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Thursday, June 29, 2006 

Poker podcasts

I listen to a few poker podcasts and thought I'd share them with you. There aren't many good ones out there and even some of the ones I listen to aren't extremely exciting. However, I do like to have something to fall asleep to sometimes :) If you don't know what a podcast is, it is basically just an mp3 file you can listen to on your computer, Ipod, PSP (like me) or other portable media device.


  1. Rounders - This is by far the best poker podcast around. It is actually an hour long radio show out of Vancouver and they've most of the big poker pros on their show. Their entire show archive is on their site.

    The show is Sunday nights and the podcast is usually put up on the website on Monday or Tuesday.

  2. Full Tilt Poker Learn from the Pros - There are only 10 episodes so far but these are usually 8 to 10 minute Q&A shows discussing a specific topic with one pro. Ferguson, Lederer, Bloch and others have done shows on bankroll, SNGs, Heads up, tilt and more. Usually they have about one a month.

  3. Poker Diagram - This is a show by two gentlemen from England named Henry and Zog who play in tournaments and commentate hand by hand as they are playing. They aren't pros by any means but it can be fun listening in on thought processes as they go through the tournaments. Some topic discussion sometimes as well. Usually about an hour or two.

  4. Poker Edge with Phil Gordon - This is by ESPN and is an hour long show which I just found a couple of weeks ago. So far I'm really impressed and they've had a lot of good content. Recent guests have included Chris Ferguson, Annie Duke and Clonie Gowen.



Those are the ones I listen to. Most of the others I've tried either aren't updated anymore or just annoy me for some reason. Maybe I'll start my own!

Wednesday, June 28, 2006 

Quick Update

I haven't had a whole lot of time to play lately.

On Titan I've worked my way up to about $120. Sticking to $50 NL still.

I have a new website I've been working on that I'll announce in the next few days. Just putting the finishing touches on it.

I really need to start playing some big tournaments to get my feet wet for the big one in two weeks but I haven't really had time. Hopefully soon.

Saturday, June 24, 2006 

The Challenge

Titan gave me a free $20 last week. I decided to see how far I can go with just that $20. I have decided not to worry about bankroll management at stakes I feel comfortable with. My risk of ruin is higher but it will also make the challenge faster.

I started with 20 and played a little .25/.50 limit hold'em and lost a few dollars. I moved to the NL side and played .05/.10 NL and got back what I lost. For a few days it was mostly those stakes but I saw a nice table at .25/.50 NL and decided to take a shot with my $23 bankroll. I managed to double up plus a little more and am now at $73.

I will stay at .25/.50 NL as long as I find good tables. Once I hit $200 I plan on hitting a $100NL table if the conditions are right. I'm not sure how far I want to go with it and how long but the Chris Ferguson 10k challenge sounds like a nice figure.

If you don't know, Chris Ferguson won $2 from a freeroll on Full Tilt last month. His challenge to himself was to turn it into $10,000 before the WSOP main event. As of last week he was at around $200.

Heart racing moment of this challenge so far: I was in the big blind with KJ. I clicked on the window to get focus. I accidently hit the ALL IN button. OOPS. One guy had raised to $4 preflop and had a caller too. He thought a while and finally folded. WOW I got lucky. That would have sucked. Back down to like $13 if I lost that.

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I am now booked for Vegas. Staying at the Imperial Palace for 4 nights and Luxor for 2 (got 2 free nights yay). Event 17 on July 10th is when I will be playing. Hopefully I won't get RiverRun at my table!

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For all of you who may be going to Vegas in July, check out Harrah's dining promotion:

http://www.dreamlinesavings.com/harrahs.asp

You can get up to $30 per person per day in credit for most of harrah's properties for free. Paris buffet here we come!

That's it for now. May the flop be with you!

Wednesday, June 21, 2006 

Try Try Again

Ok first I need to talk about tonight's $50 WSOP qualifer. Top prize is a $1500 event entry and there are 20 players.

Second table orbit. 10/20 blinds. I have JTs. I raise to 60 one off the button. Button raises to 140. I call.

Flop is JJ5 with 2 clubs.

I check.
He bets 220.
I raise to 600.
He pushes all in.
I call.

He shows....... 22 yay

The turn....... 2 booooooooo

The river is no help and I'm done in 20th place.
grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

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Last night I played in a $26 event on Full Tilt with 268 entrants and finished 25th. I reraised all in with AKs, he showed TT and no help for me. Top 3 got a seat in that.

Looks like I'm going to do event 17 on July 10th. Now its time to win some spending money!

