 400/800. I pick up AJs and raise to 2200. A donkish/loose big stack with around 30k makes the call. The flop is jack high. I check to him (he had bet pot last time I checked flop after raising pre) and he checks. The turn is another rag so I fire 2750. he min raises me (wtf is with these AP min raises today) and I shove my remaining 15k. He calls with AK and the river is a king of course.

So all in all its been an awful day. Had it not been for Buffalo Wild Wings, I might have been inclined to throw my laptop out of my 3rd story apartment window into the windshield of my car. Luckily, Buffalo Wild Wings is better than sex and that sorta calmed me down.

Here is the recap of my day:

$62 6k 38/98
$33 4k 93/134
$123 8k 54/84
$61 4k 49/104
$44 5k 93/149
$155 15k 11/87
$66 6k 34/149
$11 5k 202/681
$130 25k Probably a money bubble/270
$27 10k 398/478
$63 15k Probably 87ish/158

Total Buy Ins: $775
Total Winnings: $0
Net Loss: $775

I am currently still in the 15k and 25k, so I reserve the right to change the whiney nature of this blog in the unlikely event that I cash in either one.

Ok kids, so I've kinda backed myself into a corner with today's poor performance. I'm gonna need 300 points in the next 2 days. That translates to a lot of big final tables or a 100k win. I can do it, but its not going to be easy. Wish me luck!

TLB Challenge Day 4

Today was a really uneventful day. I only managed 2 cashes and 1 final table. I was hoping to make a run in the 80k, but didn't. I built up a stack to about 6k but lost AA vs 1010 when MOISTPANTIES hit his third ten on the turn. That hand didn't elminate me, but I could not recover and caught a huge dry spell of cards. Eventually I shoved 5's into 7's and lost out. I did manage a deep finish in the 4k again, placing 5th. I was in position for back to back wins but lost a big coinflip with AK against 44, then a 60/40 with QJ against AK.

I also made it deep in the 6k but ran AQ into AK to finish in 14th place. Here is a rundown of my day:

$82 6k guaranteed 14/102 $90
$122 8k guaranteed 53/91
$33 4k deepstack 93/140
$60 4k rebuy 5/86 $360
$44 4k deepstack 57/124
$105 15k rebuy 77/96
$21 5k rebuy 58/252
$130 20k deepstack 36/177
$22 15k sniper 334/753 (1 bounty)$4
$215 80k sniper 163/392 (3 bounty) $60
$27 9k 336/455
$123 15k rebuy 76/166

Total Buy Ins: $984
Total Winnings: $514
Net Loss: $470

My 2 cashes today earned me 63.36 points. That brings my weekly total to 350.64 TLB points. I am currently sitting in 8th place.

So far, I've accumulated all these points without hitting a really big score. I'm hoping to final table one of the nighly guarantees within the next three days. If not, the Saturday 100k is my backup plan. I'm sitting just fine right now and look forward to grinding these next three days. Thank you to all who have supported me in my quest for #1.

Right now, I am going to book my Vegas trip. I am definately looking forward to hitting up sin city with yaboystu, z06fanatic, kalangis612, clover777, killerkali, and all the other dudes that are renting a place out there. I'll probably discuss this in a future blog entry. Right now, I gotta get cracking on some more physics homework.

TLB Challenge Day 3

Today was a really good day. I ran really well, picked up big hands when I needed to, and even managed to close a tournament for once, albeit a small one. I felt like I really took advantage of my chipstack on the bubble well, making a lot of 3bets and putting pressure on the medium sized stacks. I was disappointed in my finishes in the 6k and 15k. I went into both final tables as the chip leader and was unable to hold it. Coincidentally, I lost both tournaments against pocket aces. In the 6k, I raised the button with k6 and a hyper aggressive unknown player (1st and 2nd in chips) called me. The flop was K Q 10. He bet 1/2 pot which he had done frequently, and shown air twice, so I shoved. He tables aces and I lose. In the 15k, I 3 bet another unknown players button raise with q4. The flop was 66 3, so I shoved 80k into about a 60k pot. He snap called with aces and I lost again. Blah! Here is a rundown for the day:

$82 6k 4/107 $750
$33 4k 34/143
$91 4k 1/99 $1270
$123 8k 31/98
$44 5k 66/153
$205 15k 4/98 $1540
$130 20k 52/149
$27 9k 326/441
$130 30k 119/237
$133 15k 40/162
$55 8k 168/220

Total Buy Ins: $1053
Total Gain: $3560
Net Profit: $2507

My 3 cashes were worth a combined 185 tlb points. This brought my weekly total up to 287.28, good enough for 11th place as of midnight.

I just busted from the $30 rebuy about 15 minutes ago and now I have to get to work on my physics homework for my class starting at 7:30. This grinding business is really rough sometimes.