Sunday, June 18, 2006 

Dream Poker

I signed up for Dream Poker a few days ago through ECasinoDeals. It is a Prima site and the signup bonus is 120% up to $500 bonus. I deposited $300 and have $360 to work off. They release the bonus in 4 equal portions they say but I haven't gotten my first one yet.

They also have special promotions like the top 80 point earners each week get to play in a $2000 freeroll. Every other week they have a freeroll for the top 30 point earners and the winner gets a Dream vacation. The points are based on contributed raked hands and you need more raked hands per point at lower limits.

I won a $2.50 satellite for the Wednesday night $55 WSOP prelim event qualifier on PokerShare. I also won another $26 token on Full Tilt which I will probably use tonight to try to win another Prelim event as well.

That's about it for now. May the flop be with you!

Friday, June 16, 2006 

20k

After a week of stagnation, I finally crossed the $20,000 bankroll mark.

I estimate about $7,000 of that is from bonuses. It took a little over 2 years

So far:
2004 total: $3,622.15
2005 total: $9,015.86
2006 total: $7,420.37

I'm on pace to continue the nice upward trend. I'm up about $650 so far this month but the next few days I think are going to be concentrated on tournaments. I would love to win another WSOP seat with extra money added so I can pay for the Vegas trip.

I had a good day at the tables yesterday but I made one stupid stupid mistake. I hit my flush on the turn, raised the guy's bet and he called. The board paired on the river and he checked. Alarm bells went off in my head and for some reason I decided to bet anyway. I bet big too, and then got check raised like an idiot. CHECK BEHIND! So I lost $30 more than I should have there as he showed the full house.

That's about it for now, may the flop be with you!

Wednesday, June 14, 2006 

Going Nowhere Fast

For the past week or so I've been pretty much breaking even. I'm hoping to break the next rung in my bankroll soon though. The cash games have been paying for the plethora of satellites I've been playing trying to win more WSOP tourneys. No luck as of yet but I have another tonight on PokerShare. Only 1 seat this time though. Wish me luck.

I'm about halfway through No Limit Theory and Practice. While there is some good info here and there, I am so far not thrilled. A lot of the information is haphazard. For instance, I've just gone through a lot of preflop content. They tell you to make a big raise from the big blind with nothing once in a while with weak hands as a bluff just to pick up the pot. They unfortunately don't tell you if its worth betting the flop if you miss or anything.

Hopefully the book as a whole all comes together but skimming through I'm not sure it will.

Next up will be Harrington On Hold'em 3 which I will hopefully start by the weekend.

Saturday, June 10, 2006 

The week that was

Tuesday and Wednesday I played for another $1500 WSOP seat but it was not to be. I'll try again Sunday night at Full Tilt.

My bankroll has gone up slightly the last few days but nothing exciting other than big hands getting killed by variance.

This is a fun hand from yesterday:

Me -UTG limps for 50 cents with AA
UTG+1 min raises to $1
MP2 calls
MP3 raises to $2
CO calls
Button calls
SB folds
BB calls
I reraise to $15

everyone folds except Button who is my favorite player ever (I've probably taken a few hundred off this guy this year)

He calls all in his last $11.64 with 22

Pot is $33.78

Flop A J 8 (BEAUTIFUL)

Turn 2

can you feel it...

can you...

River 2

Ahh runner runner quads...

Luckily I was up a good bit and he was short stacked so it doesn't sting and no tilt factor.

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Another one from yesterday:

I noticed this guy just bet and raised everything.

UTG raises to $1.75
I reraise in Middle position with the black aces to $5
He calls

Flop 854 all spades.
He bets, I raise, he pushes all in, I call.

He has 86 off suit, no spade.

Turn 7 giving him the straight of course.

River is no help. :(
--------------------------------

I still made about $20 yesterday but it could have been much nicer. Oh well.

I received No Limit Hold'em Theory and Practice as well as Harrington on Hold'em 3 the other day. I'm reading the No Limit theory book first. So far I'm about 60 pages in and a lot of the concepts I already apply which is a good thing. Most people will hate it, but I love all the math for calculating expectation. While I have learned some things, I'm still waiting for some golden nugget in there to make a lightbulb go off in my head. Its a well written book so far though.

I also received the PSP game I ordered with my Party Poker Points. Burnout Legends is a really cool racing game. I like having to crash opponent's cars :)

That's about it for now. May the flop be with you!

Monday, June 05, 2006 

Sit and Go weekend

Friday night we hosted a 7 player tournament. 3 get in the money.

My friend brought his father in law who dominated the game from the get go. It took a few hands to realize that he was an extremely loose aggressive player. By the time I could mark him, he had already built a big stack and he never looked back. I was second in chips most of the way.

With 3 of us left, blinds are 10/20. My friend's father in law, my wife and I are left. I pick up KQ in the small blind and raise to 50. My wife folds and he calls. Flop is K84 or something like that. I bet 75, he calls. Turn is a 2. I bet 75 he calls. River is a 9. I bet 75, he calls. He flips over 42 for 2 pair :(

There went half my stack. I had 275 chips left with 25/50 blinds. I picked up A6o on the button and pushed. He calls with Q8s and hits the Q. The end. I finished third and my wife finished 2nd.

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My cash games this weekend was full of variance but somehow I ended up a tiny bit.

I played a bunch of qualifiers. I played 4 $4.40 Sit and goes on Full Tilt and won 2 of them for two qualifier tokens into $24+2 tourneys.

I also won another qualifier to the Wednesday tourney I won my $1500 seat in last week on PokerShare.

I'm hoping to win something with money added. The Pokershare one if I win again I can take the $1500 as cash instead of the seat which would help expenses a lot.

As it is, I'm thinking of doing what Riverrun did and take $500 cash and play in the $1000 tournament on the 10th or 11th (sorry I forget which day it is). I'm going to start playing more main event qualifiers as well.

That's about it for now. May the flop with you!

Saturday, June 03, 2006 

Pokerstars Blogger Freeroll

Online Poker

I have registered to play in the PokerStars World Blogger Championship of Online Poker!

This Online Poker Tournament is a No Limit Texas Holdem event exclusive to Bloggers.

Registration code: 1203245

Friday, June 02, 2006 

May report

Thanks guys for the support. Now it's all your turns!

I was at BodogAri's table for the first hour and got to sit on his left. He was pretty quiet most of the time until he doubled up with a flush. About 15 minutes later I got moved to another table sandwiched between two big stacks. Luckily for me, the the big stack on my left donked away most of his chips so I could be a little more liberal with my raises.

The nice thing about these tourneys is that you start with a huge stack and the blinds are very gradual, much like full tilt. The only problem is that it makes the tournaments last forever. We were 4 handed for almost an hour I think. Only a handful of people were out after the first hour.

I am thinking of playing in the July 25th NL event so that I can stay the week and go to the PSO party. I'm hoping to still win a main event seat or another $1500 seat. I really need to win something that includes extra cash though to make it worth it with all the other costs of travel that go with it.

Once we get near the date, I'll let you all know my full name and you can follow along (I hope that didn't just jinx me into losing early day 1).

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After my crappy weekend and then the satellite victory, the momentum continued yesterday morning. I played on Pokershare and PokerFantasy and make a couple hundred to start the month of June off right.

On Pokershare, I saw a $200 NL table that was nice and juicy and decided I'd jump in. Of course, one of my first hands I got killed by the guy I noticed was a maniac. AK with a flop of T55. I had just seen him min bet the flop with gutshot and he did it again this time, so I raised. He reraised and I decided to call. Turn is a blank and he min bets again. I call. River is my K. He bets $43. Ugh. I got toyed with but I hit my K and couldn't lay it down against him, he showed the 5.

Luckily for me I caught a set of tens against a guy with a draw and he doubled me up. So I ended up winning $40 on that table and I made another $150 on 50NL and 100NL tables on fantasy.

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May Totals:
Profit: $608.13
Bonuses: $515.78
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Total: $1123.91

I was almost at my monthly $1500 goal when the last weekend of the month pummelled me. I can't wait for the NL Theory book by Sklansky. I'm really hoping it helps me in situations that I'm still unsure on.

I've had Tao of Poker for a while but I never finished it, so I'm trying to get through it. It's pretty much a bunch of helpful tips to help situational awareness in all aspects of play. I'm halfway through and I'll try to put up a review soon. I still have Weighing the Odds by King Yao that I've never read. I'll probably wait until after NL Theory and Harrington on Hold'em 3. I've ordered both from Amazon but who knows when they'll ship.


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Tonight I'm hosting a $15 NL tourney. We're only going to have 6 or 7 people though. We usually get these together every 3 months or so and it still ends up being tough finding a day where we can get 10 people. We did it once, hopefully next time we can do it again.

That's about it for now. May the flop be with you!

Thursday, June 01, 2006 

BOOYAH

I must announce that last night on PokerShare...




Congratulations on winning a $1,500 PokerShare World Series Package!

We’re delighted to welcome you on board the PokerShare World Series team. Your WSOP package includes:

· WSOP Lead-Up Event buy-in, to the value of $1,500

· PokerShare Merchandise




WOOHOO!

I finally did it! What a long battle but well worth it.