TLB Challenge Day 2

Day 2 of the TLB challenge was super frustrating. I made it deep in a lot of tourneys, but couldn't seem to close. I took some really tough beats near the money bubble that cost me a few TLB points for sure. I did manage to place 3rd in the $20 rebuy which got an 8k prize pool, giving me 60.49 tlb points. I lost a big pot on the FT bubble for 95k chips to the player who eventually made it HU. That was frustrating, but I battled back and chipped away until my 77's ran into aces 3 handed. Oh, and while I was working the FT of the 6k, I totally forgot to add on in the 8k, which seems to happen a lot to me. Yet another sign that I am getting old and losing my mind. In the 3 big buy in nightly tourneys, my QQ got beat by J8 after 3 betting pre and getting them in on a Q 10 9 flop in the 30k, My K10 lost to AK after flopping 2 pair K 10 rag in the 15k, and I don't remember how I lost the 20k, but I'm sure it was a bad beat. Haha. Oh, and I have no idea how to format a hand history in one of these blogs, so if anyone knows how please teach me.

Here is the breakdown for my day:

$81 6k 3/128 $975
$33 4k 29/138
$63 8k 36/115
$155 15k 39/94
$44 6k 24/154
$60 4k 23/86
$130 20k 124/183
$12 5k 89/798 (1 $2 bounty)
$130 30k 255/278
$27 9k 242/514
$123 15k 81/178

Total Buy Ins: $858
Total Winnings: $977
Net Gain: $119
TLB Points: 60.49
Weekly Total TLB Points 102.51

Back at it tomorrow with hopes of running slightly better. For now, I gotta get crackin on some physics homework for my summer class that started today. I guess the one bright spot of busting out of all the nightly tournaments early is that I won't fall behind in my coursework :)

TLB Challenge Day 1

Today was the 1st day of my tourney leaderboard weekly challenge. I ended up with about $700 in prop bets from the following people:

$333 Nutinsider
$200 BigDogPocket5s
$100 Highrisa
$50 Knownfactor

Unfortunately, this weekend was high school graduation weekend in my hometown and many of my old friends were hosting grad parties. I chose to attend these parties, meaning I was unable to play any tournaments prior to the 7:00 20k. I played the following tournaments:

$130 20k 76th/172 players
$130 40k 44th/342 players $180 (plus 2 $10 bounties)
$27 10k 395/530 players
$30r 15k 48/152 players

My one cash was worth 44.02 TLB points.

Total Buy Ins: $407
Total Winnings: $200
Net Gain/Loss: -$207

So it wasn't exactly the start I had hoped for, but at least I didn't bat zero. The graduations this weekend sort of made me depressed. I'm from a small school, and I was kind of friends with everyone in high school. I played sports and even hung out with people from all grade levels 9-12. This year's graduating class was the freshman class when I was a senior four years ago. That makes me feel really old. I know a few of the soon to be seniors, but after next year, I officially will know nobody from my high school. It's kinda gonna suck going back home to watch basketball and football games only to realize that I don't know anyone who is playing. I do wish those kids all the best and look forward to introducing them to the college lifestyle.

I hope to continue the grind tomorrow, starting with the $20 rebuy 6k at 11:00.

MTT Leaderboard Challenge

Because I was a full time student last semester taking 18 credits, I didn't have the chance to play very many Multi Table Tournaments. I've also lost my motivation to play a bit lately. Its hard to sit inside and grind when it is so damn nice outside. However, next week, I decided to challenge myself by creating a prop bet with some members of the PCS forum (see link at the end of this post). I layed down 3:1 odds that I would win the weekly MTT leaderboard on the CEREUS network during the week of May 17th-May 23rd.

The points for the tourney leaderboard on Absolute Poker are accumulated each time a player cashes in a multi table tournament (any tournament with more than 18 players). The formula for TLB points is:

Sq rt of prize pool/Rank^2/5

So, if I were to play the $30 rebuy 8k guaranteed and finish in 1st place, I would receive 89.44 points.

I will be updating my blog each night next week to keep ya'll up to date with my TLB status. Wish me Luck!

Here is a link to the prop bet thread at Pokercrewship.com

http://pokercrewship.com/forum/index.php?topic=2986.0

Introduction

Hey everyone

Now that I finished my 6th semester at college, I have a bit more free time. As a result, I decided to start a blog. I'm going to try to post new entries at least once a week, but don't hold me to that. Let's start with a brief introduction.

My name is Tyler. I am currently a junior at Minnesota State University, majoring in Elementary Education. I grew up on a farm in Iowa just south of the Minnesota border. I am a fun-loving, likeable person. I enjoy playing sports (especially basketball and golf), camping, time on the lake, parties, movies, and music. My favorite things in the world are Buffalo Wild Wings, ice water, sleeping in til noon, and my friends/family.

When I was 18 years old, I quit my job at a gas station/convienence store/pizza place and began playing online No Limit Texas Hold'Em for a living. Most of my blog will be based on my ventures as an online poker player; however, some of the content will be personal anecdotes and thoughts. I would love for ya'll to follow my blog and post some comments. Welcome to my world.

Here are some websites that track my poker results.

http://www.bluffmagazine.com/thepokerdb/TCB21/Absolute%20Poker/2224056/player-profile.asp

http://www.pocketfives.com/profiles/tcb21

http://www.sharkscope.com/

I currently play under the following screen names:

Absolute Poker- tcb21

Cake Poker- badbeatmeat

I have played, but do not currently play, under the following screen names:

Bodog Poker- tcb21

Ultimate Bet- duffnt

Full Tilt- duffnt