Tournament goals:
1) be aggressive, steal lots of blinds, but play smart and back off if it isn't working
2) pay attention to each player and keep an eye on who lets me pick on their blinds
3) Don't be afraid to play back against late position raises
4) Accumulate chips without putting your stack at risk
5) Recognize when to change gears
6) Don't get too tight as the players dwindle down near the bubble

I unfortunately get into a habit of sometimes doing too many things at once (working, surfing the web, watching tv...) and I'm not paying attention to the game. I did do a little of this last night but for the most part I was intent on picking up the patterns of other players.

Number 1 - be aggressive B E AGGRESSIVE. When I'm not paying attention, I turn into this tight nit who plays top 10 hands and never steals blinds because I'm not paying attention and am afraid to lose chips.

As I moved tables, I adjusted as I generally stuck with good hands to steal with against the huge stacks who liked to play back. I did a good job of folding a while then using my Number 5 goal to change gears and raise a few hands in a row and pick up some good chips since I had been so tight.

Number 4 - Don't put your stack at risk.
I think I did a great job at this. I think I was all in maybe 4 times the whole tournament.


Some play by play:

  • Blinds start at 10/20 and each player gets 2500 chips.

    Earlier in the day, I lost a $50 buyin on PokerFantasy when I flopped a set while my opponent flopped a straight.

    I thought luck was still not on my side early in the tournament:
    I have AK in the SB. I think stakes were 30/60
    MP1 raises to 180. CO calls. I call.

    Flop comes K93.
    I check, MP1 bets 400, CO folds, I call.

    Turn 9.
    I check, MP1 bets 800, I raise all in.

    MP1 only has 800 left so he's pretty pot committed. The only hand I'm worried about at this point is AA or KK and based on his past play I didn't think he had either.

    He calls and has KJ.

    River: 9 (ARGH) giving us both KK999 and spliting the pot.

    My first good spot to get chips and it went down the tubes.

  • 20 left - I get AA near the button. 3xBB raise and SB pushes all in with AQ and my stack is finally getting somewhere.

  • 7 left - 6 of us between 11 and 13k and one guy at 21k

  • 5 left - 4th in chips

  • 300/600 blinds
    SB raises to 1800, I call with KJo

    flop K65, 2 clubs
    he bets 1200 i raise to 3000, he calls.
    turn: J clubs, he checks i push he calls with A6o ??

    3 of us have 22k, other guy has 31k

    76s i raise in SB, flop 544
    i bet BB raises all in i call
    he has 99 - 3 on turn and my straight holds up
    take 2nd place in chips
This was the first time I got my money in with the worst hand, but I had the odds to call on the draw as long as he didn't have the flopped boat. Lucky for me :)

At this point also, we had made a deal to have the $450 3rd place prize money become 3rd place gets $300 and 4th gets $150, while the top 2 still get the seats. So I was winning something at least if I got knocked out. And if I didn't, I'd be chip leader!

  • won a nice hand
    SB raises again, I call with T9s
    flop KJ8 2 diamonds
    he checks, I check
    turn 7
    he checks, I bet 3000 he calls
    river 2 of diamonds
    he checks, I bet 3000 he calls

  • blind battles keeping my stack in good shape
    600/1200 blinds
    K8d
    sb calls, i check
    Q83 rainbow.
    he checks i bet 1200, he calls
    turn 7 of diamonds
    he checks, i bet 3600 he calls
    river A of diamonds, check check he has 98 i win the pot

  • 3 left
    I have 48k vs 22 and 28k

  • The small stacks almost take each other out. One has 38k, other has 10k after a big hand. 10k stack goes all in and I'm yelling CALL CALL. He does but small stack doubles up

  • I get AKs in the SB I make my standard 3xBB raise.
    BB pushes all in. I have 46k and he has a little over 20k. I think for a sec and call.
    He has A7s and my hand holds up! What a long 5 hours!



WOO WOO

I'll post May results in a separate post later or tomorrow. Until then MAY THE FLOP BE WITH YOU! WHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!


  • NL = No Limit Holdem
  • PLO = Pot Limit Omaha
  • CP = Crazy Pineapple
  • TD = Triple Draw
  • UTG = Under the Gun (first to act)
  • MP = Middle Position
  • LP = Late Position
  • CO = CutOff (one before the button)

About me

  • I'm Scottwire
  • From NJ
  • Hi there. I started this blog mainly to keep track of how I'm doing playing poker as well as to vent, share my thoughts and feelings, and allow friends and family to follow along. Thanks to everyone following along whether I know you or not. About me - I am currently a web developer who is trying to become a successful Entrepreneur with my wife. We love to travel and are trying to become successful enough to do that as we please :) That's us in a nutshell.
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